Wednesday, November 17, 2010 Posted in Portraits
The power of a community is unparalleled…. and the photography community in Las Vegas is beyond powerful! What started as a simple idea has now grown into an incredible event. It is truly amazing to see what can be accomplished when a community unites for a cause.
I’m proud to announce Portrait Palooza!
Photographers in Las Vegas are aiming to raise at least $10,000 for Savannah Grace Lighten, and we need your help!
Savannah Grace Lighten was born September 19th, 2010 with severe brain damage. Her parents Terrence and Suzi Lighten are members of the Las Vegas photography community, and are two of the most kindhearted and giving people I have ever met. Please visit Savannah’s Journey to learn more about her heartbreaking story.
The Lighten family has hopes that a treatment called Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy will help Savannah recover from her serious brain injuries, and the Las Vegas photography community wants to see her receive these treatments. Which brings us to Portrait Palooza!
Here’s some details….
- Who: 16 of Las Vegas’ finest professional photographers
- What: 100 families donating $100 towards a private portrait session. This includes a 20-minute session, 10 final images and the high-resolution digital files. 100% of the donation fee will go to the Lighten family.
- When: This coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday, November 19, 20, 21, appointments will be available from 10:00am to 5:00pm. If you’d like to book with me, I’ll be at Sunset Park on Friday – Click here to see available timeslots!
- Where: HENDERSON – Sunset Park, Henderson, NV, picnic area “D” right next to the pool (Nov 19, and 20th), SUMMERLIN – JW Marriott (Sunday, Nov. 21st)
- How: Go to www.PortraitPalooza.com for more details and schedule a reservation to have your photos taken.
Thank Yous: Mindy of Red Rock Studios for the blog post. Steve Fogarty, of Fogarty Foto has been an integral part of this project. Without his energy and commitment, Portrait Palooza would be greatly suffering! Jayse Hansen designed the incredible PortraitPalooza logo. DWAlliance is donating their event scheduling software, a key contribution necessary to coordinate all these moving parts. Michael Testagrossa of the JW Marriot is donating use of their grounds for PortraitPalooza North on Sunday, November 21, 2011. Juliet Douglas of Green Orchid Events is coordinating the on-site atmospherics and staffing. And of course, to the photographers who are donating many hours, and lots of talent, toward helping baby Savannah.
Our friends Sam and Karen had a beautiful baby boy and I was honored that they asked me to document his first year. I think you’ll agree that he is too cute for words! I really enjoyed capturing this special time for their family and can’t wait for our next session. It’s going to be amazing to watch him grow – It always goes so fast!
Newborn babies are so sleepy – it’s the sweetest thing.
Tyler was so tiny at only 10-days old. I loved capturing all his itty-bitty baby features.
Sam’s big into sports so we captured a few of Tyler cuddled up with his baseball and snowboarding gear. He’s definitely going to be a daddy’s boy.
All cozy in dad’s arms…
Wednesday, March 31, 2010 Posted in Portraits
UPDATE: Check out the feature on Pepper Design Blog to see lots more!
My friends Derek & Juliet Douglas (the fantastic coordinator of Green Orchid Events) are having a baby girl this May and I was lucky enough to be able to attend their baby shower this past weekend!
I can tell already – this baby girl will grow up right! Not only was the shower full of love, but it was also quite a stylish celebration, as is everything Juliet does. I was totally in love with the Alice and Wonderland theme. They held it at The Pottery Shop in Town’s Square (a hidden Vegas gem) and it was absolutely perfect for this theme and the entire place was decked out in fantastic, colorful details. So, I just had to share a few photos I grabbed while there!
Juliet put together this super sweet candy table and all floral and decor is by the very talented Teresa of Enchanted Florist.
I loved these little “Eat Me!” cupcakes made by Juliet’s good friend Sara Cholhagian. They were adorable AND delicious – some of the most delicious cupcakes ever! Mmm
And last, the new parents! Yes, Bailey is going to be gorgeous. 
Jayse and I got together with our great friends Peter and Jody for a much overdo family photo session with them and their amazing son, Miles. We thought he might be a little on the shy side, but this was not the case! He is definitely a little rockstar, and so much fun to photograph!
We even whipped out the light-sabers for a little Star Wars action!
Of course, I had to capture dad getting in on the action too!
Funny face contest – who do you think should be named the winner?
Jayse and I love this family!
Thursday, December 10, 2009 Posted in Portraits
Ruth and Mark hired me for three super-fun shoots in a row last fall. They were traveling from the UK, and had decided to have an intimate destination-wedding with just the two of them and their parents. Photography was high on their list of priorities however – so we did it right with a 3-day photo-marathon: engagement, wedding and trash-the-dress. It was a complete blast. We definitely got to know each other really well that week and I simply fell in love with them. These two are quirky, fun, and totally in love.
So you can imagine how happy I was when they told me they were coming back out to Vegas from London to celebrate their 1 year anniversary with some vacation time and a couple’s session!
Afterwords we all went out to our favorite little local pub ‘Rounders’ and ate nachos and talked football – both American and European.
Oh – and I couldn’t wait to blog this absolutely fantastic drawing that Mark did of Bella!!! Bella was so happy to see it!
It was so much fun hanging out and catching up on things. R+M: I’m so happy you guys made it back out to Vegas!
Thursday, November 19, 2009 Posted in Portraits
Jayse and I had the immense pleasure of hanging out with fantastic New York wedding coordinator, Adrienne of Bespoke Affairs while in NYC. If you check out her website you’ll see she does INCREDIBLE, gorgeous things with her weddings!
Here’s a couple images I grabbed of her and her absolutely adorable puppy Winston while we were out for lunch:
Adrienne has the sweetest personality and you can tell she adores what she does. I love meeting people like that – they totally inspire you and renew your own passion for what you do.
Adrienne let us in on a little tip: Winston makes this super-adorable face if you say: “Puppies”. So while I may have looked a little crazy yelling “PUPPIES!” in a crowded park, it totally worked! Here’s the face below:
I’m so happy we were able to get together while we were in town. Can’t wait to come back out to New York and visit you two again soon!
Oh, and, tell Winston I said “PUPPPPPPPIES!”
Wednesday, September 23, 2009 Posted in Portraits
You may recognize this super-cool couple from a trash-the-dress we did at the Neon Museum last summer…
Well, Summer and Josh came back out to Vegas for their one-year anniversary photos – with a twist: they’re expecting! Summer’s about six months pregnant with a baby girl! Caitlin Noel is scheduled to be born on Christmas day.
We had a blast hanging out and catching up as we strolled downtown…
Summer & Josh: Love ya guys! Major major congrats! I’m so happy for you and can’t wait to meet little Caitlin.
Travel Announcement!
I’ll be in Albuquerque, New Mexico from October 12-13th and New York City from October 16-19th for a couple shoots and a little vacation time with my love. While traveling I’ll be holding a Portrait House charity fundraiser. Due to the short amount of time in each location, I’ll be offering a very limited number of half-price sessions (engagement, boudoir, bridal/day after or super fun trash-the-dress sessions). All I ask is that you be excited and up for a great time!
100% of all fees will be donated to Portrait House for the non-profit organization, Habitat for Humanity.
Yep! You get a ‘never-before-discounted’ session at half price – and it all goes to a great cause! The reason? The Portrait House was started by my good friends and amazing photographers, Justin and Mary Marantz. It relies on a national network of the top photographers in the industry to offer their services in exchange for a direct donation to Habitat. The goal is to raise $50,000 to go toward helping eliminate poverty housing and homelessness.
It’s a really great cause, so if you know anyone that might be interested, please help spread the word!
Photographers: Click below to find out more and learn how to get involved with Portrait House!
Did I mention that they were also super stylish? I loved Kristen’s dress and adorable Anthropologie necklace!
We found this awesome little “B” for Blackmon…
by chels
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