Coming soon . . .

We had a BLAST at Corey & Sarah's wedding last night and we can't wait to share their pictures! :)

Off to San Antonio!

Stan and I are shooting Corey and Sarah's wedding in San Antonio this weekend and we've decided to stay there tonight so we can do some sightseeing before tomorrow night's event! :) Tash and John will be taking care of Boosky, so we're making it a small vay-cay! :)

Tons of fun, great pics of this wedding guaranteed next week! Check back! :)

Have a great one!
Stacy

New Inspiration

So, I am about to confess something that is kind of embarrassing, but oh well, this blog is all about me, and this is soo me, so here it goes. :)

We photographers gain inspiration in a variety of ways, but one of the most common is spending time studying the work of other photographers who we admire. Well, recently I have found a whole new crop of work that I deeply admire and am inspired by that I am now studying on a daily basis. Let me introduce you to my new muses: Justin Timberlake and Usher.

Seriously. This is not a joke.

Most people don't know that I also really really love dancing and if I could be awesome at anything, it would be that! Well, I downloaded a JT music video the other day because I had seen it a long time ago and remembered how great the dancing was in it. One thing lead to another and I had downloaded SIX JT and Usher music videos! :)

Yes, the dancing is amazing and I am so in awe of their talent, but more than that, I have really found myself studying the cinematography of these videos: the angles, the mood, the lighting, everything. And I have found that it has truly inspired me photographically and I just stared taking notes so that I can try a few of the things I've discovered! How funny is that? I am always looking for new and exciting things to try and I really love the process, so I thought I would just tell you about this new thing. :)

So, my recommendations for some good videos are:

"Let Me Talk To You/My Love" - Justin Timberlake ( This is by FAR my favorite - make sure you see the one with Let Me Talk to You!)

"My Way" - Usher (silly, zainy, fun, and SUCH good dancing)

Enjoy! :) - SC

Carla's Bridal Portraits!

It has been a really long time since I've posted any bridal portraits because I actually don't get to do them that often. Carla and her mom and dad were such a delight to spend time with - I cannot wait for her wedding day! Greg is going to love how gorgeous his bride looks. :)

Am I NuTs?

Man!

This past few days have been C-R-A-Z-Y. For all of you who are bored at work and have nothing fun to do, I will re-cap my past week's schedule for ya. ; )

1)last Thursday (this is where the chaos began) - 14 hour clinical day at Dell Children's to make up for time I missed while in LA. Did not get home until about 9pm after all was said and done.

2)wake us Friday morning - SICK as a dog. Cough, throat, icky, pukey, just nasty stuff. Over-medicate myself and get myself to bridal portrait session with my lovely bride Nicole. Shoot bridal session, go to a couple of other meetings, come home and feverishly try to get ready for the Bridal Extravaganza until about 2am.

3) Saturday - help cater a wedding with Stan - total of 10 hours of non-stop, on-my-feet manual labor! Luckily this was for an AWESOME couple and it was actually really fun! :) Return home and stay up until 1am finishing stuff for the Bridal Extravaganza.

4) Sunday - skip church and head right over to the Bridal Extravaganza after stops at Whole Foods for flowers and Kinkos for copies! B.E. ALL day - fun, but insanely exhausting. Dinner at Pei Wei with Stan - when I think we made eye contact for the first time all weekend because of the craziness! In bed by 9:30pm.

5) Monday - wake up at 6am and get myself to Austin Java to CRAM for Pediatrics exam on Tuesday. Sit with Kim and Jenny at AJ from 8am til 6pm studying, leave for Bridal portrait session with gorgeous Carla. Shoot session until 8:15pm, drive home, take a shower, return to coffee shop and study until 11pm (when they close). Go home, find out main computer crashed, use other computer to return ALL of the day's emails that I missed since I was out all day, go to bed (12:45am).

6) Today - up at 6:30am and to my exam by 8am. I was very pleased with my grade, so that's some great news! Sit in obstetrics lecture until 12pm, come home, eat mac-and-cheese for lunch, and sit in front of computer and blog (now). In 10 minutes I will leave for the Apple store to see what can be done about my computer - wish me luck! :)

Crazy, huh? Well, actually, everyone's life is crazy, so I'm not sad or mad about it - I think I actually do better this way, but I think I will take a HUGE nap when I return from the Apple store. I can breate again! :)



From Eric and Tiffani's Wedding (since I know I have deprived you of pictures!)
Cakes - yum.

I have not given up on the blog!

Hey guys -

Just wanted to write a quick note and let you know that my main (almost brand new)Mac CRASHED today, so that has been a big bummer and has cause a few headaches. I have to apologize again for not blogging regularly lately, but there have been just tons of things going on! I WILL blog tomorrow and the day after that and the day after that, too. :) Please forgive me!

Love,
Stacy

PS - before anyone freaks out, I need to let you know that I had already backed up all of the pictures on my Mac before this incident occured, so nothing of vital importance has been lost, so no worries. I am actually kind of excited that I will probably be getting a new computer as a result of all of this. I'll keep ya posted!

Capturing moments forever.

First, I am so sorry for neglecting the blog this week, but things have been pretty crazy & I promise to start back blogging frequently again, okay? Love ya!

Now on to the heart of my post today...

It has quickly become cliche to say that, as a photographer, I strive to "capture your precious moments" or "preserve your memories forever". SO many other photographers have these types of sayings recklessly plastered all over their websites and blogs that saying these things is almost meaningless.

There are several goals with which I approach a wedding day and one of these is to capture the TRUE emotions and personalities of my subjects. Few things are as exciting as knowing that a picture I've taken is simply TRUE to the soul of the person in it. This excites me and I hope that I can always put my heart into capturing the heart of others. I am passionate about it.

Today I was at Dell Children's Hospital for one of my clinical days. I was walking down the hall and I quickly glanced for just a moment into a patient's room. There I saw one of the most amazingly beautiful moment I've seen in a very long time. In that brief second I saw a very ill baby standing up in her crib, smiling and looking up and outside the top of the railing. As my curious eyes moved to meet the form on which she gazed, I saw her mom and dad, in a full embrace, locked in a passionate kiss. In the midst of extreme grief, fear, worry, and a stream of other emotions that this small family must be going through, this was a moment of hope, joy, and love that was trememdously important. Immediately my eyes welled up with tears. Yes, I was moved by the moment, but I was also moved by the tragic regret that if only I would have had my camera there, I could have paused this intimate, beautiful experience forever for this baby and her parents.

Soon my sadness turned to thankfulness - thankfulness that I have the privilege to capture hidden, fleeting moments that are significant and REAL every time I pick up a camera. It is a joy to do what I do.

Here is a picture that I captured at Clayton and Cynthia's wedding that I absolutely love. Being able to assure that these moments are never forgotten is one of the greatest thrills in the world.

Whew! I didn't die on the news! :)

Hey guys -

I am SO thankful to report that none of my worries about going on the news came true and it was actually quite a pleasant experience! It was so fast - we were in and out in less than 45 minutes. I am really glad I asked my pal Tasha to come with me because I think she totally kept me from freaking out! :) Did you see it? How did I do? Be honest!

Using your time wisely on your wedding day. :)

I always tell couples that it is their wedding day, so of course, whatever they want goes, but I HIGHLY recommend the bride and groom see each other before their ceremony. There are just too many pros to seeing each other before hand and I wanted to share with you yet another reason why this is a good idea.

On Saturday I shot Tiffani & Eric's wedding reception (they eloped earlier this year to Vegas!) at Shoreline Grill. It was lovely and the pictures are fantastic, but by far the best pictures from the day are the ones from before anything got started and Tiffani had me come early to take some portraits of just she and Eric. She gave me 1 hour. That is absolutely all it takes to get the best pictures you will ever have of yourselves in your WHOLE life! Here's a few of my many favorites from that hour we had together.

PS - If you'd like to talk about the timeline for your wedding day and how we can get some fabulous portraits of you guys together, all of you guys know you can email or call me! :)

PPS- Thanks to my buddy Michael Hooks (Hooked on Photography) for telling Tiffani and Eric about me!

Back from Partnercon

This week I was in Los Angeles for Pictage's Partner Conference. Pictage is my new order fulfillment company and so far, I love them! The conference was absolutely amazing - I learned SO much . . . it is so hard to digest it all, but I am thankful to have had this opportunity and I look forward to applying some new ideas to my business model!

Not only was this conference fun from a learning perspective, but the social aspect of it was also such a blast! I roomed with the fabulous Rachel Priddy from Arizona and she was the best roomie ever! She needed a headshot, so I took some portraits of her and what do you know, I had my picture taken, too! :) This is actually the first time for me to have professional pics taken of myself and I was so lucky to be in her hands!

Me!




I also got to hang out with my new bffs, Jeff & Erin Youngren from San Diego and we had a blast! These two are the coolest people in the world and they also happen to be amazingly talented. They are a husband-and-wife team just like Stan and I and their work totally inspires me all the time! Jeff and I have exchanged emails and ecouragments for a long time, so it was so great to finally meet him in person. He really is even cooler than I thought he would be! Here's a picture of us being silly in the KISS photo booth. We are proud to claim the FIRST "photo-booth-foot-high-five" to ever happen! :)

Back in Action and ON FOX 7 NEWS Monday AM!!!

Hey guys!

I am BACK in town and I have to say that I really am better than ever.......I learned SOOOO much and I'll tell you all about it soon, but just wanted to write a quick post to say, please watch me on Fox 7 News on Monday morning at 8:53 am - I will be LIVE, in the studio for an interview about trashing the dress - wish me luck!

Love
SC

Do you miss it?

Much in line with the old "Does a tree falling in a forest make a sound if nobody is there to hear it?" vein, I want to know: do you miss me when I don't blog? :) I miss you. I really like blogging, so it's so weird not to!

I will be sure to give all my updates on my trips soonafter I get back. :) Thanks for hanging in there! Hope your week is going well! :)

Out of the Office

Hi!

Just wanted to let you guys know that we will be out of the office from Friday, Sept 7th until Friday, Sept 14th. We will have limited access to email and phone, but if you need something, please send us an email and we will get back to you as soon as we can!

We're off to Houston to celebrate birthdays with the family and then next week I will be in Los Angeles at a photography conference - so fun! :)

Blessings,
Stacy

Alisa & John : Engaged!

Alisa and John are so cute . . . when I told them that their pictures would be on the blog they were like "blog??" :) This makes me laugh because I have some couples that follow my blog daily and then some that don't even know it exists and I think that's so funny! Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with these two and we got some great pictures of them. I'm looking forward to shooting their wedding in October. :)



















Check out their slideshow!

My friends are so great!

Yesterday my dear friends Krissy and Cortney took me out to a Birthday happy hour (my b-day is this Saturday!) and it was so fun! We got 99 cent margaritas and a huge scoop of ice cream on a sopapilla - what more could you want? THANK YOU Corny and Kissy - I LOVE yall! Cortney also got me the coolest presents - Kissy forgot my present. :) Shame on her.

Here's Cortney's camera phone pics from last night:

Kiss and me





Kissy


Stacy under the influence of extreme exhaustion and lots of sugar! :)


Corny is a cutie


Then I got together with many of central Texas's finest photographers who also happen to be some of my favorite new friends. We went to San Marcos and had a great dinner along the river. My food was actually terrible and I had to send it back (I NEVER do that!) so I won't mention the name of the restaurant, but let's just say it was trout that tasted like feet. Woops.

Here are the fun photographers I hung out with last night: Amy DeYoung, Courtney Sprague, Jennifer Nichols, Jennifer Wilson (Silver Plate Photography), Michael Hooks (Hooked on Photography), Kellie & Traci (Anne Marie Photography), and the awesomely cool Eric Von. Sarah from Roxy and Kai was sick and couldn't make it :( and Lisa Woods is in the dawg house cause she didn't show and Tyler Schmitt is in the even bigger dog house because he made Cross mad. :)

Love
Stacy

Clayton & Cynthia's Wedding!

Clayton and Cynthia had a lovely Labor Day wedding and Stan and I were honored to be a part of it! These two are ministers and they are both very dearly loved in their church community. They invited their entire congregation to the wedding, so it was HUGE and so awesome! They had not one but two receptions with 4 DIFFERENT cakes!!! :) Yes, this is heaven to me folks! I made myself kiiiinda sick by the end of the night, but all-in-all, it was a wonderful time! :) Here's just a few of our many favorites from the day:

Mark your calendars - Fox 7 Morning News Interview!!!!!!!!!

Hey guys!

Okay, as you read a few days ago, I have an awesome opportunity coming up and I would LOVE it if you could watch me on the news for my interview about Trashing the Dress. The date is set: Monday, September 17th and I will be on-air at 8:53am (they are hard core with times in the news business). I will remind you again, but go ahead and set the DVR, please! :)

I am so excited!

Eric & Nikki's Wedding!

Last night Stan and I went down to Vintage Villas to take pictures of Eric and Nikki's beautiful wedding. The weather was great until about 10 minutes before the outdoor ceremony was scheduled to begin, then all heck broke loose and it started pouring. Miraculously, it stopped raining right when the ceremony was to begin, so they decided to move forward with the wedding outside. It was a great decision because it was absolutely gorgeous and much cooler than it had been before the rain. The threatening storm clouds in the distance made for an awesome, heavenly backdrop as Nikki and Eric became husband and wife.

Special thanks to Bethany and her girls from 36th Street Events, who did a fabulous job coordinating this wedding and to Lauren at Vintage Villas, who is just so sweet and organized. This was the first time that Stan and I had ever shot at Vintage Villas and it was a wonderful experience!

Here are a few of our favorites from last night:





The boys praying before the ceremony






Stan got this amazing shot during the ceremony!






Eric's and his two girls + Nikki and her twin boys = one beautiful family!


I loved all the color that was around the place . . . from the gorgeous flowers to the dark blue sky






Nikki and her father's dance was so beautiful and so emotional




Thank you SO much, Eric and Nikki, for letting Stan and I be a part of your big day - we loved being there with you!