The Afters
September 17th, 2012
Oklahoma State Fairgrounds
Oklahoma City






I don’t shoot families and kids very often, but when I do, I love shooting for other photographers. Catie’s family is well trained in front of a camera! Not to mention creative locations like the FAIR make it really fun and unique! The craziness in the background is all part of the charm. You can’t get photos like this just anywhere!














Weddings are often a blur of activity, so booking a post-wedding photo shoot is the best way to get amazing pictures as a couple. I had a blast taking my time with newly married Mr. & Mrs. Willis to get some gorgeous photos!

The wedding and reception took place at Cherokee Hills Baptist Church in Oklahoma City. I was tempted to put together a montage of crying photos for this one!


























Here are some favorites from Dan and Amanda’s engagement shoot! They live in Tulsa so I enjoyed getting out of OKC and shooting in some new locations.








I was so blessed to play a part in Caleb and Melissa’s big day. Caleb has been a good friend since I was a freshman at UCO, and I have gotten to know and love Melissa over the past couple years. They are so great together, and we were presented with such solid evidence of this throughout their whole wedding.

They got married at the beautiful Dresser Mansion in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

























Most of our time at WPPI was consumed with rushing around to classes and browsing the trade show, but toward the end of our trip, we had time built in to explore Las Vegas and some surrounding areas and attractions. (Unfortunately Carly had to fly home before this part.)

The Neon Boneyard Sign Museum is easily my favorite place in Las Vegas. They are an organization that rescues and sometimes restores retired neon signs. It’s an expensive endeavor, so to fund it, they give guided history tours through the sign yard. They also allow client shoots there which I’d love to have the opportunity to do- so if anyone wants book a shoot in this location, you’ll have the coolest pictures around! It would be awesome for engagements, bridals, band promos, etc. In fact, this has been a music video location for the likes of Jimmy Eat World, The Killers, and more! Contact me for destination shoot pricing! The photo of me was snapped by Catie Bartlett.








After our tour, Lisa, Catie, and I decided to hang around downtown Las Vegas and see what else we could take pictures of. It was a really cool area, and we landed in front of a wall with a fun pattern. Below are some more Lensbaby photos, as well as various shots from the day. Photo of me by Catie Bartlett.






So who all made it out to WPPI this year?? My second trip to Las Vegas, NV was my first trip to the annual WPPI Photography Convention, and I definitely plan to go back as often as possible! I expected that I would learn a mind blowing amount, and I was not disappointed. I had the privilege of sitting in on some informative lectures and demonstrations by some of the world’s A-List photogs.

Although the learning was structured more for taking notes on paper, my group and I made some time for experimenting and mini photo shoots. The talented ladies that traveled with me this year were:

Catie Bartlett: No doubt you’ve seen mention of her on my blog before as we work closely together in our day job and on photo projects. She currently specializes in family and children photography.

Lisa Lee: I’ve known Lisa for a few years now, and have loved watching her grow as an artist. She focuses on the fine art aspect of photography- taking everyday scenes an manipulating them into a completely different visual experience.

Carly Carlson: I met Carly for the first time on this trip, and I’m so blessed that I did! Throughout the week I came to see her as a mentor, and a friend. Unfortunately she lives hundreds of miles away, but since WPPI we’ve relentlessly tried to persuade each other to relocate to our respective cities. I think I’m losing however, because Carly has an established studio in Baker City, Oregon, where she specializes in some awesome High School Senior photography.

Below are some of my favorites from the week, including everything from images of our beautiful Nevada surroundings to some fashion-esque shoots of each other. We’ll just get started off sexy, with a few (G-rated) shots from our boudoir shoot experiment in the hotel:



The first night we arrived, we were ready to go! I’d brought along a new toy: my Orbis ring flash adaptor, so we trying it out for a fun shoot. The one of me on the left was snapped by Catie.


We had a great view of the Strip each day during our (very long) commute to the MGM Grand for the day’s classes. On paper, a hotel right across the street sounds great, but it took at least 20 minutes of relentless speedwalking to get there, and the trip clocked in at over a mile each way!


Here’s a few shots of some of the neat and diverse hotel styles and features. Left: New York, New York / Right: Caesar’s Palace.


I had the opportunity to learn from some super A-List photographers at WPPI, but only happened to take my camera along to one class. (Like I said, it was a long walk! Extra baggage gets heavy.) I grabbed a picture of Jasmine Star, who is known for her high end wedding photography. She is sweet, down to earth, and hilarious! She graciously hung around after her class to answer every question of the hundreds of people who lined up to meet her, including me.


The four of us set aside an afternoon to explore the Strip and practice some of the shooting techniques we had been picking up in our classes. We found some gorgeous lighting. Here’s a few that I snapped of the other girls:



We also made it out during dark hours for some artificial light practice. The one on the right was lit with the Orbis.


Finally, a few more photos from around the Strip. I used my new Lensbaby lens on a few of these- can you tell which ones? (Okay, it was all of them.) It’s a specialty lens that has really neat, in-camera, blurring effects. The first set is from the Bellagio hotel fountains, and inside under the Chihuly glass ceiling in the lobby. It felt like home in a way, since the OKC Museum of Art is home to a great Chihuly collection, which I’ve seen so many times. The second set of photos are from other hotels on the strip, and I found shooting a backlit, clear glass chandelier with my Lensbaby to have the coolest effect yet!


I have a few more days worth of photos to share, but I will save those for the next post. We got to shoot at some incredible locations, so I will be covering those more in depth. Check back soon!