Faves from the Santamaria Fam

I know that I have blogged quite a bit recently from the Santamaria family photo shoot but hey, what can I say- I really enjoy their family and their photos!

I purposefully held back my favorites of their photos from the sneak peaks so that they would be able to enjoy the best when I gave the final version of all of their photos.

Hope you guys enjoy! I just got a new lens that I will post about soon that I am really stoked about and should take me to an even higher level!

Sneak Peak Part Deux

I thought that I would throw out another sneak peak for the Santamaria family to check out some more photos. I am stoked to share them with you guys!

Please, feel free to leave a comment and vote for your favorite so far!

(Oh, and Donovan and Aubrey, we are saving the best pictures for last)

The Sneak Peak

Today was a sweet day. We got to take family photos for our good friends the Santamarias. They are a really fun group to hang out with and their kids were such posers. It was really fun. This is just a sneak peak for the family to hopefully get them as excited as we are about their family photos!

Thanks for hanging out today guys, we really enjoyed it!

The field

Fun

In the past few months, I have been "getting into" photography quite a bit more. I have learned so much and am having a lot of fun. I have learned so much from really cool guys like Matt, Shay, and Chad.

These guys have taught me so much and I am so thankful and have had a blast hanging out with them and talking photography. However, as I have been "getting into" photography, I have definitely been coming at it from the business perspective. I have been checking out different printing options, trying to take stock photographs and trying to think and plan about how to start taking lifestyle photos for a side business (I am trying to raise money to hopefully start attending seminary sometime in the future).

I love many things about photography as a side business. 1- I enjoy it, so it doesn't feel like work when I am shooting people or sitting with my laptop editing. 2- it is uber-flexible. I can work on the editing parts whenever and pretty much wherever with my laptop (so far one of my fave spots is starbucks).

However, I haven't had a lot of time to "get into" photography as what it started out for me- a hobby. Something that I enjoy doing, a gift from the Lord not to be enjoyed more than Him.

This weekend is my birthday. Cory got me some photography books that I am super stoked about, but she also gave me the opportunity to go to a cool spot and just take photographs with (and some of) her and to get to enjoy being with her and enjoy doing that together. She is quite the photographer herself on her Canon Elph. (Secretly sometimes I'll look at a picture that she took and basically try to copy it. She has GREAT ideas.) What can I say, she inspires me!

Friday late afternoon we headed down to Newport Beach and walked around and took some fun pictures during the "golden hour" (my favorite time to shoot- particularly of people) and we had dinner at BJ's. It was an awesome time and I really enjoyed getting to be with someone that I love so much and enjoy being with and makes my life way more exciting and fun than it ever could have been on my own!

So thanks babe!!! I love you!!!

What would a photo time at the beach be without a picture of the Rainbows? I LOVE these things. They are so comfortable and the things are indestructable. For any guys who have been starting to wear Crocs, be a man, wear Rainbows.

We did this cool thing where we placed the camera on a lifequard tower and took a picture where the shutter stayed open for about 25 seconds to get this shot. Took us quite a few tries though; planes take off over Newport.

Here she is!!!! The architect of the evening!!! Cory wouldn't tell me where we were going until we got in the car (which heightened the anticipation and the experience) and it was so fun! Isn't she the most beautiful woman on earth? (that's not actually a question-more of a statement).

Newport is also cool because it has some really great old buildings. Cory and I really liked the brick on this one... This week I may be trying to put together business cards and hopefully I will have one of my first official lifestyle family photo shoots in the next few weeks! I am super excited!!!

Before and After

So, in the past month I have learned a LOT about digital photo editing. I wish that I had known all of this sooner!!! I thought I would show an example from my first ever engagement session with Ty and Steph.

This first image is straight out of the camera (SOTC).

This next one, add a few layers and...

You can also mix a little black and white with color...

Straight black and white...

And Sepia!...

All in all, I am excited to be able to play further with this new-found knowledge and to be able to better serve my friends and clients in the future!!!

Sepia Tone Lovin'

Friday night, my wife and I had a GREAT time hanging out with a really cool family named the Spansels. They have seven kids. That's right, seven. However, their home is probably the best decorated as I have ever seen and there is a remarkable sense of order in their home and their kids are so well-behaved but also incredibly fun!

On the front end of an INTENSE game of Soccer that my wife Cory and I played with them we had the opportunity to take some fun photos. The game was ruled a tie on a controversial call (perhaps the ref was a bit out of position...)

Something that has been really fun lately has been getting to discuss photography with fun friends. A really cool friend of mine from college named Shay has been feeding me a few photoshop tips. Before the past couple months or so, I had never worked in photoshop before and it has been SUPER helpful to just get some quick tips from him and bounce some ideas off of him.

Here are the fruits of the beginning parts of my efforts on their photos. Please leave me a comment to tell me what you think!

A few faves from the Flower Wedding

This past weekend I flew out to Dallas, TX for my good friend Tyler Flower's wedding. A lot of old friends were there and the wedding was fabulous! Ty and Steph were such fun and the whole experience was quite enjoyable!!!!! Hope you guys are enjoying your cruise. Since I was in the wedding, I didn't get a chance to do a whole lot of shooting, but I did manage to snap a few. Check them out below.

Weddings are fun, the photos should be too. If you are interested in portrait/wedding photography, e-mail Bill at billblakey@gmail.com

Some Photos from the OC fair.

Children Photos

Here are some pictures from VBS a couple weeks ago.