My sister, Mary

So I have two sisters. Sarah lives in Texas along with her husband and two kiddies (with one on the way!) and Mary lives in Idaho and is just about done with her bachelor's degree in Child Development. She's also a very talented singer. Right now she's visiting me for a few weeks, and I told her that we have to take a ton of pictures. Here's the first batch! 

My boyfriend's "bad boy" side

Growing up, I was always under the impression that if a guy rode a motorcycle he was a "bad boy". When I found out that my boyfriend rode a -- and was very dedicated to -- his motorcycle, I contemplated whether or not it was a deal breaker. "Does that mean he's going to get sleeves of tattoos, wear bandannas, and grow his hair long?", I thought. Oops, wrong kind of motorcycle rider. Richard rides a sport bike. It's sleek and black. No handlebar mustache, and he wears a pretty exciting motorcycle suit. Turns out I'm okay with it after all. 

I cringe when Richard posts pictures of his bike taken with his camera phone, so I volunteered to snap a few and get my Photoshop on ;)

When your friends are some of the best models EVER!

A couple of times a year, a few close friends and I get together and have a party. That party almost ALWAYS involves a photo shoot at some point. My friends get awesome new profile pictures, and I get to experiment with camera settings and photo shop actions. I'ts a win-win. These are some of the best pictures we came out with :)

Nature is getting her close-up/ SUPER easy lighting technique that will lead to better pictures!

I love nature photography, but I've never really been THAT good at it. My 35mm 1.8 lens, however, has been helping me get some great shots by enabling me to focus on a single flower, and everything else in the background fades away.

I've found that in any outdoor photography situation I might find myself in, bright sunlight is my ENEMY! The very best shots I've taken have been roughly and hour after sunrise or an hour before sunset. I'm not going to pretend that I know all about this "golden hour" business. I applaud those of you who understand that concept. To make it easy, I just Google when the sun is going to rise/set, and depending on when I want to shoot or my client wants me to shoot, I calculate what the best time would be to get out there.