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For Danny and Katie’s bridal/groomal session we headed over to the huge, and completely stunning, Thanksgiving Point Gardens. The gardens are so big that we opted for a golf cart to zip around on. I have to say… it was pretty fun! It’s probably a good thing they don’t go too fast or we might have ended up having some off-roading fun, and a muddy bride 😉 Katie has two older sisters and loves both their dresses and wanted to wear both for her pictures, so she did! Danny and I held up a blanket while Katie changed dresses behind it- right in the middle of the rose gardens. It was funny, we definitely got some looks! In the end, Danny and Katie ended up with some gorgeous shots! Thanks for the fun night guys!

Chris and Michelle are such a great couple! They are a no frills, no fuss type of couple- just pure, simple LOVE. There is something so refreshing about that. I think sometimes we get so caught up in the wedding plans, the dress, venue, food, decorations, photographer, flowers, etc that we lose sight of what this day is truly about… the love you have for each other and making the biggest, most important commitment of your life! I love a big bustling wedding but Chris and Michelle had the right idea 🙂 they got married in the Mount Timpanogos temple in the morning and had the reception immediately  afterward. The reception was short and sweet then they jumped on their awesome motorcycle to enjoy the rest of their day as husband and wife.

I’m pretty excited about this. For the last 5 years I have been the only one with kids on my side of the family- which is super lame considering I’m the middle child of 5! So my little (she’s taller than me) sister is pregnant with a girl and wanted a creative way to announce the gender…aka she wanted a free photo shoot 🙂 I suggested pink socks, which she thought was weird but I like the way the pictures turned out. I came up with a few things but in the end she chose, “Mini Winnie” which in case makes no sense to you, it’s their last name.

I posted a few weeks ago about a competition I was entering for, Rock The Shot Forum. It was for the use of sun flare in your picture. I’m pretty pleased to say that I “rocked the shot” … with of course my beautiful bride and groom ( I couldn’t have done it without them!) I ended up winning first place. If you want to see the shot, you can check it out here: http://www.alibrownstudios.com/rock-the-shot-photo-challenge/

These two are so much fun and really easy to work with. We decided on an engagement session that would match their fun, playful personalities. So we headed to Liberty Park, which is an awesome spot for pictures. We got so much variety there! Carnival pictures with a ferris wheel, carousel and swings. After that we got pictures with a pond, flag, old building, checkered patterned grass, and flowers. What I love most about these pictures is the colors. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good black and white picture but my favorite is bright, vibrant, rich color, color, color! Needless to say this shoot is full of it!

So a random, funny thing happened to me. I started getting tons of traffic to my site and lots of emails asking me about this tutorial. I had no idea what people were talking about. My tech savvy husband figured it out. Apparently there is a picture on Buzzfeed of a little girl painting the sky that is linked to my website. I have no idea how this happened! I ignored the emails for a while but because there seemed to be so much interest for this tutorial I decided to make my own. It looked pretty simple, and it was! Just to be clear: The black and white picture on Buzzfeed is not mine, I take no credit for it. That being said- enjoy my version 🙂

Things you’ll need:

Adorable little child (check)

A cute picture created by said adorable child (check, check)

Camera

Photoshop

1) Take a picture of your child “painting” the sky

2) Take a picture of your child’s artwork

3)

To delete the background of your artwork follow these steps:

Double click on the layer to unlock it

Press Q

Use a paint brush to color over everything you want kept- make sure you’re careful to get all the little details you want in it. (Brush default color is red, don’t freak out, it’s not permanent)

Press Q again

Press Control D

Press Delete

Select magic erase tool and click on any leftover background spots

You may also need to use the eraser to go along the edges of anything that was missed

4)

Drag and drop your child’s artwork onto the picture of your child

5)

Press Command T to resize and rotate the artwork to fill the sky.

Add a layer mask to the artwork and brush off the areas that cover your child. (This will make it look like your child is painting it.)

Wham Bam Thank you Ma’am, you are done! I did this picture in about 15 minutes, it’s quick and fun.

Rock the Shot Forum’s, www.rocktheshotforum.com, challenge for July  is sun flare. I’m submitting this picture because I  think it fits the bill. I wanted lots of beautiful warm light to highlight the American Flag and I knew a summer sunset would give me just the look I was going for.

Jace and Breana were married this past winter but didn’t get around to doing their pictures… until now. I wanted to find a beautiful, simple location that also gave a patriotic feel. McPolin Farm seemed to fit the bill perfectly. I love the way these pictures turned out!

I wanted to thank Utah Bride Blog for featuring my work. I love this shoot that I did of Jace and Breana! I haven’t gotten around to posting it yet but you can check it out on UBB in the mean time. http://www.utahbrideblog.com/photography/patriotic-groomals-breana-jace/

Ben and Chelsea are the silliest couple you will ever meet. They were so fun and completely giddy the entire day. I think these pictures really show my style of photography, which is lifestyle photography. I try not to pose people too much and when I do pose people I let them be who they are. This series of pictures has so much personality because Ben and Chelsea have so much personality! It was a fun wedding with lots, of dancing and tons of laughing!

Because these two are so silly I thought this hat was an appropriate prop for the ring shot!

PS- there isn’t really a baby on board but I thought it was one of the funniest car decorations I’ve seen someone do 🙂