P & C ~ Attraction Session by Chris!

No super fancy write up today. Just the pictures from my awesome shoot in NYC! We started on the rooftop at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and then we headed over to Central Park! Super fun and adorable couple! Enjoy the pictures! :)

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Happy Veteran's Day!

Through my time in Kansas, I met more military men, women and families than at any point in my life and I really learned about the deep sacrifices and never-ending commitment to our country that they endure and demonstrate. Without that opportunity, I would be entirely clueless and my thought processes would be entirely dominated by stereotypes. And it is sad to admit, but I now have a greater appreciation and respect for all of those connected to the military and I hope everybody takes the time to meet, learn and honor military families.

Regardless of how you feel about war, I believe it is unpatriotic to not support our armed forces. So today and really, everyday, I encourage you to think about these men, women and families who have given so much of their lives to protect the liberties that we unconsciously take for granted because without their dedication, commitment and sacrifices, our way of life would be drastically, drastically compromised.

My wish is that each of you say a prayer today and as often as possible for the well being and livelihood of all military veterans, active duty and future military service men and women and thank them for everything they do.

Thank you.

And a very special thank you to my associate photographer, Brandi, because she is a military spouse and  I greatly respect her and her husband's lifestyle and love for this country.

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The Hurrelbrink Family by Brandi!

What can I say? How about absolutely GORGEOUS? Just look at this family, there are no other words. Bill, Missy...and GAVIN drove all the way from KC to Manhattan to have their family photos taken. Missy and Bill are good friends of Amy and Steve, an amazing relationship that Chris had the opportunity to capture through their engagement session and awesome wedding!

We started out at the always beautiful K-State Campus to show off a little of the family's Wildcat Pride! Sporting purple jerseys, the family snuggled up for some priceless shots! Gavin couldn't stop with those big beautiful blue eyes and I couldn't get enough of him! We hit up Lovers Lane for some adorable mommy and daddy shots, Bill and Missy really got into them and their love shows in every photo. Aggieville was our next location, and it was short and very sweet. Missy had requested a Converse shot and I was happy to oblige...just look at those little Chucks...sooo cute! We finished up the evening with a trip to the MANHATTAN letters, needless to say it was difficult to capture the huge letters and a great intimate shot at the same time. Adjustments were made and a great view of Manhattan ended up being our backdrop. The last shots of the night were capped off with a gorgeous sunset, and thanks to the Hurrelbrink family we had a very successful shoot!

Thank you Bill, Missy and Gavin for giving me the opportunity to capture some of your great moments!

You can view all of the Hurrelbrink's pictures by going to their online gallery: The Hurrelbrink Family! Enjoy the pictures!

Click "Play" below to view a slideshow of all of the pictures! Feel free to cue your favorite music! :)

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Week 6: Botanical

Week 6: Botanical (Click to view the original Week 6: Botanical)

So yes, I am cheating a bit, but overall, I've been a little disappointed in the Fall colors this year...anyone else? Well, when I was in DC last week, I had the opportunity to take this picture of the trees and lawn of the Mall. It was amazing, one second I was taking pictures of the beautiful clouds, foliage and capital building and the next, a gorgeous rainbow appears. Right place, right time I guess! And that's the beauty of photography, right? You just never know when the light is going to break just right. You can place yourself in the right position everytime, but sometimes you go away empty handed and sometimes you find a few gems. Most importantly though, is that you still go out and give yourself an opportunity to succeed in doing what you love! :)

Photog Info:
Natural Light
ISO 200
SS 1/200
f/7.1
Canon 5DII
Canon 16-35 f/2.8L II
Lightroom 3 Beta

For those of you interested in participating, PLEASE do! I would LOVE to see your pictures! So please comment and leave a link to your blog/photo gallery!

Here is the full list of 52 Weeks of Awesomeness!

Week 1 Free for All
Week 2 Introduction of yourself
Week 3 Show us your Hometown
Week 4 Water
Week 5 Sports (anything related, teams, players, equipment, etc,)
Week 6 Botanical
Week 7 ONE object shot at 5 different angels/distances
Week 8 One for the road (signs, streets, traffic, etc.)
Week 9 Objects that tell something about you
Week 10 Things that make your life easier
Week 11 Your favorite color
Week 12 Household items
Week 13 Foods
Week 14 Something Slimy
Week 15 Sun (sunlight, sunset, sunrise, etc)
Week 16 Emotions
Week 17 Something old
Week 18 What you do outside the world of photography
Week 19 Weather
Week 20 Emotional attachment (heirloom/special gift, ect.)
Week 21 Pets
Week 22 Things you couldn't live without
Week 23 Habits
Week 24 Fire (candle, fireplace, etc.)
Week 25 Scrapbooking (stash, room, lo's, etc)
Week 26 Textures
Week 27 Hands
Week 28 Shoes
Week 29 Favorite Jewerly
Week 30 Generations
Week 31 Hot
Week 32 Fill the Frame (close ups)
Week 33 A week in our lives
Week 34 Faith (what you believe)
Week 35 Dance (body in motion)
Week 36 Family & Friends
Week 37 SOOC...from that to this...before & afters
Week 38 Patriotic
Week 39 Object: straight up shots and then straight down shots
Week 40 Nighttime
Week 41 Something that gives you the feeling of warmth or cold
Week 42 Pictures of words
Week 43 Chores I hate
Week 44 Animals
Week 45 Music
Week 46 Reflections/Shadows
Week 47 Flowers
Week 48 Sleep
Week 49 Action Shots
Week 50 Wheels
Week 51 Wrapping (gifts, baby, foods, etc.)
Week 52 Guilty pleasures

Beau - Senior Portraits by Brandi!

While visiting my family back in the great state of Nebraska I had the pleasure of photographing another 2010 senior. After taking my sister's, Morgan, photos this summer (post coming soon) I was contacted by Beau to have his senior portraits taken. Sometimes I am so grateful to have grown up in a small town, word traveled fast that I was becoming serious about my photography. Beau and I were accompanied by his mom Jill, girlfriend Alli, his friend Brandon and of course...MORGAN! As you can see he had quite the entourage for this shoot and I couldn't have asked for better company!

We started out on Beau's farm with some great shots of the rolling fields as the backdrop, then to an abandoned corn crib a few miles down the road. Beau didn't need much direction, the "look" came very natural to him which made for some amazing photography. The alleys of the near by town had some great doorways, staircases and building fronts to work with, making it easy to find different places to shoot. Some of my favorite shots of the night were on an old rusty staircase, thanks Beau for being brave enough to climb it! As the sun set, we traveled back to my hometown shere I experimented with flash on the football field. The images didn't turn out exactly how I imagined so next time I'm back home I owe Beau a few shots!

Thanks Beau for giving me the opportunity to take your senior photos, I hope you like them! You can view all of Beau's pictures through his online gallery: Beau ~ Senior Portraits!

Click "Play" to view all of Beau's senior portraits in a slideshow! Feel free to play your own favorite music! :)

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Custom Designed Holiday/Christmas Cards!

Brandi and I are SUPER excited to announce an exciting partnership with an AWESOME graphic design company based out of Kansas City: Element Creative Studio!

Lindsey and Sonya have extraordinary talent in custom designing and creating wedding invitations, birth announcements and now, holiday cards! Plus, for La Brisa blog stalkers, clients and Facebook Fans, they are offering YOU a 10% discount! How awesome is that? Just mention La Brisa when you place your order and they'll take care of the rest!

What's not to like? Everyone scrambles at this time of year to get their Christmas/Holiday cards ready to send out to all of their family and friends, so why not let the amazing ladies at www.elementcstudio.com take care of you? You'll send them a high resolution photo and the text that you want on your cards, then you'll get 2 FREE proofs and after final approval, you'll receive your awesome, high quality, custom designed cards with enevelops and you'll just need to stick a stamp on those bad boys and you're finished! Sweet deal, right? Plus, these cards add a personal touch that are much more sentimental than the poor print quality and finish of those Walmart/Walgreens cards!

For more info, pricing and details about the cards, kindly visit Element Creative Studio and fill out the contact page! Don't forget to mention that La Brisa sent you for your 10% discount! :)

Ok, I know you're dying to see them now, so without further ado, prepare your eyeballs for pure awesomeness! :)

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52 Weeks of Awesomeness

I am a little late about blogging this, but I've started a mini photography project to keep my creativity flowing in between weddings and portrait sessions. For those of you who have been following this blog, you might recognize this project that I originally started almost a year ago and that I never finished. So hopefully this time, I can finish all 52 weeks! :)

So in one fell swoop, I'm going to catch you all up on what I've done so far and I promise that I'll be blogging about it each week!

Week 1: Free for All (Click the link to check out my original Week 1: Free for All)

This is my nephew Matthias. Shot this past weekend. I just love his expression and I really really love natural light on babies/children :)

Photog Info:
Natural Light
ISO 1600
SS 1/200
f/1.8
Canon 40D
Sigma 50 f/1.4 lens
Lightroom 2.5

Week 2: Introduce Yourself (Click the link to check out my original Week 2: Introduce Yourself)

Wanted to play around with some flash work, so here's what I cam up with. A couple of things that are at the forefront of my life: my faith and my marriage and I wanted to show that I don't look down/up to those two elements, but instead they are always part of my vision going forward.

Let me know what you think!

Photo Info:
ISO 250
SS 1/2500
f/11
Canon 40D
Sigma 50 f/1.4 lens
FEC +2
580exII on camera
580exII camera right (on the floor)
Lightroom 2.5

Week 3: Show Us Your Hometown (Click the link to check out my original Week 3: Hometown)

Well I can't really claim Brooklyn as my hometown, but I'll try anyways! :) One of the most iconic things about NYC/Brooklyn are the taxi cabs. Literally, they are everywhere! Tried to do a little panning action to show the cyclist and taxis in motion.

Photog Info:
ISO 800
SS 1/100
f/13
Canon 40D
Canon 16-35 f/2.8L lens
Lightroom 2.5

Week 4: Water (Skipped this week due to a death in the family: RIP Maxie)

Sorry this is so late! So it's been raining a LOT in Brooklyn lately, so I wanted to take advantage and try something new. Initially, I wanted to photograph a droplet of water falling vertically, but as I was trying to do that (and failing), these droplets started running off the roof top. Many times, in photography (and in life), you just get lucky :) I really like the outward trajectory of the droplets. btw, i cropped this photo a TON.

Photog Info:
ISO 400
SS 1/1250
f/2.8
Canon 5DII
Sigma 50 f/1.4
Lightroom 3 Beta

Week 5: Sports (Click the link to check out my original Week 5: Sports)

I had the awesome opportunity to go out and witness the 2009 NYC Marathon. Definitely a once in a lifetime experience! I really like this picture because it shows the crowd and how supportive people are and how they line the streets to cheer on complete strangers as they run the marathon :)

Photog Info:
ISO 2000
SS 1/3200
f/4.0
Canon 5DII
Canon 70-200 f/2.8
Lightroom 3 Beta

For those of you interested in participating, PLEASE do! Here is the full list of 52 Weeks of Awesomeness!

Week 1 Free for All

Week 2 Introduction of yourself
Week 3 Show us your Hometown
Week 4 Water
Week 5 Sports (anything related, teams, players, equipment, etc,)
Week 6 Botanical
Week 7 ONE object shot at 5 different angels/distances
Week 8 One for the road (signs, streets, traffic, etc.)
Week 9 Objects that tell something about you
Week 10 Things that make your life easier
Week 11 Your favorite color
Week 12 Household items
Week 13 Foods
Week 14 Something Slimy
Week 15 Sun (sunlight, sunset, sunrise, etc)
Week 16 Emotions
Week 17 Something old
Week 18 What you do outside the world of photography
Week 19 Weather
Week 20 Emotional attachment (heirloom/special gift, ect.)
Week 21 Pets
Week 22 Things you couldn't live without
Week 23 Habits
Week 24 Fire (candle, fireplace, etc.)
Week 25 Scrapbooking (stash, room, lo's, etc)
Week 26 Textures
Week 27 Hands
Week 28 Shoes
Week 29 Favorite Jewerly
Week 30 Generations
Week 31 Hot
Week 32 Fill the Frame (close ups)
Week 33 A week in our lives
Week 34 Faith (what you believe)
Week 35 Dance (body in motion)
Week 36 Family & Friends
Week 37 SOOC...from that to this...before & afters
Week 38 Patriotic
Week 39 Object: straight up shots and then straight down shots
Week 40 Nighttime
Week 41 Something that gives you the feeling of warmth or cold
Week 42 Pictures of words
Week 43 Chores I hate
Week 44 Animals
Week 45 Music
Week 46 Reflections/Shadows
Week 47 Flowers
Week 48 Sleep
Week 49 Action Shots
Week 50 Wheels
Week 51 Wrapping (gifts, baby, foods, etc.)
Week 52 Guilty pleasures

Add a caption

Week 3: Show Us Your Hometown Well I can't really claim Brooklyn as my hometown, but I'll try anyways! :) One of the most iconic things about NYC/Brooklyn are the taxi cabs. Literally, they are everywhere! Tried to do a little panning action to show the cyclist and taxis in motion. Photog Info: ISO 800 SS 1/100 f/13 Canon 40D Canon 16-35 f/2.8L lens Lightroom 2.5

Check out La Brisa Photography's GEAR!