Matt + Marcy | Alice In Wonderland Inspired Engagement Session | Agua Caliente, Tucson, Arizona

{Matt + Marcy | Engagement Session | Agua Caliente, Tucson, Arizona | July 2012}

I showed up to M + M's e-session striving hard to take myself seriously. I was climbing (awkwardly of course-pregnant) out of a borrowed single cab pick up truck that was decked out in NFL Broncos everything AND I had those child's play sticky tattoos plastered over my right arm, ankles and wrist. I didn't regret the play time I had had with my kids just before the shoot, though it might have helped me feel more pro if i had scrubbed them a little and gotten over the fact that my license plate screamed 'TEEEBOW". Sharing these superflous details DO have a point by the way. Turns out Marcy actually WORKS at a graphic design lab FOR the very company of tattoos I had just divulged in with my kids that afternoon. I could have hugged her. It was free entertainment for a solid 2 hours that day. Ahmazing bliss. I didn't hug Marcy but she got a kick outta the fact that my arm tattoo of a bear was one that she had particularly designed herself. Ironic yea? ... Matt & Marcy are shooting for a garden-esque/earthy-meets-whimsy/a-little-dash-of-alice-in-wonderland theme for their wedding next April. I loved that they both showed up to their e-session aware of those details and fully prepared to walk around for an hour in large-and-in-charge shoes no matter what the cost. Vanity before comfort right?! Matt said he 'was looking for a wedding photographer who can help him feel comfortable.' What a fantastic challenge. :D  I did my best... They really seemed to have a lot of fun together!  Love these two.

Thank you guys for letting me hang out with you for an evening!

Chance + Ashley | Tucson Engagement Session | Green Grass and Quarry Romance

 {Chance + Ashley | Tucson Engagement Session | A Random Orchard off of the side of the I-10 | July 2012} I hopped in the car, checked my gps to make sure I wasn't seeing things--yup, i was meeting my couple about an hour away in a place I had never been. Admittedly, I was anxious. I typically like to be in charge of scouting out locations--making sure I know where light is going to hit, where things are, have my plan-of-attack all set up in my head... but I was taking a chance this time. An hour later I arrived at a Starbucks that felt like it was in the middle of nowhere. The monsoon dreariness lay thick and threatened to spill out from pockets of darkness that mingled with other hopeful pockets of blue sky tinted with little flecks of gold--a tease of a sunset that made my little photographer's heart whisper a quick prayer for something cool that evening. As we talked wedding details and downed a few preliminary glasses of triple-filtered water, Ashley explained that there was an orchard right off the freeway exit down the road. A what?!  Potential green stuff? No. Way. Skeptical, I carpooled with C + A over to this perfect little oasis and I ate my heart out. I. LOVE. GREEN. I aimed to keep poses casual and natural--to really fit the chill personalities of the two engaged. On a side note, speaking of eating hearts out, all mosquitos available in a 100 mile radius must have received the same memo that there was a pocket of lushness waiting right off of I-10. It's been a week since the shoot and you could still play 'connect the dots' on my legs with the remnants of the darn bugger's thankless feasting. Chance & Ashley bore down and delivered some wonderful snapshots of tender lovin' despite the bugs. Even when I found myself standing  in a  red ant nest while snagging that last set of images over looking the nearby quarry,  C + A graciously let me go into an intense 'excuse me i'm going to silently freak out and try not to cry' zone for a minute as  i stripped off sandals and swat the crap out of my feet. Oh the things we do for a good shot. I've got battle wounds from this session...but now that i get to share a few highlights, i'm feeling much better thanks. :D | lkm

Curtis + Jenna | Downtown Casual Engagement Session | Tucson, Arizona Wedding Photography

 {Curtis + Jenna | Downtown Tucson Engagement Sessions | July 2012} Working with Curtis + Jenna has been such a joy. For what little i know of their ins and outs, they couldn't be any more opposite! But it's pretty neat to see God folding them into each other's lives. Folding--that's exactly what I stretched them to do during this engagement session. I wanted Jenna to just fold herself into Curtis. The objective was to make this man feel strong--to accent Jenna's delightful joy and Curtis quite strength. They wanted to keep things 'subtle' and really natural. I tried to capture the little things--the nuances and subtle conversations--the little touches.  I even told them to give me a 'signal' if I asked them to do anything that 'felt funny.' ... oh this face...i love this face almost as much as i love her heart :D 

i really like this black and white...

remember that 'signal' i mentioned above? yea...i got it once... :D these are my favorite... one of their favorite swank little cafes... :)We went to go change wardrobe...check out that stellar glasses! I wish we had played with those more :D its the little looks, ya know?below right was one of my favorite split-second moments during the whole shoot...Jenna spontaneously just whipped her arms around Curtis and gave him a big wet one :)Jenna specfically scouted out this wall and asked for a series with it...this is their REALLY excited face...So incredibly excited to celebrate with these guys on their wedding day in 4 weeks!! :D EEK! | lkm

DILKS Pt. 1 | Proudly Patriotic | Tucson Family Photographer

  {Dilks Family Portrait Session | June 2012 | Davis-Monthan Air Force Base | Tucson, AZ} Mariby found me online as she 'searched the snot' (slight paraphrase of how she described her photographer hunt) for a family portrait photographer. I had yet to shoot on base and was THRILLED to hear of her different ideas with red, white and blue and her desire to capture her little girl's 1st year. Both Mariby & Ken beam with pride to be an air force family! | lkm

Sotello Family | Tucson Baby Portraits

 {Baby Sotello | March 2012 | Tucson, AZ} Little bundles of humanity...babies are really mind-blowing for me. I just can't quite wrap my head around that this ball of helpless awesomeness will one day morph into a man or woman. The level of dependence, reliance, desperate need for training and intentional upbringing--it's overwhelming. And I'm already on #3 and STILL feel like I haven't fully grasped the full length and breadth of my role's significane as mom; a child-rearing, bottom-wiping, snot-swiping, laughter-loving, sleep-needing, patience-building parent. Amos & Dulce let me capture a bit of their little one's first stage and it was a treasure :) -- though, i will secretely admit that i take a meniachal level of deep satisfaction in watching newborn parents. I giggle to myself while I think, 'oh boy...they have only JUST begun...' Cheers to beginnings friends... | lkm

MICAH | Musician Meets Mad Men | Urban-Styled Tucson Senior Portraits

 {Micah | Senior Portraits | April 2012 | Tucson, AZ } This kid is so suave. Literally--my husband came bounding home after a shift at Starbucks uber excited to tell me he found a rad Senior client for me. He began to sing accolades about Micah's chill sense of humor and ability to carry on conversation--you know, little things that a regular customer/barista relationship can establish. His mom set the session up, I met Micah in downtown on a blistering hot late afternoon. He was down with caravaning around 4th/5th street finding a wicked cool building that the sun was hitting just right. We stopped near this wearhouse, i gave him the basic run down of how 'a guy looks cool in senior pictures' and we hung out for the next hour or two playing with different poses, backdrops, wardrobes, inside jokes, etc. I was thankful for the extra time Micah and his mom chose to invest in. It really made a difference in the session experience. I felt like I reached a myriad of emotional expressions, we weren't rushed, we laughed a ton, we're able to relax... it was a blessing to be trusted with these milestone pictures! | lkm

"now...Micah, i want you to jump off that step with your top best air guitar impression" i love the composition of the two pics below. maybe it's just how the colors work against the sky...i dunno... i vote album cover...headshots below are probably top fave :) Micah just naturally slid into 'subject' role and was awesome to shoot...

MICAH | Musician Meets Mad Men | Urban-Styled Tucson Senior Portraits | teaser

 {Micah | Senior Portrait Sessions | Downtown Tucson | April 2012 | teaser}

I'm doing it backwards again. HERE is the facebook highlight album for Micah's Senior Sesh... I'd love to write about this shoot but I'm pretty sure i'm going to nod off and hit my head on the keyboard any second now. Last time i checked, head-banging isn't the most effective method of blog writing. for now: This senior session goes down as one of my top favorites. I mean, who gets a highschool senior dude to crank out 'the Zoolander face', mixing suave and goofy effortlessly, and a offering 12-point model pose series without blinking? Micah was amazing to work with and skirting around 5th avenue for an hour and half was a blast! | lkm  :)

Best Mother's Day Ever | personal

 {Saguaro/Colossal Cave National Park  | Mothers Day 2012} God is so good. It's taken a pretty incredible 4 years to get to this point of celebrating Mommy Day 2012. I won't hash out the heart struggles today. I just wanted to share something personal today--my joy in my family. These are my 2 children. I'm pregnant with #3. (sadly we failed to get any baby bump pictures...you can whine at me later - i just look mostly fluffy anyways.)Lawson suggested we find a place to go hike with the kids. So weird how he reads my mind sometimes. Ive been wanting to check out Saguaro National Park the past few weeks (confession: yes there was an alternative motive that was work-oriented. I've been craving to find some crazy awesome Tucson backdrops for portraits...and yes also, I confess I tend to pronounce it SAG WAR OH. laugh and call me gringo. do it. I dare you)Lawson snagged some great accent shots of desert stuff. the kids haven't been hiking since last summer. I've said it before and i'll say it a thousand times henceforth--the older they get the more fun it is to do stuff like this! Jordyn was so thrilled with the freedom of treking on her own two feet. :D Judah was a little obsessed with stepping on snakes. Dad, in all his mighty warning wisdom, told the kids to be 'careful of snakes'...Judah freaked a little and we had to coax him a little to be brave and trudge forward...carefully.   they pretended to hunt for tigers in these tall sticks...as you can clearly see, Judah was a very committed tiger hunter.by the end of our trek in the desert, you could tell we had run our little munchkins raggedwhile resting back in the picnic area Lawson went to go destroy a dead tree with Judah. While ripping off the bark Jordyn was about to thrust herself upon the trunk and try to scale the darn thing. I heard this very fatherly yell, whipped around to find Lawson swopping the kids up and backing up about 10 feet from the tree. Apparently he found a spider cluster. I think he attempted to protect his manhood by insisting it might have been a brown recluse nest. What a hero. we also had a grand time catching this lil lizard and helping the kids get friendly with it. Judah was pretty sure he was going to lose a limb but still giggled hysterically when he got to feel the poor thing's racing heartbeat. all in all, it was my most favorite mother's day thus far. definitely beat's last year's lonely experience and watching these spawn of mine grow and change rocked my face off. So to sign off...this is them, my offspring, yelling 'happy mommy day' at the top of their lungs. :D Peace. | lkm

Tyler + Megan | Tucson Engagement Session | Pt.2 - "Romance in a Desert Wash"

 {Tyler + Megan | Engagement Session | North Tucson | April 2012} After we hit up T + M's favorite date spot (See Part One), we sauntered over to the nearby wash (a common landmark in Tucson). I wasn't sure what to expect. As a photographer stationed in the desert (grin) I'm still workin' on my collection of locations and backdrops to shoot in...I'll have to write more about the changing and challenging scenery later. While Megan was anticipating a couple romantic hugs on the bridge I suggested we jump down INTO the wash (which was an impressive feat for a client in a sassy dress, a pregnant photographer and a grip of camera gear). But we did it and I was so glad we did! The sun was setting and provided a soft glow as a few tall, assuming weeds played off the neutral tones of the lovebird's wardrobe. I was eyeballing the sunbeams streaking through the bridge pillars knowing that that was where i'd wrap up the shoot...

Tyler + Megan are getting married in Alburquerque, New Mexico next month. I am SO excited for them to start this new chapter...AND finally get to live in the same city. They've been doing long distance for the past few months and my heart goes out to them. While distance is a pretty 'safe' way to do the engagement period, it's gut-wrenching. Been there. Done that. Thank you so much for letting me be part of these memories T + M. I hope this last month of preparing for the celebration and the rest of your lives ROCKS and is full of great, great amazing joy! | lkm

Child's Play in Tucson | personal

 {Judah + Jordyn | Play Time | January 2012} I found a few pictures snagged while kids were playing outside a bit ago. Lately i've been enjoying these play times more. They're hilarious...they really like to play 'dead'...is that morbid? It's pretty entertaining regardless. they'll just fall down and then whisper vigorously--"pssst. moooom. i'm D E A D" - with great gutteral grunts and moans. :)...(do note that even buzz lightyear died)this whole conversation he had on the phone was hilarious. he was pissed. like royally. and he kept saying things in a nice even tone that got more and more stressed until he was yelling. he must have been dealing with credit card collectors or something.