Glory be. Hi, can i please have a yellow rain jacket, zebra boots, teal accents, and smiles to make crest whitening strips poster people swoon? Thanks.We found this random industrial/probably-not-for-frolicking nook as we were driving from the aquarium property  down to Scripps beach. So glad we stopped. the texture was a blast to play with.
such a stunning couple!After our tromp in the forest (see part one) we had come across a few immediate inside jokes. Particulary the joke about Sam’s pointing/direction issue. This is her trying to ‘point’ at the sunset while choosing a completely opposite horizon from Ryan. It. Was. Awesome.  Ryan and Sam sure ended on a high note for their engagement session. The dreary weather gave way to a fuzzy golden set of a sun.  i love this abstract silhouette texture series of ryan and sam embracing on the sand so so so cute :) Ryan + Sam, I am waiting on pins and needle for your wedding in March. Seriously can NOT wait to see you guys again and be part of your amazing celebration! Love you guys! | lkm

Oh. My. Peachfuzz. There is joy. And there is love. And then there is smashing hot wonderfulness that I got to shoot last month. :) Ryan + Sam are on a whirlwind engagement escapade. I literally choked on my mac ‘n cheese (yes, i still eat mac n cheese) when i heard she was planning her spankin suave wedding in 4 months. Yup. I just inhaled involuntarily thinking about it. We scheduled their San Diego engagement session for mid-January and shook a few fists when we found out the forecast was going to be grey, dreary and wet. Alas, myself and my wonderful award-winning travel buddy Alyssa, pushed forward.  I had hope that something amazing would come of it all. We scratched Plan A and Plan B for locations when we realized both places would be miserable in the rain. Then our awesome San Diego weekend host, Rebecca Brown, took us to the Birch Aquarium property and I squealed. Rain or shine, the foresty backdrop and mid-summer-esque arena was perfect. | lkmR+S brought this perfect picnic set up topped off with a pitcher full of Twizzlers. I mean, say that to yourself for a moment. It’s cute. Right? I think they should get each other a pitcher full of Twizzlers every valentines day. Just sayin’.We started our afternoon off on the picnic blanket and they were so giddy about everything. 
fun little detailsmind you, Sam has no clue what ryan was doing in the background. what a ham.some golden favorites :)they just so happened to have an umbrella. and then the wedding colors got whipped out. apparently Sam was particularly excited about my challenge to find a wardrobe that brought in wedding colors into the mix. That way the pictures posted on wedding day would tie in with the color scheme.   Teal & Yellow baby…Sam hollered right before wrapping up in the forest, “oh! we forgot the socks!” gosh. forget the socks? that would have been terrible!
So we snagged a few shots of their socks. 
we were racing the sun by the time we finished up part one of the afternoon. We still had this cool wood backrop to nail and then of course the sunset on the beach. I wish we had taken a video of these last few pictures in the tree…Pretty much veered off the road, illegally parked, had alyssa keep the car humming while we pranced (i’m sure Ryan appreciates that verb) to this cool tree with gold leaves and got them real cozy with each other. We were laughing pretty hard. At least Sam and I were. Ryan was cool about it all and just dove into every opportunity he had to embrace his bride-to-be. What a keeper! :) And that’s only part one. :)

I would love to print these. I really would.

There is a very LARGE grip-load of eye candy coming to Google readers (via LKM blog) near you. Here area few teasers from Ryan + Samantha’s gut-wrenchingly beautfiul engagement session shot on the property of Birch Aquarium at Scripps College, UC San Diego. Stand by…

I thought that shooting in La Placita in downtown Tucson would be too cliche. But you get a couple like Erin and Dan to unleash, be real, enjoy each other, share a few inside jokes, laugh, trip, embarass themselves gloriously so–and you could stick ‘em in front of cardboard boxes and still have a spread worth a million bucks. Oh the color!! My gosh, these two burst with such a raw, goofy delight in each other–my face hurts from smiling. | lkm

(above) check out their vert! they nailed the ‘jump’ on the first try. standing ovation please. 
that pole little kiss moment there was purely spontaneous. Dan–you’re so suave.
erin’s grin in these middle-of-the-street/my-photographer-is-going-to-kill-us images…was favorite.
so we found this truck…kinda random. but i’m a fan. ‘hey dan, grab erin’s hand and frolick gleefully down the alley and then embrace each other in than corridor.’i can’t get over how perfectly the tones of what they were wearing meshed with the wall…so the day was mostly overcast which is often some of the BEST natural-soft-box-style lighting you can get….but I was secretly a little bummed that we missed out on some of that golden flare when a session ends with a sunset-provided epic finale……. and yet…… there was a band playing in downtown that night. Just as dan and erin were getting into the car i knew i had to cease the moment. quickly. before we lost momentum. and boy did these two deliver :) 
 Dan + Erin, we love you guys. You are SUCH a treat. Lawson & I still can’t wait for our double date. Thank you for trusting me with these memories. So so blessed to be a part of this special season with you guys! | lkm

Planning this shoot with Erin was a blast. There was a grip of giggly emails passed back and forth with 40s hair-dos, accessories, ideas and inspirations. We planned to meet an hour early so i could plan out the ‘storyboard’ of the afternoon extravaganza. We assessed our collection, kept the looks softly inspired, downed a good solid cup of blond (nods to Starbucks baristas), applied (nervously) that darn long-last lipstick stuff three times before getting it just right, touched up Erin’s soft curls, oggled Dan’s impressive collection of caps and suspenders, and hit the road!

these highschool sweethearts are so comfortable with each other :) I didn’t even tell her to pop that heel :)Love this reflection image… I started to say something like…’Hey Dan, could you give me a flirty lean and– and then I stopped talking because they just melted right into eachother. No instructions needed. The way she looks at him…
a bit o’ bliss… this whole series made me laugh so much. Dan is just so stinkin’ goofy. Oh and this is just the beginning. Check back on Friday for part 2 of Dan and Erin’s e-session… I know. I know. I’m mean aren’t I. It’s worth the wait though. If that makes you feel any better :)

{My kids | Tucson, AZ | January 2012}

Activities are a hard thing for me. Creating new things for the kids can sometimes give me stomach aches. I’m not sure why. I’m not sure what the big deal is inside of me head. Am I really so competitive or obsessive that I feel the pressure of making sure each day is impressively packed with the most amazing mommy activities so i get to brag about them to my husband at the end of the day? Seriously. I sometimes think that. ‘Oh fantastic mother you–how wonderful you were to endure an hour of play-doh. your husband with smother you with lavish gifts and acolades for being such a giver.’ How lame Laura. Really. What if i could just GET the fact that Judah and Jordyn just wanna let loose a little and have fun? Doesn’t need a name, a structure, rules or even pictures to prove we did it. What if a mere mound of dirt would be the highlight of their day? I don’t know why this toddler stage stresses me out so much. Its a conundrum. But this particular day i stifled the anxiety about an extra load of laundry, shoes full of sand and an uncomfortable dirt-filled bathtub later and tried to get down n’ dirty WITH them. (after i put the camera away). ta da. | lkm

{Leo | Backyard Newborn Portriats | Tucson, AZ

I don’t do very many newborn sessions. Newborn photography is a whole amazing ball game on its own. Props to the pros and mommies who patiently wade through 3 hours of nursing, coddling, nuzzling, adjusting, stripping, dressing and working in a room 10 degrees warmer to assure that the babe feels most comfortable and stays asleep long enough to get the perfect perch of the head, curl of the toes, tuck of the legs and maybe even a lil’ yawn while wearing that perfect hoodie to nail that amazing newbie portrait that’ll grace the walls, wallets and wedding day slideshow in years to come. (breath) now, while you recover from that rediculously insane run-on sentence, I share with you a mini backyard session I had with a local Tucson family for their first grandbaby, LEO. It was a quick session. Minimal props. And while I focused on capturing little Leo most of all, I have to admit my favorite part was mom and dad’s expressions–their wonder, curiosity, fascination, anxiety, fear?? (grin. i know that feeling!)–all of it. The newness, awkwardness, sheer, absolute, unabashed, die-hard love for their new addition–it’s brilliant. Such a treasure to be welcomed into these moments. | lkm