Peter + Vanessa | Southern California Engagement Session | Citrus State Historical Park | Pt.1

 {Peter + Vanessa | Engagement Session | Citrus State Historical Park, Riverside, CA | January 2012 } Last February  I  got an amazing series of phone calls from my brother, Peter.  It started off like this: "Hey sis. So...i have my eyes on someone." Oh my word. Was I thrilled. My brother is pretty amazing. He loves Jesus more than anything and when I heard that Vanessa was the one that had captured his attention, I choked on my asparagus.  He spoke of her heart for others, the way he loved serving with her--and then he told me about her issue with SOCKS and I was sold.  They spent nearly a year dating, getting to know each other better and then when she spent a semester in Africa with her nursing program from APU this past fall, he spoke of his incredible longing for her. My brother...a man...longing for this woman whom he wanted for his bride. He proposed in Africa by the way.... but i'm saving that story, written by my brother, for tomorrow. :) | lkm

the 'how to dip' coaching session was full of belly-laughs your guess is as good as mineThis is Peter talking to my other brother Nathan who was SUPPOSED to have come hang out for the afternoon. Peter arrived at the session, spent an hour cuddling with his fiance and then suddenly gasped and shot a look at Vanessa, "we forgot Nathan." It's kinda funny now -noitisnot- especially remembering Vanessa's look of horror and Peter's genuine look of remorse. I haven't seen Nathan in 9 months....yes, yes I am still bitter.two of my favorites from the day...I vote no glasses for the wedding. What do you think? I get another sister!!! Part Two coming tomorrow :) Along with one of the best proposal stories I've ever heard of... :)

Ryan + Sam | San Diego Engagement Session | Birch Aquarium at Scripps College Portraits | Pt.2

 {Ryan + Sam | La Jolla Beach Engagement Session Pt.2 | January 2012} 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 good-lookin' couple!After our tromp in the forest (see PT uno HERE) 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. Sam--GIRL--you've got this smile that makes puts sunshine to shame :) 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. below right...probably one of my favorite silhouette pictures. gah i miss the beach.

 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

Ryan + Samantha | Picnic-Inspired San Diego Engagement Session | Birch Aquarium at Scripps College | Pt.1

{Ryan + Samantha |  Engagement Session | Birch Aquarium of Scripps College in San Diego | January 2012} 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. :)

Ryan + Samantha | San Diego Engagement Session | Birch Aquarium at Scripps - UC San Diego | teaser

 {Ryan + Samantha | Engagement Session @ Birch Aquarium | San Diego, CA | January 2012} 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...

Dan + Erin | 'Vintage-Meets-Urban'-Inspired Downtown Tucson Engagement Session | Pt.2

{Dan + Erin | Vintage-Meets-Urban Inspired Downtown Tucson Engagement Session | Janaury 2012}

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

Dan + Erin | Vintage-Inspired Downtown Tucson Engagement Session | Pt.1

{Dan + Erin | Vintage-Inspired Downtown Tucson Engagement Session | January 2012} 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 :)

Josh + Sarah | Engagement Session | Dunnellon, FL | Florida Wedding Photographer

Sarah & Josh are getting married next May and I had the ripe privilege of shooting their engagement pictures while in Central Florida last month. According to Sarah's mom, there is WAY too much kissing going on in these pictures. But I'm pretty sure Sarah just nodded and say, 'Yup! It's perfect.' Sarah & Josh, thank you so much  for letting me hang out with you two for an afternoon, get up 'in your business', ask you to smooch more often than might be healthy, and all that stuff that makes me smile about my job. We're just gonna have check and see if we get to hang out again...oh, like say, next May?! ;)