Lorie V Photoblog

This is a very special photo session that I did for my kids, and the whole process is packed full of memories...  including a skunk, tadpoles and a surprise rain shower.  Photos really are my passion and my wish is for you to have photos of your family that you love.  Photos that bring back memories and help mark the passing of time. Please take the time to photograph your life.  Not just the special times but the ordinary days too. 

And now my mom will stop complaining about not having any photos of her grandkids because she is getting a very special surprise from me this Christmas... Shhhh... lets keep this just between us and don't tell *smile*....    I love you mom!!   

Quite a few of my clients request green or lush locations for their photo sessions.  I have nothing against green and lush but living and working in the west valley makes finding a wide variety of greener pastures hard to find.  If you could have seen my face when Mrs. S requested a desert riverbed for her fall photo session it would have surely been beaming like a desert sunset.  I have not always felt this way and I do have moments when I wish a dense forest of ivy and pine would spring up in my backyard but I truly love the desert.  It's amazingly unique and beautiful.  Thanks to Mr. and Mrs. S who were all up for a short desert trek to capture an amazing family session and for embracing our magnificent southwest surroundings.

Mrs. B specifically asked for this fun location....  I LOVE a woman who knows what she wants. Little Mr. Blue eyes gave me some heart melting smiles.  This fun session had all three B's laughing.  I am sure all that love and laughter kept the rain away until after their photo session.  

This little guy just turned two and as you can guess he is quite the bundle of energy.  I was hoping all the creative avenues at our local library would capture his attention and slow him down just a bit..... WRONG!!  Turns out the magic ingredient for two-year-old sluggishness (if you could call it that) was an apple.  Lesson for the day is never underestimate the power of an apple.  Now if I could bottle that energy and give myself a swig once in a while I would be one productive momma. Thank you Ryland for the fun and very creative workout this morning. :) 

Here is a little peek into our firecracker session.  

This weeks I Heart Faces Challenge is beautiful eyes.  Although many of my clients have beautiful eyes little Miss {A} has a particularly memorable pair of peepers.  Enjoy this weeks challenge and be sure to visit I Heart Faces and see the many other entries. 

There were plenty of smiles radiating from Mr. and Mrs. M on this sunshine filled day.  I have to point out those beautiful eyes on big sister.... simply breathtaking! 

Oh baby Lily how I can't wait to meet you.  You are one lucky girl because you have the most amazing parents plus your Aunt Lorie is pretty awesome too and she can't wait to hold you, snuggle you, touch your sweet baby toes and take a million pictures of you.  Hope you are ready Lily because your family already adores you. 

You may remember this little sweetheart from her first birthday photos.   It's hard to believe that another year has gone by and she is now celebrating the big 2!! My baby giggler assistant (aka Nicole) got this little one extra happy for her photo session.  Miss. S is a very serious little girl so I have to give Nicole an extra high five for her baby smile acquisition technique even if I did have to wear stuffed cow on my head.  And would you believe it....even with all our mommy persuasion we could not get her to dig into this cake.  Oh well, I have to give her an A+ for neatness. 

Happy 2nd Birthday Miss. "S"

They say red is the color of passion...

This weeks I Heart Faces challenge was to use red in your photo.  How appropriate for this special week of love.  Here is my entry and it's full of red and passion.

When Jessie first contacted me to do some engagement photos and asked if it would be okay if she brought a huge bunch of balloons I said... "heck yah"!  The balloons were all Jessie's idea and what a fantastic idea it was, and one exciting photo session to boot.  Thanks Jessie and Casey for being just as adventurous as I was.  We sure did go off the beaten path... literally.  You two are truly going to make a fantastic husband and wife team; I  can't wait to see what big things your future holds.  

This weeks I Heart Faces forum photo contest is scenic B&W.  

I was keeping this photo color because of the fiery sunset but when I converted it to B&W I really liked it.  Great idea for a photo challenge....

There are some fantastic entries for this contest, click on the logo and check them out.  Be sure to leave a little love on the blogs you visit, everybody needs love. 

Alright.... alright... dinner with Outstanding in the Field was OUTSTANDING.  I guess they really do live up to their name.  Outstanding in the Field is a roving dinner tour that helps people connect with the origins of their food.  The meals are usually served outdoors and as the name implies in the very field that helped supply the food.  Our dinner was held at Double Check Ranch in Winkelman AZ.  Don't know where Winkelman is....  neither did I.  For curiosity sake if you drew lines east of Florence and south of Globe where those lines intersect you would find Winkelman, population 428.  While visiting Double check we met ranch owner Paul, his family and Bessie the head cow. The wine was provided by Dos Cabezas Wine Works.  Dos Cabezas is a family owned and operated vineyard in Sonoita AZ and the owners poured the wine as they talked with the dinner guests. Having dinner while sitting next to the very people that helped provide the meat, cheese, wine, vegetables etc..  was a fantastic experience. Thanks Paul for the informative and fun tour and thanks Bessie for only giving me the stink eye and not the head butt.  

I had the pleasure of photographing my niece Natalie Johnson and two of her horses, Kippy and Grace.  As a little girl Natalie was in love with horses.  I remember the walls of her childhood room were lined with horses of every type, from toys to paintings.  And as she grew older the toys were slowly replaced with ribbons and trophies.  For us the words Natalie and horses were one in the same.  To no surprise this little girl of my memories grew into quite the horsewoman as she competes in many venues including the Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association.  She even spent part of this summer in Kuwait and Iraq on an Armed Forces goodwill tour with Wrangler Jeans and Warrior Tours as Miss Wrangler National Patriot.  You can find more information about her amazing Wrangler National Patriot Tour and the Cowboy Mounted Shooting Association by clicking on the links.

Can you tell how proud I am of my niece?  If not here is a little more bragging from Aunt Lorie....  Natalie just had her 20th Birthday and is currently ranked #2 cowgirl in the world.  Some of her many titles include:

• Champion Cowboy Mounted Shooter


• 2010 Desert Classic High Overall


• 2010 Reserve Eastern US Championship High Overall


• 2009 Reserve World Champion Cowgirl 

Although I have been around horses before this was my first photo session with a horse as one of the main subjects.  I am not sure how Kippy and Grace felt about the camera but we had a couple of moments there where I am pretty sure they were very curious but I managed to keep the horse nose and tongue prints off the lens.  We did loose Grace to the desert for about 30 minutes when she decided to run off and explore on her own, but luckily Natalie was able to coax her back for a few sunset photos. 

Peach Pickin' with my little "A"

Here is my very first contribution into the I Heart Faces Photography Forum.  I have been following this website for months and finally decided to go for this weeks challenge which was orchard photos.  We brought home several pounds of peaches from our trip and the house smelled yummy for a week as we waited for them to ripen.  Then the house smelled of warm peach cobbler but that special aroma did not last long. 

Okay sweet baby 'b' you are totally crankin' up the cuteness here.....not sure if I can take much more....system overload.