A Big Christmas Gift...

Christmas has come and gone and it has brought many non-material gifts including snow in the Las Vegas valley. One of the biggest gifts was the official startup of my portrait business. Although I have many portraits and photo shoots under my belt, they were all done for the purpose of learning and sharing my passion with others. The idea of taking my hobby and transforming it into a business was not necessarily my idea. Many folks, like my Sisters, Sister-In-Law, and the Dudman Family among others, continuously encouraged me to take my hobby to the next level.

My wife and kids have also been very supportive in this adventure. I especially have to give thanks to them because they were there when I would take a millions pictures, or at least what must have felt like a million pictures, of the same thing or pose just because I could not get the shot right. There was a time, when Victoria, my oldest daughter, would run away from me when she saw me reaching for the camera.

The official launch of Memories Retold (the business) began with the creation of a website that would allow me to showcase my work, provide pricing information, and provide a place for clients to review their photos after a photo shoot. If you have a minute, check out the website and let me know what you think.

Here is the link:
http://www.memoriesretold.net/

Since this blog was created in order for me to share my photography with all of you. Here are some phtos taken during a recent trip to Mt. Charleston. Enjoy.

See ya later...

Merry Christmas...

Merry Christmas everyone! It has been a couple weeks since my last post and I have been busy. I have launched my portrait business and website; therefore I have been taking a lot of pictures. I will give you more details about the business on a later post. Today, being Christmas, I wanted to share with you our family Christmas portraits and photos of us in the snow. For those of you who don't live in Las Vegas, you might not know that it snowed in the desert. For an entire afternoon and night it snowed non-stop. So much so, that many trees in our neighborhood broke due to the weight of the snow. Enough talk and on to the photos, I hope you enjoy them.

"DADDY!! HURRY UP AND TAKE THE PICTURE.

I AM COLD!"

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Suprise We Are In Disneyland...

For Thanksgiving this year, we decided to take a trip to California and have Thanksgiving with family out there. Part of our trip included a day at a theme park, zoo, or aquarium. Our plan was to go to Knott's Berry Farm and if it rained, head over to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. We had decided to go to Knott's Berry Farm because it is less expensive then some of the other theme parks in California and we thought it might be a waist of money if it rained. In order to get to Knot's Berry Farm, we had to drive by Disneyland. As we drove by, my wife and I looked at each other with a mischievous smile and she said, "What do you think?' Of course, I said "What the heck, lets go."

Victoria, our 6 year old daughter, is a big fan of Disney, specially the Princesses. Because we did not know if were even going to be able to go to a theme park, we had not given a whole lot of details to Victoria. She knew we were going somewhere fun, but she didn't know where. When we parked in the parking garage, Victoria mentioned that it was silly that the parking garage was decorated with Disney characters even the it "wasn't Disneyland." As we rode the trolley to the entrance of the park my wife and I mentioned to each other that we hope no-one sitting around us would say anything about Disneyland.

Here is a photograph of Victoria and Mia before going on the trolley.
Notice the big Daisy sign in the background.

The closer we got to the entrance to the park the more she mentioned that "this place" was like Disneyland, they even had a Disney Store. After paying for the tickets, I handed Victoria her ticket. The following photographs illustrate what happened next.

Victoria reads her ticket and looks at Mom as if saying "can this be true!"

She then does a dance of exhilaration.

And hugs her Sister with excitement. I love the look in Mia's face. It almost looks as if she is saying, "Get off of me crazy girl!"
That day in Disneyland turned out to be awesome. It drizzled for a few minutes, but other than that, the weather was great. Even Mia, who is is fuzzy and strong willed, had a great day. Victoria was able to take many photos with the Disney Princesses and get their autographs.

We left very tired, but happy that we had turned around and suprised Victoria with a day at Disneyland.

Waking From a Nap...

These next few pictures were taken recently when my youngest daughter woke up from a nap. Mia is 14 months old and full of energy. She is rambunctious, often very happy and often very grumpy. She has a very strong personality and she demonstrates it with her many facial expressions and mad stares. She is also very loving. Everyday she amazes us with something new. With that said, on this particular day she was taking a nap and awoke giggling and laughing. I was listening on the monitor when I heard her giggle. Mia usually wakes up crying and very upset, so when I heard her giggling, I grabbed my camera in an attempt to get some shots without her noticing me. This first photo was the only one that I was able to take without her noticing me.

The next photo was taken immediately after the first. When she heard the shutter in the camera close and open, she noticed me and smiled.

When she saw me she got up and walked to edge of the crib. She looked at me as if saying, "Daddy, what do you think you are doing?"

Two of these photos were posted in a Forum for comments and criticism. Here is the link if you would like to see what others had to say.
http://forums.popphoto.com/camera/board/message?board.id=6&thread.id=212519

A Walk on the Beach

My family and I recently spent a week at the Beach in Ensenada, Mexico. As you can imagine, I took many many pictures. Here I share with you some of them.

While in Ensenada, when our baby was sleeping, my wife and I enjoyed taking walks on the beach. This picture was taken while doing this. I really liked how the seagull was just standing there as if enjoying the rhythm of the waves.

Seagull At the Beach

My daughter and I would also take walks. While we walked we enjoyed looking at and collecting some of the interesting things that would wash-up on the beach. The following are a few of our discoveries.

A dead crab.

Here is another interesting thing we found.

This picture is the view from the beach house that we were staying at.

The next are two of many picture of my daughter and her cousin. These two young ladies spend most of their day at the beach and provided me the opportunity for many interesting and funny pictures. Most of the mornings were overcast and although this made it perfect for taking photos, it was often chilly. This did not seem to stop these two young ladies.

This first one I really like because of the reflection that they cast on the wet sand.

This one is a classic because when they were not on the beach, it seemed like they were getting ready to go to the beach or already on there way.

I saved the best for last. This picture, although posed, is my favorite because it looks as if they are just sitting there enjoying the sun, each others company, and the beach.