Adoption from Ethiopia

Meet Silas, this handsome little 3 year old who was adopted from Ethiopia only 7 weeks ago! I had the pleasure of meeting this lovely family last week and enjoyed the session with all of them. They were fun and easy to work with and Silas is quite the little lover. He'll just come up to you and sit in your lap and smile. Goodness he's cute!

I love people that adopt...to me, it just says a whole lot about you.
Congrats on this beautiful addition to your family!

What happens in Vegas...

.....can be photoshopped.


JUST kidding.


Well, I know it looks like we never attended any classes, but really we did! WPPI was fantastic and overwhelming at the same time. My favorite's were Sam Puc, Yervant and David Jay's classes, all so talented yet all so different. I came back with a wealth of new information. The tradeshow was unbelievable as well.

10,000 photographers attended that week mixed in with spring break college students and the St. Patty's crowd. Busy streets but a fabulous time. One of the highlights was meeting the fabulous and beautiful Jasmine Star who is just as sweet in person as she is on her blog. As much as I find David Jay inspiring on line, I wish I had a chance to meet him in person.

Thanks to Andrea, Missi and Carrie for letting me share some of their fun images on my blog.





On top of the Rio.















At the tradshow with my beautiful friend Missi



Andrea took these of Carrie and I dancing at Coyote Ugly.



We did it better than the statue, don't you think?







Andrea and Sammy.



Carrie in front of water fountain




Mike Fulton and Jordan Chan from TriCoast with some friends. Had so much fun this night hanging out with these funny & talented photogs!

Ladies mark your calendar...

Ladies,

Coming up in mid-April, I'm doing a community project to benefit a battered women's shelter in Phoenix. I'll be doing a separate post with more information next week on this project after I'm done confirming details with their supervisor. I'm excited about it because most of my work is related to photographing women and making them feel extraordinary. I'm working to put something together for the women at this shelter as well. It will be much needed and well deserved.

In the interim, I decided it would be a good idea to run a glamour and/or boudoir marathon and send some of the proceeds to this shelter.
I will be doing this special for just one day in April so call fast to book your appointment. Details below and keep in mind that Mother's Day is coming up and these make excellent gifts! Boxes included.

WHEN: SUNDAY, APRIL 6TH
TIME: AVAILABLE SLOTS FROM 10AM TO 5 PM
SESSION: 30 MINUTES
WHERE: RUBY'S HOUSE & STUDIO
COST: $200 must be paid at time of booking. CC or check.
WHAT YOU GET: THE SESSION, 1 8x10 AND A MOUNTED 10X20 STORYBOARD FEATURING 4 IMAGES OF YOUR CHOICE.

CALL TO BOOK: 623-332-9579 or email: ruby@dazzimages.com

10 images will uploaded to online gallery. You then have 3 days to choose the 4 images for your storyboard and the one for your 8x10.

Missi, Brianna and Jessica

Missi was in town for a few days and invited me to hang out with her and her fun friends on Saturday night. We laughed most of the night and ate delicious homemade cookies thanks to Brianna!

I just want to point out that if Thanksgiving was everyday, Missi would be on top of my list of people I am thankful for in my life. She's a great friend both on a personal level and a business level. I don't think I would have gotten this far without her and I really mean it. Meeting her 5 years ago at a scrapbook store was one of the best things that has ever happened to me. She's the kind of friend you want to pick up and give a bear hug to for no reason at all. Just because.

Here are a bunch of random images.









Brianna








Jessica

Carrie...my dear friend

I'm back from WPPI and it was an amazing experience to say the least. I will post pictures of Vegas next week because I'm a total loser and didn't take as many pictures as I wanted to. My friends are sending their images so I'll combine all of ours and post separately next week.

I am blessed to have the friends I do. I adore them all, each for different reasons.
This post is on Carrie. She is a photographer in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
I room with her at every conference. We met each other a few years ago in Chicago and we've been like sisters ever since. This girl is real. This girl is beautiful and sexy. This girl is hysterically funny. Simply put, I cannot live without her in my life.

Vegas was ridiculously fun for the two of us. Funny thing was that we'd sleep after 3am and she'd get up around 7am for class. Meanwhile, I was the log on the other bed who was dead to the entire world. She asked how I could sleep with the curtains open? Dang. I could sleep with a live band INSIDE the bedroom and not care if I was tired. Needless to say, the curtains were glued shut the next day~ :)

Before and after the awards banquet, we shot each other in the hallway and in the room using on camera flash. Here are some of this beautiful soul I call my friend.

Dena-Sexy photographer

You know what's nicer than photographing just anyone? Photographing another photographer. We're always busy with other people's images and often forget about our own. I know some of you can relate. So it's a little treat when something like this comes your way.

This is my friend Dena who runs her own photography business in Lincoln, Kansas. Ck out her blog!

www.denasorensen.blogspot.com

These will be for her anniversary gift to her husband. This beats buying him a tie, wouldn't you agree? These are all natural light in the bedroom and living room.

Here are a few of this hot mama:

Baljeet

I'm part of a modeling & photography forum and see images of male models all the time. To be honest, some are superb, sexy and classy while others are just plain wrong. I shoot primarily women and have photographed only a couple of men in the past but actually wouldn't mind doing more as long as they were fashionable, fun & classy.

This is Baljeet. I met him last year at an Indian event that I was photographing. I used him as a model for my port at the event and asked him if he'd be interested in doing another session.

The guy seriously knows how to maneuver in front of the camera and has a certain model-like quality to him, as you can see: