Sunday, October 24, 2010

one hot mama



I had the privilege of taking pictures of Amira when she was in town a few months back. She was wanting some fun images to have just because, and I loved that. I don't think you should be required to have an "occasion" to take pictures. Pictures make us feel good and are fun to share. They bring us all kinds of good feelings and help us to reflect on all the fun memories that pass us by so quickly. Amira, our friend Maia, and I all had a blast at the shoot. We listened to music, stopped for a drink, and well need I say more?? Amira is one of my favorite people to photograph. She has this confidence and amazing presence in front of the camera. Here are a couple of my favorite images from her previous shoot.






Amira called me when she was back in town a few weeks ago and asked me to take her professional pictures! Yes, this girl has it all... good looks, fun personality AND brains. She is an immigration attorney in LA but was born and raised here in Lubbock. She's a red raider alumni so we did some of the shoot at the new law school up at Tech. I owe so much of my growing business to friends like Amira & Maia who have gotten me in touch with many more jobs! She promised me we'd get together for drinks next time she comes home, so Amira, if you're reading- I'm still game girl!

Here is a sneak peek at her amazing professional pics- I'd certainly hire her!














If anyone has been curious as to my recent lack of blogging I'll fill you in on why...

In the past month this has been my "To Do List"- I'll make it as brief and jumbled as possible...

Kitchen design drafting for big remodel job here in Lubbock, bathroom design for remodel, design drafting for custom furniture pieces for two clients, I've been in Ft. Worth & Dallas working on another big kitchen remodel and design pieces for my Aunt, drew a driveway design for an old family friend, been busy with lots of new photography projects and amazing clients (will blog those before too long) Editing, editing, editing, working on my website, editing, editing, editing, working on my professional blog (yes I know I need to make them live but I am tooooooo picky! It's a sickness and I promise I am close to launching the site soon) design consults, graphic design work for Renaissance European Spa & yogurt shop in Waco, on my way to Midland tomorrow for engagement pictures of one of my favorite couples, and then back this week for more work! I'll be home until Friday then we are off to Vegas for Halloween (surprise surprise!) then I'm back for one day (may have a possible bridal session!) and then off to Austin for another big design project for a family friend as well as a couple of photography sessions while I'm there. WHEEEEWWWW! I think that's it for now :)


Hope everyone has had a fantastic weekend. It is sad my life has come to blogging at 2:00 am on a Saturday night- lol, I wouldn't change a thing! Talk to you all when I get back from Midland.




Monday, October 4, 2010

blogger backup.


Ok, so my inexcusable blog behavior has been bad... I know. I literally owe you guys 10 photography updates. Count 'em, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10- photography sessions. What can I say, between photography, interior renovations, endless edits, graphic design, and getting all my projects out to clients on time, my blog life has just been a little backed up :)

With this being said.... I'm LITERALLY on the edge of my seat this week because I am finishing up the FINAL touches on my website and professional blog for Heather Ann Design & Photography! I have so many more details to work out with my packages, pricing, and web design but think I'm getting close to making the site live, ready or not! I'll keep everyone posted when it's up and running. It's about another week out but I'm hurrying!! As for now www.heatheranndesign.com will just take you to my old student design portfolio from college- thank goodness I've gotten a little better since then! Ha, but it's still fun to look back on, and reminisce about the ENDLESS all nighters that my friends and I pulled throughout our interior design courses in college. No wonder I'm still slightly nocturnal.

Ok, enough of the rambling- it's time to do a whirlwind posting of the photography sessions I've done in the past few weeks and neglected to blog about. Sorry blog police- life just happens, and however pathetic my blog etiquette may be (if there is such a thing) here goes the past few weeks of the photography side of the Heather Ann Design.

Let's pick up with a shoot I did with one of my besties, Nikki. Let's face it, Nikki is hot and I wanted to get some fun, trendy, fashion type images for my website portfolio. One weekend when Nikki and I were without husbands we spent a weekend brainstorming and taking pictures for my future website. Nikki was such an trooper, and hopefully got some fun images out of the deal. We had such a blast and finished our fashion session at the Overton Hotel where Nikki introduced me to my new weakness, Gouda macaroni & cheese with bacon... yup, bacon. YUM!








Next on the agenda is my favorite brother-in-law Brett, also known as tough guy. Brett may be a vice president of a well known bank in Kerrville to most, but to me he will always be this guy. Cowboy to the core:


However, every good cowboy has a day job (just ask my dad) and Brett is no different. He needed professional head shots for a big award he received for being an up and coming banker in Texas- huge deal. He cleans up pretty well- and is really great to my sister, so I think we'll keep him.



Don't let him fool you though, he's kinda like a mullet- business up top and party down below...


Next are the Walkers. Cutest. Family. Ever. I was at a Stella Dot/Scentsy party at my friend Emily Owen's house (shout out for Emily- buy a Scentsy from her, they are the best!) While at the party her friend Rozanne and I started talking about pictures and next thing I knew I had a gig to take pics of her sweet babies! Here are a few of my favorites.








The Klemke's have been our family friends, well for my entire life pretty much. Troy worked for my dad while he was in college and actually lived in our barn- (don't worry, it had running water). He got married to Stacey and had kids just right up the road from where I grew up and now houses his horse and lambs at the barn he once lived in! I've loved watching their kids grow up and was so flattered when they were part of mine and Ryan's wedding day. They are growing up so fast but here is the sneak peek from their session a couple weeks ago!





On to the McEacherns. Traci and I go all the way back to 8th grade where we cheered together all the way through High school! I have such fun memories of our cheerleading trips and all the hysterical things that you can imagine with a group of dramatic adolescent teens. Traci has since gotten married to her high school sweet heart and had TWO kids! They are such a sweet family and I was SO flattered when she contacted me to take their family pictures.







Emily Gill's family contacted me to do a large family portrait of 11 people! I was at first going to decline because of my lack of experience with such a large group. I thought about it and decided, what kind of business person would I be if I just declined jobs because I was afraid to step outside of my comfort zone. So... I told Gill I would do it! After all, Emily was the first Kappa to contact me when I transferred back here to Texas Tech. She happened to be the KKG president at the time (hola) and made me feel SO incredibly welcomed. I ended up being more active affiliating at Texas Tech than I ever was at UT. Funny how life works. Going full circle, her mom is a decorator here in town and said she may need some architectural drafting and rendering done for some future jobs! What a small world this is, and I seriously couldn't be more thankful!! Meet the Gill's and their adorable family.





Last week I had the pleasure of spending time with the Shoukfeh's and the Khater's. Lama contacted me to take pictures of her kids a while back thanks to my friends Amira and Maia whom I had photographed previously. Lama's sister Mayada got my name through Lama and then passed me on to her OTHER sister Lena who I'm excited to get to work with this Wednesday! It's been so fun meeting new families and getting to know them through our photography sessions. Word of mouth is a powerful tool and I'm so appreciative that these families have shown their faith in my work. Here are a few of my favorites from them all!
First is the Shoukfeh family:




Then the Khater family:





Anyone still with me? I've got two more to share! haha- I feel like I may be talking to myself here, but at least I'll know I blogged everyone I needed to! Last Friday was one of my absolute favorites! It's Page Heinrich's family! Page and I go way back, but most recently our paths have crossed professionally- haha in the most unique of ways perhaps, but thankfully Page is great and really helped me through a tricky work situation back at my old place... and therefore helped me to discover MYSELF and my potential for my new career as a small business owner :)

Her kids are the most polite, funny, and well rounded kids I've been around in awhile. They were game for anything I wanted to shoot and were so fun & photogenic. Their dad is in the farming business so we went out to some of the fields they work for our session. Oh and I forgot to mention, Page won best photographer "assistant" award when she brought a cooler of beer (and cokes for the kids) to our session. A girl after my own heart. Thanks for everything Page!





The last project that I did was to photograph a local bank here in Lubbock regarding media pictures for a Midland based advertising company. I got the job because of my sweet friend Valerie who works at the firm. Later this month I'll be taking her daughter's engagement pictures and eventually bridals! YAY- I seriously have so many fun ideas going through my head for those shoots, I cannot wait! Valerie contacted me to take the bank images for their media group and I was totally game! The bank was SO nice inside and actually ended up to be the bank where one of my best guy friends Brady works! I got the grand tour from Brady and tortured him with pictures for part of the morning- it was great.





Seriously, if anyone is still with me after this ridiculously long post, feel free to leave me some love on the comments section. I'm aware this post was unnecessarily long and that I did the unthinkable for a blogger.... I let it all back up. However- I will sleep well knowing I have officially posted all of my most recent photography sessions! Thanks to all my sweet clients who have shown their support in Heather Ann Design & Photography- you guys are the best!