To see more of Kianna and Kai’s engagement on my facebook page click here.

These photos are what I call artistic edits. Granted, they are getting pretty “artistic”. The whole point of including artistic edits in my photography packages is so that I can explore my artistic inspirations and share them with those that have chosen me to photograph their special day (and everyone else who visits my blog of course ). I am going to include the original photos that Tia and Tymon also got with these artistic versions at the end of this post. Just click on the “see more” link. I want you to be able to see that original versions are still very good. I put a lot of attention and detail into the originals before I even choose which ones to modify. I hope you enjoy them all

I took this while Tia was waiting to walk down the isle. I love these "waiting" pictures.

So here are the originals, just as Tia and Tymon got them. They are pretty representative of the rest of the photos in their collection. Sorry I can’t quite figure out how to create a gallery without including the other images in there as well

Like your melting away into the universe

Like you can’t even handle all the joy they bring into your life

…and that you’ll feel that way forever

I wish I was better at keeping up with this whole blog thing although I do think I am getting better. I have been so busy the past few months and I’ve been switching my systems around to streamline my processes – if that makes any sense. So blogging is one of those things I have left by the way side. I’m not quite sure where it’s going to fit in my new “system”. Do I blog the day after a wedding or should I just wait to blog until I deliver the photos to the couples like I was doing in the past? – the jury is still out. One thing for sure though is that I am an awful writer. It’s so hard because I feel like there is so much in me that I want to express and yet I don’t have words for it. So all those feelings and ideas remain in my head and I don’t get any credit for them! lmao! Of course it’s more about being able to connect with others through those ideas and feelings that I wish I could do if I could just find the words for them.

One might think that I express myself through my photography and I suppose in a way I do. I feel like when I’m behind the camera I am just capturing what is visually appealing to me but it’s when I am in photoshop that I am able to visually create what it is that I feel at the moment – the way I am interpreting the photo at that moment. I think photoshop is my form of poetry even though I feel like I am only in my infancy when it comes to skill in that area. There is so much to learn when it comes to PS. A lot of what I do is exploring as well but every time I create something in PS I get more and more fluent in it.

Take the photo above for example – I could have played around with it more but I know that all I needed was the few adjustments I did in raw and two other adjustments in photoshop and thats it. That’s all I wanted for this photo. It’s such a pure image that it really didn’t need much I don’t think. I just love the range of colors which were already present before I even did anything.But there was a certain feeling I wanted to convey -

I love conveying a sense of mysticism and fantasy right now. I often feel like life is so magical and that every moment is as rich as a dream. That’s what I want my photos right now to be like: I want them to be like dreams. Maybe I always will

By the way this photo I took on Tuesday at the Hilton Hawaiian Village of my new friends Heather and TJ. They also have a little girl named Lydia who is just the sweetest thing – OK well maybe I think that because #1 she is beautiful and #2 she’s a couple months younger than Zen. Anyhow – they kind of reminded me of my own situation in a way – in the way that I wish I could be doing what they were doing – That me and Zen’s dad were as perfect for each other as they are. That Zen could be our little ring bearer… however I am quickly sobered by the reality of the situation. Yeah – not going to happen.

They really were so great for each other though. Heather is absolutely STUNNING and just so sweet. I mean seriously – when you think of sweet Heather is exactly that. JT has such a great sense of humor – you can just tell that they share so many smiles with one another and their little girl is so surrounded by love between the two of them <3

There is one exception that stands out amongst all the rest – even nationally in my opinion – and that’s Pacific Rim Weddings Magazine. The pages of this magazine are filled with beautiful colors and layouts – even to the most artistically critical eye (I would consider myself pretty critical… thanks art school) this magazine is of the highest grade.

I leafed through the pages eyes wide at the beautiful ads of Visionari, Chrissy Lambert and Frank Amodo – hoping one day that I might be as prestigious as they were. (I even was able to land a gig as an apprentice with Visionari which didn’t last long – I was just so eager to do my own thing). The pages are filled with the stunning work of all the local photographers – photos beautiful locations and high end exquisite details. I couldn’t wait until the day that I too could join their ranks… in my own unique way of course

That was a year ago almost exactly. And now here I am about to see my photo in the pages of PW and here it is:

Check the magazine racks sometime in January!

Oooo and here’s another shot from that day:

My model was the beautiful amazing Karolina -you can check out her Model Mayhem profile here: http://www.modelmayhem.com/1507520

She was such a sweetheart – she really came through and saved the say – her and her boyfriend Lino – I couldn’t have done it without them! He was such a sport wearing those glasses and everything

<3 you guys