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Saturday, June 12, 2010

True Luvin’: Marisa & Jordy

Posted in Engagement

Every time I get home from a shoot I literally say to myself “that was my favorite shoot”… and I don’t think I like any of them more than the other, I just really have been enjoying this so much.  If anyone reading this knows me at all, you know that I do not really like to “work” per say.   In fact I really enjoy laying in bed, watching movies.  I could make a career out of that any day of the week.  BUT, I am finding that spending my time on the weekends “working” in this industry is really a breath of fresh air.  I feel like I’m actually doing something I enjoy and I FINALLY understand the phrase “When you’re doing something you love, it’s not work”.  True story.  I feel like as I do more shoots, I get more comfortable being social, more comfortable with the camera and just learn what works and what doesn’t.  I am really starting to see some progress in the quality of my photos.

So recently I took some photos of an amazing couple: Marisa & Jordy.  We took the photos in the Rice U. area and had a lot of fun! These two are amazing for a few different reasons, listed below:

  1. They are my friends. I met them in college through my bff, Betsy… and while i’ve only hung out with them a number of times, they crack me up and they are really nice.  I heart them.
  2. They brought skittles as props.  This is funny because they play this game where they throw skittles at each other and they have to catch them in their mouth, along to the theme song from Barnum Baileys Circus.  Who does this? Marisa and Jordy do. I caught it on film.
  3. They find humor in making fun of “life” in general.  The cheesiness of engagement pictures… and just the cheesiness of life. Period.  I like that.
  4. They love Karaoke and sang “Baby” by the one and only JUSTIN BIEBER at their going away party.  The best part of this was that they practiced for weeks and NAILED IT.  I wish I had this on video. Jordy did the Ludacris part so well!
  5. They are pretty.

So as you can see I really enjoyed this shoot. I can’t really write anymore than I already have, so I’ll just end it with, THANK YOU MARISA & JORDY! Good luck on your adventures in Nepal and wherever you decide to start your lives together!

Here are some photos of their session:

Posted in Engagement

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Saturday, June 12, 2010

Aidan Meza (& fam)

Posted in Kids

Some of my FAVORITE portrait sessions are any session involving kids.  I have always liked kids, but also have never really been around them since I was one myself.  That being said, I wasn’t quite sure going into my first shoot with a 2 year old (cute little Trenton Flores) how I would handle the session.  I was super nervous that the kid would just altogether hate me, or be creeped out by the camera, or just be a brat (two is a tough age!).  So far, so good.  I am becoming very comfortable with children and even find them a little easier to shoot.  At the end of the day, they don’t make awkward faces or try too hard to “look good”.  After all, they have no idea whats going on at that age.

Aidan Meza is an adorable 2 year old who I took pictures for his “2nd Birthday Party”.  His mother, Jackie, wanted some photos to display of him for his party that was this past weekend.  Jackie is another friend of Eva’s and she and her husband Ruben are amazing!  I met them at Discovery Green because when I took pictures of Trenton there, I realized this is the perfect place for any shoot involving young children.  Despite the fact that there is a playground, a lake with sailboats and live music (sometimes)…there is also an amazing waterpark! Can we say photo-op?  Jackie informed me before the shoot that she mostly wanted photos of Aidan but also wanted some of the whole family.  I knew going into the session that its very difficult to keep a kid cooperative for longer than an hour.  They get restless, tired, hot (its summer in Houston, Hello!) and they just flat out don’t want their picture taken anymore.  I made sure to get things rolling right away.

To start off the session I gave Aidan a giant blue bouncy ball to play with to sort of loosen him up.  He was actually sleeping in his stroller when he arrived, so we needed to get him energized. One thing I have learned with children is that you get the BEST photos of them when you don’t expect it.  Its always in between the “posing” that they make the cutest faces and expressions.  I just told Jackie and Ruben to just be natural, play with him and talk to him like they would if I wasn’t even there.  I really did not have to give them much direction AT ALL.  They were so easy to work with. We took some photos with the ball, some with some bubbles i brought (which by the way, Aidan did NOT ever want to let go of:)) and then we took some of him playing in the waterpark. As I suspected, an hour passed and he was ready to go.  We got plenty of shots so I decided we were good to go, plus it was extremely hot that day.

Thank you Jackie, Ruben and the adorable Aidan for an enjoyable session and I really cannot wait to take your engagement AND wedding photos in the fall!  I’m really excited work with you again!

Here are some photos of Aidan’s session:

Posted in Kids

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Friday, June 11, 2010

Melissa’s Graduation Portraits

Posted in Graduation

You may start to notice a theme in my posts, that being that most of my clients are either friends, friends of friends, or friends of friends of friends. (Did you get all that?) This is my favorite thing about photography, working with referrals. I can’t tell you ENOUGH times how much of an honor it is to be recommended to anyone.  It’s the worlds biggest compliment to be hired by a “word of mouth” customer.

This client was particularly special because she is a friend and happens to be the sister of one of my best friends from college, Cynthia.  Cynthia is a friend I have known since I was a sophomore in college, she also happens to be my very first client! When I first started doing photography “professionally” she had recently become engaged to her longtime boyfriend Gus.  I offered to shoot her engagement pictures as I wanted to practice shooting portrait photography and she did not hesitate to agree as she and I have always shared a passion for taking pictures, being in pictures, looking at pictures…you get my point.  I wont go on too long about Cynthia, but I did want to send her a shout out because without her I would never be where I am now.  Thank you Cynthia!

Cynthia

Photo from my first Engagement Session

Now on to Melissa, Cynthia’s little sister.  Melissa recently graduated College from the University of Houston (my alma mater) and Cynthia wanted to buy her a portrait session as a graduation gift.  I was really excited to do this, since I have been doing mostly engagement sessions lately (it is wedding season) and I wanted to do something a little different. I always feel like its a lot harder to work with a single client as opposed to two people.  I guess it has a lot to do with the client being comforable and it’s hard to be comfortable when someone is posing you and shoving a camera in your face.  Melissa wasn’t having any issues with this, but I do like the challenge of working with one person.  She was a lot of fun and even brought different outfits, props, blankets etc.  I love when clients get into the shoots as much as I do! It makes it so much more relaxing and interesting.  Melissa also had ZERO problems with any of the things I asked her to do.  She even jumped in a fountain and posed behind/under a waterfall at the end of the shoot! What a trooper!

We did the entire shoot on campus at UofH and because the campus is beautiful (IMO) there was no reason to find any other locations.  Thank you Melissa for working with me and jumping in a fountain for me:) Congrats on your graduation!

Here are some photos from Melissa’s Session:


Posted in Graduation

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Friday, June 4, 2010

Busy Season!

Posted in Engagement

So I realize that its only been a few short days since I started this blog, and it appears I am already in slack mode.  Oops! I am so sorry but the REAL truth is that it’s busy season (as my friends in the auditing world would say, plug to Amy!) I didn’t lie when I said I want to try to keep you all updated on a regular basis so please bare with me.

As I said, it is busy season.  I have literally been booked almost every weekend for the last couple of months, which I LOVE, but it definitely keeps me on my toes.  Thankfully, this is something I love to do, so it is not really “work”.  A few things I need to update everyone on are my last few shoots.  In the next couple of day’s I’ll write a paragraph with some of the photos from each session so you can get a feel for how awesome my clients are.  And while I’m on the subject, I would just like to give a very big THANK YOU to my past, present and future clients! You all have been wonderful and loyal and I can’t tell you how much I enjoy meeting and working with each of you:)

Tonight, I’ll update you guys on my shoot from February with my friends Eva & Hector:

Eva & Hector
Eva is my friend from college.  We met while running on the Cross-country and Track teams at the University of Houston.  While I am *slightly* older (we don’t need to go there) I have always enjoyed her company and I was honored and thrilled to take her engagement photos.  I am even more honored that I will be shooting her wedding at the end of this month! Anyway, Eva & Hector are such a cute couple and I love when you work with people and you can just see the love oozing out of their pores (gross, isn’t it? Jk).  So yes, they pulled up to our meeting spot with an entire wardrobe in the car! Awesome, I love a couple who like variety;)! We decided to first shoot at the cemetery.  I know you all might be thinking “Why on earth would you shoot engagement pictures at a cemetery Shawna?” Well I will tell you why, its so GORGEOUS in there.  The trees, the art (yes i am calling gravestones art) …the lighting. It all makes for such a romantic little backdrop. We also took photos in the heights area, the Wortham theater and my sisters apartment. It was a fun session.  Here are a few of the photos:It was a very fun shoot and I can’t wait to shoot your wedding! Next update coming soon:)

Posted in Engagement

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Eva Madrid - June 21, 2010 - 11:28 am

We had a good time too!! We absolutely loved our photos!! Can’t wait til the wedding!!!! Thanks for everything Shawna your the best!!

Wedding Season is HERE! » Shawna Florida Photography - June 25, 2010 - 11:45 am

[...] season.  This weekend I will be shooting my first wedding of the year for the lovely couple: Eva and Hector.  As you previously read, I shot engagement photos for them in February and have known Eva since [...]

Monday, May 31, 2010

New Look!

Posted in Just For Fun

Surprise! I have a brand new look!I have been wanting to update my website for a long time now and I finally sat down and set aside some time for me to really work on improving it.  My main motivation for the new look was the need for better functionality, efficiency and an easier way to share information with my clients.  I can now send my clients directly to my site to look over their proofs, which makes life better for everyone.  As you may notice, this blog and my new portfolio site are a work in progress, meaning I will be continually trying to make tweaks here and there as well as keep things updated.  I am *hoping* I can stay on top of blogging.  This is something I have been really bad at in the last year, but I have so many things going on these days I feel like it would be silly not to blog about it.

I am going to be trying to catch everyone up on my latest sessions and some upcoming sessions I have planned.  Expect multiple updates over the next few days!  If you have any comments or suggestions please feel free to shoot me an e-mail, I am all about constructive criticism.:)

Posted in Just For Fun

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