Beautiful little Abigail Grace Gaston

I had the honor of shooting my good friends Dan and Kara's little baby girl Abigail the other day. She's too cute! Here are a few shots of the little jumping bean!

OSP BBQ Showdown

What started out as a simple get together to work on a new computer, turned into a BBQ rib cook-off and a model shoot! A bunch of photographers from OSP came over for some good food, good company and a model shoot here in Santa Barbara.

Karen and Craig came up from Glendale and she brought with her some of the best pasta salad I've ever had, 5lbs of it and enough of her special pumpkin chiffon pie to feed a high school! We also cooked 6 racks of ribs! I'm not going to say that there was a winner because ALL of it was excellent!

My good friends Kashina and Andre volunteered to be our models and they were the best! We were super lucky because it had been raining for days except..... during our cook-out and model shoot! We put together shoots like this to learn, share info and basically have fun. We ran around Santa Barbara having the best time. Karen, Craig, Alvin (Raquel, wife and Vivian, the cutest little baby girl!), Carlo, Dia and myself chased them around like crazy paparazzi! At one point, we stopped in at a Starbucks to warm up with some coffee. You couldn't miss us shooting so everyone passing by wanted to get a look at the "famous" people we were shooting! It was hilarious. Everyone had a different story to tell. I know I told a couple people I was shooting for People magazine and then I told some others I was shooting for a new reality show! I told the truth most of the time but it was way too much fun to make stuff up!

Here's our massive BBQ layout!




Alvin and Raquel's little daughter Vivian was the cutest little thing.




Here are some pictures from the engagement session shoot with Kashina and Andre.

Poor Karen had many obstacles to overcome during her shoot as you can see in the picture below!

Lia and Steve's Engagement session

I had the honor of shooting the engagement session for Lia and Steve! These two were so much fun to be with. We had a great session! We started up in the mountains, worked our way down State Street to the restaurant Bucatini's where they had their first date. After that we went to Chase Palm Park where he popped the big question and then we ended our day at butterfly beach. Lia and Steve were the ultimate troopers because it was a beautiful day but the winds were blowing pretty hard and it got really cold once the sun went down.

Here are some favs from the shoot! Make sure to check out the slideshow too!

Mia the model!

Well, I was shooting some portraits and look who jumps into the chair! I love this little girl!

Trisha and Ray's Engagement Session

I just can't say enough about these two! Sweet, kind, funny, goofy, in love, yada yada yada I could go on and on. I had the honor of shooting their engagement session today here in Santa Barbara. They're from down south and they are having their wedding here at the Santa Barbara Zoo!

We started off with some lunch at The Palace, went for a final cake tasting and then had some fun running around at the beach. The Palace is always a fun place to eat. I still can't stop laughing because as we were walking out, there's a painting on one of the walls that really looks like Ray! Trisha says so matter of fact, "honey, they have a painting of you on the wall!" and every time I look at that picture, I just can't stop laughing!

It only gets better from there... we stop by to see Robyn, the "cake lady" and she made Trisha and Ray a sample cake for them to take home and try. We all dug right into that thing and practically finished it off. Talk about a GOOD wedding cake! She's tucked away in her little "secret" location and the only way for you to learn about her secret cake factory is to go and see for yourself, so please do!

Here are just a few pictures from a really fun engagement session! Watch the slideshow too!

WPPI Las Vegas!

Once a year there is the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International trade show held at Bally's in Las Vegas.

Once a year I go to see the latest and greatest, meet the latest and greatest and also try to become the latest and greatest in my trade!

Once a year I soak up as much new trade info as possible, create a new "gotta have it" list, connect with some of the most amazing people in the industry and make some amazing new friends.

This year was no different!

A bunch of people organized a bridal shoot on the strip. This was a ton of fun! Here are some of my pictures of the bridal shoot that took place during the show.

Vegas Golf with my brother and Dad!

My brother from Baltimore came out to Vegas for a vacation and to visit with my parents so we all got together and played some golf. It's been a while for me but I love golf and the course where my parents live is absolutely gorgeous!

We always have a great time when we get together and playing golf at The Revere in Sun City Anthem was pretty cool. The course was beautiful and as you can see in the pictures I had my fair share of playing out of the sand!

My dad hasn't played in at least 15 years and he was hitting straighter than I was!?! Go figure.