I leave you with one quick snap I got of my one year old. Now that he is mobile, it is so hard to get eye contact which I am sure you moms totally understand! I edited it with VintageGrooveXtreme from my new set. I then overlayed a slight layer of texture.

Okay, my photographer friends, it is about time I unveil my latest, greatest action set. I call it the everything you need kit! 5 Essential BW’s & 7 Essential Colors. I will be having them on sale until this Wed. for $10 but today the deal is sweeter.
Go to the page above listed PHOTOGRAPHERS and you can see this amazing set. I will also continue posting tips and sales and freebies on there over time as well.

Here are a few shots that I edited with some of the actions. . . .

essential color BURST

essential color vintage groove

essential bw vintage (added a tad of texture afterwards)

I have more to come tomorrow but wanted to leave a quick preview of this stunning senior.

Here’s is another fantastic couple . . . .meet Mike & Anna!

Hi my name is Anna Bloxham. I am 25 years old and i have been with my fiance for almost 12 years now this November We met through my brother and sister. And could you say love at first sight! For me that is. My sister was pregnant with her first child. So I was around a lot and so was he! It was not until my sister actually had her daughter that we started actually talking. And it just happened that I had stayed with my sister one night to help her out and he was there. Everyone went to sleep and we were just sitting on the couch talking and watching tv. We just talked all night and had so much in common. I told him that I had been crushing on him for a while now. And he looked at me and said I have been too! We kissed and it was like MAGIC. I had never felt anything like that before. And I just new it was meant to be. You can’t controll when, where or how old you are going to be when it happens. It just happens and you grab it by the reins and hold on! And from there we were insepertable, until my family found out! It was a really big mess! He was almost 4 years older than me and at the time that was a lot. No one wanted us to be with each other, but we knew that we loved each other and we didn’t want to be with anyone else. I had to tell my Mom that I was going to be with him weither she wanted me to or not. So for a while I had to hide and go behind everyones back. Then one night she caught us and she was so mad but I had already told her I loved him!! So we sat down and talked and she finally got it. It was happening weither she liked it or not. She could either support it or know nothing about it. And now look at us 11 years later and who would of known??? Well I can say gladly that WE DID! We have had our ups and downs, but throught it all we have always been right beside each other. We now have 2 daughters,6 and 2. They are our world!! And well i guess I am writing this to you because we are not rich by any means. And all we have ever wanted was a Special Wedding Day and we have put it off for so long because we just can’t afford it! But now our 6 year old keeps asking why we are not married. And the answer is always money. But I have been thinking about this a lot lately and that is just not a good enough answer. So in 2010 we will be getting married and even if we have nothing but a dress and our rings. At least we have each other and our BEAUTIFUL girls Pictures are the only thing that mean alot to me so I just love having the chance to write to you and maybe have a chance at some beautiful memories
Thank You so much for your time!
Anna & Mike

So, I’d like to post the first finalist for the contest to win FREE wedding photography. Thank you to all who have submitted entries. I am still taking entries until SEPTEMBER 10TH, so you still have time if you want to participate!
Over the next couple weeks, I will be posting all the finalists’ stories one at a time so they can be read. Every story is unique and different from each other and there was something about each that sparked something in me that made me want to share. So, without further ado….our first finalist……

Meet Mike & Annette – Below is the picture they submitted as well as their story.

At 22 years old, I got on a plane to Tunisia, a country in northern Africa, not knowing a soul on the other side. I had received a grant from the government to do research in the field of sociology for a year. After the loneliest three months of my life I began to really make friends and get a hold of the language enough to feel like I had a personality again! After my first year in Tunisia I was hooked…I set up shop there and got a job teaching English. Four years later I opened an art and community center; my goal was to encourage emerging artists and use art in the community to begin dealing with problems such as domestic violence and youth at risk. All this was very exciting but left me with my hands full and my heart empty…it seemed impossible that I would meet someone when I lived on the far side of the globe.
In January of 2007 I was invited to share my experiences living in Tunisia at national conference for youth in Anaheim, CA. Little did I know that accepting this invitation would bring a surprising twist of fate that led to me meeting (or reconnecting) with the love of my life! Mike Hammond knew another one of the speakers at the conference, and although he had no connection whatsoever to the conference itself he flew in from his home in Los Vegas to see his friend. As he scanned the list of speakers he saw my name and said to his friend, “hey, I think I know that girl!” We had attended the same small private school when I was in 7th grade and he was in 9th grade…and although everyone knows that junior high and high schoolers don’t mix, he remembered me. Mike and his friend tracked me down and we hung out throughout the weekend…although I was CLUELESS to any feelings on his part: I just thought he was a super nice guy and it was a fun connection to our early years. As I climbed the platform to speak Mike got this overwhelming feeling, “This is the girl that you can love and partner in life with!” Mike tried to find me after the session was over…but with 4,000 people attending he couldn’t. He felt completely defeated and returned to his room to pack up to travel home in the morning.
Mike had given up hope of connecting with me again– I was headed back to Africa…but luck was on his side. His friend found them both a ride to the airport…the same van I was riding in. Mike was still shy and overwhelmed by the fact that he was smitten with a girl who lived in Africa, so he told me he might want to bring some of his artist friends over to help out at the community center and asked for my email.
From Mike’s first email I knew that the relationship was going somewhere. We kicked of a distance relationship of email, skype, and phone calls. We managed to see each other ever 3-4 months.
This May I was doing my own personal art show which I had spent a year preparing…My friend Sally asked me if she could book me in for a “girl day” the Friday before the show. I said sure, but as life got busier and busier in preparation, I kept trying to reschedule. Sally was adamant that I told her we could spend the day together and that I HAD to go. I started to get annoyed; couldn’t she understand that I had to finish this art show that I had spent so many long, hard hours preparing? Sally insisted and I went out with her to get my hair and nails all done up…then she said we had to dress up nice cause we were going out. She took me to Sidi Bou Said, a gorgeous traditional village on the side of the Mediterranean that had inspired many of my paintings. When we got out of the car she blindfolded me…as she led me down the hill she asked, “Annette, do you have ANY idea what we’re doing right now?” “Nope…no idea.” “REALLY??? You really have no idea what we’re doing right now???” I really didn’t, I thought Sally had gone mad. Just then she took the blindfold off and there was Mike, with my favorite view of Tunis in the background, surrounded by flowers and down on one knee, “Annette Joy McCabe…will you marry me?” I said yes!
We are getting married January 8th, 2010 in Camas, Washington where I grew up (Mike grew up in Portland, bonus to have both families in the same place). We will be returning to Tunisia after the honeymoon. Mike loves Tunisia and is looking forward to opening new avenues for the art center. He is planning on teaching graphic arts and website design, his specialty, as a job creation project for unemployed youth.
We would be overwhelmed and thrilled with free wedding photography on our big day! There is some much travel involved having a wedding in the U.S. where our families can take part. We want our best friends from Tunisia to be able to be there to celebrate with us and share the big day. I have two close Tunisian friends and Sally, Mike’s accomplice, who I would love to bring over to be bridesmaids. Free wedding photography would mean I would have the money to buy the girls tickets…the people who have walked life with me and been there through the ups and downs of living cross-culturally could be there as I take this new, huge, and beautiful step in life!