Nikkie: Lifestyle Portraiture

If Nikkie ever hears the word "frolic" again, it will probably be too soon.

Despite her aversion toward the dreaded "f" word, Nikkie knows how to do it well. And by the end of our session, she was frolicking freely - without my asking her... (Although, she'll never admit it!) Okay, so maybe it did elicit some strange stares from people passing by, but so what? I prefer to think they were captivated by Nikkie's gorgeousness. And not her, uh, frolicking.

This girl is beautiful. She's sweet. She's fun. And she's funny. I swear, she had me cracking up at random during the entire length of our shoot. I even think I had to stop and wipe a tear or two from my eye at one point.

Professional, eh?

Sometimes it seems like I do far more laughing at these shoots than taking pictures. Hmmm...

Anyway, enjoy these shots of Nikkie. And don't forget to frolic every now and then. It's good for the soul. Promise. :)

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Frolic: Gaiety; merriment; A playful antic; To romp; to behave playfully and uninhibitedly; To cause to be merry.

Sneak Peek: Nikkie :)

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"Live life fully while you're here. Experience everything. Take care of yourself and your friends. Have fun, be crazy, be weird. Go out and screw up! You're going to anyway, so you might as well enjoy the process. Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don't try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human."
-- Anthony Robbins

Johanna: A Modeling Portfolio :)

Johanna has many talents.

She sings. She plays basketball. She models. And, most recently, she ran (and won!) a marathon in - wait for it - high heels.

Amazing, right? I mean, I can barely walk in high heels, much less run...

Now, if that isn't a sign that this girl's ready for the runway, I don't know what is.

You were fabulous, Johanna! Thanks so much for a great shoot! :)

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"If you surrender to the wind, you can ride it."
-- Toni Morrison

Sneak Peek: Johanna!

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"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."
-- Pablo Picasso

Tati: A Modeling Portfolio

Today is my birthday. And as I sit here, swilling my coffee and thinking about my session with Tati, I'm overcome with a feeling of appreciation. A feeling so strong that I can't even put it into words.

I write a lot about appreciation. I appreciate this, or I appreciate that. So much so that, if you're one who's not really doing much appreciating at all, you may become slightly (all right a lot) annoyed at my Pollyanna view on life.

But appreciation, I feel, is so important. It gently steers us away from thoughts that can bog us down and hold us away from who we're really meant to be. By appreciating something - whether it's a pet, a good cup of vanilla flavored coffee, or a quiet morning with a good book - we put our minds in a place of peace, contentment, love, joy... At the exact moment that we're doing our appreciating, we're happy. And who doesn't want to be happy?

When we appreciate, we allow ourselves a small reprieve from the daily grind and all of the potential chaos that can go along with it.

Right now, I appreciate so much. I appreciate this past year, and all the wonderful dreams that have come to fruition. I appreciate the fact that these wonderful dreams have inspired even more dreams to blossom and bloom. I appreciate all the beautiful people that I've had the privilege to work with over these last few months, and how realizing my dreams will, I hope, help them fulfill theirs.

I appreciate that, at the start of my 33rd year, I'm able to say with one hundred percent certainty that I love what I do.

And speaking of beautiful people, let me introduce you to Tati. She knows how to appreciate. She knows how to laugh, have fun, and dream.

Tati, I think, knows a lot. (She does, after all, believe in six impossible things before breakfast.)

This gal is just starting her freshman year of high school and already she's fulfilling her dreams. (It also helps that she has a fantastic mom who supports her a hundred and ten percent, as well!)

Which leads me to wonder - if she's so good at realizing her dreams now, what's she going to be able to accomplish by the time she's 33? Now that's mind blowing.

Hmmm. I might have to have her autograph some of these photos...

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"You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink."
-- G.K. Chesterton

Sasha: A Modeling Portfolio

Sasha. She's a go-getter.

Nothing holds her back. Not a blistering cold morning. Not the chill of an arctic wind. Not goose bumps the size of Mount Rainier...

During her shoot last Sunday, we experienced all of these things. But Sasha just took them with a grain of salt. She had, after all, just come off of an eighty-six hour work week. So, needless to say, by the time her shoot rolled around, a little frostbite was nothing. (Okay, it wasn't quite that cold.)

The night before our session, Sasha didn't get off of work until three in the morning. (Three in the morning!) Couple that with the fact that we met up at eight o'clock sharp for her shoot, and she really only got around 3-ish hours of sleep.

*Yawn*

And she still looked phenomenal.

I really need to find out what she puts in her water...

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"To believe in yourself and to follow your dreams, to have goals in life and a drive to succeed, and to surround yourself with the things and the people that make you happy - this is success!"
-- Sasha Azevedo