Work doesn’t get much better than when it gives you an excuse to hang out with old friends!  Scottie and I have both known Kari & Collin since before we even knew each other!  We had a blast and we were laughing… mmm pretty much non-stop!

They were super easy to shoot not only because they were comfortable with us, but also because they were super comfortable with each other!  We didn’t have to give them any posing directions because they cuddled up and got all lovey with each other all on their own.  All the shots that look really natural, truly are!

We’ve had this random phenomenon happen in our lives, where everyone that Scottie was friends with in New Mexico, moves to Arizona!  We seriously have around 20 friends that he knew in college who now live here!  So weird.  And Ryan is another one of those old school NM people!

I myself had never met either Ryan or Becca before the engagement session, but they were so easy to get along with, I felt like I had!  We met up with them at Rula Bula (an awesome little place in Tempe, Arizona) before their photo shoot, so I got to get to know them a little bit before hand which was nice.

We went down to the new Tempe Arts Center, which is quickly becoming my favorite place to shoot at.  The architecture on the building itself is incredible, then you add in the edgeless pool running into the lake and the amazing details all around the place… and you have perfection!  Another really fun session, thanks to Ryan and Becca!

Tempe Wedding Photography

Technorati Profile

We had the best Valentine’s Day this year (I vote it should officially be changed so that it’s always on a Saturday every year)!  We’ve been so busy with Radiant lately that we’ve kind of let holidays just slide by.  We’re wanting to fix that soon but we still weren’t ready to stress and plan a huge V-day.  So it wasn’t that we did anything super spectacular.  It was just that we had a great time hanging out together and relaxing.

We decided to start the day by making a fancy breakfast (which we never do because we both have strange cooking complexes and usually eat like college students).  So we made delish lemon-blueberry scones with some avacado/bacon scrambled eggs and some fruit/honey/granola concotion.  We just listened to records and enjoyed our beautiful meal with a few hot pink candles lit on our table. Oh yeah and my cousin surprised us with some Kona coffee when he came back from Hawaii so instead of buying individual Valentine’s Day gifts, we decided to just get ourselves a nice coffee maker so we could really savor the Kona (the one we registered for when we got married doesn’t even pour let alone make good coffee).  So our coffee extraordinare was the perfect finishing touch… especially since I my favorite mug is a Valentine’s Day one.  I was happy.

After that we handed out Valentine’s Day Candy Grams to people who sent them to their family and neighbors in the complex.  If you’re confused about why we did this…. we work for an organization that allows us to plan community activities in our apartment complex in exchange for free rent!  So we put cute little cards in the front office for people to personalize and then we attached bags of candy and hand-delivered them around to everyone.  My favorite was one sent from one tiny child to another that said (written by mom) “I haven’t seen you at the park lately, happy Valentine’s Day!” complete with a picture of who knows what on the back.  It was so cute.  The ones from parents to child were really sweet too.  It was really nice to see people caring about one another and planning a special surprise for their loved ones.  It made for a really nice touch for our Valentine’s Day.

Those were the highlights for us, we also split up for awhile to buy each other cheesy Valentine’s memorobilia (so lame that we were too busy to buy each other presents!!) and went to see a flick.  So it wasn’t a  good day because of what we did necessarily, but it was just such a fun, chill day.  It gets so easy for us to begin to treat each other as roomates or business partners, this day kind of reminded us that we are best friends and that we really like hanging out together!

We now have a new website dedicated to the High School Senior portion of Radiant!  No more flowery, lovey-dovey, romantic style, like on the wedding page.  The senior page is much more fun and exciting!!  So give it a looksee!

Arizona Senior Photography

One day on Facebook, I saw that an old friend of mine from high school had fanned our page.  I shot her a message about it and she wrote back that she had no idea it was my page, she just found it and liked our work!  Random connection there (I love Facebook!).  Lucky for her, she still lived in Arizona and that happened right around the time we had our Christmas portrait special, so she got in on the fun and booked a photography session for her family.

It’s been awhile since we’ve done a photo session with a kid involved and we forgot how much fun it could be!  It was so much easier to get natural shots because he was not at all inhibited by the cameras as most adults are!  He was just having a grand old time playing with mom and dad.  We loved it!  My favorite part was when he was going up the stairs and I thought he said, “wow, I almost biffed it!”  And I thought, that’s an awesome (and very random) sentence to teach to a kid that small.  And then of course I found out that was not at all what he said.  :-)

Click to see Arizona Family Portrait Photography pricing.

Lenna is a graduating high school senior this year who found us on facebook.  We talked back and forth for awhile before we asked her to be our senior rep this year.  Basically that means she’s out spreading our name to earn herself some print credit… so if you know Lenna, help her out and book a senior photography session with us! ;-)

We had a great time at this session!  It was our first senior for 2009 so we were excited to start doing seniors again.  Plus she let us experiment a little bit.  For one, she let us accessorize her (bold move, Lenna)!  I got to have a little bit of fun shopping for some big, gaudy, and vintage type of accessories to makeup our little model with.  We just wanted to try it out and see how it looked in case other girls might want a few fun little visuals added to their pictures.  And I think they turned out lovely!

The session was also awesome because Lenna is very interested in photography herself, so she was very understanding of all that went into it and she was a great participant in the art of it all.  Plus, she liked our work so she decided to trust us and just go with our suggestions.  That makes our lives so much easier because I have to admit… in the beginning sometimes even I questioned a few of Scottie’s ideas and then I would see the picture and I was like “ohhh, NOW I get it!” And I know he did the same with me.  So it was a total relief to have someone who believes in us as artists, who didn’t challenge every idea we had!

Overall, we had a great time with you, Lenna.  Thanks for being our rep!

Click to view all of Lenna’s Senior Photography Session.

As a result of war, the HIV/AIDS virus, and severe poverty; 13% of all children under the age of 18 in Uganda have been orphaned. Once on the streets these children experience significant levels of all kinds of abuse and mistreatment. They are hated and feared by the rest of the community, even though they are only children. African Hearts Community Organization (Afrihco) was founded in 2001 to assist these street children living in Uganda and other children in need.
African Hearts began renting a small garage where they took in 16 street boys and other high-risk kids in the community to provide them with food, shelter, education, and a family. They also began working with 50 high-risk kids in the community to help them through their many challenges in life. This past summer African Hearts opened another home for street kids in Ssenge, a village just outside the city. They took in 11 boys originally and will take in more once these children have been rehabilitated.
African Hearts also works with children who are currently living on the streets through a variety of daily activities. They provide a place to sleep for around 60 of them and work to get all of them to a more permanent home. These 136 children have more than just their physical needs met by African Hearts.

African Hearts Provides:

* Food
* Shelter
* Medicine
* Fees for education
* Good male role models/mentors
* A safe home
* Counseling when needed
* Instrument lessons (so they can play in the band)
* Acrobatics lessons
* Art and craft classes (to help them generate income)
* Teaching responsibility and character through activities (gardening, pets, chores)
* Athletic programs
* Help with family reconciliation

These provisions teach the children life skills that will help them learn how to make money, find their own personal value, and discover their place in the community. These children who once lived in fear and isolation on the streets of Uganda now have an education, skills, a loving family, and self-esteem.
The purpose of African Hearts is to reach out to the hurting children who have been abused, abandoned, and left without hope. It is the goal of African Hearts to bring out the good in each child by helping them become equipped to reach their dreams and become the best person they can.
Our friend, Abby Tracy (pictured), lives in Africa and works with African Hearts. You can read her blog to learn more about what they’re doing in Uganda and about what life there is really like!

http://africa-love.livejournal.com/

To find out more about our Radiant Love Supports program click HERE.