Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Self-Portrait | May 2013

Earlier in the month I signed up to run the Nike Women's Marathon with Team in Training.  One of my lifelong goals is to run a marathon, but when I had to stop training due to injuries several years ago I thought I was never going to realize my dream.  However, my aches and pains actually feel a lot better living in the drier climate and lower humidity.  I've decided that it is now or never if I'm going to give running a marathon another shot.  Plus I've just really missed running!

I used to be a pretty health conscious person who exercised regularly, ate reasonably well, drank a ton of water, and went to the doctor every year for a routine check up.  The past few years have been busy and stressful, and I've allowed a lot of my bad habits to creep back in and take over my life.  These days the majority of of my meals come out a box or a can and I consume more than my fair share of sugar.  I never get enough sleep and live on caffeine as a result.  And, I can't remember the last time I saw the inside of a doctor's office.  While I have managed to lose a little weight over the past year, I still have a long way to go to return to a healthy lifestyle!

I can't continue to live like this and ask my body to train to run a marathon on October 20th, so I'm facing the reality that I need to make some major life changes. It's time to give up the caffeine and sugar, and start cooking healthy meals again!  I need to start getting the proper amount of sleep.  And, I definitely need to start being more conscious of how I spend my so called free time.   It is so easy to waste hours surfing the web, when that time could be spent doing more worthwhile things.  One of the hardest thing about long distance training is how time consuming it is and how much of your life you have to sacrifice to fit it in.

For this month's self-portrait, I thought it would be fun to do a photo representation of what I feel like my life has been like the past few years.  However, I want to state for the record that this photo is staged!  I don't usually sit around eating quite this much junk all at the same time or piling the wrappers up around me on the bed.  I'm bad, but I'm not quite that bad.

I don't usually title my self-portraits, but if I did I would call this one Bye Bye, Bad Habits.  I highly suspect that in one of the coming months my self-portrait will be of me running or perhaps post run, and maybe we'll have to call that one Hello, Good Habits. But for now, I give you my May self-portrait...


As I was taking this photo I decided that I am going to have to start considering purchasing a new wide angle lens.  I really like being able to include a lot of my environment in my self-portraits but the only wide angle lens I own is the kit lens that came with my Canon Rebel and doesn't fit my new camera body.  So, I'm still using my old camera for my self-portraits.  That isn't too big of a deal, except I'm already starting to forget exactly where the buttons and menu settings are as I get more and more used to my new camera.

Did you miss some of my past self-portraits?  Clicking here will take you to all of my self-portrait blog posts. Clicking here will take you to my self-portrait Facebook album.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area.
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© 2013 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Monday, May 27, 2013

Dan + Amanda + Lidia's Sneak Peek

I couldn't be happier to share a sneak peek of these sweet photos of Dan, Amanda, and Lidia from a few weeks ago when Amanda returned for her law school graduation ceremony.

Amanda was the very first person that I met in Phoenix, when we came here to visit and she gave us a tour of the law school that Kevin now attends.  A few months later we returned to Phoenix for an event hosted by the school, and went out with Dan and Amanda the night they met and started dating.  And now they just welcomed their beautiful daughter, Lidia, into their lives.  I am so honored that they allowed me to capture this amazing and important time for them.

So please allow me to introduce you to this sweet family...


Just look at Lidia's adorable little faces!  Baby yawns are just the cutest...


I love this one!...


Looks like she's got Daddy wrapped around her finger already...


Again with the adorable face!...


Another favorite!  Isn't Amanda's smile just GORGEOUS!?...



Kisses from Mommy...


Melt!...



So sweet!...




Such a sweet moment.  This is definitely one of my favs!...


Dan and Amanda, Thank you so much for allowing me into your lives to capture these photos for you. Congrats to Amanda on graduation and good luck on the bar exam! Good luck to Dan on his final year of law school coming up! I couldn't be happier for the amazing future I know is in store for your family. I hope you return to Phoenix for visits (and maybe more photo sessions) so I can see Lidia grow up!

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area.
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© 2013 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Charlene + Jeff's Sneak Peek

I've been waiting a long time to take and share these photos of Charlene and Jeff with his '56 Chevy!

I first met Charlene not too long after moving to Phoenix, while working at a previous job. She told me about her husband's car that he was fixing up and we started talking about doing a session as soon as he made some progress on it.  We were planning on doing the session forever ago, but we kept moving it for one reason or another and we FINALLY made it happen.

We decided to take the photos at their house, since the car still isn't quite road ready.  Taking photos with a car as the main prop was something I'd never had the opportunity to photograph before, but it was something I'd always wanted to do.  So, this session was really a lot of fun for me to shoot.  Plus, Charlene and Jeff are such a sweet couple and such a pleasure to work with.  I'm just crazy about how much of their love shines through in their photos!

This first one is my favorite of the bunch...




This one is definitely another fav...







Sweetness...


Love. Love. Love. this one sooo much!...


By now I have settled into a style that I like for my photography, and usually stick with my standard editing on all of my images.  I feel like constancy is important so clients know what to expect from me, but every once in a while it is fun to play around with something different.  I felt like some of these images were just calling out to be experimented on, so I decided to try some fun old school edits on a few to give them more of an older feel. I'd love to hear what you think!...





Charlene and Jeff, Thank so much for spending your evening with me and allowing me to take these photos for you. It was such a great time seeing you both again and getting to work with you!

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area.
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© 2013 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Trisha's Sneak Peek {Cigar Smoke Shots}

After I took Josh's cigar smoke shots last month, Trisha contacted me and said that she wanted to have some cigar shots for herself.  I was super excited to have the opportunity to take more of these fun photos, and to apply some of the things I learned from experimenting last month.  I won't bore you with the details, but I did a few things differently with the set up for Trisha's photos and I couldn't be more thrilled with how they turned out.  I also went with a different edit on them that I feel fits perfectly for these images.

When she contacted me I just assumed that Trisha was an experienced cigar smoker, but come to find out this was her first experience with them.  After a quick lesson (from Josh, not me!) she was off and smoking like a total Rockstar.  I never could have posed for these photos, and I gained so much respect for Trisha during her session!

I have so many favorite images, and it was next to impossible to narrow it down to these to share.  This first one definitely ranks very near the top of the fav list. Trisha is an absolute sweetheart, who normally has the most gorgeous smile on her face, but underneath it all I know she has a bit of a "don't mess with me" side that this photo shows perfectly!...



This is another absolute favorite! I feel like it belongs on a movie poster for an old black and white film. I look at this image and the character Brigid O'Shaughnessy from The Maltese Falcon immediately comes to mind...






This is another fav!  I am in love with something about the smoke in this one, along with the shadows on her face...



While these aren't cigar smoke shots, I am head over heels for these last two photos.  They are almost exactly the same but I still couldn't decide which I liked better and opted to post them both...



I cannot tell you how much fun it is to take these photos!  I might have to start marketing these photos for Bachelor and Bachelorette parties - sort of a grown up version of the photo booth at a kid's birthday party.  :)  I would love to have a reason to take these on a regular basis!

P.S.  If Trisha (and Josh) look familiar to you, it is because their session was on the blog earlier this year.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area.
Visit Michele's Website | Like Michele on Facebook | Follow Michele on Instagram | Follow Michele on Twitter


© 2013 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC