Self-Portrait | October 2014

Years ago, I heard someone say that for every year someone goes through a professional school program it takes one year to recover and regain some sort of normal life.  Even though I'm not the one who just finished school, I feel like it's going to take me quite a while to get it back together after everything we've been through the past 4 years.

We have both been busy and overwhelmed and we've been doing everything we can to just hang on.  Not to mention that we've been living on one income, when we were used to two.  So we have let a lot of things go by the wayside and we are just now able to start getting back to them.

This month's focus has been on our wardrobes.  Now that Kevin has a big boy job he needed to replace all of his worn clothing and shoes, and start shopping for some more suits.  As for me, I really despise shopping and I dislike wearing anything other than shorts, tank tops, and flip-flops.  That combo means that my winter wardrobe is in pretty sad shape.  Other than a few desperate basic necessities, I don't think I have purchased a pair of pants or a long sleeve shirt or sweater in over 4 years.  Yikes!

So, I spent most of November hanging out in our closet - sorting through our wardrobes, removing all of the old, worn out, ill fitting clothing, and replacing them with new updated items.  I'm not 100% done, but at least I'm starting to feel like we will no longer look like homeless bums when we leave the house this winter!

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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© 2014 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Paulina's Sneak Peek

I first met Paulina when I took student head shots for her last fall, and now here she is a year later celebrating her graduation from Arizona Summit Law School!  It was awesome getting to taking these photos in honor of such a huge accomplishment in her life.  I really love being able to catch up with past clients and see the new paths their lives lead them down as the years go by, and it's even better when it means I get to photograph someone as beautiful as Paulina!

She decided to have her session at one of my all time favorite locations, and it was a great choice!  I  love how the gorgeous greenery compliments her graduation robe and all her graduation bling, and I'm excited to share a peek at her photos on the blog.

So, please allow me to introduce you to Paulina:

This first one is one of my favorites.  There is just something about how all of the colors work together that I love...

A little fun with all her bling...

Every time I photograph Paulina, I tell her that I think she should become a judge, especially since she is a master at the crossed arm poses...

All during the session people were stopping us to tell Paulina congrats, and asking her what degree she had earned.  I can only imagine how awesome it felt for her to tell them that she just graduated from law school!

Another favorite...

Simply Stunning!...

Another fav...

Beautiful!...

Love. Love. LOVE!...

Paulina,  It was great catching up with you and hearing all about what life has in store for you in the coming months.  Good luck with the bar exam and the job search!  As always, thank you for allowing me to take these photos for you.

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area.
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© 2014 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Congratulations, Baby!

My husband is kind of a rock star, and I couldn't be more proud to be married to him!  He started a new job about a month ago as an attorney with a small local law firm that practices law related to HOAs. I am so happy and excited for him (and for us) as he begins down this new path in his law career, and I just wanted to send him a huge CONGRATULATIONS!

The firm he is working for needed a head shot of Kevin to include, along with his bio, on their website, so I offered to take his photos.  Here are my two favorites of the bunch:

Michele Whitacre is a portrait photographer serving Phoenix, Arizona and the surrounding area.
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© 2014 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC

Amanda's Sneak Peek

From the moment Amanda contacted me with the idea to do a photo session with her fiancé's motorcycle, I knew it was going to result in awesomeness - and I was right!  I am head over heels in love with how this session turned out, and I can't wait for Amanda to get a look at her photos.  Amanda is stunning, and so incredibly easy to photograph, that there are a ton of amazing photographs from her session.  I had a really hard time narrowing down the options to create this sneak peek! When I look at these images, I'm pretty much like a kid in a candy store - so overwhelmed with amazing choices that I can't pick a favorite - heck, I couldn't even pick 25 favorites!  So, here is a super sneak peek of the amazing Amanda.

(P.S. If Amanda looks familiar to you, it might be from her Trash the Dress session that we did earlier this year.  If you missed it, you might want to swing by and check it out cuz it's full of lots of awesomeness, too!)

I really wanted to get this post up ASAP, so I'm going to try to keep my commentary to a minimum.  Let's get started, shall we?

Meet Amanda...

Stunning, right?!...

Love, love, love...

Well hello there, beautiful!...

I just adore these next two photos so much that I couldn't pick between them...

Amanda, You. Are. A. Knockout....

Simply. Stunning....

And most awesome shoes award goes to...

I love this one...

And this one...

But not as much as I love this one!...

I'm thinking Amanda and I should try to sell her images to Ducati for their marketing campaigns!...

Because, seriously...

I couldn't pick between these two images, either.  Because we all know that I have a teeny tiny little bitty shoe photo issue...

I'm speechless...

GORGEOUS!!!...

I love how Amanda's beautiful eyes stand out...

This last one is an absolute fav, too...

Before I wrap things up, I have to give a shout out to Amanda's fiancé, Gentry, for helping make this shoot possible!  He was an absolute saint putting up with me as I kept asking him to reposition the bike over and over so it was in just the right place.  So, THANK YOU!

And to Amanda,  Thank you for allowing me to take these photos for you.  It was a pleasure working with you again, and I can't wait to get you in front of my camera again in a few months.

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

© 2014 Michele Whitacre Photography LLC