Shooting My Dad – Safford, Az
Posted on June 23, 2010
So my Dad needs a shot for his website. He’s a hair stylist in Safford, AZ. After 30 plus years in hair he took a break for sometime and is back. He needed a few shots and so tonight we stole 20 minutes to nab a few. He’s so cute. So here is a few shots of my Pops. If you are in the Safford area and need your hairs cut, he’s your man.
Filed Under Personal, Personality/Celebrity | 2 Comments
Cooking with Steve Nash….sort of
Posted on January 26, 2010
Well not the REAL Steve Nash. But there was A Steve Nash in my house. My daughter’s first grade teacher is Suns Crazy and she has a gorilla named Steve Nash. Steve goes home every weekend with a different student. We had him over the holiday weekend. He was a very good house guest. Didn’t make a mess and I barely knew he was there. Although he was allowed to attend the girls only sleep over.
We are on a “make a different cookie every week” project currently. (Madi’s idea). So the weekend that Steve was here we made snickerdoodles. I have had sugar cookies before, but I really loved these. I have also included the recipe at the bottom for the awesome cookies.
Here are some shots from Steve helping us. He is quite a good helper although terrible at cleanup, as are my children. 
Steve was in charge of reading. We had to help though.
He said that he needed his glasses.
We put him on mixer duty to keep the fur out of the cookies.
Austin handled the loading of flour. It wound up all over the place....
Still loading...Madi's trying to keep Steve clean.
Steve insisted on helping. He promised not to lick the spatula.
So much for keeping Steve clean.
Madi showing Steve how to roll a cookie.
Okay..okay..so I may have helped a little.
and they waited...and waited...and waited...
I think they were a hit!
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To be little again – San Diego Photographer
Posted on October 23, 2009
Ahhh…to be two again. This picture says so much. This is my good friend’s little girl. She spends most of her little life at the beach. This image captures the sweetness, determination and adorable nature of a two year old. Not much else to post beyond that, just wanted to give the day the “aaaaawwwwww” factor. You have to admire the determination, her tongue must give her more power. Here is little Ellie.
People who believed in me when I didn’t.
Posted on September 5, 2009
Linda Wagner is a dear friend of mine and one of the best stylists I know. She is highly respected in the bridal and fashion industry and I am quite possibly her biggest fan.
Where am I going with this? Well if you have followed my blog you are no stranger to my thoughts of Linda. She was the light that gave me the courage to make the leap into wedding work. I make it no secret that I have been a professional photographer for just under two years. Quite some time ago I was looking for little kids to take pictures of and practice on. I approached a friend and photographed their sweet girl Gracie. Well Linda was friends with Gracie’s parents and saw the shots and said “OMG she needs to do weddings.” At the time I thought the idea was nuts. How did she see wedding photographer from 5 year old portrait session? Who would hire me to shoot their wedding and would be crazy to trust me with such a special day?? Linda was that crazy. She believed in me and didn’t even know who I was, in fact never had met me. She began to pester Katie to talk to me about it. Maybe I found some inner belief or maybe I got tired of hearing it so we planned a shoot. I knew a lot of great models and thought that I would practice on them. I talked to a bridal and tux shop and borrowed a dress and tux. (You would be amazed what you can get if you just ask for it). So here I was, I had a beautiful location, two amazing models who appeared for all purposes to be married. I had a well known and respected stylist working for free because she believed in me. In fact they all were…because they believed. I didn’t believe but they did. That thought still amazes me. Oh and did I mention that it was July…in Arizona…outside??!!
I share this story because I want to thank the three people that made this whole wedding venture happen. Danielle (who is now a hugely famous model in LA now), Tanner who braved the heat in that tux and Linda who made it all happen. These three people will probably never know what they did for me. Since I was recently looking through old work for a project, I ran across their images. It inspired me to write this. I also though perhaps I should share some. One image was on my first ever business card. That was the first time I really fell in love with the idea of wedding work. Obviously my first actual wedding was a wake up call, as any wedding photographer knows! However photographing people that are really in love was even more rewarding.
So thank you again, the three hours you all gave me changed my life course and for that I am so grateful. Here are some shots from my first bridal session. The turning point..
This was the image on my business card. I received so many compliments on her beauty. I never had the heart to tell people it was staged.
They did such a great job giving me “couple in love” models are like quiet actors. This day I got exactly what I needed…chemistry.
The lighting was so amazing that day. It was also when I fist discovered the magic of the “golden hour.”
These were some silk flowers I bought on the way to the shoot. I am no flower designer but it helped to have something. In the heat real flowers would have never survived.
This was one of the first attempts at adding grain into a shot. I fell in love with the look of it. It had a great film quality look.
I was madly in love with this image for a long time. I had never shot into the sun before and it was such a fluke that I got it. It’s was kind of a “hot” image for a bridal.
One more note. For anyone just starting I should tell you that these were all shot with a Canon rebel and an 85mm 1.8 and whatever stock kit lense I had at the time. You can start with what you know and work your way up in equipment. I have since upgraded my camera twice. But I still love these images as much as any I can take now. The freedom was that I went into this shoot with no expectation.
Filed Under Personal, Weddings | 2 Comments
Sometimes it just clicks..
Posted on August 5, 2009
So as many new photographers do…sturuggle is unavoidable. I struggled to get my name out there, I struggled to learn the mechanics of the camera, I struggled to let go of perfection and expecting perfection, I struggled with getting things to people in a timely manner…I struggled with every facet of my business. The hardest part of being an artist is believing in yourself. Not just the “I can do it” but getting past that and to the “I am good enough for…”
I hear a lot of people say that I am “fresh” and my work has so much “life” to it. I never really knew what that meant. I looked at my work and all I saw was the bad lighting and lack of knowledge I needed to get a great image. Something clicked today. Could have been that I had a great model, could have been that I put my camera down for over a week. I am not sure. I just know that in editing a few images from today’s shoot I discovered that I do in fact believe in myself. I am proud of whatever style my work has found it’s way to. I know that I will always grow and therefore always struggle to some degree. I am self taught, I am winging this and I do not have to be any other photographer but the one I already am. Sounds deep I know, it’s taken me over a year to get to that realization. I am still 98 percent natural light. I still have yet to let the whole artificial lighting thing absorb fully. I rely on other people’s knowledge for success with that . One day I won’t…baby steps.
Here are some shots from today. You may remember Britnee from the amazing big bridal shoot we had. She was the “wheel bride” and the one with the flower frame in the current Phoenix Bride and Groom spread. She was a pleasure to get one-on-one time with. This was just a favor I did for her but I think that it turned out to be a blessing for me.
Britnee of SIM Agency
Filed Under Fashion, Personal | 8 Comments
Bridgette Marie Photography gets a new blog!
Posted on July 30, 2009
Welcome…isn’t it pretty? Well I am still working on it frankly so don’t be surprised if you run across something funky. Feel free to let me know. Okay…so if you are joining me from my previous Typepad blog you know that my last post was about the Ogie ad. I guess they decided not to use the images for that particular ad. I wasn’t given a ton of direction and I don’t believe the route I went was what the designer wanted. Oh well, hopefully they are using them for other wonderful things. (Lauren looked amazing).
In the last few weeks, my computer went down. That was like the world had stopped and I was just standing there holding memory cards. Apple said 4 days. Nearly 2 week later I had it back. Nightmare. I have so many clients steaming mad at me. I am doing my best…I am only me and even as I type this, it is 1 AM and I have an audition at 8AM. SRP commercial, wish me luck.
Here is a shot from Miss Natilee Jones that was born a few weeks ago. She is the fourth sister in an all girl house. Newborn shoots are not my specialty, I will admit that. However this was a good friend of mine and it was a lot of fun to capture these for her. Her girls are silly and wonderful. I have been documenting the Jones girls since I picked up my first SLR.
Of course I have had a few model shoots sprinkled in there. My most recent was Kylie. She’s 17 and spunky. I loved working with her. Finally…a redhead!
Well, I must get back to sorting through all of this chaos and update all my sites. I have so many images to get up! Oh and little side note, I will be on Arizona Midday (Channel 12) at 1 PM on Friday doing Coffee Talk again. Destry is always loads of fun. Thanks for making the switch and following my blog to it’s new home!
Filed Under Babies/Children/Family, Miscellaneous, Personal | 4 Comments