Baby Steps

This Year has been amazing as I've had the beautiful opportunity to watch my daughter grow into a toddler. I love how curious and happy she is most of the time. Here are some shots from a walk a couple weeks back:

This is her gettin on her shades for the walk:


But then she took off without them:



She thought we were taking a cab:





I think she was heading to her Nana's house:



We finally arrived back at our place where she took a tast of a leaf stem:



I think she is really enjoying this Fall Day walks ( :

Night Sky

I have fallen incredibly behind on my editing and feel thankful to have so many wonderful shoots to go over in the next few weeks! It CAN be daunting to have your catalogue full of unedited photos, but I kind of like having something to look forward to after the holidays.

Here is ONE photo from the Skye (that is the model's name) Series. Happy Holidays ALL!!!



Portland Beauty Photography - Lavenda Memory

Go GREEN with Portland-made Holiday Cards!

Since I am an absolute sucker for snail mail, I was already impressed with receiving my Jarfly cards via mail man. After I tore through the wrap like a gift-starved kid I was equally impressed to find an assortment of bright, fun holiday cards inside a beautiful boutique packaging.

Anyhow, I simply HAD to share my find and am linking everyone to Jarfly's rad blog where you can see their latest designs and shops. Go GREEN and support a local business/ artist!

Here are a couple of my favorite designs:

Christmas Web Series

I was a guest start in the web series, Merry Holidays- Please Hold created for San Francisco based, Zendesk.
Check it out!

Misty Mountains - Portland Lifestyle Photographer

Styling: Aria Chittendon
Makeup and Hair: Jen Springer
Assistant: Nick Wilson
Portland Lifestyle Photographer Lavenda Memory

Portland Fashion Photographer: Ballet

Portland Fashion Photographer Lavenda Memory

Portland Fashion Photographer: Meredith

I feel like this is the perfect set to post for Thanksgiving. Doesn't the color pallet just scream Happy Holidays?

Portland Fashion Photographer: Meredith Face Study

Portland Fashion and Headshot Photographer Lavenda Memory

Portland Fashion Photographer: Option Model Lauren Steenson

Portland Commercial Photographer Lavenda Memory

Portland Headshot Photographer: Terri Lodge

In my attempt to raise the bar in headshot photography here in Portland, I am trying to capture my clients in at least 3 different ways. I think it's important to show versatility as an actor and what better way than in your headshots?

Here are three different looks from a recent shoot with Terri Lodge (student of Jana Lee Hamblin)


Smoky Leading Lady:


Friendly Professional:


Street Smarts:


Once I get enough shots together, I will have a "3 looks" section on my website of Talent examples.

Christine Marie - Portland Head Shots

I'm very excited to post this shot of my fabulous makeup artist, Christine Marie. Christine is the artistic trifecta of photography, makeup and modeling. She dabbles and wows in all three areas and after our tag-team shoot yesterday, I can now say I've experienced all three of her talents first hand.

Christine and I did a photo trade since I am in need of a good smiling headshot and her modeling agency, Heffner, is requesting some photo updates for her portfolio. Headshots are kind of a challenge for me, because I don't normally like photos of myself smiling. I guess I feel old.

Anyhow, Christine managed to supersede my expectations 10 fold (wow I've always wanted to say 10 fold) and gave me more than plenty of great options to choose from. Here are a couple shots from our shoot yesterday:

Christine:


My New Headshot:


Portland Portrait and Headshot Photographer Lavenda Memory

Stinken up the Room

I was reading over some old blog posts from 2008 and found myself amused at the parallels between my life then and my life now. I mean, sure I've heard the saying "people don't change" but who knew "people" actually means ME?

Back then I was writing as a newly wed from Spain. I was grieving for home and frustrated as ever about my so called "fear of success" as a writer. Seriously, that's what I called it.

My writing was so pretentious that I find myself embarrassed for the readers (who mostly existed in my imagination) who may have been kind enough to read those posts. My strange fascination with verbiage and the word "poised" read like a bad high school term paper. And yet, despite all of that, I think I was writing a teeny, tiny bit of truth. Truth about my flaky nature. Truth about my debilitating fears. It's these truths that still strike a cord with me 2.0

Funny thing is, after Spain, I threw in the towel with writing. I think a few too many bad blog posts got me down, so I decided to redefine myself as a photographer. I stopped writing, almost completely and began taking pictures, scheduling shoots. It was way easier to do that than to define myself as a suck ass writer.

Obviously, it wasn't the worst thing I could do. By running away from fears I found myself an inspiring career in fashion photography. But despite my somewhat-successful business, I can't help but wonder what would have happened if I had stayed put, if I had pushed through the bad writing, the exaggerated pros. I mean, even if I had continued to suck and even if I had discovered that writing was not "my thing" wouldn't it have been cool to say "I gave it everything I've got" ?

Similarly, I've run up against some walls in my acting journey. At first, I brushed it off as a fluke, that I must be getting too busy. That of course I was overwhelmed- I'm a mom and a freelance photographer- I've got laundry and errands and not to mention seasonal depression... things NOONE else would even understand. Uh huh. I think like this. But then I realized. Whoa! You know what this sounds like? Bullshit! Yes ma'am. I'm definitely stinken up the room.

I mean, when the day is done, or the season- or hell, the year! I can rack up all the excuses (because that's all they are) to stay exactly where I am. Not moving forward means staying safe, running backwards means farther from failure. But HELLO! Wake up, I have to tell myself. It also means farther from the possibility of SUCCESS. Of growth. Of personal fulfillment and satisfaction. Without taking risks, biting the bullet, whatever you want to call it, life is not really LIVING.

So, all of that to say. I had a little lightbulb moment recently. My lightbulb was about acting this time around. I realized that I have to stick around and push even when it's hard and even what I know I'm sucking it up. But maybe if this works out, I'll find myself giving writing another try. Maybe if sucking doesn't actually suck I'll consider other things to suck at as well ( :

Los Ojos Azules

Blue dress, Blue eyes, Blue Skies









Thanks Christine Marie for fantastic job on hair and makeup.
And Lauren Steenson for your modeling chops.

Published Fashion Photographer Lavenda Memory

Portland Fashion Photographer

Here is a sneak peek from our Twiggy inspired shoot yesterday. While this shot does not emanate twiggy as much as some of the other sets, her beautiful energy and quirky beauty were an inspiration during the entire shoot. This was a "must edit" shot, but there are about 10-15 additional photos to come.

xxx

Bombshell Jenni Walker

This shoot has been in the works for nearly 2 years. Jenni and I first talked about shooting in 2009, when I was pregnant with Ella. I remember being inspired by Jenni's 18th century inspired features. I knew she'd be lovely behind the lens, but who knew we'd end up shooting a year after Ella's birth, in the beautiful Portland Fall.

Once I began shooting I realized that Jenni has way more than a gorgeous face; check out her bombshell figure as well!






Portland Portrait Photographer Lavenda Memory - Portland Headshots

Pumpkin Patch 2010

This is a beautiful video by Jelani.

2010 Pumpkin Patch

Wow. We totally lucked out today with the weather totally playing in our favor and the pumpkin patch still full of good picken's! The only draw back to going on a weekday, is the lack of Elephant ears for sale. I mean, of the few places you go during the year for elephant ears, this is one of the best! Plus, Ella's godmother "Nana Lori" is somewhat crazy about the sugary treat. Now she did manage to score the very last bag of kettle corn so I consider it an even exchange ( :

This was our second year at this particular farm out on Sauvie's Island. Last year Jelani and I went on our own, with Ella still being in my belly. It was the first time, however, we went on the tractor ride!

It was really fun to watch Ella take it all in. She had the most fun once she could walk around on her own two feet. She kept tripping on the pumpkin roots, but didn't seem to mind since she had access to 100's of giant orange toys and dirt! My girl LOVES dirt.

I got some funny shots of Owen, who looks like he's the worlds youngest photographer on a baby shoot or something. Everyone seemed to have fun picking out their pumpkins and I'm really thankful that Ella was able to enjoy her first year at the patch with her god family.