Cash's Fault

I blame it all on Cash. Because I can. A 2 hour housecleaning job becomes an all day, heck, all week project. Sitting down to answer an email becomes a constant litany of "No. Don't. Stop. Don't touch that. Cash!" Trying to pack up an order becomes...well, just see the previous sentence. On top of that Mat's schedule at work has changed because of the season and he's been starting at 3:15, then 2:15 and now 12:15--so I lock myself out of my house, away from my work because a certain 16 month old doesn't have volume control and apparently Mat needs something called sleep. So, right now? I'm at my mom's. Cash is sleeping and I totally just remembered that I had a blog.

This has been my life. Since the end of October and early November. Really. My brother in law has dubbed everyone in the family as mine and Cash's babysitters because of how often we are at everyone's house so that my husband can sleep. I.just.want.to.be.home. I will be so glad when January comes around.

All that--just to explain my blogging absence, my 2:00 AM emails and blogging 2 months after my last post! I'm probably going to do my Christmas shopping after the holidays. Okay, well, I'm going to buy Cash a present after the holiday! What? The kid is going to be loaded, so no need for me to feel the pressure y'all! ;)

I kid, I kid. *chortle* ya right.

Anyhow, I promised to catch up here every chance I get! I've had some amazing sessions this season and a couple of weddings that I need to blog with some beautiful brides. I hope everyone has an amazing holiday!

Winter Mini Sessions||Gilroy Portrait Photography

San Jose Family Photographer::Alfaro Family

I had such a good time with this amazing family! I'm pretty sure we laughed and talked the whole time. At their ordering session we enjoyed pizza and ice cream sundaes. Um, I could get used to this. Here are some of my favorites!

Happy Thursday on a post that actually got published on a Wednesday! :)

To inquire about a family portrait session with Urban Rose Photography contact deanna@urbanrosephotography.com

Tips & Tricks::Keep It Natural

If your kiddo is anything like mine, more often than not they don't realize when you have a camera in your hand and are snapping photos. I love these times. I shoot hundreds of photos when he's not paying attention. Photos that will probably never grace my wall but will definitely sit in a yearly book filled with photos of Cash's life. I wish I shot more, but I get terrible, terrible light in my living room. Most of the light in these photos is coming behind me from my bedroom, which gets amazing light. 

Today's tip: keep it natural. I didn't do Cash's hair before I took these, I didn't make the toys all nice and I pretty much just sat in the same spot and observed him playing. I took photos of pieces. Pieces of his toys, pieces of his body, pieces of his face. I never told him to turn around and smile, to look at me or tried to get him to pose. I just let him be. 

When you're capturing life don't forget to capture the little things. 

During these times is also the perfect time to explore your camera and settings. Especially if you have a small SLR or your point and shoot has manual functions. Practice your lighting, angles and composition. Take the time to notice all the details and begin to think of starting new traditions with your photos (ie. putting together an annual book for your family to enjoy). 

Have a question you want answered about photographing your family or about photography in general? Ask! :)

Happy Tuesday! 

Friday, ahem, Saturday Randomness

We ate, slept and laid around watching movies and doing absolutely nothing. For the first time in over a year and it was so incredibly relaxing. We surrendered our child Saturday morning to my amazing sister for the rest of the weekend and spent the rest of the entire time with no schedule. We got massages, well actually Mat got a massage and I got something that made me more tense because the pressure was so weak. Its probably mostly my fault though, I was too scared to interrupt the silence to tell the woman MORE PRESSURE! Poor Mat has had to compensate since then with my constant please-rub-my-shoulders-because-she-did-such-an-awful-job request. I'm wondering how much longer I can play out that excuse...

Yesterday Mat came home from work (he works a very early morning shift for a delivery company) with flowers and chocolates. I'm sure I looked totally frazzled chasing around a one year old who thinks diaper changing is a game, but it totally  made my morning! Until I came home and found Mat had dug into the chocolate he bought me. Dude! I may or may not have hid the rest. Especially because I've been eating sweets like crazy trying to abstain from anything fatty before our family shoot this weekend.

Which I still need to shop for. I cannot even begin to tell you how much I've started to stress out about this. To all my clients, I now feel for you. I mean I've done this before but that was before I got on Pinterest and saw all the yummy clothing goodness and options. Makes me feel so....momish. Seriously, I can be wearing something that I think is cute only to find out that I look like I'm wearing Lee brand mom jeans (like the ones in the Saturday Nigh Live commercial) with a tucked in polo. Ugh. I want to look like a mom who doesn't have a pile of laundry, dishes at the end of every night and who dries her Egyptian cotton sheets in the Febreeze scented wind.

Happy Friday all--if you need me, I'll be getting my eyebrows waxed dreaming of Febreeze scented sheets and perfect massages.

Tips & Tricks::What to Wear || Gilroy Portrait Photography

It's the most common question for every shoot. What do we wear? What do I recommend? Here's a little something I put together. I'm totally a skirt wearin' kind of gal so that's what I looked for. This is totally just for inspiration so just switch what you'd like. :) There are ways to coordinate without being matchy-matchy.

There are actually quite a bit of patterns going on it this but you'll notice the majority of them are subtle. If they were all as loud as the girls' tights it would be close to disastrous. The majority of what's listed is from ModCloth, H&M and J. Crew.

In choosing outfits, be sure to dress for your body type. Believe me, it'll show in your photos if you're uncomfortable in your outfits. Even if you didn't "lose enough weight," don't try and squeeze into clothes that are too small. It's just not good. ;)

Hope that helps someone. It helped me get ready for our family shoot this weekend...I think I need to take a trip to H&M. I'm a bit in love with their little boy clothes.

Happy Tuesday!

Winner, winner, chicken dinner (minus the chicken dinner)

And the winner is...

LINDSAY!!! Congratulations! You were up among the top sharers during that past week. I'm so happy for you and thank you a million! Email me so we can get you all set up! Thank you to EVERYONE who helped share the launch of my new site. I wish I could at least give a mini session to everyone who helped. If you did help out, please accept a $25 credit towards a regular session or art purchase. Just let me know you helped (I have the records to verify) and I'll make note. I am so excited for the things to come the rest of this year!

Giveaway Day Five Grand Prize

Its been quite a week and I am so INCREDIBLY GRATEFUL for your support! I can't wait to announce the grand prize winner on Monday! After the weekend. That I am so looking forward to. This weekend I'm getting away with my main man. Well at least for Saturday and Sunday. We still have no idea where we're going, but we're definitely digging the idea of sushi and massages. At different times. Hopefully at different places. The other day I tweeted that I had a dream that I went to a combined sushi and nail salon and that there was a hair in my buffet sandwich.

...

Makes you kind of sick, right? I woke up feeling nauseous. So, moving on. Holla! Day 5 and it is grand prize time! Up for grabs is a $200 gift card to use towards an Urban Rose session!

Okay here's how to enter:

1. Go to my website and select the Galleries option on the left. OR JUST CLICK THIS LINK.

2. Select a gallery

3. You will see a comments bar that pops up linked to Facebook. If it doesn't pop up you'll see the comments box in the bottom right corner.

4. Tell me your favorite photo in that gallery and post your comment.

5. That's it! :)

Don't forget to send out a tweet (make sure you mention @urbanrosephoto) or share with your friends on Facebook (tagging @Urban Rose Photography) about this giveaway. If you leave me a comment with your weekend plans in this blog post I'll add an extra entry in for you. ;)

Good luck everyone--can't wait until Monday!!

GIVEAWAY DAY FOUR

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything, all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment of failure...just fall away in the face of death. Leaving what is truly important." --Steve Jobs, graduation speech


When I heard this quote from Steve Jobs, a man who so undeniably changed so many things for our future generations, it helped to affirm what I'm doing. Risking failure and my pride. I want to leave a legacy for my kiddo. I want him to be proud of his mom. Every day this week I've posted a picture of him. It reminds me. Reminds me to never forget the little things, while I try for what seems like this huge thing.

Now on for some giveaway details! Today's giveaway is especially fun. Read on for details!

1. If you go to my Facebook page and click the Photos tab on the left you will see an album called Giveaway Day Four. 

2. There's only one picture in that album. :)

3. Tag yourself! 

4. That's it! Easy, peasy lemon squeezy.

Ah, the giveaway! Teehee. It is...a mini session! You'll get a 30 minute session (totally perfect Christmas photos to go with the gorgeous Christmas cards) and a $25 credit that you can apply towards your art purchase. Yay! If you live quite a bit aways you may want to give it to a local friend or be willing to travel.You can certainly always upgrade it to a full session also.

Keep sharing, keep tweeting! The next giveaway will be the grand prize! Holla!!

Happy Thursday. Go squeeze your kiddos and take a leap of faith into something you've been waiting to do.

Giveaway Day Three

Happy Wednesday peeps! Yay for another day of giveaways! Today's giveaway is for a set of gorgeous custom boutique Christmas cards. These cards are amazing! They are so unique and will have all your closest friends and family talking. I am so excited to print some of my very own for my family after we take our family photos next week. Speaking of which, I need to do some shopping. H&M and I...we have an appointment. I found the cutest pair of pants for Cash. So excited to dress him. Way.too.excited. actually. :)

Anyway, back to the giveaway. These cards are beautiful and die cut into custom shapes (there are many, many other shapes and sizes available). This giveaway is for 25-4x8 Christmas cards. This giveaway is suuuuuper easy. All you have to do is leave a comment IN THIS BLOG POST and let me know your absolute favorite Christmas tradition or memory.

I remember one year my dad said we couldn't open presents until 11:00pm on Christmas Eve. While he was in the shower everyone snuck around and changed all the clocks in the house to be an hour ahead. We opened gifts before laughing our heads off about the joke we had played on him. That was a good year. Good friends, good laughs. This last Christmas was my grandmother's last Christmas and my son's first. It was really bittersweet but such an amazing Christmas. It was the first Christmas in years and years that we got to spend with my mom's side of the family and the pictures I have of my grandmother sitting at the pantry door while Cash hopped in his swing are some of my favorites.

So what's yours? Tell me, tell me!

Happy Wednesday!

Giveaway Day Two

Day two, here we go!

Oh but first...the winner of yesterday! Thank you all so much for either following me on Twitter, becoming a friend on our page, staying a friend on our page and leaving a comment or two here and there. I've entered all the names into a random drawing and the winner is...Lindsay. Yay! I'll be emailing you to send you that Target gift card.

Now onto today's giveaway. Today I'm giving away $25 to Evy's Tree. If you have never before seen their stuff you MUST go check it out! There is something for everyone! Her (and her being Amy, the owner) hoodies are ah-mazing and so perfect for the coming season! Even more perfect for your fall family shoot. ;)

To win this there are two things to do:
1. Make sure you're a friend on our fan page (you have to like our page in order to win)
2. Check out Evy's Tree's site
3. Leave a comment on this blog post, letting me know which product is your favorite

That's it! Good luck!

P.S. Everyday that you share my site or blog with your friends and family on FB or Twitter you will be entered one more time for the grand prize. PLEASE make sure you tag me in your posts though so I know you shared.

P.P.S. If you've won before, you can win again!

Happy Tuesday!

Giveaway Day One

Hi friends!

Yay for giveaways! The next five days I have some really fun giveaways! Giveaways include a set of customized Christmas cards (and these aren't like your regular everyday kind of cards). These are set of 25 gorgeous boutique styled cards ($125 value) that are being offered this season. Believe me, your cards will be the talk of the bunch! I also have some gift cards a certain hoodie boutique, my favorite place to shop and I'm trying to get a hold of another prize so I'll keep it secret for now. Of course there is a grand prize of $200 to Urban Rose for some of your very own custom artwork! You can keep it for yourself or you can give it to a friend you think would enjoy some new artwork for their home. I am so excited for this!

So let's get to it.

Monday. Day #1. Prize: $10 to Target. Why? Because I love it there. What to buy? Well, I could use some diapers...but you buy whatever you want. :)

Monday is simple. Mondays should always be simple. 1. Like my Urban Rose page. 2. Follow me on Twitter. 3. Leave a comment on my blog under this post. 4. Let me know you did it on FB or Twitter! :) Leave me a comment on my page and/or send me a tweet. Just let me know you did it! You'll be entered in a drawing that will be announced the following day.

MONDAY'S BONUS: Share my blog and/or site with your friends on FB or Twitter for another chance to enter you name. Tag Urban Rose Photography in your posts so that I get notice and I will enter your name again! :)

For every single day you enter, your name will go in again for the grand prize so don't forget to participate all week!

Again, thank you all so much! I am so excited for this week!!

5 Days of Giveaways

Hey friends! I am so excited about launching my site that I've got some really fun giveaways for the next five days. So keep your eyes on the blog, Facebook or Twitter to stay updated so you can participate. It all goes down starting Monday. Details will go up first thing in the morning each morning. Thanks so much. Love you all!!

Brand New, New Brand

I am so excited for the launch of my new website coming this Saturday. I have fun giveaways and a grand prize coming for all my friends who help me spread the word. I've been doing some major work on the structure of my business, collections and services and while I am beyond scared of the failure, I am so excited for the adventure.

Be sure to check it out. Starting tomorrow you'll be able to leave a comment on the countdown page and we'll celebrate the last 24 hours before the launch!

Taking a Risk

Taking risks scares the bajeebus out of me. If I send an email to someone I don't know very well proposing something new I will check it every five minutes, if I sent a photo I wait for it to show up on Facebook AND wait for people to comment. I, unapologetically, thrive on praise. It's part of my nature and both my mom and husband know it. I hate to feel like I might have failed and the anticipation of KNOWING that I even might have failed in even the smallest ways gives me a little anxiety and makes me eat. lol. So if I gain ten pounds today...you'll need no explaining. Oh, and all this stress could be for something minor.

I'm not writing this because I want a pat on the back, a hug that its okay or praise for what I do. I genuinely wanted to share this. Because once I get anxiety I have a chat will myself (and very often out loud) and tell myself that I'm not going to succeed EVERY TIME. But every time I put myself out there I'm one step closer to living my dreams and I've learned one more way NOT to do something. It's okay to fail. It's okay mess up. As long as every time you mess you keep going. John Maxwell calls it failing forward.

I'm going to learn to embrace failure. Failure is just one step closer to the life that I dream about.

Happy Wednesday <3

P.S. If you're not my friend on Facebook or Twitter come join me! If you love Pinterest you can follow me there too!

He's One!

He walked, got his first haircut and turned a year old all on the same day.

And I didn't cry. My mom did though.

I just love my little boogerhead. He has been so much fun and I can't believe that he's a year old. I know it's SO cliche but time really does fly. Except at 3:00 in the morning. It is unbelievable how much time slows down at that hour when there are deafening screams echoing through the house. But he's getting better. I hope. Or we may have an adoption happening very soon...

We shot these at a park around the corner from my parent's house. I love, love, love them. The light was golden and beautiful. I practiced a new sun flare technique and love the results. There's no photos of me and Cash because...well...let's just say Mat isn't a photographer. ;) We're working on it. Family photos happen next month so hopefully we'll have some of me and boogerface soon.

Happy birthday Cashy-Cash! Mommy and Daddy love you to the moon and back again.

xoxo

Gilroy Family Photography: Summer Mini's

These beach photos are some of favorite photos EVER. I love them. I could seriously get addicted to shooting at the beach. Now is the perfect time to get your family photos done for the holidays. They are definitely coming faster than we'd like to think about.







Each of these sessions came with an 11x14 canvas. Sooo stoked to see them! The family with the 4 beautiful kiddos upgraded her canvas to a 20x24--I love big art and can't wait to see it hanging on a wall!!

Have a happy Monday lovelies.

Gilroy Family Photographer::

I can't even begin to describe how fun it was to shoot this adorable family. When Brenda told me what she had in mind I immediately texted my sister to let her know what kind of shoot I was doing on Friday. Yes. I was that excited! :)

Joe and Brenda celebrated their first baby girl's one year birthday to past weekend and decided to have photos done to commemorate. They went all out in the details bringing her favorite books, stuffed animals and tea set with each of them dressing the part. [Just a tip--if you want to have interesting and different photos its in the details. Details, details, details. Beautiful brides, remember that also! ;)]

Elly was adorable. I had such a good time. Truly. Enjoy some prettiness.










Happy Wednesday!

Summer Mini Sessions

Note to self: Blog more. I really do have a life. Just no time to blog about it. ;)

MINI SESSIONS!! Oh I am loving these sessions this time around!


As of right now the beach session will be happening at Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz. The only reason this will change is because it's crazy crowded so I'm going to go and scope it out a couple weeks before. It is summer so...we'll see.

Book your session before July 1st to receive a special little promo. ;)

If you are a repeat friend, contact me for your special promo too.

Want to earn $25 print credit towards your collection? Refer a friend! Once your friend is booked, cha-ching, money in your pocket.

Hope everyone is having an amazing summer so far! These are bound to be the best mini sessions yet!

P.S. I! love! exclamation! points!
P.P.S. Yes!! I!! do!!

Zach {Morgan Hill Senior Photography}

It's not very often I get to shoot senior guys. It's also not often I get to shoot senior guys who aspire to be architects who are really comfortable in front of my camera. Meet Zach. I could have shot all day with him. He was an amazing model (and many, many thanks to Candice for assisting!!). I told Zach I would forward his photos on to Abercrombie. Or Hollister. Or both. As long as he told them he had a designated photographer.

What?

I dream big. ;)





Happy half price pizza Tuesday!

Perspective Contest Details

I cannot wait to see what photos you come up with!!

Okay here are the rules:

1. You must take 2 photos. One of a "straight on" perspective and one where you change your perspective. Get on the ground, go up top, tilt your camera...however you want to change to make your photo interesting. See this blog post for more.



2. Upload your two photos to the Urban Rose Facebook page (if you don't Like it yet make sure to Like it first!). Make sure to label your photos either Original and Perspective.



Creativity counts! The more interesting the better. If you someone posts something really creative make sure to leave them a little love also! Feel free to use any kind of camera--just make sure its a recent photo!

Share with your friends! Sharing with your friends automatically gets you an extra entry. :) Just tell me you shared.

Prize: $10 gift card to iTunes or some other place more interesting. :) The exact prize is still TBD.

Contest ends Friday at 10pm.

Have fun everyone!!

Different Point of View

The other day I felt in a rut. Bloggily. Like I had already blogged everything in my life. My life consists of being a wife, being a mom and being a photographer. Well, you know, and a daughter and sister too. Which I could write a lot of jokes but no one would get them. Then I started to reflect on what I do. Observing what I do and how I do it. I tried to figure out what gives me my style. And I kept getting one word that came back to me. Perspective. It's not enough to "see" a photo but to actually take the time to "capture" the photo in a unique way. I strive to do that every time I put my camera in my hand.

I was out on a walk the other day and on impulse grabbed my camera. Well, sort of on impulse. The truth is I had just snapped a bunch of photos of Stefanie with her hair in a bun on top of her head while she was laying in bed doing homework, looking less than gorgeous and I didn't want her to erase them. So really, I grabbed my camera so I could save these precious blackmail photos. Buuuutt, while out on my walk I begin to think about what I could blog about and some photos to put with the post. And it hit me. Sometimes a photo comes out so much better when you take a different perspective in snapping the photo. I purposely took some photos to be able to show you what I meant.

Simply, I mean just changing your angle. Sometimes you can turn a boring photo into an interesting one just by changing your shooting position.You can probably guess which photos are the straight on photos and which ones I changed my angle on. The tree is gorgeous but when I stood directly under it and looked up I really got to appreciate the blooms. The table display is nice but by changing my angle I was able to pop some texture into a photo that was less noticeable before.



The best thing is you don't need a fancy camera to do this. Pull your phone out and have a little fun changing your perspective on what would otherwise be an ordinary photo.

Happy Wednesday!

I Interrupt This Week...

...to bring you this adorable little fellow.

Who interrupts my week. Quite often.



I'm trying out some new blog storyboard layouts that I got from Brand Sushi. I think I like them lots. :)

Happy almost Wednesday!

A Vignette

I got a new phone. I'm almost totally up to date technologically. Almost. My phone is mostly plasticky--and I won't even tell you what operating system I'm running on my computer. But me and dinosaurs? We're good friends. Buuut, imagine how hip I felt when I got a Droid. Oh yeeeaahhh *said with my best Barry White imitation*.

Anyhow, being the type A perfectionist about my photos that I am, I was very underwhelmed with the camera that came with the phone. It took me forever to find a program I liked. One of my favorite photo apps, Instagram, isn't on the droid market. And I was finding nothing even close in comparison. Until I browsed a Q&A section on Instagram (yes, and I read manuals too) when I saw the name Vignette and that it was a great alternative on Droid. Bottabing bottaboom! Sold and sold. It lacks the social aspect Instagram has but nevertheless is waaay better than my stock camera.

I've started doing a photo a day on my Twitter and love that I have to think outside the box because the camera phone is only so powerful. To be honest, putting together the collage I had to go through oodles of "Cash" photos to get these. I obviously need to expand my daily interests. ;) I'm actually finding I love that Vignette has more options than Instagram in processing. And I can express another side of myself through my phone.

Oh and my phone? It hooks up to my computer!! Yeah I'm lame. I know.



Happy Thursday!

Adelina + Shawn {Married}

Every once in a while you hear about a couple who meets, loves what they find and decides to get married. All in the span of 6 months. Meet Lina and Shawn. Lina was Steffy's childhood friend and her family have been members of our church for years. It's been such an honor watching her life unfold and seeing how God has a plan for her life. Shawn is an amazing guy. He treats her like a queen. He loves her son without any reservations. And on their wedding day when he talked to his dad I couldn't help but hear him say that he was marrying the woman of his dreams.

I wish the happiest of ever afters and dreams for you both.

Their wedding was for family only and was such a beautiful intimate affair. I was thrilled to be a part of it.

Is she not gorgeous? I posted this photo on my Facebook because I loved it so much.














Because the ceremony was in the evening we had limited light so Shawn and Lina decided to see each other before the ceremony.

6 Months

So at this point the kiddo is already 7 months.

Yeahhh...I lag. *points finger at Cash* It's totally his fault. But he is so worth it!! I mean, look at that chubby face. A girl at church said he looked like that little kid Russel from the Pixar movie Up--that still makes me laugh. I had another friend tell me to start investing in football gear. Hehe. I love my little chub immensely.

We were out at Santana Row with my sisters and brother-in-law and I set out to get some photos of my little guy before he turned seven months old, oh, like the week after. That way I could say he was "technically" 6 months old. Oh the things that mean something to me. :) He made us all laugh and had quite a few admirers around him. Right now his current stats are: 22lbs., 26 in., 8 teeth and is doing his darndest to learn how to crawl. He loves beans, graham crackers and drinking water from a cup. I'm currently indoctrinating him to say Mama so that my uncle doesn't get his way in making sure Cash's first word is Nick.











Happy Tuesday!