senior pix

Hey gang! This is John and he is a senior here at Grandfield High. John is an AWESOME kid! He is SUPER smart and has big plans after graduation, he plans to join the army and make a career out of the military. His big dream is to become a pharmacist though. We all believe that his dream is very achievable since he is very ambitious. Here are a few shots from his senior portrait session. He really liked the finished print where he is sitting on the staircase. I used a little bit of a Lucis filter on it.

By the way, did I mention that he is also my daughter's boyfriend? Here are a few shots of the both of them as well!


Cheers!
V-

More PPA Charities Operation SMile Pix!

Hey gang! I just opened an account with Flickr. You can log on to http://www.flickr.com/photos/veronicaleal/?donelayout=1 to see more of the candid shots that I took for the Operation Smile fundraiser at Imaging USA in Phoenix.

PPA Charities

One of my favorite charity organizations is the Professional Photographers of America Charities "Operation Smile".


Every year, the members of the PPA unite and donate thousands of dollars to help children and young people born with facial deformities receive the medical treatment required that would normally not be possible.




Our organization is so great because we send money to send medical teams to different countries to perform the operations. The medical team that the Operation Smile organization sends donates their talents and time. The mony is used to cover the costs of providing these services.




This year at Imaging USA, we held our annual fund raiser. We met at the Alice Coopertown Restaurant. A local band (who was fabulous)entertained us and food and fellowship was enjoyed by all. By the way...these events are where the BEST NETWORKING possibilities come forth. Hundreds of items were donated for our silent auction by photographic vendors and we were able to bring in some extra $$$$ besides the already donated amount to the charity.

This year, I was honored and privileged to be able to take the event's candid photographs again. Here are a few snapshots of some of my friends and different faces that make Operation Smile possible. I hope you can make it next year!
Cheers!
V-

Imaging USA 2009

Wow! I can’t believe that I’ve already come and gone to PHOENIX, ARIZONA!!!
Imaging USA 2009 was fabulous!

The weather was absolutely refreshing………………in the 70s. And now we have to deal with Ice and snow in Texoma. It was so surreal for me as I was flying over Arizona to see all of those canyons and what looked to be vast amounts of dirt and sand. Those of you who know me well know that I have this crazy little pet peeve…………..I HATE dirt in between my toes! I could feel my toes scrunching together as I looked out the window.

When I took the drive from the airport to the Sheraton, the scenery was so different and AMAZING! The view was nothing like the grassy Oklahoma plains that I am so used to.

Probably, the coolest thing that I saw, were the cacti along the side of the road. I have seen the bush type cacti all of my life, but had NEVER seen a tall Saguaro cactus in real life! The movies and the photos in books and magazines don’t give these plants justice. They are so statuesque and BEAUTIFUL!

Anyhow, the people here are very nice, and I will post more photos of Imaging USA later this week! Wish you were there!

Cheers!

¡Caramba! ¡ ¡ ¡No puedo creer que ya fui y ya vine de PHOENIX, ARIZONA!!!

El tiempo estaba muy suave…..en los 70s. Y pues, ya….tengo que mantenerme con el hielo y la nieve aquí en Texoma. Era muy surrealista para mí cuando estaba volando sobre Arizona y estaba viendo todas las montañas y toda la tierra y arena. ¡Ustedes los que me conocen bien ya saben que me choca mucho tener tierra adrento de mis dedos de mis pies! Pude sentir mis dedos apretandonse cuando miraba afuera de la ventana del avión.

Cuando tome el viaje del aeropuerto a la Sheraton, el paisaje era muy differente y tan asombroso! El paisaje no era nada como los planes de Oklahoma que estoy muy acostombrada. Lo más suave que mire eran los nopales por el lado del camino. He mirado los nopales del monte, pero nunca he mirado los nopales Saguaro en toda mi vida. Los he mirado en las películas y en fotos en revistas y libros, pero les da justo como se miran en la vida verdad. Son tan Hermosos~


Como quiera, la gente aquí son muy amables y voy a poner más fotos en los días que vienen. ¡desea que ustedes estaban auí!

¡Chao!

Good Luck at the Bridal Fair!!!

Yipeee!!! I am soooo anxious to fly out of this FREEZING Southwest Oklahoma weather and go to Phoenix! The weather will be a DELIGHT!

The only down fall to going to Imaging USA is that I will miss the Wichita Falls Bridal Fair. :( Several of my local photo buddies will be attending and I soooo wish that I could be a part of the show.

For those of you getting married soon, the bridal show will be this Saturday at the Wichita Falls MPEC Center. There are so many fabulous photographers around our area and this is a WONDERFUL opportunity to meet them all and check out their work.

Anyhow, Good luck to all of you shutterbugs and don't stress too much getting ready for your booth!

P.S.
Be nice to each other out there! We are all PROS ;)

Imaging USA - Woohoo!!!

WOW!!! I am getting SUPER STOKED about going to Imaging USA again. This will be my third time attending and it will be SUPER to be able to see all of my friends and meet new ones.

This year, I get to photograph the American Society of Photographers banquet again. Last year, I was given the honor of taking all of the candids for the event and I have been asked to do it again this year as well. What an honor to be able to meet and photograph our country's BEST of the BEST photographers! You can learn more about this organization by logging on to www.asofp-online.com

This will be the gown that I will be wearing to the dinner. I like to shop online quite a bit, but this year, I forgot to purchase a gown early enough to accomodate shipping time. I searched all over Lawton and then drove in to Wichita Falls where I was lucky enough to be able to find this one in my size.

I leave on Friday and will be there early enough to attend some of the pre-conference events. I will post pix of Phoenix and Imaging USA next week!

Cheers!

Paula Unplugged

I went on a REALLY FUN photo shoot yesterday in the middle of no where, Oklahoma! This is Paula, and she is the lady who makes my new line of children's frames. She happens to also be a very accomplished singer as well.

For this particular image, I used my Lumedyne and I "Split lit" her. I did move the reflector just enough to give her a bit Rembrandt lighting under the other eye for a more dramatic effect. I normally don't use split lighting, but I really enjoyed "breaking this rule" since Paula is a musician. I hope you love this portrait as much as I do!
Cheers!

Elgin High School

Hey there! I just wanted to post a few shots of one of the seniors that I photographed this holiday season.

This is Courtney and she is ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!!! She is from Elgin High School and has a promising future ahead of her. What I LOVE about my clients is that they are all so different. The white pickup in some of these shots was her grandpas. The use of his truck made her portraits very special and very memorable for her family.

On this particular day, it was a beautiful day but also EXTREMELY windy. That didn't stop us though.........we still got wonderful shots and had so much fun! In order to get more sharper images due to the wind, I used off camera flash in most of the shots and I mostly had to face her towards the wind because of her long hair.

Even though I am usually very careful not to get sun in people's faces, I really liked the pasture and trees so I asked Courtney to just "play" in the field on the second shot. I then converted the image to a high grain sepia tone with a little bit of color to create a really funky look.

Anyhow, the most rewarding part of this experience for me was the look on Courtney's mom's face when she opened her box of portraits and loved them just as much as I loved creating them!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE what i do!
Cheers!

What a HOLIDAY SEASON it was!

WOW! What a WONDERFUL holiday season it was for 2008! My holiday photography schedule actually started back in October and went all the way through TODAY! I have been Soooooooo busy that my blogging has had to take a mini-break.

Anyhow, Today I researched a potential opportunity for my business. It seems that there is a local building for sale in my town. IT is FABULOUS!!!!
The building is about 24 feet wide and about 70+ feet long. The ceilings are very tall and that is important for my studio lighting techniques. I love that the building sits in downtown Grandfield and is historical. It has a lot of charm and that is important to me as well.

It almost seems like a dream except that .................it has a severe water damage problem at the end of the building towards the back and there isn't a bathroom. Apparently, the rooftops in these old town buildings are flat and this particular building has sloped down a little towards the back. So water has collected and now the roof top has caved in and the water is damaging the wood floor and the walls.

I will spend the next few business days researching this possible investment and prepping to leave for Phoenix Arizona for our annual Professional Photographers of America convention. I will keep you tuned. Wish me luck!
Happy New Year!
Cheers!