mr. and mrs.

sometimes the stars align (or in this case, the clouds) and las vegas produces perfect weather and light. that is what happened the day jennifer and amir got married. [sidenote: this was back in may. the odds of experiencing this kind of weather in august are about 1 in a million.] every element was ideal that day and i thoroughly enjoyed shooting their wedding and getting to know them better. they are wonderful people.

here are a few of my favorites. enjoy.

p.s. have a great weekend. remember, we only have one more month of summer; let's take advantage.

who: jennifer and amir

what: wedding

where: lake las vegas, ritz-carlton

i don't understand

when people complain about "typical vegas" women/men/people/drivers. i mean, most people living here are transplants from other places. 

don't hate.

two songs that should be on everyone's ipod

"love train" by the o'jays

"got to give it up" by marvin gaye

you'll love them. trust me. now get to download'n.

p.s. coincidentally, both were made in the '70s.

up next...

jennifer and amir's wedding. the rest are coming soon.

stand by....

1984 was quite a year!

to all my friends born in 1984: our birth year rocked. literally.

"Suppose one of the best years in pop music happened and nobody noticed.

A quarter of a century ago, in 1984, three of the most significant pop albums ever made came out. The year saw Bruce Springsteen's landmark "Born in the U.S.A." released June 4, Prince's masterwork "Purple Rain" drop June 25 and Madonna's classic "Like a Virgin" get unveiled Oct. 29. In other words, three of the most important albums ever were released within five months of each other."

to read the rest of the article, go here.

i like to imagine that i rocked out to these albums in my car seat.

p.s. thanks, heather, for the link.

p.p.s. reading that i am a "quarter of a century" is something i never thought would happen. in the blink of an eye, i'll be half a century. oh gosh.

i picked these grapes from my mom's grape arbor yesterday and they are sweet. she also has some pomegranates and figs ripening.

see? we can grow things in las vegas.

i don't know about you guys,

but i LOVE monsoon season.

p.s. this is las vegas right now.

let's give another round of applause!

as anticipated, the pageant was a lot of fun to judge. the theme of this particular contest was runway modeling and was judged on attire and modeling style (i.e. how well they pulled it off). here are some photos of the winners. the categories were: junior teen, teen, miss, and ms. 

p.s. i realize that the quality of these photos is not ideal. sometimes you just have to make the most of the camera you have at the time.

p.p.s. i am happy to announce that all of the girls handled the pageant with grace and poise. no drama or cat-fights were apparent. at least not while i was there. juuuuust kidding. they were wonderful!

get your crowns ready...

'cause tonight i'm judging the runway modeling competition for the miss united states pageant. i've never done this before, but it should be fun. stay tuned...

photo swiped from internet

dumped shoot

the super-talented photographer, nicole hill, did a "dumped shoot" and i had the opportunity to participate. good times.
p.s. in case you can't tell, that is chicken noodle soup being poured on my head.

showing up for life

is an enjoyable book by bill gates sr. it's a quick read, but inspiring and powerful nonetheless. i knew it would be a good book when i read the foreword by bill gates:

"Dad, the next time somebody asks you if you're the real Bill Gates, I hope you say 'Yes.' I hope you tell them that you're all the things the other strives to be."

i also liked this quote:

"Eighty percent of success is showing up."-Woody Allen (amen!)

dancing [poolside] with the stars

as i mentioned before, i had the opportunity to photograph karina smirnoff and maksim chmerkovskiy (don't worry, i don't know how to pronounce his last name either) on july 4th at the palazzo. poolside, baby. it was triple-digit temperatures that afternoon and i desperately wanted to jump in the pool. however, i refrained until i was home. 

jumping into the pool with a camera around your neck=not smart

2 things i learned from this shoot:

karina and maks are very playful and fun to photograph. i genuinely had a good time with them and they needed very little direction.

i need to start working out again. i mean, how am i going to be on the next season of DWTS if i'm not in tip-top shape?

photos by laura graves for IS Photography