Not because I'm nervous to write about Becky, the breast cancer survivor. Cancer, I can write about. I'm nervous to write about Becky, the courageous, spunky, full-of-life, extraordinary woman. Cancer is something that Becky has experienced, but cancer is not what defines her.

So I'm going to make my best attempt to describe what I think does define her.

I didn't get to spend a ton of time with Becky, but I didn't need to in order to understand who she is. She's a straight shooter; transparent, genuine, and a take-me-as-I-am type of person. She has a contagious smile that is constantly planted on her face. She adores her family. She radiates confidence. She carries herself with a certain grace and poise that I long for; I envy her self-assurance. She's not afraid to be goofy or affectionate or energetic - she allows her true personality to shine through no matter where she is or who she is around.

She's a survivor, but more importantly, she's a live-r. Not the organ :); the verb. She knows how to live.

On the day I met Becky, I had been experiencing a day. You know what I mean. A DAY. Nothing was going right, and the world seemed to be wreaking havoc on me every second that I spent awake. It's the kind of day that can put you in a slump; wreck your mindset. And it did - for a moment.

Becky changed my perspective. While we were running through the rain (yes. RAIN. On her shoot. Like I said - it was a day.), I was apologizing. And complaining. And apologizing some more. She stopped me, and with a smile said, 'you didn't know this was going to happen.'

It's simplistic, but so true. We can't control life. It's going to throw us curveballs - days, stormy weather, heartbreak, cancer...but it's up to us how we choose to handle it. We can sulk in our slump, apologize a million times, or take a cue from this lovely lady and keep pushing forward.

I'd like to believe that I'm a better person after hanging out with Becky for an hour. And for that, I'm so thankful that I had the opportunity to meet her. :)

Becky's hair has started to grow back (yay!) but she wanted to grab some shots of her before it was fully grown to document such a monumental time in her life. Really cool, right? As we were e-mailing back and forth, I told her to feel free to bring any props along with her that she thought would add to the shoot. She told me that she was bringing along 2 of the things that have helped her the most throughout the whole process - her kids. :)

McKinzi and Michael love their mommy a lot.

And of course, the feeling is reciprocated. :)

How cute are they?!

One of my favorites.

LOVE these two.

Becky, you're gorgeous.

Demi Moore has nothing on this chick. ;)

:)

Denise is Becky's sister (and a great friend of ours - hi Denise! :)). Denise has been one of Becky's biggest cheerleaders, supporters, encouragers, and friends through the past months of challenges and trials. Having a sister myself, I can definitely appreciate how tight their bond must be. Sisters are seriously one of life's biggest blessings.

At some point during the shoot, McKinzi decided that she should wear Becky's hat. And as soon as I pointed the camera in her direction, she worked it. Someone needs to get this girl an agent!

I already knew I was going to love Becky before I even met her. But when she rolled up to the shoot wearing these boots, she stole my heart. <3

So as I mentioned before, it rained. Here, it wasn't downpouring, but it was definitely coming down steadily. Becky and I braved the drops to grab a few shots of her doing what she does best - embracing the moment that life has given her. :)

The Dickins kids are Faith, Bethany, Drew, and William. They are probably some of the cutest, most photogenic people I've ever been around. And they're cool. And sweet. It's kind of like the best of all worlds, really. :)

Here's a few of our favorites from the day!

William is the youngest, and he lucked out in the fun-older-siblings department. :)

a little brotherly bonding...

...and sisterly love!

:)

Who doesn't love to swing?!

Favorite group shot!

I try to take at least one 'no face' shot during every session we do. I think attire/shoes say a lot about someone's personality. :)

William and I made a deal; if he gave me one 'nice smile'...

...he could make any face he wanted. (I'm kind of partial to this one, really :))

Faith and Bethany got in on the face-making action too. :)

The Walbrown family (consisting of Randy, Kim, Allison, Ben and Cara) participated in one of our Love Through the Lens sessions, and they are a super fun group to be around. They laugh a lot together, which I believe is the key to a happy, healthy family. And they make monkey faces. How can you not be cool if you make monkey faces?!

The kids - Ben, Allison and Cara.

Then we added the parents to the mix. :)

Mom and Dad need a few by themselves. :)

There's something about this shot that I really love.

Probably my favorite family shot. :)

Ok - so you may be familiar with our personality boxes. If you are a client, you can request them, and we'll make it happen during your shoot or event! The Walbrown kids didn't request a personality box, but after spending some time letting them have total creative freedom in front of the camera, I decided that they definitely deserved one. There's a WHOLE lot of personality in these 9 frames. And I can't take any credit for the awesomeness of the faces or poses - that was all them. :)

Despite the cold air, Autumn was a trooper! And Mandy and Matt are truly loving, devoted parents already. It was beautiful to watch their little family interact together, and to see how much they adore Autumn. I'm hoping to see more of them in the future as Autumn continues to grow! :)

Daddy/daughter photos melt my heart. :)

Doesn't it kind of look like Autumn is smiling here? I think she knows how much they love her. :)

SUCH a cute family!

Up there in the running for my favorite of the day.

I have said it before and I'll say it again; I think it is SO important for couples to have photos together, sans kids. Parents should document their love throughout the years because it is their relationship that is truly the foundation for their family. I'm off my soapbox now. :) P.s. How photogenic and precious are Mandy and Matt?!

Little baby fingers. :)

:)

For the first post, we'll spotlight the gorgeous newlyweds, Valerie and Ricky. Valerie and Ricky gave us tons of time BEFORE the ceremony to take photos and it was nothing short of amazing. As photographers, we were thrilled. :)

This first one was shot right after their 'first look'... :)

...we then moved over to Kraft Azalea Park for some portrait time.

Valerie was especially excited about this location because it tied in with the theme of their wedding, and their engagement session. :)

Hello - how fabulous are they?!

So sweet.

The light was awesome!

I need to take a moment to highlight Valerie. She was seriously one of the most stunning brides I have ever seen.

Gorgeous, right?! That photo on the left is my most favorite bridal shot we've taken.

:)

The ceremony and reception were held at the Winter Park Farmer's Market (LOVE), so we took the opportunity to grab a few more shots around that area before everything started.

Handsome groom. :)

Valerie, I know you have been excited to see the outcome of this shot, so I hope you love it as much as I do! :)

A little end of the night romance...:)

I seriously can't handle all the cuteness.

Holding hands with mommy.

In the running for my favorite of the day. I just love how little and delicate she looks sitting on that bench.

Happy baby. :)

LOVE these two.

'It's my party and I'll chew on this balloon if I want to.'

A little dress up.

That face is awesome.

p.s. I made the wardrobe selection for this part of the shoot. Hello - boots and leggings? Done. This is a glimpse at how my future child will dress.

So Cami (Callie's mommy) was staying out of photos for the most part, but when she crawled into the tunnel with her, I couldn't resist snapping a few. I adore this shot.

I feel like this is a perfect pair of images to leave you with. :)

*This is the week for sneak peeks and full posts! We have nine shoots on deck that need to be edited, so check back often! :)

Putter shares a birthday with Valentine's Day. Since the flowers-and-jewelry holiday is no big deal in our house (don't judge us), we focused on spending time with Putter, and spoiling him with a huge, dinosaur-like bone, and a couple of extra treats and hugs. I don't think he knew that it was his birthday, but he loves to be the center of attention, so he was happy to play along:

I know I'm biased, but how adorable is that little furry face?! I mean, really. You can't help but love him.

Putter is truly a bright spot in our lives, and our days wouldn't be quite as entertaining or joy-filled without him in them. We don't have any children yet, but in our book, Putter is our first kid. A clumsy, excitable, playful, 70 lb. kid. And we're proud parents. :)

Those days are balanced (fortunately) by really, really great days. The location is beautiful, our client is up for anything, our creative juices are flowing, and the sunshine comes out to play.

Last Saturday, we had a great day. :)

It was windy. Ok. It was whip-your-hair-in-136-different-directions windy. But we still had an amazing time. All the components lined up: downtown Kissimmee was beautiful and serene, Carly was up for anything, our creative juices were flowing, and the sunshine came out to play for a little while.

It's days like Saturday that make us love photography. And it's clients like Carly that make the 'job' part feel non-existent.

Like I said, it was windy. But apparently, the wind loved Carly.

Carly is really photogenic. So photogenic, that if she wasn't also super sweet, you may just have to despise her out of jealousy. ;)

Love this.

Hello, sunshine.

I LOVE these next two. Though they look similar, I love them for completely different reasons. I also love that Ben snapped one of them, and I snapped the other. Team effort. :)

Um, yeah - so we just painted this mural on the wall real quick for the shoot. No biggie.

Gorgeous.

:)

A little later than I originally planned, but I was dealing with this for the past few days:

I hate being sick. Besides feeling physically terrible, it throws off how I function and messes up my routine. Wah.

Ok let's move on. :)

The Mezger family is a really fun group to hang out with. Ben and I aren't used to really large family sessions, but this family of 9 definitely made our job easy and enjoyable. They have a blast together, and share a lot of love for one another. :)

Since there are quite a few members of the Mezger crew, let me do a breakdown for you:

The whole clan.

Kent and Jenny. a.k.a. Mom and Dad. :)

Tyler and Kari. Kari is the daughter of Kent and Jenny, and Tyler is her husband. P.s. Kari is the one who contacted us to get this session lined up. :)

Kevin and Lacy. Kevin is the son of Kent and Jenny, Lacy is his wife.

...and they have two adorable girls, Lanie and Addison. Seriously, how cute are they?! I love this photo. :)

We broke the group up into several smaller groupings to get some of these shots. This one is a sister photo. :) Jess is on the left, Kari is on the right. Jess is Kent and Jenny's youngest daughter. (Have I sufficiently confused you with this dialogue about the family tree??)

Another big group one. Good looking family, right? :)

She's so precious!

I'll wrap this up with my favorite. :) (P.s. I need to point out Kevin in this photo - he is holding Addison while jumping, and managed to get pretty high off the ground, make an awesome face, and not drop her. AND she didn't cry at all. That's skills.)

I had a day like that on Saturday. No dropped toothbrush or low gas tank, but we had a different issue. The weather. Leading up to Saturday, weather.com was predicting 30% for Saturday. Ok, well that's a 70% chance that it won't rain, my optimistic side was cheering. But my realistic side argued, It's Florida. It will change. My realistic side is such a Debbie Downer sometimes. Saturday rolled around, and alas - it had increased. A lot. By 50%, to be exact.

We had two LTTL shoots lined up in Ft. Myers, and against our better judgment (and that huge green blob sitting over the state of Florida), we decided to risk it.

AND WE WON.

We beat out the weather by about 15 minutes (torrential downpour ensued as soon as we pulled into Chick-fil-A for a post-shoot meal). Our victory made me want to channel my inner 5-year-old and stick my tongue out at the meteorologist, but I contained myself.

The sessions on Saturday were rain free, and really fun. I couldn't be more excited about Love Through the Lens, and the joy that it has brought us over the last couple of months. It's truly been an inspiring experience, and we are so thankful for the response that we've received about this opportunity. It will be back in the future. That's for sure. :)

Our first drizzle-free Saturday session was with Levi, Jessica and Matt. Levi's first birthday was in January, so the shoot was a celebration, and Levi was definitely the star. If our future child can be ANYthing like this baby, I will be happy. THRILLED, in fact. He is adorable, happy, and full of personality. And he can work the camera like it's his job. :)

Enjoy a few from the day!

Let' start with my favorite from the session. Ben was holding Levi's juice cup, so even though he's not walking by himself yet, he was determined to make his way over to claim his prized possession. :) (I love Matt and Jessica's expressions in the background!)

A little fun in the air with Daddy. Matt threw him in some crazy, spiral motion and I was seriously impressed. I was also impressed that Levi didn't throw up in the process.

I mean, how can you not love that face?!

Ben and I have known Matt and Jessica for awhile, and it was so cool to be able to hang out with them and watch them interact with Levi. They are seriously amazing parents, and Levi is loved tremendously.

Jessica and Matt - if Levi signs with Baby Gap as a model and becomes all famous, just remember us little people. ;)

Mommy and Levi time.

I can't get over the cuteness. He was probably about to give someone that pile of leaves in his hand. He likes to share.

If you aren't this excited on a slide, you're doing it wrong.

I think swinging was the highlight of his day. :)

Plus, I'm about to go to the gym, and I have a limit on how long I can be wearing athletic attire without actually doing any sort of physical activity. It's a very small window. If I wait too long, all hope is lost and I will submit to watching Law & Order: SVU in workout clothing.

So without further adieu...

Up first is Michael.

He's a Senior at Mariner High School in Ft. Myers, and played football for their team.

We are really close to his family (his dad, Jeff, married us!) - they're awesome.

Michael has been through a lot of challenges at his young age, but he has a bright, incredible future ahead of him and we are excited to see what's in store for him after graduation!

***

The next two sessions are from Love Through the Lens. I know I've said it a thousand times, but I'm so glad that we are able to do this. It's given us a chance to meet some amazing people, and give back to a truly fantastic cause. If this is your first time hearing about LTTL, check out the blog post here for more details. :)

Meet Kendall, Cody, and Brooke. Brooke and Cody are twins, and Kendall is the oldest. Cody wasn't as thrilled to be in the photos as the girls, but he was a good sport. :)

This was our second sister session, and I'm absolutely in love with this type of shoot. Probably because I have a fabulous sister of my own (hi Callie! :)), but there's something about photographing the bond between sisters that makes me super happy.

Gorgeous!

LOVE this. And I feel like it says so much about their relationship! :)

***

And last, but certainly not least, is Ashley. Well, a portion of her, at least. ;)

Since Ashley has a modeling background, she was incredibly easy to photograph. I also adored the fact that she brought so much to the shoot to showcase the football-loving side of her personality (future clients - take note! :)).

She's truly just as sweet and fun to be around as she is beautiful! :)

I couldn't decide between this one and the last one, so posting both seemed like the best option. :)

We had such a blast at all three of these sessions - thanks to all of you guys for hanging out in front of our cameras! :)

Let's get right down to it.

1. LUSH Love Lettuce face mask: Ok. I know I've raved about this company before, but they really are just that good. You would think that I'm getting kick backs from them with how many times I've gushed about their products, but sadly, I'm not. This is just an extremely impressed customer wanting her friends to try out LUSH so they can be extremely impressed too. Literally anything you purchase from LUSH is fabulous, but today, I'm touching specifically on their Love Lettuce face mask. LUSH offers tons of different masks, so I kind of just selected this one at random. And OMG (yes, LUSH leaves me so speechless that I have to resort to abbreviations). This mask is heaven in a jar. I'm not kidding. Like, I actually think if Jesus made face masks, he would create something like this one. With ingredients like almond shell, seaweed gel, lavender oil, almond oil, and Fuller's Earth, this product is a perfect balance of cleansing, soothing, and softening. My skin feels insane. In the best way. It's smoother, cleaner, and (if I may say) even more 'radiant' - as the jar ensures it will be. And in this harsh, wintery weather, it's like gold. You can't purchase Love Lettuce on LUSH's website because the product is made fresh and has to stay chilled, but they have lots of stores all over the place. Do yourself a favor and go. After you do, I can almost guarantee that you will turn into an overzealous spokesperson, like yours truly.

2. Work. Your. Closet. I'm extra excited about sharing this. :) One of our former brides (and now friend!), Jamie, has started a blog project called Work.Your.Closet. The concept is brilliant - she loves fashion, but she (like most of us) doesn't have thousands of dollars to spend on designer duds at the drop of a hat. So she takes inspiration from various sources (magazine pages, online fashion ads, etc) and creates similar looks with items that she already owns in her closet. The result is truly fabulous. Jamie explains each trend, why she loves it, and how to make it work. Every post includes a photo of her, dressed in the 'look' of the day, and details about where she purchased each item. The girl knows fashion. Period. And she is passionate about it. That's what I love about this project. Jamie isn't getting paid to write this blog - she wants to. I have no doubt that she'll be wildly successful, and that this little project is just a platform for even bigger things down the road. So definitely stop by her blog. You will be absolutely be inspired to reach into your closet and create fashion-forward looks without breaking the bank. :)

3. Boots. I have a confession. I have an unhealthy obsession with boots. For awhile, it rode the line of healthy and mildly unhealthy. But a couple of weeks ago, I took a giant leap over the edge when I purchased 2 pairs in one day. That purchase brought my grand total to...eight. Eight pairs of boots. Since it's cold out right now, my addiction is a little more justifiable. But really, no one needs eight pairs of boots unless they live in an igloo. And I don't. I live on a peninsula, an hour from the beach in any direction. I know what you're thinking, but I have an explanation. I was talking to a friend of mine recently, and she said 'My sister creates her entire outfit around her boots.' And I was all, I totally get her. Boots don't just complete an outfit - they are the essence of the outfit. (Did I go too far there? Just a little?) Basically, my opinion is this - everyone needs a cute pair of boots. Or eight. Whatever.

4. Burn Notice. I don't watch a ton of TV, but the shows that I do watch, I adore. Occasionally, I even become one of 'those' people. You know, the person that thinks it's ok to claim the show as their own; "I have to get home. My show's on at 10." The few that usually end up on our DVR are House, Law & Order: SVU, and more recently, Burn Notice. Ben started watching Burn Notice while he was staying in Reno before his trip to California this past fall. He got hooked. So when he came home, naturally, he forced me to watch it with him. I wasn't into it at first. But then we rented it from the beginning on NetFlix. Oh man. There's no turning back now. This show is a perfect blend of action, humor, intelligence, and drama. There's something for everyone to love. The show is based around Michael Weston - a former spy who was burned (or blacklisted). He is witty, brilliant, and not at all hard to look at. He makes me want to buy cool sunglasses and walk around saying phrases like 'covert-ops' and 'double agent.'

5. BD's Mongolian Grill. I like BD's because I'm in control of my food. I like it because I get to watch it being cooked on a huge grill. I like it because when I go through the line of ingredients, it makes me feel like I'm a chef. Like I know how to make a good recipe. I like it because I can add in exactly what I like (chicken, garlic, edamame, green onions, chili garlic sauce...good!) and leave out what I don't (cabbage, mushrooms, weird baby corn...bad.). I like it because the energy is high, and the music is loud. And the tortillas. I like the tortillas. A lot.

1. Cold, rainy weather. Even though it's great for my boot obsession, my body was not created for this type of weather. Really, Florida was not created for this type of weather. I know that Floridians have the reputation of being Whiny McWhinersons when it comes to weather - it's tooooooo hotttttt in the summer and toooooo colllllllld in the winter. But I have 2 things to say about that. One, we will never, ever be adequately prepared for cold weather because we never actually expect it. It always sneaks up on us. Our idea of 'warm clothing' is layering a shirt on top of another shirt, and maybe taking off our flip flops for a day or two. Maybe. So yes. 27 degrees is absolutely freezing to us. It may not be anything compared to Minnesota's temperatures of below zero, but we can't understand the difference. Cold is cold. Our bodies are used to being tan, and our drinks are usually served with a lot of ice. We're freaking out because we don't know what 'freeze warning' means, and there is this weird thing called sleet coming down from the sky. Give us a break. And secondly, I actually like the Florida heat. Summer is my favorite, and I'd much rather be in a bathing suit than a sweatshirt any day. So really, I should be able to complain about the cold all I want. ;)

2. Cleaning. (Could my 'drab' list be more generic?!) I despise cleaning. I don't mind doing laundry, I love to cook, but cleaning and I are enemies. I know that most people don't really love to clean, but I'm not sure how many actually have an intense hate for it like I do. I even wish it was socially acceptable to be disorganized. Like, the more cluttered your house is, the more creative you are or something. It's a stretch, but a girl can dream. I loathe cleaning so much that I have actually tried to convince Ben to let me hire a maid. Babe, I know we're on a budget, and we're trying to save money, and I know I work from home, and I know that we are the only people who live in this house, but can we hire someone to clean for us? He usually just stares at me until I stop talking.

3. Soda. As one of my resolutions (that I have yet to post on here. Oops.), I'm giving up soda. I really don't drink soda all that often, but I'm cold turkey cutting myself off. I'm trying to drink more water, and treat my body better this year, so soda and I just can't hang out. But man. Soda is so delicious. Dr. Pepper - you are my Everest.

4. Stairs. We have a spiral staircase. It's wooden. I was walking down it the other day, and I slipped on one of the steps. I had to walk on crutches for a day and a half. I haven't walked on crutches since like, 1998, so it was ridiculous. My kneecap is now purple and green. Stairs, you suck.

5. The Tiger Woods scandal. I'm just over this. Just like I'm over Jon and Kate whatever-their-name-is, I'm over the Tiger Woods drama. Yes, he messed up, and his actions are inexcusable. Yes, everyone knows about it. Yes, the media has blown it up into a huge, outrageous uproar. Now, let's move on and hope he can get his life and family pieced back together.

**We will be doing lots of shooting this month, as the three remaining Love Through the Lens dates are scheduled for the next few weeks. So keep checking back for lots of photo awesomeness! :) (p.s. If you'd like more info about Love Through the Lens, check out the blog post here. To purchase a LTTL session, shoot us an e-mail. I believe we still have 1 or 2 sessions up for grabs! :))

This was certainly no easy feat, but you all took on the task at hand and contributed tons of helpful input. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for participating in our little poll (and our big decision). Without you, our brand would be one scattered mess of colors, and we would probably be giving each other the silent treatment. ;)

The results claimed palette number 4 as the winner, and we stuck to that...sort of. We actually tried out palette numbers 3, 4, and 1 (the palettes that seemed to consistently receive the most votes throughout the process) and decided which one looked best once applied to our blog. 

Sadly, number 1 was immediately withdrawn from the trio first. I just couldn't get the image of this guy out of my head while looking at those colors on our site.

We fell in love with the lively, energetic green and the simplicity of the grey from palette 3, but the blue that we originally paired with those colors was too light. So we incorporated the blue from palette 4 to complete our branding scheme (have I successfully confused you yet? I'm definitely NOT a numbers person, so I lost myself a long time ago).

Basically, what you're looking at is the new look. We hope you love it as much as we do. :) (p.s. Our website also reflects the change, so check that out as well!)

Along with our new look, I have 'spruced' up our logo (haha...pun really not intended, but I had a good laugh when I reread that line). I've been wanting to incorporate a 'pair' in our logo for sometime to illustrate the team (of Ben and I) that makes up our company. I think our relationship as husband and wife really speaks to who we are as artists, and what our business is all about. We are partners in life, and in photography. And I wanted to emphasize that somewhere in our brand. So I chose two trees. The trees are also significant because I believe that they symbolize growth. Our logo will always be a reminder to continually push ourselves in photography, and keep moving forward; growing together as a couple, and growing our business as photographers.

Ok I think that's it for now. Oh wait! The winners of the gift certificates. That's the real reason you're here anyway, right? ;)

Congrats to Tricia and Christen for winning the $10 Amazon gift cards! I will be e-mailing you ladies shortly with your prizes. :) 

Again, thank you to ALL of you for voting, and for your insight! We're excited for the future of Starks Photography and we're looking forward to adventuring through 2010 with you guys! :)

(**sidenote: if you're viewing our blog on a Mac using Safari as your browser, you may notice that the color of our logo doesn't quite match up to the rest of the navigation bar. We are working with our design company to get this resolved promptly. In the mean time, you can utilize Firefox to view the blog with the correct look. :))

We believe that our brand has to be unique to who we are striving to be - across the board. It's difficult to describe our photography 'style' (and sometimes seems a little too forced to do so), but there are a few things that we definitely hope to emphasize through our images. Innovation. Beautiful simplicity. Emotion. Passion. Boldness. Inspiration. Down-to-earth...ness. ;) These are the things that we love, and these are the things that we try to create with our cameras. We've grown a lot over the last couple of years and we are certainly not done growing. Through this growth we have started to feel more confident with our brand, and in our abilities. The future is a beautiful, vast, unknown territory.

That being said, it's time my friends. Out with the old, in with the more fabulous. We need a new look. For a little while now, we haven't really felt that the color scheme of our company meshes with Starks Photography as a whole. This branding of brown, teal and tan has served us well - very well. But it's time to take our 'look' in a new, style-consistent direction. The color palette of our business may seem like a very small part of the puzzle, but really, we believe that it's pretty essential. This palette is all over the place - our website, our blog, our business cards, our logo. This is what is seen first - part of what draws people in. This is why it's crucial to make sure that this aspect says something about what Starks Photography is all about.

So for the past couple of days I've channeled my inner design expert (which isn't very 'expert' at all, really), and created a few new palettes for us to jump off of. Not to get all hippie-kumbaya-ish on you, but these colors speak to me. They draw me in. They connect to our brand.

But we have a problem.

Ben and I are the King and Queen of Indecisiveland. A world where it takes 30 minutes to figure out where to eat, and relationships are tried when paint colors have to be selected for the bedroom.

So basically, we need your help.

Below, you will find 6 color palettes (containing 3 colors each). Some of these may look similar, but there are differences. Big enough differences to make us not be able to decide on our own. ;) After the selection process is over, Ben and I will decide exactly how the colors will be utilized (i.e. which colors are dominant, and which are accents). That will be solely up to us. Lord. Help me now.

Now, all you have to do is vote for your favorite. That's it! Just click the little button next to your choice and you're done! Easy-peasy. You can vote as many times as you'd like, so vote for your favorite until your little heart is content. Or if you're like Ben and I, come back and vote for each one separately. ;) To sweeten the deal (and thank all of you for helping put this decision behind us), we're going to give away 2 $10 Amazon gift cards to 2 different voters. All you have to do is comment on this post to let us know that you voted (and be sure to include your e-mail address!). We'll randomly select 2 winners after the voting is closed. Voting ends Saturday, January 9 at 11:59p.m.

Thanks for participating! :)

How weird is 2010?! It sounds so foreign. Like, we should be flying in cars and living in high rise houses with robot maids (you know, like that show). Anyway, 2009 is behind us and 2010 is exciting and new and unfamiliar. I love it. :)

This year was so good to us. Like any year, it definitely had it's peaks and valleys, but overall, Ben and I feel extremely fortunate to be living the life that we do.

More specifically, photography has been good to us. We've had our little business for about a year and a half now, and it has been a whirlwind of awesomeness. We've had the privilege of meeting and working with so many amazing, incredible clients, and we could not be more grateful for each and every person who stepped in front of our cameras. You have inspired us with your love, personalities, and stories, and we feel like we have grown as artists (and individuals) by being around each and every one of you. :)

Next year will bring change. Lots of change. As fabulous as 2009 was, Ben and I are absolutely thrilled for the next chapters of our lives. We are looking forward to lots of new inspiration, lots of new friends, and lots of new experiences. In the same respect, our business will continue to move in a positive, forward-thinking direction. So be on the look out for what we throw your way over the next several months! :)

It seems appropriate to tip our hats to 2009 by recapping a little. And what's more fun than recapping with a crapload of photos?! We've compiled some a plethora of our favorite images from this year and put them into a cute little slideshow for your viewing pleasure. (*As a side note, this slideshow program will be popping up quite often this year as we will be using it to highlight various shoots, and for our clients to be able to see proofs of their photos. Fun, right? ;))

Thank you 2009. You've taught us a lot, and we'll miss you. But not that much, because 2010 seems really cool. :)

Please click here to view our year-in-review slideshow (it's about 4 minutes long)! The screen that pops up will look like this:

Type '2009' into the password box.

Music is on, and the song choice is 'Readyfuels' by Anberlin. Anberlin has been one of our favorite bands for a long while, so we felt it only right to add them to our trip down memory lane. ;)

You can allow the slideshow to run through, or hover over the bottom bar to view photos individually, check out the info about the show, and e-mail us or your friends!

Happy New Year! We hope 2010 brings you tons of fabulousness!