3 girls essentials

congratulations autumn (our 2007 spa model winner)! we're SO proud of you!!

our 2007 spa (senior portrait artists) national model winner, autumn miller, signed with a modeling agency in LA earlier this year and headed out there to spend the summer in hollywood.  you can imagine our GLEE when her mom, amber, came to show us the director's cut of the new silversun pickups video last month, starring our very own AUTUMN!!!

we watched with wine in hand as our girl kicked some butt in the video and came out smelling like roses.  :-)  (hint: she's the one in the purple - the first model on the scene...)

so autumn, we just want you to know how PROUD we are of you and how incredibly much we LOVE YOU!!  XOXOXO

peace and pigtails -
jen :-)

the venetian: the las vegas 'city within a city'

when we were at spa this past january we were actually staying at the red rock resort in summerlin (about 20 minutes from the strip).  however, we did manage to get down to the strip twice during our visit - the first was when angie, autumn and i went down to have dinner (at a fabulous little tapas bar that had yummy sangria) and see one of the cirque shows.  it was terribly hard to decide which one, but we settled on mystere (angie has seen all of the vegas ones already, so she helped us narrow down quickly.  i'm dying to see zumanity, but that's apparently one i need to see with jim :-).

it...was...absolutely...AWESOME.  when jim and i first saw la nouba (the cirque show that resides at downtown disney in orlando), we walked out of the show wanting to buy tickets for the next night.  it's spectacular.  if you've never seen one of the cirque du soleil shows you should really make it a priority.  the level of talent and logic-defying things that they are capable of is mind-blowing.  it's a complete creative release.

the following day we were set to catch our flight later in the afternoon.  however, i was dying to photograph autumn down at the venetian (home to the famous tao nightclub).  that was one of the places on the strip that truly inspired me, and i just couldn't leave without playing around a bit.  due to some hilarious and unfortunate travel experiences, it took us quite a while to actually GET there.  but when you get three determined girls with a one-track mind, you can pretty much move mountains.  so we made it.  :-)

 

 

the light was pretty intense up on the second level, so i decided to play around with some more high fashion images.  i LOVE the look that it creates, and it gives each image a fresh point of interest in my opinion.

 

there is so much to the 'city' that is the venetian, but tao seems to be one of the more well-known parts (along with blue man group and phantom residing there, and (my favorites) the wonderful restaurants from some of my favorite chefs)  i just loved the lines and the look of the light on the sign.  :-)

 

 

the mirage off in the distance made a great background for the image.

     

 

 

 

 

 

have a fabulous night!

peace and popsiclses -
jen

spa VIP weekend with Dr. Joseph Michelli

   

(dr. michelli speaking to our group)

hi all!  back in october, i was asked to speak at the senior portrait artist's (spa) VIP event.  this was held up in louisburg, kansas, at my good friends' studio (the antisdels).  they also happen to be the owners of spa.  :-)

i kicked off the event on sunday evening with a discussion on 'blue ocean strategy' (a book by w. chan kim) - which is something i'm pretty passionate about (check it out if you have the time! the book is a bit dry, but the concept is phenomenal!).  it was a TON of fun, and the group (about 50 people) was AWESOME.  there was a high excitement level, and lots of cool ideas being tossed around.  totally my kind of vibe!

 

(andy bondurant vividly explaining something... though i'm not sure what :-)

the next day we spent time together shooting and sharing ideas, and also discussing what to expect at spa event in january.  jeff richardson photographed a fabulous family while we were there - it is ALWAYS a trip watching him work.  what i thought was cool was this family had 3 girls the EXACT same stair-stepped as mine (though the oldest was a senior in high school) - with birthdays in the exact same months too.  EERIE!

later that afternoon we had one incredible surprise.  dr. joseph michelli - author of 'the starbucks experience,' 'when fish fly' and 'the new gold standard' among many other accreditations - was stopping by to spend a few hours with our group 'interviewing' us and getting a feel for our industry.  dr. michelli was our keynote speaker at spa event a few weeks ago and wanted to know a bit more about what we do and our processes and procedures before the event and happened to be in kansas city at the same time we were there.

           

(thought it odd that he didn't have a STARBUCKS coffee cup, til i remembered there are no starbucks coffee shops in louisburg)

so thus began the 'interrogation' as i call it.  and it was certainly eye opening!  we never really got over the first 'process' that we go through because he was delving so deep into our intentions and goals that many of us had never thought that far into it.  i think this frustrated a few of us, but he told us we actually did amazing - and that even fortune 500 companies couldn't answer the things he was asking (thus the reason he consults with them). 

 

(nope, i really DON'T know what's going on here...)

i have to say - it was a great honor to get to meet dr. michelli.  he is an INCREDIBLE speaker with some INCREDIBLE experiences (both personal and professional).  if you ever get the chance to listen to him speak, be sure to do so.  he has a lot to say, in a very engaging manner.  i LOVED it!!

 

(sarah is one of our more 'assertive' friends - she KNOWS her stuff and is one incredible person!!  kent is playing with one of his toys as usual :-)

the rest of the time was spent bonding, pancake flipping, giggling, and eating some AWESOME barbecue.  this event is one of my favorite things to attend, and always inspires me in so many ways.

 

and this year kia also picked up this coat at market knowing that it fit both of our personalities to a 'T'.  so we are both (along with my friend joy!) the proud owners of (what i have lovingly termed) the 'everything' coat.  as kia explains, it has it all: short sleeves, long sleeves, polka dots, black-and-white, plaid, stripes, color, the biggest pocket you've ever seen (you could possibly hide a small child in them) and bling (in the button).  it's AWESOME.  many of you have seen me in it - it's my favorite piece of fashion this season.  i LOVE LOVE LOVE it!!

 

til next time...

peace and popsicles!
jen :-)

viva las vegas! senior portrait artist style...

(thanks to my beautiful friend kia for the image above!)

yep, that's right - VEGAS!!  angie and i recently got back from las vegas, where we spent a week at red rock resort for the annual senior portrait artist event.  this is THE biggest event on the year for cutting edge senior portrait photographers, and we brought back so many new and exciting ideas that my head is STILL spinning!

i was honored to be speaking at one of the workshops at this year's event, which is WAY fun for me!  if you haven't met me, let me say that i LOVE people, and talking to people is right up there on the top of my 'fun' list any day of the week.  thank you to all who attended - i had a BLAST!

and one of my favorite things to do for the past two events is 'reporting' for the daily spa newspaper that they publish while we're there.  my goal this year was to be IN as many images as possible in each of the day's publications.  i must say, i was quite successful.  seems there was always a willing photographer nearby...

 

i'm not much of a gambler, so we never actually hit the slot machines (though angie and joy taught me how to play bingo - which, apparently, i suck at).  but we did enjoy lots of AWESOMELY YUMMY food (my favorite pastime), and some great bowling.  while i used to be somewhat decent at bowling, i managed to just barely slide by - beating only scott crosby in my group of misfits (which included the ball 'flinging' autumn who i think had possibly never bowled before in her life - or at least i hope she doesn't admit to it...).  thanks SO much to white house custom colour for the great fun!

 

(sneaky tina... i hope to one day be as crazy and outrageous as my friend tina... she ROCKS)

angie and autumn and i made it down to the strip on our last night there.  we took in a cute little tapas restaurant with yummy sangria, and caught the Cirque du Soleil show 'Mystere'.  it was as incredible as i imagined!  jim and i saw la nouba last time we were at disney world (sans kids, that is), and were hooked.  my goal is to see them ALL.  :-)

 

in all - it was an amazing event.  it was SO much fun to see friends - old and new - and get inspired.  there is so much more to share, but my resolution for 2009 is to blog FAITHFULLY and OFTEN, so i will share more soon...

peace and pigtails -
jen