On Watermarks.

Since I began writing this blog and began sharing my pictures as I first started photography, I have gone through various watermarks to protect my images from copyright infringement. Watermarking ensures, or at least the concept of it did at some point in time, that - in this case- a photographer's work cannot be reproduced without written consent and permission. In other words, clients cannot use the images without the photographer's permission, images cannot be copied and used elsewhere for any purpose without photographer's permission, and images cannot be altered in any way - including removal of watermark. 

Watermarking seems like a good idea in theory. At least it did back then. It also served for easily identifying your work and having it be recognized by future potential clients. Nowadays, however, the photography industry continues to change often and it quite frankly, in my opinion, seems moot to ensue the trouble of watermarking my images for blogging purposes. It has been my experience that copyright or no copyright, visible or not, people will copy and use images if they want to. No one can stop them... I can't see what the person at the other computer is doing with my images. 

So why should I continue to add more to my workload when I can simply eliminate a process in my workflow? This is why, dear reader, I have decided to no longer watermark my images for blogging purposes. It seems pointless - clients will still crop out watermarks when using the images on line. Some may do it negligently while others unknowingly. Either way, it's done so why not make both our time better used? 

This is a sensitive subject for photographers, and I completely understand. But for the time being, I have decided to stop watermarking the images appearing on this blog. This blog is where I feature my recent work so if someone is going to copy the images and use them against my will, they are still infringing upon copyright whether the image is "written on" or not. 

With that said... I thought it would be nice to reminisce on all the watermarks I have gone through. Looking back, I realize I never quite found a proper watermark that I was fully happy with. I suppose it was a hint of things to come, ha! 

So we begin with 2009...









What do you think - what are your thoughts on watermarks? 

Brand New.

Finally! After hours, days, weeks and two months of attempting to re-work the aesthetic appeal of my photography brand I finally completed my three self-set projects. 

A few weeks ago, back in November to be exact, I decided that I needed to take some time to myself and really think about where my photography is headed. After being pregnant for the past nine months and only four weddings last year, I am ready to tackle wedding photography again. I will admit, it seems getting back into the swing of things and finding a working routine proves to be much more difficult with a newborn around but I am determined to find our way for it to work. I absolutely love that my job allows me to be a hands on full-time mother. 

So without further ado, I officially present you a re-vamped up blog, website, and the addition of a boudoir photography website. It's a brand new month, March 1st of 2013, and my wedding season is about to begin. I am ready.

This little lady is back and I am so very excited about photography!!!

I propose a toast.

To the greatest loves in our lives...
For the bride and groom, it's their respective fiances.
For the husbands and wives, it's loving their soul mate.
For humanity as a whole, it's admiration of our world.
For me, it's my brand new family.

I am feeling so inspired. And to that, my beloved friends, I toast!




The Enriquez Family. McAllen, Texas

I truly do have the best clients for my business. I absolutely enjoy keeping in touch with everyone I photograph and watching them grow as individuals and families. The Enriquez Family have been clients of mine for over two years now and I have seen their family grow beautifully over the past few years. Leiah and L.T. have come to me to photograph some of the most important times in their lives and I am very thankful that I have seen them grow together as a couple and as a family. 

This year was no different, Leiah called me up and scheduled a portrait session just in time to remember the holidays for her little family. This year, I got to photograph the Enriquez and the Garcia's to capture the larger and extended part of L.T. and Leaih's family. 

It is always fun to photograph them and while carrying a large belly made chasing after little Ryan and Matt was a little more difficult this time around, I still very much enjoyed it. 

We start with the Garcia's... grandparents of these adorable little boys!





L.T. and Leiah, your boys are growing so handsome!
















Leiah and L.T., thank you for allowing me to photograph your lovely family. The boys have grown up so much since the last time they were in front of my camera but it is a joy to see them so happy and blessed. You two have a beautiful family and I wish you every happiness in the world as you continue to grow in your marriage, family and life. 

May I get to photograph y'all for many, many more years!

Happy Wednesday friends :)

Debra's Bridal Session... Mission, Texas

While preparing this blog post, I was trying to count back the number of years I have known my most recent bride... Debra. If my fingers are correct, I have known Debra for approximately six full years... she, like many of my close friends, is my Delta Zeta Sorority sister. And she, like many of my DZ sorority sisters have, honored me with the pleasure of being her wedding photographer. 

This past weekend, Debra married David, her knight in shining armor. Together they will now embark on the journey to create a life together as husband and wife. Debra, like every bride, is very much deserving of her happily ever after. 

I have anxiously been waiting for the wedding not only to photograph it but to share with you her amazing bridal session images. This early morning shoot came out beautiful and Debra radiates as a blushing bride. 

It's an amazing feeling watching people reach the end of the wedding aisle and say I do. It is very special for me when I know my brides... each and every single one. 

You are beautiful Debra! 














Debra, you just got married, wahoo!!! I am delighted to have been able to watch you say I do to your very own prince charming this past weekend. The wedding was beautiful, fun and very much a great way to start the fall season. Congratulations to you and David and I can't wait to share your wedding pictures!!!

Have a great week my beloved friends!!! Hugs :)

Empowering.

"I am #PoweringTomorrow by following my dreams and building my own business."

This morning I came across an interesting article in my newsfeed that, quite frankly, drew me in to click on it because of the cute graphic it had right next to it. I clicked on it and read the article which discussed some amazing facts about women entrepreneurs and the impact that women-owned business are having in the American economy. 

Wait, before you think I have gone crazier than usual and going to babble about economic development, policy, and success among other fancy financial terms you are wrong.

Sort of.

What I am going to discuss and share with you are some of the interesting facts I found in the article and what I, as a small business owner myself who is a woman, have experienced on my journey. 


Deciding to build a business out of something I loved has made my career dream come into fruition. The very first step, deciding to do this for a living and do it well, catapulted me into a vague, unknown, and very often scary stratosphere. Me, a business owner? I still find it hard to wrap my head around it. I have always known I wanted to be an entrepreneur; from my second grade career paper, I have never thought otherwise. What I didn't write in that paper was exactly what I wanted to do as an entrepreneur. As I have come into my own and discovered the woman, the human being, and the person that I want to become my dreams of have become much more streamlined and, quite possibly, found a streamline trajectory path to entrepreneurial-ship that I strive to follow. Please note that my path, although streamlined, is still not completely known to me. What would be the fun in that?   

Part of the success in building a business is figuring out how. That, my dear friends, has always been tough for me. But through trial and error and multiple mistakes, I slowly garner the knowledge required to keep going and to keep building. Each step often followed by fear and a headache. 


Some of the biggest mistakes I have made when starting out is not trusting myself; allowing the little bit of fear inside me to take over and lead me on a diverted path. The final destination is the one I originally wished to attain but getting there was much more difficult and headache inducing. I wasn't originally prepared for sales taxes, franchise fees, property taxes and a multitude of other things. But, again, trial and error have nonetheless served me well. 

My road to photography, to owning a business, has been exciting. I am now looking forward to the next step. As a business owner, I strive to make goals so that I can work hard to accomplish them. I feel great when I can smile, throw my fist in the air and do a little booty-shake when I realize I accomplished something I worked hard for. Don't you?

To grow, I need more knowledge so knowledge is what I am garnering. I have so many ideas to incorporate into my business. So many places I want to see and visit... 


I am planning my next big step... moving. Stay with me, I am not moving this summer (I already did that, ha!) or in the fall. But I am planning and strategizing for the next big city I will sink my teeth into. This means research, research and tons of research. It will be a challenge of course, but really to me understanding the sales tax monster has made me a tiny bit tougher. Who knows what I can conquer...


Are you, dear reader, a business owner? If so, what was the toughest thing you learned about being the boss? If you're a photographer, feel free to share with me some of your experiences. 

Now my friends, go out and conquer!

Baby Sophia.

Last month I said I was contemplating on whether I would be offering newborn photography anymore. After photographing the last baby, I felt at a crossroads. I went on to write, "I still have not made a concrete decision on the "Baby Issue" but I do know that Baby Zoey was both a great baby to end my "baby career" or a nice reminder of why I should meet more newborns."  I have since photographed another beautiful baby girl and I am currently awaiting the arrival of my next newborn to photograph. Eeek!! 

Babies are just so darn cute that I could not see myself passing up the opportunity to photograph them in all of their babyness when requested. Earlier this month I photographed beautiful baby Sophia. I must note that when I photographed her, she was already 20 days old. Relevance? Well, I personally adhere to a strict guideline when I photograph newborns... I do not photograph babies older than 7-10 days old and really I stick to under 7 days. It's a tough rule but it is what I have found works best for me  when photographing babies and for the babies I have photographed. I made an exception for Sophia because I just couldn't help it... she was such a cutie!

While last year I photographed quite a few baby boys, this year I find myself photographing lots of pink! Sophia was no exception... full of pink headbands and outfits. Sophia was such an amazingly good baby to photograph. She was awake when I arrived but quickly fell asleep after enjoying her bottle. She fell asleep and remained that way for most of her session. Adorable :)

Welcome to the world Sophia!!!



Okay, she had one "thirty-second" period of pure crying but then she went back to sleep merrily. 












Sergio and Gaby, congratulations on the newest addition to your family!! Thank you for relying on me to photograph your sweet baby girl who is just as precious are her big sister. I wish you many blessings for  all of your three healthy, loving and beautiful children. Again, congrats! 

If you are having a baby soon and would like to inquire more information regarding newborn photography, please send me an email. I'd love to chat with you about the brand new Mommy+Me Collection I am now offering and would love to photograph your bundle of joy. 

Happy Wednesday!