I miss watching my sister play basketball. I used to rush home from work so I could catch her 5:00 game. I miss yelling, “Come on, Pioneers!” and “Let’s go Providence!” or “SHOOT IT, TIN!!”  It was a fun time to be a fan…

For the last couple of years, my Uncle Ron, Aunt Donna and cousin, Kaitlin have visited Cali from Florida for the holidays. On New Year’s Eve, we were all at my grandparents’ house talking about our New Year’s Day plans, and since Kait had just turned 18, we thought it’d be fun to do a random shoot.

So the next day, despite being a little hungover from the late-night New Year’s Eve of family bonding, a bunch of us got together to get Kaitlin ready then headed to Grandview Park in Glendale. My sister did her hair, my cousin Keshia did her make-up, her sister Mari decided on her wardrobe, and my cousin Joey came to second-shoot.  It was a family affair to say the least, and it was every bit as fun as I hoped it would be.

Joey’s working hard on getting his head around photography, like me, and I hope I’ve imparted some helpful hints, relatively-limited though my knowledge is. Focus and re-frame, right Joey? =) It’s always fun to learn new things, and passing on what I know is like paying it forward because I’ve been so lucky to receive the tutelage that I do. I just hope I’m pointing him in the right direction, since I’m still learning myself.  How am I doing, kiddo? haha…

Anyhow, my cousin Kaitlin is just the sweetest gal. She has been since she was little. Now she’s this 18-year old who loves Bruno Mars (she literally stops midway through a sentence when he comes on radio), as beautiful and charming as they come, and just a pleasant personality to be around. Hopefully those holiday visits become more frequent.

Make-up artist, hair-stylist, model and fashion consultant =)

When one chooses to explore any endeavour, the potential for success is always incumbant upon the amount of work an individual puts in. But no matter how much of yourself you offer, the addition of support from another never hurts. In fact, it will most likely always help. I know I’ve mentioned this ad nauseum, but man almighty am I blessed to have so many talented friends to lean on! Whenever I am unsure of the quality of my work, or whenever the evils of self-doubt start to creep into my confidence, there is always someone there to either encourage me, or help me get better.

Andrew and I have known each other since college, over 10 years now, and he’s become an even more awesome friend to me over the years than I can put into words. Other than being there to be just my bud, he’s also someone who I admire as an artist. The guy’s got this architect-interior/graphic design-photography mind that our friends and I take advantage of whenever we can, and he is always so willing to help.

He designed a shirt for a charity walk and asked if I could take some picture of it. We ended up spending the afternoon shooting more than that. We drove up to this moutain/park area with Larnie, and there were just so many places to shoot. The sun was just in the right place and, well, we went to town with the atmosphere that surrounded us.

Thanks again for the fun day, Andrew! My turn next…maybe soon =)