Can you see me doing my happy dance? I am thrilled to be the guest judge photographer over on I ♥ FACES, the photography website that hosts fun photo contests every week as well as supplying everyone involved with helpful tips, super savvy tutorials, and incredible inspiration! This week is BEACH WEEK, and everyone who knows me well is now shaking their head in agreement that this could not be a better subject for me to judge! I am after all the one who chose a Rotary Exchange to Denmark, because of its tiny size and close proximity to the ocean. I am after all the one who convinced her father to drive clear across the state of Virginia on our way home from a wedding, just to play for an afternoon in the surf. By the way, it was NOT en route to our home in New York, more like 8 hours out of the way. My life is full of stories where I coerce loved ones into escorting me to the ocean for hours of mindless beach combing. I live in Arizona, I subscribe to Coastal Living Magazine...

Thanks for visiting my blog, and most importantly, thank you for participating in and supporting I HEART FACES - because we can all learn from one another, no matter where we are in life.

Here's my youngest, getting his feet wet in the Gulf Of Mexico for the first time:

One of my favorite shoots this past spring was a special family of women doting on their new addition, Noah. As all babies do, Noah continues to grow and change; he's sitting up on his own, laughing, drooling of course, and that swirl on his head becomes more adorable by the day! I was thrilled to have the opportunity to visit with this family again, this time with Daddy involved too. Prepare for your heart to melt, Father's lock up your daughters, enjoy!

It's an odd week over at I ♥ Faces - It's FEET week of all things! Feet are fun, I frequently remind myself to spend a few minutes on feet during each of my sessions. Big feet, little feet, pretty feet, ugly feet, old feet, baby feet- they all have a tale to tell. My husband and I were brain storming our favorite feet pictures and we arrived at this one. I love the formalities you find in the military, and knowing that these feet had all just arrived home safe from Iraq always makes my heart flip flop.

FEET ENTRY:


Go check out all of the other feet entries in this week's contest:

Our military lifestyle doesn't lend itself to long term friendships. Try as I might to keep friendships going strong, more often than not we only hear from people when the Christmas cards start rolling in. One of the sweetest moments for our family this summer was getting to relocate to someplace where we have lived in the past, allowing us to reconnect with a dear family whom we've watched grow only in pictures. Way back in the day, I used to babysit for these precious young ladies. Then there came a time when my husband-to-be joined me in the effort. Then came the morning that I sat in their bathroom, having my makeup applied, my wedding dress hanging in their doorway (they lived a mile from the park where we got married.) We've shared some truly special moments, non-military moments, which are a breath of fresh air to me sometimes, to just relax outside of the military culture. Sure, we don't talk every day and months go by without an update, but when we see eachother again we pick right up where we left off, conversation flows faster than the monsoon waters racing through a Tucson wash. Yesterday we drove down to Tucson to spend the afternoon and late into the night hanging out poolside, getting the scoop on competitive jump-roping (which I am anxious to get my camera on!) and catching up on all of the latest and greatest things these precious ladies are up to. In turn we shared our talent of turning anything and everything into a laser gun and sent at least 20 rocket balloons up to live on their roof! Great friends = Great times! We can't wait to get together again for a real shoot!

After a long break for the summer I was working on some additional images for a couple whose wedding I photographed on the fly. A super sweet young couple, I was excited to get back to this batch of pictures and have some time to play with them. Here are my favorites! You can see the first installment HERE.

BEFORE LORENZO (Note how The Baby doesn't want to be recognized in my arms):


You know you're good at what you do when you've obtained "Hair God" as your nickname in my cell phone! The beauty of summer vacation is having a little time to sneak away from your family and get pampered. The agony of moving for many military wives is finding a new stylist... I have suffered for years, lets say 29 years, to get my hair to a point where I can't not stop in front of a mirror and smile. I've survived more stylists than boyfriends, yes dear brother of mine, I counted. I have also had a silly love affair with short hair, wanting it really bad, not pulling it off, ending up looking like a man. I even had a highschool classmate write in my yearbook "Have a great summer, grow your hair back."

The search for a competant stylist has ended. Though "competant" is the understatement of the decade! Wizard? Yes! Master of his craft? Yes. Gay? Nope! Allow me to introduce you to my Hair God, Lorenzo. I found his business card at my gym, the only reason I grabbed the card was because it had a super sexy woman on it with awesome hair and gorgeous eyes, what can I say, I'm an image driven individual. I even waited two weeks for an appointment because he was on vacation, patience pays off sometimes. Lorenzo arrived at his salon on a Harley, sports a goatee, and exudes personality and self confidence. After a consultation, where I was dwarfed by his extensive knowledge of hair and how to cut it, I gave him full artistic license to do whatever he wanted. I was totally expecting to walk out of there nearly bald and fiery red, but the man did exercise some conservative powers and instead rendered me into a more mature, much sexier, version of myself. You can reach LORENZO THE HAIR GOD, my title, never his, he's much too modest, at 520-255-1497. He's making the world more beautiful one head at a time right here in Sierra Vista, Arizona. I guess we can never move now.

AFTER LORENZO:

Ahhh, date night... not a frequent event in our house lately but there is light at the end of the tunnel since we just moved onto a street overflowing with teenagers. Since arriving back in Arizona it has been a frequent suggestion by my husband to head over to the charming artistic town of Old Bisbee, an idea I have shot down every time because toddlers and art galleries just don't go together. So when we finally scheduled an afternoon without kids it was our delight to sneak in a 30 minute drive over to Bisbee to wander the streets, critigue the galleries, hunt for treasured antiques, and devour the most amazing, simply outstanding, Mexican food we have ever tasted. My words of advice, the sidewalks in this town roll up early during the summer and everything is closed by 5pm if not sooner. Plan to go on the 2nd Saturday of the month when Bisbee hosts an Art Walk through more than 30 shops and galleries, and enjoy all the wonderful sights, smells, sounds, tastes, and characters of this culturally rich artistic town until 8pm. Follow our lead and visit Santiagos Mexican Restuarant, order any combination that includes the traditional 'mole', pace yourself on the chips and salsa, and prepare to experience a culinary flavor so unique (there is chocolate in the recipe!) you'll wonder why anyone would consider it rude to actually lick a plate clean! Dinner was so delicious, and portions so generous, we completely forgot to order dessert. I guess that means we will be going back! After such a meal, we chose to wander up into the steep hills of this quaint mining town, winding our way through alleys, stairways with glimpses of breathtaking gardens; I was all the while in search of places to take my highschool senior portrait sessions and found no less than 100 nooks and views. Enjoy this collection, I'll say it's a first of many becuase I know that we'll me going back for more 'mole'!

It's "sports in action" week over at I ♥ Faces! I had a fantastic spring in Texas shooting little ones in action, 6 and 7 year olds who adorably clump around the ball, fall more than dribble, and like this sweetheart, the only girl on her team, they all struggle with the concept of "stealing the ball". I LOVE this shot, for I think this is the face that her mother most often sees from the stands. This look of total frustration just taking over her enthusiasm for the game brings back so many memories for me, of basketball camp so many years ago. Here is a "Karyn Fact"; my highschool team was back to back state champions in NY state! I can safely say from experience that someday she will be shooting three pointers in the faces of those boys and they won't be able to stop her!

SPORTS IN ACTION ENTRY:


And my favorite creepy crawly from our new home in Arizona, shot without a telephoto lens mind you- yuck! And people say that it is mating season for these amazing creatures and there are places where you can see hundreds of them at a time, is it disgusting for me to admit that I might seek out one of those places??!!
PETS ENTRY:


Go get inspired and join the fun at I ♥ Faces through the link below!

It's Official! After a day of driving around the entire county, literally, not only is Photos By Karyn registered to operate in Arizona, but my head is overflowing with cool places I saw along the way at which to take incredible portraits! It's been an amazing summer, much of which will probably never see my blog pages because I could simply never catch you up with all the fun we've been having. I'm gearing up for a first this weekend; setting up a table at the local "Christmas In July Bizarre" in hopes of booking a couple of clients to start me off running. One bride is going to win a FREE "Trash the Dress" session among other awesome coupons that will be found at my table at the Ethel Berger Community Center from 9-3 on Saturday, July 11th!

I'm no stranger to Arizona, the U of A is my alma mater after all. But this time around I continuously find myself in awe of the gorgeous landscape around me. I guess the last time I was here I was smitten with a particular Army officer and couldn't see past my own lip lock... I honestly thought I would have a hard time working with the desert "canvas". But as the monsoons deepen the greens and the abundant nature continues to pop up around every turn, I know in my heart that this is "home". I'll blog about the 100 year old house when it's picture perfect and not covered in moving boxes, but don't hold your breath for blog posts - I've got a view off my porch that is the next best thing to ocean front property, I've got a view of the wild western skies! Here are just a couple of my favorites from today, in celebration of being "back in the saddle!"

When the day starts this cute, you know it'll be a good one!


It's a good thing this Mama has nerves of steel, no I'm not using a very big telephoto lens, I was shooting with my 24-70mm!!


Apparently The Baby has nerves of steel too.


My husband cracks me up... encouraging the children to run from spiders...


Always good to find a mountain view and take a rest. This amazing view is just off our front stoop! And these last few are pretty much SOOC (straight out of the camera). I'm pretty worthless to my family at sunset because I become attached to the porch and suffer from a trance like state- I promise not to blog too many sunsets...


"What do you see Scout?"


"An amazing monsoon rainbow I reckon..."


A few nights ago we went "up on the mountain", a frequent request from the boys, where we like to count "Dr. Seuss trees".


The bugle is playing taps. Two things I love, church bells on weekend mornings, which I had through the window of my apartment in Tucson, and bugle calls in the still of night.

We're a family in transition, and therefore I am also a business in transition. Some of you may notice that changes are being made and there are so many more exciting edits to come! I've got a household full of moving boxes and two little ones who are constantly bringing me desert treasures like pokey cactus needles in their shoes and creepy crawlies I haven't yet learned the name of, so the website will come along, slowly but surely, in the wee hours of night when half of us are sleeping! Stay with me, lots of summer fun soon to be posted!