These are images of my good friend and incredible yogi, John Salisbury. He practices at At One Yoga. If you’re ever interested in checking out one of the best yoga instructors in town, sign up for one of his classes or workshops.

The vision behind these images stems from the idea that yoga should be practiced everywhere and not just on the mat in the studio. The essential lesson of yoga is the challenge of bringing what you’ve learned in class and meditation into the real world. With this project, I wanted to find locations in the city that would compliment that philosophy by juxtaposing the beauty of the practice with harsh lighting and “found” locations that were not typical of a yoga portrait. With that in mind, I was careful not to over produce and over light the subject. The majority of the images are straight out of camera and all have minimal lighting applied.

At One Yoga recently acquired these images to use as part of their clothing line, spiritual gangster. Keep an eye out for them in their ads and products. :-))

John is balancing on the top edge of parking garage. To his right is a 40 foot drop.

This was one of my favorite weddings, photographed on Halloween.
And yes, I realize it was ages ago, but I’m a bit behind on my blog postings.
Anna and Wes were such an amazing couple to work with. They are both professional musicians, artists, and completely gorgeous.

This first image was shot on a golf course just outside the resort. Neither Anna nor Wes are into golf, so my goal was to make the area look more like open space rather than a golf course. In this image, I added some texture and post production to bring out a surreal feeling to the moment.



The mom’s first glance at her daughter



The bride on her way to see her groom for the first time before the wedding. I love the look of anticipation on Anna’s face.

This was a quick moment photographed by Eric, my husband and shooting partner.



One of my all-time favorite group shots.


A portrait of the father of the bride








Both sets of parents beaming as they watch the first dance.





This last shot was inspired by my dear friend Sergio

Location: Scottsdale Conference Resort
Coordinator: Amy Mancuso
Make-up: Desiree Newhouse from Moments Salon
Hair: Cyndee Venche

Justin, rocking it on the longboard!

This is one of my favorite first moments, where Renee’s mom sees her dressed up for the first time. The mom has such an endearing look on her face that shows how proud and excited she is for her daughter. I made sure I had a portion of my frame filled with the brides veil to help tell more of the story of that moment. The shot would not have been the same without it.

How gorgeous is Renee! I can’t stress how important it is, as a photographer, to always spend a few minutes during the day to make a beautiful portrait of the bride. As much as I believe in photojournalist and candid capture of the day, these types of portraits are so important given the time and effort all brides put into their hair and make-up.

This set of images was taken by my husband, Eric. I love his selective focus in these images and of course, the eyes of the bride who is about to see her groom for the first time. You can feel the excitement.

What an awesome way to personalize your day. This couple, as formal as they look, are completely down to earth. For them the day was about being comfortable and having fun.

I love how Renee is holding the tree and the lovely effect that our infrared camera creates with the tree.

How I love sunflare!!!








I wanted to include this image in my blog post since I tend to post the more portrait-oriented shots and not so much of the action shots. Plus it was taken by my husband, Eric, who feels like he’s not well represented on this blog, sorry darlin’. I thought this shot was well composed and I love the slow shutter he used to emphasize the action. Nice work E!






These last two images were a couple of my favorites during the day. For the photo-philes, I shot wide open f1.8 with a video light. I opted no to use flash, since it tends to flatten the image and in this case I wanted the shot to look more romantic.

Location: Villa Sienna
Coordinators: Outstanding Occasions
Flowers: Blume
DJ: SKM Entertainment

American Dali is a local band in Phoenix lead by (singer) Kathryn and (guitarist) Ryan. I wanted to give them a more hard-core look using lighting and location while also maintaining classic clean lines and stylistic lighting to make the images pop. I’m a big fan of using leading lines in my images to direct the viewers eye to the subject and to add to a more interesting composition.

For the tech-heads: I shot this session at night in a number of location and parking garages in Phoenix. I used only a single soft box and my 580ex flash units along with my Canon 5D.

you can check out their myspace page at this link