THIS BLOG HAS MOVED

I am proud to announce that the Brienne Michelle Photoblog has moved!!! If your browser hasn't redirected you automatically to the new address, simply click here to see the new blog. And don't forget to bookmark the correct address:

www.briennesblog.com

Christian & Jolene ~Engagement~

Jolene & Christian are so stinkin' cute. They are seriously adorable. Their ease and comfort with each other comes across (it ought to after almost 8 years of dating) and translated into a very easy and laid back session. We headed out all over the Santa Clarita Valley for their engagement shoot, starting with North Oaks Park - an old haunt of theirs from back in high school.



(again, keep in mind I'm working on the saturation issue with posted photos - the photos look about a million times better before being hosted...)

I love that when I say to couples to "do cute romantic things" I always get a slightly different response. With some couples, they giggle and blush, others immediately kiss. And in the case of Jolene & Christian, they do things like stick out their tongues, lick the other's ear (or possibly bite) or stick a finger up the other's nose. I spent most of the session laughing - but these are my kind of people. They share something very special - humor. Having married a rather funny person myself, I can say with genuinity (that's my invented word from a previous blog) that it makes a huge difference in life.

Back to the cuteness....








After a while, we headed over to the Valencia side of town near and around Bridgeport for more fun. Fortunately, the weather was also very nice. :)








There are a whole series of shots from this location that I thought were absolutely beautiful - the light was gorgeous and just right. But I have to say, there is another photo that might give this set a run for it's money for being my favorites... but that'll come later.


A special request photo - tree climbing can be cute too!


Ok, here it is - my favorite. I call it the "Spidey-shot". Christian is a huge Spiderman fan, so I thought this might be a perfect way to end the shoot. :)


(In case you aren't sure what I'm referring to, this is the picture from Spiderman the movie that we were imitating):


Looking forward to the wedding in November!
~B

Steve & Annika ~ Engagement~

They've waiting seven years to get married. That's right. Seven. Steve & Annika started dating as high school sweethearts and life continued on. She went to college, he went to the Sheriff's Academy, and still their love grew and matured. It wasn't long before everyone in the family was talking... It was obvious from early on that these two are meant for each other.

Steve & Annika will tie the knot this winter, but before it gets too cold, we headed out to do some engagement photos down in beautiful, sunny, 75 degree Long Beach. And in keeping with their unique love story and fun personalities, they chose the Aquarium of the Pacific, the Queen Mary, and Shoreline Village for their session. It was AWESOME. But be forewarned. This will be a long post - all those great locations combined with a fantastic and photogenic couple equals one very happy photographer and a whole lot of pictures to post on a blog!

We started at the Aquarium...




I love this one. This was a cute little port hole into a tank. I told Steve & Annika to hop up in it and they didn't even bat an eyelash. :) I love it when I have clients that just trust me.





This shark head was fabulous. It was some kind of air circulation thing and was blowing a lot of air out of the mouth. So Steve decided to model it up with the wind blowing his shirt back... Though it almost looks like he's hoping it won't eat him.


Besides being distracted by the otters (soooo cute) and sea lions and fish, the sea horses always catch my eye. Check out this guy!


Aren't they just adorable?


As the sun started to head down, we headed over to the Queen Mary (you know, the giant sister ship of the Titanic...)


Always love telephone booths.... always.....




This is one of my favorites from the Queen Mary photos... if I can pick a favorite anyway.


The running joke of the day was that I would tell Steve & Annika to "do cute romantic things" when I'd pick up my camera. I love that they just knew exactly what to do with that.


As we headed over to Shoreline Village, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have Steve take a shot with this flag. It just seemed so appropriate for him and his humor. :)


One of my favorite things about Shoreline Village is all the different colors. I think that literally every building is a different bright fun color (bright red, yellow, lime green, purple, blue, pink, etc.). I LOVE when I get to play with some bright color.


I was also really excited when I saw this parasol sitting in the window of a little shop. I used to have a cute parasol from my trip to Thailand a few years back, but I brought it to a wedding (and used it in some amazing shots), but promptly left it in the bride and groom's limo (never to be seen again). When I saw this one, I knew it'd be perfect. AND it's just happened to match my business's theme/colors... double bonus!


It will definitely be showing up in future shoots...






And my absolute favorite from the day....


Steve & Annika - I hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as I did! I had so much fun working with the two of you!

Another engagement shoot and baby updates coming soon!
~B

PS: If anyone knows anything about image hosting for online use, I'd LOVE to pick your brain. I'm really disappointed with how much saturation, vividity and brightness I lose from the actual image to what it looks like posted on my blog. If anyone has any ideas about this and/or advice, PLEASE email me: briennemichelle@gmail.com. Thanks!

Engagement Teaser

I can't wait to show you more from this engagement shoot with Steve & Annika, but for now, here's a few teasers! I have another engagement shoot tomorrow, but then I'll be blogging the whole thing. :) It was seriously awesome!

The Time Has Come - NEW Info!

Before coming to Santa Clarita, my husband and I literally moved every six months for 3 years. I have lived in Azusa, Santa Clarita, Glendale, Glendora, Rancho Cucamonga, Canyon Country, and now Saugus/Santa Clarita again since the beginning of 2005. Goodness.

So when we started preparing for the move from Rancho Cucamonga to Canyon Country, we had a little chit chat over boxes and packing tape that went something like this:

"You done with this?"

Dirty look.

"Me too."

So when we arrived in Canyon Country, the house hunt began unexpectedly, but in ernest. We didn't know that in another 6 months, we'd be moving into OUR home, but we did. And the moving is over (for a long while anyway). We bought our home in Santa Clarita (near Saugus) and moved in this past February. Good timing since I ended up pregnant (also unexpectedly) by May, but we couldn't be happier. We've settled in to Santa Clarita life and have begun to finally FINALLY let our businesses settle into SCV life as well.

That being said, the time had come for me to commit my business in a more tangible way to this new permanent location. The business phone number. I hadn't bothered changing it for a long time with all the moving (plus it was my business line when I was working in the music industry - still occasionally get calls from bands and artists looking for representation, lol), but I'm proud to announce that Brienne Michelle Photography finally has a 661 phone number. :)

Here it is, btw:

661-803-5811

My old number will continue to work for a while (family should hold on to the old number), but keep in mind that this is now the business line and all photography inquiries should start going there. And if you get a confirmation call about your holiday portrait session from that number, you'll know why.

Thanks! More updates coming soon about those holiday portraits! Book fast btw because I'm not taking ANY portrait shoots in December this year. :)

Much love to the SCV!
~B

Jen & Anthony: Engagement Session!

This past Saturday I had the pleasure of working with Jen & Anthony who drove all the way from the Bay Area to do their engagement shoot! Their wedding isn't until next July 4th (Jen's fav holiday), but they have a fabulous engagement party scheduled for next month, so we decided to get some photo action in early! We met up in Ventura at the pier (after dodging Kevin Costner traffic and road closures - apparently he has a band now and was filming a concert.... odd...) and got going right away!



They tried to tell me that were nervous about the shoot, but they totally had me fooled! Nothing but gorgeous natural smiles all day. These two are seriously adorable!



And PS - how fabulous is her adorable green dress?





Then we headed UNDER the pier - which is one of my favorite places to go with a pier. There's something so cool and intimate about it, even though there are still tons of people around.



Now normally, when we do a cute dipping shot, I have a quick chit-chat with the groom and it usually ends with a statement like "...and then dip her as far as you're comfortable". Normally that equals a few inches - a foot if I'm lucky. NOT ANTHONY. I think he said something to Jen like "I can't promise you won't get wet" and then went for it! Gotta love that!!



After we walked back to the cars, we noticed that we could totally access this AWESOME railroad bridge. If you've ever driven up the 101 freeway towards Santa Barbara before, you can't miss it. It goes right over the freeway. I've ALWAYS thought it'd be awesome to shoot there, but never knew how to get to it. I was way excited to find out we were parked right next to the entrance, so we headed in there. I took a couple that I really loved there, so here they are!






After wrapping up at the Ventura Pier, we jumped back in the cars and headed to CSU Channel Islands, Athony's old alma mater. Now, before we go further, let me fill you in on a few tidbits of info about CSUCI. First off, and maybe I'm the only one who didn't know this, but not only is it NOT on the Channel Islands, it's not even close. It's not even near water. It's in a canyon. In a desert. Surrounded by mountains. Oh, some other info - the well that is up on one of the hills overlooking the campus is the same well used in that freaky movie "The Ring". And before it was a school, it was a mental hospital - the one the song "Hotel California" is about.

Ok, back to pictures. :)


Btw, if you're noticing a green theme, it's because it's Jen's favorite color, their wedding color, and if you look at one of the first few pics, you can see her GORGEOUS emerald and diamond engagement ring. :) Fabulous.

I LOVED this hallway. I call it "The Hallway of Glory" because of that awesome skylight right at the end. It's like the perfect natural spotlight. Love it.



A little time in a beautiful courtyard. The architecture on the campus is really awesome.







A little fun with herringbone brick. Why not?



Anthony is Lebanese so they had necklaces made with both "Jenifer" and "Anthony" in Arabic. Doesn't it look beautiful written out?



After enjoying the old school California architecture, we headed over to the modern library. :) I just love stairwells....



Sunset at the library.



And of course this session ended like it started (and like most sessions do!) - with a bit of fun and teasing. ;) When Anthony says he's done, he's DONE!



So that was a super-uber long post, but it's not my fault - it just happens when I get to work with a fantastic couple like Jen & Anthony! Best wishes to you both for your upcoming party and, of course, the wedding next summer! So excited!!!

~B