Pangburn Photography: Blog

2011-09-23T22:50:00.008-07:00

Rachel + Adam: Married

Over the years I've photographed a lot of weddings, but I have to say Rachel + Adam are two of the sweetest most in love people I have ever met. It was a blessing just to get to be there and whiteness such happiness! A special shout out to Travis Williams for 2nd shooting for me on this one!

I could go on and on, but I'll let the photos speak for themselves :)

I love this shot Travis snagged of Adam getting ready! I have such a soft spot for bow ties!
Rachel + Adam decided to do a first look and see each other before the ceremony, and it was amazing!
I love Adam's face SO much!!! This is why I love photographing 1st looks, because you get reactions like this!
Rachel was pretty excited to see Adam too! (shots by Travis)

These two have such an effortless beauty to them, they made my job easy!
I love this shot Travis got!

Rawr... seriously... you two are gorgeous
Rachel elegant as always...
And Adam looking cooler than Tom Cruise ;)

I LOVE this photo... it's like the cover of a Friends DVD lol...
Right after we finished up taking all the portraits, the heavens opened up and a HUGE rain storm started pouring down, forcing us to move Rachel + Adam's gorgeous rooftop ceremony inside instead. From experience I know some brides would have had a major melt down over this, but not Rachel. She was still just excited to get to marry the man of her dreams rain or shine, and her smile never even left her face for a moment!
A HUGE shout out to Anne Bryan and her team for an amazing job moving the ceremony inside faster than I thought imaginable and making it look gorgeous! If you need a wedding planner in Tucson Anne is seriously the best!
Mazel Tov! (I <3 Jewish weddings!)
Reception Time!

I'm sort of in love with this shot...

Another great shot by Travis!

Really quickly I just want to say how much I loved EVERY MOMENT of Rachel and Adams wedding, and I'm so glad to be able to call them my friends!

Wedding Location: Westward Look Resort

Wedding Coordinator: Creative Events - Anne Bryan

DJ: CE Entertainment

Videographers: Timeline Video Productions

2011-07-06T22:17:00.008-07:00

Rachel + Adam: Engaged

It feels so good to blog again! I have been running around and traveling like crazy and it's been hard to keep up! But I just HAD to share this engagement session. While I was back in Tucson for a few weeks a bit ago I got to get together with Rachel and Adam who you may remember from THIS epic photo we took last year for them for their save the date cards. Well now that we are a little closer to their actual wedding date we got together and did their full engagement session, and it was AWESOME! A special big thank you to Travis Williams for coming out and assisting me for this one too!

Ok onto photos!

First we started off in my favorite warehouse... which by the way I am super bummed not to have to shoot in anymore now that I'm moving! I'll just have to come home to Tucson to visit a lot I guess lol... And let me just say... Rachel and Adam were super stars, they were totally up for anything and looked amazing, they made my job a cake walk...

see...

Love this!

Rachel has the most amazing legs... so jealous...

It's always funny when I tell guys to give me a serious face, sometimes it looks more like "I am in the mafia and I have come to kill you and your entire family" and sometimes they nail it... adam nailed it... so GQ...

This make me happy <3

And who can resist a beat up old orange VW? I know I can't...

Slug bug by the way... :)

A quick outfit change later and we took a few more casual images over at the Arizona Inn for a bit... I love the tender sweetness in this image...

I love how Rachel and Adam love each other, you can't help but see it...

love this one...

and this one...

ok I just love all of these really...

sweetness...

Ok after last quick outfit change we headed downtown for a few last images of the day, stopping off at my all time favorite downtown location The Hotel Congress.

This may be one of my favorite images I've taken... it's so timeless and everything about it just oozes romance... it's like a scene from a movie! These two are seriously gorgeous...

A little bling and a little laughter... what more can a girl ask for lol...

Seriously, don't these look like stills out of some romance movie!?

Rachel, you are gorgeous...

After we finished our drinks and the sun set we wandered around just a tad and snagged a few last images of the night... I'm pretty excited we did!

I love all of these so much!

This one, I have to say is probably one of my favorites just because I have been wanting to try it for a while and finally got a chance to... (all natural lighting by the way, lit only by the ambient light in the tunnel) how cool is that!?

Two more just with the ambient lighting...

And then one with flash just because we can :)

A HUGE thank you again to Travis Williams for all his help on this shoot and of course to Rachel and Adam for totally going along with every crazy idea of mine. I love you all and can't wait for your wedding!!!!

2011-06-13T17:49:00.003-07:00

Unplugged

This is one of the best articles for planning your wedding I've read in a while. Check it out, pass it on, and spread the word!

http://offbeatbride.com/2011/06/unplugged-wedding

2011-05-22T20:15:00.003-07:00

Caitlin - Une Affaire En Noir

I have been in love with old movies since I was tiny, given the choice I'd rather watch an old film noir film over pretty much any other type of movie. I've been kicking around playing with this kind of photoshoot for a while and offering them as sort of a speacialty and when my friend Caitlin told me she was totally down for me to just play around and test out some ideas I totally jumped at the chance to test out some of the shots I've had in my head. For the most part we got some really cool results, some that didn't work so well that I'm excited to work more on, but over all I super stoked to share some of the results of our play session with you and to do more shoots like this in the future!

2011-05-22T19:41:00.002-07:00

New Phone Number

Just in case you've been trying to get a hold of me and haven't been able to, I wanted to just put a quick shout out that our business line has changed and the old phone number will no longer work for us. If you need to get a hold of us the new number is 520-405-2985 which you can find under the contact info on our website now. Thanks everybody!

2011-04-26T15:59:00.006-07:00

Emily + Dustin: Engaged

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of driving up to Scottsdale and doing a photo shoot for Emily and Dustin whose wedding I get to shoot later this year here in Tucson! I had so much fun wandering around with these two!

We started off at one of my favorite spots in Phoenix the Tempe Center for the Arts!

Before leaving we made a little detour to this really cool underpass!

Love this!

And finally we finished up our shoot at the Desert Botanical Garden where Dustin proposed!

It never ceases to amaze me how strange the landscapes in Arizona are sometimes, these rocks look like they came from some strange alien planet lol...

I'm not gonna lie... these two were pretty easy to photograph lol...

And my personal favorite outfits!!!! Go Wildcats!!!!!

Bear Down Arizona.... Bear Down Red and Blue... Bear Down Arizona... Kick the !@(#R#& out of ASU.... :)

And finally for a big finish Dustin's brother let us up onto the roof of his apartment complex which is just across the street from Chase Fields... Talk about a gorgeous view!!!!

Thank you guys so much for being such amazing models! I can't wait for your big day!!!!!

2011-04-12T16:16:00.008-07:00

Where The Heck Did Kadie Go!?

Wow... is really all I can say. The last few months have been such a crazy roller coaster I don't even know where to begin. If you've been reading the blog you might have gotten the gist of some of it. Back in the beginning of December our family lost a very dear member at a very young age and even though time has past... I think we are all still a little in shock and grieving. There are days that go bye that I don't even think about it and then it will hit me as I'm driving in the car like a load of bricks and I won't be able to contain the tears. Grief is funny that way. Shortly after that we were caught up in the midst of the Tucson shootings just a few weeks later, which coming on the heels of what we had just gone through loosing Micah was doubly painful. It was during this time we also found out that Joey had gotten a job with the DOD in Virginia and then began the mad rush to pack him up and move him out there. (all of which you already know from previous posts)

So, most of February was spent with us running around like crazy people packing and making arrangements for his move. On the day of his birthday party/going away party I threw for him I woke up at 3am with intense ear pain, which grew increasingly worse until about 5pm that evening when I ruptured both my eardrums. Poor Joey spent his whole party running back and forth between being the center of attention and check up on his wife screaming in the upstairs bedroom (if you've never had your eardrums rupture, lets just say it's not very fun)... and eventually taking me to urgent care.... Happy Birthday babe... lol...

I was so sick from everything and in so much pain and had lost the majority of my hearing that I was pretty much bed ridden for the entire next week, at the end of which was the day Joey had to leave to drive to Virginia to start his job. So... not wanting to miss being with him for that I sucked up the pain hopped in the car and we drove all the way from Arizona to Virginia, just the two of us, sweet Joey and his cute little partially deaf wife!

Here's a quick look at our trip via our little point and shoot camera... :)

Because we drove Joey there I had to fly home, however because I had just ruptured my ear drums the doctor told me not to fly for a few weeks in case I were to re-rupture them again... which would be horrible on a plane surrounded by people who would totally freak out if I just started screaming for no apparent reason.... So... I opted to stay grounded for a while and holed up with Joey for a few weeks before flying back which was awesome. I got to explore the area a little and meet a lot of his new friends, whom have promised me not to reverse all the careful years of training I've put into my husband during this brief time away from me lol...

Finally I was all healed up again (hearing back to normal thank goodness!) and flew home. And you have to remember I have never been apart from my husband for more than 2 weeks before this, so we had an all out movie scene in the middle of the airport before I went through security... it was ridiculous. Seriously just imagine the cheesiest romance movie airport scene you've ever seen and that's probably what we looked like, I was crying so hard I could barley see straight to unpack my bag for the x-ray machine... I wonder if this is a frequent occurrence for them because nobody seems to care or to think I was crazy...

Touchdown Arizona and I hit the ground running fast with wedding after wedding after photoshoot, it's been an insane and crazy month! But I suppose it's helping me keep my sanity and not miss Joey as much.

Then Last week my computer Died :( Luckily Apple is awesome and fixed it for free but I had to be with out it for almost an entire week! Talk about debilitating!!!!

So yeah... that rambling mess is pretty much my life as of now, and what I've been up to for the last several weeks.

Stay tuned for lots of picture posts coming soon!!!!

P.S.

You might be confused, since I have told this story all jumbled up why I haven't moved to Virginia with Joey.... which is something I probably should have mentioned!!! lol... The short version is that 1) I have work I'm still contracted to do here in Arizona for a while this year and still need to pack up our house and 2)Because for the first year he is there Joey will be doing a lot of traveling for 2 or 3 months at a time for on the job training things so he won't actually be home very often anyway and it seemed like a better idea to have me stay here with friends and family instead of sitting in Virginia alone during this time... both situations aren't ideal obviously but being alone in a new place where I don't know a single person for months at a time didn't seem too appealing lol.... We think I'll probably move out there officially in the first week of January next year.

2011-03-02T10:16:00.004-07:00

Sneak Peek: Stacey + Zach

More coming soon, just had to share this one :)

2011-02-07T00:43:00.006-07:00

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

by Robert Frost

As lame as it may be and as many english lit students and poets that will cringe at this statement, this is my favorite poem. I know it's over used and sort of like the mona lisa of poetry and therefore lame to be one's favorite, but non the less it is. From the very first time the words rolled off my tongue I was in love. There is something about this poem that grabs my spirit, speaks to my heart and in some ways has always been a guiding light through the years. Which is what brings me to my point.

Almost six years ago my amazing husband and I got married, packed up our few measly belonging and moved to Tucson to make our way in the world you might say. Both of us planned on finishing up our degrees at the U of A and then wait and see where life would take us. When we first moved here Joey worked at a gas station and I didn't even have a job... we'll just say we weren't really rolling in the dough. I kept telling Joe I should go out and get a job to help with bills and he would always reply "No, I don't want you working and having a job just to make money. I want you doing something that makes you happy, and if that means sitting at home, that's what I want you to do." (I know... I don't deserve him, he speaks french and writes poetry too.... swoon...) So I sat at home, and I worked on my business. I taught myself HTML and how to design my own website, I worked on making business cards, and my photography itself. I read book on the subject, listened to famous speaker and started taking photo classes. All the while my husband worked two or three jobs to pay our bills while going to school full time. I would say that this was silly and I could help if I just got a job and he would reply "No, I'm investing in you now and later I know it will pay off." And it did, my business grew and prospered and gradually began making more and more money until I was actually helping with the bills more and more. And the only reason any of it ever happened was because my husband was willing to take the road less traveled.

However, during this time I could see that Joe was never truly happy, he has dreams and goals of his own after all. After graduating with a degree in Journalism and working as a full time reporter at the same paper for nearly 5 years he was ready for a change. Except with not only the economy being in the state it's in but the newspaper industry falling on hard times, new opportunities were slim and hard to come by. And even if one had arisen, I don't think he was really ever dead set on that being his whole life. So we started looking, and back in September we heard of an awesome opportunity he could apply for with the military, working as a civilian employee. Intrigued by the job description of logistics management Joe began really looking into and researching the job, and the more he saw the more he really felt like it was what he had been looking for. The position would not only play to all his major strengths as an individual but would give our family the opportunity to live all over the world. So we talked it over, and in September he applied for the job. Then after three rounds of interviewing and a in person interview in Washington DC we finally got the word 2 days before Christmas that Joey got the job (one of about 32 spots from around 800 applicants).

We were elated... and to be quite frank, terrified.

As much as we really want this opportunity, it means a lot of changes. The biggest of which is Joe has to begin training for the position February 28th in Virginia at Fort Lee. Which is soon, and scary. And because it is so soon and we own our house here and the fact that well... I have weddings I have to photograph here, I am staying behind for a while. Which is probably the hardest part. It would just be to expensive for all of us to move there together just yet. So we'll have to be apart for about 6 months while I get things taken care of here, and figure out what to do with our house. I am not looking forward to that.

But he let me have my time to work on my dreams, the least I can do is to let him have his...

That's our big news. Joey and I are moving to Virginia, for now anyway. After training for 18 month he'll get put in his first position which could land us anywhere in the world from Italy to Japan to New Orleans, we don't really know. After that he'll get to have more of a choice of location on where he'd like to be working.

And don't worry, I'm not shutting down business. I'll still be here and taking photos wherever life may land us, the only thing that's going to change is the scenery.

While on one hand this entire thing terrifies me, that element of the unknown is an amazing and exciting feeling.

So with that, I'm walking hand in hand with my best friend down the road less traveled...

Photo of Joey and I Courtesy Of SunStreet Photo

2011-01-27T22:23:00.012-07:00

Melissa + Toby: Married

Over the course of time that we got to be a part of Melissa and Toby's life Joey and I have grown to love them more and more. They are two of the sweetest most genuine people, who also happen to have a shared love of salsa dancing and video games :) I was so excited when their big day came around and I got to meet their amazing group of friends and family. Here are just a few of my favorite images from their beautiful day:

I'm not gonna lie, I'm starting to get a little obsessed with using my macro lens on detail photos... it's so fun!

Ok so don't her eyelashes look AMAZING!!!! They are temporary eyelash extensions... and I am in love. I am so telling every singe one of my brides from now on to get these. They just look so much more natural than most false eyelashes I seriously couldn't even tell they weren't her real eyelashes. If you are in Tucson Melissa did her's at Looks Lashes.

Ah purple shoes... how I love you! :)

Melissa and Toby decided to do a first look so that they could get a bunch of their photos out of the way before the ceremony, I love this photo from right after their meeting...

But since it was still pretty early in the day and the sun outside was gross still we had some fun walking around the resort, I love these two images, Melissa and Toby were awesome models!

See... I told you the sun was bright outside!

After photos we headed over to the ceremony...

Compared to a lot of churches I photograph in this one had amazing light to shoot with...

How cute is this little guy!? He cracked me up all day...

After the ceremony it was back to the resort for the reception, but I got to snag Melissa and Toby again just for a bit since the sun was WAY better to shoot outside with at this point...

Favorite... I love this one of them :)

I also really like this one...

If only Arizona was like this all the time... I love that hour just prior to sunset...

Favorite #2!!!! Mel you are gorgeous!

Isn't this one sweet?

Reception Time! Can you believe Mel's mom did ALL the flowers for the wedding!? These centerpieces she made were gorgeous!

My favorite detail, the custom cake topper complete with little game controllers! :)

Mr + Mrs!!!

Thank you both for letting us be a part of your amazing day and share it with you!

Reception Location: JW Marriot Starr Pass Resort & Spa

2011-01-13T12:42:00.003-07:00

Obama Comes To Tucson

More to come, but I just wanted to post up one for now... I got a press pass from Joe's newspaper he works for: Inside Tucson Business to go and photograph the event, so I got to be in the Press Pit with all the big boy photographers from The Associate Press, The New York Times, The Washtington Post, ect.... It was exciting!

2011-01-11T14:25:00.005-07:00

Riding The Wake Of Tragedy

I don't usually post about current events but since they seem to be consuming my life the last few days I thought it would be ok.

When I first got into photography one of my very first gigs was as a photojournalist for a small paper, since then I've done some here and there on the side. Mostly because Joe is a reporter and I somehow get sucked into little assignments here and there.

As you may have guessed the journalism community has converged upon Tucson the last few days to cover the shooting and the aftermath of a city in mourning. Joey asked me to take few pictures here and there for a couple articles they will be running and I thought I'd share some of the images I've gotten so far:

This is the Safeway where the shooting took place, we used to live across the street before we moved into the house we are in now and this is where Joey and I had our very first grocery shopping trip together as a married couple... the whole thing is surreal...

There are still mass amounts of media camped out in the parking lot broadcasting non-stop it seems...

This is image is one of my favorites, all the stores around the scene are open for business again but all you see are the employees peering out of windows in sceilence and watching the FBI agents at work... we are all just in shock still...

Yesterday it seems like they were in their finishing stages of gathering evidence as they started to remove some of the caution tape.

After I had gotten a few images at the scene I decided to drive by the school the little 9 year old girl, Christina Green, who was killed in the shooting attended. This is the part that broke my heart. I pulled up to find mass amounts of students and parents constructing a tribute to Christina on the school fence tying up ribbons and making posters for her... If the images look a tad grainy that's because the sun had already set by the time I got there and I was basically taking pictures in the pitch dark...

I chatted for a bit with these three girl's mothers and all three of them were in Christina's 3rd grade class with her...

The whole thing is just surreal and heartbreaking.... I'll post up any more images if I take any later this week...

2011-01-07T17:21:00.005-07:00

Hello Twenty Eleven!

Words cannot express how much I am looking forward to this new year and how excited I am to finally be over and done with 2010! This past year has had so many ups and down's it's been a crazy ride and ultimately a giant learning experience. (I have really begun to hate that phrase, I heard it SO much last year lol) I can't believe how much I have been stretched and grown this past year, and I already know that 2011 has even more in store for us (although hopefully without quite so many of the painful moments that last year had). We have some really big things in the works that I am super excited to get to share with you very soon so keep checking back for that!

Last year I made a list of my New Year's resolutions on here:
1: Start going to bed earlier and waking up earlier
2: Eat at home more, learn to cook more things, eat healthier.
3: Keep my house clean

Interestingly enough I have actually done way better in those areas than I thought! All except the waking up earlier one... I don't know if I'll ever flip around my night owl habits, I just work so much more productively and innovativly at 2am...

This year I want to make a few more resolutions, there are more than last year, but I think that's becuase I'm starting to really understand what I want for my life. A lot of them are a little more personal than last year, but again I think during the course of this year this blog has turned into more of a personal space anyway so I don't mind sharing with you guys.

1) Work on finding my self worth within myself.

I have really been working hard on this one this past year, but need to push it even further. I am just the type of person who thrives on approval from others, and I don't want to be that person anymore so I am trying to get to a place where I honestly really don't care and love me for me no matter what anybody else may think.

2) Not to be as lazy.

Let's be honest... today I slept till 1:00pm... yes you heard properly, 1pm in the afternoon... Granted I didn't fall asleep till 6am. Still I love sleep, when I'm done with work for the day, I love vegging on the couch doing nothing but so much of life passes you by that way! There is a point when you need to sit and just be, and there is a point where you need to get up and take some action, this year needs more action taking!

3) Make clear goals for what I want in my life.

Lately I've been of the write it down and get it done mindset for some reason. Maybe it's because I'm turning 25 this year and feel like I've reached decision time or maybe I'm just tired of floundering through life having no idea what I'm doing. But in either case I want to start making really clear to myself what it is I want to get out of this life and then try and figure out what it's going to take to get me there.

4) Get in better shape

This one is on everybody's New Year's list so I think we can assume that everybody gets this one....

5) Find more creative avenues for my art.

If this past two years has taught me anything it's that doing one creative thing by itself is simply not enough to sustain long-term creativity. You have to let yourself play like a little kid. Therefore it's going to be my passion this year to figure out other areas besides my normal genre of shooting to apply my creativity to...

6) Read more books.

This one really hit me last year, I used to read a book a week if not two growing up but since I started my business it seems my time for reading has disappeared. So this year it's my plan to take that time back and start reading again like I used to.

Those are my top ones for now, but I might add a few more later :)

And since every post is better with a picture here are a few of us from a photo-booth we set up for our friends' New Year's Party this year to start your year off with a smile :)

So I have decided I have the strangest armpits ever... if you don't believe me check out the next photo lol...

Check out my totally awesome new shoes in this picture! Aren't they fun!? I bought them just to wear for the party and they make me feel like Dorthy Gale's long lost cousin :)

Balloons make me happy....

Ha :)

Happy New Year!!!!!

2010-12-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

Merry Christmas Through The Tears

This Christmas is hard, it seems like this year just didn't agree with our family at all considering the summer we had and then to end it with the passing of Micah. The last few weeks have been an emotional roller coaster complete with me screaming at little church ladies... apparently when I am sad I am also emotionally psychotic as well... We won't even discuss the outcome of either Joe or I hearing "I'll Have a Blue Christmas" on the radio. Let's just say it's not very pretty.

I honestly don't understand why things like this happen to such amazing people, but I do know through all of this that God has a plan even though at the moment I think his plan looks like crap and there are a few details I would like to discuss with him, I know deep in my heart that he does work everything together for good even when I can't understand. And if I didn't believe that I think I would just go crazy.

I was going to try and write a big long thing about how amazing Micah was and how much we miss him but I think Joey summed it up best in the Eulogy he wrote for Micah's memorial service, you can read it HERE.

The hardest part is just to figure out how to keep living. How do you just move on with your life after something like this. In some ways it seems to cruel and wrong to just continue like nothing happened, but in other ways I know Micah and I know he wouldn't have wanted anybody to stop living their lives to the fullest potential. So that leaves us to push ahead through the tears, starting with just a simple Merry Christmas.

Remember this Christmas that life is short and precious. Live everyday as though it was your last. Don't let yourself get so wrapped up in life you forget to spend the time with the people you love, because you never know when they might not be there anymore. So when your ripping through those presents, or carving up that Christmas dinner take a moment to pause and tell each and everyone of the people around you how much you love them and how special they are to you.

With that, through my tears I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas.

-The Pangburns (Joey, Kadie + Audrey)

2010-12-14T15:28:00.003-07:00

Out Of The Office

Sunday evening Joey and I lost a very special member of our family, Micah Kaplan, Joe's cousin (more like his brother). Due to funeral preparations I will be taking the week off of work to help our family through this time. If you have an emergency and need to get a hold of me I will still be receiving e-mail, however if it is not urgent I probably won't be able to get back to you until next week.

Thank you for your patience.

If you knew Micah and would like more information on making donations to the family, the viewing or memorial service you can find all the information on the website we have set up here for him: www.ILoveMicahKaplan.com

2010-12-07T16:31:00.008-07:00

Don't Mess With Christmas...

There are a few things in this world that you don't mess with me on because I will freak out on you. Those things would be:

1) My dog (seriously don't insult my furry child, or I will react like a mama bear and we might not be able to be friends anymore)
2) Disneyland (I have a weird protective attitude toward Disneyland, and someone not liking it is akin in my head to you setting my mother's house on fire, (insert violent action here))
3) Christmas (which of course is the point of this post lol)

I LOVE Christmas... I love EVERYTHING about Christmas. If you could live in a holiday (sorta like the Nightmare Before Christmas, I would for sure pick Christmasland, with my second choice of location being Independence Day Island). Part of my obsession with this holiday probably stems from the fact that my love language is, without a doubt, giving, so Christmas is like giant love fest for me. Our poor tree every year looks like a hostage being held captive by a present prison.

Poor Joey has to live through all my crazed Christmas decorating every year, I'm sure he's dreading what lunatic idea I'll come up with next every time I say "Joey.... how hard would it be to..."

To say I go a little overboard with this holiday might be an understatement.

But back to the title of this post. Don't Mess With Christmas....

Let's just say I am a tad picky when it comes to certain Christmas items and customs. There is a way I like things to be done and no amount of you telling me otherwise is going to change my mind. Joey has learned to just give in on these points I think lol... So I thought I'd share a few of my little quarks with you :)

1) When My Heart Finds Christmas - By Harry Connick Jr.

Growing up this was the CD we listened to the most every Christmas and every time I hear it I melt inside. I suppose my love of this CD also gets multiplied by the fact my all time favorite Christmas song "(It Must've Been Ol') Santa Claus" is on this CD as well... If you don't own it buy it now!!!! If you can't tell I'm slightly obsessed...

2) It's a Wonderful Life

Ok, first of all Jimmy Stewart is amazing, that's pretty much a fact. And this movie has to be on my all time favorite movies ever list. I love it that much. I snuggle up on the couch and get all warm and gooie inside every time I watch it. And no matter how many times I've seen this movie I'm always angry when Mr. Potter takes George's money and always cry when everybody chips in to save the day. But aside from it's amazingness this movie MUST be watched on Christmas Eve in our house every year, without fail. (To show you how serious I am, we are going to be in Disneyland this year for Christmas Eve and over the weekend and I am bringing it with me to watch in our hotel room that night).

3) Fresh Cut Noble Fir Trees

I know everybody loves the fake tree, and they look more and more real every year they make them but I will never be able to replace the smell of a real Noble fir in my living room. Growing up my parents were the coolest and would buy a living potted tree and then after christmas we'd plant them outside in our yard (we lived in the forest to they looked like they belonged there). Now since I live in Tucson now, and it would look slightly goofy to have a front yard full of fir trees in my front yard in the desert I have contented myself with buying cut trees.

Which brings me to my next point.... Can somebody explain the attraction of Douglas Fir trees to me? I don't get it. They look like giant bushes to me. Where do you put your ornaments!? Needless to say I prefer Noble Fir trees lol...

Which brings me to my long held reputation as the tree bitch... I like cut trees, but I want them to be as perfect as a fake tree, which is not impossible but does take time and does seem to annoy tree salesmen. Last year was the worst, I think I made the poor tree lot attendant open something like 13 trees up for me and I still didn't like any of them. And so the reputation for being the tree bitch was born. I've said it before but God bless my husband for marrying and putting up with a perfectionist....

The tree is a tricky subject apparently because I am also EXTREMELY picky about lighting the tree. Each branch has to be individually lit from the inside of the tree down the brach flip around the tip and back down the brach inside the tree to be repeated on the next branch. Also your wires should show as little as possible, not at all preferably.

Decorating the thing is a whole other story that I won't get into, but if possible avoid the subject of tinsel around Joey... lol...

4) Paper Snowflakes

This one is actually pretty simple... when we first got married we were dirt poor so for Christmas decorations I started cutting out and hanging paper snowflakes from the ceiling. Well every year since then I've cut a few more and added them to my collection and it's grown over the years until now it looks like our house has been attacked by a snow storm every year lol... Even in the desert I'm determined to have a white Christmas!

5) Old School Outdoor Lights

This is more of a nostalgic preference than anything but I really prefer the old school jumbo sized house lights. I just think they look cooler personally. Oh and since I am just laying all my Christmas craziness out there; if you have a two story house, don't be lazy and just decorate the bottom eve... it looks lame.

6) Official Christmas PJ's

This one is sort of stupid and corny but I will admit I am one of those people who makes everybody who stays at my house Christmas Eve wear Christmas themed PJ's to wake up and open presents in. I also make everybody wear them when we decorate too... even Audrey dog has a pair lol... yes I am that person lol...

Whew... ok, that's all the soul bearing I'm prepared to do for one post lol. Hopefully you don't think I'm a crazed Christmas lunatic now lol...

2010-11-24T10:55:00.005-07:00

Hide and Wait....

Let me start by saying I am silly, I know I am silly but here goes. I have this thing, sort of like a test I suppose, that I used to unwittingly play on people while I was growing up. It went a little something like this:

1) Kadie is hanging out with a group of people...

2) Kadie leaves said group and goes off alone somewhere out of sight

3) Kadie proceeds to sit in said spot and wait

The point was supposed to be something like "we'll see who really is my friend and who really cares about me by who notices I'm missing and comes to find me." This plan usually backfired and I was left sitting alone while my friends had a grand old time in the other room.

OK, so even though this may sound dumb and silly it always meant a lot to me. For so long I felt like the invisible girl in the room just desperately wanting somebody to notice I existed, and not only notice I existed but care enough to want me back with the group because I was missed. So this concept really got ingrained into my subconscious to the point where I will still to this day do this unknowingly, waiting for somebody to care enough to come find me.

Now Enter Joey

From the very first time I met Joe he has always come and found me. Even when I didn't know I was hiding he comes scoops me up and tells me how much he missed me. For the little girl who always felt invisible you have no idea how that feels. It's the most amazing feeling on the planet to know somebody (besides your parents) loves you enough to miss you and seek you out so you can be together again.

So this Thanksgiving, even though I know it sounds so simple, thank you Joey for always caring enough to come find me :)

Then since every post needs a photo here is a cute one I snapped of Joey and Audrey while we were out snapping some photos the other day...

2010-11-22T12:00:00.003-07:00

Pumpkin, Coolwhip + Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

This week on the blog I'm going to try and post up one thing I am thankful for each day leading up to Thanksgiving. To get into the spirit of things we're going to start off with PUMPKIN!!!! I LOVE pumpkin... pretty much pumpkin anything. Although there have been those that have mentioned my intense love of pumpkin pie might be more so my love of an excuse to eat massive amounts of coolwhip without questions. Like I would ever do something like that..... lol.

I have to say though my very favorite pumpkin items are chocolate chip pumpkin cookies! I could seriously just eat an entire tub of these by myself. They are moist yummy cake like cookies that just melt in your mouth, and of course this time of year is the perfect excuse to bake and eat massive amounts of them! And just so that everybody can see for themselves how amazing they really are here is my top secret recipe!

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients:
1 Cup Sugar
2 Cups Canned Pumpkin
1/2 Cup Oil
1 Egg
2 Cups Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Cinnamon
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Milk
1 tsp Vanilla
1 Cup Chocolate Chips

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375º
2) Mix together: Sugar, Pumpkin, Oil and Egg
3) In a separate bowl sift together: Flour, Salt, Cinnamon and Baking Power then add to Pumpkin mixture
4) In a small bowl dissolve the Baking Soda in the Vanilla and Milk then add to Pumpkin mixture
5) Add in Chocolate Chips
6) Refrigerate batter for at least 30 min
7) Scoop out small tablespoon size amounts of dough onto a lightly greased cookie sheet
8) Bake 10-12 min, cookies should be soft and moist
9) Consume massive amounts of them and make more!!!

I hope you enjoy eating them as much as I do!!!

2010-11-19T03:04:00.013-07:00

Jennifer + Eric: Four Seasons Resorts Troon North Scottsdale Arizona

The day before we flew to New Orleans Joey and I got the opportunity to photograph a gorgeous wedding up in Scottsdale! Since Jennifer + Eric live out of state in California, they hired Charlee Geisler to help them plan and coordinate their wedding, and she was amazing! If you are getting married in the Phoenix area I HIGHLY recommend her and her staff. But enough chit chat... on with the photos!

The moment I walked into where the girl were getting ready and saw this dress I got so excited! I LOVE form fitting wedding dresses. They always look so glamourous and old hollywood to me.

I ended up arriving just a tad early so I had lots of time to play around with getting tons of detail shots of Jennifer's gorgeous jewelry for the day.

This necklace was AMAZING! And was her something borrowed for the day :)

LOVE these blue shoes she wore...

Jennifer + Eric decided to do a first look so we could take all their formals before the ceremony and Eric's expression when he saw Jennifer was priceless!

I could have photographed Jennifer all day, she kept reminding me of a cross between a young Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly...

See!? Stunning!!!!!

Eric on the other hand kept reminding me of Donald Draper from Mad Men, I love this image of him....

The ceremony details were so elegant and gorgeous, I think yellow may be my new favorite wedding color...

The reception didn't disappoint either! Check out that amazing cake the Jennifer designed!

They did such an amazing job lighting this room Joey didn't use ANY flash or extra lighting in this next image to show you what just how gorgeous the ambient light looked!

Thank you guys so much for letting Joey and I be a part of your day!

Location: Four Seasons Resort: Scottsdale at Troon North
Event Planner: Signature Events by Charlee Geisler

2010-11-14T21:16:00.003-07:00

What Happens In New Orleans... doesn't always stay there!
(Especially when you have 15-20 photographers following you around)

I'll get into more about our awesome trip later, but while we were there we randomly ended up being models for one of the workshops being taught during the conference. Which if you know us at all, you know we are total hams and that we jumped all over the chance... so for your amusement here are a few of the first images that have emerged from our adventure!

A few details to mention:
1) We found out we were doing this about 30min prior to when they needed us to model and I had all of 10min to do my hair and make-up

2) Yes we are hams and we know it

3) I realize why models get paid so much

4) The dress I was put in to wear was a size 12... and a few sizes to big so if I look a little larger than normal... that's why...

5) At one point during the shoot I let a strange man on Bourbon St. pose me because I thought he was part of the workshop, he was not... which explained the very strange "back off and get your hands off my wife" look my husband was giving him...

A big thanks to Brian Friedman for these images!!!

2010-11-04T16:03:00.009-07:00

New Orleans Here We Come!

I am so excited for the coming weekend! Not only to we get to photograph an awesome wedding up in Phoenix on Saturday but Sunday morning we get to hop on a plane and fly to a city that I've wanted to visit my entire life! NEW ORLEANS! For the first two day Joey and I are just going to hang out and be tourists then the rest of the week we'll be attending a photography conference called PartnerCon.

I can't wait to see everything! Depending on Internet availability at our hotel while we're there I'll see if I can post up at least one photo everyday so you can be right there with us! Then when I come back next week I'll do a big Inspiring Thursday post with photos of things that inspired me while I was there.

Feel free to give a shout out for any must do/see things Joey and I should put on our list!

2010-10-31T13:43:00.004-07:00

Happy Halloween From Audrey!

2010-10-27T21:40:00.002-07:00

Rainstorm + Arizona Sunset + Awesome Couple = Epic:

Joey and I did a teeny tiny mini session for Rachel and Adam a couple weeks back and we got one of my new favorite pictures ever! Rachel and Adam live in LA and were only in town for the weekend to visit family and wanted to get one really quick shot for their save the date cards. After brainstorming a bit and hearing what they were looking for I decided Gate's Pass would be the PERFECT location to shoot their save the date image. Well... fast forward to the evening we are supposed to shoot and the weather is not looking good... but we hop in the car and drive out there anyway. We get there and it's not getting any better. After hemming and hawing a while waiting to see if it will let up we all decide to just go for it and brave the weather and I'm so glad we did! Gold stars to Rachel for full on rock climbing in the rain, in heels, to get to the "perfect rock" for the photo!

2010-10-14T21:41:00.003-07:00

Inspiring Thursdays - Messing Up

This week for my inspiring Thursday post I thought I'd do something a little different. Instead of being inspired, I wanted to take a moment to encourage you instead.

If you know me, you probably know I'm a perfectionist, in just about everything except cleaning (somehow it totally skips over that whole area of my life lol). If I throw a party it has to look like it popped off the page of a Martha Stewart magazine article. If I play a game, I have to win. If I dance I'm going to spend hours in front of a mirror trying to perfect just the right amount of hip movement. This is just me. I want to do the best that I can, always, otherwise, what's the point of doing it at all?

I think the best story I can share to relate how crazy I am is from when I was about 10 or 11 years old. My mom had just paid for me to start taking piano lessons (which I had been begging her for years for) and she came home one day from the library with a video of a concert pianist in concert. We snuggled up on the couch and watched the whole video, during the middle of which I broke down into a fit of crying. My Mom, obviously worried asked me what was wrong and I replied "I just realized no matter how hard I try to learn the piano, I am never going to be as good as that guy on the tape." At that moment, I figured "what's the point of learning to do something you're never going to be the best at." !?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I don't remember how, but my mom convinced me to stick with the piano anyway, and it's become one of the greatest loves in my life since then.

But that is how my brain works. And I know it's messed up, and I know it's wrong and flawed, but that doesn't change the fact that at a base level that's still how I think. So let's just say I can be a tad hard on myself. Nothing is ever good enough, or perfect enough, I can always find the flaw, the thing that needs to be improved on.

Now, on one hand I credit my accelerated learning rate to this way of thinking. When you are never satisfied and always craving to get better, learn and grow, things start happening at an astounding rate. But it's at a great cost, because you constantly view yourself as a failure, and a screwup, aware of every flaw you possess at all times.

This can lead to bad things.

I mean, come on, take your pick of "artists gone crazy trying to make their life's masterpiece" stories. There are thousands of them. So lately I'm trying to come to terms with myself, and with messing up.

One thing that has helped me is a quote I heard the other day that I have sort of fallen in love with. Sadly I can't for the life of me remember who said it or even where I was when I heard it but it went something like this:

"Every time I mess up and fall on my face, at least I can take comfort in the fact that I'm moving forward and not backward."

I think that is the coolest thing I've ever heard, and what's more is that it's so true. Everytime I totally mess up, I always learn something. Usually it's "wow, that was a bad idea, now I know not to do that again." But even in my failure I'm really progressing and moving forward.

Thomas Edison spent years trying to invent the lightbulb, and when asked about his long string of failures to do so, he simply replied:

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

How amazing an outlook on life is that!? THAT is where I want to live my life. I want to view my failures as lovable test pilots for life, forging ahead and showing me all the things not to do. I want to learn to love my failures. I want to be able to sit down, look them in the face and tell them that "you know what? I still love you anyway." And that's hard, especially as an artist to do.

So next time you mess up, fall on your face and totally make a fool out of yourself remember to take a second to pause, to not react with self loathing but instead with love.

And since all posts are prettier with a photo, I thought I share this one of Audrey that Joey snapped the other morning. I hope it brings a smile to your face like it does mine!

2010-10-11T23:03:00.005-07:00

Jake + Nicole: Sneak Peek

Just a sneak peek of an awesome Christmas session Joey and I did up in the Prescott area! Tons more to come soon!

2010-10-07T23:32:00.008-07:00

Inspiring Thursdays - Brownie Harris

Ok so I know I am sorta cheating by sneaking this in like 20min before it's really Friday, but I was surfing around the web tonight and found this AWESOME website with tons of great behind the scenes photography videos called FStoppers (http://fstoppers.com/). There are some really cool shoots they feature as well as interviews with some amazing photographers.

I watched a few but I just really loved this on in particular on Brownie Harris and just had to share it with all of you. You can check out his portfolio here: http://www.brownieharris.com/

Fstoppers Profile: Brownie Harris from FStoppers on Vimeo.

2010-10-04T10:00:00.001-07:00

Kyla + RJ: Engaged

A couple weeks ago I got an e-mail from one of my past brides Angela Carlon, who you might remember from her wedding + engagement pictures we took a couple years ago. Well she has since started up an event planning business! (she has an AMAZING eye for detail and is doing a fantastic job with it too!) Well, she had a client that she thought would be a great fit for Joey and I and was curious if we would mind coming down to Elgin Arizona with them to shoot their engagement session at a local vineyard. Joey and I, who are always up for getting out of town, jumped at the chance!

Here are just a couple of my favorite pictures from their mini session we did with them.

For all you wine lovers out there, we shot their whole session at Lightning Ridge Cellars, where we also did a little wine tasting afterwards as well. Their wine was AMAZING! I even bought a bottle to take home. They have the cutest little back room you can host events in too inside of their barrel room. I guess in a couple years they are going to be set up to hold weddings out there as well, which I can't wait for. It will be gorgeous!

2010-09-28T14:25:00.028-07:00

Lera + Nate: Married

I am so excited to share this wedding with you! Lera and Nate are the kind of people you meet and you instantly fall in love with, madly, head over heels style. Not to be sappy, it's just true. They are the kind of people who just make you feel cooler by simply being around them (kinda like the fonz). They are also two of the most genuine people I've ever met. And if that wasn't enough they have one of the most romantic love stories ever (you can read all about it HERE if you're curious). So we were totally stoked to get to be the photographers for their wedding in Oak Island, North Carolina.

After my little car accident the night before we flew out to photograph their wedding, one of my best photography friends TimCo flew in from Florida to help me photograph their day, just in case I keeled over at some point lol... Luckily after doping myself up on pain meds just in case I was on cloud nine the whole day lol.

Ok... let's get to the photos, I'll talk while you browse through them...

When I arrived at Lera's parents house the morning of the wedding I was a little early so it gave me lots of time to play around and get some awesome detail shots... so I went a little crazy trying to decide which ones to post...

As usual while I was hanging out with the girls Joey was over chillin with the guys, I love these little detail shots he got!

Lera + Nate decided to do a first look, and take all their photos before the ceremony (which I LOVE) maybe next week I'll do a blog post about all the many reasons I love this idea. This is one of my favorite pictures from the sequence we captured...

After the first look we took off to take photos, Nate was seriously rockin' the shades. I think both him and Lera actually did some modeling when they lived in Japan... and apparently they haven't lost their touch lol...

Let me just say... this is the BACKYARD of their parents house... ummm... yeah... I'm jealous...

I could seriously comment on all of these, so lets just assume above every photo is a comment from me saying "AYKM!?"... How cool is the light in these two portraits of Nate though!? I was just a tad excited when I took them...

Lera was the perfect model...

Every time I see that photo on the left I feel like a little Gucci or Prada sunglasses logo would look so at home on it...

After we had some fun taking photos and took a short break to freshen up, it was off to the ceremony!

I loved everything about Lera's color palette for her wedding...

I love this photo of the ceremony Timco captured for me!

I don't usually post a ton of bridal party pictures, but these came out so cool I just had to post them!

Lera was the master planner and after the ceremony arranged for a trolly service to transport all her guests to the reception location down the street. I love these photos of the bridal party we got of them all on the trolley...

At this point, the light was PERFECT for heading down to the beach to take just a few more pictures before the reception. I love the little reception dress Lera changed into...

I love that photo on the right, somehow it just seems like the quintessential picture of pure happiness to me.

After our little beach session it was off to the reception, which was so gorgeous!

I love all the little unique details they included that were specific to them and their love story.

AYKM!?!?!? Seriously one of the most gorgeous receptions ever, with the perfect sunset too...

And I'll end with these two, you might not already know but Joey and I love ballroom dancing. I'm a little more obsessed than he is and more than anything I think he just goes along with me to see the big stupid grin I get on my face when we take lessons. So I LOVE LOVE LOVE when my couples do little choreographed numbers for their first dance and Lera and Nate's was flawless... it was gorgeous!

And if you still haven't had enough here is a MASSIVE slideshow you can watch with even more photos! It takes a little while to load but it's worth the wait I promise!

LERA + NATE: THE SLIDESHOW

I have to just say too before I end this post what an amazing family both of these two have. The moment I walked into her parents home I felt like one of the family. There was such an outpouring and love and support for these two the entire day that it was beautiful to witness.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Behind the scenes

Since I had Tim come along we got a few more photos than usual of us doing our thing so I thought I'd post up a couple...

Lera's Dad snapped this one of Joey, Me and Tim at the start of the day (just a reference point to what I looked like in the morning, with all the running around we do I start to look like a catastrophe victim at the end of the day, so it's nice to know I started out looking decent at least lol)

Yes... you are seeing correctly, this is me sitting on Joe's shoulders taking pictures. Over the years it's sorta become our "signature move" lol. In reality it's just WAY easier than carting a ladder around with us everywhere we go!

At the end of the night Joey and I and Nate and Lera and Lera's sister and her boyfriend all shared a slow dance together :) (I love our clients!)

WHEW! That was a long blog post! Thank you Lera + Nate for letting us into your families and into your lives!

2010-09-23T17:08:00.008-07:00

An Effort In Honesty

Having a business blog is sometimes hard, because there's always this line in the sand. You know the line that if you cross it suddenly you are in the TMI zone. A zone most business bloggers avoid like the plague. Apparently it's not very professional to openly proclaim to the world "I got a zit on the tip of my nose the other day that just won't go away and it's driving me freaking crazy" (which is true by the way).

This alone is where a problem arises for me.

Because I live in the TMI zone. Honestly you can ask any of my friends and probably 99% of them will tell you this. Part of me likes to be prideful about it, like I'm just a really honest person... shouldn't everybody be comfortable sharing their deepest darkest secrets with total strangers? And then the other part of me sees that maybe this isn't the most admirable quality at times. Don't get me wrong, I'm not George Washington or anything.... although I really do suck at lying. Seriously, I am horrible at it if truth be told. I can't even play the card game BS without having to smile and giggle the ENTIRE game so nobody can tell when I actually have something. I'm just not very good at it.

So trying to keep a business blog is a bit of a conundrum for me. I can't even tell you how many posts I've written, almost posted and then had my brain kick in right before I pushed the publish button telling me that this isn't the place for that kind of thing.

So this leaves me with a question.... What exactly is this place for!?

Throughout the years I'm been the type of person who does things because she thinks she SHOULD do them, because that's what's EXPECTED of her and to be quite frank, because that's what everybody else said was the right thing to do.

But lately I've come to the profound conclusion that I am not like everybody else. This should have been clear to me way back when I was learning to count and would always count the beans spastically: one (bean on the top right), two (bean on the bottom middle), three (bean on the top left).... you get the picture. This frustrated my mother to no end (since she is a big supporter of counting things methodically in a sensible order). She kept wanting me to get the wrong number in the end to prove to me how flawed my bean counting method was. But in the end I would always get the right number, every time. This should have been my first big clue that my brain just isn't wired the same as everybody else's. And should have also taught me that even though my method was different I got the right outcome in the end. So I'm not sure why it's taken me so many years of my life to realize this about myself. And more than realize it, but actually embrace it, love it, and tell it... "you know... you seem a bit crazy but I think we might actually get along pretty well."

So.... from now on I'm going to pursue honesty and authenticity. Because in the end isn't that what makes us all unique individuals instead of duplicate drones of each other?

So in an effort for honesty I am starting here with my blog. And I honestly don't care if it's unprofessional, because that's not the reason I do what I do. I love photography because I love getting to photograph who people really are, their stories, their joys, their personalties. I love being able to look inside of another human being and put into an image what I find there so that everybody else can see it too. In the end what I do is about relationships, real ones. It's not about putting on a false front for people so they'll think I'm cool (because I am the dorkiest person out there much of the time).

So the buck stops here. If that means some people won't hire me because I mentioned having a zit on my nose, so be it.

I have no idea how to end this rambling post so I'll leave you with a quote from my good friend Dr. Suess who I think sums this all up rather well.

Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.

-Dr. Suess

2010-09-09T21:05:00.002-07:00

Totally Amazing

Just watch it.... :)

2010-09-07T16:33:00.006-07:00

Now Booking Christmas Sessions!

I know it's only September but after getting several e-mails from a bunch of different people, I figured maybe I should post something up on the blog lol :) I love that my clients are better planners for this than I am myself lol. Usually I end up a week before Christmas freaking out because I still haven't sent out a single card, let alone taken our yearly family photo to include yet. So this post is for those of you out there a bit more like me who need a gentle bump to remind them that Christmas is coming up and will be here before you know it!

Also this year we are offering custom designed greeting cards that you can purchase with your session, however to be able to get these done in time for you to send out (since we have to shoot the session, edit the images, design and order the card and then get it back from the printers) you'll need to book your session soon. Also I have an amazing client that offered to let me shoot in a gorgeous vineyard close to Tucson, however I hear that to shoot there we'd have to do it before the end of September, so that is another time sensitive option you might be interested in.

All of this to say: book you session as soon as you can so you won't be scrambling like me a week before Christmas!

Here's all the info for the different types of Holiday sessions we'll be offering this year:

30 Minute Mini Session - $100 (Studio Only)

• 10 images to choose from

• 1 4x6 digital file of your favorite image

2 Hour Session - $300

• 50 images to choose from

• 1 4x6 digital file of your favorite image

3 Hour Deluxe Session - $600

• 100 images to choose from

• 4x6 digital files of your 5 favorite images

• 25 custom designed 5x5 flat holiday cards.

Shoot us a note to book your session or find out more info and a la carte options: inquiries@pangburnphotography.com

2010-08-19T00:52:00.023-07:00

Good Bye Summer (And Good Riddance!)

Let me just start by saying this summer has been hard. Like 5 year old jaw breakers hard. It all started back at the tail end of May when the night before Joey and I were flying out to photograph the coolest weeding in North Carolina. (insert harp sound and blurry fade dream sequence here) I was driving alone (Joey was meeting me the next morning) to my Grandparents to spend the night before our flight out the next morning when I pulled off the freeway and stopped at a red light at the bottom of the off ramp. I'm waiting and waiting for the light to turn green when all off a sudden this loud beeping noise starts going off in my car. Finally after looking everywhere I see that there's a message on my dashboard telling me to change the oil. "Whew" I think to myself, for a second I thought the car was going to explode, I leaned forward to push the button to turn off the beeping when BAM, all hell breaks loose. I remember the first thought that went through my head was "Oh no, I didn't change the oil soon enough and now my car is exploding!". I wasn't really sure why the explosion would have come from my trunk, but heh, I'm not one of those car girls. I can change a tire but that's about all I've got. Slowly the daze wore off and I looked around a realized I'd been rear ended at about 60mph and my car was almost 40 feet from were I had been stopped. The next thought I had was "Oh no, all of my photo gear to shoot the wedding with was in the trunk of the car!" at that point I went into panic mode. I managed to pry open the back seat of car crawl into the trunk and extract all of our gear which in some miraculous way was all fine. Sadly, the car was not. I watched it get towed off into the distance that night to be totaled, surrounded on the side of the road with all my belongings I had to pull out before they took it away. I managed to get a hold of my brother-in-law to pick me up and finally get me to my grandparents that night, where I discovered a treasury of pain pills they had stored up. You see I knew I had been hurt in the accident, but I was afraid to get taken to the hospital because I didn't want to miss my flight early the next morning and miss the wedding I had to photograph. So I had just sucked it up. The discovery of the pain pills made everything better, we managed to make out flight the next day, shoot the wedding and come back before the real pain ever set in. But the moment we got back it was doctors visits night and day, I was going three times a week to two or three different people trying to get everything fixed.

Slowly I was getting better and by our 5 year anniversary on July 9th I was feeling way better. Joey had planned such an amazing day for the two of us to spend filled with adventure.... all of which came to a screaming halt after I got a very bad case of food poisoning at lunch. I couldn't move more that a 1ft away from a trash can or toilet so my awesome hubby improvised and set up our camping tent in our living room and rented tons of movies and we spent a very memorable anniversary curled up on the air mattress inside the tent with me puking every couple minutes... this lasted about a week and a half before I was fully recovered.

Toward the middle of July I was finally feeling better, my stomach wasn't so queasy anymore and my body was on the mend from the accident when I got a call from my mom in Hawaii to tell me my dog Shelby was very sick. Now, you have to understand about me and my dogs. They aren't dogs. They are my children, my best friends, my playmates, my counselors, my therapists, my everything. The day we got Shelby I remember I was about 11 years old and had just got done playing a soccer game when friends of ours invited us to come see some puppies their weimaraner had just had. I guess some rouge dog had gotten into their back yard and gotten her pregnant so they weren't super sure what breed the puppies dad was. I remember on the car ride over there my dad saying "Now remember guys, we're just going to go look! We're not bringing one home today!" We go there and all the puppies were in a little playpen in the front driveway and they were the most beautiful jet black and jumping around crawling all over each other. I remember looking down and seeing one puppy sound asleep in the midst of all the chaos curled up in the bottom of the pen, I reached down picked her up... and that was it. My heart melted. My dad even melted the moment he saw her and she came home with us that day. When we got home we named her Shelby (to remind my dad that he was supposed to build me a Shelby Cobra for my 16th birthday... that plan didn't really work out but the thought was there at least lol). I had never really had a lot of friends growing up, and Shelby quickly filled a hole in my heart that needed it very badly. She became my best friend. I know a lot of people say that about their dogs, but she really was in so many ways.

The first night we had her, she was supposed to be getting kennel trained so I put her inside and went to bed, when she started to cry my heart broke and I remember crawling inside the dog kennel and sleeping in there with her all night long. Not wanting to sleep in the kennel anymore Shelby started sleeping in the bed with me, under the covers, with her head on a pillow curled up with me like a teddy bear. I've always had trouble sleeping, but never when I slept with her. I would listen to her rhythmic breathing deep long breaths and it would put me at peace in a way nothing else ever has. As she grew up she never really realized she was a dog, or that she was to big to be a lap dog.

She hated the dirt. When we'd go camping she'd have to have her own lawn chair or she wouldn't ever lay down. She hated to be separated from us and would go crazy if she couldn't be with us. I remember one trip while camping my dad and I were fishing in our boat on the lake and my sister and mother were walking along the shore with Shelby. She looked up and saw us out on the water and jumped in to swim out to us, half way there she realized that Mom and Kasie were still back on shore and just kept going back and forth wanting to be with all of us.

Shelby was also my first model. She was so patient. She would just sit and pose (often times sporting some ridiculous costume) while I worked on my photography. She also had this hilarious habit of going catatonic if you put a hair scrunchy around her snout until you took it off. She was one of the most beautiful dogs I've ever seen. Eventually we deduced she must have been mixed with some sort of black lab and ended up looking more like a petite jet black weimaraner. She was always there, and she knew me so well.

I remember he licking the tears from my face when I was sad, curling up with me when I was lonely and having adventures with me in the woods. I would grab one of the quads out of the garage and sit her up on my lap, drive the two of us out the the woods, let her down and then blaze through woods a full speed. Me being a dare devil, doing jumps and her gracefully gliding through the forest keeping up with me like it was second nature to her. We spent a lot of summer days that way together. I even got in a fight over her once, one of my friends didn't really care for her and told me so and I proceeded to scream at them at the top of my lungs... her father didn't really like that. I got it trouble, but I loved my dog. Like I said she really was my best friend.

When I got married and moved away I wanted to take her with me, but we had gotten another dog for my sister a few year earlier and the two had become the best of friends. Separating them just seemed cruel. So she stayed with my parents. Then when my parents went to Hawaii the dogs went along too.

I was sad that I couldn't see her as often anymore but loved her just as much as the day I had screamed out my friend for saying bad things about her. Then I got that call. She was sick and there was nothing I could do. I couldn't even be there for her, to hold her and tell her it was going to be ok. I couldn't do anything, I don't think I've ever felt more helpless as I did then. After two days I got another call from my mom telling me that she had passed away. My heart broke in my chest and couldn't do anything buy cry for hours. It's amazing how much someone can touch and change your life with no words. How much an animal can mean to you. And all I can say as I am trying to write this, tears streaming down my face onto the keyboard is that I miss her. I miss her so much. But when I do I am thankful for Audrey, and we cuddle up together like I did with Shelby and I pretend she's still here, still breathing those deep rhythmic breaths and putting my soul at peace.

So that was my summer, not the best one I've ever had by a long shot. So I'm excited to get away. Friday morning I fly out to visit my parents in Hawaii for two weeks and hopefully detox from the event of this summer. Although I know it won't be all palm trees and blue Hawaiians because Shelby won't be there when I arrive. I know that's going to be hard. But hopefully it will also give me some time to morn, and to let go.

Wow. That was a WAY long post just to let you know I'm off to Hawaii for a few weeks. Sorry if I went sort of over board with my story. It's just been such a long summer and I finally feel like I am in a place where I can start talking about it. I've tried to write before but the words just wouldn't come. So if you've made it through this novel of a post God bless you, and thank you for listening. And if you have a pet, make sure to give it a long hard hug from me before you go to bed.

2010-08-17T18:02:00.005-07:00

Lions and Tigers and Workshops, Oh My...

A few months ago I had the awesome pleasure of teaching a photography workshop at our studio, it was so much fun we've decided to do it one more time this year! And not only that we're adding even more workshops too! We also are going to have a 1 day advanced workshop and private workshops available as well! If you've been thinking about taking a class but have just never had the time then one of these might be fore you!

We'll be teaching the two day beginners workshop Oct 23rd + Oct 24th and the advanced Oct 17th, space is limited since we want to keep these small so if you are thinking about coming sign up sooner than later.

To find out more information and to sign up for the classes check out our worshop website:

www.ThePangburnWorkshop.com

Here's a few images Joey snapped from the last one we did:

2010-08-17T03:17:00.022-07:00

Melanie + Dave: Married

I'm so excited to finally get to blog this wedding! Melanie and Dave are two of the sweetest people I've met in a long time, and I just fell in love with them and their family's. There is so much love and support that surrounds these two it's amazing, it was a blessing to just be there.

I knew the moment I saw this dress it was going to be a good day :)

These shoes were so cute!

I love these two images of Melanie getting into her dress, they have such a beautiful classic feeling to them...

Seriously... Melanie was stunning... like super model stunning...

Her and Dave decided to do a first look and we were able to walk all around La Paloma and get some gorgeous images.

FAVORITES!!!! Seriously straight out of old hollywood, these two are gorgeous...

This is probably one of my favorite bride coming down the isle photos ever...

Did I mention the whole day was beautiful... the light was amazing!

I love this one of Melanie's sister...

Melanie and Dave had one of my favorite wedding colors combos ever: Lime Green and Navy! Yumm!

First dance!!! Anne Bryan did an amazing job on this room...

Wedding Planning and Event Design: Creative Events By Anne Bryan
Location: La Paloma Country Club
Videographer: WAM Weddings

2010-07-23T19:30:00.008-07:00

Nicole + Marcus: Hitched + Haute

I have been so excited to blog these since the moment Nicole contacted me about shooting their hitched and haute session! Nicole and Marcus have such a cool love story, Marcus is Dutch (which I find so cool since I lived in holland for a year, listening to his accent when he talked brought back so many memories) and him and Nicole met while they were both working on a cruise ship. So when Nicole and I were brainstorming for their shoot Nicole came up with the idea to do a sort of vintage travel theme. As we live in Arizona (which is where all of Nicole's family is from) I pretty much just gave up on any kind of boat theme, since we are all beach here and no ocean lol... So instead we came of with some other great ideas...

This first set I loosely based on passport photos or those portraits you get while on a cruise....

The amazing flowers we had were done my my favorite florist Posh Petals, they were soooo cool!

And then for hair and make-up we were super lucky to had the also amazingly talented Rachel Dawkins of War Paint!

After a few shots at the studio, we headed over to the Pima Air and Space Museum where Joey had gotten us an all access pass to walk around and take photos... it was amazing!

I love the vintage film noir feeling all of these have!

I am so in love with this photo!!!! How dashing and mysterious does Marcus look!?

Did I mention it was cool!?

like really cool!?

Seriously... I was in heaven...

Then, it got even cooler when Nicole arranged for us to get to shoot with this amazing vintage truck! With which I got to finally achieve my long standing dream of shooting with a fog machine!!!! So excited...

However, next time I will have to bring a better power source... I had no idea how much power those things draw!!!

But when it worked it was so cool!!!!!

How amazing was that!? Thank you guys so much for spending an amazing day with me!

2010-07-22T14:24:00.004-07:00

INSPIRING THURSDAYS - Carl Bengtsson

I'm getting really excited to keep up with these inspiring Thursdays, because there are just so many amazing photographers and artists out there that inspire me so much, wether it be for lighting or posing or backgrounds or composition or whatever. So hopefully you've been getting just as inspired as I have by some of these amazing people.

I was bored and poking around the internet one day and happened to stumble upon Carl Bengtsson, I have no clue how to pronounce his name, but I am in love with his work. I love how beautiful and simplistic they are. I pulled out a couple of my favorites to share here with you, but he has TONS of amazing work up on his WEBSITE.

2010-07-19T12:03:00.003-07:00

Life

No matter how hard you work or how much you try, life is always unpredictable. You can't control it and you'll go crazy trying to. I've been learning this the hard way. I try so hard to make things happen the way I see them in my head, and in my perfect little world but no matter how hard I try something always comes along and messes up all my plans. Then the more I try to fix it and make it be the way I wanted it to work out in the first place, the more I mess it up.

There has to be a place of letting go.

Letting go of not only the picture you had in your head of how something was supposed to work out, but letting go of the feeling that you somehow messed up when it doesn't go as planned. Letting go of the blame.

And believe me I am the queen of the blame game. Not that I blame other people, but myself. A bird could poop on somebody's head in China and I'd be over here in the corner apologizing to him for it. I LOVE to apologize for pretty much everything. It drives my family crazy.

For example.... the weekend of the 9th was my 5th wedding anniversary, (woohoo!) and I got food poisoning (not woohoo). I was so sick I slept on the bathroom floor for two whole days, while my poor hubby took care of me like I was an invalid and the whole time I'm laying there puking I'm apologizing to my husband for messing up our anniversary weekend. !?!?!?! What the heck!? How was getting food poisoning my fault!? I have no idea but somehow in my brain the world didn't work like I wanted it to that weekend so I must have done something wrong to screw it up.

But I've realized you can't live life like that. You can't blame yourself for things out of your control. Instead, everyday wake up and take it one step at a time enjoying the ride (because everybody knows the best parts of a roller coaster are the bumps and the dips in the track).

I'll post up more in the coming weeks why I had such a big gap in blogging for a while and what we've been up to, but for now here a picture I took a couple weeks ago of the sun rising over the Grand Canyon from a spur of the moment trip Joey and I took. Every time I look at it, it just resounds of peace to me, and of letting everything in life fade away so you can simply enjoy the beauty all around you.

2010-07-15T15:51:00.000-07:00

Nicole + Jake

Let me start by saying this was one of those weddings where I literally never put down my camera, everywhere I turned there would be more gorgeous little details. I felt like a little kid in a candy store running around and photographing all of them! Everything about this wedding was perfect, everything. Including Nicole and Jake, I knew from the moment I met them that I loved them and it was so amazing to share their wedding with them. Here are just a few of my favorites from their day, it was soooo hard to narrow it down!

To see even more images from Nicole and Jake's wedding view the slideshow by clicking HERE!

2010-04-15T11:12:00.005-07:00

Inspiring Thursdays - Inner Genius

A little while ago this year I discovered the coolest resource ever... TED. TED is an amazing nonprofit devoted to sharing ideas. Starting out as a conference in 1984 it aimed to bring people together from three different worlds: Technology, Entertainment and Design. Every year it brings together the most amazing group of people to speak at their conference in Long Beach (which sells out a year in advance every time). These people are the dreamers and the thinkers of tomorrow who are literally changing the world. They get together and simply just share what's on their mind, their dreams, their ideas, their passions. It's amazing. The best part is they put a bunch of the lectures up online afterward so you can watch them FOR FREE.... I could literally loose myself to this website for days soaking in the mass of information is has. One of my favorite videos I have seen so far though is this one I posted up. The lady in in the video is bestselling author, Elizabeth Gilbert and even though she isn't in the same field of art as I am so much of what she talks about has a direct correlation to all artists on a very deep level. So watch and be inspired! But I warn you, if you go over to TED. COM be prepared to get sucked in!

2010-04-01T00:22:00.004-07:00

Inspiring Thursdays

Ok I know this is a little more random than most of my Inspiring Thursdays are, but, I do have a good reason I promise! I have found in my life that the more I can keep tapping into my creative side... doing ANYTHING creative... it always always always benefits other creative areas of my life. It's like working out. You COULD just work out one muscle, but your body is going to function better (and not to mention not look very strange and creepy) if you work out all the muscles around it to. That's why I love doing crafts and anything else to just get my hands moving. My brain can zone out and go into creative mode and then that's when I always am suddenly struck with inspiration for something else I'm doing. It's like a trigger to a chain reaction in my brain or something.

So.... to help you out with that, I thought I'd give you a little inspiration in case you're not sure where to start, or what to do. I found this AWESOME website yesterday it's sure to give you a few ideas and a little inspiration to get your creative right brain the jump start it needs!

Cut Out + Keep

2010-03-30T12:39:00.005-07:00

Organization is awesome...

And I am horrible at it....

It's true. God has blessed me with the most stupid personality on the planet, a type A personality that hates to clean but can't function in a messy space. My brian just doesn't process right if I'm surrounded by clutter. How stupid is that!? You would think that I would LOVE cleaning and organizing because of this, but I don't, I loathe it. In fact, and I'm not sure I should admit this, but I have gone shopping for new clothes rather than do laundry.... isn't that horrid!? So, since it was one of my new years resolutions to try and keep my house cleaner this year, Joey and I are slowly but surely trying to organize the heck out of the house to try and make this a bit easier for us to keep up with. I have to say, it's amazing what a few shelving units can do to tidy up a garage! I mean.... heck... we might actually be able to park a car in ours if we add just a couple more! What a thought that would be!!!! Yesterday he installed some new shelves in my office, and I can actually find things now... lol... what in the world will I ever do with all the time I'll save not having to try to find things!?

Well for starters today I am blogging :) Here's just a few shots from a fun headshot session we did a couple weeks ago for a friend of ours :)

2010-03-23T18:14:00.004-07:00

PROJECT PANGBURN: A Beginners Workshop

Joey and I are super stoked to announce that we will be holding our very first workshop this summer at our studio!

This is going to be beginners class, to jump start anybody into photography in a fun, easy, stress free way. We'll get you to know your camera inside and out, help you figure out what all those buttons do, and get you out of shooting on auto and into manual mode! We'll go over how images are made so you can better understand what's going on every time you take a photo. We'll get down to brass tacks and talk about the elements that make one photo more pleasing to look at than another, and we'll show you how to use available light to make the best picture possible. Then to finish it off we're going to do a live shooting demo where you'll get a chance to test your skills with me to help out with any questions you might have and we'll even leave you with a few basic photoshop tips and tricks.

If you are interested in attending, you'll find more information below and you can sign up for the class at the bottom of this post. But be sure to sign up quick because we only have 10 spots available!

2010-03-23T13:25:00.008-07:00

LISA + MEMO

After talking with my Dad (aka my most loyal blog stalker) and getting yelled at for not having posted anything new up here in a while, I decided I should maybe update this with a new post lol :)

Then I realized that I had never blogged Lisa and Memo's totally amazing wedding! This wedding was so much fun, I loved everything about it, the people, the color, the decorations... everything was so gorgeous. So without further ado... a new blog post :)

The shoes...
Lisa was totally amazing and went super high fashion with her look, I was IN LOVE with her updo...
I love it when I have time to play with bling...

Lisa's puppy was SO cute and even got to be the ring bearer!
Lisa and Memo opted to do a first look so we could make sure to have time to get tons of great photos

Lisa you are gorgeous...

Memo wasn't to shabby himself either though!
Wedding Time!
They had the coolest idea to submerge gerber daisy's in water down the isle... it looked so cool!

Mr. + Mrs.!!!

The reception was gorgeous too... I'm a sucker for candlelight....
How amazing is this!? The cutest cupcakes and mini cotton candy! It doesn't hurt that I was magically able to time the photo with the sunset in the perfect matching colors either... so awesome!

Thank you guys so much for letting us be a part of your day!

2010-02-16T16:04:00.000-07:00

Reneé + James: Engaged

Joey and I met up with Reneé and James back toward the end of January to do their engagement session. I had lots of fun photographing them at some of my favorite locations around town and a couple of new places I'd never done photos before which was really cool to get some fresh inspiration!

We started off at one of my new favorite places ever downtown... and I'm totally in love whith this first image...

These guys really did make it too easy for me... I mean come on, check out those model faces on the left!

What is it about chopping off heads I like so much!? I think it's the fact that the photo turns into being more about the connection between two people instead of the people themselves necessarily...

After we had done some photos there we went down near the Hotel Congress and found ourselves in the middle of Dillinger Days! Which is basically kind of an ode to the capture of the notorious gangster John Dillinger (which happened at the hotel congress 76 years ago). They have reenactments, vintage music from the 30's and 40's and lots of fun old cars.

Among the old cars was this awesome vintage bus that we got to take some photos with!

This photo makes my little old school black and white movie loving heart pound...

We even snagged a few photos with the actors... I love this one!

After all that excitement we went round a corner where we found this awesome Dia de los Muertos image! Which may seem strange if you aren't from the southwest, but it's an amazing Mexican holiday all about family and remembering your loved ones that have passed, but mostly it's just a big party celebrating life and love.

And since we had to head back to my studio anyway for the next clothing change I decided to snag a few there... and I'm still not sick of the space, I seriously love my backlot for my studio!

Go Wildcats!!!!

LOVE THESE TWO!!!! Have I mentioned I like my studio? lol...

These two were seriously such great models...

Then after we had our fun at the studio we made one more quick change and zoomed down to San Xavier Mission for a few more images. I've been down there before on a day trip by myself, but it was so fun to go back and get to do portraits there. Although trying to get an image without a bazillion people in the background proved to be quite the challenge!

You've seen this one already... but I am seriously in love with it...

Although it's in close competition to this one...

I would just like to take a moment to mention that it was FREEZING this day.... like I was all bundled up in my winter coat cold. Renee was such a trooper wearing her awesome outfits outside and somehow managing to look gorgeous all day and not one bit cold.

Love the colors in this one! We snuck around back and found this awesome little area with the added bonus of NO PEOPLE lol...

Ok I know I have like a million favorites in this post, but I really love this one as well...

Then on our way back we made a quick stop off at another one of my fav locations to snag just a few final photos...

I love this one too...

Whew that was a long one! Lol... Thanks for bearing with me!

Thank you Renee and James for such an awesome day and for being such amazing models for me!

2010-02-11T11:34:00.005-07:00

Inspiring Thursdays - Blues Traveler

A while ago I started a little thing called Inspiring Thursdays, and let's face it... I haven't been very good at keeping it up. However this year I really want to get back into the swing of posting them.

This post is a series of photographs I've had in my inspiration folder for sometime now, and every time I look at them I fall in love with them all over again.

Teen Vogue
"Blues Traveler"
Models: Monika (Jac) Jagaciak, Ansel Elgort
Photographer: Arthur Elgort (AWESOME WEBSITE CHECK IT OUT!!!!)
Fashion Editor: Jillian Davison

You can see the full set of scans from the editorial by clicking HERE, Here are a few of my top favorite images from the shoot:

2010-02-10T18:24:00.002-07:00

Reneé + James: Sneak Peek

Let's just say I'm excited about this one... :)

2010-01-27T11:00:00.001-07:00

Jesse + Mickey

Ok... I just couldn't wait any longer! Here are some more of the awesome images we got during the session I did with Jesse and Mickey. Mickey is an amazing songwriter, singer and guitarist and she is married to my bro-in-law Jesse who is one of the best drummers I know, and they have been creating some great music together lately and will soon be featured in the Phoenix film festival! For the festival and for some music reps they've been talking to they asked me to take some images for them to put together some promotional materials and things. Here's what we came up with!!!!

This first half of the images were all done at our studio...

Normally I comment on each photo and tell you which ones I love the most... but in this case I adore ALL of them! So it would be pointless for me to simply say FAVORITE on every image lol... So just know I am pretty proud of these!

Then I wanted to head downtown and take some vintage inspired images to go along with Mickey's super cute outfit!

Did they both not make the best models EVER!? Mickey has such awesome style and Jesse even GQ'd it up for us! So excited to put some of these up on our website soon!

2010-01-22T13:41:00.003-07:00

My Clients Are Amazing...

Just saying :) Here's just a tiny sneak peek of Jeff and Ashley's amazing day, I just had to share this one ASAP!

2010-01-17T15:41:00.002-07:00

Sneak Peek - Jesse + Mickey

I'm in love with this shot I got on Saturday... more to come later...

2010-01-14T14:49:00.007-07:00

Lera + Nate: Engaged

When Lera first e-mailed me to ask about photography, I knew before I had ever met her in person that I was going to love her. Her and Nate are the kind of people that just make you feel like you've been old friends for years even though you've just met. I totally love that about them. On top of that they have an amazing love story... I'm pretty sure if I tried to explain it I'd just end up muddling up things so instead I'll just post up a quote from the e-amil Lera first sent me asking about photography:

A week ago today I became engaged to the person I love more than anyone in the world, Nate Montminy. A super-short synopsis for a very long story: we met in Okinawa, Japan when we were 12 and 13 and both liked each other very much, but were too young to know what to do about it. When he moved away sophomore year I often thought of him as 'the one that got away' and wondered where he was. We lost touch for six years, until I found him when I was still in college and he was living in Germany. We became close friends and talked on the phone on and off for hours another three years until we finally decided to meet. The moment we did, everything fell into place. It turns out I was the 'one that got away' for him too. After seeing one another again, we couldn't stand to be apart. Three months after seeing one another (again) for the first time, I moved to Arizona where he was living, and we've lived together for two years now, extremely happy and feeling blessed every day that somehow we found another again.

Is that not amazing!? I mean that's a straight quote! I love hearing amazing stories like that!

When it came time for the engagement photos Lera and Nate were literally up for anything. For example...

Me: Wanna drive up to northern Arizona to a tiny little town you've never been to before to do your photos?
L + N: Sure! If you think it will make good photos we're up for it!
Me: YEAH!

Of course that's not an exact record of how it all went down. But close enough lol... So on my suggestion we all headed up to one of my favorite little towns Jerome Arizona. Jerome is such an awesome old mining town, and great for photos. I was super super stoked to get to photograph inside a location I've wanted to for a long time while we were there too. It's this weird little junkyard/petting zoo/ghost town/i have no clue but it's amazing! If you don't believe me just check out some of the images we got!

On our way up to Jerome we stopped off the side of the road for a quick sec to take a couple photos in this gorgeous field...

Where we found this AMAZING bridge... LOVE this photo!!!

After that it was onto Jerome and the cool photo location I was talking about...

There are just tons of these cool old trucks all over the place there...

I was in love with this little doorway... the lighting was amazing!

After we'd been wandering around a while I stumbled into this cool spot... where I literally was having a giddy fit inside I was so excited. Can we talk about the light in this photo!? Totally awesome and 100% natural!

I couldn't decide which photo I liked better... so I just posted both of them lol...

LOVE!!!! How fun is this!?

And then just a couple portraits I did of them that I really loved :)

And if you still want to see more here is a link to their slideshow: LERA + NATE

2010-01-13T14:33:00.002-07:00

Cruising

This past weekend Joey and I went on our first ever cruise to celebrate Joey graduating from the University of Arizona with his journalism degree in December. I am so proud of him for sticking with it and getting through school while being married, working a full time job as a reporter, helping me out with our photo biz, building me a photographer studio, and having to somehow go to school full time as well. I don't know how he did it, he is just amazing like that. Needless to say I thought he could use a vacation. So for his graduation present I bought him a cruise for the two of us down to Ensenada Mexico and back. Of course it wasn't a bad deal for me either since I got to tag along ;)

We had a blast relaxing on the boat and eating food nonstop for three full days lol... Here are just a couple quick pics we took the night we were docked in Ensenada.

I love this image, I think I'm going to get it printed for our house...

Look ma, I'm on a boat! lol...

Self timers are fun ;)

My hubby is so handsome!

Me and the sunset, which was totally amazing...

Stay tuned this week for more blog goodness coming your way! Lots of fun stuff to share!

(Photogs Note: These were all natural/ambient lit by that big floodlight that you see in the third image down)

2010-01-06T08:00:00.001-07:00

Marissa - Couture Session

Before Christmas I had the awesome opportunity to photograph another awesome model at our studio. Marissa goes to highschool here in Tucson and has just gotten picked up by a modeling agency in California! I was super super excited when she asked me to do some pictures for her portfolio. Here are just a couple of the fun images we got that day...

LOVE this image!!!! See how fun the pile of sawdust in the back can be???

These two we did down over at Traildust town to mix it up just a bit...

2010-01-04T14:12:00.003-07:00

Happy Twenty Ten!!!

I feel like I'm living in a Sci-Fi movie! It wasn't so bad when we were all just referring to it as "Two Thousand Ten", but when those grammar heads jumped in and declared we were living in "Twenty Ten" it suddenly got very futuristic lol... Although I am really really really looking forward to having kids or grandkids one day and saying things like "back in aught five". How cool does that sound!?

I am so excited for this new year though! We have some amazing opportunities coming our way this year, it's going to be awesome I can just feel it!

I've never really been one for making New Year's resolutions... but this year I felt like I needed a change, in many things so I figured I've give it a go! So here goes:

1: Start going to bed earlier and waking up earlier

I know this seems silly, but I LOVE sleep. I also love staying up late. Like really late. I am a night owl, that's just how I am built but lately I have been up every night until 4am. This just has to stop. I know I'll never be a morning person, it's just not who I am but I would love to be at least awake by 8:30 every morning. It should help that I signed myself up for a morning class at the university this semester that starts at 8am. Eeekkk! My poor little body is freaking out already! So it's going to be either sink or swim with this one I think.

2: Eat at home more, learn to cook more things, eat healthier.

I know eating healthy is great and wonderful, but I just really never felt that compelled to go crazy about it. However after recently watching Food Inc. with Joey I will never look at a Big Mac the same. However, eating at home kinda requires one cooks. Something I'm not BAD at by any means, I just only have like 10 things I know how to make.... or at least make well... which after a while those ten things get to be kind monotonous. I then find myself pacing the isles at the grocery store searching for some new food/dinner idea to jump off the shelves at me... which never ends up happening so I buy the same stuff I always do to make the same 10 things I know how to make. So this year I want to branch out, learn to cook new things and actually just take the time to cook! Because my main problem here is that I don't think about cooking until I am starving. At which point I don't want to spend an hour in the kitchen making something, I WANT TO EAT! So I just grab some sort of frozenness out of the fridge defrost and serve. This needs to change!

3: Keep my house clean

Lol I feel like a 5 year old with this one. But it's true. I just wasn't born with the cleaning bug. In fact I hate it. If I could do anything besides cleaning I probably would. I tend to put it off and put it off and put it off until our house gets to the point that I'm ashamed to even let people in the door, let alone, God forbid, into one of the bathrooms. At this point I am so overwhelmed by how much I need to do it scares me. So this year I am going to change that! As busy as my life may get this year and as much as I hate it I am going to keep my house clean!!!!! I am going to learn to modify my messy behavior once and for all! Friends of ours always ask when we're going to have kids, and I always joke back saying "when I learn how to keep my house clean" since I'm sure that is a pretty good indicator if someone is ready for parenthood lol.

So far that's all I've got, but I'm also working on a list of a bunch of little things I want to work towards as well, so I'll post that up later this month.

And since posts are always better with photos here is a snapshot my little sis took of us at her New Year party...

2009-12-24T02:38:00.001-07:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Joey and I had a super cute portraits session done of the two of us by our awesome photographer friend the Roby's this year, I can't wait to show off some of the great shots they got! This one we used for our cards is one of my favorites!!!

2009-12-22T22:58:00.004-07:00

Jen - Couture Senior Session

I know we are all running around this week buying last minute Christmas gifts and getting our houses clean for family to come over for the Holidays, but I just HAD to share some images from Jen's senior session with you guys! Jen came to our Studio Showcase back in September and won a free Couture Senior Session, so we finally set up a day for her to come to the Studio and get her photos done. I had so much fun using our new studio!!!!! It really is the perfect place for us and the type of images we like to capture, with awesome urban and industrial backdrops it's awesome! Jen was the perfect person to give it it's first real test run too, she is seriously the most photogenic person I have ever met in my entire life. I would literally would just say "go stand over there" and she would just start posing, and look so totally chic! The whole session I kept asking her if she'd done any modeling and she insisted she had never even had her photos taken before except for her school pics for the yearbook. Gahhh!!!! If only I was this good looking in front of a camera! Totally jealous!

We started off doing just a few inside the studio....

Then we moved out back which is filled with the most awesome assortment of backdrops!

This is my FAVORITE location at the studio, the lighting in this little spot is always GORGEOUS!

SERIOUSLY!? Do you believe that this girl has never had her photos done before!? So totally gorgeous!

After a quick outfit change we did just a few more studio snaps... LOVE that photo on the right. I think every woman just feels more beautiful when they have wind blowing in their hair...

Another outfit change and few more studio shots upstairs against this amazing green wall we have. I was IN LOVE with her outfit...

AYKM!? This girl is amazing!

One last quick outfit change and some more shots from out back...

I love this big pile of sawdust we have out back, it makes for some awesome images!

I am also kinda in love with this RV...

So there you have it, a complete session done 100% at our new studio! If you like what you see give us a shout and set up your own session!

2009-12-12T01:39:00.012-07:00

Matt + Britany: Married

It's finally arrived!!!! Ever since I photographed this wedding I just couldn't wait to blog it! It was just one of those weddings where you turn around and everything is amazing down to the tiniest details. This post is huge... I think it might be my biggest ever... I really did try and edit it down I promise! And I still look through and think of other awesome pictures that didn't make it.... SO take a look at the post and then I will also include a link to a slideshow of EVEN MORE pictures at the end!

I loved Britany's dress with the floral detail on the shoulder...

Britany thought of everything... down to this cute tank to wear while she got ready...

Did I mention details?

I love this ring shot!!!

I had the pleasure of having my good friend and awesome photographer Laura Siivola tag along and shoot with me at the wedding, here is one of my favorite images she got that day! I love it!

More ring shots... I couldn't help myself. Oh and I had to show off the peacock feathers Britany had for each girl to wear in their hair!

I am in love with the light in this image...

I could say many amazing things about how beautiful Britany is... but I'll just say this: Barbie doesn't have anything on her!

Are you kidding me? I was sort of flipping out excited while we were taking these photos...

After we took some portraits of Britany I walked over to the ceremony site and fell freaking in love with EVERYTHING... I think if it were possible I would time travel and rip off Britany's entire wedding for my own when we got married lol...

One of my favorite details of the whole day was this awesome crystal garland!

I love this sign they had set up pointing their guests to the wedding! Although I'm biased since I own that exact same picture frame and have it hanging in my living room... I told you I loved everything...

I also fell in love with all the flowers at the wedding, they were so amazing! I posted a link to the lady who did them down on the bottom of the post in case you are looking for someone :)

It was such a perfect day...

Married!

After the wedding the sun had already gone behind the mountain and was setting, so we kinda had to run around like crazy people taking photos before we ran out of time. But we managed to get some awesome photos!

I love both of these!

I know I mentioned how gorgeous Britany is already, but Matt was totally rockn' it GQ style all day too!

Just two more of Britany... I could photograph her all day...

I love both of these shots Joey grabbed!

I didn't want to make the post to long but I just had to include an image of their amazing bridal party! These girls were awesome I love them all!

The guys were pretty cool cats as well...

Reception details and more of the awesome crystal garland! Aren't these centerpieces amazing!?!?!?

They had the menu cut in a circle and placed under the clear chargers on the table... it looked so cool!!!!

Each table had one of their engagement photos for the table numbers and a special mix CD for each guest!

The gorgeous cake

NOTE TO ALL FUTURE BRIDES: colored lights in your reception make for awesome lighting for photos!

Whew.... that was one mammoth post! If you still haven't had enough and want to see more check out

THE SLIDESHOW

Flowers: The Garage By Ivy
Location: Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort and Spa

2009-12-02T23:18:00.005-07:00

Jeff + Ashley: Engaged

I have decided that the holidays is maybe not the best time to swear to become a better blogger lol...

Jeff and Ashley are awesome, we actually just got to photograph their wedding this past Thanksgiving weekend! It was so beautiful, I love both of them! Here are just a couple of my favorite pictures we got during their mini engagement shoot we did right before their wedding. These guys have two of the happiest and joyful spirits ever, and you can tell immediately just how much they both love each other.

Doesn't this just make you want to go snuggle?

I love this image...

The light was seriously wonderful during this whole session...

I heart these two pictures... Ashley's eye's are amazing!

Can I just love all of these?

More snuggle time...

At the end of the session we headed out to Gate's Pass to grab just a few more pictures as the sun set since that is where Jeff proposed, and I'm so glad we did because we got some awesome photos!

How cute is this!?

You really can't beat an Arizona sunset!

Stay tuned for Lera and Nate's totally kick-butt engagement session tomorrow!

2009-11-19T11:48:00.011-07:00

Sarah + Dave: Married

Sarah and Dave got married at one of my FAVORITE locations in southern Arizona, Tubac Golf Resort . The property is seriously gorgeous and there are so many many places to take pictures there I could just shoot all day without running out of ideas. Joey and I have had so much fun getting to know Sarah and Dave and I just couldn't wait for the wedding. But enough talk, lets see some photos....

Sarah's dress was so gorgeous and perfect for the day...

I know I say this a lot... but I really love make-up photos there is always something so chic about them...

Hello gorgeous!

I love that photo on the left... so old hollywood...

Joey stole their rings for a bit and got this awesome shot...

Dave and Sarah decided to see each other before their wedding which I always love since it gives us plenty of time to relax and wander around leisurely taking photos instead of doing a mad rush after the ceremony. But I'll write a blog post about that another time... ;)

I love this one!

These two were such awesome models!

Sarah... you are gorgeous... just thought I'd let you know ;)

Favorite!!!!

Favorite #2... it's my blog... I can do that...

Sarah planned everything so well down to all the little details and together they were gorgeous.

Then is was finally time to get married. Isn't this shot cinematic looking!?

Married!

I love this picture...

I had to include a couple bridal party pics because these guys were awesome... I love this one...

And this one!

And I couldn't forget the flower girls, these girls were adorable!

Party time!

Thank you guys so so so much for letting us be there to capture your day we had so much fun hanging out with you and your family!

Oh and I just have to through this little gem up here as well to show we that we really get down at all our wedding receptions! Please disregard my epically terrible expression lol...

2009-11-05T02:57:00.002-07:00

Sarah + Dave - Sneak Peek

I know I've become the queen of sneak peeks lately but here's just one more. This totally chic wedding will be landing on the blog very soon!!!

2009-11-02T02:40:00.004-07:00

Boldly Going Where No Photographer Has Gone Before....

Ok so that was cheesy, but Joey and I had SOOOO much fun dressing up this Halloween as Star Trek characters I just had to share a quick picture we snagged at the party we went to! I worked hard all week sewing the costumes from scratch and I'm so stoked about how well they came out! I was inspired since Joey bought me the entire first season of the original star trek series for my birthday and I've been watching them non-stop. I never realized just how big a trekkie fan I really am until now, but it's ok I'm learning to embrace my inner geek.

Is it wrong that now I want to dress up in them again and go to one of the trekkie conventions!?

I hope everybody had fun! Tons of photos hitting the blog this week so stay tuned!

2009-10-28T16:39:00.006-07:00

LET THE HOLIDAY MADNESS BEGIN

BOOK YOUR SESSION NOW!

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

And since posts are always so so so much better with pictures, here's just a taste of the kind of shots we are getting at our new studio! This one is from a super fun senior session I did a couple of weeks ago many more from this shoot to come!

2009-10-23T17:32:00.011-07:00

Ben + Megan - Allenspark Colorado

Ok, where to start with this wedding! I was so stoked when I got an e-mail from Ben wanting to talk to us about his wedding in Colorado, because:

1) Any excuse to get out of the Arizona heat is awesome.

and

2) Because Ben was a groomsmen at Amy and Austin's awesome wedding that I photographed last year, and if you are a friend of theirs you're pretty much guaranteed to be awesome as well. And they totally are.

So we were super super super excited for this wedding, and it sure didn't let us down! Everything was just so perfect and the location was just gorgeous. AND to top everything off one of my best friends and photographer Timco came along to help me out as a second shooter on this one! But enough with the talk, I'm pretty sure this mammoth post can sum up how awesome it was without me talking any more! :)

Timco snapped these two...

Totally amazing ring shot by Joey :)

I also adore this one that Tim got... totally jealous it's not mine!

Joey get's the best wide angle photos of ceremonies!

Cake shot by Joey as well! He is turning into such an amazing photographer!!!

Whew! That was a long one! Thank you guys so so so much for letting us tag along!

2009-10-20T02:12:00.002-07:00

Sneak Peek - Lera + Nate

Joey and I just got back yesterday from an amazing photo shoot up in northern AZ and I just HAD to show you one of the images we got while we were up there. TONS more to come later!!!!

2009-10-15T03:50:00.004-07:00

QUESTION - Photo Classes & Workshops

Hey All! I know I've been lagging in blogging again... I really am trying :( Time seems to keep getting away from me and then I realize it's been yet another week with now blog updates. So I am going to REALLY try and get better at this.

But!

I wanted to ask all you guys a quick question! I am thinking about teaching two photo classes at my studio this January

one beginner class for newbies to photography who want an uber fun crash course on how to use their SLR camera and how to take a decent photo.

and maybe a more advanced class for pro photogs wanting to improve upon their photography where I'd go over all my little tips and tricks I've learned myself over the years.

What I really need to know is if there is enough interest in either of these two classes for me to start putting one together.

So here's the deal. If you yourself or a family member or friend or whomever you know is seriously interested in taking one of these classes from me, shoot me an e-mail at inquiries@pangburnphotography.com so I can get an idea of how many people would actually want to sign up for something like this.

Thanks guys!

2009-10-07T17:00:00.001-07:00

Self timers are fun :)

This was from our trip to Colorado to photograph Megan + Ben's amazing wedding, which I'll be getting up here very soon!