May 3, 2010.  One of the most amazing experiences of my life.  I have a super long post to share with you, which includes a beautiful slide-show, and it will be posted a little later tonight; however, I just couldn’t wait to share this image with you of the day that I had on May 3, 2010.  And I couldn’t wait to wish all you Moms and soon to be Moms a very Happy Mother’s Day.  Meet Miss Makenna Rae DeGroff.  I love her.

See you all later this evening . . . .

I’m pretty sure that I just stamped my last Christmas card and mailed it out last week. In fact, this year is flying by so fast that yesterday while I was in JoAnn’s Fabric, they had 4th of July decor ON SALE!!! WHOA!!! We haven’t even celebrated Mother’s Day!!! So . . . with that being said, I have some FABULOUS ideas for you to give your mom/wife for Mother’s Day.  And basically ladies, I’m chatting to the guys right now.  You should probably jsut leave this blog post up on the computer monitor with a little stickynote on it saying, “READ WHAT DEENE HAS TO SAY!”

1. Stationery. OK, I know that hardly anyone ever writes notes anymore, and I’m probably one of the worst. In fact, true confessions right now. I bought tons of thank you cards to write thank you notes for birthday presents I received BACK IN SEPTEMBER and the notes are still in the box. I’M SORRY! Honestly I loved every gift I received and even know who gave it to me, but life took off at 190 MPH in September and I didn’t even have time to look in the rear-view mirror. If you never want to give me another gift, I totally understand! I’m such a loser!!   OK . . but forget about me . . . try at least . . .  let’s not forget about your mom/wife.  YOU NEED TO GET HER A GIFT. So how about this cool stationery from MINTED? I’m like so crazy inspired by all this goodness. I’d probably never throw a note away that came on this stationery! It’s so cool! Some of my favs are

Oh yeah . . .and this one.  Wonder why I love it?  LOL

And I’ve even arranged for you to get a little discount on any stationery you might order!  Just use code MDAY2010 before April 28 to receive 10% off any order of $50 or more!  Minted is also a great site for wedding invites and save the dates (and Christmas Cards, and birthday invites, and graduation cards…)

2.  Jewelry. Jewelry pretty much makes anyone happy.  So what about something personalized with a beautiful photo from one of your photo sessions?  I’d be happy to arrange for your picture to be featured in any of these PlanetJill pieces.  Personally, I’ll be receiving this beautiful bracelet for Mother’s Day from myself.  Yes, you heard that right.  I bought myself a Mother’s Day present.  But really, my family made the present happen.  They were perfect (almost) at a recent family photo session.  (yes, you all can be jealous because my Christmas cards WILL be done by July  and mailed the day after Thanksgiving, if I can ever get caught up with all the high school seniors  . . . I think)

If you are interested in any of the jewelry from Planet Jill, and whether or not you’ve had a photo session with me, I can have your favorite photo placed in any of these pieces.  The jewelry is so classic and timeless.  I just love it!

3.  PHOTO SESSION. Now there’s a novel idea!  So glad I thought of that!  Guess what?  I’ve always got great gift certificates that you can purchase in any denomination to present to mom, along with your gorgeous, smiling face that screams, “We can’t WAIT to take pictures Mom!  We will smile, laugh, wear matching clothes (please don’t) and pretend we are the Brady Bunch for 2 hours while Deene takes pictures of us.  Here’s your Mother’s Day present!”

Trust me folks.  We WILL have fun and you won’t dread the photo session when we do it AGAIN the next year!  -  Just give me a call (559.730.6100), I’ll get the certificate ready and I’ll even have my staff wrap it up all purty! 

Happy Mother’s Day!  Now no excuses!  You’ve been warned.  Do something thoughtful for Mom this year!  Make it look like you put in effort!    You’ve got 16 days left!  GET BUSY!!!!

So first, I just want to start this blog post out with a huge compliment.  I’m not sure I’ll ever meet another bride that can rock the “dreamy . . . .I’m in LOVE” look better than Piper.  I just want you all to know that when you watch the wedding video of Eric and Piper Lucio, you will see this look that Piper has in her eyes that just screams, “This is one of the happiest days of my life!”  So look for it, ok?

But then there’s Eric.  He’s very reserved, very calm.  I have to believe that there isn’t too much that can rattle his cage and if it does, it’s calmly dealt with.  And on the wedding day, Eric allowed Piper to tenderly enjoy in her crazy, vivacious way, every moment of the day.  And it should be that way.  They are opposites, but they compliment their relationship in more fabulous ways than one.

Their wedding day was so beautiful!  In fact, it was almost HOT!  I had been so crazy nervous about the weather the days leading up to it but God blessed the Lucio’s with the perfect day.  I have to admit, I was nervous as a cat and I’m hoping it didn’t show.  You see, Piper called me out of the blue.  She called me back in January and said, “I’d like to hire you to be my photographer for our wedding.  You come highly recommended.”  (OK, maybe those weren’t her EXACT words, but you get the gist . . . )  I was so ready to plan on meeting up with her and giving her my big sales pitch.  Nope.  She mailed a check the next day and then next time I met her and Eric was at their engagement session!  Hey, when a good friend refers you, then you’ve got to do the best job you can possibly do because you do not want to let anyone down!  So, yeah, I was nervous.  More so than the bride!  LOL!!!!

Now here is where I’ve get to do a few shout outs to the AMAZING wedding vendors we have right her in the Central Valley.  First of all, the wedding was at the First Christian Church in Visalia.  The wedding coordinator, Carrie Guy, was an absolute delight to work with.  The flowers were simply stated and fashionable thanks to Susanne Baer-Kyofer at European Gartens.  (that is not a spelling error )  The bride’s hair was done by Melanie Silicato of Expose Salon in Visalia.  Her hair was FAB!  (Yep, hair envy I was having . . . .)  The guests were entertained at the wedding by a harpist from Fresno named Laura Porter.  Such beautiful music!!  Brides and Maidens in Visalia was the store the bride purchased her gorgeous House of Wu bridal gown.  It was really quite elegant.  I loved it!  And the men were so handsome in their tuxedos from Links in Visalia.   The cake . . . . which of COURSE I had a piece of . . . was simply elegant and perfectly designed for the event by Goodies.  Mary Beth, my second shooter, and I ALWAYS eat cake and we WILL critique it.  Turns out . . . it was good.  I had 2 pieces!  LOL!!!  And then there was the super duper important DJ, A to Z Entertainment  . . . let’s just say that they ROCKED the party and I probably have more fabulous pictures of guests dancing than I do of anything else.  MB and I had so much fun shooting the guests.  We got some AMAZINGLY FUN shots!  Be sure to get the password if you want to see all the reception shots because you know my camera was in your face all night!    Oh gosh . . . almost forgot to tell you, the reception was held at the Holiday Inn.  The food was SUPER GOOD!!  Impressive!!

So as usual, I made a slide show of some of the day’s events.  I started out with almost 300 pictures in the show.  I’ve narrowed it down to 169.  Trust me, it was killing me everytime I deleted a picture from the show.  I wanted this song to be longer cause really there are just so many emotional images from the day!  But I can’t put them all here or else you won’t watch it all.  Heck . . . you probably want me to shut up so you can see the show!  All right!

Eric and Piper . . . I can’t tell you enough how honored I’ve been to be there with you.  I’m so excited to share what I saw on your wedding day.  My eyes have transformed your hearts into images that I hope you will cherish for the rest of your lives.  Thank you for choosing me to be your wedding day photographer.  Stay Fabulous and may God bless you and your marriage!  ENJOY!

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE SLIDESHOW IN A SEPARATE WINDOW

I talked to a mom yesterday who asked, “Are 8th grade pictures silly?  Do you think it is dumb for me to want to have pictures of my child before they go into high school?”

And just what do you think I had to say about that?  “ABSOLUTELY NOT!”

So after that conversation, I just KNEW that I needed to blog about these special 8th grade students immediately.  If you are a mom (or dad) sitting on the fence and not real sure if you are going to have your child’s pictures taken before they enter high school, let me give you lots of good reasons why you should JUST DO IT!!!

1.  Meet the twins.  Bryce and Weston Visser.  Handsome, huh?  And you know what . . . .they are gonna get even MORE handsome over the next four years.  Just look  at how much they’ve changed in the last 10 years . . . see their picture in the background?  Mom took this picture when they were probably about 5, I’m guessing.  She had the brilliant idea of recreating it with the memory of them in the background.  I love it!!!

2.  What if your kids had a group of friends (or cousins in this case) that were as close and fun loving as this.  Wouldn’t you want to remember this stage in their life?  This carefree time in their life is only going to be around for a few short years.  VERY FEW!!!!  (Here I go again . . . all preachin’ on the soapbox about how fast time flies but trust me, one day you’ll say to me, “Deene you were so right!  Time flies!”)

3.  Or maybe you’ve got a blossoming butterfly  . . . you know . . . you’ve got the girl that is just about to become one of the most beautiful women you’ve ever laid eyes upon.  She’s still a little girl, but it won’t be long.  She’s not a baby anymore.  She’s becoming her own person. That would be Miss Taylor VanDenBerg.  Watch her people.  You are gonna hear a lot about her in high school.  She’s pretty amazing at volleyball, soccer, and I’m sure she’ll be good at softball or swimming!    Isn’t she absolutely adorable!

4.  What IF I happen to catch a shot just as cool and sweet and timeless and precious as this?  Wouldn’t you be SSSOOOOO glad you took pictures of your kids as 8th graders?  JUST DO IT!

5.  And last but not least . . . .I do a lot of invitations for graduation parties.  One of the main reasons we took pictures of these cousins was to do something so fantabulous (my word, my blog, I can use it) for their invite to their graduation party . . . inspired by Anthropologie . . . .but it’s a secret so I’ll just let you PEEK at the picture.  This is by no means the invite and is my pitiful way of hiding the HILARIOUS AND FANTABULOUS pictures we are going to use.    Maybe I’ll post the actual invite after they are sent out for you to all see this crazy hairbrained idea I’ve had rolling around in my head that caused me to search high and low . . . and take a trip to Pasadena for.  It was such a  horrible trip!  I probably should have charged her more for these props since it forced me to go to LA looking for them.  Took me all weekend to find them.  It was so horrible that I had to stop at the Hyatt in Huntington Beach to recover from the shopping trip!  The therapy this job as a photographer requires is brutal.

Congratulations Bryce, Weston, and Taylor!  You guys are gonna LOVE high school!  I sure hope I didn’t scare you with all my “advice”!  Had a blast with you three and I adore you all!  Can’t wait to see how much you change over the next 4 years!!!!  xoxoxo

I could probably write a book about this engagement session. And it would be one that would be a “how-to” book . . . How to demonstrate the Fruits of the Spirit. Yesenia and Carlos have such a beautiful relationship. It’s thoughtful, compassionate, endearing, selfless, and I could go on and on.

Yesenia had a gazillion ideas. I love it when you personalize things!!! But really what I’m so enamored with is their relationship and I truly think it shows in these pictures. Yesenia’s genuine smile absolutely melted my heart while I was editing these pictures. She is so genuinely sweet that anyone who gets the chance to be around her is truly fortunate. And then there is Carlos. Can I just tell you . . . .he is one of THE NICEST gentlemen I’ve ever met. He carried her shoes, dusted areas off for her, opened and shut her car door, and was just so attentive to her. Yesenia . . . you are no dummy . . . you got a keeper!

With every wedding I photograph, I have an engagement session. It is truly the best time because I get to know the bride and groom through the time we spend together before their wedding day. They don’t typically last as long as Y & C’s but honestly, my goal in these sessions is to please you and confirm that you made the right choice in choosing me as your wedding day photographer. I hope that through these pictures, C&Y get even MORE excited about their upcoming nuptial. If the life they live as husband and wife is even 1% as fun as their engagement session, then I’m certain this was a match made in Heaven.

I cannot wait for your wedding in May. We are going to have a blast! And I sure hope you think this was worth the wait. You are gonna love how fabulous you look! xoxox

Click here to take you to the full screen version (better quality) Carlos & Yesenia – ENGAGED!

Carlos & Yesenia – ENGAGED!

I really wish you all could hang out with my friends and I when we go to lunch.  We try to do lunch at least once a month.  And seriously, some of the craziest stuff in the world comes up.  My friends are a HUGE source of inspiration, especially for my photography business.  And seriously, it doesn’t hurt that my friends have some of the cutest kids on the planet.

For instance, meet Alyvia.  Alyvia is a whopping 11 years old.  Isn’t she just GORGEOUS?

Miss Alyvia is quite the little entrepreneur!  On a recent family motor home trip, Alyvia and her mom started making necklaces.  And we are not talking about dough art or cheerio necklaces.  We are talking about custom couture necklaces!  Alyvia’s inspiration for necklaces comes from her friends and her mother’s friends . . . like me!  She named THE MOST FABULOUS NECKLACE she ever created . . . . “THE DEENE!”  (SSSOOO irritated that I didn’t get to buy it. )  She uses vintage jewelry, fabric, zippers, chains, flowers and crafts these cool necklaces.  These necklaces are so fabulous that ENVIE in Visalia has picked them up to sell.  They sell out like hot cakes so when ENVIE announces that they have more in, you’ve gotta act fast!!!!

So why did I mention lunch with my friends?  While having lunch, Lyv’s mom says, “Hey, can you take Lyv’s picture and do something fun with it so that Janice can display it next to the necklaces and people will know an 11 year old made these?”  Instantly, all I could think of is the famous line, “Wanna buy a watch?”  So that’s where my inspiration for JUST LYV’s hang tag came from . . . a little girl in an alley in a big trench coat selling necklaces.  Love it?  I sure do!  And I love her more . . . so RUN and buy a JUST LYV necklace from ENVIE! There’s a great story and a budding entrepreneur behind them!

I know . . . you’ve come here excited and overjoyed that I remembered I have a blog.  I’m sorry guys!  Really I am!  Why do I apologize?  Well, have you ever felt so incredibly guilty about something you were going to do but never did it and then it becomes like this huge monster of a mountain to tackle that you never try to tackle it?  (there goes Deene rambling again)  That has been me for the last month in regards to my blog.

I’ve been saying, “I NEED to blog!”  Ok, really that just sounds so wrong if you think about it.  It kinda sounds like, “I need to ________ (you fill in the blank and try to figure out where I’m going with this).”  I mean, after all, if I would just blog, I could say, “Gosh, I feel so much better now that I’ve ___________ (fill in the blank with a bodily function . . . there, I gave you a hint into my sick humor!)  HA HA!!!!!  Potty humor . . . you gotta love it! 

In all seriousness, and honesty, my blog is the very best form of “advertisement” for my photography and I have STUNK when it comes to advertising this month.  BUT NO MORE!  In fact, I’ve got so many fabulous sessions to share with you that I’m going like WAY BACK . . . in fact, I think I’ll start back as far as before Christmas!  So if you haven’t seen your session blogged about . . .stay tuned.  It’s coming!  I’m going to try my hardest to share with you my favorite photos and encounters from each of the sessions I haven’t blogged about.  Each session was a blast and we got some fantastic photos to share.  I want you all to see how fabulous my clients are because without them, Deene Souza Photography would still be photographing flowers and her crabby, camera hating children. 

So wait . . . I still do LOVE to photograph Flowers.  But not the still kind.  No way . . . I love me a family named FLOWERS!

We met up on a cold winter day.  Remember those days?  It kinda felt like it did 3 days ago.  (Ha!  I love spring in Central California!  40 degrees one day and 75 the next)  Anywho, the cutest little family  graced the frame of my camera and let me tell you, I’m in love with these pictures!!!!

Actually, I think I’m in love with Grandma who came along and got the absolute workout of a lifetime!  Although I never actually SAW her jumping up and down, making silly faces, chanting, clapping, performing the most amazing handstands, and juggling everything from balls to juice cups ( ok, maybe those last two acts are just a bit of a stretch), I was busy taking pictures of the far and few between smiles we could squeeze out of this little one.  Her Grandma’s got it goin’ on!  Just check out this smile!  She loves her Grandma!

And I just want to say that if you have a family session with little ones, don’t ever be afraid to bring a goofy Grandma to help with smiles.  I’ve got a great little assistant who comes to many of my family shoots but sometimes things like volleyball, school, and hanging out with her girly friends gets in the way of her employment and she can’t always be there to help out with the smiles.  (Love you Miss Mad!)

Here’s just a few more from such a fabulous session.  Enjoy!  And thanks Flower Fam for coming all the way from Orange County to take pictures in the oak trees and fog.  You know you love the fog!    It’s gotta be better than all that sunshine you’ve got where you live, right?  (Come on, convince me . . . I can hardly remember what the sun looks like!)

Happy St. Patrick’s Day peeps!  Love you all!  xoxo