She came weighing 6 lbs 8.3 oz and measured 18 inches long.

She was perfect as could be and was named the most beautiful name,

MIRA CHRISTEL

When I seen the pictures Sandra has posted of her beautiful little girl I couldn’t wait to get my hands on here and take pictures! She slept like a angel and photographed wonderfully. There’s no doubt in my mind that my heart is going to grow fond of this little girl pretty fast! Like her big sister, Leona, she’s as sweet as can be and I can’t wait to photograph her again! For now enjoy some of my favorite shots from that day!

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Being on the beautiful sandy beaches of California and experiencing my first California sunset, breathtaking…

Walking the street’s of the Los Angeles Farmer’s Market…

Visiting Estelle Getty’s grave at Hollywood Forever Cemetery…

Standing on top of the Hoover Dam…

Visiting the beautiful Red Rock Canyons…

Playing slot machines at Caesar’s Palace and actually winning…

Watching the breathtaking Bellagio Fountain do it’s thing…

Amazing food in the Eiffle Tower Restaraunt…

Trying to blend in the Venice Beach area (not happening)…

Losing my sweet grandmother May 28th and trying to cope with her death…

Vacation with my perfect husband, a week of sunning, swimming, and fishing…

My life has been upside down, bitter sweet, fast paced, and one adventure after another.

I promise to plug back in this month, but I must say, it’s been nice being unplugged from this social world.

I hope everyone had an amazing 4th of July weekend and was safe.

Love,

Brittany

I posted this picture on facebook the other day as a fun way to show the difference photoshop can make to an image. I had no intentions of it spreading like wildfire and starting a discussion. I am overwhelmed at the amount of messages I receive and the stories I was told. Have you ever found yourself in a situation where it doesn’t matter where you are and the angle you are shooting that you can’t avoid that big ugly exit sign at the back of the reception hall, right behind where the couple is doing their first dance, or even worse that beach ceremony with all of the people in the background, the people that are half naked and laying in neon pink plastic lawn chairs with big bulky coolers next to them? How can you capture that special moment and all of the details that your bride spent so many sleepless nights working on, if these things are distracting and taking away from the value of the image. With that said this post strictly relates to fellow photographers, it’s not judgement so please do not perceive it that way, and it’s not an open forum for your negative response but I would like your feed back. I am simply going to throw this out there and I am not asking you to run with it. Yes, I a newer photographer when it comes to the wedding industry but I feel I have earned the right to ask this and my questions is, Would you give unfinished images to your client? Now what I mean by that question is, let’s say that your client orders a disc with all of the images from the wedding, so that they can print their own prints and use the images for social networking sites, are you going to put unedited images on that disc and send it off? I recently ran into someone who was telling me about their experience with their photographer, he was well known, an all around great photographer, great work to show off in his portfolio, but when the bride received her disc 50% of the wedding reception images were blurry and no red eye correction had been done, even some of the images from their wedding (formal shots) were underexposed, so dark you could hardly see what was going on. Would those be images you would give your client? After talking to several people about this I have realized that some photographers do not do any post processing of their images, except for the 5 or 6 they post online and when the client receives the cd or prints the rest are all unedited. Is this normal procedure? Am I wasting countless hours behind the computer starting at lightroom and photoshop to edit out that hawaiian print bright yellow purse that grandma left on the ground that is standing out like a sore thumb?What I would like to know is your standard proceedure, how do you handle those situations, and what should your client expect from you in these situations?

***After reading your comments I thought I should include my post processing techniques… I don’t know if this is the best or right way, but it’s what I do, and it seems to work…

1. I load all images into Light Room for proofing and post processing.

2. I go through the images and delete every image that is unfixable. (Blurry, exposed incorrectly, duplicates)

3. I do basic edits such as color correction, exposure correction, cropping, red eye correction, etc.

4. I go through and tag images that score a 10 on a 1-10 scale.

5. I import the images that scored a 10 into photoshop for additional post processing, a more intensive editing process, with fun actions and lot’s of changes. Those images will then be the images I use for my portfolio, facebook, or the blog…

This is what I do.. Just thought I would share!

I love the emotion in this image.

Many people describe it differently. Some say there’s no such thing, others like myself, live and breath it, and if you open your eyes you can see it all around you. Love comes in many shapes, sizes, colors, and types. One type of love is the sight of a mother holding her newborn baby, that is a instant love, the love a mother feels for her children is indescribable from what I hear. There is no denying it and only a mother who has experienced it can explain it. I hope to one day be able to tell you about that type of love first hand. The love of a mother isn’t the only type of love out there though, there is also the more typical love, we all experience this one, it’s a love for the objects that make us happy. That can be anything from your new car, to a boat, or a flat screen tv, or even your mom’s homemade macaroni and cheese, in my case I have many love’s when it comes to this type of love, some of the things that make me happy are my animals, my 27″ imac, my camera, flip flops, and I could type for hours about things I enjoy, but you understand what I am saying. Those are examples of superficial love, and you would be lying if you said you don’t experience this love right along with me. There is also brotherly and sisterly love, the love between friends, your granny or grandpa, that special aunt who always brought you a present when visiting, the lady at the drive thru bank teller with the tasty dum dum lollipops, and then there is the type of love that I know all to well about. This is a big one for me, it’s the Love that gives me butterflies, and makes me want to hurry back home because I know he’s there waiting for me. I call this “true love” it’s the love that almost every one shares at one point in time. Sometime’s it can be painful, sometime’s it can be down right dreadful, but hopefully all of those hard times will out weigh the breathtaking moment’s that two people share when their heart’s are beating as one. Every couple has their own language and every couple is unique, which is why I love being a photographer. I love capturing that moment, you know the one that makes you say aww, when you see it? I love being able bottle up all of the energy a couple has around one another and place it inside a photograph that will last a lifetime. A couple of weeks ago I had the opportunity to work with the sweetest couple, their love language was very fluent They were glowing around each other, and I am so happy to have been able to spend the day with them and get to know them. Take a peek and enjoy their love, if it doesn’t make you smile, I am not sure what will.

**Playing around with some of the florabella actions, you should check them out**

Ian and Whittney,

Thank you for choosing me as your photographer. I enjoyed working with you  both, and I hope to work with you again, Enjoy the slideshow I made of your session.

Read what Faythe had to say,

Mrs. Bell is exactly as her last name implies. A southern bell true to heart in many ways. For instance today her status was “About to head to Georgia to go get a trailer load of hay for the horses & donkeys,” that’s right this beautiful lady who if I do say so myself is very fashion forward every time I see her, has her own little farm zoo going on. I guess one of the reasons she is always so fashionable and put together is because Brittany is also a trained hairstylist. Her love for all things artistic shines in every image she takes and each person in front of her lens inspires her love for photography.

To read more go visit her blog.

As a photographer I am very thankful for the network here in Jacksonville. I have met so many WONDERFUL people and work with people that are caring and amazing at what they do.

I love you all more than you will ever know and I am truly blessed to have your support and the most important thing of all, your friendship.

Much Love,

Brittany Bell

Cleo contacted me a while back via email requesting more information about booking a session with me. After a few emails back and forth a date was set and we discussed locations, next thing I knew it was time to head out and go meet Miss Cleo and her soon to be hubby Rusty. Cleo showed up wearing this adorable little summer dress and I couldn’t wait to start their session. Her smile was contagious but Rusty made me work that day I had to pull out my GROOM pep talk to get him to smile, lol.. He was cracking me up with his “I am smiling” responses but with a little trial and error and a few YOU BETTER’S from Cleo I was able to capture their love. Enjoy…

Congratulations Rusty and Cleo, I hope you have many special memories along the way!

It couldn’t be any closer to the truth, they were ready to run, laugh, play, and just enjoy mother nature at it’s finest.  I am not complaining though, I love capturing those candid, real life, and raw moments. I am not sure how Jennifer got so lucky, she has 3 boys and every single one of them is adorable. They all have eyes that can kill and were dressed in wranglers and little cowboy boots that are sure to make your heart melt. I can only hope that one day when I have a little boy he might be half as cute as her little ones. Thank you for letting me photograph what makes your heart smile Jennifer! It was my greatest pleasure to work with your little ones!

Enjoy all of this cuteness.