REMY Girl

This girl is gonna be famous baby!!! Remy Haynes

commercial photographer

Seattle - LA

Check her out! She's leading the pack nationwide with brand new ideas, a new wave of photography meets philanthropy! By investing in other people (as few people take the time these days) her career has exploded and surged forward by leaps and bounds. Look for her on TV someday soon...Today's shoot involved some of this stuff.... lipstick...

it included some personality by this little guy

It included fine makeup talent by this beautiful young lady, Jenny

Couldn't have been possible without Nico's fine touch of twirl & tease (stylist)

Alvin, the brains behind the outfits, was not present for pics. We missed ya Alvin!! You were with us in spirit!!

Although this is a very cool project, Remy requested top secret, mums the word clearance! Her project almost finished, but until then, we're required to keep tight-lipped! In the meantime...peace out and bottoms up! Its Friday!

Madonna Piercing

Facial Bling: I've debated whether or not to get a Madonna/Monroe piercing for a long time. It is basically a piercing that its the place of a beauty mark similar to Marilyn Monroe or Madonna (or even Cindy Crawford).

My other half: Ray doesn't mind either way, although he thinks I'm beautiful without it (what a sweetie) I'm stumped! So I'll let you help me decide!

The pressure: I thought I would grow out of the Madonna/Monroe piercing. I didn't! Its so femme and cute! First spotted the piercing at a club in Germany about 2001. I adore the little sparkle!

I change my mind a lot : Tatoos are all too permanent and switching haircolor/hairstyle is not enough excitement for me these days. Mein Kopf has been pink, purple, blue, red, green, brown, and orange. What's next?

Lefty or Righty: I have a little baby beauty mark on my right side. Since I have a right nose piercing, the Madonna would have to be on the left side, no?


The worry: Would hate to be judged as unprofessional or freaky. Will brides be turned off by it? Will is scar terribly? I recently talked to a few people in the same situation. They voiced a need for a change in personal appearance every now and then, one guy in particular, mid-30's said he felt the urge to do something! He had the urge to get a tatoo.


Main concerns: Teeth & gums! Love my dentist. Love my teeth. With the Monroe my gums might shrink (with time) from metal irritating the tooth enamel and gum tissue! Minus two stars.

Just like the rest? I had a belly button, ear, and tongue piercing, none of which healed correctly. I love my nose piercing, but it has lost novelty!

Yes or no? What do you think?

Last day in Pasadena

Its been a while since I've had a large CLEAN room all to myself! Last night I snuggled up to 6 pillows in the Hilton's plush settings after indulging in some good wholesome TV. I snapped a few shots off the balcony, the clouds and lighting from the pool created a neat lighting effect, similar to when the snowstorm in Seattle passed through.

Greg, Laurie & I headed back to the set in Valencia. Greg worked his lighting magic and muddled through the a few minor probs with the Capture One program. We wrapped up pretty quickly today. I like the shot below because it shows how different Chris and Greg are: Greg shoots standing up, whereas Chris shoots sitting down.
For those of you who are not familiar with the elements of photography lighting, the large black object on the left is a softbox, its objective is to spread soft diffused light on a subject. The large squarish object on the right is foam core (inside is whit and the outside is black) and we pointed a light into the white side of the card so it bounces back a nice soft light at the machinery. After wrapping up the shoot we buzzed down to the shopping district in Pasadena, cruised the boulevard, munched and zipped back to our destination: Burbank airport. We arrived in a timely fashion to Bob Hope Airport/Burbank
I sat outside for a while trying to get some sun on my face. Perhaps it will help the psoriasis that broke out a few days ago. UgH!

Voila, at 8:30 we landed! Now if I could only remember what floor my car is parked on. Is it 3, 5, 6,7, or 8??

On business!

Here's a snapshot (taken straight from the hotel website)where I'm staying this evening. Welcome to the Hilton Garden Inn across from Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, CA! Watch the rollercoasters from your hotel room!

I'm out of town until Thursday, so hopefully we won't get too behind blogging. I barely made the flight to Burbank this morning! Funny story: security checks took an eternity and I arrived at the gate roughly 14 minutes before take off!

As luck would have it, both Greg and I were seated near someone with horrible gas! Throughout the flight, the anonymous gasser released the foulness upon us over and over without warning. Even the stuardess noted the cabin funk cloud hanging over our section. The funk recycled through the cabin air supply until the plane landed. I'd like to be the first one to suggest Gas-X be freely distributed on airplanes!

So you're curious to know what are we doing down here? I'm working with Greg on his project for Precor, designers of cardio, weight, and other workout machines. Check back tomorrow for cool shots of the project!Wednesday night its back to Seattle!

South Indian Wedding

Found myself resizing these images tonight for a magazine submission! These images were taken in July 2006. One of the most emotional weddings we ever took part in! I almost couldn't photograph the ending because I became such good friends with the bride, to see her sob in her mother's arms was about all I could handle!

In such a wedding, the end of the wedding (the departure) actually symbolizes the severing of ties with the bride's family and the new bond formed with the groom's family. Of course, they all still visit each other and live within a few miles. Pushpa, the MOB, explained to me the day of the wedding, the feeling for her, is like losing a daughter. Karishma, the bride, will join her husband in a new house and move out of her mother's home. If you click on the picture of the little girl (last photo) you can actually see the big tears in her eyes and streaming down her cheeks. I can't imagine she understood what was going on, but she seemed to be overwhelmed by the sadness surrounding her. Would love to share a few of these with you~

Cheezy photographer Video

Photography Funnies

This is Chris making a phone call to his wife, Happy B-day Shannon! Their first child is due in SIX days!!! check out the bling! See his left wrist, note: ROLEX. No more talk about Cliff bars!! Daniel could've had a moped for what the rolex's are worth these days...

Chris shot some product snaps for Swedish Medical Center, in fact, this new Swedish Medical tablet was designed by 7 microsofties. The featured product, a wireless tablet (like a one sided laptop) does incredible things! Swedish is the only provider nationwide with wireless access to prescription info, patient files with the most recent info available! The doctor scribbles down his assessment the info is saved to file and accessible by secured Internet providers. The tablet was designed to eliminate the need for paper records. Seems like everything is going digital one way or the other! The only thing that's constant is change!



the set up was a cinch, nice bay windows creating a feathery, airy feel. Umbrella to the hard left to fill shadows. 5D, 1/30 f/2 using the 50mm 1.2 lens. Snaps were beautiful!

final shots of the day included snapping photos of Ruth, an older but sharp-as-a-tack delightful woman. She has an amazingly keen memory, going back to 1941when she purchased her pieces. She recalled where and how much it was back then. She told us a brief story about some of her furniture collected around the world being smuggled in from China and purchased for $200!
Cool stories, personally I love folks who've been around the block! Could listen to their experiences for hours...
expensive water from starbucks. make installments. rent to own!
In a clamshell: Happy Monday everyone! You're dying to know, what did April do today? Save kittens from tall branches, rescue sea otters, and grind tortillas from scratch? Hardly. We just took a few great pictures! Worked with Christopher Cumming today on 3 different sets in various locations around Seattle. It poured majority of the day. Thankfully the shots were all scheduled INDOORS! Typical Northwest weather! Nothing new about rain clouds unzipping millions of water droplets on the Emerald City. How I'd love to be somewhere warmer. Oh wait! Tomorrow I will be!! Greg, Laurie and I are headed to Valencia, CA to shoot product. Really, Greg's masterminding the entire project, shooting and doing all the work. I am just there to make sure he doesn't get mugged. (ha!)

A stroll in the park

Dash Point= Federal Way
We chilled out today with a Sunday stroll on this heavenly afternoon at Dash Point~ Cute little park filled with families, doggies, and lots of munchkins. We walked along the beach chatting about our trip to Puerto Rico in a few weeks. It was all good and well until a sonic BOOM exploded in the middle of the lake. Ray's Coast Guard intuition leads him to believe it was a dynamite stick tossed off the back of a boat. When it exploded in the water, it created a huge mushroom cloud of smoke!! I think most dogs wee-wee'ed on themselves, the explosion scared the pants of everyone and everything nearby! Eventually the Fire Dept. and cops came down to investigate the BOOM, but by then, the boat had sped off. Tricksters!!!
we still have not set a date for the wedding...

i don't know these people.

It was SO lovely outside today!! Another reason we went outside is because I recently discovered that psoriasis spread to my face, what the hell?! I had a dull spot on my face that kept flaking and molting like a lizard, after about 2 weeks of not healing we realized its my psoriasis. boo hoo. First it was my elbows. then my knees. now its my face! Must be old age. Is it okay to shoot weddings with a bag over my head? Sunlight always helps my elbows but its been kinda cloudy lately no chance for sun:-( Not only is it painful, but its ugly and doesn't cover up well... can anyone recommend a good cream?

Time to pack my bags for CA, Greg Sweney invited me to accompany him to a shoot in Valencia on Tues/Wed, but before that I'm meeting up with Chris for a day at the hospital Monday! (To shoot pictures of course..) these are the two youngest, photo-knowing, nicest, smartest, funniest, and most talented photographers in Seattle. There ya go guys, like my plug? :=D *wink*wink*

St. Patty's Day

Abigail + Seth = happily married! 03.17.07

where: NW Family Church in Auburn, the skies held up for a few hours!

It makes my heart bubble over with joy to see couples choose love, happiness, and forever together. Can it get better than this?!

a hilarious real-life wedding moment

i love her eye color and long lashes...

april is a huge gerber daisy fan...can you tell?!


Seth & Abi are adorable to work with, she has this glamorous side underneath it all (not to mention the ability to belt out notes) and Seth has a very thoughtful personality, he makes Abi light up like a Christmas tree! I hope you enjoy viewing these pictures half as much as I did taking them, photography is a blast when working with people like this!

250 people packed into a fantastic Sanctuary
Abi's brother...
gorgeous cake design

all hands on deck!
have an awesome time in Banff!