John Lauren Blog

17

My First Hiking Adventure…A Whole 400 Feet Up!

04.10.08

So, if you checked out our old blog, you would know John joined WTC, Wilderness Travel Course. It's like boyscouts but for adults..hehe. Anyway, John and our friend Joe joined this 10 week training course and well, they loved it!

For 10 weeks, John has been consistent in telling me, you are going to love it! You should go! And all I have been saying is, let me try it first... and, well, I did, but I don't love it! And if you know me, I have to love it. We would go to REI and he would try to get me to buy all this equipment, and good thing I would always tell him let me try it first.

Anyway, this was our little adventure...(more like their adventure... I didn't go far..haha)

Our hiking adventure was at Mt. Baldy. It was super pretty and was a pretty nice day. Not too hot or too cold. Okay, so once we passed the parking lot, we started going up this super steep hill, going up was not fun! I think I stopped 4 times before I even went 400 feet! We were at 5,000 feet elevation and boy... the air was thin! On our way up, we saw this cute couple on their way down. It looked like they were running, but you know what, it was super steep! So, when it was my third time getting dizzy and I totally felt bad for making them wait for me, so I convinced them to carry on without me, and I made my way down, which was hard too! Did I mention it was steep...=)

Good thing I had the camera, Old things can be so pretty sometimes. it can have so much character.

Nice and and rusty. I even had hiking dry food that I didn't get too eat because I was by the car with my camera and corn nuts. But I did try it when I got home. haha. Pretty good for just adding some hot water. I was impressed. Well, until our next adventure... Hopefully a non-hiking event!

OH! the majority of our lighting equpment came in today! We are going to be applying all the cool tricks we have been studying. We can't wait to show you some! The equipment is big and I like it..haha... We now have a studio! Way cool...

(2) Comments Leave comment Send to a friend

Connie:

So great to hear about you guys growing your business (lighting equipment and all). I am living through everyone else right now with watching them start their business and it is just a lot of fun! Can't wait to see what you do next. keep it up and good for you for shopping REI!!! Best store ever!
xoxoxo, your buddy in WA

(04.11.08)

Geneyem:

hey cool shots, did you meet up with my friend yet for her wedding?

(04.16.08)

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16

“Let There Be Light” - Photographers That Inspire Us With Their Use Of Light

04.03.08

How many of you are SUPER INTIMIDATED about using a flash?! Or how many of you when you use a flash, wind up with an over exposed image?! Better yet, how many of you have seen an amazing image, wonder profusely about how they did it and come to find out they actually used a flash??!! "HOW DO YOU DO THAT?!"

If you raised your hand for any of those questions, welcome to the club! =) This topic (aka Off Camera Lighting or OCL) has been on my mind for months and for the past few weeks, I've really taken time out to try to figure it all out. Do I have it figured out yet? Not fully (there's so much to learn!) but that's the fun part about photography... whether it's a better way to process your photos, learning new camera settings or even just a better technique to shoot; there's always something new to learn.

Isn't that photo above awesome?! If you guys haven't done so already, be sure to check out Zach Arias' websites. He's does these workshops that I've been trying to get in since I've hear about them...they're his One Light Workshops. "What do you mean, trying to get in?" Check out the link and you'll know what I'm talking about...THEY SELL OUT FAST!! I've only read awesome things about his workshop and if you're like me, you're drooling over about being able to produce images like those on his site(s). Here's another image I snagged from his blog...

You might think that these images have gone through a vigorous post process in Photoshop but as Zach put it, "the post was limited to contrast, density, color balance, sharpening, crop, and a bit of vignette here and there. Lighting Skills - The Original PhotoShop. :)" Another person that has been more than helpful in my en devour to understand lighting, is my new friend John from Crozier Photography. As an aspiring photographer, it's always awesome to meet people that are willing to share their vast knowledge without hesitation. Check out one of my favorite images of his...

Here's one more...

Be sure to check out each of their sites and if you're feeling inspired, like how I was, feel free to let them know!

Thanks again Zach and John for all your wonderful help and willingness to share your knowledge!

Be sure to check back soon as I'll be posting images of my OCL experiment(s)!

(3) Comments Leave comment Send to a friend

John Crozier:

I'm not worthy to be compared to Zach Arias. I am actually going to a onelight workshop later this year. I am soo pumped about it. Thanks for the shout out.

(04.03.08)

ohana photography ~ david & kimi baxter:

i can't wait for the one light in may! awesome post!

(04.05.08)

genessee:

I was just looking at zach's website last night. OCL and flash totally give me the sweaty palms heeby jeebies. My cousin, Alpha showed me your site and I think it's wonderful. I'm shooting my first wedding in September...any advice??

=)

Keep it goin'!

-g

(06.05.08)

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15

Our new cousin…but it’s not what you think!

03.22.08

Isn't he adorable!!! His name is Bowser and he is super super tiny. I must admit, even though he can fit in the palm of your hand, he is a handful! It was like having a newborn and a 2 year old. Or at least that's what they say.

He was getting in everything!

Eating everything!

But was too cute! Makes me rethink having kids anytime soon though.

(5) Comments Leave comment Send to a friend

rubyellen:

he's cute! makes me want one... I talked about your field. Thanks for letting me use it for my project!

(03.24.08)

Lisa Gisczinski:

OMG! That puppy is too cute. Women are suckers for puppies!

(03.27.08)

ohana photography ~ david & kimi baxter:

holy cr@p he's cute!!

(04.05.08)

Melissa McClure:

Oh my gosh, that is the cutest puppy ever! I love the first shot in the pot :)

(04.17.08)

Alissa:

How funny! "makes me rethink having kids anytime soon."

Your baby is going to be even cuter. I promise. I just know the photographs won't even begin to do justice no matter how good you two have gotten!

(07.01.08)

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14

Gotta Love People With Style…Meet Darcy & JJ!

03.14.08

We've known Darcy and JJ for a few years now and when we heard that they were finally getting married we thought..."how awesome would that be to shoot their wedding!" Long story short...we are and we're super excited and honored to be shooting it for them! **To skip straight to the slideshow, click on anyone of the pictures** One of the reasons why we were hoping to shoot their wedding was because we knew they're style was right up our alley. And as most of you know, Lauren and I did our engagement shoot in an alley also so we felt right at home =) Even though it wasn't in Santa Monica like ours was, we found somewhere just as cool if not cooler in a place called Downtown Pomona.

Aren't those bikes the craziest and coolest bikes you've ever seen??!! When they pulled up and showed us the bikes we knew this was going to be a super fun time. We even put a little surprise at the end of the slideshow...something we've never done before. =) Here are more of some of our favorites...

Here's one that Lauren caught of me in action..haha. Our friends from Red5studios also came along because believe it or not, they're putting together a little promo video for us!! Woohoo!! Thanks Loyd! Check out their site...it's awesome (My favorite is the Napoleon Dynamite spoof!).

One of the things we learned on this shoot was that some of the coolest places to are sometimes places you pass by everyday without noticing. That field that we were is on the side of a road we taken to church every Sunday for the past who knows how long! Thanks honey for spotting this one out!! =) Darcy and JJ, thanks so much in believing in us and our work. We had such a blast hanging out with you both and can't wait for your wedding!! =) We hope you love the pictures because we had a blast shooting them! We love you guys =) **If you didn't get the note above, clicking on any one of the pictures gets you to our slideshow!**

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krissa:

Wow!! You guys are both so good at this! I love the end of the slideshow where it looks like a movie of them riding their bikes..and the last one of them holding hands on their bikes. I'm really impressed. I love it!

(03.14.08)

Tiff:

The next time we come is for the wedding. I'm so excited that you guys are going to be there. Lots of quality Quinal family time! Oh yeah and the pictures are beautiful as always. Good job!

(03.15.08)

ohana photography ~ david & kimi baxter:

love love love that bike shot!!!

(03.15.08)

Selle:

I absolutely LOVE the pictures! I love the location of the shoot! Great job!!! :)

(03.16.08)

J.J. & Darcy:

are you kidding me!!!!!!! we seriously watch it everday! you guys make us look so much cooler than we are. you two are so talented, we can't wait to see what you do with our wedding...thank you for a fun time!!!

(03.16.08)

Brian:

Awesome pictures John and Lauren! I like the field and couple and John and video folks Lauren.
You guys are great!

(03.17.08)

Nina:

You guys are freakin AWESOME!!! I absolutely LOVE the pictures..all of them. =) Praise God for your eye. Oh...and I love the new website too! I'm so excited for the two of you... =)

(03.18.08)

Melissa McClure:

Nice new blog! You are rockin the flare in these! Awesome!

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

(03.19.08)

Lisa Gisczinski:

I love love love the second image! Thanks for the sweet words about my work and for just plain VISITING my site. You are going to LOVE Palm Springs right now, there are flowers all over the place from the rains. Good luck on the wedding :)

(03.19.08)

Julius and Lonnie Quinal:

Very Impressed! We are glad that the Lord is presenting you with opportunities to showcase your new found LOVE for photography. Keep up the good work. See you on May 10th. Praise God.

(03.20.08)

jen:

LOVE your eye on these. You two are a great team!

(03.21.08)

rubyellen:

I love it... and thanks for letting me use your lovely field!!! I can't wait to see more!

(03.23.08)

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13

A Beautiful Summer Day in November

03.07.08

Welcome to our new blog...and as you can probably tell, the launch of our new company name...John Lauren Photography, formally known as Beauty for Ashes Photography!! We're soooo excited to have finally launched the first part of our "New Beginnings" project (this blog) which we first announced back in January of this year. The second part of the project is of course our new website which we're hoping to launch within the next few weeks!! BTW - if you guys have any suggestions on how we can better our blog (i.e. topics to talk about, cool blog features that we can add, etc.) shoot us an email (john@johnlauren.com) or leave us a comment. Without further ado, we dedicate our first post to Cheryll & Earl and their beautiful summer day in November...

Last year our friends from Red5Studios referred us to one of their clients that needed a photographer for their wedding. From the start of our first meeting, you can see how sweet they were to each other and even the shyness of the bride to be. The funny thing was that after going through A TON of shots! =), the same innocence and sweetness that we saw in her showed in almost all our shots.

Needless to say we left our meeting pretty excited to have Cheryll + Earl be one of John Lauren Photographys' first weddings of the year.

What started as a gloomy Saturday morning turned into clouds parting and the sun blasting it's rays through, warming us up as the day went on. Can you believe this weather in NOVEMBER??!!! You might ask, "what's that big blue "shark fin" looking thing behind them" Answer: WE HAVE NO IDEA!! haha...but we were definitely glad to have found it.

We got there super duper early to make sure we captured everything we could. Here's one of our favorites of the Bride-to-be getting ready with her dress waiting to be slipped on for the special day.

One of the benefits of shooting in front of a window on a gorgeous sunny day is getting shots like the one below. We love this shot because even though you don't quite make out the details of the expressions on their faces, you still feel a sense of gentleness just by the way they're holding hands and the way they're leaning their heads on each other.

One of the reasons why we knew this wedding was going to be great was because when we asked, where'd they'd like to do their shoot, the first thing they said was "whatever we do, please no "beachy" pictures" (haha is that even a word??!!)...perfect!! =) Not that we don't like beach pictures, because we totally do, but we felt the same way with our wedding. If you hadn't had a chance to see our own wedding slideshow, feel free to check it out.

Being that we were in the Long Beach area, the beach could have been very tempting but after doing a little scouting, we found an area that we thought would work just fine...

That last picture is one of my favorite groomsmen pics...gotta love the DO NOT ENTER WRONG WAY sign!! haha

Last but not least, what would be a bunch of teaser pictures without a slideshow?!!

So to Cheryll & Earl...thank you for sharing your special day with us and we hope you love your wedding images as much as we do! =)

**************Click here for Cheryll & Earls' Wedding Slideshow**************

(12) Comments Leave comment Send to a friend

Jess Wernes:

Wow guys!!! Awesome job. And you're right...what a sweet bride...an absolutely stunning couple!

(03.07.08)

Julie Watts:

Sehr Schon!! Congratulations on your blog!! And the slideshow was just beautiful...LOOOVE the John Lauren name a whole lot...

(03.07.08)

Maggie McDonald:

Great job you two!!! You captured some incredible moments. I'm excited to watch your business grow. :)

(03.07.08)

jen:

rock on, john and lauren! awesome blog and gorgeous images! congratulations on taking the jump!

(03.07.08)

Amanda Key:

What an amazing job! The blog looks great.

(03.07.08)

Misty:

Great job you guys! LOVE the name. It totally flows. And of course the images are amazing!!!!! =)

(03.09.08)

Selle:

Looks beautiful! Good job!

(03.11.08)

Loyd:

Great images! It feels like we were there!
(oh yeah, we were.) hahaha

Congrats John Lauren! Love the new blog and can't wait for the website to officially launch.

(03.11.08)

Connie:

Congrats on the new site you guys. Love the logo and name - great choice. Very clean. Also love the images you captured. It will be fun to watch you grow. Keep it up.

(03.11.08)

ohana photography ~ david & kimi baxter:

loving your flare shot! your new blog is awesome!

(03.15.08)

Lynette:

Congrats on the new name and site! Your pictures look great! Can't wait to see more...

(03.22.08)

Cheryll & Earl:

Wow!

First off, want to commend you guys on such an awesome job! Seeing the pictures and watching the slideshow took us back to that 'Beautiful Summer Day in November'...and that's what photos and videos are supposed to do, they should be able to make you relive the special moments and emotions, which you guys have accomplished so beautifully! Thanks again for doing such a great job on our wedding, and know that we are proud to be your 'first' wedding photography clients!

(03.29.08)

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