Great things are afoot

Things are changing around here. I've started a new blog dedicated to the more intimate side of my business. You can find it here. I've registered my own domain and will be adding content shortly at lisaparrish.com as well as adding a subdomain for yourmomentousoccasions.com. The url for this blog has been changed to blog.yourmomentousoccasions.com and should remain so even if I change blogging platforms now that I have actual hosting. I'm not sure yet how I will arrange my portfolio, but I know that signing up with Hosting Matters is the first step in the right direction. Things will be a little weird until the dust settles but my new environment will soon be all sparkly and new.

Lovely Lady

I had a great time photographing this lovely senior, Leah. We spent a fun couple of hours wandering around finding fun places for portraits. She has a great eye for settings and knows just how to work the camera for the best shot. Here are a few of my favorites from our time together.



















Thank you, Leah, for allowing me to share in the excitement of your senior year. I hope you enjoy your sneak peek.

If you know Leah and are interested in scheduling your own senior portrait session, mention code LM_2010 and receive a coupon good for a free 5" x 7" print with your paid order.

Bright and Beautiful

It was a gorgeous sunny day when I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with Carrie and her mom. We walked along the Bluffs overhang and spent some time downtown to find interesting places for her senior portraits. As a result, we got a wide variety of fun shots. I have been having a great time editing and am finally ready to share some of my favorites.

























Thanks to you both for allowing me to share this special time in your life; I hope you enjoy what you've seen so far.

If you know Carrie and are interested in scheduling your own senior portrait session, mention code CH_2010 and receive a coupon good for a free 5 x 7" print with your paid order.

Rising Star

I had the great pleasure and good fortune of photographing one of our area's most talented teens not long ago. She is a multi-faceted musician and plays drums, guitar, keyboards, and sings backup in the Portland School of Rock. She also has a great personality and is hoping to pick up some acting jobs soon. These images are for use in her head-shots portfolio.

I am still trying to find words to explain how awesome it is to take over 150 frames and find that nearly every one is a winner. Here are just a few of my favorites so far.

















I have a couple of other irons in the fire and will have more to share soon!

Carnival atmosphere

Friday night was the final Carnival at my youngest son's elementary school. The school will be closing its doors at the end of this year due to budget restrictions. The planning committee really pulled out all the stops with the event. There was a petting zoo, a real midway with tents for games, cotton candy, a clown making balloon animals, and all sorts of prizes for the kids to choose from. Better still, all the games were free for the kids to play. Cotton candy was $1.00 and a hot dog dinner was $3.00. The weather was amazing so kids and volunteers alike had a great time.





















This last shot is one of my favorites from the evening, even though I'm not usually a fan of the tilted photo perspective. I was escorted upstairs by a parent volunteer with classroom keys, and one of the rooms had tilt-out windows I couldn't fit through with the camera. I stuck the camera out the window, aimed it in the general direction I was hoping to capture, and just clicked. I could have retaken the shot, I know, but something about it appealed to me straight out of the camera. Maybe it's the sense of chaos and whimsy, maybe it's the colors, maybe I'm nuts. What do you think? Does it work? Should I scrap it? I'd love to hear your take on the tilted perspective, not just in this shot, but in any photograph of any subject.







*Edited to add that since I took these to the school I have gotten nothing but raves over this last photo and great feedback on the slanted perspective. Yay! But funnily enough, as if in response to my having posted this, the fabulous Jodi at MCPActions.com posted a great tutorial on straightening your photos in Photoshop just this morning. I usually straighten and crop in Adobe Camera Raw before sending the file to Photoshop, but this tutorial will come in very handy when I'm processing photos I've taken with the S5 P/S camera where RAW is not an option. Thanks Jodi!

Prom Date

Hi there, remember me? I know it's been too long. Between the increased hours at my day job (for which I'm grateful) and the kids' end-of-the-year activities at the schools, my life has been quite busy lately. I'm not complaining, but it makes it harder to keep up on the blogging.

I had the privilege of taking pre-prom portraits of my neighbor's daughter Ruby, and her friend Charis a short while back. Happily, they love them and have granted me permission to share a few of my favorites here.














Thanks for letting me share in your special night, girls! I'm glad you like your photos.

An angel of a girl

With no further ado, may I present the results of Baby P's first portrait session. Her mom has amazing windows in the front room and we had the advantage of simply wonderful natural light. A space heater kept things warm enough that there were no protests against being in her birthday suit. She wasn't sleepy at all, so we got some amazing portraits with eyes wide open.














And as a bonus, here are some teeny tiny feet.






I have many more fun props to play with and some exciting poses in mind for your baby. Email me for more details!

Welcome baby P!

I was fortunate enough to be invited in to visit the new parents at the hospital to photograph their new baby girl just hours after she arrived. We have an in-home session on the books soon so stay tuned for more portraits of this adorable little girl and her beautiful family.



The photo above was taken in a darkened hospital room only 2 hours after baby P's arrival. The images below were taken the next day when Mom was feeling better and Grandma and Big Sister could be involved.








Thank you for allowing me to share in such a precious moment. I'm really excited about our upcoming newborn/family session! I can't wait to use some of the fun props I've been accumulating.


CASTING CALL: If you are in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area, are between 7 and 8 months pregnant or if your baby is between 5 and 15 days old, please call me at (503) 750-3258 to talk about scheduling your own portrait session. I am taking a few free sessions in exchange for the use of your images in my advertising. Prints will be available at discounted prices after the session, and a model release will be required. This offer is available on a limited basis and is subject to change without notice; please reply by email for consideration. I look forward to hearing from you!

Fun with textures

I love adding textures to create depth and add a little extra something to my images. Most of the textures I've created come from things I see around me in nature. Bark, concrete and cement (especially with cracks or peeling paint), snow and frost, branches against the sky, etc. Layering them together or singly over a portrait of a person or a flower, or even over a landscape shot can create an amazing work of art. I posted a tutorial on layering here in my personal flickr account. The effect should be subtle and add something otherwise not seen in the untouched image. You can see some of my created works in my textured set. Here are a few examples.












Some of my favorites so far of the textures I've created can be found here.