As many of you experienced, we had a storm of seemingly biblical proportions  today in the central valley. I got caught outside and when I finally got back to my car my jeans looked as though I jumped in to a pool. Thankfully my years as a competitive swimmer have taught me to always have a towel in my trunk! I was driving through the country just outside of Sanger when there was a break from the storm and I saw an amazing double rainbow. Here are some quick snaps as I jumped out of my car for a few seconds.

Lots of people wonder what vacation photos look like when a photographer takes a vacation. I was fortunate enough to travel to Cancun Mexico for a week of relaxation with some close family and friends. Not wanting to lug around massive amounts of photo equipment all I took was a Nikon D90 and the Nikkor 18-200 VR lens, an affordable setup that is perfect for anybody looking to upgrade their photo equipment.

The pools at our hotel were amazing, and this lap pool made doing my morning swim workouts more enjoyable then they have ever been. Why can’t we have this back in Visalia?

The cenotes in the Rivera Maya are truly one of the most amazing sites I have ever seen. They look like something out of an Indiana Jones movie. This particular cenote had ledges to jump off of and I couldn’t resist myself.

The Mayan ruins at Ek’ Balam are phenomenal, and getting to see and climb them ranks among the top 10 coolest things I have ever done. Ek’ Balam means black jaguar in Mayan and this city was once a thriving metropolis in the center of the Mexican jungle. Even though it was chilly out on the beach in Cancun, the temperature soared to a high in the upper 80’s out here (and it was January!).

Probably one the most famous of the Mayan Ruins is the temple complex at Chichen Itza, and while it is not possible to climb the big pyramid anymore we did somehow manage to get a private after hours tour of the whole complex, which included an after dark visit to the observatory where the Mayan Astronomers studied the stars and developed plans for some of the amazing events which happen with the architecture of the Chichen Itza temple.

The kids of the Mora family are a ton of fun to hang out with, check out their Christmas card photos for this year.

Sarah is a senior at Cordova High School just outside of Sacramento. She is the yearbook editor for her school, and as such she knew she wanted some cool and unique photos. Sarah has some cool style and we picked a super cool “undisclosed” location and had an absolute blast taking her senior portraits on an unseasonably warm Thanksgiving weekend here in the Central Valley.

Zach Niles is a Wedding, Commercial, and Portrait Photographer for Fresno, Visalia, Bakersfield and San Jose areas.

There were a lot of amazing photographers at the Preston Castle Model Shoot. Here are some behind the scenes photos.

Scott Andrew taking some video with his Flip cam.

The interesting angles of Sam Hassas

Scott Andrew

Orbie Pullen

Raquelle Siders doing some makeup magic

Sam Hassas, his sexiness makes me want to buy a black turtleneck.

The man, they myth, the legend… Orbie Pullen

Orbie Pullen and Scott Andrew speedlight battling. A little behind the scenes of our cemetery setup. Three ProFoto Acute heads, Beauty Dish in front, Sun in back, and two heads sandwiching the models.

Went up to Ione California last weekend to shoot some models with 12 other RockStar Photographers from Central California and the Bay Area. Many thanks to:

Raquelle Siders (our amazing makeup artist)
Image Provocateur & VIP-CAT Makeup Academy
http://www.imageprov.com

Diamond Bridal Gallery
http://www.diamondbridalgallery.com

AGAPE Designs (funky non-wedding dresses)
Jeremiah
916-640-6760
agape_lov77@yahoo.com

Preston Castle
Ione, CA
http://www.prestoncastle.com/

Dan and Caroline (you did an amazing job setting all of this up)
http://www.tinywater.com

Angela Duncan is a colleague of our who lives in Texas. Because Both Forrest and I went to college in Texas, we seem to have a knack at booking weddings out there. Anytime we are able to, we love to have Angela come out and shoot with us.

Angela first helped us shoot Greg and Amanda’s wedding, and since then she has helped out with Bethany and Nate’s wedding, and then I assisted her for Christi and Derek’s wedding.

Check out Angela Duncan Photography, she has a killer eye and a special way of relating with her brides that can not be matched.

Here are a selection of images she has shot for us:

I met Jamey while I was attending LeTourneau University and he swam for Champion Aquatic Team where I coached, my room mate was his youth pastor at LifePoint Church, and we ended up working for the same pool cleaning company one summer where I drove an enormous F350 complete with tool boxes and many dents from the fences we ran over while driving it (oops).

Needless to say, when I made a trip back to Longview for Christi and Derek’s wedding I was more than happy to spend some time hanging out with Jamey making some cool photos.

After getting the obligatory mom photos we headed over to Longview High School to take some photos of Jamey swimming and playing ultimate frisbee.