: Drive

Landscape 002, originally uploaded by Parris Studios:.

2010

California

I've been driving a lot lately and right after all the rains, it is particularly beautiful in California. All the hills are green, there are some amazing flowers of all shapes & colors along the road & fields, wonderful oak trees that are either blossoming or are dead and just look gnarled and beautiful.

These are just a couple from my recent driving. These 3 happen to actually involve me stopping versus my normal Freeway Photography where I just shoot going 70+ on the freeway. The last one I was a passenger and snapped it as we drove 60 :)

I hope everyone has a beautiful Friday and a wonderful Easter weekend. Happy Easter!

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: Central Coast & roadtrip!

central002, originally uploaded by Parris Studios:.

I lived in Cambria-"Pines By the Sea"-for 2 years of my life. Time wise, it was extremely short, but Cambria is pretty amazing and I think that's where my love of all the green trees, especially pine tree's & oak tree's that are covered in moss - LOVE those!! But the fog in the morning, the smell of the ocean, the variations of beach, the Grill, everything. So I got a chance to go around to some spots and just grab some pics prior to the rehearsal for Owen & Jenny.

In other news, we're going to Idaho to visit my family this week, and then my dad and I are taking a roadtrip to Kansas! :D Stoked, sounds lame, but I'm looking forward to it. Time with just Dad & I, my camera, country I haven't really seen before. It's gonna be awesome, the Mammoth Men (which seriously, check them out, a bunch of rad photog's that explode sensors for a living :D) have their trip, but I'll take my trip with my dad. So excited. Although he doesn't know he's going to be my model. hehehehe, sorry Dad! Hoping to get some Idaho portrait sessions in too... peeps, if you're interested, hit me up. I'll know more, but we're peacin out of the Spud state Tuesday.

Have a wonderful week all, I'll be posting pics up on Twitter/Facebook, so be sure to check it out. And any suggestions for places to hit along the way, be sure to send me an email or text (you can find all that info on my site)

much aloha all! enjoy the beauty of your day, look around, you'll find a ton!

aloooooooha & see you on the road!

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: The joys of unemployment!

Random - 03, originally uploaded by Parris Studios:.

As some of you might know, I'm technically what we call - "unemployed". My side gig, which happens to be a 40+ hours a week side gig, is as an accountant. It's what I went to school for, labored and studied a crazy amount of hours for, and spent numerous month ends / quarter ends & year ends working overtime on. For the last 4 years, I've been a consultant and it's been great!

Only downside is that with this whole economic downturn / recession going on, consultants are usually the first to go, which is completely understandable. But here's the thing... i'm kinda diggin it!

We all know about the downside of it, money for mortgages, bills, blah blah... but the upside is huge!

Here are my joys of unemployment:

1) I get to spend more time with my family!
2) Everyday is Saturday
3) I wear whatever I want (huge when I've been in the business world for almost 10 years)
...interlude while I read an Elmo book to Charlie - love it!...
4) Reading books to Charlie whenever she asks ;)
5) I get to spend time with my family!!
6) I don't have to commute anywhere I don't want to
7) Saving on gas money
8) I can work on personal projects & get caught up (as long as it doesn't interfere with family time :D)
9) More time to day dream about the future, but not at the expense of enjoying the day
10) I get to spend time with my family!!!

I haven't had as much time to do personal projects or get as caught up as I'd like, but it hasn't been because of my 40 hr side job as an accountant, it's been because I've been with my family & friends. So while I'm not officially working, i'm loving my little mini vacation. Now if I could keep this going and figure out how to make money at it... i'll add that to my list of day dreaming :)

For now, some personal projects I shot when we went up to the Central Coast for Owen & Jenny's engagement session, enjoy!

The central coast has a ton of Oak trees, all beautiful!

The next two are the same shot, just different post processing, shot early morning near our grandparents house.

On the way home, we decided to take a detour and see what we could see. It was awesome, Jess drove, I shot and would occasionally say "oooh, here" and we'd pull over and shoot. Until our battery died in the middle of no where. With no reception. Thankfully, a nice couple pulled over and helped us jump the car. And now we have a Duracell battery jumper in the car, just in case...

And now, one of the most awesome & creepiest trees i've ever seen in real life...

: Fun with exposure...

Bobby & Amy - 1, originally uploaded by Parris Studios:.

The place - my backyard
The time - at night :)

Our friends Bobby & Amy were over the other night and thankfully, they're always up for some of my "let's try…" photo experimentation… Bobby was first up & then it was time to bring his wife out for some added fun…
Here's the set up, a tripod, 30 second's, a flash & a flashlight. Sprinkle in some running back and forth fun and let the magic happen! This is going to be fun to use in the future…
This was one of the first attempts, thank you to Costco for some delicious pizza! :)

I love this! I've been wanting to do a shot like this for quite a while now, and the opportunity for fun now is endless…

This was one of the last pictures of them I took. My original thought was afro for Bobby and some 80's hair for Amy… about a quarter of the way in I realized I had made the fro way too big, then I was just playing around. But seriously - this is going to be fun!

2 engagement shoots coming up this weekend, so stay tuned for that & then an announcement for some family shoot specials beginning in April! Until then - aloooooha!!

: Sunset, Charlie & Amanda

Sunset - Newport, originally uploaded by Parris Studios:.

Aloha party people, it's 1:30 in the morning and I'm jammin to music and thought in between the 10 other things I'm doing at the same time, I'd throw this post up real quick. The sunset was from today, or yesterday the 3rd. Taken from the 3rd floor of my current client in Newport, such a beautiful view. I'm going to be enjoying it for the rest of the month since that assignment will end on the 31st of March. Good times, so hopefully I'll have a job to roll off to, so any prayers are appreciated :)

This last weekend, we had the distinct pleasure of seeing Charlie's NICU nurse, Amanda! She and her hubby Paul moved out to Denver over a year ago, and they have a beautiful baby boy named Hayden after my favorite and their favorite Star Wars character, Darth Vader (pre dark side of course).

Or not, but still, good thought right!? :) Sorry guys ;)

All the NICU nurses were great, but Amanda was our primary and was absolutely wonderful to deal with, and she is to this day a wonderful friend. So much so that Jess was there to photograph the birth of their first child, and from the pictures I saw, my wife did an awesome job!! Amanda, it was so phenomenal to see you!! Thank you for taking care of our baby girl for 2 months when we couldn't be there! Our little miracle thanks you tremendously, as do we!

Charlie being a butt at this moment, whatabust!

And of course, our little girl enjoying a typical morning - Elmo Chair, Gigantor Elmo, USC Blanket, and reclining watching "Treet" which is her version of Sesame Street. Posture is very reminiscent of college and my roommate Dallas. You've taught her well Dallas, Metallica, SRV and this. She's well on the way :)

Last, but not least... Charlie coming over and hanging with me whenever I bust out the camera. She takes pictures too, we'll have to get a video of it and put it up. So rad!!

Our little miracle!

Aloha all, it's 1:50, time to hit it. I have numbers to crunch in the morning - woo! have a wonderful night & a wonderful week!!

: Graffiti & a tilt shift

Graffiti - 17, originally uploaded by Parris Studios:.

A few weeks ago, when I was swinging by my favorite store that I could blow a ton of money in no time at all (Fullerton Used Camera, wonderful store - Mike & Chris are awesome!!) I noticed they had a tilt shift... oh happy day!!

I have seen the TS used by many amazing photographers, but I've never had a chance to try it out... until now! It was a blast fo sho!!

I went back to my favorite graffiti spot to use it and I was so happy with what I got! Again, I must stress that I don't condone the vandalization of public property, bad news there. But the artists that did these are pretty amazing, and it looks like I missed a couple great pieces from a few months ago that had been covered up by others. so I'll have to make more of an effort to go back. But now, let the fun begin...

It gives such a crazy, fun perspective

Left side...

A little love...

And of course, I had to get some power line shots

: F2P2

01.16.09
Fullerton, CA

A few weeks back, my friends Sandie, Ryel & I all got together for a little expedition shoot (Friday Fun Photo Phantasm, or F2P2 as I call it). This particular time, it was a shoot in the evening and getting creative with off camera flash, lighting etc. It was a blast and something I'm looking forward to doing again. So here are just a few of the fun shots that I grabbed of the fabulous and uber talented Sandra Salisbury & Ryel J.

A fun parking garage before Fullerton Police told us twice that we might want to be careful, gangs and all... so on the second time we decided to pack it up quick and explore more safe areas :)




Shadow fun


I used my little flashlight for some added fun (same flashlight used in the first 3 pics too)


This is why I want to purchase some additional flashes, so fun!


Fun!


Sandie shooting me, shooting her


We're going to be doing this again, so if you want to go out and shoot around, give me a holler! Ladies, a blast as always!!

: Rambling...

So today was an interesting day... we woke up to a nice note from the City of La Habra asking for some cash (aka, a parking ticket, evidently La Habra requires an overnight parking sticker, lame!). That was that, everyone else on the street got the same note. Good times.

Then at 5 today, I get a call at work from Jess saying that there's a fire in the alley. A really nice man named Jose (that's all we know) stopped by and came up to the window asking if everyone was alright. She thought it was odd and said "sure, why...?" He had seen smoke while driving by the front of the house, threw it in park and came to make sure everyone was alright. He went around back and got the hose and tried to put it out. Turns out that our Christmas tree that I threw out yesterday in the green waste recycle bin had been caught on fire, the fire melted all three trash cans in the alley and caught our back fence on fire. Jose was helping put it out until the fire department showed up. Evidently some kids who cut through the alley by our house, lit some firecrackers and threw it in with the Christmas tree. And like most Christmas tree's, it was dry as dry can be. Dry tree and firecrackers don't mix well...

Thanks to Jose, whoever you are, I can't say thank you enough! It could have been a lot worse - A LOT! We basically have to replace the fence in the back, either rebuild it or replace it with something else. And I'm seriously considering a purchase of some security cameras to monitor the alley... might be an over reaction, but if our garage had caught on fire, or the house, and if this would help avoid it happening to someone else, it'd be worth it. we'll see what happens...

For now though... a pic of my amazing wife reading when we were on our Monterey Trip with our friends (and blog stars), the King's.

: Fires this past weekend

Fires - 1, originally uploaded by Parris Studios:.

As many of you know, there were some fires in Orange County this past weekend. It was pretty surreal to be this close and to actually start to have to figure out, if things go south, what are we grabbing before we go.

We went to a friends football game at Chapman (which was a blast!) and before we left, we packed up the hard drives and grabbed our wedding pictures and left with them in the car... just in case.

This also happened to be the day of the first Family shoot in the park, which of course was rescheduled.

Our prayers are with those who suffered losses during the fires.

Sunset that first day at our friends the Taylor's (who were close to being evacuated).

Sunrise on Sunday

This is the view in Brea, by Octopus (such awesome Sushi!), right behind me - beautiful blue sky

: Family picture day 2008!!

Alright party people, it's Family picture time!! I'm going to be doing two days in November for family/friends/just because pics, so get everyone together and come on down for a session at either a park in Brea or Laguna Beach. First come, first serve, limited spaces available for each location, I want to make sure everyone has an absolute blast!

Details:$250 - 1 hour, all edited images on cd for Christmas / Holiday cards, uploaded to Pictage, fun in the sun, laughter and general frivolity. And who doesn’t love frivolity…

11/15/08 - Park
11/23/08 - Beach

If you're interested, email me will[at]parris-studios[dot]com or give me a call at 562.682.3015, and let me know which session you'd like and if there is a certain time that works for you.

And if you have any questions on this or anything else, feel free to contact me via phone, email, text, Facebook, whatever’s easiest!

Until then party people, I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season, live, love & laugh!!

Aloha!!

: CHOC Walk 2008

This Sunday at 7am, Jess, Charlie, Lisa & myself will be walking in the 2008 CHOC Walk at Disneyland. As you know, Charlie spent the first two months of her life in CHOC’s nicu and we’re so grateful for them and ESPECIALLY for the nurses (Holla!!) Next year we’re going to start a team, but for now, I’m going to be taking the camera and walking 5k with our little miracle. We’re really looking forward to it!

As part of the walk, they ask for the participants to raise money, so if you are able and would like to sponsor me, I would be honored! I’m including a link at the bottom, and of course, there will be pictures to follow…



A side note: my wife is kicking my tail in sponsorships, granted, she was better at getting the word out sooner than 2 days before the event, but still... :) Love you sweetheart ;)

I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday and until later –

ALOOOOHA!!

Sponsorship link --> [SPONSOR ME]



Until pictures from this weekend, here is a favorite from Charlie's first trip to Disneyland...

: Free to Succeed tour

Tonight was AMAZING! If you have the chance to catch this tour, you MUST! Wonderful for photographers (seriously, it was a great kick in the butt!) and wonderful for non photog's too! I asked Jess to go with me tonight, her first adventure into my crazy photography world. She was really... excited? But by the end of the night, she was genuinely excited, and was as in awe of the speakers as I was. And I must admit, I have a Photo Disorder, something my wife diagnosed in me a while ago, but I couldn't accept it until I heard it from them (hence the reason, I'm an idiot, I even put that in my notes...)

The speakers you ask... the one and only David Jay and of course, Jasmine Star. They brought home a lot of things I needed to hear, branding, pricing, workflow (holla!) and more importantly, YOU! So, these next few months are going to be hectic, but it's time to implement some changes based on all the AMAZING information gleamed from tonight! I'm excited for the changes in mind and can't wait to share them all with you, but for now, a few images from tonight...

I'd like to point out that in this picture, yours truly is smiling big and cheesy. I realized after I took the picture, I'm was smiling for nothing. I told Jess, she laughed, and that's why I love her (one of the countless ways of course ;) )


The people of the hour, David Jay & Jasmine Star. If you don't know their work, you owe it to yourself to check it out, they are so gifted!!! And they are absolutely wonderful people, and that doesn't even come close to doing them justice.


Jasmine is style & class, and a fan of shoes...


David Jay is style & class, and a software/marketing/everything genius...


Again, this is such a great place to be, so seek it out people, photog or not, absolutely worth every dime and worth every minute of your time!

A personal thank you to DJ, Jasmine, Shyla and all involved, thank you for making my vision clearer and for giving so much to the photography community. Aloha & mahalo to you all!!