: Dark & Light

Charlie Dark, originally uploaded by Parris Studios:.

Love this girl, so much! Two moments, dark & light. Both beautiful. Both because of my daughter.

Aquarium of the Pacific

: Charlie

Charlie @ Dland 002, originally uploaded by Parris Studios:.

Love this little girl, so much! Her smile, her laugh, all of her. How she says "everywhere" (er-e-wear) and so many other words and reasons.

I love you baby girl.

Daddy

My little ham, showin off her pose

: 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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: Presley Hope Johnson

Presley 009, originally uploaded by Parris Studios:.

March 18th, 2010
Meridian, ID

This is my niece, Presley Hope. I was lucky enough to be here when PJ was born, and while she is a wee early & a wee 5 pounder, she's a fighter which isn't a surprise at all. She, momma (my sister) and the whole family were back home from the hospital in 3 days. Jarrett is adjusting wonderfully to having a new little sister, constantly offering her one of his Cars toys, touching her hand, kissing her, saying good morning to her ("Good morning Press, how are you", it's awesome to hear & watch him interact with her).

And now, the newest addition to the Parris & Johnson family, Presley Hope.

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: Valentine's Day 2010

Valentines Day 2010 001, originally uploaded by Parris Studios:.

Happy Hearts Day
World, Milky Way Galaxy

A post of my baby girl, my parents & some images that I love for various reasons. To all you lucky people out there, Happy Valentines Day! Share the love, tell your family & friends you love 'em and smile, it just makes everybody's day better :D

much aloha!

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: Exploring Seattle

Seattle 048, originally uploaded by Parris Studios:.

Things have been a little bonkers, but I'm back on the blog duty, apologies for the delay.

This is from my 7 hour layover in Seattle, first trip there, carried my backpack which had my laptop, headphones and a grip o' gear all around Seattle. Freakin' love Seattle, amazing city. Rained a little & realized my wearing glasses wasn't so great, unless I some of those wipers on my glasses, then it would rule. But I loved it and totally worth a 7 hour layover. Seattle, mahalo! I'll be back, fo sho!!

More pics after the jump

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: My little sunshine

2009 12 Charlie 026, originally uploaded by Parris Studios:.

Charlotte, meaning "little & womanly" or "little & strong".

Charlie. My daughter with great expressions (that will get her in trouble one day, many a teachers nailed me for my expressions :D).

Just a few from Christmas tree hunting at Home Depot. Love that girl, that miracle, that little ray of sunshine and craziness all bundled into the little girl that is Charlotte Jean.

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: IM - beginnings

IM 2009 013, originally uploaded by Parris Studios:.

So back on the October 22nd, I went out for a little personal project shoot. I decided it was time to turn the camera on me for no other reason than to just document me. I want this to be a personal project, and do pictures for everything that makes me who I am, trying to be a bit reflective and honest. Most all of you have seen the goofball side, and there are still a few pictures in there, but this is more about experimenting with the camera, trying different things and trying to convey who I am (or IM) through self portraits.

I'm still working on what it will look like when it's done, how I exactly want to do it, but I figure a road trip is as good as any time to start. So, here it is. A few of my dad in there, because he of course is part of who IM and more will come into play around Christmas when I get to see my family again! Stoked!

Here it is, IM - beginnings. a work in progress. just like me.

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: Road Trip

RoadTrip2009 012, originally uploaded by Parris Studios:.

This is the first road trip I've done with my dad that I can remember. I might have done one way back in the day, but this was absolutely one to remember. Trying to set out to Kansas to see a family farm that I've always heard of, but never seen. In late October... yeah, the Parris timing as usual, was phenomenal!

WY hit with snow storms closed down the I70 East from Rawlins onward. So we pulled out my G1, and did a quick reroute, head south on the 789, hit CO and the I80 and head east - hizaaa! Except come about midnight when we finally get outside of Denver, we see signs saying the 80's closed. we still keep pushing... didn't work. We ended up staying the night in the Wal Mart parking lot. To say it was cold is like saying the sun is a little on the bright side.

Epic. Amazing. a blast! Thanks dad, I had an awesome time and am looking forward to the spring and finally getting to Kansas :D

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: Road Trip & IM preview

road trip 007, originally uploaded by Parris Studios:.

The great road trip that was great and on the road, but not all the way done. The snow beat us, put up a great white wall of wind & flakes covering the I-80 East at Rawlins & then nailed us again on the I-70 East just past Denver. But the roundtrip of 1,870 miles was amazing. Great stories from my dad, a lot of fun, time with my dad, a great time to be out and see the country and did I mention, time with my dad!

It also allowed me some time to work on my new project, the "IM" series, which started out originally as "I aM". Most people who know me, know me as the former straw chewing, hyper, ADD, laughing all the time and having fun type guy. Which is all still true, although not so much the straws lately. So I thought I would turn the camera on me and try some experiments to show a bit more of who IM. Still working out the details and what it will look like exactly, but a preview of the rough is after the jump...

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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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: My Charlie

Charlie 004, originally uploaded by Parris Studios:.

10.13.09
home

While I'm waiting for pictures to export / open up from the wedding I'm about to post, I had a few pictures that were taken of my baby girl when I got home. It was finally cloudy out, and Charlie was aching to go outside. So I put on some music (John Mayer's album, Continuum) in the office and we went outside to play around with "ollie pollie's" and of course, her little Princess umbrella. It was a wonderful day!

Owen & Jenny are coming up soon...

More of my little sunshine after the jump...

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: Personal project: surf

Surf 01, originally uploaded by Parris Studios:.

09/09
Huntington Beach

Personal projects are huge and I think they help recharge the creative battery - at least for me. I was thankful that I got to go down to HB for a side project to the Surfboards in the Sand event thrown by Transworld Surf & Rip Curl. They wanted to get as many surfboards in the sand as possible and get a picture of it. It was pretty great to see all the people down there and just the sheer volume of rad surfboards!

I love art! Graffiti (even though I don't condone the act, but still, the huge pieces with all the color, design & creativity - amazing), wood carving, paint, design - everything! And the entire surf culture / community is an amazing one to me, it's constantly growing and innovating, and the designs of the clothes & surfboards always amaze me. I must qualify this with I haven't surfed ever but I plan to learn once we get back to Hawaii, but I love the whole culture!

There were so many great surfboards out there to look at & take pictures of, one painted to look like an old school dog fighting plane (awesome), classic wood boards, some graffiti style patches - all amazing. So here are just a few of my favorite from the day, processed slightly differently with the matting.

much aloha to all, have a wonderful week!

Much aloha to all!

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: Just because

Random - 23, originally uploaded by Parris Studios:.

08.14.09
Home

This is a just because post, because it's been too long since I've had a Charlie pic up and it was kinda fun doing this series.

My hair is getting pretty long (for me). Besides the bowl haircut when I was a little blonde kiddo, I've always had the short haircut. So i've been letting it grow out and do it's thing for a bit now. It likes to party!

it's natural wet state, which when dried looks like Luke in A New Hope in the Binary Sunset scene...

Get down!

Thank you Orange County - good night!

This was the look on Charlies face when I was done...

Already used to the shenanigans, whatabust!

Now to return to the processing of hot people, uber hot wedding & an uber hot engagement session - it's midnight & there's a heat wave comin' through! Aloooooooha!! wp

: Art

The Lab - 1, originally uploaded by Parris Studios:.

08.04.09
The Lab
Costa Mesa, CA

I was out shooting a project today and came across this amazing piece of art. I absolutely love art of all kinds and I love the art of graffiti. Not the simple tagging as much, although love the writing is impressive, but the full on art of graffiti, the lines, the colors, the characters, all amazing!

There's an outside mall called The Lab or as they say, the anti-mall, but this piece was on the front wall by one of my favorite stores (Urban Outfitters, so much fun camera/knick knack stuff, click the link to check it out!). If you're near The Lab, check it out, amazing work and I didn't do it justice.

Much love to the artists who did this, amazing work!!

Aloha!

: 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!!

: Freeway Photography

Freeway - 2, originally uploaded by Parris Studios:.

Freeway Photography is a personal project that has been, and will continue to be, an ongoing thing. I don't know when it started exactly, but it was pretty early on. I would be driving back from an event or just driving to and from work and think, "WOW, that's awesome..."

So I started taking my camera out for the ride to/from home, set it up on Manual and shoot. I see something that I think looks amazing and will point the camera in that direction & shoot. Of course, doing all this while driving safely :) If you have seen me coming from an event, or work or just out and about and see a camera pop up occasionally, it's me, just doing my thing.

You'll notice that some power lines or towers keep making an appearance. I'm fascinated by them for some reason right now. It seems like whenever I see something amazing, there's either a power line or tower adding to it. I've already included some of my Freeway Photography in posts (one of my favorite's is in the Monterey post) and I will post more.

For now though, enjoy my little personal project, Freeway Photography.

Aloha!!

No power lines here, but the colors and clouds were absolutely amazing...




While Freeway Photography is generally taken from the freeway (hence the original name), it can be done while driving on the street too. That's where this one was taken from. This is the world famous Disney Concert Hall. Looks like an amazing place. I wouldn't know though since driving by is as close as I've been ;)


Love the clouds and just the little peek of the tree




Courtesy of the 60 East bound and a wrist bent unnaturally :)


Angel Stadium, I see it everyday on my way to and from work, love it!


One of my favorites, so simple...


More coming in the future, until then - aloha!!

Going strong!

No pictures yet, still moving and prepping for my second craziest time of year (which was going to be the first craziest time, until of course little Charlotte decided she wanted to come and play early), but I will have some of our little sweetheart and the house shortly. She is so cute, little smiles already, a good strong grip and she's been referred to by all her nurses as "feisty"... love it! She has also been referred to as the NICU superstar, doing far better than they even expected. We couldn't be more proud of her and thankful for all your prayers!

They just up'd her feedings today and she's been responding well to them so far, we're still praying that she'll continue to be the little superstar and come home early. We figure she wasn't in a rush to stay at the hospital, she wanted to come and see her new room! So she is doing great and we're getting to spend some awesome time with her, holding her and just loving on the littlest Parris...

Speaking of the house, the move this weekend went SO AWESOME! We want to thank everyone that came to help, and all those who offered as well! We were truly blessed by all of you, we were moved out of our old place in 90 minutes!! CRAZY! Then a lot of people helped us get everything in order in the new place, which was a tremendous help!! I can't say it enough, thank you so much, it really is overwhelming to think about all the support people have given us the last week... So from the bottom of all our hearts, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!! I'll have pictures up of Charlotte, the new house and then pictures from Heather & Jakes wedding this weekend!!

Mahalo again to everyone for your prayers and support, please continue to pray for strength and recovery for both Jess and Charlotte... my girls, I'm so proud of both of you!!

A little update...

Hi all!

Just wanted to give you an update, Mom & Charlotte are doing great! Jess is off her IV's and is walking around, sore, but I'm pretty certain that's to be expected :) Jess even got to hold the little sweetheart today too! She is continuing to recover and will hopefully get a little more rest now. It was so wonderful to see Jess comforting Charlotte when she was getting shots, or just telling her she loved her... she's such a great Mom already, and Charlotte is one lucky girl to have her as a Mom!

Speaking of Charlotte, girl has some lungs on her! She was moved from the mask breathing apparatus to the little nose hose (fun to say) tonight when we were there. It's so nice to see her beautiful little face without the mask on... She doesn't like shots, who does though, and she lets the nurses know about it. Very opinionated and feisty, absolutely our little girl! She is doing very well though, and all the nurses are taking great care of her. She's eating, which is great, and we are praying it will continue. I'll have some pictures up of the crazy time leading up to the c-section, moments after and then from the first two days shortly... but things are a bit nutty!

For those who don't know, we just got back from a wonderful week in Maui (so pretty!) so I have pictures from then to put up. But this week was supposed to be dedicated to packing as we bought a house in La Habra! So... VBS, Maui, Charlie, moving, all in a pretty quick time frame. I'll have pictures of the new house (that was my big news, trumped by the most beautiful little girl) soon, but we're moving in on Saturday and Sunday.

I also really want to thank everyone too for their prayers, comments, emails, text's, phone calls... everything! We have an amazing support system that just went to it, my head is still spinning with the recent events, but there has been an amazing team of people who are helping out and have come through so huge for us in support and love! I just want to thank all of you for your help from the bottom of our hearts, Jess, Charlie and I are so blessed by your friendship! We love you all and thank you again for all your prayers and support and help.

I'm going to get some sleep, after I clean the computer area a bit that is :) 1 am already... time is flying entirely too fast... Seriously, we love you all and be sure to keep checking back for an update on our most precious little addition. I think I get to hold her tomorrow, very exciting!! Oh, and she does have my ears, I'm sure it will be said sooner or later, so I'll try and beat people to the punch, but my ears are about as big as Charlotte's... and I love it!! :D Good night all, and thanks again from the Parris family!

Aloha & God bless,

Jess, Charlotte and Will

PS: Pip and Jess update...

I am pleased to announce that as of 7:28 pm this evening (July 18th, 2007) our first child was brought into the world, Charlotte Jean Parris... formerly known as Pip. It's not according to how we would have liked, but I am so happy to report that both of the ladies are doing fine and healthy! Charlie (what we'll call her) was 2 lbs 8 oz and 14.5 inches long, and she's beautiful (just like her mom!).

We're grateful for all the doctors at CHOC and St. Joe's, they did a wonderful job with the two most important things in my life! Thank you for all the prayers, we just ask that you continue to pray for Jess and Charlotte for a speedy recovery and continued growth and health. Charlie is doing wonderful and is a little fighter already... again, just like her mom, and we love it! Jess is recovering wonderfully and will be able to go and see our little miracle tomorrow.

Here are a few pictures I was able to get off the camera, I don't have all my gear here since Jess was transferred to about 4 rooms today, but that is a story for another post... all that matters though is our beautiful daughter is here and healthy and Jess is doing wonderful and on a quick road to recovery!

So Jess, if you're reading this (and it would be a miracle with no wireless and no other way to check) I love you so very much, and I'm so proud of you! You are going to make the best mom, not to mention how incredibly beautiful you are... I truly am the luckiest man in the world to be your husband!

Charlotte... I've only known you for about 5 and half hours and I love you so much too! You're a little fighter, a lot stubborn, and a whole mess of trouble already, but mom and I love you so much and we can't wait to see you again. Your mom and I are incredibly blessed to be your parents, we love you with all our hearts!

Family and friends, here are a few quick pictures of our baby girl, Charlotte Jean...

Aloha and God bless!!

Beautiful little hands...


The little monitor on her foot...


Our big girl all stretched out (and she twitches in her sleep like her dad :D )


One of my favorites, that's Charlotte holding on to my index finger... daddy's little girl... so beautiful!