arizona wedding photography ~ brenda eden photography

{Joanne}

{Under the Cottonwoods}

{Joanne}

Joanne amongst the hollyhocks

We went from Lux to Idylwilde to across the street from the Ellis-Shakleford Mansion to the Boutique at the Growhouse to the Salt River in Phoenix for Joanne's photos. These are from at the Growhouse. Luckily the Growhouse was open and we got some relief from the heat.

I love the hollyhocks and the light and Joanne's pink dress and how the fabric of her dress catches the light - I have this slight obsession with pink lately - and oh! I love how these came out. :)

Go read Joanne's blog! 

{Joanne at the Salt River}

Yep.

My guess is that this photographer is carrying way more than $13,000 worth of camera gear. That long white lens alone is maybe a 600 mm Canon L lens? $10,000ish.

{Fabulous!}

I get to do a photoshoot this Saturday for this fabulous girl: Joanne of who writes a blog called Fabulously Average.  I am super-fabulously excited to hang out with her; it will be super-fun.

Image from her blog:

{Egg Hunt}

I'm trying different ways of processing with this image, trying to give it a creamy pink cast. I like the way it turned out.

{How I would like to spend my tax refund}

On this dress. Red butterflies on a navy-colored sun dress.

On tickets to see Drake at Ashley Pavillion on May 10th:

{image by John Davisson via}

and on Exposure 4 by Alien Skin Software:

{image by Peter Nguyen}

 

How I will probably spend it: on gas and bills. But I really didn't even think I would get a refund, so it's tempting to think about.

 

{Starring this girl!}

Here are a few photos starring the Reece family daughter.  

When I am photographing two and three year olders I know I will be running like crazy. Having to run a lot last weekend was probably a good thing - I had no idea what was coming in the week ahead -  these past few days I kinda knocked myself out with exercise. Not on purpose, it just kind of happened. I went on a really long hike up in Flagstaff with my cousin, and part of it was down into a canyon and back out again. You know, at Flagstaff elevation. And then I played/practiced frisbee for 4 hours. Yes, 4 hours. And then I went to a dance practice for about an hour and a half. This is only the second weekend my mom hasn't had to be at Mayo all weekend long since sometime in February, so I think I am making up for lost time by doing a ton of stuff these past couple weekends.

So, anyways, I ran around like crazy last weekend photographing people, but it was nothing compared to the last few days. I am wondering if I will be dying tomorrow.

Maybe I will, maybe I won't. Either way, if I took Easter egg hunt/portrait session pics of you and your kids the last couple weeks, you will be getting them very soon. :)

This first image is processed so differently than how I normally process. Usually I try to go for a very natural look - ideally I would like it to look like 35 mm film images. But to "save" this image I had to over process it and over saturate it to get the image. I love how it turned out. I think it looks like a poster for this girl's life!

The next one is of her collecting eggs. The light was so perfect! 

The final image is of her and her whole family and it really didn't take anything to get her dancing so cutely, just me saying Dance, Dance, Dance!

{Trevor and Sophie}

 Trevor and Sophie found a nest of confetti eggs.

They also found a bunch of plastic eggs full of jelly beans. :)

{After the Easter Egg Hunt}

Happy girl.

Later that night, her mom texted me to tell me that this girl's favorite part of her day was when I chased her with my camera. :)

More photos soon of the egg hunt and confetti eggs.

{Want want want}

Alien Skin Software is 30% off until April 17th. I want it all, but if I could have just one product that Alien Skin makes, it would be Exposure 4, because my-oh-my those are amazing actions/filters and you can just make your images look out-of-this-world with them.

April 17th is my mom's birthday. Maybe I should get her Alien Skin. Ha.

{Lannie* and Ron and baby Preston on the way}

*Lan - which is pretty much what everyone else calls her. But I call her Lannie.

She's the sister of one of my very best friends.

{Annie and her kids}

Check out Annie's family photo shoot from a few years ago here.

And then go see Annie's sister's photo shoot here.

{V dancing underneath the shimmery, luminously-lit Cottonwood trees}

{With friends at a Feast}

Mario from the Phoenix Public Market cooked up an amazing Easter feast and had people over. Here's a cell phone pic of Jennifer, Nicole, Taz, and me in front of Mario's house.

{Aimee and her son}

I first met Aimee when she was working at Royal Coffee on Jackson and Second Ave. It was always such a delight to see her - I would leave my desk and walk as fast as I could to get there - and I loved that place - I loved the architecture of the place and getting to see Aimee (and Michelle, another girl who worked there) and getting cold and delish iced coffee. When Royal on Jackson closed, I lost touch with Aimee, but I finally got to see her again when I started going to Royal at the Market/the Phoenix Public Market. 

Aimee and her son met me for photos at Water Ranch in Gilbert where the Cottowood trees grow and the light is always pretty. Her son hunted for cascarones (confetti filled eggs) and Aimee and I got to talk. Aimee's son started breaking the confetti all over his mama's head and I love how I got such lovely photos of Aimee.

Oh, Aimee, you are a beauty. I love the catch-light here in Aimee's eyes. We walked around a little 'til we found a place where the light would be better and catch her eyes like that.

I love eyes-closed photos. You never get to see yourself with your eyes closed and people usually look so peaceful with their eyes closed, that I just think eyes-closed photos are very nice to have. Did I just say eyes-closed enough?!

Thank you Aimee! It was a delight hanging out with you this morning, girl! :)

{Sophie and Trevor}

After their Easter egg hunt and portrait session, Trevor and Sophie and I climbed up on the ridge at Water Ranch/Nichols Park and they got all silly and these are the photos we got.

{Music to edit to}

Editing photos at Lux, I always am looking up the lyrics I hear in the songs they play. I bet this guy is so well known - I really like his voice - but I have never heard of him before. I like really poppy music and this is a little sloooow....but it's really pretty!

{11 reasons I need to drive up North}

To see kittens! My cousin's cat had kittens//To see Katrina in Cottonwood//To go to that hipster coffee place in Cottonwood//To feed ravens with my uncle//To see my aunt//To be amongst pine trees//To go hiking with my cousin//To go see the Lowell Observatory//To go see the Lowell Ash tree//To get a cafe mocha from Macy's, the Lux of Flagstaff...

And...finally...to get pine needles to make pine needle infused sugar - you can find the directions for making Pine Needle Infused Sugar here. The idea is intriguing. I don't even know if it would taste good. But it sounds so interesting. I want to try it.

Image and info by Scott - Scott - Real Epicurean.

Dance! Dance! Dance!

I am trying to embed this video, but it's impossible to do, I am now pretty sure, after trying for quite a while. It's the dance my friend Sarai created for the Phoenix Pride Festival to do as a flash mob dance. I hope I get to dance in it with her. I have to play it over and over so I can learn it.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=2883759652451

{Planting sunflower seeds}

Instagram photo that my friend Stacey Champion took of me in the Valley of the Sunflower fields putting sunflower seeds into the soil. (That's her daughter walking behind me.) 

{The Castaway House}

In the morning I got to see my friends at Lux. And then in the afternoon, I got to see them again at the Castaway House. It's this house redone gorgeously by the Ranch Mine. Just click on that link to their facebook page or this link to know more about the Castaway House - but here are a few things: that girl right there, Taz Loomans, with the red purse - she was their architect of record. The light in the place was so pretty and I kept thinking I wanted to be there during a huge summer monsoon storm. It would be so cool to watch lightning and rain from the big windows of that house. Here are some cell phone pics:

I liked the art on the walls.

{Portraits from last year's Easter Egg Hunt}

I love the interaction between these two little sisters. We were walking around under the apple trees in my back yard - they make a really nice background for photos.

{Platinum girl}

One more image from last year's Easter Egg Hunt and portrait session. I like using Photoshop to get different looks in the images I create. I was kind of going for the look of platinum here. Platinum is so beautiful, you can read about it here. Also, her hair was pretty fly-a-way, so I fixed it a little bit, but left some of the fly-aways, because I like the way it looks. I do a lot of what I think of as "behind the scenes" photoshopping for my client's images. I don't usually even get around to telling people what I did to the images to make them look a certain way, but that's just something to know: If I take your photos, I spend a big chunk of time making them look awesome in Photoshop. You will never get images from me that are just straight out of the camera. I work on them a lot! 

{Easter Egg Hunt and Portrait Session}

Easter Egg Hunt and Portrait Session!

What: Dress your kids up in their cutest and bring them over to the Hundred Tree House (my house) in Gilbert, AZ for a portrait session and Easter egg hunt. 

Tell me more: I give them baskets and set them loose to run around and find dyed eggs and I chase around after them and get adorable photos. After they collect the eggs, we do some more portrait-type photos.

When: Saturday, March 31st and Saturday, April 7th. One hour sessions from 9 am to 6 pm. (9am, 10am, 11am, 12pm, 1pm, 2pm, 3pm, 4pm, 5pm and 6pm)

How much? Choose the number of images you wish to receive and I will send you a link to pay online before the session.

10 images - $50 / 20 images - $100 / 30 images - $150 / 50 images - $250

plus Town of Gilbert Sales tax

Easter Egg Hunt and 10 images -

Easter Egg Hunt and 20 images

Easter Egg Hunt and 30 images

Easter Egg Hunt and 50 images

Email Brenda at [email protected] or message me on Facebook to set up an Easter Egg Hunt and portrait session!

{These girls pictured below are two sisters who came over to my house last year for an Easter egg hunt and portrait session.}

Super awesome resource for photographers

I use a company called Pictage for printing out images. They have a website called The Photo Life, which is a really great resource for photographers.

Drake in concert

My post for the day is only this:

I want to go see Drake in concert on May 10th at Ashley Pavillion.

Anyone want to go with me?

{Girl with feather earrings}

I love her long feather earrings. I kept telling her that over and over. You can read Tricia's blog here.

{Outfalls and places to take photos}

I went here to take photos for my other work; I was working on our website and needed a photo of an outfall. So I went to the prettiest place down in the Salt River. It's gorgeous there, I will definitely be going back there to do portraits. Email me at [email protected], if you would like to set up a portrait session where the cottonwood trees grow in Phoenix.

{More Phoenix Style Collective}

Awesome girl!

You can read Heather's blog here.

I met Heather at the Phoenix Style Collective and we have emailed back and forth a bit since then.  She is just so very cool, I am glad to have met her.

{Saint Patrick's Day}

I was in an Irish parade with my friend Jennifer and her boyfriend. When Jennifer invited me to be in it, I just thought she was inviting me to a bike ride. I didn't know until a few days later when I went back and looked at the invite that I had agreed to be in a parade. The idea was kind of nerve wracking, but it turned out to be super fun. Jennifer and her boyfriend decorated the bikes for the parade.

Here are cell phone photos from the day.

The wall above Jennifer's dining table. Don't you wish this was the wall above your dininig room table? I do. It's the cutest/coolest and so very Jennifer.

Since it was Saint Patrick's Day, Jennifer had soda bread for us to eat. And she was playing Sinead O'Conner songs.

Irish wolf hounds - they are huge! - and a teeny little black dog. 

A close-up of this cutie's face. His name is Sparky.

I sprayed my hair rainbow-y. I didn't have anything green to wear, but I figured I could play along because rainbows goes along with the whole leprechauns and pots of gold idea. And Jennifer made sure I had green by lending me her clover headband and green starry sunglasses.

Thanks Aunt Char for the birthday money. I bought pink jeans.

After the parade we went to the Phoenix Public Market for breakfast. Then we rode bikes downtown. I was riding Jennifer's mountain bike and that bike is so much better than my cruiser bike. It went soooo fast with such little effort. It felt like flying.

As we were riding bikes, we passed Mercantile, where you can buy Dapper and Dash bow ties. Personally, I think all men should have at least one bow tie to wear. And not even for a fancy occasion, just for a spring day. If you can't steal one from your grandfather, then go to Mercantile, because, men, they look awesome!

After riding around, we went and had lunch at Main Ingredient.

  

{Old + New}

Article about a 5D camera attached to a camera from 1926. Oooh, I love geeky photographer ideas like this. Take one of the best Canon cameras and attach it to a camera from the 1920's and see what you get. If I had more time, I would totally do something like this with the old cameras I have collected. 

Go Memphis Tigers Go!

I love this image. It totally reminds me of what I am always trying to do when I am taking photos of people at weddings. Capture the emotion and the moments between moments, and most of all, more than anything: anticipate the emotion.

I came across this photo because I filled out the the President's bracket challenge. I just filled it out based on places I would like to visit, because I know next to nothing about college basketball. I ended up with Memphis vs. Detroit in the end, because I would love to go to those places. Memphis because of its music history and because I love the South, but have never been to Memphis. And Detroit, because I am so interested in cities and what makes cities livable and how cities work. And you have to admit, Detroit has got to be a pretty interesting city to think about, when you are thinking about that sort of thing.

So here's the photo. It's some of the Memphis Tigers players' reactions when they first found out they had been selected to be in the NCAA games. The image comes from this article and is by Mark Weber.

So I never posted anything for March 14th...

but I still care so much about posting once a day and plan to get back to it. If I had posted, I might have posted this video, which helped me get out of bed at 4:30 in the morning every day this my week.

My friend Nicole posted it on her google plus page and I have been listening to it a lot lately. I like it at about 2:15 when the guy from Outkast starts rapping these words: New word, onomatopoeia... boom Quit acting like you don't wanna be here.

I'm still posting this for March 14th, cuz it's my blog and I can do that. ;)

{Home}

I'm hardly ever home lately. And when I am, I am trying like crazy to get ready for the next day and get to bed as soon as possible. It's all because of my mom. She was sick, she was in the hospital, she's better now, but the hospital has her coming back every day, all day. I take her in the morning, get her at night and I am exhausted. So no pictures. And no writing. I have so many ideas for art and photos and projects I want to do lately I can hardly stand it. I think I have never felt so creative as I do lately. So no pictures or projects, but hopefully I can soon and here's another Neon Hitch video. I really like it at 2:17, where the remix sound starts. It would be so cool to hear this while out dancing.

{Tilt-shift Carnival}

The City of Samba from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.

I love tilt-shift lenses and the magical, fairytale effect they can produce.

{Photographer Get-Together at Postino in Gilbert}

So...a while ago I wrote here that I wanted to start a Photographer get-together group. And I made the group on Facebook, but didn't get around to telling people, but I just finally told people and am so excited that people immediately started joining the group.

If you want to join the group, go here or copy/paste this link:

http://www.facebook.com/groups/276563312415525/

The first get-together will just be so that photographers in the valley can meet each other and network. Future get-togethers will be in other cities. Some will be photoshoots, some will be like classes, and others will also just be hanging out/networking.

The first get-together will be Thursday, April 12th at Postino in Gilbert. Postino opens next week in downtown Gilbert, across from Liberty Market. I am so excited to go there for the first time. A little bit of Phoenix in downtown Gilbert. Here are some cell phone pics of Postino I took after going to the Gilbert Farmer's Market last weekend.

{Rainbow hair}

I did it. Made my hair all rainbow. And took some photos. Will post. Maybe. :)

List for tomorrow

List for tomorrow:

coffee from Wildflower

old jeans, old sneakers, old shirt, sunblock, the hat I got from Holman's, the surveying company - to wear when I help plant sunflowers

Annie's baby shower gift, jeans, blouse, boots, the necklace Annie gave me, the earrings that go with it...

passkey to my gym in case I want to take a shower between planting sunflowers and the baby shower

camera, CF cards, batteries, battery charger - to take pics for Annie

comfy clothes, my computer and charger and blank CDs- in case I try to get work done at the hospital while I wait for my mom.

earphones so I can listen to Neon Hitch while I work.

pillow in case I try to sleep at the hospital.

hmmm....what am I forgetting. plenty I am sure. Like...

....rainbow temporary hair color - in case I decide to rainbow out my hair tomorrow. Kinda like this girl, but with more color and more all over the place:

Thinking I want...

...rainbow hair. Just for a day or for the weekend.

{broken glass}

There's this field of broken glass across from the coffee shop Lux that is just stunningly beautiful at sunrise and sunset when the light hits the glass. Here is one photo of the glass. I have ideas of photos that I want to take that incorporate this broken glass. Trying to figure out exactly what I want to do with it will be this ongoing process, I think. But I think that is part of being an artist, especially a photographer. Well, actually not just a photographer, because definitely painters do the same thing. And probably dancers and actors and musicians too. Ok, so everyone.

You get an idea, and you have to just keep coming back to it, over and over, to try new things and approach your ideas in different ways. Have you seen Edward Weston's photos of bell peppers? He just kept coming back to his idea over and over. 

{Jenn + John}

Images from Jenn and John's vow renewal last summer.

Fattoush + Sydney

My whole idea of posting once a day? Got really hard when my mom had to be in the hospital last week. I really want to get back on track with it. I like the idea of having a post for each day of the year, even though it's not really from the day I am posting it....Here is something I planned to post from about February 27th:

A couple of my friends and I went to Fattoush. They have the best baklava on the planet. If you don't believe me, just go there and see for yourself. It was super windy and super beautiful that afternoon/evening. The kind of wind that blows up so much dust that it actually makes the sky look amazing when the sun is setting, but kinda kills you if you are having any sort of head/throat/nose/cold thing - and it seems like everybody I know is.

After getting amazing food at Fattoush, we went and walked Sydney. She's as fun as she looks. 

And after that, I went back to my mom's hospital room to stay the night.

{Magnum Photos}

If you are interested in photography, especially in photography of people, spend some time looking at Magnum Photos. I first came across Magnum Photos when I was trying to research one of my favorite photographers, Robert Capa, who photographed the Spanish Civil War in the 1930's. He was one of the founding members of Magnum in the 1940's.

So that's my super short post. Don't spend any more time here. Click Magnum Photos and get lost in all that they have there to see.

Image by Robert Capa - Barcelona, Spain. January 1939. Running for shelter during the air raid alarm.The city was being heavily bombed by Fascist planes as General Franco's troops rapidly approached the city.

The best camera is the camera you have with you!

I wrote that in another post and am still finding it to be so true. Until around New Year's, I never had a cell phone that could take photos, but now I do. So I take at least a few photos a day, sometimes more, and it seems so strange to be able to go back and remember pretty much what I was doing every day this year, just by looking at my photos.

Here's a photo from Saturday.

It's champagne cupcakes made by my friend Loisann for a birthday that she hosted for herself and for me. They tasted better than mochas from Lux. And if you know how much I like mochas from Lux, well then you will have a slight idea of how good these cupcakes were. 

Glowsticks!

Every other Thursday night, my friend Bree and I go and volunteer at a shelter in Phoenix. We entertain the kids, so that their parents can have a break from them for a couple hours. I try to think of fun activities or games or stuff to bring that they would like. It's kind of hard because you never know if you will show up and it will be mostly babies or if it will be big kids. Lately it's been mostly very little kids. When we first started volunteering there, it was a bunch of girls, ages about 9 - 12. Honestly, I prefer it when it's older kids. I just get antsy holding babies (which actually works out perfectly, cuz Bree is great at holding babies - you are Bree!) I prefer to go outside with the bigger kids and run around on the playground equipment and be silly and just talk to them. This Thursday, there were just two older girls and a few litttle boys (around age 5 - 7).We went to the playground and I gave them glow sticks to play with.

I bought the glowsticks ages ago, because I had planned to use them with my clients to create cool images at night for their engagement session. I never got around to using them with my clients, though, because by the time it was dark, they were just DONE. Getting your photos taken for a couple hours is just exhausting, so I completely understand. (When Becky and I take photos of you, we tell you that you will usually have to tell us when you are ready for it to be over with, because we can definitely just keep going and going.)

Since the glowsticks were old, they definitely weren't as bright at new ones would be, but the kids still had fun with them.

Except the kids stopped having fun when I told them we were going to make it into an art project. So what, kids! Sometimes you have to suffer for art.

I had the kids sit right next to each other and move the glow sticks slowly so that I could take photos with my cell phone camera. I got very particular about how and where they had to move the glowsticks. That is why they were no longer having fun with them. "Wait do that again!" I kept saying. "No, like this." I am sure I was pretty annoying because all they wanted to do was run around like crazy with them and do whatever they wanted. Understandably. But at least they put up with me for a while and this is some of what we got:

When I am taking photos, I am always trying to keep a bunch of stuff in mind. A few of the things I am looking for when it comes to composition, is framing, leading lines, and rule of thirds.  Another device I try to remember is this: the the golden ratio. When I was making these cell phone-glow stick photos, I was definitely thinking about the golden ratio and wondering how these would appear. I like the way they turned out. 

 

{F29}

Here are some cellphone photos that I took on Febuary 29th of Occupy Phoenix's protest of ALEC.

(I have so many more I want to post, but it takes so long to send them from my phone to my computer and then to photoshop and finally to Typepad/this blog. So here are a few and they are out of order, actually, cuz I have other things I gotta get to.)

I am trying to think of how to sum up ALEC. Corporations with ridiculous amounts of money getting with legislators to make laws that affect people who don't have ridiculous amounts of money or a voice. SB1070 legislation came from ALEC. Here's  Wikipedia's page about ALEC and a website called ALEC exposed to read.

This is my friend Mello (short for Melvin) in the foreground of the photo below. He was leading a lot of the call and response and when he was walking here he was saying that if Occupy Egypt is affected, if Occupy Tucson is affected, if Occupy Oakland is affected, then Occupy Phoenix is affected. (Except those weren’t his exact words and I can’t remember exactly what they were.) Then he mentioned Occupy Nigeria and I was thinking to myself, I have to look up Occupy Nigeria. You can check out Wikipedia's page to know the story behind Occupy Nigeria and to read their demands and objectives.

 

The girl in the middle (in black) was explaining how different corporations who have buildings downtown were involved with ALEC. At this point we were standing in front of Bank of America.