Grampy's Garden.

Hey people! I just got back from a lovely trip to Seattle for a friend's wedding! It was great fun & a delightful change of atmosphere. My friend Becky chose me to be her camera clicker, which was totally exciting. I'll post a few pictures from that shin-dig once I've finished editing. The rest of the time in Sea-town was spent at coffee shops with friends (cliche right?) and in the North end at my hubby's grandpa's house. Grandpa Ben has the greatest house full of treasures from decades passed & the type of garden only a man with a 92 year old green thumb could create. I was of course snappity snappin away when I wasn't looking through old photo albums, or listening to stories. Here are a few of the good ones:

SoCal Inspiration!

Living in Southern California is bringing on a whole new steaming vat of inspiration. I am absolutely dying to do a vintage/surfer themed session full of VW vans, Keds, Heart shaped sun glasses and beach cruisers. Here's my little inspiration board:

(Click to enlarge)

Sources: intentionallyuntitled.wordpress.com, http://weheartit.com/entry/3273360,http://www.girlyengeeky.nl/english/, http://www.nollie.tv/2010/03/joni-sternbachs-vintage-surfer-portrait-photographs-in-unique-tintype.html, http://shoerepertoire.com/store/2010/05/, http://ursulamayes.com/2011/01/sneak-peak-nirve-bike-shoot/, http://artessencestudio.com/blog/?p=1068, http://shestandsout.wordpress.com/

DIY Prop!

Props are MUY importante. Of utmost importance to those of you who don't habla español.
I am a big time crafter, so when the perfect prop does not materialize its self, I make it materialize. Even if it means I have to kick it old school and break out the paper mache-- which is what I did in this case. I was inspired by my kick ass collection of 75c vintage books I found at a local thrift store. I have an obsession with typography and have been DYING to incorporate that into a photoshoot along with my beautiful, drool inducing old books.

I decided to go with an ampersand (which is the fancy technical name for the "and symbol") because, how cute!?
I started off with sketching one on some cardboard and cutting it out like so:

THEN I covered it with torn up pages from an 80's romance novel about a midwife with amnesia and painted it with yellow and orange paint:

I decided to NOT apply a second coat, because I though the text showing through looked pretty cool.
Here are a few of the cute pictures I took using this uh-dorable prop:

I'm so proud! *Sniff sniff! I will definitely be using more paper mache props in the future.

-Mandy

New addition to my camera family!

For my birthday my AWESOME husband surprised me with a new baby for Mama Nikon! Her name is AF-S DX VR Zoom-NIKKOR 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED! Cute right? I spent all day frantically clicking my little heart out. Yesterday I got to try it out on my niece and I was not disappointed. This lens rocked it. Here's what I ended up with:

 

 

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship :)

Check it!

How CUTE are these padded camera totes by Jo Totes? I would totally rock this yellow one to match the color of my pants when I wet them in excitement. LOVE. (I'm gross and weird I know.) And the insides are houndstooth? Whaaa?! I need one in my life.

SWOON! Stumbled upon these at tatertots & jello. Who is doing a giveaway of these! Hells yes!

She's ALIIIVVVEEE!!!!!!!!

Ok. So. It has been a LONG time since I have bothered to even kind of keep this little ol' blog updated. Which was, I'm sure quite a devastation to my two readers (mom and husband--when I read my posts aloud to him.) I'd like to tell you that a spontaneous computer combustion or broken arms are to blame, but in reality it's because I've been sidetracked, discouraged and yes, a little lazy. Not to worry! My lazy/distracted/self doubt bout has ended and I am ready to get back in gear BIG time. I have been in sunny SoCal for almost five whole months now and I am settled. My brain is filled to the brim with creative energy that I can not wait to release!

What the heck in god's green earth has Mrs. Hough been (specifically) up to, you might be wondering?
Well.... My husband and I drove from The East Coast to The West one in five days, only stopping for sleep and fuel. We are hard core.

                                                We hosted our very first ever Thanksgiving dinner...

...and had our very first Christmas together as a little family :)

We have also been decorating our house, riding our bikes, walking our dog, exploring, barbecuing, spending time with family, frolicking through parks with my nephews, playing dress up with my niece and settling into our new life here in the golden state. 

I've put down the girl scout cookies and picked up my camera. 

-Mandy Hough 

All is FAIR ;)

Last week I heard there was a fair in town and immediately began planning out a dream photo session. I needed more wedding photos (and just photos in general) that expressed my aesthetic as an artist. The county fair was like a gift from the photo gods. As proud as I am of the majority of work I've done this year, only once or twice did I have complete control over the entire shoot. I'm talking wardrobe, hair, makeup, props and location. For the carnival wedding pictures I had exactly that. I called up a few friends, dressed, accessorized and made up, hair styled them and had them meet me at the fair for a night of rides, cotton candy, and LOTS of camera clicking. I had so much fun, and I think everyone else did too, judging by their smiling faces.

Here are a few of my favorite shots! (click to enlarge)