When strangers become friends

Some people joke about having an "angel" on one shoulder and a "devil" on the other but not me. I have what I lovingly refer to as a "confident Brandi" and an "un-confident Brandi" on mine! The night before this session, the "un-confident Brandi" was praying for rain!! It wasn't a long shot, the weatherman had predicted it earlier that day. When I woke up in the morning and looked at the blue cloudless sky, the "confident Brandi" did a cartwheel :) and the "un-confident Brandi? Well, she smiled a little too ;)

The reason for all the nerves? Well because these lovely clients were my FIRST "stranger" clients!! My friend had read that one of her friends was looking for a photographer for her maternity pictures and she referred her to me. So far, all my clients have been friends and/or family members. People I feel comfortable "bossing" around, staring blankly at while I get an idea, or just being goofy around. It's okay because they HAVE to like me!! But these two strangers?? I'm new at this so what if they didn't like my work? My ideas? My clothes? (first impressions people!) or my funny country accent? haha Oh man, the pressure was on!

Well, after lots of e-mails and this session I can now tell you that I had NOTHING to worry about! They are both absolutely adorable! Ummm can I call him adorable when he's like 6 ft tall?? haha Anyway, they were up for anything and so relaxed that I couldn't have asked for better for my first "stranger" clients!! I'm so excited to share a few of my absolute faves with you! If you want to see more click here for the album on facebook!

*This idea came to me about 2 or 3 days for the shoot and I'm sooooo pleased with it!!*

*She bought these blocks here and they are so adorable! They match the season too!*

*Random door to use as a prop in the middle of the street?? Yes please!!*

Thank you two so much for asking me to capture these special memories! I really enjoyed it! It was nice to get out of my comfort zone :) After all our e-mails I feel like we are friends now! You two are so cute and very talented! (Check out Anna's fun blog here to see her unique New Year's challenge and her etsy page here to see her collection of upcycled serving pieces!)

X's and O's
Brandi sue

Precious Paisely!!

The best compliment a client can give any photographer is to come back again for more pictures!! I'm flattered each and every time this happy momma (and my friend) requests me to photograph her family or just her sweet baby girl! And she has another little girl on the way!! I can't wait! It's been fun watching this little one grow up. Her silky hair is now long, her personality is shining, and she's hard to keep still!! haha It was fun chasing her around though and just capturing what I do best...LIFE!












I just loved these little tiny flowers at this field. It was a little bright to be shooting there but you live and learn! This pretty little location is gone now, so I'm glad we went when we did!

Thanks again Shawna for entrusting me with your memories and for your friendship!

X's and O's
Brandi Sue

Smirk it up!

"A smirk refers to a smile evoking insolence, scorn, or offensive smugness."

The theme for the I Heart Faces contest this week is "smirk." I had a few photos I could use for this one as my husband is constantly smirking at me when I put a camera in his face! haha I didn't think he would appreciate me posting any of those pictures as one is when a beluga whale is kissing him, one looks like he never was introduced to a razor, and one has funky eye squints going on haha.

Once I ruled those photos out I remembered this one! A little while after her wedding, my friend asked me to get a few photos of her with her wedding dress along with her handsome groom. This was a shot I got while I was balancing on some big rocks and testing out my settings, accidental shots can be the best sometimes!!

I really don't think that he is "evoking insolence, scorn, or offensive smugness" although I know he wasn't as excited about this shoot as she and I were ;) Head on over to the I Heart Faces blog to check out some of the great entries! Or if you are reading this before 9PM on Tuesday, you can still enter the contest yourself!!

Happy Monday!

X's and O's,
Brandi Sue

Out on the farm

What's more adorable than a little girl with pretty blue eyes and a great smile?? TWO of them! My friend Whitney asked me to photograph her pretty little girls out on her parents farm and I gladly accepted! On the way out there Whitney mentioned that her mom asked her why in the world we would want to take pictures at her place. You see there is an old milk barn (I think that's what they said it was) that is on their property that is falling apart, weeds (I call them wild flowers), and lots of animals. Ummm...who wouldn't want to photograph there?! That location along with the sunset and two pretty girls made for a perfect shoot! Here are some of my favorites, enjoy!

*Her Daddy found a fuzzy friend*

*Helping Grandpa gather eggs, this is one of my fave memories of living on a farm!*

*I couldn't have made this shot happen if I tried! She was so fun to photograph, I never knew what she was going to do!*

*The newest addition! I had a sneeze attack (allergies) and I think she found it funny haha*

Right as the sun was setting we met up with Whitney's sister's family (pictured above) and got a few quick shots in. This is such a sweet family!

I have GOT to head to bed but I thought I would try and make up for my absence by posting 2 blogs in one day ;) If you would like to see more of this shoot follow my facebook fan page by clicking here!

Vroom, Vroom

Wow, so I haven't posted on here in a VERY long time! I wish I had a good excuse but I don't! I do however have a great reason for posting today though! Every week the fabulous people at I Heart Faces have a contest and this week is the week I have decided to play along!

The theme this week is Vroom, Vroom. The photo has to have incorporate transportation in some way as well as faces. After following their page for several months now, I chose this week to enter because I thought of the picture I would use instantly!



My father-in-law bought this old truck about a year ago with intentions to fix it up and I couldn't resist taking some pictures! However, this is in a town where I don't really know anyone so I didn't have anyone I could call up last minute to come model for me. So I begged my hubby to humor me and tried my best to capture my vision myself :) There was a rotted spare tire in the truck bed so I carefully positioned my camera, set the timer, and ran! It took a few tries but I finally settled with this shot, I like the accidental sun flare! I have since been told that this looks like a scene out of the first Twilight movie, my husband was thrilled ;) haha

Click the link above and head over to see some of the other entries! There are some super cute ones! Until then,

X's and O's!

Brandi Sue

*Edit on 9-18-10*

This morning I read on the IHF's facebook page that the winners for this challenge had been posted! As I scrolled down the blog I saw that a local photographer I follow won 3rd place! I was pretty excited for her! Then I saw that my photo had been picked as a favorite by the 2 lovely ladies who co-founded the site, Amy and Angie!! I was (and still am) excited and I'm glad I entered! It was fun and I've seen so many cute photographs over the week and have recieved some really sweet comments on my photo as well! To read the blog with the winners and faves you can click here! Enjoy!!

Dimples and Baby Blues

For several months Shawna and I had been talking back and forth trying to find a time for me to photograph her family. She wanted to have some cute pictures for Miss Paisley's FIRST birthday party and I had a location in mind that I had been wanting to shoot at for months. However, the ever so changing Oklahoma weather was not having any of it! During the week days we would have gorgeous weather but Miss Paisley's daddy works out of town and was only home on the weekends...which of course were a mixture of cold, snowy, and rainy! Some days being all three! In the meantime, Paisley's big day came and went but Shawna still wanted some pictures. So we waited and we finally got lucky toward the end of March with a sunny Friday evening.

Don't you just love this blue wall?! It's an auto repair shop here in Norman and it's perfect for pictures! When I first moved to Norman (a year ago) I noticed it while driving to my new job and instantly fell in love! I was so excited when Shawna said she loved it as well! There are so many great locations I've scoped out while driving around for my job as a home health provider! Unfortunately, they don't all have the best lighting especially for someone with only a little experience like me, but it makes for some good practice!

Here's the cute dimple!

I tried to place them in the same location as the first picture but the sun was just too bright for them to keep their eyes open haha So I had a hard time exposing for this shot but it's still cute!

Love me some good sun flare!

One of my favorite things to do on a sunny day is drive around town with my window down and sun roof open and one of my favorite places to scope out is the OU campus! It's full of beautiful buildings and landscaping and I love picking out places I think would make for great photos! Okay, aaaaand I also like to see what all the people are wearing...I'm TOTALLY a people watcher! haha That's hard to do when you're the driver, the trick is to go during busy traffic hours because you get stuck at a lot of red lights which gives you plenty of time to look around! That's how I found out Campus Corner had an In the Raw (sushi restaurant) and this awesome white wall with vines crawling all over it!

One of my faves from the whole day! Poor Shawna keeps getting a lot of heat from her friends over this picture. They don't understand why this poor little country girl doesn't also have boots on! haha Paisley does own a pair of boots (or several maybe) but Shawna said they didn't go with this outfit...and in her defense...she didn't even know I was shooting this picture! Which is also why her legs are the same length as her daughter's...she's short but not THAT short ;) I didn't notice at the time and I'm not THAT good at photoshop to fix it aferwards! ;)

See...she's only this short! ;)

I loved how Shawna coordinated their outfits. I'm a fan of keeping the same color family but not being in the same shirt, gives the photo some personality!

...And here's the baby blues! The best part is that this is with VERY minimal photoshop, just a little sharpening! Gorgeous!

*Thanks so much Shawna for letting me photograph your family and for believing in me! You guys were great to work with and I'm so glad I was finally able to use the blue wall! haha

Well, gotta let the puppies out before bedtime! Good night y'all!

X's and O's,
Brandi Sue