Alisha Hurt Photography

The Pink Box Donut Shop

2012-01-30T15:22:00.000-06:00

This past weekend I did a shoot for a local donut shop called The Pink Box Donut Shop.

A little sneak peek on what to expect in the near future...

Lots of pictures of these little cuties.

And of course... Donuts!

I documented the whole donut making process. So interesting!

Mmmm......

More to come! :)

Holiday Card Outtakes

2012-01-27T13:28:00.000-06:00

A while back I posted our holiday card. Today, I'll share some of those outtakes...

We started standing with all 3 of us... Lots of pointing going on here.

We tried sitting down...

...

I suggested trying just the 2 of them.

We tried treats...

Big mistake.

eyes on the prize...

She tried all the tricks she knew...

"Maybe if I shake his hand AND showed him how cute my face is he'll give it to me."

"YES!"

One of her favorite things to do is sit in my lap. This photo is both cute and akward looking to me.

Making the same face

Getting out of control.

We decided to try a few without her...

I tried throwing the hat, but kept letting go too soon. The 2 of us together wasn't working either.

We tried some of just Shaun...

The obvious goal here was to see just how many times I could cut his face out of the pictures...

My turn...

"I don't know what to do with this thing anymore."

Me: "Let's try one more of Harper with the hat on."...

..."Stay down."

Aaaand, we're done.

Studio Before and After

2012-01-26T14:26:00.001-06:00

I love seeing before and afters, and I know I can't be the only one, so today I'm going to share with you my studios before, during and after pictures. I'm almost embarassed to share these first two pictures... I'll explain below.

These 2 were taken a few months after Shaun and I got married. We were in between buying new furniture and selling all of the furniture he already had in the house. This was in our couch collection stage. At one point we had 12 couches in our house.

All cleared out! A lot of painting was already done by this point too.

Sketching ideas for the doorway.

Seeing what it will look like closed in.

Carpet gone.

Doorway cut out and built.

more painting...

All the walls were textured and the painting was finished by this point. Now onto laying tile...

The next day... more tiling.

Before the grout was put in. It took me 2 days just to clean all of the black grout off the floors after they were finished and filled. My back hurts just looking at this picture.

Curtains and seamless hookup were installed and it's all done! If you want to see the studio's after pictures, check out the post I did here.

Purple Couch Update

2012-01-12T10:58:00.000-06:00

A little update on the couch. I have a full seat on it now!

(This was taken the class before I sewed up those front corners.)

Let me tell ya, the picture really doesn't do the color justice. It's going to be BEA-UTIFUL when it's finished.

Max and Jake

2012-01-09T20:47:00.000-06:00

Oh man, I love, love, love these two little guys. Max and Jake are hilarious and had each other (and me) cracking up the entire time. This was our second shoot we've done together, and it was just as fun the second time around as it was the first. These boys were so well behaved and had the routine down to a tee so we finished the whole shoot in about an hour.

I think my favorite thing about Max and Jake is getting to capture this special, brotherly relationship they share together. I love being able to see this mischievousness, love, and comfort they share come out in the pictures. Here are some of my favorites:

(above: Max rolling his eyes)

Texas Trip 2011 - Drive Back

2012-01-04T12:31:00.000-06:00

Welp, today's post will cover the last segment of our trip - the drive back. I didn't take near as many pictures on the trip home. Something with staying up until 3am on New Years Day and then waking up a couple hours later to go to church probably had something to do with that... If a 2000 mile journey home isn't hard enough, why not just sleep deprive yourself too, eh? Anyway, after visiting with family, we headed up to Oklahoma City on New Years Eve. On the way there, we stopped at The Cloverleaf Boutique in Ardmore, OK. If you're ever in the area, it's definitely worth a stop... even if you just look at the stuff sitting outside. Everything was so fun, I couldn't help but snap a few pictures myself:

We've also made a random tradition of stopping at this huge cat park when we go. We find it 1000 times better than a regular zoo because you're MUCH closer to the animals than you normally would be and they have everything we like seeing at a zoo (lions, tigers, ligers (?!) and bears).

We spent the evening with about 600ish other christians from around the area singing in the new year. After a night visiting with many wonder friends, we crashed, woke up, went to church, then headed out again.

On the way home we stopped in Amarillo to see the Cadillac Ranch.

Day 2 in the car driving, driving, driving... ready to be home.

And finally... we arrive! This was taken after we picked up Harper. Shaun ran in to get takeout and she was watching him very carefully... I think she was afraid he was leaving her again.

Anyway, that pretty much sums up the trip. Hope you enjoyed! I'm now off to paint our master bathroom dark blue before I get scared and change my mind. I'll keep you posted. I'm also planning to post my last Texas session of 2 uh-dorable little boys next week so come on back!

Texas Trip 2011 - The Stay There

2012-01-04T12:14:00.000-06:00

A couple of days ago I shared some pictures on the roadtrip to Texas so today I'll be sharing a few of the stay there. The whole week consisted of antique shopping and visiting with family. A perfect combination if you ask me. :)

These were taken in a little old downtown we went shopping in. There were just a few trees left with color on them and I managed to find one that I snapped a picture of.

A foggy morning on our way to First Monday. The town I'm from has the largest flea market in the WORLD. We spent 2 days walking around and still didn't cover everything there. (This is the reason why we drove if you were wondering why we didn't just fly in.)

Little pigs, a llama and cow all in the same barn. So cute.

One thing I was on the lookout for while we were there was a scale to use on a newborn shoot, and lo and behold... I found an actual vintage newborn scale. I had no idea these even existed...

Shaun and I picked up a really cool old tripod at a garage sale out here a while back and he's been on the search for a light to mount on it since then. While we were there, we scored this beauty and also found some big 3d letters with our initials to hang in the house.

We found a sweet deal on a little chandelier for our bathroom that I'm super stoked to hang up and my mom also just happened to have an old dress form I've been on the search for that she gave me.

And after a few days of shopping, we had a fun day hanging out with tons of family.

which always goes by too fast...

Stay tuned for the trip home tomorrow!

Texas Trip 2011 - Journey There

2012-01-03T19:10:00.001-06:00

Since moving to California, Shaun and I have driven back to East Texas once a year. It's about 1800 miles one way and takes about 26-28 hours to drive going straight through. It's a rough trip, but I don't really mind knowing that I will get to see my friends and family back east, and spending the extra one-on-one time with my bff isn't too bad either. :) We had a great time seeing everyone, but it feels good to be home too. Since returning yesterday afternoon, I still have yet to get out of my pajamas.

I gave myself a nice little break on this trip and used my camera 0 times. Instead, I documented everything with my cell phone, using the same camera app, and filter. As crazy as it may sound, I love all of the discoloration, out of focus shots, and pressure that is taken off using a cell phone camera. I'll be splitting the entire trip up into 3 posts. This first post is of the journey there. Enjoy!

Oh, and Happy New Year! :)

The start... didn't leave too early. Stopped for coffee and Noah's Bagel's on the way.

Driving over the Grapevine, then through sunny LA. (Even though we went through all types of climates, we were really blessed with great weather and clear roads the entire trip.)

The fun part of road trips is seeing the sunrise each morning... something I never take the time to see at home. These were taken after a long night of driving. We drove until we couldn't take it anymore, so we stopped at a rest stop somewhere in New Mexico where we slept for 2 hours. When we woke up, it was 17 degrees outside! There was snow covering everything but the roads.

More coffee and the inside of my straw. The amount of things to do in a car run out after a while...

We saw this huge cross and decided on a whim to stop and check it out. There were life-size, sculpted statues of Jesus before he was put on the cross around the bottom. You start with Jesus standing before Pilate and walk in a big circle looking at the stages building up to his death. I think my favorite part was coming around the corner of the 3 crosses and seeing this rock area where the stone was rolled away from the tomb.

For whatever reason, California has yet to put in a really good sandwich place, so when I go back home, I eat it up like crazy. Here's to Jimmy John's... and a pretty sunset.

We arrived in Arlington on Saturday night and stayed with my cousin. After church on Sunday we had a little time to kill, so we drove over to Highland Park in Dallas and saw a bunch of ridiculous Christmas decorations.

Dallas - my old stomping grounds. Taken on the way to do a little shopping Monday afternoon.

Hands down... best cookies and sandwiches around. I eat at Potbelly every chance I get.

Final stop before heading to the house, Jamba Juice... and finally, we arrive! I'm not lying when I say I'm from the country. My parents seriously live on a dirt road. When it rains, someone just comes through with a tractor and evens out the dirt...

Weekend Through My Phone

2011-12-19T14:57:00.001-06:00

Shaun had to go out of town for a day or two this weekend so I spent a couple of days with a friend shopping, watching movies, getting take-out, visiting family, and just relaxing. A few other things we did that I managed to snap pictures of:

Got apple donuts from Apple Hill. Um... these are amazing. The glazed were my favorite.

not that I tried all 4 flavors...

Got some paint swatches for the master bath. I decided last week to paint it dark blue. When we first got married, this would have been a big deal to Shaun. Now he's learned to just accept color into his life. :)

Took Harper to the dog park... Her heaven on earth.

Starbucks. Always a plus.

Played a little dress-up.

Did a little decorating in the yellow room.

And nothing says gluttony like a 5lb bar of chocolate, eh? (I did not buy this.)

Tonight Shaun and I are going out to grab some Sushi and then will each get to open up 1 gift. I'm so excited. I LOVE presents. :) The rest of this week will be spent hanging out with family and getting ready for our road trip to Texas later this week. I absolutely love this time of year.

Our Holiday/Winter/New Years Card

2011-12-15T14:36:00.000-06:00

This was our first year ever to send out cards to our family and friends. We had a lot of fun taking these, but let me tell you... It's worth getting someone to push the shutter button when a dog is involved. We started taking these around midnight... and 250 pictures later, we finally managed to get a few good ones out of it. (I'm sure you'll be seeing some of those outtakes in the near future, too.) After it was all said and done though, I'm so glad we did it! I have so much fun with these two.

Front:

Back:

I really liked this card in particular because it could serve as a holiday, winter or new years card, so I won't feel bad if I leave it up for a really long time on our fridge. :)

Studio Tour

2011-12-12T16:23:00.001-06:00

The full tour to my little home studio is finally here! Below are some pictures with little descriptions for each.

Starting in the corner by my desk - you're looking at where the 9-foot wide, white seamless paper (hanging from the ceiling in front of the back window) would roll out. All the stuff to the right goes with the white seamless setup. As you will see, the room is very simple... but it's all done for different reasons.

There are 3 sets of windows in the room, so once the sun starts getting into the afternoon/evening, a lot of natural light can be poured in. All of the curtains are also black-out curtains so I have the option of keeping all natural light out and only using studio lighting. Since the walls are closer together in here, the walls are also all painted a light grey color. (If the walls were red for example, I run the risk of light bouncing off the walls and throwing red light into my shots.)

Circling over to the left, this was taken in the corner by the 3rd set of curtains closest to my desk:

And here's a close-up of the doorways and windows. This section is not 100% complete. The childrens door will eventually have an actual door on it and I haven't decided what I want to do with the windows here yet. The floors on the other side of the doorway are also not completed. We're going to be ripping all of that tile up and installing hardwood floors soon, so we just left that as-is for the time being. The big doorway will either be left completely open, or covered with a curtain. I don't think I want an actual door on it... at least for now.

A picture from the back corner in the room. As you can see (from the streaks on the tile), I even mopped the floor for you guys before taking these pictures. ;) The corner to the right will eventually have the purple couch I've been upholstering sitting in it. I'll post an updated picture of that for you guys to see soon too. It's going to be BEAUTIFUL when it's finished.

Close-up of my desk/work area (where I'm currently typing out this post). This area is also not 100% complete yet. I need to paint the border to that whiteboard and hang it, and also build some shelves below the desk for storage. That big empty spot above my monitor is going to be left open for now. My goal is to eventually get a tv up there to project images for future sales meetings with clients.

And that's it! This room isn't built for everyone, but it's the most perfect place for me to begin my work with studio lighting and work on any props or projects I have going on. I absolutely love it! Hope you enjoyed! I'll share some before pictures of this space soon too. We had an amazing team of people helping us.

Studio Tour... or not.

2011-12-09T17:48:00.000-06:00

I'm a total teaser. I'm going to have to wait until Monday to do the whole studio tour, but I wanted to share at least a sneak peak! ;)

White Seamless Studio - An Overview

2011-12-08T15:35:00.001-06:00

As promised, today's post will be a fun little overview of the white background setup I've got going on over here. At some point last year, I made it a goal to have a white background setup in our home by the end of 2011. Although, I had my doubts about us going through with it... it happened, and I'm so excited to be here today (before the year 2011 is even over!) sharing it with you.

Here are a couple of unedited, pulled-back shots of the studio setup. In the first 2 photos I only had 1 sheet of white board laying on the ground, but since then (as you will see in the bottom 2 photos) I've added 2 more.
You can see on the sides of the picture below how the reflection of the board gives it a much cleaner, modern look than not having it there at all.

Here are 2 more examples with 3 boards laying down. (More of these photos of Jeevan will be up soon.)

And this one is the 2nd example with 3 boards. These were just fun pictures we took of the girls playing in a couple of the costumes we got. I know some of you are excited to see what kind of stuff was in that room, so I'll be doing more on those soon too!

Be sure to stop back by tomorrow where I'll be back to share more on the studio with the paper rolled up, uncovering all of that beautiful black and white tile.

Folsom Arts and Crafts Fair

2011-12-06T15:48:00.001-06:00

Here with a quick, little update today! I just wanted to take a second and thank everyone who stopped by our booth at the Folsom Arts and Crafts Fair on Saturday. We got to meet SO many new, wonderful faces and I'm so excited to be working with some of you soon! Here's a couple of cell phone pics I snapped of the booth:

We were very blessed to not get hit with winds like so many others did throughout the day. (Could you imagine all that glass flying around? Eh!) We were in the perfect location.

The picture below has been a favorite by most people walking by, so I took a picture up close to show everyone on here. Don't forget, the size of a picture can make such a HUGE difference on the impact it can have on your viewers. This wouldn't have recieve near as much attention had it been smaller.

Stay tuned for more this week! I'll be posting a couple of pictures of my little studio we've been working on.

London

2011-11-29T20:30:00.001-06:00

Miss London was such a doll to work with. It was just about freezing the day of her session, but this little trooper just powered through her pictures. I love love love this baby.

This session was literally thrown together at the very last second. The day after London's grandma found out I was in town, I was at her house doing a session. London's birthday was the following Monday, so grandma wanted to do these as a surprise for mommy. My cousin and I spent the morning at London's house collecting clothes/props to use in the pictures, then we headed over to grandma's to do the pictures. We had so much fun putting all of this together. I love the bright colors of the outdoor ones, and the shabby chic ones inside have a such classic look to me. I love all of these.

Gage

2011-11-18T00:26:00.001-06:00

I fell in love with this kid as soon as I met him. Gage was SO much fun. He was your typical little boy - full of energy and constantly on the move. Through the entire shoot he was running around looking for any sort of stick to break or squirrel to chase. He even brought along his little dino costume to wear in some of the pictures, which of course... was adorable.

At the end of the shoot we also took some SUPER sweet pictures of Gage with mommy, who also just found out she's pregnant with a little girl. :D I'm so so excited for them! I already know she's going to be just beautiful.

Anyway, on with the shoot! Here's a few of my faves. Enjoy and happy Friday!

(His daddy works out with tires. Yes... tires. This is Gage trying to lift them.)

Holiday Mini-Sessions Extended Dates

2011-11-15T12:32:00.001-06:00

I am hard at work preparing the studio for the holiday mini-sessions this Saturday (Nov 19th). We had a successful outing at a craft fair this past weekend, and met quite a few people who expressed interest. I realize that my customers are busy, so I've decided to extend mini-session appointments through the following week (Nov 20-25th). I am doing this to accomodate those who find it difficult to make the Nov 19th date. This means that the main day of holiday mini-sessions will still be Nov 19th, but that I can also accomodate you with specific appointments on Nov 20-25th. Contact me to secure your mini-session on any of the dates listed above! Also, to see more examples of other cards we have available see here, here, and the main post with all of the info about the sessions can be found here. I'll be sharing 2 other cards that will be availiable for you throughout the rest of this week too!

The Short Family

2011-11-14T12:45:00.001-06:00

Quick post coming to you today! Love, love, LOVE this family. Ezra was one of the easiest babies in the world to work with and as an added bonus for me, also had more expression than I've ever seen in one baby. I shared a few more than normal at the bottom so you could see a few of the faces he was making. We were cracking up watching him show off his stuff. Enjoy!

Wes, April & Archer

2011-11-10T12:20:00.001-06:00

Another Texas session! Today we've got Wes, April and Archer on the blog with a family session. These guys are awesome and were so easy and fun to work with. Archer didn't even get his full nap in but was such a trooper through the whole shoot. He is simply adorable and has the most perfect round-shaped, little head I've ever seen!

Don and Jeannie

2011-11-08T13:28:00.001-06:00

It's time to start sharing some of these Texas sessions with you guys! To kick it off, we've got Don and Jeannie up. I mentioned it on Facebook, but they have been married for about 20 years and have never had any professional pictures done together. They came in all the way from Arkansas to do this shoot and it was a complete honor for me to spend a few hours capturing them together. I had so much fun and Jeannie picked the most fantastic and perfectly fitting location for their shoot. I am in love with so many of these...

A Little Girl's Dream...

2011-11-07T11:03:00.000-06:00

So Friday morning my husband and I went to an auction. The story behind it was that a local theatre had abandoned 25 years worth of costumes, props, furniture, etc. and they were going to auction it all off in huge lots. So naturally... we were curious to see what's up. We got there early, walked around and picked out our favorite lots and decided how high we'd go on each. The scary thing about this auction is you couldn't go in the rooms, you had to see it from the door and use your best judgement... But we wanted to take a chance anyway. So when the auction started for the room of women's costumes, we bid... and won ALL of this:

and this:

So now I have all of these sitting in our house. I've estimated (just by looking at it) that there's probably about 1000 pieces or so. I'm still going through it all but I've found some pretty awesome things. I'm very excited about using them for pictures. I feel like a little girl with an endless amount of dress-up clothes. :)

Holiday Mini-Sessions - Wishing You A Joyous Holiday Season

2011-11-02T11:30:00.000-05:00

Halloween is over so it's already time to move on to Christmas, right?! :) We have another card up on the blog today! I love the vintage colors in all of these. I'll be sharing the rest of them more frequently so I can move on to showing you guys what's in store for these mini-sessions. Only 2 1/2 weeks away! I still have room open! :)

In other news, I'm back from Texas and have SO much to share with you guys. Between updating you guys on the mini-sessions, my Texas sessions, and the studio, this blog will be picking up a lot more posts in the next few weeks. Stay tuned!

Also, if you haven't "liked" the Alisha Hurt Photography facebook page yet, come on over! I give little sneak peeks of sessions and other things going on before publishing them here on the blog. Join us!

Maribel -

2011-10-20T20:32:00.000-05:00

Currently writing to you from Texas. I flew in today, got a Potbelly's sandwich and am now currently sitting on my parent's couch with my grandma watching the world series. Life is good.

Remember this contest? Well Maribel here was the winner of that contest, and I must say I couldn't have been happier. These are a few of the beautiful images we took at the capital a couple weeks ago for her quinceanera coming up.

To Maribel - you're gorgeous! Thanks for letting me be a small part of such an important day! Enjoy and good evening, ya'll. ;)

Business up top, party on the ground. She rocked these babies the entire session. :)

Holiday Mini-Sessions - Merry Bright

2011-10-17T13:47:00.000-05:00

It's time to share another holiday card! We've been working hard on getting the stuido finished and we're finally almost ready to move in. I'm so close I can taste it! (Pictures to come.) I've got lots of ideas floating around in my head for these holiday mini-sessions. I can't wait to start building and sharing all the goodness that will be involved. This will be a fun day you don't want to miss out on! Check out the first post for all the details and be sure to sign up soon to secure your spot! Happy Monday! :)

Holiday Mini-Sessions - 'Tis The Season

2011-10-06T15:52:00.000-05:00

For the first time ever, we're going to be offering themed holiday mini-sessions this year - rain or shine! Over the next couple of weeks I'll be showing you the 6 different ADORABLE card layouts we will have to offer and as the day gets closer I'll start sharing more about what the set will look like. This will be our first event that will be hosted in our new indoor home studio here in Lincoln. It will be filled with a vintage, whimsical custom holiday set designed for you, your children, pet, newborn baby, or whole family! Details:

When? Saturday, November 19th

Where? Home studio. (Once you book your spot, I'll send over the address.)

We will be offering 2 options to choose from. Option 1 ($100) includes:

Up to 5 people (pets may be added without subtracting from the 5)
20 minutes
1 outfit
5 images to choose from
25 custom holiday cards with envelopes
1 - 8x10
1 - 5x7

Option 2 ($150) includes all of the above plus:

25 additional custom holiday cards with envelopes (50 total)
50 custom matching return labels

Due to the limited amount of physical space and time, this will only be available for up to 5 people per session. For the amount of attention and energy I prefer to give to each person during a session, I feel that investing in a custom session for larger families would work best.

Email alisha@alishahurt.com to book your spot and stay tuned for more card samples!

The Owen Family

2011-10-05T16:23:00.002-05:00

I love shooting family pictures... especially families with young beautiful children. I'm pretty sure I brag about every child I do a session with, but in all honesty, I really just think all children are beautiful. The Owen kids were no different in my book. They were the real deal. The youngest girl (who had never met me a day in her life before the session) would run up next to me every time we moved to a different spot just so she could grab the end of the rope swing I was carrying so it wouldn't drag the ground. Melted me every time. These guys made my job a piece of cake, and made me love it that much more.

We kicked off the session with the cloud balloon. If you visited us at the Loomis Eggplant Festival (that's right Texans... I said Eggplant. These guys have festivals for every fruit and vegetable you can imagine.), you may have seen this in person... if not, it's 100% real. The base of it is actually a tree planter I got from a local nursery (which we unknowingly ended up getting a booth next to), the buttons were a gift from my sister-in-law, the poles are from Home Depot, the sandbags are made of paper and a couple layers of burlap, the cloud is made of 4 bags of cotton we picked up at an estate sale, and the idea... well, it just popped in my head one day.

Anytime you contact me to schedule a session, I will always ask about your ideas and interests so I can get an idea of what you're looking for in the shoot. For this one, the mom wanted something special for the babies 1-year pictures and then didn't want a specific theme for the rest of the pictures. I loved the outcome. Here are a few favorites:

And we'll end with one of my top favorites that I like to call... Squishy Face.

Painted Vintage Moon

2011-09-21T13:32:00.001-05:00

Here's the finished moon! I can't wait to design some kind of starry background for it. I can just imagine a picture of a little baby laying on the curve down there sleeping. I love it.

Also, have you entered yourself in the contest yet over on the Kids Studio of Fine Arts Facebook page? It's open to EVERYONE (whether I know you or not) within 50 miles or Roseville. This would be a great opportunity for fall family pictures or to win yourself some awesome art classes! Check it out! The contest ends Sunday night!

Studio Sneak Peek

2011-09-20T10:59:00.000-05:00

The more I get to know myself, the more I realize how in love I am with the whimsical side of life. I've always been drawn to the quirky things, but have never really chased it as much as I have been lately. I really think I'm getting close to the niche I've been looking for.

When it came down to deciding what kind of doorway we were going to install for the studio, I, of course, desired something out of the norm. We wanted something fun for the parents AND kids, so we came up with a doorway for each. Although it looks rough right now, it's going to be fantastic once it's all set up.

CONTEST

2011-09-19T14:50:00.000-05:00

Have you been considering getting family pictures taken this fall? Well, now's your chance! The Kids Studio of Fine Arts (located in Roseville, CA) is hosting a contest over on their Facebook page this week and Alisha Hurt Photography is the grand prize! I'm new to the area so there aren't many people in the Northern California region who are familiar with me yet. This could be an easy win for one lucky person! You'd be crazy not to try! The prize is awesome.

All you have to do is:

1. Be located within 50 miles of Roseville, CA.

2. "Like" both Alisha Hurt Photography and the Kids Studio of Fine Arts Facebook pages.

3. Tell your friends to "Like" both of our pages, and get them to comment on the Kids Studio of Fine Arts Facebook page and say you referred them. So, for example, they would just have to say, "Sally G. sent me.".

The person with the most referrals wins! The contest will run 7 days, and will end on Sunday, September 25th at 11:59pm.

The Prizes are as follows:

First Prize:

Children, Family, Senior, Newborn, Love, or Maternity Session with Alisha Hurt AND
1 - 16x24 print
5- 8x10's
5 - 5x7's
10 - 4x6's

Total Value: $450!

For more information on me, my portfolio, or how my sessions typically run, please feel free to check out my website:
http://www.alishahurt.com/

Second Prize:
4 FREE Art Classes (for either a child or adult) at Kids Studio of Fine Arts

Value: $89.00!

Third Prize:
$20.00 Starbucks Gift Card

Value: Priceless :)

I'm off to work on some new props. Tomorrow I'll share a studio sneak peek. Enjoy your day and good luck!

New Cards and Props

2011-09-07T14:38:00.000-05:00

There's been lots going on the past couple weeks here. First up, I just got in some customized thank you and care for your prints and canvas cards I can now include with your orders!

And secondly, I've been working on lots of new props for shoots. This one in particular is a 4-foot moon cut out of wood. I'll be picking it up from the friend who painted the face tomorrow. I'll be "over the moon" excited to use it. ;)

I'm sure there will be more to share soon. The studio is looking AWESOME and I've been working really hard on a themed shoot that will take place sometime within the next couple of months... Although, I won't share what it is until a later day. :)

New Prop - 6' Ruler

2011-08-25T14:16:00.002-05:00

I'm going to start making some of my own props. If it's an easy project I'll share DIY tips along with it (like this one). A couple weeks ago Shaun and I made a 6' ruler (inspired by this.) Instead of spending $150 buying one, we spent about $10 making one. It was super easy, and turned out very cute. I imagine it would be cute to use for back to school pictures (perhaps paired with my old lockers and over sized apple?) or even just to use for a kids growth chart.

We started with a plain 6' board we bought at home depot for about $10. We could have gotten it without knots but it would have cost a lot more and we would have had to cut it. (Plus if I really want them gone I can easily remove the spots in PS, so it wasn't a big deal for me to have them. )

Shaun started by measuring and drawing all of the lines in pencil and permanent marker.

I printed out the numbers and penciled over the back of them,

the flipped it, lined it up and drew over the top of each number.

...so it looked like this.

Then, I took black paint and painted over all of the lines and numbers.

(This was the most time consuming part, since it involved so much detail.)

Here it is after painting in the lines and numbers...

And here's the finished product after a few coats of wood finisher on it...

and without the knots...

The End.

Coming Soon...

2011-08-23T13:10:00.000-05:00

Behind these walls is the future home of the Alisha Hurt Photography indoor studio. I'm very excited. Updates to come!

I'll be sharing a fun prop tomorrow! Stay tuned!

Paint Brush Installation

2011-08-10T13:50:00.001-05:00

Remember these dipped brushes? We installed them! YAY!

They're the first thing you see when you walk in the door. They make me happy. :)

10 Bad Habits & Guilty Pleasures

2011-08-05T12:20:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday! Today I thought I'd share a few of the fun, bad, quirky habits I have.

1. I always sit with my feet up while I'm working. I can do this for hours.

2. I consume too. much. cereal on a daily basis.

3. My guilty pleasure movies are Pride and Prejudice, The Devil Wears Prada,

and just about any sappy romantic movie from the 50's.

4. I listen to music all day, every day. Not an exaggeration.

5. Although my job is to take pictures, I hardly take any of myself. Aren't photographers notorious for this?

6. I save up loads of laundry for a day when I can do all of it while watching one of my guilty pleasure movies on this oh-so-comfy couch.

7. Shaun and I talk online every day at work. We've been doing it for about 3 years now.

8. Coffee. 'Nuff said.

9. I collect oversized objects. Weird? I know.

My latest addition are 3 huge safety pins (courtesy of my awesome sister-in-law).

10. I have yet to get any of my own personal photos printed or hung up in my house,

but I have no problem encouraging other people to do it.

Your turn! What are some of yours? I wanna hear!

Gavin and Aowyn - Roseville, CA

2011-08-03T11:21:00.001-05:00

9 times out of 10 if someone asks me what to wear in pictures I'm going to say bright colors. I can't stress enough how much fun a bold color can add to photos. When I mentioned this to Moriah, she told me she had a big rainbow patio umbrella, so we decided to just play off of that and ended up using a small, simple array of colorful items, including her AWESOME cake pops. (Seriously, if you're in Sacramento area and are needing some delicious desserts, check her out.) I had so much fun with these 2 dolls! Enjoy!

California Sunsets

2011-08-02T10:58:00.000-05:00

I can't quite lay my finger on it, but there's something incredibly magical about the sunsets here in Cali.

The Past 2 Weeks

2011-08-01T18:03:00.001-05:00

My best friend just left after being in town for the past 2 weeks. Some of the things we did were...

Take an overnight trip to Santa Cruz with some friends. We walked on the boardwalk, ate too much junk food, went on some roller coasters, then crashed at an adorable cabin on the river.

We spent the next Sunday at the park after church playing with playdough and watching baseball.

We took a day trip to Reno for a cool vintage shop, then on to Tahoe to finish out the day.

Another day we hit up the Denios Farmer's Market. Yummm...

We traveled to Fort Bragg and camped for 4 days. We spent the days riding our bikes to the beach, kayaking, searching through tide pools, and watched the waves swell up and down in the distance. The evenings we spent watching the sunset, eating awesome camp food, sitting around campfires and eating s'mores. It was awesome.

Also did a last minute stop in Mendocino on the way out. It's a cute artist colony right on the ocean. Everything there was just beautiful.

This summer is flying by. I can't believe it's already August! Anyone do anything fun this Summer?

I have a fun shoot to share with you in the coming days. Stay tuned! :)

And so it begins...

2011-07-21T12:11:00.000-05:00

We've finally cleaned out my future studio room enough to start remodeling. Here we go!

Camille - Lincoln, CA

2011-07-15T16:52:00.002-05:00

Took some pictures of this cutie yesterday in my new prop - a vintage stroller. I love love love this baby's sweet eyes. Enjoy!

Below: the itsy bitsy spider

It's true...

2011-07-14T15:32:00.000-05:00

I have become one of "those" people.

Brinner and Postcards

2011-07-12T15:12:00.001-05:00

I was visiting some friends earlier this year and one of them asked if "brinner" was ok for dinner. I said, "what?" and he said, "breakfast for dinner" (as if I was supposed to know what that means?). Anyway, we ate some brinner last night. It was delicious. Below is not a picture from last nights dinner, but I've had it for a while and thought, why not make a post about eating brinner and use it there? Because I know that's why you guys come here... to hear about what I eat every night.

In other news... I got 500 of these 5x7 cards in yesterday to use around town.

I'm happy with how they turned out. Now I have some location scouting to do. I have 2 shoots lined up this week!

Yellow Room - Mary Poppins and Peter Pan

2011-07-08T12:56:00.000-05:00

I want little magical details scattered throughout this room. This is the Mary Poppins corner.

I also did a cut out of Peter Pan's shadow and put it in the lamp so when you turn it on you get this:

I think it's one of my favorite details in the room right now.

Happy Friday!

My 25th Birthday

2011-07-07T18:06:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my 25th birthday. My day started with a scavenger hunt that eventually led me to...

this HUGE disco ball... (!!!)

that I can now add to my small, growing collection.

Harper was just as mesmerized with the small one as I was with the big one.

We played with it more last night once it got dark. It lit up the room with sparkles. So fun!

On a random note: I also scored 3 of these massive buttons while we were out last night.

and I finally found my fabric for my couch this morning. It reminds me of Willy Wonka.

I have a couple pictures of the yellow room I'll post tomorrow. I have to get ready for upholstery now! Good evening everyone! :D

Paint Brushes Painted

2011-06-24T12:36:00.000-05:00

After numerous sessions of dipping and spraying these babies, I finally got them 100% white.

Then, I took my colors...

mixed them up...

and dipped all 70 brushes.

Now all I need to do is arrange and install them on the wall... but that needs to be painted first.

Fail | Win

2011-06-23T18:25:00.000-05:00

Fail: I'm sick. Not really sure if it's just really bad allergies or a sinus infection, but I haven't been able to breathe out my nose since I woke up. I spent the majority of the day making homemade whole wheat garlic knots, and then eating them while watching America's Next Top Model online. (Don't judge me.)

Win: Because I'm ill, my adorable husband brought me home every flavor of Yoplait the store had to offer. I like him a lot.

Fail: I've been waiting a whole year for my Easter Lily to bloom. When it finally did, it died after being opened for like, 2 days. All of the petals, and pollen gradually fell off until it looked like this...

This is what it should look like. I think I might have burned it in the sun or something.

Win: Shaun also got me new flowers!

Win Win: 6 of them bloomed today! YAY! Here's in hopes that I can keep these alive...

I'll have an update on the paint brushes tomorrow and hopefully another shoot up sometime next week.

It's been too long!

What is Heaven going to be like?

2011-06-16T15:13:00.000-05:00

Another video post. A deep discussion with two hilarious and adorable girls:

A Year Through Video

2011-06-14T20:05:00.001-05:00

Around this time last year I decided to start a yearly project where I collect the little video clips Shaun and I take and combine them after a year was up. Most of the time while I'm out running around, it's pretty hard carrying around a big, awkward, heavy camera so I usually (especially on vacation) either won't have it on me, can't get it out in time, or would rather not in case I damage it. Soooo instead, Shaun or I usually have this little Kodak video camera on us that we'll whip out when needed.

Here's a year in 4 minutes and 44 seconds taken from June 11, 2010 - June 11, 2011.
Song: Perpetuum Mobile by Penguin Cafe Orchestra

I'm really glad I did this. It makes me want to slow down and have a little more fun in all of the every day moments of life. If anyone wants to join in, I'm starting a new year! :D

Paint Brushes

2011-06-10T11:54:00.000-05:00

I've been working on a project (inspired by this) that will be installed when you first walk in our house. Across from this is a room that will soon become my office/indoor shooting space. Very excited to get the ball rolling!

10 Things - Cell Phone

2011-06-08T12:03:00.001-05:00

So... I JUST figured out how to get my pictures off of my cell phone. I'm one of the few people left who doesn't have internet access on their phone, so I have to transfer them... like... with a card. Anyway, it's only taken me a year, which means I have pictures saved up. Here are 10 things that I really enjoy(ed) over the past year. :)

Walking my dog. I love while we're strolling along and she glances up at me every once in a while to see if it's still me.

These perfume bottles! I want all of them. (We threw the hand in to show proportion.)

Getting ready for creative shoots. It's ultimately what I'd like to do with my photography.

My hot chocolate from Bloom on Friday. Yummy!

Anthropologie's winter display... ::sigh::

Seeing this in San Fransisco last year. SO cool!

Working on my couch. This is the latest. I'm fixing to start on the fabric!

"The lion who stole christmas" according to my nephew Javan.

Our painted rock. An artist/friend we know painted this for us. It makes me happy.

Our reception cake from last year made by Moriah. Each layer was a different flavor - strawberry, lemon and chocolate). YUMMmmmm

DIY Glitter Shoes

2011-06-02T13:34:00.003-05:00

I spotted this DIY here a few days ago and wanted to try it out. I had these old black heals laying around that I haven't worn in years, so I grabbed them and went to work. I didn't take any before or during pictures but I did show the glitter I used for mine. (I think it's just slightly different from the I Spy DIY tutorial.) Anyway, it was way fun, and now I want to cover everything I own in glitter. hmmm.....

Wearing the same color tights as the suitcase and glitter sticker was unintentional... I promise. :)

My couch is coming along nicely! I just painted it white and will start putting fabric on soon. Still trying to find the right color though...

Little Miss Lucy

2011-05-13T15:47:00.002-05:00

About a year ago I did a post on this little cutie here. (I'm pretty sure she was less than a year old when we took them, and then I just took forever posting them.) Anyway, yesterday I got to watch her for a little bit so I of course, wanted to take pictures. How could anyone resist a face like this? Seriously, I know you're all thinking this child is a doll, but her personality is just as cute as she is. I LOVE this kid!

I combined a couple of pictures from the old post because they looked similar to some we took yesterday. She's getting so big!

Below: She spotted an airplane.

Below: She was waiting for me to give her an M&M.

Taking Care of Business/Yosemite

2011-05-09T19:04:00.000-05:00

It seems like all I've been posting lately are landscape photos, but that's pretty much all I've been shooting, so what you see is what you get. :) No seriously though... I've been taking care of business. Literally. It hasn't been the most fun thing in the world to do but I know I'll be extremely happy once it's all finished and I can (sort of) go on cruise control for a while.

In other news - 2 weeks ago we went to Yosemite. I took this picture on the way up to the Upper Falls. It's a cool picture, and you must be thinking, "Wow, she must have had an awesome view from up there". Well... I would have, except for the fact that I just constantly stared at my feet the entire way up. I'm not an expert hiker (what am I saying? I'm not even a moderate hiker right now...) but I saw a man not only running down the mountain, but running down the mountain with NO SHOES ON. Why in the world? Why? That's all I wanted to know... Anyway, I claimed to have died about 10 times on the way up from shortness of breath and leg numbness, but overall it was pretty. (not pretty fun... just pretty.) I also learned on this hike that my cousin who was with us (but we didn't actually see until we reached the top) is really a mountain goat.

I have more pictures, and I'll probably be sharing them later but for now I must get back to work. Happy Monday!

Stick Art

2011-04-25T13:27:00.000-05:00

One of the stops on my trip to Texas last month was Waco, Texas. While there, we went crusing through town and stopped at these whimsical beehive looking sculptures. All of these are made entirely out of sticks. See more from the artist, Patrick Dougherty, here. Truely inspiring.

Snow Day With Harper

2011-04-19T11:21:00.000-05:00

While most photographers blog about their children, I blog about my dog. Mostly because I don't have children... but even if I did I think I would still probably blog about my dog. Anyway, We had our first snow day with Harper last weekend in Tahoe; I think she enjoyed it. She got to do what I would imagine most dogs would want to do in the snow. She got to...

sit in the snow... stand in the snow...

stare in the snow...

sniff in the snow...

run with a pine cone in the snow...

jump in the snow... jump in the snow while eating the snow...

and find buried treasures in the snow.

All in all... I think she had a pretty good day.

Upholstery

2011-04-15T13:32:00.000-05:00

It's very refreshing to have something different to focus on once in a while. Right now, for me, that's upholstery. Every Thursday night now for a couple of months (give or take a few weeks) I've been going up to see Larry, my teacher. Larry has been doing upholstery for YEARS now. He taught himself at a young age, and just practiced and practiced until he got really good at the craft. I'm just continually amazed every time I enter their house at all of the detail he has put into each and every piece of furniture. I'm pretty sure every couch, chair or wooden piece in their home has been somehow recovered, refinished, or totally made from scratch by him. He does an amazing job, and I'm so excited to be able to learn from him.

The couch above was once covered with a dull pink velvet fabric, and I've finally gotten it down to the bare bones. Of course I said it's nice to have something different to focus on, but I, of course, plan to use it for photography. :) The frame will be a semi-gloss white and I'm still deciding on the fabric color. I was thinking either a darker royal purple, or royal blue... but I'm still unsure. Any thoughts? Who knows, I may completely change my mind when I actually see all the fabric in person. All I do know, is when it's finished, it will be beautiful.

The husband and I are heading up to Tahoe for the next couple of days. A vacation, I do believe, is most definitely in order. Happy Friday!

Jessica

2011-04-07T15:45:00.000-05:00

For the past hour or so I've been working on tax stuff, so it's really refreshing to stop and look at this sweet little face for a few minutes. Jessica is a niece to a really good friend of mine, so while I was in Texas we did a little mini-session with her. She is the sweetest little thing ever, and she was a breeze to work with.

Below you'll also see mommy and her releasing a little blue balloon together. Kim had unfortunately lost her baby boy pretty far along in her pregnancy a few years ago, so in memory of him, she wanted to do a little something special. I always love it when people come to the table with their own ideas. It makes the photos that much more precious. These were such wonderful girls to work with! Here are a few of my favorites:

Ellie

2011-04-06T12:26:00.000-05:00

I just finished editing my last session from my Texas trip. I have another adorable girl to share with you later this week, but today you guys get to meet the Baileys.

I always think I've found the cutest kid in the world, and then I find another one that just completely melts my heart. Ellie was pretty shy when we first started, but we gradually opened her up more and more. I love all of her little expressions. She has such a beautiful little face and the cutest dimples EVER. Her smile was well worth working for.

I'm pretty sure my heart skipped a beat when they walked up in these outfits...

Spring

2011-04-04T14:51:00.000-05:00

It finally feels like Spring outside. I opened the windows as soon as we got back, and haven't closed them since. I don't know about you guys, but I've been ready for warmer weather for some time now.

In other news, I got a new computer, photoshop upgrade, and a few new props from Texas that I'm really excited to use. I've been working on some adorable pictures that I'll be sharing soon, and I plan on doing another camera lesson hopefully sometime this week!

McAlisters

2011-03-29T12:37:00.002-05:00

I'll be sharing more from these two cuties next week. I just somehow managed to forget that I'm going back to Texas again tomorrow so I won't be posting anymore this week. Anyway, I had so much fun with this family. Renae wants to do her boys pictures every year around their birthdays and our schedules happened to match up around Jake's (blonde) birthday so while I was in Texas we got together. Of course we picked the coldest day of the entire trip to shoot on, but these two boys were such troopers! We had planned to do all of the pictures outdoors, but due to the weather we took a detour and we ended up in a laundry mat at one point (shown below) but it all seemed to work out! Here are a few of my favorite.

Hide and Seek

2011-03-28T16:06:00.000-05:00

This little series put a smile on my face. More to come on this kiddo (and his brother) this week!

This Face

2011-03-25T14:22:00.000-05:00

I missed this face while I was gone... I love her little ears.

Ezra - Part 3

2011-03-24T13:36:00.000-05:00

Bookshelf Baby - Part 2

2011-03-23T11:28:00.000-05:00

I have one other version of this concept to show you tomorrow.

Bookshelf Baby

2011-03-22T19:06:00.000-05:00

Austin

2011-03-22T12:46:00.000-05:00

I'm Back!

2011-03-21T17:54:00.000-05:00

I've returned from my trip safe and sound. I'm still recovering from the lack of sleep and time change, but all is well. I have so much fun stuff to show you guys, including my new little cousin, Ezra. He's as cute as a button! Stay tuned for more! I'll be posting daily as I edit.

Leavin' for Texas

2011-03-02T10:11:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow I'll be flying out to the great state of Texas where I'll be bouncing around for the next 2 weeks. I'm going to try to keep up with e-mails while I'm there but I won't be posting here on the blog until I get back. I'll be bringing back lots of "eye candy" for you guys though, so sit tight! Chow ya'll.

Rain Day

2011-03-01T10:34:00.000-06:00

We had a big rain day last week. Harper and I were stuck inside.

Eventually the rain stopped so I went outside. (No, I don't wear these shorts in public. I paint in them.)

While outside in my hott shorts, I took a picture of this bush hanging over the fence I've been eyeing.

I'll now have it forever.

Pocket Watch

2011-02-25T13:11:00.000-06:00

Side Note: The first camera 101 lesson will come on Monday. (which is still in Febraury I'd like to add. I never said when in Feb I would start, did I?) Happy Friday! :)

Willy Wonka Office

2011-02-24T10:42:00.000-06:00

Have you seen Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? Not the Johnny Depp version, the original. Of course you have. Anyway, do you remember Mr. Wonka's office at the end of the movie where everything is cut in half? That's what I'm going to do to our house. Slice it up. Ok, no I'm not. But I did get Shaun to cut this old chair and desk (which is unfinished) in half for the yellow room. Will it actually be used as a desk? No, of course not. But will it look good sitting in the corner? Yes. Yes it will.

"We are the music makers... and we are the dreamers of dreams." -Willy Wonka

San Diego Coastline

2011-02-23T12:41:00.002-06:00

Balance

2011-02-22T14:13:00.000-06:00

Sky Polaroids

2011-02-16T13:38:00.000-06:00

Dug these out of a box. Oh how I miss polaroid film.

(Side note: When I took the bottom left picture, Shaun and I were playing "find the cloud figures". Do you see the man? Creepy.)

True Emotion

2011-02-15T17:50:00.000-06:00

In my opinion, nothing beats true emotion in photography. It's the hardest to catch but becomes the most rewarding and powerful when you do. I'm currently sitting here editing a session and I came across these two photos. I normally don't have a problem choosing between two similar images, but I just couldn't separate these and I couldn't figure out why. After studying them for a minute or so, I finally realized it's because in the 1st image, it looks like the grandpa made the grandson laugh, but then in the 2nd it looks reversed. It's almost the same image, taken back-to-back, but it appears to have two different outcomes. I love them both.

Valentine's Day!

2011-02-14T16:51:00.002-06:00

Part of my V-Day present: Creative Cakes by Moriah SO good!

Happy Valentine's Day!

A Thank You - creativeLIVE | Tamara Lackey Children Portrait Contest

2011-01-31T11:19:00.001-06:00

To those who have been voting their heads off for me, I'm sure you've gotten to the point of rather wanting to launch the baby out of the spoon (and let it land on a soft, fluffy bed of clouds) than look at this picture again. However, since this post is about the contest, I didn't think you would mind. (I also thought it would just be confusing to put a different picture with this...)

Anyway, I wrote to many of you who have been voting for me, but I also wanted to make a public thank you to all of those I don't know who have given me their support. I wanted to do it before the contest ended so you know whether I win or not that I am truly thankful for each of you. I said in my thank you that I sent out that the encouragement I've gotten from this has just blown me away. It's been a prize in and of itself... and I really mean that. I now feel like I can take on anything. (Pro-wrestling even crossed my mind for a second, but I'm afraid most of them eat meals the size of me for breakfast, so I opted to just stick with photography.)

I normally don't enter photo contests, (this is actually the first I've ever done). I'm fairly shy so it's not really my style to put myself out there so much to be judged, but for the amount of equipment that's being given away (by creativeLIVE, Tamara Lackey, and Wescott) I thought I would give it a try. Now, thanks to you all, I'm ending among the top that have entered. :)

I would really like to win this, and thanks to you all, I, (along with some other rad photographers) have a shot. So seriously... Thank you again and again. I can't say it enough.

Winner will be announced Friday. I'll let you know how it goes.

Lana - Purple Scarf

2011-01-24T13:26:00.001-06:00

I clearly put a lot of deep thought into the title of this post. Really. It took me about 10 minutes to get to where I am now. I started with "Lady in the Purple Scarf" but my mind went to Lady in Red (by Chris DeBurgh). I then proceeded with "Lana in the Purple Scarf" but that just made me think of someone who thought of Lady in Red, and changed it to Lana in Red (but with a purple scarf). Make sense? That's ok. In conclusion, I have learned 3 things.

1. I'm not a good writer.
2. That purple scarf and those green eyes compliment each other very well.
3. I think this post would have been much more profound if I would have just left it alone.

Early Morning Balloons

2011-01-18T12:57:00.000-06:00

Reno Hot Air Balloon Race -2010 - Taken sometime in the early morning.

(The stars are real. It was actually darker outside than it appears in the picture. I just lightened and gave it a little vintage coloring in post processing to make it a bit more interesting.)

William

2011-01-06T13:15:00.000-06:00

BEAUTIFUL baby

Lana - Snow

2011-01-03T16:50:00.000-06:00

Took a few minutes out of our sledding trip last week to shoot a few pictures. There was a snow storm the day before, so we had a fresh coat when we arrived. The whole time I couldn't get over how beautiful it was. I've never seen that much snow at once. Anyway, here are a couple favorites:

I'm already brainstorming more things to do this winter... Watch out.

The Mystery

2010-12-20T11:43:00.000-06:00

“Photography deals exquisitely with appearances, but nothing is what it appears to be.” Duane Michals

On a whim, I just googled "photography quotes" and came across the above. I think it's well suited for the photo. You have no idea what this little girl looks like, what she was thinking, or what she was doing when I took it. I think that's part of the beauty of photography...

the mystery behind it all...

Family Session - The Fancher's

2010-12-15T20:43:00.000-06:00

There's something so magical about family photos. I just love seeing the real connection, love, and comfort people have with one another. It's beautiful.

Speaking of... I adored this session. This family is wonderful, and were so much fun to work with. I look at these pictures and imagine them looking back on them in 20 years and smiling thinking about all of the good times they had together as kids. They got a lot of "classic" shots and I'm happy to share a few of them with you here this fine evening. Enjoy!

Harper

2010-12-10T13:28:00.002-06:00

For months now, I've been dying to have a puppy. Who wouldn't want an adorable little furry thing following them around all of the time... right? So, Shaun and I looked and looked for one online, but had agreed we would wait until we returned from Thanksgiving to get one. So about a week ago from today, we found this adorable little girl, fell in love, and went and picked her up. So without further adieu, meet Harper - a Lab/Border Collie (Borador) mix:Now that you've seen how cute she is, don't let that face deceive you. For the past week now, she's completely taken over our lives. I haven't had a puppy since I was a kid, (and who am I kidding... even then, I wasn't the one who was actually taking care of the dog). This dog wants to chew on EVERYTHING. She bites and eats everything she shouldn't, and then not to mention the potty training... Oh dear. I've said "NO" more times in the past week than I have in all of my days combined on this earth. I'm now convinced God made puppies cute for a reason. ::pauses to stop her from eating the bath mat::

However, (now that I've made her sound like a little devil)... overall, minus her bad habits, she's actually been pretty fun. She comes from two intelligent breeds, so she's been catching on fairly quickly. She's learned how to play fetch already... with bribery of course, and I can tell she overall wants to please us so I think with a little more training, she'll be just fine. Until then though... wish us luck. : /

Senior Session - Regan

2010-12-08T22:21:00.001-06:00

About a month ago, Regan and I got to spend an afternoon together shooting her senior pictures around the Loomis/Auburn area. Overall, Regan is pretty stinkin' awesome. She's adorable, mellow, and a genuinely down-to-earth, sweet person. Plus, as you will see below, she's in love with Peter Pan. I'm not sure there's a better way to spend a Monday afternoon! (It's ok, we're all thinking it. Just say it... I'm a nerd.)

Personal - A Busy Bee and Yellow Room

2010-11-15T14:17:00.001-06:00

The busy season is getting the best of me right now, and doesn't seem to be slowing down anytime soon. It seems like I've spent more time behind the camera than in front of my computer here lately and my to-do list is now currently taking me all the way through December. Normally I would be completely stressed out by this point, but I'm just looking at the positive side of it all: I have a job that I love and will keep me busy, I get to hang out with happy families, and adorable little children when I work, AND I get to share all of it with you. :) Anyway, I said all of that to just say that I'm still here and I have lots of beautiful faces to share with you all in the coming weeks.

On another note, Shaun and I finally had a day off together, so we decided to start tackling one of the guest bedrooms. I haven't done a whole lot of decorating to the house yet since I've moved in, but hopefully I'll be able to set aside some time to do a little nesting here and there in the coming months. Anyway, We painted this room yellow... I'm sorry... I mean YELLOW. It's so bright that it pours over and makes the hallway glow with the door open too. Just standing in it makes me happy. :)

As you can tell by the corner, we're not done with it yet. We've put two coats on and it still needs a third. A cousin of mine recommended just putting the 1st coat on thick, and I did... but it still needed more, so we did a 2nd coat and it STILL needed more. (I'm thinking I should have just started with primer in it.) I took this picture about 2 hours ago, so as of this morning, here's what it looks like: (Side Note: We had already put the bed together in the room before we started painting and we weren't fixing to disassemble it again, so we just moved it around while painting. I obviously thoroughly thought this process through from start to finish.)

As you can kind of see from the bed, it's going to be a quirky/Alice in Wonderland/fairy tale themed room. I already have tons of fun stuff to put in it, and I'll hopefully be sharing some of it with you as it comes together. Happy Monday!

WWW.ALISHAHURT.COM

2010-11-05T15:00:00.001-05:00

After weeks and weeks of waiting, I finally launched my new site. Check it out.

Dreamy Collection

2010-10-29T16:23:00.000-05:00

I really like the eyes shut/dreamy styled pictures and I just recently noticed how many are in my portfolio. It makes me happy seeing them together.

Family Session - The Nelson's

2010-10-19T17:54:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday I had the opportunity to do this adorable family session. I've been busy trying to finish up a wedding before I head to Texas later this week, so I haven't gotten a chance to go through all of the pictures yet, but I got excited and wanted to share a few. Here are the first ones to catch my eye at a glance. Enjoy!

Side Note: I LOVE all of the fall colors they chose with the denim. I'm always a fan of bold, bright and simple. I think they hit the nail on the head.

Above: I love the four different expressions I got here.

I think the instructions were, "stand there, face me, and hold up your scepter".

Above: They were "controlling" the ball. :)

Peter, Wendy and John

2010-10-08T14:04:00.001-05:00

As part of the Degough family pictures, we did some photos of just the kids. Their room is in the workings of being Peter Pan themed so Tifany decided to go ahead and make some costumes to match. Here are my favorite so far:

John got tired of wearing his outfit, so Peter put it on. I love the way this kid is captured on camera.

Sidewalk Chalk!

2010-10-06T11:11:00.000-05:00

We were lucky enough to find a big solid shaded spot (with no lines) to do these in. I love them!

Side Note: My scheduled post for tomorrow will most likely be pushed back until Friday due to a busy day. However, it will be a good one, full of cuteness overload (and all terms related to that). Happy Wednesday!

Family Session - The Degough's

2010-10-05T11:34:00.000-05:00

This is my sister-in-law and her BEAUTIFUL family. I'm considering posting on this family every day this week... Stay tuned for more!

A Wish Upon a Star

2010-10-04T12:12:00.000-05:00

Website Update

2010-09-30T12:48:00.000-05:00

I've been working non stop for the past few days on a new site (which has also put me behind on my hot air balloon post). My back hurts, my eyes hurt, and my brain hurts, but I'm very excited about it. It's clean, simple, and really easy to navigate. Also, as a bonus, it will come with private online proofing galleries and a shopping cart. I'll be transferring a lot of old stuff, there will be some new stuff with new "life" to it, and some stuff no one has ever seen before. If everything goes according to plan, it will be up and running soon!

Also, I was just cleaning off my card and found this. I recently installed these lamp shades above our bed. I got the idea from a little store around here, but took it a little further and added a bunch of crystals to them. Every morning when the sun breaks through the windows, little rainbows are reflected all over the room. I'm far from a morning person, so these little gems give me a good jump start to my day. :)

Cassie and Jeremy Wedding: Sneak Peek

2010-09-20T15:00:00.000-05:00

I normally don't post a lot of wedding photos on my blog, especially since I just announced that I was no longer booking weddings, but I'm having too much fun editing this particular one. Cassie set aside an hour after her and Jeremy's first sighting of each other on their wedding day to go out and take pictures together. We managed to hit up about 5 locations around Waco within about 45 minutes. (Not to mention it was over 100 degrees outside.) This is just a portion of the pictures from that little section of the day. There are so many beautiful ones, but I didn't want to overload my blog with all of them. They were completely adorable together and Cassie looked absolutely STUNNING. Here are some of my favorites:

I also created a new header at the top for easier navigation to my website/facebook/blog. The "tape" on the photo of Meredith is from Pugly Pixel.

Life...

2010-09-14T13:46:00.000-05:00

is beautiful.

My Story

2010-09-10T17:14:00.003-05:00

Hey again! So here's my 2nd post of the week. The post where I talk about all of the new and exciting things happening around here (or at least with Alisha Hurt Photography). It's going to be long, so sit down, buckle up, and hang on tight. If somehow you manage to get through the whole thing, thank you for your patience. I'll give you a cookie or something.

Here we go! A little background info: I've spent most of the past 6 years (wow, has it really been that long?) learning, practicing, trying, failing, practicing, trying again, succeeding, learning, and failing, over and over again. I get asked often how I got started in photography, so I'll explain that here too. I'm a self-taught photographer. Growing up, I always had a throw away camera on me (that's all I could afford) and then when I graduated high school my parents bought me a little digital point and shoot camera. At that point, I still had no idea I would ever do anything with it. It was just fun. Anyway, I went to a junior college for two and a half years and then dropped out (or just didn't go back after my 6th semester). For the first semester or year (I don't remember), I had no idea what I wanted to do. I grew up in a really artistic/crafty family, so I always thought I would do something in the arts, but I also knew I didn't want to be a starving artist, so I wouldn't major in just art.

While at school, I was mostly taking all of the basic courses, with a couple art classes thrown in there. Then, in one of my classes, I met a girl who was majoring in graphic arts and photography, so I decided I would just major in that since I couldn't decide on anything else. I started the program, but didn't finish because I got offered a job in Dallas at a law firm (I know, random). Anyway, by the time I had quit, I had only taken one black and white, film photography class and a few graphic art classes. I managed to learn the basics in photography (and pay for the book that costs more than my right arm) to get me started.

It never bothered me that I didn't finish. School was never my "thing" and my parents never pushed me to stay and graduate (which I'm thankful for). I don't learn well in a classroom setting, I'm too shy to ask questions, and with art it's mostly the talent that gets you through your job anyway. I've always been happy with my decision. (Side Note: I hope this isn't discouraging anyone from going to college. College is a good thing for most, God just took me another direction.)

So that puts us up to about mid 2006 now?

At this point, I had already gotten a better camera and had been taking jobs from people on and off. I would spend hours and hours on the computer learning Photoshop. (That can be the most frustrating program in the world if you don't know what you're doing, I know. This is where the schooling would have been nice, but that's ok. I managed.) While this was all going on, I managed to move pretty much all over the DFW area until I finally decided I was going to just move to Dallas since I had to commute there everyday anyway. So, I signed a lease on an apartment in Uptown, fell in love with it, and decided I would stay there a while. While I was there, two of the jobs I was asked to shoot were out in California (about a year apart) which is where I met and fell in love with my future husband, who would then move me off to California, thousands of miles from my little life in Dallas, TX.

So I say all of this to put me to 2010. In the past year that I've been here, I've just been working on adjusting to the new life, soaking up the gorgeous weather (while trying not to burn my pasty white skin), and slowly starting up my business here. I find it interesting looking back this far, from where I came from. I can definitely see God's hand in my life. If I wouldn't have quit school, moved to Dallas, became best friends with Wana Banana, I would have never met and married Shaun, who moved me to Northern California where I'm basically starting from scratch again (just with a bigger portfolio.) :) Anyway, I'm loving the experience and I'm really excited to see where it goes.

There are a lot of changes in the midst happening right now. I'm currently in the process of getting a business license, website update, blog update, and working on getting a printing lab so I can start doing all of the printing through me. For various reasons, I'm also going to discontinue shooting weddings. I feel like my work is much stronger in other areas, and I'd like to put all of my focus into those categories. I've come a long way, and I know I still have a long way to go. Thank you to all of my fans out there who have been following me for some time now. You guys are precious to me and I wouldn't have made it this far this fast without all of your support.

Last weekend, we went up to our cousin's parent's house. They live at about 5000ft elevation so you can imagine how bright the stars are up there. Shaun and I decided we were going to go out and take pictures of the stars, so we drove out to the darkest spot we knew of, parked, and then ended up mostly playing with the headlamp they gave us to watch where we were going. The image above and this one below were my favorite pictures. Shaun would make stuff up and draw it, and I would just take the pictures. I normally wouldn't put the last one on here, but I thought it was pretty creative/funny. I had no idea what he was doing until he posed with the light on him. He had to walk and turn on and off the light with each "lazer" you see, and then he drew the gun really fast and posed with the light on him all within about 20-25 seconds.

Also, (wow this is the longest post in history.) I woke up Saturday morning and Shaun said he had a surprise for me. I ran downstairs to find this on the ceiling:

A little homemade hot air balloon with a letter inviting me to this. :) We leave EARLY tomorrow morning. So early, I'm not even sure if I should go to sleep tonight. We'll see how long I make it. I'm sure I'll post pictures soon so watch out!

If you made it this far, I owe you a lifetime supply of cookies.

Jake and Jennifer Ashley

2010-09-07T12:14:00.003-05:00

Some good friends of mine, Jake and Jenny, have decided to get anniversary pictures taken every year around their wedding date. Jenny is one of those people everyone needs a little bit of in their life. She's very energetic, positive, and fun. I think I could count on my little hands the number of times I've seen the girl without a smile on her face. She's fantastic and I'm very thankful to have her in my life. This year, she managed to integrate balloons, a picnic, a dog in a bow tie, a tutu, feathers, and paint all in the same session. All of these ideas were hers, I just got the honored privilege of recording them. Enjoy. :)

Side Note: I'll probably be doing another most personal post this week to update everyone on my business. I'm very excited about the direction it's heading. Stay tuned for more!

It's almost here...

2010-09-01T16:13:00.002-05:00

I can feel it.

A Moment in Time

2010-08-26T16:58:00.010-05:00

I decided to decorate our family room with old pictures, so I've been collecting them from various people in our family. These are some of my favorites. I think what I'm most drawn to about them is they're all candid; or if they are posed, it seems like only for a second, long enough to get a picture, then life proceedes. It makes me imagine the few seconds after they were taken. I feel like you can almost feel the movement in them. I hope that makes sense as you're looking through them.

Side note: If I knew when or where these were taken, or any interesting info about them, I put it underneath the image.

1932 - He was a doctor.

1943 - Oddessa, TX

1953 - 1946 Ford Convertible

1941 - This woman lived to be 99 1/2 years old. She was born in 1906, (making her 35 in this picture).

She was only a third of the way into her life!

1972 - Waylon Jennings

1960

1995 - Odessa, TX - Me (in the middle with the awesome blue/purple/magenta sweater), my brother, sister, and first cousins we grew up with. This is my favorite picture of us all together.

Wedding day

Watermelon

Shaun's first day of school. His sister didn't want him to go. (This is my all time favorite.)

Job 26:7

2010-08-21T13:28:00.005-05:00

I'm going to start including more bible verses into my posts that I find interesting, encouraging, or just simply amazing to me and I'm going to try to present them in a more artistic way than just plain type.