We traipsed all over the place – I only started to figure out my way around the maze of mezzanines and hallways and elevators towards the end of our shoot – that place is HUGE! As an added bonus, our escorts showed us to the smaller theater, which was almost as stunning as the main stage. It’s all so ornate!

We had a fabulous time shooting your engagement photos, and can’t wait to get your album rolling!

Roz

We’re looking forward to photographing their wedding next fall at Kent Hall. Jeanette, Jeliliah, it’s always great working with you; we can’t wait to see you again!

Jason

We met Deanna and Adrian at our hotel on Saturday. Roz got a great deal on the Omni on the Riverwalk, so we started shooting on the Riverwalk. There are a ton of awesome spots down there, and throughout downtown, although we had to readjust to shooting in lush vegetation instead of desert sun! If you haven’t seen the San Antonio Riverwalk, it’s an absolute must-do. This was my first trip there, and I was totally blown away. After walking around downtown, both on the Riverwalk and at street level, we headed over to the McNay, San Antonio’s art museum.

Roz and I spent some time while we were there talking about the difference between Mexican and Spanish architecture. The McNay is a great example of the latter, and it’s surrounded by green lawns and gardens.

Our final stop on Saturday afternoon was the Pearl Brewery. There’s an old locomotive parked outside the Pearl Stables, and the round stable building was a great backdrop. The Riverwalk extends past the Brewery, so we walked over there as well.

We made plans to meet up later that evening to do some night photography downtown, and then Roz took me on a driving tour of her old stomping grounds, in the Texas Hill Country just north of San Antonio. We headed back to the hotel late in the afternoon, and took a short nap. When we woke up, we found that the rain had followed us back into town. While rain was a welcome change for the drought-stricken city, it forced us to reschedule our night session.

On Sunday, Deanna and Adrian took us to St. Mary’s, their Alma Mater, for some portraits on campus. I was struck with deja vu when I saw the bell tower there – it looks quite a bit like the one on Purdue’s West Lafayette campus. Then we headed to the sunken Japanese Tea Garden in Brackenridge Park, which Roz remembered as not-so-nice, but which the city has reclaimed and completely worked over since she lived in the area. The rock paths, wooden bridges, lush vegetation, and the waterfall combined to make this a must-do location for portraits! Then, we all rode the 1/3 scale train that loops through the park, which gave us a chance to rest our weary feet before we took off our shoes and went wading! One of the bridges in the park is a shallow ford, which we all walked across, stopping in the middle to take pictures of course!

On Monday, Roz and I headed to Fredricksburg, a very touristy German town, for the morning, and then drove up to visit our good friend and fellow photographer Laura in San Marcos. After dinner at La Fogata, back in San Antonio (their margaritas should be illegal, but then I’d be sad), we met Deanna and Adrian for photos after dark in Downtown and on the Riverwalk. We also captured some around the hotel before bidding them farewell for the evening.

Guys, we had a simply incredible time working with you both, and it’s always a treat to visit a new city (or to return to a previous home). We simply cannot wait for your wedding next April!

Jason

Jason

Then we drove up to Scenic Drive, and did some stuff overlooking El Paso – it’s a stunning sight! I hadn’t been up there before, and wowza there’s some cool houses up there on those hills! I’ll have to buy one and call it my summer home I think. After shooting there, we drove out to UTEP, and walked all over campus. We took some individual shots of Rick and Rocio outside their respective college buildings – and thank goodness the Business College building was open – ahhhh, air conditioning and water fountains!

It was a blast guys, your wedding is going to be coming up before you know it, and we can’t wait!

Roz

The wedding is coming up fast you too, it was lovely to see you both again – and I didn’t have to have surgery this time! (It was right after shooting their first session that I fell ill and ended up in the hospital, luckily, this wasn’t a repeat performance!)

Can’t wait for their wedding!

Roz

Maria is actually the one who got us into offering our awesome engagement guestbooks. She asked us when they booked their wedding, if we could do something like that for her, and of course, we knew we could! So we got our heads together, and came up with what is now one of our most popular options! So a big thanks goes out to Maria for that.

We had a great time at the Inn, it was beautiful as usual. It was a little chillier than we anticipated, but we still had a great time, and some of my favorite images are of the two of them snuggling in front of the awesome copper fireplaces in the lounge.

After our shoot, we went down and had an awesome lunch at the casino’s buffet with the two of them, and they are so fun to hang out with. We really had a blast, and I am SO excited to shoot the rest of their engagements, and their wedding! Congrats you two, you rock!

Roz

The upcoming year is going to bring some really great promotions, so make sure you keep checking in to see what’s happening! As I sit here at my computer, and look at the huge whiteboard behind it, I have to smile knowing what we’ve got planned. Every single month has a new surprise, and we think you’ll be as excited as we are about 2009!

The studio is closing for Christmas, but we will be back on December 30th! As sort of my last hurrah before the holidays, I made a special trip out with Suzanne and Julio this morning. Their engagement photos were posted a couple of days ago, but as we were driving home from that shoot, Suzanne was wishing they’d brought their NMSU sweatshirts for some photos at the University. We decided that we’d meet up this morning and get those shots, and I’m sure glad we did. Since it’s the holidays, both of us had our kids with us as assistants… and they were so well behaved. Thanks for meeting me out there you guys, and have a happy holiday! I’ve posted my two favorite shots from this morning!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Roz

We met up Sunday afternoon, and headed up Dripping Springs road to get some “outdoorsy” shots of them with the Organs in the background. You can’t go wrong with Las Cruces beautiful mountains as a backdrop! These two are just so photogenic, and they’re so obviously into each other that it really was a lot of fun to photograph them. Suzanna and I really did not wear appropriate footwear for hiking around in the desert, but we managed to avoid the larger and nastier cactus, and find some big rocks to climb on. I do admit to getting a few thorns, but we fared pretty well. The weather could not have been more beautiful for our session; a bit chilly in the shade perhaps, but it was nice.

Once we got done out in the desert, we stopped by the Farm and Ranch Museum to get a couple of shots by an old truck they have – which is one of my favorite places to shoot. We didn’t hang out too long though – even though it was Sunday afternoon, there were still a few people milling around the place, and we really didn’t want to disturb the guests, so we moved on to Mesilla, which is of course, everyone’s favorite place to shoot. Really, you can’t go wrong in Mesilla. Old brick walls, awesome alleys, and an old church. Perfect!

Here are a few favorites from their session, with a big congratulations and lots of anticipation for their wedding!

Be sure to check back in February for photos of their wedding! There are a couple more that I’ll be putting these up on the fan page at Facebook as well, so don’t forget to become a fan of the page!

Roz

I think they thought we were a little crazy making them do some of this stuff, but it really was loads of fun! Jason got to play traffic cop while Roz took the photos of Esther and Alice crossing the street. It was such a gorgeous crisp fall evening, and the light was just wonderful!

Thanks for coming downtown with us you two! We’re so excited for next months festivities!

Roz and Jason