Marvin

our paths met about 4 years ago while i was working at a kiosk in MacArthur Center mall. he was part of the service staff that emptied out the trash cans there. he saw that i had a ladybug tattoo and has called me "ladybug" ever since. all these years he has never asked what my actual name is. a reason for that is because he can't read or write. he can remember sounds of words and he gives people nicknames from what visually inspires him at that moment.

he showed me a composition book he was filling up with rendered drawings he did of charlie brown cartoons. the book is for his young son as a gift. marvin will look at the small comic frames printed in the newspaper and then draw them larger. he's very proud of his ability to be a human "copy machine."

a few months ago he asked me to get him a "campus". i didn't understand at first what he was referring to until he described wanting to put a picture on it as a gift. so then i was thought, "OH! A CANVAS!"

He surprised me with a drawing of Garfield as a holiday gift and he had me fill in the talk bubble for him.

i saw he wrote "STAR WARS" on the above picture he rendered and i asked him how'd he know to put that on there since he can't read or write. his response was, "someone just shows me what to put and i copy it."

i asked him why he hasn't learned how to read or write and he said "some people know how to drive really well. some people know how to get jobs." I offered to teach him and he said, "thank you but everything is fine just the way it is. let's just be friends." and gives me a small bow and big smile.

his spirit is strong and i'm grateful for the lessons i'm learning from our friendship.

Union 206 Studio: March 2011

this was my first time at Union 206 Studio in Alexandria,Va. i came up to hang out with my buddy rob and my old time photography partner in crime, lorimar. she introduced me to this studio and i was giddy the whole time.

behind the scenes photo taken by lorimar, the master mind behind www.lorimaresque.com

it's a playground for light sculpting.



lorimar and i kickin' it on the cyc wall.

my goal is to come up at least once a month to shoot at this studio. three words... heaven on earth.

Dupre's Salon: London Punk Theme

this shoot was a collaboration of hair stylists & make-up artists from dupre's salon and models from wilhelmina.

diisha

she texted me one day and asked if i could take photos of her because she was having a good hair day.

she makes me laugh and she makes awesome pies crust.

www.diishahicks.com

K Scott

a sneak peak from a series of portraits i created of my dear friend, k scott.

i remember the first time hearing her voice. i said, "i want to take her home so she can sing me to sleep!"

p.s. i heart stage lighting.

crystal leigh

a portrait session with an amazing friend.


"We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot."
-- Eleanor Roosevelt






thank you lady friend, for your fearlessness.

Meet Maddox

i've often heard "our children are the best of us." if that's the case, we all better be working on being the best of who we create ourselves to be.

tatay

this is my maternal grandfather. this photo was taken last year in june.

instead of calling him grandfather or lolo (grandfather in tagalog) i call him tatay (tah-tie). it means father in tagalog but in my family even the grandkids call him that.

yesterday my uncle called and left me a message that tatay passed away. he didn't. it was miscommunication. i'm glad auntie called just right before i was going to post about it letting the world know how sad i was. so... yay! he's alive!

one of my favorite memories of my tatay goes like this....

i was young gal in my single digits. maybe 8 or so years old. he had just moved to the U.S. from the philippines.

tatay: "neleh, can you whistle and brush your teeth at the same time?"

me: "no tatay. you can't do that."

tatay: "yes. wanna see?"

we go to the bathroom. he takes his dentures out of his mouth and starts brushing them while whistling.

the man cracks me up til this day.

anne k

i had the pleasure this summer to do a portrait shoot of anne k, an awesome friend of mine. she's also a very talented photographer and graphic designer. she and i go way back. i used to model for her when she took photography courses many moons ago.

good people

dan tres hit me up and said he and the family were in town for 4th of july weekend. he is one friend that i admire and has been inspirational in learning, living and loving life passionately. i had the pleasure of meeting them at a friend's house for bbq. it was a perfect time to snap a photo of this beautiful family. i am thankful to know such good people.

Mink & Cheef's Electric Band

meet the members of mink and cheef's electric band.
from left to right: lizar, mink, cheef and DP

cheef hit me up one day to take promo photos of the band to have images ready for their new CD and website use. i set up shop at the famous hungus estates and the fellas showed up with a few different outfits. we all had a blast during the shoot.





view more photos on their website at:

www.minkandcheef.com

if you're in the 757, you should definitely check out when they play. why? because they're your new favorite band!

... and you may just run into me taking photos of them at the shows :)

Tallwood High School Prom 2010

my cousin kristen also asked if i could take photos of her and her friends for their senior prom. seeing the couples all dressed up with corsages reminded me of my own prom and how excited i was to get all dolled up for the night.





i told this gal that i was going to take a photo of the back of her dress so she would remember how hot it looked on her.





thanks anne k. for helping out.

such adorable couples.

kristen's senior class portraits

i was honored that my cousin asked if i could take her high school senior class portraits. goodness, she's all grown up! here's a sample of the many shots i took.








and this is us having fun!

planet zitron: and the winner is....

Yay! This is the winning image the Zitrons chose to use for their holiday greeting postcard. 'Elle did an awesome job of tying everything together using shutterfly

:: high five :: for the creative collaboration!

top models

cheryl wanted to surprise her best friend with an "america's next top model" themed bachelorette party and asked if i would do the honors of being the photographer. i don't think any of us knew what to expect but i would have to say that this is definitely an awesome idea if you're not into the traditional stripper/bar crawl gig. the "tyra mail" was even written like a top secret mission letter. how fun is that?!?!
it was good laughs and great images. thanks ladies for a memorable shoot!































book me today for your Top Model themed shoot!