A few weeks ago I took a trip out to the Salton Sea to shoot Leah and Jason’s Day After session. (you may remember Leah and Jason from their wonderful wedding  and slideshow earlier this year)  It was one crazy day but we moved ahead despite extreme winds and a sandstorm.  I really love shooting these Day After sessions.  There’s so much more freedom than on the wedding day.  I have a few more scheduled in the next month and I can’t wait. 

So here you go Leah and Jason.  A small preview.  More coming soon.  Have a great trip!

Thank you Janece and Chris (and everyone else!) for your patience as I’ve gotten caught up and am getting your wedding blogged.  There are lots of great blog posts coming including a few engagement sessions, a few weddings and a day after! 

Also you may have noticed the blog is undergoing some changes.  I’m very excited about the new format and the bigger photos! 

Lastly this has been such a devastating week for San Diego.  Luckily my family and I are in a safe place.  I appreciate all the phone calls and emails asking how we are doing!  What wonderful couples I have.  My heart goes out to all who have not been so fortunate. 

Now on to Janece and Chris’ wedding preview!  Janece and Chris had a beautiful wedding surrounded by family and friends in La Jolla.  From the moment I met with Janece and her mother, Hazel,  I knew Janece had a special bond with her family and this was going to be an emotional day for all.  This wedding was really about what’s important in life – family, friends, and starting a new life together.  It was a beautiful day and of course Janece is gorgeous.  While we were out shooting some portraits before the ceremony someone asked if she was a bride or a model!  I think she should be both.  So again, thanks for your patience guys.  I wish you the best as your start your new life together and am so happy for you and your families.  Talk to you soon!

WOW! Thats the word that comes to mind when I think of Morgan and Scott’s wedding. It was spectacular. When I met Morgan and Scott about a year ago I knew their wedding was going to be something wonderful. They have such a great outlook on life and such a genuine affection for each other. It was also amazing to me that they were high school sweethearts. Throughout the wedding planning it was great getting to know them better. Morgan’s excitement when she found THE Vera Wang dress she wanted. And all the planning for the photobooth which was going to be a first for me. And throughout it all these two were as cool as cucumbers! Morgan even was out buying her blue converse the day of the wedding. It’s like they knew, no matter how the wedding day went, whether all the little details panned out the way the expected or not, at the end of the day they would be husband and wife and that’s all that mattered. Just the kind of wedding I love to be a part of. It’s nice to have all the pretty wedding things but I love weddings that are full of emotion and love and this one was busting at the seams. 

So no more waiting…I know this has been pure torture for Morgan.  Below are a few pics from the day and if you have about 13 minutes here’s the longest slideshow in Leigh Miller Photography history.  Morgan and Scott thank you so much for letting me be a part of your amazing wedding day.  It was such a pleasure, I loved every minute.  And thank you to your amazing family and friends.  A photographer couldn’t ask for a better group to work with!  

I haven’t even blogged Morgan and Scott’s wedding yet but wanted to share some photos from the photobooth I set up at their wedding reception.  A few months after I met with Morgan and Scott and they hired me to shoot their wedding, Morgan sent me some photos from another bride’s wedding she had seen that had this really fun photobooth.  Those photos were taken by Sean Randall in Atlanta.  Morgan asked me if I could do something similar.  I said of course! But before I proceeded I contacted Sean to ask his thoughts and make sure he was ok with me making a similar photobooth.  Sean was great!  Not only did he not care, he told me how he did his, even down to the color of background paper he used.  So I owe Sean a great big thanks for helping me out as I set out to try this for the first time.  I also want to thank Ed Atrero for coming along to this wedding specifically to help me with this and so I could keep the coverage going while I was manning the photobooth.  

I know the question will be asked, am I going to keep this up?  It was so much fun the answer is – YES!  The guest’s reaction was more than I could have hoped for.  And what a fun group this was.  One thing that I really enjoyed was having all the couples who have been married for a while come over and play around.  This is definately something for the young folks and the young at heart folks!  I haven’t worked out all the specifics yet, but if you are already a bride and groom of mine, yes this will be available for your wedding.  Please contact me for details.  So no more chitter-chatter.  Morgan and Scott I will blog your real wedding pics later this week.  For now, sit back and enjoy the photobooth slideshow :) Talk to you soon!  

I have to run as I have a wedding today but I know Mary Ann has been patiently awaiting a little preview! Here you go. You guys were great!

over the past month of so I’ve been tagged.  If you follow photographer’s blogs at all you know there’s a little game going around.  I’ve been avoiding this game but feel I can no longer.  Here are the photographers who have tagged me, at least the ones I know of -

http://www.nicolepolkphotography.com/blog/

http://www.riccisvalladares.com/wordpress/

http://photosnaps.lezakphotography.com/iBlog/

http://blog.enpointephotography.com/

http://www.picturetheday.com/blog/

http://www.atrero.com/blog/

http://danagrantphotography.com/blog/

http://www.aperturaphoto.com/blog/

Now please don’t mistake all this tagging as a sign that I’m extremely popular with other photographers ;) it’s just I’m about the only person left who hasn’t done this.  So without further delay, I’m going to try and come up with 8 interesting facts about myself.  And I’m not going to be tagging anyone else cause I really don’t think there’s anyone left!

1.  I used to live across the street from Elvis.  I’m not kidding.  I went to preschool at Joyland with Lisa Marie but she was a year older than me and of course I don’t remember anything about it.  When Elvis died Memphis was a madhouse.  People parked all down our street, in our driveway and yard to get to his house.

2.  I’ve never been much of a carnivore.  This apparently started when I was very little.  I got sent to my room one night cause I wouldn’t eat finish my dinner.  Not sure exactly how old I was.  Old enough to get in trouble for not eating my dinner.  And I slept with a piece of roast beef in my mouth all night cause I didn’t like it.  Still to this day don’t eat roast beef.

3.  I didn’t go to school for photography.  I got my Master’s in Clinical Social Work at the University of Kansas (go Jayhawks!) and was a therapist before I became a full-time photographer.  I quit my job at Children’s Hospital two years ago this November.  I took one photography class at San Diego City College in 2004.  That’s all the formal photography training I’ve had. 

4.  I’m very particular about the cups I drink out of.  I like thick plastic cups that are wider at the top than the bottom.  My poor husband can attest to this as he put my good cup in the sink recently, ok yesterday, and I had a small fit.  In my defense I was recovering from a migraine, hadn’t slept in a few days, and had only one good eye.

5.  My mom and I got married at the same place.  I got married at the Cree Estate in Palm Springs in 2005.  My mom married her longtime boyfriend there a few weekends ago.  My biological father was at the both ceremonies in Palm Springs and of course the one in Memphis 40 years ago when he married my mom.

6.  I have two kids.  Most people probably know that. Ages 18 and 13.  My first son weighed 9 lbs. 12 oz.  8 hours of labor with no medication at all.  My doctor told me I didn’t need it.  Yes I found a new doctor when I was pregnant the second time. 

7.  I LOVE to read but rarely have time these days.  My absolute favorite books are To Kill a Mockinbird,  The Poisonwood Bible, and The Love Letter.  I’ve read them all about 5 times each.  I’d rather read a good book I’ve already read than try to pick out a new one.  Sometimes I will read a book all the way until the last 50 pages or so and then stop if I don’t like it. 

8.  I cry at the movies.  Just about everytime.  Unless its like Silence of the Lambs or something.  I won’t go to the movies to see any movie that even looks like it has the potential to make me cry.  I wait until I can rent it at home.  Then I blubber all over my husband while he and my kids laugh at me.  Good times.

Ok that’s it.  Have a good day!