Monday, February 27, 2012

Amber&Jason

Congrats to the winners of my Valentine's Day Contest! They won a FREE Session and viewing CD!
That's pretty cool, if you ask me :)



Here are a few shots that I'm loving. We found a new location - Harry Griffin Park in La Mesa, right down the street from another Northmont Park where I've done a lot of mini-sessions. I'm in love with the location and the images we got were fabulous! Plus Amber's eyes are stunning!



Thanks to Amber and Jason for being so fun to work with! :)



All images © Andrea Garvin, 2012

Monday, February 6, 2012

Lowepro Event Messenger Series


LOWEPRO EVENT MESSENGER 150 & 250





Above images © Andrea Garvin 2012

I recently had the opportunity to test out the new Event Messenger 150 – one of Lowepro’s new camera bags. To say I was excited would be an understatement – I was ecstatic. I desperately needed a new camera bag for shooting events, weddings and portraits. But I had never used a Lowepro bag, so I was a bit skeptical.

After I crammed as much gear as possible into every nook and cranny of the bag, I toted it around the lake near my house. It was a short, easy walk, about half a mile. I wanted to test out how comfortable this bag would be before I committed to using it on a long shoot.It proved to be pretty comfortable after all. The strap is thicker than my previous bag, which, I think, is why I found it easier to carry on my shoulder for longer periods of time.

My initial test went well, so I decided, what the heck, I’ll take it out for my next photo session. Sure enough, it was still comfortable and it holds a surprising amount of gear for its size - two lenses, a flash, two Pocket Wizards, a lens cloth, a lens pen and other pens, extra CF cards, an extra battery and charger, business cards, my keys, sunglasses and cell phone. Plus I figured out I could attach my reflectors by clipping a carabineer to the handle.

Any complaints? The only thing I can possibly complain about is the small buckle on the front, to keep the top flap closed. I never saw myself using it (except when I was traveling to a location and wanted to ensure everything stayed in place) and it is not adjustable, and given the fact that I was trying to carry too much gear, the front flap didn’t close properly. I definitely don’t recommend over-packing to all of you. Had the buckle been adjustable, I probably could have worked it out even though I was carrying more gear than I should have, but what can I say, I over pack. I'm a girl, it’s my nature. As soon as I was able to contain my excitement, I pared it down to the essentials, and I was good to go.

The smaller front pocket is great too – that’s where I’ve stored my spare CF cards, an extra battery and charger, there is a great space for a lens pen, and other pens. However, there is a slot for an SD card, which I find not-so-useful since I use bigger cards that don’t fit into that space, so it goes unused for now.

My favorite feature, I’d have to say, is the somewhat-hidden pocket on the back of the bag. When the bag is sitting against my hips, you wouldn’t be able to tell there was a pocket at all. Which is great, because I know I can keep my wallet there, since I won’t be needing it for the shoot, and I know it wont fall out because the pocket is pretty deep. Also the fact that the Velcro on the front flap can be switched into “silent mode” (here is a piece of non-velcro fabric that can be placed over the Velcro to avoid making any noise) which is fantastic for us wedding photographers who hate it when our bags make a terrible ripping sound in the middle of a beautiful ceremony because we thought it important to change lenses. Thanks to Lowepro, we need not worry about that anymore.

After taking the Event Messenger 150 on 5 shoots, and a couple walks around town, I know I’ll absolutely be using it in the future. Not onlyis it comfortable and small enough to be convenient to carry for long periods of time (gotta love those 10-hour days), but it lends great access to all my essentials. Plus it has a great frame, so I know I can set it down without it falling over and dumping all my equipment on to the ground (depending on how I’ve positioned everything). All in all I would say it’s a great bag for event shooters who travel on the lighter side. Thanks for converting me, Lowepro. :)


Check out these cool pictures (from some awesome photographers) of me using my bag!




David Crewe Photography http://davidjcrewe.com/

Angela Powell Wolfe http://powellwoulfe.com/blog/2012/02/01/a-wonderful-opportunity-san-diego-wedding-photographer/

Jason deAlba http://mindintheshutter.blogspot.com/

(top image by Tracy van Dam http://tvdfotos.com/)


Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Senioritis

I'm sure all you Seniors are dying to get graduation out of the way already! I know that's how I felt the last month of school - well, the entire year of 12th grade.
BUT the good news is, Senior year is full of great and exciting things! Most importantly, SENIOR PICTURES!! Don't dread the boring, lifeless Senior pictures, because that's not what I'm about. I love to make your Senior Session fun, enjoyable and down-right awesome! Plus extremely custom and personalized to your style and what you love to do.

Check out this most recent Senior Session I did with Marlene:


All images © Andrea Garvin, 2012

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Sister Sister, Continued



Last time I only shared a preview, so here are more images from my shoot with the De Busk sisters, Sarah and Alisha :)











All images © Andrea Garvin, 2012

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Late Night Editing

Sometimes I find myself up at 1 or 2am editing a huge batch of photos and I always seem to find some new favorites. These two caught my eye tonight.
I've got about 40 more images to go through on this session and then it's onto the two other recent sessions. Plus, I've got a Senior Session tomorrow! Looks like my week is going to be filled with me sitting at the computer making pictures look pretty :)





All images © Andrea Garvin 2012

Monday, January 16, 2012

Mike&Becca



I've photographed Becca a couple times before, but always solo. So I was excited to get some pictures of her with her man. These guys love each other, you can tell! It was so much fun to photograph these love-birds! We were just laughing and joking the whole time, and it was awesome.
We drove around Jamul and found this GREAT new location that I'm in love with (new favorite)!! I can't get over how cute they are!








All images © Andrea Garvin 2012

Oh BABY!



Here's another Maternity Session! I loved photographing miss Miya in this gorgeous Alpine field (one of my favorite locations). She's due VERY soon, but I got lucky and snagged some preggo-shots before baby Carter arrives :)
I'm definitely looking forward to these next few weeks when I get to do a Newborn session with her bundle of joy!
Thank you, Miya, for letting me have some fun with you!!



All images © Andrea Garvin 2012