So everyone is asking where the pictures are found.  I guess the challenge was harder than I thought.  Thank you to everyone who participated and took the time to look through my images.

First, I will show you the screen shots from mormon.org and tell you where they are located on my blog.  Then I will announce the winner of the free mini session.

The top banner picture of the LDS Newport Beach Temple is from Kelli and Todd’s wedding.  It’s also located on a second page on mormon.org, so I accepted this answer for the “hidden” picture.

The next picture is from Matt and Christina’s wedding at the LDS Los Angeles Temple.  The real “hidden” picture no one found.  It is behind the photo of Matt and Christina, and it’s actually a different picture.

The third picture is from Sharon, Stanley and Katelyn’s holiday mini session.

And the winner of the free mini photo session is…… Danielle McKee!!  It seems appropriate since she also happened to be the first person to finish the challenge just a few hours after I announced it.  Congratulations, Danielle!  Please email me to arrange a time and date for your photo session: amber@amberkatrina.com

And to all those who entered but did not win, I will offer a $50 discount if you would like a photo shoot.  This offer is good for one portrait session, and must take place by August 31, 2010.  Contact me for pricing and details: amber@amberkatrina.com

I am so excited to announce that my work has been featured on the new mormon.org website!!  I was contacted several months ago by an LDS Church representative, asking if they could have permission to use some of my photographs for the redesign of their website.    After weeks of working with them and then waiting for the necessary approvals, it has just gone live!

So instead of just sharing screen shots of where they are located, I thought we could have a little fun.  Let’s have a treasure hunt to see if you can find all of my photographs on the mormon.org website.  To sweeten the pot, I will give away 1 FREE mini photo shoot to one lucky winner.

To enter:  There are 3 of my pictures featured on the momon.org website.  All of these photos are here on my blog.  First, visit mormon.org and figure out which pictures are mine.  Then, come back to my blog and find the ORIGINAL blog posts containing the pictures.  Leave a comment on each blog post, saying where the pictures are located on mormon.org.

You can get an additional entry in two ways:

1) Leave a comment on Facebook, Twitter or a Blog Post telling your friends about this contest.  Then come back to this post and leave a comment.

2) Find a “hidden” 4th picture and leave a comment on the blog post containing that picture.

The rules: All entries must be completed by Monday, July 19th at midnight.  Any incomplete or incorrect entries will not be counted.  If more than one person identifies all the pictures correctly, there will be a drawing to choose the winner.

The details: The mini photo shoot includes a 45 minute session and the fully retouched digital negatives on a CD.  The session must take place within 15 miles of 91722 before August 31, 2010.

And because a post is always better with a photo, here is a fun sneak peak from a recent family session.

I am so excited to finally share Courtney and Ryan’s Wedding here on the blog.  Just a few days ago, I shared some of their formal family portraits, but now I get to post my favorite images from their wedding day – all the fun portraits!

Ryan and Courtney it seems have always known each other.  Growing up, their families knew each other and did things together.  In high school they dated.  But it wasn’t until now that they got serious and decided to spend eternity together.  Ryan and Courtney were sealed in the Los Angeles LDS Temple on March 20th, which is two days before our anniversary.  It was a nice way to start to celebrate our 7 years together to shoot this wonderful wedding side by side.  I think that describes how Brian and I are – always side by side.  And I can see the same quality in Ryan and Courtney.  They were so comfortable together and just loved being together.  I think that’s the most important thing – to be your spouse’s best friend.  I know they will love married life because now they won’t have to say “goodbye” at the end of the night.

Here is the Mormon Temple.

Everyone waiting for them to exit.  I loved the bidesmaids’ dresses – so cute!

And….. Courtney and Ryan – husband and wife!

After we spent some time taking the family portraits (which you can view HERE), we walked around the temple grounds and took some casual wedding portraits of the two of them.  This series perfectly shows how sweet and loving and…. simply happy they were.  I loved their laughter – it was contagious!

Of course we needed some portraits in front of the LDS temple.  Courtney was stunning in her beautiful bridal dress.

I don’t remember what I said to get these awesome expressions, but I LOVE it!  So fun and full of personality.

Here is my favorite series from the day.  I loved them so much I couldn’t narrow down which ones to share, so here are three sweet, loving portraits of Courtney and Ryan.

After we took the temple portraits, we quickly stopped at a nearby location to get a little different portraits.  I loved the tall grass in this field, and here is my favorite from the spot.

We headed to the reception, which was held at a private residence in La Verne.

Courtney and Ryan chose to have a ring ceremony for their family and friends, and I’m glad they did.  It was beautiful!

Here is Ryan watching his beautiful bride come down the aisle.

And Courtney and her dad.

The bishop gave some  nice words.

And they exchanged rings.  I loved their laughter and personality.

The rings.

As I mentioned, Courtney and Ryan grew up together.  I love that Courtney was dressing up as a bride in the picture.  And I love even more that Ryan was an Indian.  Hehe – what does that say about boys and girls?!  So cute and funny.  What wonderful memories to cherish.  And I know you truly will live “Happily Ever After”.

Courtney and Ryan created many beautiful details for their wedding day.  I loved it!  Especially the colorful candy station.  Yum!

And their lovely cake.

I’ll leave you with this first dance picture from their reception.

Just Married!  That says it all.

Even though it’s a few days late, I wanted to share some pictures from our 4th of July celebration at our new house.  This is the first year we have lived somewhere that allows “safe and sane” fireworks.  I was so excited to light some small fireworks with Elijah since I have so many fond memories of holding sparklers and lighting fountains when I was a kid.  I was a little worried that Eli would be scared so I made sure not to get any fireworks that were too loud or scary.

We started the day by talking about “America’s Birthday” and telling Eli that we were going to throw a party.  I even baked a cake – a yummy carrot cake made with fresh carrots from our garden.  When it started getting dark, we lit some of the small snakes and smoke bombs.  And Eli got into it.  He especially loved the poppers and sparklers.  He kept asking for more and more fireworks.  When we were done lighting our flowers and fountains, we went out front and watched some of the many many big fireworks in the sky.

Brian and I had a little fun with the sparklers as it got dark.  Oh la la…

Lately I’ve been thinking about how I can make this blog more useful for my clients and friends interested in photography, so I thought I should start sharing tips and tricks.

Many people ask me how I process my images.  I edit each photo in photoshop, where I retouch color, exposure, sharpen among other things.  To do many of these routine things, I use several different “actions” which is how photoshop records a certain set of events that I want to repeat quickly over and over again.  You can purchase sets of these actions, and when I first started editing my own images this was a lifesaver.  It saves so much time and allows you to try different artistic approaches to your images.  Two places I have would definitely recommend actions from are: MCP Actions and Totally Rad Actions.

Right now, MCP Actions is having a contest where they are giving away a free version of Photoshop CS5.  If you like photography, Photoshop is essential to help finish off your images.  To enter, MCP Actions is asking for a creative use of their name/logo showing what their actions mean to you.  My creative husband Brian thought of this idea to use a directors clapboard to signify “action” and the production of your images.

I thought these images of little Levi were so cute, I just had to share my entry.   :)