Saenz Christmas Shoot

This past Halloween we went to San Antonio to spend it with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. While we were there we did a Christmas shoot for them. Sorry for the late blog, but this is the first chance I have had to post a few pics of their shoot. We went to the River Walk to shoot and it was a challenge trying to find a spot that didn't have so many people walking behind or even in front of the camera while we were shooting. We found a few places that were nice and free of people.

Every time we go to San Antonio our daughter Lauren always looks forward to playing with their two daughters Lily and Emily. They have a beautiful family and we are glad to have them in our lives. Jon and Sarah, take care, God Bless and we'll see you soon.

Love you guys

Joey Navarro

Lara Family Christmas

Just yesterday we did a family Christmas shoot for the Lara's. There were 15 people altogether and yes it was challenging. However, it was so much fun as the whole family was very funny, welcoming, warm and friendly. Even though we shot them as a whole and then as individual families we still moved quickly. My wife and I had pre-planned this shoot for about 2 weeks. We knew every location we were going to shoot at and in which order we were going to shoot. All days before and after the shoot were looking to be great sunny days, but the forecast for the day we were shooting was set for 50% chance of rain. Of course, that would be my luck. We scrambled to look for alternate indoor locations as we did not want to cancel or postpone. Someone upstairs must really have mercy on us because on the day of the shoot it rained hard and heavy all morning right up to about 2 hours before the shoot. The weather forecast called for clear skies after for the rest of the day. The weather cleared up and even left us with great ambient lighting. The weather was beautiful for our session.

To the Lara's: Thank you for the opportunity of allowing us to be a small part of your Christmas this year. We hope you will have a blessed and wonderful Christmas. May God Bless you all. My wife and I enjoyed the time we spent with you.

You can see the behind the scenes video below or go to our YouTube channel to see more videos. J&P Photography YouTube

Don't forget to pause our music player to the upper right side of our blog page so that you can hear the music from the YouTube video.

Joey Navarro

LeeAnn & Phillip

On November 22, 2009 we did a shoot for a friend of mine. I have known LeeAnn for a long time and I am happy to hear of her recent engagement. This engagement shoot went very well. Again, we moved quickly through several locations in the downtown area of Corpus Christi. It still amazes me how every shoot is so unique even though we may reuse a location for several shoots. When we met up with the couple we asked if they had any suggestions before we got started. They had complete confidence in us to let us be creative with this shoot. With that we moved to our first location. We shot there for awhile before we decided to move due to many mosquitos. LeeAnn and Phillip did so well that I didn't even know they were getting eaten alive while I was shooting. They did not want to interrupt me so that they could scratch or just swat the mosquitos away. I felt bad, but beauty is pain, right?

We moved around and tried some locations that we had recently scouted and had never used before. LeeAnn and Phillip were fun to work with. As we walked to our shooting locations a passerby asked if we were with the Associated Press. That was a little weird for me. I mean, when you see a photographer, who really thinks, "Hey, I wonder if they are with the Associated Press?"

LeeAnn and Phillip, you were a delight to work with. My wife and I had a great time with your engagement shoot. We would like to wish you both the best of luck in the future and all the blessings in the world. May God continue to bless your lives and your upcoming marriage. Hope we get to work with you again in the future.

Congratulations to you both.

Joey Navarro

Brittany

On November 21, 2009 we did a second shoot of our niece Brittany. She has been wanting to do this shoot for some time now. We did this shoot late in the day, close to dusk. The natural lighting had a very warm tone. The weather was cold and very windy. Poor little Brittany was very cold and shivering. In between shots we had to get a sweater on her to try to warm her up. During the shoot she had to try to look natural and think warm. All of my team had sweaters on while Brittany had to brave the weather for the sake of the shoot. She did great.

To finish off the shoot we went to Chapman Ranch to take pictures right smack in the middle of the street. We would walk into the middle of the street and try to get as many shots before we had to run back because cars would speed past us. As people would pass us they would look at us like we were crazy for being so close to traffic. I did not think that it would be that busy. I've traveled through there many many times and never saw as many cars as there were out that day. I guess that would be my luck.

Thank you again Brittany, you are becoming a pro. Till next time.

Joey Navarro

Sandra & Matthew

Well, we are a little behind on our blog. On November 15, 2009 we did a shoot for Sandra and her son Matthew. We had a lot of fun on this shoot. It is always fun and a challenge to shoot small children. They are so unpredictable. Matthew was great and was all smiles for the camera.

We shot at several locations and little Matthew hung in there for every second that we shot. At one point he wanted to see every picture that we took and then wanted to take some pictures of his mommy himself. What do you do when a small child wants to borrow your camera because he wants to take pictures of his mommy? Well, you give him your camera, of course. We let him take a few pictures, with us helping him hold on to the camera. He was having a blast. Then I looked over at Sandra and she had a very nervous look on her face. I told her to relax, our camera would be fine.

The shoot went very well and we all had fun. Sandra, thank you for giving us the opportunity to shoot you and your son. Hope you enjoy your pictures and look for you video to be posted on YouTube soon.

Joey Navarro

Eunice Green

Yesterday we had the pleasure of meeting Eunice and her sister Lidia. Our shoot was scheduled for 930am. Eunice was there before we were and was all ready to go as soon as we did arrive. Eunice was a lot of fun to work with. She was very lively and energetic, friendly and professional. I don't know how much experience Eunice has in modeling but it seemed to me like she has been doing this for a long time. She was completely focused and knew what she wanted from this shoot. Her stamina was excellent. Eunice was like the Energizer Bunny. She just kept going and going and going. I think I asked her if she needed a break several times and her response was, "I can do this all day."

My wife and I both agree that Eunice has such a natural beauty, talent and passion for being in front of the camera. We had a lot of fun and we hope we get to work with Eunice again. Watch for her photos to be posted soon on our Facebook and MySpace profiles. And of course the behind the scenes video on YouTube. 

Joey Navarro

Family Christmas Photo-Shoot

This past weekend we went to San Antonio to spend Halloween with my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. We had a lot of fun as we always do when in San Antonio. My wife and I decided that we were going to take one of our Family Christmas Card Photo's there this year also. Every year as we look for a place to take our Holiday Photo we are challenged with the task of taking the photo ourselves. It wasn't very hard the past two years as I would just place the camera on a tripod, set the self timer and then run around and sit next to my wife and baby. But now Lauren is bigger and won't sit still very easily. The good thing is that we were also taking pictures for my sister-in-law and her family for their Christmas Picture as well. This was beneficial to us as my brother-in-law could just take our picture while they were there.

We thought about locations where we could take pictures and finally ended up at the River Walk Downtown. The challenge was finding a location where the shadows would be minimal. There are a lot of trees on the River Walk which in turn makes a lot of leafy shadows on your face. We were all dressed in winter-like long sleeve clothing. The thing is that in early November here in Texas it isn't very cold yet. In fact the temperature was 89 degrees. Everyone walking around was staring at us like we were crazy for wearing winter-like clothing. Once they saw us pull out the camera they understood what we were doing. All in all it was a lot of fun.

I have posted one of the pictures taken that day and will update this post with more pictures if and when we decide to take more photos for Christmas Card possibilities. Thank you Jonathan for taking these pictures for us. You did a great job.

Joey Navarro