my new business...yep, I own a business!

Ladies & Gents please click HERE to visit & hopefully "like" TreeHouse Weddings. We like to take pictures of people in love.

Annnnddd....click HERE to see our most recent wedding in Orange County, CA. XoXo

where have i been?

ALL OVER THE PLACE. [i'll tell you about that later tho]

This is what I look like drinking a beverage on a Virgin America flight to CA.



Currently, I am sitting at Russ' kitchen table in Huntington Beach, CA getting nerdy...we are working on redesigning my website. Less is more. "Keep it Simple"... It's Vermont's state logo and I love Vermont. I started a new business in Dallas, TX and we photograph weddings world wide. Follow the adventure here.

I am in Orange County for business & pleasure...which really, let's face it...these days are the same. I love what I do. My business partner and I shoot a wedding in San Clemente on Sunday. This is just a post to remind you guys I am still here. Trust, there will be more of Steph in your near future...just sit tight and give someone a hug.

<3

a roadtrip to Cross Plains, TX.

To check out some truckstops & shoot a lovely wedding in a Baptist church. Click HERE to see more...

SALE on SENIOR PORTRAITS:)

Are you graduating from High School or College? Are you getting married? I would love to meet you and take your photographs. Are you tired of cheesy poses? Looking for someone unique who will work with you and capture your personality? Then choose me STEPH. I will be in Orange County, CA for senior portraits May 17-21 and June 24-28, 2011 I travel anywhere year round and home base is in Dallas, TX!

Visit my facebook page for more fun facts and pictures http://www.facebook.com/imstephdotcom or http://www.facebook.com/imstephdotcom

Timing & Donald Miller.

I only recommend books every once in awhile. This one...really came into my life at the right time. It's been on my bookshelf for over a year now. One evening in 2009 I was dodging cars in Greenwich Village in New York heading to meet some friends for dinner at Benito One in Little Italy. I was on one of my "solo adventures"...exploring the city all alone. I loved these trips. They were dangerous. They were full of life. They are the ones that seem to stick out in my mind the most. My plan was to eat dinner, have a glass of wine then I was off to see new things. After dinner, I quickly ducked into Barnes & Noble and ran right to this book...I had been wanting to pick it up. I went to a local coffee shop and sat myself down for hours. Reading. When later my friend Andrew, whom I had met on my last trip to the city, met me and he talked about how he was thinking about studying abroad in Buenos Aires. It was only a spark in his eye then. I got back home (California at the time) and got busy. This happened for a reason. I needed that section of the book in November 2009...shortly after that, I quit my 9-5pm job and decided to start something new, to begin a new chapter in my story. Recently, I saw this book on my bookshelf...so much has changed. I am now living alone in Dallas, TX...doing work that I love, away from my family, but meeting amazing people and seeing new places everyday. I read the last half of the book last night and this morning. Over a year later and it's EXACTLY what I needed to hear when I needed to hear it. I went back to the city a few months ago and Andrew and I said our goodbyes, we barely caught each other...he was off to Beunos Aires to write more of his story. I admire that in people...it takes courage. I challenge myself daily to live a more meaningful story, and so should you....anyway that you can.

I really suggest getting "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years" and reading it. I want to hear your story...I want to discuss this book with someone. I'll be reading it again soon. (click the image to buy)

What story are you telling? from Rhetorik Creative on Vimeo.

My photos featured on Dallas Wedding Planner!

it's been 7 months since I packed up my life & my dog and moved from Orange County to Dallas, TX. I wanted to show you something I am pretty excited about. Over Thanksgiving weekend I was asked to photograph a 4 day Pakistani wedding celebration here in Dallas. Some of my photos from this wedding were featured on the biggest Dallas wedding blog today....take a look and please leave a comment on the blog or on their Facebook page if you feel like it. If you know of anyone getting married I would love to take their pictures (even outside of Texas). You can view more of my portfolio HERE

View featured blog-Dallas Wedding Planner Blog

View more images from Rasul/Husain wedding- Steph's Facebook


<3 you all! Thanks for the continued love & support on my crazy adventures.
Steph

** A big thank you to the photographers who worked with me that weekend Jadrien Esquivel & Jill Broussard. Couldn't have done it without them**

Steph's Wishlist.

Hi. I will be 28 soon...well in May and I thought I would make a simple wishlist for my bday & Christmas because I always forget when people ask what I want. (click images)

1. My good friend Michelle is ridiculous amounts of creative. I think we should all support her work. Take a gander. These coasters need to be in my apt.



2. I had the pleasure of working with Sean Woolsey at Hurley in Orange County, CA. He is a hilarious human being and one of the most creative individuals I have ever met. Do yourself a favour and look at the things he builds with his bare hands. I would like this lamp.



3. The holga attachment for my camera. Sure it's cheating but I would kick myself if I didn't try it.



4. Cause I just sipped my coffee & it's colder than a witches tit in a brass bra:(



5. So I can sing even louder in the shower.

My tribute to Folger's Coffee.

I have known the words to every single one of these commercials since i was a wee child....when my addiction to coffee began. They always did have the best commercials. I mean Randy Travis?! Doesn't get any better. Foldgers and black coffee will always remind me of Dad. I remember the first sip I had and also him letting me drive his truck on his lap down our street...yep with a thermos of coffee in the cup holder. Take a look...sing a long:

Cotton candy.

"Yeah, my brain is a crazy festival....it's either annoying to people and they want to leave or eventually they will figure it out and it can be fun for them. So you can tell me now if you want out of the carnival or I can give you some cotton candy and show you around!" -me

Leave unsaid unspoken.

Too late, two choices.

To stay or to leave.

Mine was so easy to uncover,

He already left with the other.

So I learned to listen through silence.

Okay folks, let me confront something here that a lot of us do when our hearts feel a bit of aching inside. I think it is interesting but I have caught myself doing the same obvious thing. When something happens in a situation and we can't find ways to express it...we show it in small pieces on social media sites. This just seems silly, doesn't it? We act like we're being sly...or some of us are so obvious it's almost entertaining. Why the heck do we do this? Is it some kind of secret that we hope the other will decode? I choose to write about this because it has come up A LOT in different areas of my life recently. So this post is a giant bowl of mixed feelings about similar situations.

I know why we do it. MEMORIES. We cling on to the idea...the idea that things were great. The "what ifs?" The..."don't you understand what could have beens?!" We beat ourselves up about it until it leaks out in funny ways for all to see. Don't let things from your past interfere with the here and now...hold onto it like that last tight hug. cause when you cast it away...sometimes it's gone for good and you're left, once again, holding onto the "what if's and ideas" instead of the one thing you really desire. Why do you think we do it? I want to hear from those who sit back & laugh at it too...cause I used to be one of you:)

i've spent years writing on this blog, talking in code. For what reason? So people think I don't feel things...that I don't deal. Cause really, i don't deal correctly. I internalize...I act like nothing can phase me. I am trying a different approach now. SLLLLOOOOW process. Take a listen to this song...her voice is powerful and she says "we're peeing puddles of love"...which is awesome.