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Welcome and thank you for stopping by my blog!

My name is Monique (or Moki if you prefer). I am a creative art photographer serving Albuquerque, New Mexico and surrounding areas. My photography is not going to look like other photographers work. That is because I offer a finely tuned, uniquely designed, client inspired portrait experience. I believe portraits should be more than just a picture of your face, they should be a story about who you are.

Browse my blog, leave a comment or two, and let me know if one of a kind portraits are the right fit for you.

Archive: ‘me’



Story Time

Friday, April 8th, 2011

Story Time

Throughout my journey as a portrait photographer I have always worked to do portraits I am proud of. I think I have succeeded in that. But my biggest goal as a photographer is deeper than just taking a picture of a smiling person, posed rigidly with their family.

Some of you may have heard the story of my years in photography classes. My classmates took beautifully composed pictures of bicycle spoke shadows, close ups of a bend in a garden hose, or the distorted reflection of clouds in a hub cap wheel. Looking back I kind of laugh at the silliness it was, but at the time I struggled. I just couldn’t grasp the process of taking abstract pictures.

The problem was I could only think of photography and composition in terms of a story. What was the plot? Who is the main character? What is their motive? For me to do work I loved, I needed faces, creativity, a story.

What does this mean now? Why am I writing about it? Well, it is my goal this year to only do work that I love. What it means is that I wont be doing every session I receive an inquiry for. What I hope it means is that I spend my time well and gain more happiness from this art. I also hope it means that I persuade by beautiful devoted clients to test out the idea of doing something meaningful with their families for their own personal portraits.

Each session will be creatively planned out with you. We will work out what story or message you want to tell in your portraits. We will find the best location, gather any “props” we need, and pull out the perfect wardrobe. Your portraits will be unlike anybody else’s! Because they will be uniquely you, telling your awesome story!

Visit these links to see what a customized session is all about:

T-man
Malinda and the kids
The M Family
Nikki
Dana and Tamaya
Jessica

We Resolve to

Tuesday, January 25th, 2011

tricycle and dorothy shoes

…more often…

Instead of resolutions, I usually focus on a theme, probably one word that represents some aspect of my life that needs some fine tuning. But I can’t help but think of all the things I would like to accomplish this year… do they fit in with my “word”? Are they even worth mentioning or thinking about?

On my list:

-teach the kiddos to ride bikes and get the bikes in riding condition
-actually put together a fine quality hardbound album of pictures I take of my own family this year
-simplify what we have… a lot of purging this year
-make a family album…a high quality hardbound album (like those I offer my clients)
-eat all organic one week out of each month
-find a good yoga class for me and mr. t
-host more amazing parties (like my Polar Express party) and invite tons of people!

What’s on your to do list?

Photograph Your Life~2

Saturday, January 15th, 2011

I try to explain to people the hilarious thing that is Miss B. She makes the greatest faces and has the most outrageous laugh… seriously, just ask around… it’s true. I never want to forget the faces she makes. When this idea crossed my mind, I knew I had to share it and thought it would be a great idea for amateur photographers, scrapbooks, and those that want to learn how to take better photographs.

Photograph your life assignment: Sit down and take pictures of each of your kiddos (or a loved one) as they make a face to match each emotion you call out. Here is a list of emotions for you to try: sad, angry, happy, shy, embarrassed, surprised, scared, confused, snotty, grumpy, tired, bored, lonely, silly face, laughing.

Arrange them all on one page as I have here, or print out 4×6′s to slip into their own special album… The Many Faces of You

many faces many moods

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