mikelarson.com

A beautiful creation: Ana and Baby

2009-12-15T00:16:00.000-08:00

Today I got to do a maternity shoot with my friend Ana and her beautiful son Lucas. I drove up to Mexico for the day to shoot these pictures but ended up staying a couple of days. I laughed so hard during this shoot because Ana couldn't believe she was standing in the middle of a desert in nothing more then a shawl! But there is such a beauty in a pregnant woman that truly can not compare with anything else.

The bible puts this miracle best when it says

For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,

your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

How beautiful is this miracle? How great is our God!

a different kind of beauty...

2009-12-14T14:29:00.000-08:00

Many of you might not know this but I am currently living in Mexico and work there as a missionary. I come up about once a month to still shoot weddings but my day to day is all in Tijuana. Shooting weddings you see many beautiful things, but in the people I work with here each day I see a different kind of beauty. I thought I would share a few pictures of the people that we work with here in TJ so you could get a little peak into my life here...

Her fairytale day...

2009-11-17T16:26:00.000-08:00

One of the first things I remember about Joey was that from the first time that she saw Robert Hall in a slideshow of a Robert Hall wedding we shot she wanted to get married there. She told me all about how much she loved Robert Hall and Mike Larson Photography. Like I always say, it is so much fun to shoot pictures of people that are excited about the photography.

There wedding was beautiful and went really smooth. Joey is really easy going and was also really easy to shoot, very willing to try a bunch of different things. Ricky is also pretty easy going, him and his groomsman were a crack up! I love listening to the toasts because you get to learn about the bride and groom in a little more intimate way. These toasts kept me laughing all the way through.

I have to apologize for not getting these pictures up sooner, but I hope you all like them!

A friend to have, a friend to keep...

2009-11-13T13:55:00.000-08:00

This post is much delayed also but in an attempt to catch up I wanted to post a few pictures from the Bobby and Kristina's wedding. Kristina and I have been friends since high school and I was so blessed when she asked me to shoot her wedding. Kristina is one of those friends that you want to keep for all your life. She is loyal, loving, consistent. And it is clear that Bobby is the just the one God chose for her.

They flew me out to Texas for the wedding along with my assistant Anna Joy, who is actually no assistant at all because she is an amazing photographer that owns her own photography business and could probably outshoot me any day! :) I was so appreciative to have her with me!

Below are just a few of the pictures from the day, enjoy!

A little wind, a lot of love...

2009-11-09T21:52:00.000-08:00

Two days ago I shot Megan and Matt's wedding. My brother's name is Matt and of course my name is Meagan so all day long I thought people were calling me and my brother! :) Megan and Matt are great and their wedding was so much fun! Very laid back, which I love, your wedding day only happens once so you might as well enjoy it! One thing I remember about Megan and Matt from their engagement shoot was that they were super easy going and willing to try anything. They acted the same on their wedding day which made my job fun and easy!

One thing that really stood out to me about their wedding was something said during their toasts. Matt's brother was giving a speech and said something along the lines of " Megan and Matt's love has made it through so much, it has overcome." As I was sitting there I was thinking, that is what love is, it is a choice, something you put effort into and fight for. I'm not exactly sure what it is they have overcome but I know that that is the testimony I want my love story to have. Today too many couples base their relationships just on feelings and we see most marriages end in divorce. But it is the couples that can go through the storm together, and hold on to the gift of their relationship, that will see the fruit of their efforts. Like I said, love is not a feeling, it is a choice, a laying down of one's life for the other, just as Christ did for us.

Hope you guys enjoy the pictures. There are actually two other weddings that I need to blog but they will be coming next.

God bless you all!

a little latin flair... oo la la!

2009-08-03T21:37:00.000-07:00

Okay so I know I haven't posted in a very long time, and because of that I am going to make up for it by posting a bunch of pictures from this wedding I shot this Saturday. This weekend was an amazing wedding! Okay, well I guess I should start by saying I was half dead with the flu, literally, I spent the whole day before in bed with a 101 temperature. But from the beginning I have loved this couple and couldn't imagine not being there. Not to mention that you can't really "call in sick" as a wedding photographer. I am so glad that I pushed through because I was so blessed to shoot their wedding. They are from the valley like me, so how could I not love them! These two are meant for each other, a very special couple to say the least. And from the beginning they have been so stoked about the photography. As a photographer you kind of feed off that and it makes you shoot better. Since I am still kind of sick I can't write for long but I did want to post the images and apologize to everyone for my lack of posting! :) Ernie and Jess, I pray the Lord blesses your marriage!

Ryan & Courtney: A lot more wind! :)

2009-03-24T11:34:00.000-07:00

On Sunday, after a crazy week of tons of photo shoots, I had another engagement shoot with Courtney and Ryan. As tired as I was from a wedding the day before and non-stop shooting, they made it so much fun. Courtney is one of those people that just makes you smile and laugh when you are around her. She has such a bubbly and joyful personality. Ryan is awesome too! He did really well with the photoshoot depite some minor technical difficulties that we had.

So about those technical difficulties, if I thought we had wind on Matt and Megan's shoot I had no clue how windy it could get. We drove up Perfumo Canyon to try to shoot up there and pretty much turned around almost immediately. It was so windy that Sophie almost couldn't get her car door open to get out of the car when we got there. The funny thing about wind is it really is the one weather type that you just absolutely can not shoot in. Atleast not that type of wind. All the other things: snow, rain, overcast... you can do them all, but this was insane! So once again we decided to head to Avila hoping for weather a little more friendly.

Avila was beautiful. We shot at the apple blossom trees that were in full bloom, they were gorgeous! Here are a few of the shots from their engagement shoot.

Lance & Vivian: The Beauty of NOT planning :)

2009-03-24T10:49:00.000-07:00

Lance and Vivian were actually surprise guests and Kristina and Bobby's engagement shoot. They drove up to Santa Monica with them for the engagement shoot, and since it was their five year anniversary we decided to take some pictures of them also. They had been trying to make plans for their anniversary and nothing was coming to fruition so in the end they ended up coming along for the ride. But sometimes NOT planning gives you the best outcome, because they got a free anniversary shoot out of it!

Lance and Vivian were a blast to have along for the trip. They were so comfortable to be around and also very patient since an engagement shoot isn't the fastest event to attend. We had a great time though. I pray that the Lord gives them many more plus five year anniversaries.

Here are a few of their shots!

Kristina & Bobby: Old Friends and New

2009-03-24T10:24:00.000-07:00

Last week I shot Kristina and Bobby's engagement pictures. Although I just met Bobby for the first time, I have known Kristina practically forever! Kristina and I went to high school together in Quito, Ecuador! Not everyone can say that... :) Whether it be political coups, being shot at, our volcano erupting, or things less melodramatic like our birthdays being one day apart and sharing parties year after year... we definitely have a history together! I was so blessed to hear that Kris was getting married, and even more blessed when they asked me to do the photos.

Bobby and Kristina are the exact right match. Meeting him felt like I had known him forever also, he fit right in to what I imagined Kristina's potential husband looking like. And we're pretty picky too when it comes to us girlies from high school! We have high standards for each other, but he passed with flying colors! :)

Kristina and Bobby flew in from Hawaii and then met us in Santa Monica for the engagement shoot. Although the day was a little cloudy all the colors from the boardwalk helped to bring life to the pictures. After leaving the boardwalk we started driving east for 45 minutes. We had no idea where we going but we were searching for sun. To be honest, I dont even know what city we ended up in but we finally found the sun and shot at St. Mary's College. The grounds were beautiful so we pulled over and started shooting.

I can't wait to see what the Lord does with Bobby and Kristina, what He has for their life. I am excited to watch it unfold!

Here are a few of the images from the shoot! :)

Matt & Megan: The beginning of the wind

2009-03-24T09:42:00.000-07:00

This last week has been the craziest week of wind I think I have ever had in our beautiful little town of San Luis Obispo. Matt and Megan are getting married at Holland Ranch, which was where we started the engagement shoot. We weren't there for long though, the wind was blowing us all over the place. We kind of gave up on the sunbounce turned paraglider (is that a word??) Poor Trista was flying all over the place trying to hold it. We left Holland Ranch in search of calmer ground. We found it Avila... thank you Avila for almost always having amazing weather despite what it looks like anywhere else.

Matt and Megan are perfect for each other. Their sense of humor matches perfectly! I am stoked to shoot their wedding, especially since it will be my first time shooting a wedding at Holland Ranch. Here are a few of the images from the shoot... sorry it took a while to get these up! :)

Time for a seminar!!!

2009-02-05T13:56:00.000-08:00

So Mike had a seminar this week for a few photographers and the benefit of working for Mike Larson Photography is that we get to go for free! I have to keep this post a little short but I will say that our model for the mock photoshoot was the beautiful Autumn Cipriano. Here are a few of the images from the shoot.

Chris and Ashley

2009-02-02T21:34:00.000-08:00

This weekend I got to shoot Chris and Ashley's Engagement pictures! This is such a neat couple! They have been together for four and a half years and are tying the know this May! I love when you meet a couple and you just know "this one is just right." You meet them and you know immediately, God hand-picked these ones for each other. I love that!

After a quick coffee stop we shot at two locations. Yet again it was an amazingly beautiful day on the central coast, I mean seriously, I can not believe the weather lately! It has been so gorgeous! First we went to Laguna Park and shot there for a while. They got into the groove really quickly! I kept joking with Ashley that she looks like Carrie Underwood... :) I wonder if she sings like her??? :) Here are a few of the shots from Laguna Park...

After Laguna Park we headed towards Shell Beach. I love Avila but it was time to switch it up a bit. Shell Beach was the perfect option Here are a few of the shots from there... :)

Briana and Tyler

2009-01-22T10:56:00.000-08:00

This Monday I had another great photo shoot! I actually knew Briana and Tyler before they booked with us because they go to the same church as me, Shoreline Calvary Chapel. I first met Briana when she was preparing to go on a missions trip to Kenya, a trip I had taken two years before. We had a great time just hanging out and talking. Just a few months later I got a message on my phone right before I was about to cross the border to Mexico that she wanted to talk to me about wedding photography! The ironic part about it was that she found out about Mike Larson Photography at the Bridal Faire when she saw the photobooth www.slophotobooth.com and put her name on a list to be contacted about it. I contacted her and the pieces started to fall together that I work for Mike Larson Photography! It was such a funny coincidence!

Briana and Tyler are great together! It was such a crack up watching them interact. He was driving her crazy with making goof ball faces. He had Chloe and me cracking up. Briana eventually gave up and went with it! :) The shoot was a lot of fun and we got some great shots. The Lord has done a lot in their relationship to get them to this point and it was such a blessing to get to share in their moment.

We started off at this little side area of Madonna Mountain. I love to shoot here. There is something so romantic about the big open fields. Here are a few of the shots from the mountain.

Afterwards we headed over to the "apple orchard" in Avila Beach. I put apple orchard in parentheses because it really wasn't much of an apple orchard at this time of the year. All the branches had been pruned and were left bare. But the bareness kind of gave it a cool effect so we decided to shoot there. Here are a couple.

We finished up at the beach in Avila, we only had about five to ten minutes of sun but in the last few minutes here were a couple of the shots that we got.

Ernie & Jessica

2009-01-18T16:10:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I shot an engagement shoot for Ernie and Jessica. We had an incredible time! From the first moment that I talked with Jessica we just connected! I can't imagine NOT shooting their wedding. I have been looking forward to shooting their engagement shoot for sure. They are getting married at Cypress Ridge, one of our favorite wedding venues to shoot at! www.cypressridge.com

Jessica and Ernie are perfect for each other! Ernie is a football coach so we had to do some shots out on the football field. The pictures definitely only tell part of the story. Not only did we have to carry the couch out on to the field, but with it being soccer season, it took all four of us (Me, Jessica, Ernie, and Chloe) to move the soccer goals out of the way! By the end we had all worked up a sweat. But the images turned out great and we had a blast. Jess and Ernie were great sports about it! We were all laughing! Then to top it all off, the janitor accidentally locked us into the football stadium! We were trying to figure out how we were going to lift the couch over the fence when the janitor came back! Thank goodness! :)

After the football field we headed to Sycamore Mineral Spring. There is a great place to shoot right across the way there. Thanks to Chloe that shot a wedding there and found this great area to shoot at. It definitely was a different atmosphere from the football field but Jess and Ernie adapted great! It wasn't hard to get them to love on each other! They are very comfortable together, and also stoked about the pictures, which makes my job so much easier!

Our last stop was Avila Beach. You would never guess it was Jan. because the weather here on the central coast thinks its summer time. Jess and Ernie did such a great job here. It didn't take long to get them in the water! Jess looked beautiful and it was a perfect end to a great day!

I always believe that the Lord brings the couples into our lives that He specifically wants there. This couple is no different. I love them already and am praying for their marriage. I can't wait to see what God does in their lives and feel blessed to get to take part in their wedding.

Norah & the Fam!

2008-12-20T22:35:00.000-08:00

Friday I did a family portrait shoot out at Tolosa Vineyards... I love this time of the year in the vineyards, when all the leaves are more red, orange and yellow then green! This was a family portrait shoot but Norah somewhat stole the show!! They all did such a great job. I am realizing more and more how much I love doing portrait shoots. Watching families interact together, loving on each other, sometimes going a little crazy while trying to get everyone to smile all at the same time! It is great! I hope that you guys enjoy these pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them! :)

Christmas Cards!!!

2008-12-17T17:08:00.000-08:00

Wow! It has been a long time since I have posted! With all of the rain we've been having the last couple of days I've had to cancel two engagement shoots. Hoping for no rain for Friday so that the family portrait session planned will work out! So with all this free time I decided I would get a new job!!! Graphic Designer!!! Just kidding! All this free time means catching up on paperwork... well maybe not that bad. :) But I did get to experiment with some graphic design with the help of our graphic designer and other photographer, Jake Odening! Thanks Jake! I decided that all of the christmas card options are always rather limited, well atleast the ones that can have photos printed on them. So I thought I would design my own. Chloe, another photographer on our team liked it so much that she decided to use it for her christmas card! And then we decided to use it for our studio! So chances are you might see them around. SLO County Sitters, an amazing sitter company here in the central coast (check them out!) has a batch of their own. Anyways, here is the card! Enjoy!

P.S. I wonder what the statistics are on number of people that buy christmas cards and then never get around to sending them out? :)

Home for Thanksgiving!!!

2008-12-04T16:45:00.000-08:00

So you would think photographers would want a break every once and a while, and of course we do, although not as often as you might think! :) I went home for Thanksgiving but couldn't fight the temptation to do a little shoot with my niece and nephew... here are a few pictures from the shoot.

On another note... what is the one thing I am most grateful for this year? God's grace, because all of the amazing things in my life are undeserved and only there because of his grace...

Joshua and Christy: Engagement Part 1 @ Edna Valley Vineyard

2008-11-25T22:26:00.000-08:00

I only have a second but just wanted to put a few images from the shoot today. I will write more in the second part of the engagement shoot!

The Olds Family

2008-11-22T22:14:00.000-08:00

Both of the Olds family kids have been adopted, one from a hurricane Katrina family. Little Mariel had a rough time during the shoot, she was woken up from a nap for the family portraits. But when it was all said and done we got a few cute ones. Here are a few...

Laura Robinett

2008-11-20T21:38:00.000-08:00

Today I shot Laura's senior pictures, she was fighting the flu but was a trooper and got out there to take the pictures anyways. She looked great! You could definitely not tell she had the flu! We had a lot of fun venturing down town and at the mission. This is another one of my youth group girls. Laura from the beginning has grabbed a hold of my heart. I think it is because she is so much like me.
I tend to be passionate, and a little stubborn, :) but truly love the Lord and those He has put in my life. I want His will for my life, and yet I often find myself wrestling with Him along the way, and finally giving into what He has for me, which of course is always much better then anything I could have for myself. And in the end, in His arms is always where I find myself. In many of these ways, I feel that Laura is the same. Not to mention the silliness factor that we both have in common! Actually, I think all the girls in the youth group have that in common! So, on that note, I find it only appropriate that I put a few silly pictures from the shoot too! Hope Laura doesn't mind! :)
Here they are...

The Swanson Girls

2008-11-16T18:26:00.000-08:00

I love all of these girls sooo much!!! All of them are in the high school youth group at my church and I have had the privilege of watching them grow in the Lord and getting to be a part of their lives and that process. The Lord is doing an amazing work in their family and each one of these girls is a treasure. In April I will be leaving for Mexico and I can truthfully say that leaving these girls as well as the rest of the kids in the high school group is going to be one of the harder things in this process. But the Lord has a season for everything, and He is working! I am blessed to get to be a part of it!

Charles and Layne get married!

2008-11-16T17:48:00.000-08:00

Oh boy was this a windy day... I don't think I have ever shot in wind like this before... :) The bride was a good sport about it though!
We had a great time at Charles and Layne's wedding. We got to work with the Kramer DJs team again which was a blast! They do such a great job every time. Catering Unlimited did the food! Almost all of BSEG event group was there!
The wedding was on the pier in Cayucos... very small and intimate, a perfect fit for Charles and Layne's personalities. I can't write much right now but I wanted to get these pictures up.
Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Layne and Charles Engagement Shoot

2008-11-04T14:10:00.000-08:00

Layne was a surprise wedding... she booked us, Kramer DJs and Catering Unlimited all a week and a half before her wedding! :) But she was getting married on a Sunday so it all worked out. We had a great engagement shoot, Charles is a pro!!! Afterwards we went to California Pizza Kitchen to hang out and get to know each other a little bit. This is a really cool couple! And the wedding is coming soon!

Matt and Kayla are married!!

2008-11-02T17:59:00.000-08:00

So I'm going to be posting a lot of pictures for this one because this is basically my twin brother that just got married. Besides the fact that Matt's family has been my "family away from home" all throughout college and post college, Matt was also born one day after, which makes me a day older!!! (I never let him forget it!) So my "little brother" got married! And he got a keeper! Kayla is amazing, sweet, a laugh that you can't help but smile when you hear, loving, very real, and those are just to name a few. She also loves the Lord, and she happens to love Matt too! The Lord already uses them so much together but I know He is going to continue to do so! Love you guys!

Heather and Jim get married!

2008-10-26T16:52:00.000-07:00

Heather and Jim got married at Robert Hall Winery, one of my favorite places to shoot! Jenn Hocker coordinated their wedding and did an incredible job, the entire day was beautiful. She also added her own creation to the day, a smores bar, which everyone loved! Her husband built it himself! Beau Kramer with Kramer Djs was there too, he does a great job keeping the event running smoothly and the dance floor full of people!
It has been so neat getting to know Jim and Heather. I think the number one reason why I love my job is because of the relationships that I get to build from it. I honestly felt like I was watching a friend get married. And the fun thing is, as the photographer I get to be there the whole day experiencing it with them.
Jim and Heather, I pray that the Lord blesses your marriage and I definitely hope to see you in Mexico!