A little view of my home town :)

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you a little visual slice of my home town and the Tower of Americas ...

Kinda neat huh!?!?! :)

A hidden little treasure!

So I'm going through the pics from my latest engagement session that was downtown and I found this little gem of a picture. I almost forgot that I took this one!

Silly me, because I think it's a killer shot!!!!!

Ah, to be in love!

This morning I had the great pleasure to shoot one of the sweetest engagement couples ever ... they were just so stinking cute!

The temperature was a crisp 39° when we got downtown this morning, but as if they were true models, I didn't hear one complaint from this thinly dressed couple ... way to go J&S .... ya'll were GREAT! There were so many great shots that I captured this morning ... it's hard to pic just a few to share with everyone ... ah, to be soooo in love ;)

Told ya we got some great shots!!!!!!

Fish anyone?

So yesterday my husband made this dish that is called 'Sea Quail' ... it's actually the throat of a red fish that is cut to almost look like the breast of a quail, hence the name sea quail.

It isn't a terribly hard dish to make but it's just not a common dish to serve. It is however, some seriously good eating though!

I bet these pics will make you hungry for fish ;)

They are brother and sister!

This brother and sister pair was such a treat to work with. I can honestly say that they were the sweetest pair of kids that's been in my studio in a long time!

The session was actually supposed to be a head shot gig but the dad had seen this style of picture on my website and wanted to know if I'd re-create the look with his kiddos. (Portfolio head shots are not supposed to look anything like this!) As nice as those kids were I said no problemo!

You can just see the kindness in these faces! Great job to ya both M&M! I hope y'all had fun!

Meet the Gerber Baby!

Well ... sorta! This little man may not be the actual Gerber baby but he sure could fill in as a double!

Isn't baby A just the cutest!?!? Tongue and all! ;)

Somethng different from me :)

If you live in the same city as I do then you know all about this mornings weather ...FOGGY! Man, that stuff was crazy thick!!

After the kiddos got dropped off to school I eagerly jumped into the car and took my camera downtown to play in the fog. I took all kinds of photos but this last set of my morning walk proved to produce my favorite image.


Yeah, I know this is kinda different for me ... but I really like it. What to you think? Love it? Hate it? Let me have it .. I can take it ;)

Seeing sun spots!

Ok, so a few years ago I did something by accident and I loved it so much that every spring I try to do it again on purpose. I got me one of those silly air-brush tattoos on my back and that very same day I had gone out to a pick nick in the sun (yes I used sun screen) … got sun burnt .. the whole thing. But the coolest thing was when the black 'tattoo' came off I was left with this BAD-A$$ ghost of a tattoo! Totally frigin awesome!

So this year I wanted to do it again and have my hubby try and take some shots of it. Let me tell ya, trying to teach my photography-illiterate hubby how to shoot my signature hard-shadow shot was no pick-nick ... and then the close up with my 85mm 1.2 ... sheesh ... I almost need another vacation!

Be honest ... what do y'all think?

Headshots for a sweet family

Today I had the distinct pleasure of meeting and shooting the Obledo family. The mom, daughter and son are wanting to get into acting and needed some head shots. So together with my pal and makeup artist Michele Ahlsweed of La Calisto, we rocked out the session.

I've got lots of editing to do and some mega family time to catch up on so I can only show you one of the shots from the session for now. Isn't this mother of two a knock-out! Great job P!

Follow my cats' lead ...

Follow my cats' lead and try to have yourself a lazy weekend :)

And to all of you fellow Spring Breakers ... have fun, take it easy and most of all be safe.

Many Hugs, E.

Any pool players here?

While on location for the Gridiron shoot, my pal and I had some downtime so I asked Patrick the manager at the Fox & Hound if we could set up some pool and drink shots and here's what I came up with.

Why did I shoot these? Because I could ... never let a photographer get borred with a camera in hand! ;)

The Antonian Wild Game Dinner

So this weekend I got the great pleasure to re-shoot the Antonian HS Annual Wild Game Fund Raising Dinner ... what fun! I have personally attended this event as a general-admission patron three times and I was asked to actually shoot it two years ago.

This year I was asked to shoot it again! What fun!

All you can eat wild game food (no domesticated pigs, cows or chickens served here at all), all you can drink, all you can smoke, live auctions, silent auction and loads of raffle items .. oh and let's not forget, all the good times you can handle! Heck yeah! I've got about 600 pics to process still, but I just wanted to post a small teaser about this event and I also wanted to throw some big hugs and thanks to my pal Brandon Santiago of Monkey Toes Films.

While I was talking to him about getting invited to re-shoot this event he immediately chimed in and volunteered to shoot a live promo reel too if the school was interested. Keep in mind, my services (and his) were all being done pro-bono as this annual event is the schools big fundraiser of the year.

So what did the school say when I asked to bring in a film crew? .... ABSOLUTELY! Too cool!

Keep yer eyes posted for shots from me and film from him ... together with his darling host Lisa Benton and my hubby as my assistant, we ROCKED IT OUT!!!!!!!

Oh, and here's the film crew, Lisa Benton, Brandon Santiago and me .. my hubby is the one taking the shot :)

A breath of fresh air ... sort of .....

FINALLY!!!!!!!!! Yesterday was like a breath of fresh air for me kinda .... even if I did get some more bad news about a friend and a family member (I'll get to that).

One of my dearest friends and fellow photographer, Dennise Landgraf, flew up from Brownsville on Thursday to attend a photography seminar called Tots 2 Teens (which by the way was AWESOME!) and then spend the night with me and my family. What a treat! ... I am pooped but refreshed at the same time! KWIM?

That day started with me baby sitting my grandmother while my mom went to the hospital for her last eye surgery follow up. My hubby had to pick up my gall-pal and drop her off to me at the house. Not 5 minutes later after the drop, my mom gets home only to say that the new eye looks good but unfortunately the Dr's want to now go in and operate on the other one ... like, in the next 2-3 weeks .... joy .. here we go again.

So after getting that lovely little slice of news, my friend and I had to quick make tracks back to my house so we could grab a bite to eat, get dressed and have a much needed head shot mini-session .. we both needed to update our pics and there was no time like the present!

After that it was quick off to the Gunther Hotel at 4pm only to get out of the seminar at 11:45 ... yes, it was a loooooooooong one! Realizing that all of that sitting makes one's tummy get hungry we went over to have a late night nacho supper (gotta love Mamma Margies) and finally ended up back home after one in the morning ... sigh, I'm tired just thinking about it all!

To make my evening even more eventful, I left my friggin phone at the house (Yet another Erika-ism) and a few of my friends were left without a call back from me ... so sorry guys, you know I love ya both!

Off to bed we go only to jump back out just a few hours later so that I could get her airborne by 8am. Oh, and did I mention that my little girl came up sick during all of this?

As this Friday winds down and I'm sitting with my sicky-pooh girl and I'm stuck just starring at all of the things that I was sooooooo inspired to get done today :)

Having D come up and attending the seminar was just the jump start I needed to get back into my oh-so powerful groove, and it all came to a screeching halt with my sick little goose ...

sigh ....

life ...

what a ride :)

Oh, and here's one of the shots that D took of me !!! LOVE IT!

The mom made me do it!

Yes, baby Max got to come back into my studio and mommy had a very specific set of photos that she wanted ...

No explanation needed, just remember that she made me do it! ;)

Welcome Baby T!!!

This little guy had such a great photo session .. and I was totally shocked! normally I strive to do any newborn sessions early in the AM when they are fresh, but this time mom and dad could only make it for a 7PM start time.

So in a word, YES I was worried! But little baby T put us all to ease ... perhaps I should think about dragging new parents out to my place later at night more often .. it's not like they are getting any sleep anyways with a newborn in the house!

Congrats to Kim & Abram ... your son is a true blessing!

Man ... I gotta say ... this first image was literally the last shot of the night and it is soooooooooooo my favorite one! You did good A!

Ok, so mom brought in the bow and I think that it was the perfect size and color ... and the perfect baby ;) ... well done!

My new headshot :)

So I needed to have a head shot done because a friend of mine did an interview of me for her pay-it-forward type of blog. (I'll post the link to the article once it is online).

These are the four that I'm gonna let her chose from. My family and friends have already spoken up on which shot is their favorite ... which one would you use for the article?

Oh, and before I forget, a great big hug and thanks to Chasity Furse of Studio 423 for taking the time to do these for me. You are the best :)

A personal note to all ...

As many of you may have noticed, I have apparently fallen off the face of the earth and I can absolutely understand many of your frustrations with me. Phone calls and emails have not been returned and many prints & products have not been delivered in my typical timely manner. I would like to first and foremost apologize to all those that have been wondering what has happened to me and the previously prized customer service and friendship that you have been accustomed too.

Over the past several months my family and I have been riddled with several major health and mental crisis’s and as a result of everything I have been unavoidably unreachable and distracted … and for that I truly do offer my sincerest apologies. Public confessionals has never been something that I was fond of, but in all honestly your valued friendship and loyal business deserves nothing less from me.

Alas, there has been a glimpse of peace and life at the end of this long dark chapter in my life that will joyfully result in the “Business as usual’ mentality. So, on that note, if you have been waiting for a print, product, service, phone call, email .. whatever, from me please take comfort that come 1st thing Monday morning I plan to finally (and quite thankfully) return to the world of this photography business that I love so well. One by one I will answer your emails, phone calls and requests. I only hope that at this point you can take it on faith that nothing would mean more to me than your love and continued friendships.

Love, E.

I got to shoot a Red Carpet event!

Yep, that was a first for me and I had such a great time. Thursdays Premiere Event was made to present NBC's Friday Night Lights opening show for Season 3. This show was featuring San Antonio's very own Gridiron Heroes which is a spinal cord injury foundation whose mission statement is to provide immediate, as well as, long term resources and support to individuals sustaining a catastrophic spinal cord injury through activities associated with high school football. The foundation is providing awareness and funding support for these great athletes and would be most appreciative of your donations. Please click on the link to share your support for their great cause.

Our very own local Fox & Hound pub hosted the pre and post VIP parties while the Red Carpet event and screening was at the fantastic Palladium theaters in the Rim. My night was surrounded by local and Hollywood celebrities, actual Grid Iron Heroes, major sports figures, producers, publishers, media and lots more!

Before I show you any of the photos I want to give some major thanks to Brandon Santiago of Mokeytoes Film Productions for inviting me to tag along with him to this event. And as for the photos that I took, none of them would be allowed for you to see if it weren't for the generous permission of Mr. Israel Sanchez of Learsi films. Words can not express how grateful I am to these guys for allowing me to have this experience .... y'all are the best!

Oh, and now for some of the images that I took that night! You might even recognize a few folks!

A daddy and his little girl.

Ok, now how great is this shot! This couple brought in their sweet little girl that arrived a little more than 10 months after I shot their wedding. As usual, my M&M couple (tee hee!) were just a laid back and easy going couple ... and so was baby C :)

We found out that this little lady just loved being swaddled. (hopefully mom and dad can use that to their advantage and catch some zzz's!)

My Wish for You in 2009

(Thanks Terry!)

My peace break into your house and may thieves come to steal your debts.

May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet of $1000 bills.

May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips!

May your clothes smell of success like smoking tires and may happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy.

May the problems you had forget your home address!

In simple words ............ May 2009 be the best year of your life!!!