Melissa McClure Blog

Just wanted to give you a sneak peek of a session I will be blogging next week and wish you all a Happy Valentine’s Day. No big plans at the McClure-Selenak household, but I do have an engagement shoot today with two lovebirds!

Enjoy your day!

xo, M

In January, I took a 10 day vacation to visit my parent’s home in San Miguel de Allende, GTO, Mexico.  The point of the trip was to spend time with my family, so I didn’t pull my camera out much.  But I did make an effort to shoot a little every day.  I will spare you the photo of the scorpion that stung me though!

Below, my breakfast at a cafe one morning! Yum!

This wall is on my parent’s street.  We were walking in to town and I stopped to photograph it!  My mom claims she has lived in the house for four years and never noticed the rad wall!

I was on vacation, so each meal was accompanied by a margarita!

One of the days we went to a bull fight.  To be honest, I had no idea what I was getting myself in to.  We ended up leaving 20 minutes in to the “fight”  I posted two photos below this one, but they are a little graphic, just to warn you.  Not as graphic as some other shots I took, but it was really hard to shoot through all my tears!

These guys were supposed to taunt the bull, but the bull fought back and speared one of them!  They just pulled the guy off at this point!

Since we left the bull fight early, we got to see this bride and groom walk out of the church after getting married!  There was no professional photographer in sight!

My last full day in Mexico, we drove to the city of Guanajuato since I had never been there.  You take this Funicular to the top of the hill and this is the view you get!

Isn’t this light amazing? I couldn’t pass it up!  And my parents are pretty adorable (married 40 years in August!)

This is back in San Miguel, a view of the Parroquia on the way in to town

And a close up of the same taken from the Jardin!

This was my second time down there, can’t wait to go again!  Next up…learn more Spanish!

xoxo, M

Last night, Cathy, Helena and I attended the Spread the Love tour by Justin and Mary Marantz.  I laughed, I cried, I rolled my eyes (in a good way)!  It was definitely a fun night.  They only have a handful a cities left in their tour, but if there are seats, sign up!  It’s worth the money!

Spread the Love LA: February 5th
Spread the Love San Fran: February 8th
Spread the Love Seattle: February 11th
Spread the Love Salt Lake City: February 15th
Spread the Love Denver: February 17th
Spread the Love Kansas City: February 19th
Spread the Love Chicago: February 22nd
Spread the Love Maine: March 24th

The tour helped give my business a little kick in the butt and I am excited to be developing some new ideas for 2010!  One of the first things I will be doing is dedicating myself to blogging more.  Everyone in favor of this?  This means I will have a few more personal posts, but I hope you enjoy them (and leaving a comment to let me know helps too!)

I’ll leave you with two photo booth photos from past Saturdays wedding (coming to the blog soon!)

If you know me in real life, I’m pretty goofy. I love to laugh. And I love to be laughed at…I mean with.  Mandi and I always have fun on wedding days!

And here we are with the wonderful Courtney Tibetts, wedding coordinator from After the Engagement!  She likes to laugh too

Photobooth by Red Cheese

*My blog was hacked on 1/6/2010 and I lost my three latest blogs. This is a repost of the original blog. Unfortunately I lost all my comments in the process. Feel free to leave another one!*

It’s amazing. It seems like yesterday that I was putting deposits down, making a guest list and getting my dress made! One year ago, Tim and I were married – and the Chargers beat Indy in the playoffs!

Just wanted to say a little Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband who is incredibly supportive of me and even rubs my feet after a long wedding!

Here are a few photos that I didn’t post last year that I absolutely love! My wedding was everything I dreamed of…I want to do it again (same groom of course)!

One of my most favorite images (I have a lot of favorites!)

Photo By Michele Terry (my official photographer)

My friend Scott grabbed this shot of me, working of course!

I love the uniqueness of this shot and the post processing (and look at how cute my mom is behind me!), done by my good friend Melissa Koehler

The Baxter’s were so sweet to capture this rad image with my sparkler dance!

Photobooth by FotoCabina

*My blog was hacked on 1/6/2010 and I lost my three latest blogs. This is a repost of the original blog. Unfortunately I lost all my comments in the process. Feel free to leave another one!*

2009 has been an amazing year in business and my personal life! The year started off with a bang at my own wedding! I had my most successful year business-wise. I owe it all to the support of my family, friends and clients!

I shot some amazing weddings this year as well as a large amount of other type of sessions. I feel like I continue to grow in photography and life with each day. I am so grateful to everyone in my life, you all add a little something and I am a better person knowing you!

Here’s to an even more amazing 2010!!

My fabulous 2009 brides and grooms below!!

Love you all!

xoxo, M

I still have a ton of family and engagement shoots to blog, but I wanted to get this one up quickly, it has special meaning

One of my best friends, Kirsten and her hubby Brett are expecting their first child at the end of January!   They live just outside of Peoria, IL (where I went to College) so making her baby shower would be no easy feat!  But I planned ahead with the help of her mom and was able to surprise Kirsten at the shower. She had no idea I was coming!  You can see her reaction in the video at the bottom of this post (thanks Laura for capturing it!)  Here are a few from the actual shower:

The monkey talks, hence the reason she has it to her ear!

Us

Kirsten called me soon after she found out they were expecting to see if any of my trips to IL coincided with the time maternity photos should be taken (7-8 months along).  Since I refuse to go to the Midwest in the Winter, I had no plans to be there.  She was pretty upset, there is no one local she wanted to trust with that!  I snapped a few frames at the shower, which was held at the local Zoo.  (it doesn’t look like it, but its about 30 degrees here!)

The following day, we did another short maternity shoot!  Kirsten is a yoga instructor in Peoria, IL (check out her studio – Namaste Wellness). We decided to shoot her maternity session in all yoga poses!  She was so excited  I also got to take her class – what a great experience!

Ok I snuck in one non-yoga pose!

I know this one!  Downward Facing Dog!

Fav #1 <3

They are waiting to find out the sex – I can’t wait! I am hoping for a little girl to spoil!  :)

Fav #2 <3

We had to stay inside – there was snow on the ground outside!!!  Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

xoxo, M

Can;t figure out the video thing…here is the link! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPaMRlbj4xo

It’s been awhile since I posted anything too personal, so I’ll take the Holiday to acknowledge what my life consists of!

There are so many things I am thankful for! Here is just a snippet!
-My husband and my kitty – see photo below
-My uber-supportive parents whom I don’t see often enough (mostly because of their wanderlust)
-My extended family that lives close and I know I can lean on if needed
-The amazing friends that I have in my life and would probably go crazy without (shout out to my Betas!)
-My health, even if it hasn’t been great the last few weeks, overall I am normally really healthy!
-Awesome, trusting and loving clients that push me to be a better photographer every single day
-My Cerimone girls, Brenda and Cathy for being inspiring and creative and always believing in me
-So Cal for allowing me to work in my industry year round
-Margaritas and FroYo (Hey! It’s how I relax!)
-My iPhone – 3 way tied for the best purchase I made all year (along with my 50mm 1.2 lens and my Nissan Altima)
Not sure how I ever lived without that phone!

My family

We are headed to my in-laws house today for a Thanksgiving feast.  Tim nominated us (read: me) to make green bean casserole.  I was not born to be in the kitchen like Mandi was, but I think it looks great for my first attempt ever!  Maybe next year they will trust me with something a little more difficult – like potatoes! haha

Gobble Gobble! Enjoy this day, and every day, with your friends and family!

Happy Thanksgiving to my US readers!

xo, M

Happy 29th Birthday to ME!

My very dear friend (and lovely assistant) Mandi Whiting baked me this yumtastic cake for my birthday!  It was a recipe that my grandmother made for every family birthday, so it meant a lot to me that she was willing to attempt it for me!  And yes, it was as yummy as it looks; see her blog for the recipe!

I am also very happy to announce that Mandi Whiting will be joining the Melissa McClure Photography team as a 2010 Associate Photographer!

The website has already been updated to show you some of her latest work as well as give you a sneak peek in to who she is!  She will be taking on her own weddings in the next year in case I am already booked or my pricing is a bit out of budget!

I will continue to deal with all the business concerns, editing and shooting my own weddings, but Mandi is a welcome addition to take on extra work!

You can always reach me at melissa@melissamcclure.com but now Mandi is available at mandi@melissamcclure.com!

I love thoughtful people!

I received a small box today from my delivery guy. It felt like early Christmas or my birthday (next week!)   I definitely got a chuckle when I saw what was inside!  The gift giver saw these napkins and couldn’t help but think of me and my love of twitter.

This fabulous set of cocktail napkins was a gift from the super sweet Lori!

She runs two websites,

Bridalinsider.com (for all you San Diego brides to be – this is the forum you must bookmark!)

and

Giftaria.com (The ultimate website for gifts and party supplies!)

Check them out, Lori rocks!  Thank you!!

xoxo, M

On a side note: This photo was taken with my brand new point and shoot camera I got today!  I got the Canon SD960is

I have been nominated for Channel 10 News A-List – the best of the best in San Diego!

I would absolutely love your support!  There are only 3 days left to vote!

You do have to register on the site for our vote to count.  You do not have to leave a comment on the site if you don’t want to, when you vote you can choose to submit without a comment.  I am so grateful for the 30 comments you all have left so far!  xoxo

Click HERE  to be redirected to the voting site!

<3 <3 <3