Mark Mabry Photography

Another Family Fav.

This was taken in the Spring... I love this spot and this family. It was on my desk so I figured, "Hey this needs to be posted". Arizona is so striking. Enjoy.
I have a lot of folks calling about family pics right now and the favorite question is "how much does it cost?"
I'll do a post in the near future and have a family photo special offer for Oct-Nov. It's coming.

Dbacks.

For anyone not yet on the bandwagon, let me give you a boost up. I'm basically a sports fan, but more than loving any particular game, I appreciate people who have acheived excellence in an a given arena, who also have the ability to check it at the door. Last week we photographed the Snyder and Webb families at Chase Field before the first game of the Dodger's series. Both Chris and Brandon and their wives were wonderful to work with and the kids were so cute. One would think that everyone would be a little uptight in the middle of a penant hunt, but really the most uptight guys on the field were the grounds keepers! Enjoy the pics.

More Fun at the Phoenician.

Shot for the Amercan Heart Association's Heart Ball. The Gala's are held regionally and raise millions of dollars for heart related causes. This was part of a series of images that we shot to show the lighter side of the Ball Chairs. The chairs and attendees of the Ball are generally very together and well-off, hence the irony of jumping on the bed. These were the chairs from Vegas, Newport Beach, and Scottsdale. They were great sports . Thanks.

High Octane Engagement Session.

Our engagement session with Brandon and Bobbi consisted of a lot of running and jumping. Also, a lot of chilling on the beach between shoots and kicking the crap out of a bunch of local 15 year olds in sand volleyball. It wasn't pretty, but we got the job done. Sam even broke one kid's glasses with a mean kill shot. Unfortunately, the kid was on our own team. I think some of the shots on the harbor are among the cleanest portraits I've ever done. Keep in mind that none of these has been retouched yet.

Enjoy.

Mortensens.

I was so happy to get a call from my good friends and clients the Mortensens to photograph their grandkids before they went out of town. Mostly I was excited to finally have the chance to use this great song from the late nineties that will have you singing along, loudly. It was a quickly planned and excecuted. My favorite shots are when we were drilling the kids with the hose! Looks like rain. Also, they own the hottest kids boutiques in town (Chandler). They took over Twinkletoes' old spot near Chandler mall. The new store is called Spoiled Royal and has a ton of inventory. We went dress shopping for Ava on Saturday and it looks beautiful. They also got the spot two doors down and it's called Glitterbox. Fun shots.

Enjoy.

I did cutesy.

My wife likes to surf around the internet and show me pictures that she wants me to do of the kids. I'm sorry. Cutesy is not my bag baby. Well, sometimes you're just thrown unavoidably right into cute. When we showed up to shoot Gracie and Mae in Carlsbad, it was like being tied to the train track of cute... just knowing that I was going to get run over by it. These little girls were great. There was no way to uncute this one. I had a fun time and was covered in sand by the end. Well done to Erica who didn't even flinch when the first thing the girls did in their new dresses was jump knee deep into the ocean. Thanks girls for making me do cute. I suppose a few times a year of doing cutesy is good for the soul.

Captain Rusty and the James's.

My sister Melanie is a rommantic in the truest sense of the word. When we travel she brings paints and projects and tool boxes and furniture and first-aid kits. She has a vision of a Kennedy-esque existance that I think really only the Kennedys had. Luckily, she has Rusty for a husband. Talk about a patient guy! So for the family shoot of the James's Rusty rented a sail-boat. We tied the nose loosly to the dock. Jake and Sam were my crew on this one. Jake swung the boat back and forth as I dictated (I mean, as the kids dictated) the direction of the shot. Sam was jumping on and off the boat with lighting gear as fast as humanly possible. We were kind of like Gilligan and skipper. I love some of these shots. Melanie's vision finally paid off. I think the reason the Kennedys were able to get those mellow soft moments out playing with their kids is that Uncle Teddy was spiking their ginger-ale with a little southern comfort. If smashing the kids is your plan for getting the kids to cooperate, I would recommend staying away from anything that you need to be 21 or over to buy. Try Robitusen.

Summoresummer.

In spite of the 120 degree weather, I still love the summer time. Candidly, I'm sitting in San Deigo right now. Shooting on the beach is very theraputic. While in the car, I had some time to pull from recent studio shoots and weddings. I've loved the slew of kids that have passed through the studios. Their poor moms! I love to just watch the kids and shoot what they give me. Occasionally we'll fight for a smile, but usaully I like to just let it happen. This freaks out most moms. What we get while awating the smile is our best stuff though.
The Hunt/Brimhall wedding at the Temple and Stonebridge Manor was beautiful. What an elegant bride and a cool groom. Their famillies are really nice too. Congratulations.
I've really been a blog slacker lately. I apologize. I have a rough time writing something meaty unless I really feel verbally fertile. I think I'm due soon. Here's some topics that I've been thinking about lately that are probably the next to unleash themselves on the blog. America. Sexy versus Pornography. A perfect image. I'm going to blog the highlights from each of my beach shoots this week, because I found a good thinking spot up here. They'll come in order. But until then, enjoy some summer stuff.

Alliance.

Designer, Jared Fitch, called for a corporate overview brochure for Alliance Investment Group. We crashed the office for about 2 hours on a moderately busy day, looking for new corporate portraits as well as details that would define the corporate culture of Alliance. The evident level of intensity of and confidence, I feel, was illustrated. I was a little surprised that the range of investments is tangent to what most people can do. They've got a really informative site, check it out. Allaince Investments.
This is just the first part of an extensive project. We'll keep you posted on the rest. I'm excited to see what Jared does with the design.

Some images.

Here I go again wildly violating the 12:00 rule. I'll be circumspect.
I've got to say thank you. Ever since my wife headed up the hill for greener pastures this week, I have been hooked up. After letting me know that I had a hand in exploding the pump and completely emptying their pool, Lauri Hardy brought me some lemonaide (in reference to the post a few days ago), the irony of drinking lemonaide while lounging next to the empty pool was not lost on me. She also brought me a bling water. Bling water, me? Tara, you better come home soon, I'm livin' like P diddy and am liable to drop the truck, put hydrolics on it, and roll around the neighborhood reciting well-metered, controversial, poetry set to drums and a cowbell. I'm going to make Sam follow me around with a Sunbrella. I'm actually kind of scared to drink the bling water. What if I, all of a sudden, get more energy, and lose the precious 4 hours of sleep that I've been giving myself. On top of that, I've had several people say "can I bring you dinner?" It kind of makes me sheepish. Watch what you wish for I guess. Here are some images from the last two weeks or so... I make a cameo in this one with Liz from The Wright House and also Perry Sevey shows up, like Where's Waldo. Does anyone else just completely love the summer time? It's so cool.