I’m going to give it my all and blog for the next 12 days. This should take me to December 24. Lord knows, I have plenty of material to blog both personal and professional.
So actually, I’m really excited to share the following images! These are the first images from my urban mini sessions that were held at my new studio in Downtown Hollywood, at the end of November. I’ve yet to make an official announcement, but I do have a new studio space located inside the Haircut Hangout at 118 S 20th Avenue. I’m there just a couple of days a week. It’s an awesome spot! If you’re ever in the neighborhood, stop by.
I’m going to be holding mini sessions there on the third Saturday of the month starting in January! The next mini session date is January 16!!! Mark your calendars! Shoot me an email if you should have any questions!
Today is my birthday. I’m 33. If you had to choose which day your birthday would fall on, I can’t imagine that Tuesday would fall high on the list. But it’s Tuesday. And for a Tuesday my girlfriends, my sister Mallory, and I really came together for some fun at the park with our kiddos!
We just got back from our little mini Thanksgiving Day vacation. We took the kids to Magic Kingdom for turkey day. Someone somewhere told me that, “Thanksgiving is the BEST day of the year to go. The park is practically empty!” Well this person is a liar, or has never been on Thanksgiving! 🙂 That being said, we had a great time! Weather was beautiful and the kids were great! Friday we ventured to Tampa to spend two nights with my Aunt Lyna and my parents. It was quite the housefull!! I took pictures while I was away. Only used my “point and shoot” while at the park. The pictures definitely lack in quality, but I have to say I felt quite liberated not having to lug that big thing around. Once we left the park, I got out the “big guns” again. I brought my laptop with me and uploaded pictures throughout our trip. There are definitely a few Disney posts I want to make. But tonight once I got home, put the kids to bed, and showered I sat down to upload the last from the trip. Just a few I took this morning before we left of my brother and dad. My brother’s girlfriend Kristen helped us out with a family shot.
This is my baby brother. He’s so cool! Junior at USF, involved in student government. Fraternity boy. Good looking! I love him!
My dad!
The fam. (props to Kristen!!! I handed her the camera and said, “When you look inside the viewfinder, see the little square in the middle?” Kristen, “yes.” Me, “Just put that over my mom’s eye.”)
Owen didn’t make the shot because he was out driving the tractor.
I have so much to be thankful for in my life. I have a beautiful family! Two gorgeous healthy children and an adoring husband who puts up with me, and yet still spoils me to no end! How lucky am I that today we’re packing up and taking the kids to spend Thanksgiving Day at the Magic Kingdom??!! I own my own business, doing something I LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m the luckiest girl in the world!
That being said, I went down to Coral Gables Sunday morning and spent some time photographing this beautiful (and growing) family. I just love going down to Coral Gables!! My husband and I always say that if we had to move to Miami, we’d hunker down in the Gables.
I always feel it’s an honor and a privelege when a family chooses me to document and photograph them. There are HUNDREDS of photographers out there. All with different styles and price ranges and product offerings. It’s another thing entirely when I’m hired by another photographer! There are no words to describe how awesome it feels!!!!
So meet Faith and Jeff. Faith and her boyfriend Jeff were on vacation, last week, in sunny Ft. Lauderdale Beach. (they live in Rhode Island) Faith is a fabulous wedding photographer and her (now fiance) Jeff, is a restauranteur. They’re here a few days, and one night for dinner Jeff takes her to “Ft. Lauderdale’s Most Romantic Restaurant”; Casablanca Cafe (gorgeous old mediterranean style building right on Ft. Lauderdale Beach) and PROPOSES!! Faith, being the photographer she is, is ready for her engagement session. What a great way to capture and remember this momentous and special vacation!! After exchanging a couple of emails and talking on the phone once, I met them Friday morning at the Casablanca Cafe. The restaurant was closed that early in the morning, which is just what we wanted!
(WARNING…….this is a long one!)
Let me just stop here to say that Faith, is one of the MOST PHOTOGENIC people I’ve ever photographed. And her Fiance Jeff, such a good sport!! She knew how to work it! They both made my job fun! I didn’t want the session to end, because I knew that each image was better than the last.
We walked a few blocks north on A1A till we came to the ultra modern and luxurious W Hotel. Remember, it was pretty early in the morning, so there weren’t too many people out and about. The W Hotel has a covered veranda/patio overlooking A1A with the most AMAZING red chairs. And the covered veranda allowed for the most GORGEOUS light.
I can’t decide what I love more….the amazing light, or my 85mm lens!!!!!
I love these next two shots! You can almost believe that I wasn’t there!
Congratulations Faith and Jeff!!! It was such an honor to be given the opportunity to capture this very special time for the two of you!!!!!!
Back in October I held the first of two scheduled mini session dates. The weather was perfect and my clients were gorgeous! I’m embarrassed that it’s taken me almost a month to blog it! Things have started to get a little crazy over here at Casa Ortiz. Between regular on location sessions, shooting a wedding here and there, opening my new studio space in Downtown Hollywood, AND being a mom, sometimes its enough to make my head spin! But you know, I’m loving every minute of it!
I was so excited to photograph this family on Friday. My second client from the Janie and Jack mini sessions!! Gorgeous family! Gorgeous home!
I love this shot of the youngest of the three Tovar girls. She was getting ready!
So I had an idea and wanted to try something new. I recently acquired some studio lights and thought, “Wouldn’t it be cool, if at the end of the session, I set up my lights in a seperate room, and brought in each member of the family by themselves, ALONE, and had each one show me a range of emotions. And captured them. Perfect for a fun coffee table book. Here’s the result. All the women participated. Dad….not so much! 🙂
I had such an awesome time with the Tovars. Mom is beautiful and gracious and up for anything. It’s that go with the flow attitude that I truly appreciated! Thank you!!!!!
I am so lucky to be a part of this awesome group of female photographers called SoFly. SoFly is the brainchild of Beka Hood, owner of Kallima Photography. (She has an awesome new website!! Check it out! SoFly meets once a month. Sometimes we discuss business and sometimes we shoot. October’s meetup was a high fashion/wedding/brides/urban…etc…etc…shoot, and the whole experience knocked my socks off!!! Thanks to Beka for planning the whole thing. She secured models, dresses, and locations. And thanks to Kat Braman for calling local florists for bouquet donations. It was a collaborative effort by all!!! Here are some of my favorites from the afternoon.
A few little detail shots. The models did their own hair and makeup and brought their own shoes. Gotta love red Valentinos!!!!!
Some of my favorite images were “behind the scenes” shots. I love how you can see everyone’s shadow in the second image. There were probably 15 of us there that day!
The unbelievably stunning Babbette Brown. Her stare was so intense and her eyes so blue. I felt like she could see right into my soul! She’s a ballroom dancer and owns a couple of studios. As soon as I have a link I’ll post it!
My hands down ABSOLUTE FAVORITE PHOTOGRAPH EVER!!!!!!!!!!
I also had the pleasure to work with the gorgeous Emily Baird.
If you’re a South Florida female photographer and would like to get more info on SoFly check out the website! Do you think you have what it takes to be “SoFly”? 🙂 haha
“Her work is distinct and holds a special place in our home.”- Marcy Hirsch -
“Courtney's photographs had a huge impact on NCLR and helped us raise over $1 million in December 2014. Her work is beautiful and engaging and shows the central goal of the fight for marriage equality -love."”- Ace Portis, Major Gifts Officer, NCLR -
“Courtney truly captured the uniqueness of our family and created beautiful, original works of art that we will treasure always.”- Darlene Giol -
I love these next two shots! You can almost believe that I wasn’t there!
