For the past few weeks, my mind has been in overdrive mode, thinking of ways to grow our business.  One of those ways was definitely scary, almost like jumping into the deep part of a pool for the first time as a kid…or reaching the peak of a roller coaster and not seeing anything in front of you but sky!...you’re not sure what to expect but you’re sooo ready for it!!  Know that feeling?! Well last week Lauren and I embarked on a new journey and took the next step in helping John Lauren Photography grow and be more efficient all at the same time =)  With much prayer and thought and discussion we decided to hire our first employee and we can’t tell you how excited we are!  With the demands of the business growing, and Lauren growing...literally, it was the perfect time to find someone to help us out around the office.  But it’s so much more than that. Being that we’re still young in the business, we wanted someone that could grow with us and be ready for all the joy and pain that comes with it.  We wanted someone that loves photography (duh!) and was just as hungry to learn the ins and outs of the business as we were starting out.  We wanted someone that we could mold and would fit into who we are and how we are to each other (more on that later) and still laugh and joke around just as much as we do.  WHEW!!  Talk about being picky! But, God once again hooked us up with all that and then some.  Meet our new Studio Assistant Richelle Jean!  WOOHOO!! =) Believe it or not, we’ve known Richelle Jean since she was a wee tad with a haircut reminiscent of Lilo from Lilo & Stitch!  Oh how these kids have grown! =)  And when we heard from the grape vine that Richelle loved photography and was looking for a summer job we thought…sweet! So after bribing her with a huge slice of strawberry pie from Marie Calendars, she agreed to the challenge! If only she knew how much work she’s actually going to have! Hahahah j/k =) One of the things that we hope she’ll come away with in working with us is simply a new/newer found love for photography.  She’s already so talented so it’s just a matter of time when she’s managing her own clients! This was a shot she took of a parking meter that I had just put coins in before we started shooting in Old Town Pasadena.  Ask me if I remember it looking that cool and my answer would be..."uh no!".  Can you tell, her eye for things is already so creative we love it! OK so I’m really not suppose to share these photos yet but I have to show you this shot that she caught during our shoot with the couple…. Seriously?!  Who taught her that?!  Cuz we sure didn't!!  The way she framed the shot was perfect!  When Lauren and I saw this image, we about fell off our seats in amazement!!  If this is any indication of how talented she is, did John Lauren Photography score or what?!! If you have a second, shoot Richelle an email congratulating her on her new position and if you have some encouraging words, she’d love to hear that too! You can email her at richellejean@johnlauren.com We can’t tell you how excited we are to have you on board Richelle!  You’ll be awesomeness and more! =)

 Our very good friends bought The Gummy Bear it's very first outfit! Isn't it so appropriate...

I want to introduce to you a good friend of ours... She's the one rockin the Minnie Mouse shirt right in the middle and her name is Nina Villarin. This good friend of many years has embarked on a new journey in her life.  A 4th grade teacher by day in the city of Chino Hills, CA and a youth leader by night, Nina has for longer than we can remember, has been praying about this "thing" in her heart.  This "thing" that somehow got in there was as scary and real as anything she could ever think of but it never went away. So what's this "thing"?!...this "thing" in her heart was a calling to go out and be a Missionary and spread the good news of the Gospel to people in other countries.  How cool is that?! With wanting to be a missionary, especially one out of the country, it is not as easy as you think.  There were so many things to consider (the Bible talks about this as "counting the cost")...I mean why go right?!  A good job, lots of friends and family!  Why would she want to leave all that awesomeness behind?! After years and years of praying, and more praying...God really opened the flood gates and she got accepted to YWAM (Youth on a Mission).  And believe it or not, despite all that awesomeness  we just mentioned, she still followed her calling. For the next six months, Nina will be out in the Mission field serving her first love, God.  We were sad to see her go, but she will be learning a lot and experiencing something greater than anything we can imagine. Nina, we were sad to see you go but glad to know that is what you wanted. If you are still scheduled to come back in December, little John or  little Lauren will be waiting and will be fighting you for floor space.. hehe :) If you want to see what's happening in Nina's life, check out her blog and drop her a little love comment.  Oh and if you totally *heart* what Nina's doing she still needs to raise funds for the time she'll be away...remember she's not getting paid for this! =)  So if you want to some way get in contact with her, shoot me an email at john@johnlauren.com and we'll hook you up. Oh and before I forget, if you missed yesterday's post about our Q&A see below!

PART 1 : Q&A Yesterday we had some awesomeness chatting with a Bride to be and during our conversation like we always do, we dropped the super put you on the spot question..."do you have any questions for us? Well it got me thinking about when we booked Me Ra for our wedding and boy did we have questions!  We ended up on the phone with her for over an hour!  And get this...we've never even seen or met or even spoke before! hahah.  Me Ra actually put a funny post of when we first spoke on her blog...check it out. With that said, I wanted to throw this same question out there for anyone of you that keep up with our life...I mean business (Lauren loves to write about anything and everything!) through our blog.  So if you've got questions like..."how's Lauren feeling?", "what's she look like now?" ask away!  Oh and yeah, if you want to ask some photography questions, you can do that too =) With that let me shift gears and talk about Linda+Dennis Part II, the second part of the today's post. Before we drop engagement slideshowness on you all I couldn't help but give a few more sneak peaks of some of my favorite shots of the day... We found this one green door towards the back of the Observatory that actually was indented from the wall about a foot...we love funky "one off" doorways =) I think if I had to pick any one shot to keep, it would be this one...the sun came in at a perfect spot over their heads and her eyes are almost piercing...add that to a sort of antique look...there you have it, my favorite image of the day. Keeping up with the modern architecture of this part of the Observatory, I took a more modern approach in processing this shot compared to the one above.  Like seriously, you can't go wrong shooting in a semi-empty hallway with glass walls towering 2o feet above you...how sweet is that?! For engagement slideshowness ***Click Here*** Don't forget to leave a comment or questions and we'll try to give you an answer! Happy Tuesday everyone!

Last week we got to hang with Linda+Dennis at the Griffith Park Observatory for their portrait/engagement session...a place that's been frequented by us about as many times as we've climbed Everest, so you can imagine how stoked we were to finally make our way up the hill and peep out the view.  It was definitely hot that day and we ran into a crowded Observatory but we still a blast.  We started the day with a few casual shots... and ended the day rockin something a little more formal... One of the things that we love about Linda+Dennis is that they both come from different cultures...if you couldn't tell by shot above, Linda's Chinese (rockin' the red!) and Dennis is Filipino (rockin' what we call a Barong Tagalog - it's the Filipino version of a formal American suit made of super light weight fabric).  To honor both traditions, Linda+Dennis are going to have this awesome whole day event of a wedding that starts with an all decked out traditional Chinese Tea Ceremony followed by a traditional American ceremony at a near by church.  Is that sick or what?!  It's going to be a sweet day of awesome picture galore that we can't wait to shoot! Here's another one of my favorites that Lauren captured for two reasons...remember the Barong Tagalog?  I love how you can see just how super thinly woven the Barong actually was with all the sunlight in behind him.  Second reason...don't you love how the Linda's ring almost pops out of the picture =)  If you couldn't tell, we love natural light and every time we shoot, we try to use the sun as much as we can!! =) As for the slideshow, it's just about done so don't forget to check back in tomorrow when it goes up!  Think of these shots as a little appetizer! =) Linda+Dennis - you guys rock and we can't wait for your big day!