The pelican is out, Loudmouth is in

Most people don’t know, but back in the dark ages, my major in college was photography. It was before green screens and photoshop and digital cameras. We kicked it old school in the darkroom, with the smelly chemicals and the red lights and lenses that didn’t autofocus. It was awesome.

I loved photojournalism and even through I strayed into marketing, I have always maintained a passion for great photography, and probably an unhealthy standard for portrait photography.

Living on Facebook, you see lots of the mamarazzi photos, and they’re great, don’t get me wrong, but there was one photographer who’s work just haunted me. My friend Sabrina used Loudmouth Photography a lot and when I saw the photos, it was like gazing at a pair Christian Louboutin shoes — my breath would catch. They were ah.maze.ing.

Like the Christian Louboutins, I never thought I’d be able to afford Loudmouth Photography, so I just like-buttoned longingly all of Sabrina’s gorgeous photos… until one day, Brandy (Queen Loudmouth) posted a special that fit my budget.

Brandy has a huge place in her heart for dogs so I knew she was the perfect photographer for us. The intent was to get some photos of the Princess Cupcake with the puggies to surprise the Hubs for his birthday. WHICH IS IN NOVEMBER. Could I wait that long? I mean, it was August, that’s two whole months!

The cool thing about Loudmouth Photography is… she posts sneak peeks of your photos on Facebook as she’s working on them. No more waiting months for your proofs from those hoity toity photographers. AND Brandy also gives you all the digital files when she’s through.

It was like crack. I was trolling Facebook all day long hoping she’d post another one of our pictures so I could first, tear up, then second, check-off more birthday and holiday gifts.

I don’t know how I got a 4 year old to keep this secret, but she has. For about 2 months. Crazy — and a little scary. But somehow we’ve kept it on the downlow, although it was the worst kept secret on Facebook. Thank you everyone for keeping the surprise in tact! Since the hubs refuses to get on the social media bandwagon – everyone, I mean everyone – has seen his pictures before him. Serves him right.

And I couldn’t wait for November, I had to move up the unveiling to our October anniversary.

Being ever so opportunistic, I also saw this as a rare chance to freshen up the living room. I enlarged one of my favorites as big as it could go and had it printed on a canvas to hang over the fireplace. This was my one shot to bump off the brown pelican that the Hubs loves so much that’s too big for the space. See?

BEFORE

So after a decade of marriage – to the day – I figured it was time for a win-win. If I ever stood a chance to dethrone the pelican, it would be with this:

AFTER

Another surprise benefit of having Loudmouth Photography’s awesome work? It’s also a pretty good carrot to get your parents to visit. When they heard I had booked another session with Brandy for holiday photos (this time WITH the hubs), they booked their flights to come too. Seriously.

So now that the cat’s officially out of the bag, here are only a few of my many favorites. Someone please send me a realtor because all of a sudden, we need a bigger house. This one doesn’t have enough walls to hang all these precious moments in time.

Check out Loudmouth Photography’s website here, or on facebook here. She posts specials too so be sure to “like” her page, and tell her the Princess Cupcake sent you.