Movin On Out!

I'm taking CaptureClickCreate to the next level in the new year, so head on over to blog.leahoconnell.com for session updates and SO MUCH MORE! ;-)

The Thompson's

A Saturday morning shoot with the Thompson family of 6 proved to be a fantastic way to start the weekend. Huge waves and a bright sun overhead put us all in good spirits and the poses just rolled along seamlessly! I must admit, I was prepared for a minor workout at the thought of wrangling four kids into family pictures, but this crew knew what they were doing! The older 2 girls were especially helpful as we played games with the younger boys and tickled them into some priceless smiles. The love of this mom and dad toward each other and toward their kids was so evident and my heart warmed to capture their bond! After a giant wave crashed in on dad and his girls, we decided to wrap with tons of laughs and photos to take away from the day.

The Martinez family

With a storm brewing on the Windward in the distance, I met the Martinez family on a secluded beach to try to brace the wind and beat the rain for some fun family pictures. Their two boys, Toni and Tyler were hilarious balls of energy that kept me on my toes and helping me get creative with our posing. They got along so well, too, despite the few pictures in which it appears quite the opposite! We were all laughing pretty much the whole time and got plenty of great smiles before it started sprinkling. Mom got her Christmas present early this year and I hope it will keep them all happy for years to come!

Vow Renewal

A new acquaintance and fellow photographer, Nicole, contacted me last week to say that her parents were going to be on island for the holidays and wanted to renewal their vows. Naturally, she wanted to participate and be in the pictures for once instead of behind the camera, so I was honored that she asked me to capture the special day for them! On a gorgeous day in Waianai, I watched them reaffirm their love for one another. It is always a pleasure to witness long and lasting love :-) Afterwards, we posed for group shots out of the whole clan, and the kids were all so well-behaved, even when distracted by the dogs playing fetch in the ocean. It was a wonderful way to spend the morning and I hope this family has nothing but happy memories of this special day!

Not your average Christmas party

The perks of working and learning from Bob the Camera Man continued this holiday season as I helped him cover an annual Christmas party thrown by a very notable family of the island. This Christmas party was 2 parts, night one for kids and night 2 for adults. I would be more excited about the kids party, of course. Face painters, DJ, full catering of kid friendly yet gorment foods, passed delicacies for the adults like filet minion sliders, and shrimp gazpacho martini cups, a balloon man, and a mountain of giant gingerbread cookies with all the fixings. Side note, when you let a group of 4-5 year old's loose on a cookie decorating station, you end up with sugary treats both blinding in color and sugar content. I had so much fun capturing the smiles on these kids' faces, not to mention, enjoying the gorgeous view. What an awesome experience!

The USS Port Royal

Assisting one of the most well-known photographers on the island has so many benefits, including getting to participate in shooting big events like the Christmas party for the USS Port Royal. The sailors in this crew were deployed at sea last Christmas, so they wanted to celebrate together at home this year with family and friends. Located in a ballroom of the Hale Koa Hotel in Waikiki sailors of all ages and rank ate, laughed, celebrated, and won some pretty awesome raffle prizes, including iPads, Macbook Pros, big screen tv's and more! It was a challenging new experience for me to weave throughout the room capturing guests at such a large event but I was so thankful to Bob the Camera Man for trusting me with the task!

The Jennings Family

I can't blame the Jennings family one bit for wanting to get photos done in Hawaii before they PCS to their new station in Illinois. (Nothing against Illinois, but let's be real, not quite the landscape of Hawaii.) Plus, these cutie pies won't be young for long; they are already growing into quite a bunch of charmers! They were so good for our shoot, even suggesting some creative poses of their own! Granted, they usually involved some element of danger so we had to modify them, but I loved the enthusiasm of these three boys. To add some spice, we started trying poses like "the ninja" and"the train," for extra giggles and as a result, I think we ended up with some really natural looks as the sun sank slowly below the horizon.