Shots from the Weekend.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend! A majority of my weekend was spent relaxing and reading the "Time Traveler's Wife" (great book by the way-highly recommend it!). It was wonderful! Not to mention, the weather was absolutely gorgeous. As I promised, I have some great shots from the weekend.

Have you ever wondered if you could put creamy cheese, sugar, eggs, cookies soaked in coffee, and some cocoa powder all together and make something so delicious? Well, one of Bryan and I's favorite deserts is tiramasu. You can only imagine to my great surprise that Bryan was wondering through the isles of one of the grocery stores when he found gluten-free ladyfingers. This about made my day. Yes, it does not take much to please me especially when it comes to food! The first shot is of the tiramasu Bryan and I made for our date night last week. We definitely learned from some of our mistakes. However, it tasted out-of-this-world. (My roommate, Martha, even concurred it was delicious.)

Sunday, good old Sunday was wonderful. The weather was just hanging onto 70 degrees. The sun was coming in and out of the clouds. The big trees were oh so green. We spent our Sunday afternoon walking around and spending some good ol' quality time together in the Lenexa park. I took this as another opportunity to play with my camera some more, so of course after some kisses, Bryan agreed to be my "portrait" model again. I told him, one day he is going to be famous! The shots of me were taken by my partner-in-crime, and if I do say so myself, he did a great job! We had fun goofing around, checking out the neat dam they built there (we even discussed some of the engineering logistics to it...oh to be engineers...), and just walking around and talking. Hope you enjoy them. There will be some eye candy later on this week, so check back soon. I'm off to go meet my Youth Friend since he is back in school now!

Happy Monday!

Gratitude.

Have you recently been driving and listening to a song that gives you goosebumps-the good kind? The song that moves you, makes you think, and quite possibly even waters your eyes a bit. Well, this happened to me today. Yes, this post really does not have much to do with photography, but it is about gratitude. I was coming home from grocery shopping and listening to 106.5 the Wolf in KC. (Great station by the way if you love country music!) As I am coming near my apartment, I hear "American Soldier" come on. I have heard this song many times. However, today, I listened to the words for the first time, and my eyes started to water. I started to think about how many men and women are overseas fighting for our freedom. I think about the people who have fought for our freedom in past centuries. Friends, family members, friends of friends, and so on. So many of them give their lives up when they enlist. Some say good-bye to their families for a year or two at a time. Some die proudly for their country. With Labor Day weekend coming up, I wanted to take the time to say thank you. Thank you to the men and women who fight for our country. It is because of you, we are able to dream and hope.

Happy Friday Everyone! Check back next week for some more eye candy!

Shots from the Weekend.

Drum roll please...

Introducing a new segment to my blog: Shots from the Weekend. I thought it would be a fun way for me to practice more photography on the weekend and to give my readers a better idea of who I am and what I love to do on my spare time. Every Monday, I hope to post some images from my weekend.

Last weekend, Bryan took me to my first car show ever! (I was under the weather the past week and thought it was good to get out of my apartment.) It was so neat to see all the different types of cars, new and old. Ladies, if you want to watch your sweetheart drool (literally!), take him to a car show. (I felt like Jill from Home Improvement.) The weather was warmer than I thought, and for someone like me who was sporting my jeans tucked into my cowgirl boots (yes I own a pair and they are my favorite shoes!), I was boiling. However, I didn't let the heat both me! How could I? There is something so sweet about following Bryan arou

nd and listening to him describe to me facts he knows and seeing his eyes light up. The GTO photograph is for Bryan who hopes to rebuild and own one of these in the future. The Nova photograph is for my dad who used to drive one of these. (I had no idea until Bryan told me.)

If you have not gotten a good enough close-up of my handsome man, you will in the portrait photographs I posted. On Sunday, after some pleading and kisses, he agreed to let me take some practice portrait shots of him. He makes a good model if I do say so myself, but I'm biased, so can you blame a girl?! I should mention these photographs were taken before he came to see Julie and Julia with me. I know what you must be thinking, but I repaid Bryan by playing golf with him later that afternoon! Hope you enjoy these pictures.

Stay tuned next week!

Julie and Julia.

Happy Monday! This weekend, Bryan and I went to see Julie and Julia. I know it is probably the last movie he would have chosen to see, but seeing as how he is a wonderful fiance, he agreed to accompany me. For the two hours we sat there, I had butterflies in my stomach. Why you might ask? I was inspired. Now, for those who know me personally know one of my other passions besides photography and loving my fiance is food. So, to watch a movie about two women who put their heart into something they loved (food and writing) and spent a large amount of time into what became both of their dreams was incredible. I urge all of you who haven't gone to see this movie either go to see it in theaters or Rebox it when it comes out. You won't be disappointed. As for Bryan, he laughed as it was quite entertaining, so I think he liked it! After the movie, I spent the car ride home pondering about what lies ahead for me in life. Photography won't be easy I think to myself. However, I ask myself, "Will I feel passionate and determined as Julia Child did in her cooking and Julie Powell did in her writing?" Absolutely.

Check back this week as I will be launching a new segment to my blog along with some pictures.

The Beginning.

Have you ever been given a second chance in life? It's a question I ask myself and ponder about every day for the past one month. In between being laid-off from my job out of college to finding out the solution to my health problems, God has given me a chance to view life differently. Many said that I should view all of this as a blessing in disguise as I was at a job that made me unhappy. My fiance, Bryan, would ask me, "What do you want to do?" I would answer with more questions. This path, however, was always in the back of my head. Photography. Where do I get it from? My father. He has a love for photography like you would not believe. Where did I become inspired? From Bryan and I's wedding photographer, Kelly Manno. She is someone who I should thank each day for allowing me to see that this path is something I can do, and there are people out there who absolutely love their passion. It's not going to easy, but will it make me happy? Oh most definitely.

I thought my first post should be about the start of where I am. This blog is for all the people out there including Bryan and I's friends and families whom I hope to meet and capture all things special in their lives through photographs. It's for you to learn more about my life and what inspires me, what experiences and paths I am led on, and how I live out my passion for photography.

To begin with, my name is Shefali, most people call me Shefy. I currently reside in Leawood, KS (South KC). In December 2008, my boyfriend of five years (at the time) made me the happiest and luckiest woman as he proposed to me. We are getting married on June 19th, 2010, and we cannot be MORE excited than we are as each day creeps closer to our wedding day! You might wonder about the name I chose to begin my photography journey. I know I wanted to use my married name, so I went ahead and inserted "Lindsey" into the name I want to be forever known by: Shefali Lindsey Photography. Not to mention, the passion for photography is going to be shared with Bryan as we both hope to teach and grow together.

Something fun you will learn is my stamp, my brand: flowers. Why flowers? There is a hidden meaning. When younger, I would sketch flowers all the time, I mean ALL the time. It was not until my later teenage years, my mother mentioned the meaning of my name. Shefali means a type of flower. How fun, right? Flowers are a timeless and artisitc beauty I think God created, so to me, who I am represents everything behind what I want to capture through the photographs I take!

I hope this gave you a better idea of who I am. Check back often as I will try to post a few times each week. You will learn about the people I meet along this path I am led on and the pictures I capture. Bryan told me this quote that reassured my decision to follow my heart: "If you make something you love your job, you will never work a day in your life." To him, I owe my happiness and motto of loving, laughing, and living life to the fullest.