AlyssaPix Photography

Fifty and Fabulous!

Alyssa — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:52:45 +0000

Last week I had the pleasure of meeting Arlene. She wanted to celebrate the fact that she is in her 50’s with a photo shoot. Let me just say, if I look half as good as she does when I am 50 I am going to be a happy little camper! Arlene and I had some time to chat it up while we were waiting for some good light. Five minutes into our conversation I felt like I had known her my whole life. Not only is she easy to talk to but she just might be the sweetest women on the island. She told me she is planning on cutting her beautiful long hair and donating it to Locks Of Love. Having had long hair her whole life, this will not just be a hair cut, but more like losing a limb. I am in awe of her courage and her generosity. I imagine she is both excited and scared to take this step but I think it is going to be gorgeous! I told her we may have meet up again and do after pics! Here are some of my favorite shots of Arlene being 50 and fabulous!

Verdernikov North Shore Sunset Wedding

Alyssa — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 00:36:02 +0000

Tonight I was exposed to a new little piece of Heaven on Earth. I was shooting a wedding on Papa’ioloa Beach on the North Shore and what a little hidden gem this beach is. While googling this spot I discovered it was also the location the Lost crew first set up camp when their plane crashed! How’s that for a little FYI! The sea turtles love to feed in this area and I got to get up close and personal with this little guy while I was waiting for the bride and groom to arrive.

Papa’ioloa Beach is the perfect setting for a sunset wedding. Absolutely breathtaking!

Speaking of breathtaking check out this gorgeous couple!

Kalona of A Rainbow in Paradise put together a very intimate sunset ceremony.

After the ceremony we got some amazing pictures with some yummy sunset lighting.

Congratulations Alex and Alicia! You are Stunning and Fabulous!

Happy Birthday Camryn!

Alyssa — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:56:50 +0000

With a family of seven it seems there is always a birthday party to plan. Finding creative ways to celebrate being another year older just might be the bain of my existence. I mean how many times can a child high five Chucky Cheese before the mouse just dose not cut the cheese any more? This year Camryn turned 9 and as she puts it, she is a pre-pre-teen. Seriously is pre teen not enough to worry about now there is a pre-pre teen? No wonder I have been frequenting the hair salon for that extra color touch up. Pre-pre teen or not my little Camryn turning 9 is something to celebrate , and celebrate we did!

Camryn has been sharing a room with her little sister for the past two years and in doing so has been over exposed to all things that are pink. Londyn is in love with anything princess and girly. Although Camryn went through that same stage she feels it is time to turn in the Cinderella slippers for some lip gloss. So we decide it was time for a room make over. Her walls were already a light purple and I really did not want to paint them again, but we really wanted to do a black and white themed room. As always Pottery Barn Teen was an answer to prayer and we found black and white bedding with purple accents. I could not have found a better solution to our problem if I had designed them myself! I painted their beds black and stacked them back into bunk beds to give them more room. I repainted their doll house to match the new colors, created some canvases to match their bedding, and bought some new accents for their shelves. I finished off the new look with some bench window seating and throw pillows, slapped some flower decals on the wall and called it a day! Check out the before and after picks.

Now check out these after pics!

I know what you are all thinking…..Martha Stewart step aside! In fact I think that is what Camryn gasped when she saw it for the first time. Needless to say she is very excited about her new “pre-pre teen room!” She still has to share it with a four year old, but at least now it dosn’t look like she shares it with a four year old.

So once the room was finished there was only one thing left to do. Wait for it……..SLUMBER PARTY!

Call me crazy, but 8 little pre-pre teens lined their little sleeping bags all over the floor of Camryn’s new room, and giggles to the wee wee hours of the morning. It probably did not help that they went to bed on an extreme sugar high from the unlimited trips they took to the candy bar during movie time.

We started the party off with this game which was a total hit!

Each girl got a part in the play and they had to read through the script to figure out the mystery. I played the part of the grumpy old maid to a tee!

After the game the girls stuffed their faces with hot wings, and fries. I set out a huge veggie tray but it kind of sat there like a shy nerd at a sock hop and did not get too much attention. Who wants vegtables when you can eat things fried in grease and still rock skinny jeans? Oh to be a pre-pre teen again!

After dinner we opened presents and got into our jammies. Here is Camryn with a few of her peeps!

I am sure you are wondering who taught them those amazing dance moves in the above picture….that would be MOI!

After shaking our groove thing it was “Off To The Candy Bar!”

Add some popcorn and a movie and you have the makings of a great night! They got a couple hours of sleep and just so the parents don’t feel left out I heaped them up on more sugar with a homemade waffle bar before sending them home. I am pretty sure that sugar + no sleep + more sugar = some pre-pre teens turning into moody teenagers all day. My friends just love me when I do that to their children!

So my little Cammy Cam, Hope your birthday was everything you wanted it to be, and more! You are best pre-pre-teen on the planet and I am so lucky to be your mom! Happy Birthday Fabulous!

Ohana Means Family

Alyssa — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:01:55 +0000

Another one of my military clients will be bidding farewell to the Hawaiian islands. I love being able to capturing this moment. The moment where these families will look back at their time in Hawaii and remember it like it was yesterday. When my clients look at these pictures next week, and years down the road I want these images to be so vivid that they can almost feel the warmth of the sun on their skin as they think back to this time in their lives. Jaqkee told me that getting family portraits has been on her “bucket list” for a long time, and I hope that when she gets her pictures she thinks it was worth the wait. To help someone check a box in their bucket list is quite an honor, and I love that I got to help her do that! It was so great spending the evening with this family and I wish them all the best on their future endeavors. Thanks for making my job so fun! Here is that sneak peak!

My golf score is unimpressive but I can rock an argyle sweater!

Alyssa — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 23:08:32 +0000

If you are wondering why I have been MIA from my blog for so long it is because I have been busy entertaining guests, climbing rocks, jumping off cliffs, snorkeling with dolphins, boating, beaching, winning at game night, golfing, watching Avatar in 3D IMAX, enjoying the occasional Mai Tai, and of course photographing my wonderful clients. I am sure this sounds like all fun and games to you, and it is, but I am telling you being on vacation is hard work! Ever since Aven was born 5 months ago we have had a steady stream of visitors coming through the Turner hotel, I mean house. In fact there have been a total of 12 people come 2 at a time and take up residence in our guest room. We have another 13 already scheduled during the month of March. We LOVE to host and entertain company, however even this party girl is ready to turn in her noise maker. Vacationing is quite the life but 5 months of spending money like I am on vacation, eating like I am on vacation, staying up late on a school night like I am on vacation, and neglecting my house like I am on vacation equals an empty pocket book, tight jeans, bags under the eyes, and dust bunnies! I am looking forward to February when I can have one whole guest free month to get back to the gym, start eating healthy again, finish all my editing, catch up on all my shows, and enjoy some quite family cuddles on the couch. My list of things I have been putting on the back burner has been adding up faster then my Farmville and Mafia War requests on Facebook.

That being said, instead of staying home and nagging my husband to fix the shower handle that has been broken for 4 weeks, we did the responsible thing and went golfing. So picture this little foursome on the course: You have my dad and his wife that are retired and could golf a game under 75 in their sleep, and Ben and I who dust off our clubs once every 2 or 3 years. Needless to say after the third hole Ben and I’s golf scores looked more like a really good bowling score and we decided to switch to a Texas scramble. So the rest of the game my dad and step mom tried to fix all the shots that Ben and I messed up, and Donna pulled the girls through for a win! I have decided that the only thing I really like about golf is driving the cart, and rocking the argyle sweater. I also came to the conclusion that a game is not a game without some cheating, heckling, and some good ol fashion trash talk! That is what I brought to the table. By the way all these pictures were taken with my new 5D Mark II that my parents got me for Christmas!

Check out that form

this is what retired looks like

Dad I know you are in Hawaii but you don’t have to stay in the beach all the time!

Girls Win! Better get back to the driving range boys!

The Bennet family Hawaiian Christmas!

Alyssa — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 06:59:06 +0000

I had such a blast with the Bennet family who were gathered in Hawaii from all over the mainland for a big family Christmas! We headed to Ko Olina for a beautiful sunset on the beach! I wish I had time to write more but it is a busy holiday season so I am just going to go ahead and post the sneek peak that I promised. I hope you had a wonderful Hawaiian Christmas Bennet family!

Can you say Geocache Hawaii

Alyssa — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 05:28:00 +0000

Today we loaded up our kids (yes all 5 of them), a GPS, and of course my camera and went on our first geocache adventure. Never heard of it? This term was new to us as well. Apparently they can be found all over the country. People hide little treasure boxes called caches, and then list the GPS coordinates on www.geocache.com for people to look up and go hunt. Once you register on their site you can look up caches closest to you by entering your zip code. We were a little over zealous, and marked 5 different caches that we thought we could cover today. We headed to the first location and proceeded to fail for three hours! Of course since this was our first time it took us over an hour just to figure out how to use the GPS. Hey I never claimed to be tech savvy. What ever happened to the good ole compass. Oh, who am I kidding, I never really knew how to work one of those either. The next 2 hours were spent digging through bushes with pokey thorns, looking under shrubs, turning over rocks, and searching in every nook and cranny imaginable. Trust me I have scrapes from the knee down to prove it. This is about the point where the kids started complaining about being hungry and needing potty breaks, every 30 seconds. The competitive side of me ignored them and kept hunting. I refused to accept defeat, and was willing to go hungry for a job well done. However soon the whining got too loud to block out and we headed to my favorite all american restaurant to refuel on some Big Mac’s. We decided to try an easier cache listings before heading home. I was determined to peel back the lid of a cache before the sun went down on this day if I had to carry all five kids on my back to do so. Now that the kids, and my husband had full bellies I was able to pursued them to humor me one more time. I am so happy I am not a quitter because not only did we find our first cache, but I came across a great new photo shoot location. I can’t believe this little gem was just minutes away from my house and I had no idea. Can you say “way to go geocache master.” Come on just say it. Louder! Give us the Turner shout out we deserve. Fine, maybe we are not the geocache masters, but we had fun, ok I had fun, and they were cute, and we like Big Macs! So if that is not something to shout about then I do not know what is. In fact you should not only shout but your should probably dance while you do it. Here is some photographic documentation of our day:

Walking to our first geocache location.

what a fun walk through the park!

Of course we had to stop for some pictures because like I said they are cute!

Corben was trying not to smile

If there is a tree near by Camryn is climbing it.

If there is a tree near by Addison is posing in it.

Aven was content just to hang out and enjoy the fresh Hawaiian air!

Londyn would rather look for rolley polley’s then caches.

This is us on our fruitless bush hunting expedition!

Finally 4 hours later we find our first cache! This one was at the second park.

check out the future photo ops that I could get here!

lets check out the goods!

what fine treasures!You can take an item from the box as long as you replace it with something else.

Addison found a family coin from Missouri!

Londyn wanted to hold the box before we returned it to it’s location. Check out the camouflage on this baby!

Well there you have it folks! The Turner’s go geocaching. Who wants in on the next hunt? Stay tuned to find out if Alyssa Turner becomes the new geocache master!

Aven 3 Months!

Alyssa — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:33:41 +0000

Why is it that your nine month pregnancy lasts ten years, but once your precious bundle finally arrives the clock moves into fast forward mode? I cannot believe Aven has been bringing joy to our family for three months already! I keep telling my kids to stop growing or I am going to ground them, but they never listen to me. Aven especially. She has doubled her birth weight already. She went from petite baby, to mini sumo wrestler over night. She has creases and rolls all over her pudgy little body. My favorite is the tiny little fat roll over her ankle. I am a little upset that everyone thinks her fat rolls are so cute but mine are not. Why can’t my double chin be as cute as hers?

Aven once again slept through most of her photo shoot. I swear she is the easiest, most content, not to mention cutest baby ever! I know every mother thinks that of their children, but it is true. She is the cutest Aven Turner I know! I’ll let the photos speak for themselves. Can you say P-H-O-T-O-G-E-N-I-C?

This girl does not have a “bad side”

Special thanks go out to a former bride of mine Kayatana for the adorable pink fuzzy hat. Here is the picture I promised you! Also to my great photographer friend Irene Frankhouse for taking the last two pictures of me and Aven. I can’t wait until her 6 month photo shoot!

Jarred and Alison Hawaiian Wedding

Alyssa — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 07:14:56 +0000

You might recognize this awesome couple from the engagement pictures I shot a few months ago. Alison and Jarred tied the knot on October 16th at Queen Emma’s Summer Palace. What a gorgeous location for a wedding. The grounds are just amazing! My head was spinning with all the photo opportunities! Alison rocked her wedding dress like no other. Speaking of rocking, the wedding party rocked there way down the isle with their crazy dance moves. It looked like so much fun I was tempted to put down my camera and join them! Alison and Jarred’s love for each other and God radiated like sparks in the quaint garden area. Family came from all over the mainland for the occassion, and I was blessed to be a part of it. Alison and Jarred I am so excited to have gotten to know you both, and I hope we continue to grow as friends. I wish you a life time of happiness! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the day.

The Faydo Ohana Hawaiian Photography

Alyssa — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 18:53:20 +0000

I love when you come across those moments when you realize it really is a small world that we live in. Having a photography business in Hawaii means that 80% of my clients are people who are on a family vacation in Hawaii or people who have come to Hawaii to get married. Because of this only 20% of my clients come to me through word of mouth. Not that my clients don’t love to share their pictures with all their friends and family but when their friends and family live in the mainland they can’t exactly jump on a plane and fly to Hawaii for a photo session. This being said I was excited to meet the wonderful Faydo family through a word of mouth contact. I had a friend in Hawaii who I met because our girls were in scouts together. She left Hawaii two years ago and moved to California. She lives in the same neighborhood as the Faydo family and they have since become friends. While these two neighbors were hanging out she noticed some prints hanging on my friends wall that I had taken and voila that’s where I come in. I had done a photo session of my friends family before she left the island and the Faydo family just happened to be planning a family vacation to Hawaii and when she saw the photos she emailed me to set up a photo session of their own. Small world right? I don’t normally blog about my scheduling but I just thought that was a neat little connection. Almost as neat as the Faydo family themselves. We had such a fun session I did not want the sun to set. We hunted for fish and hermit crabs, played in the water, and chatted endlessly! I am the luckiest girl in the world to have a profession where I get to hang out with such great people and just have fun! So Faydo family, here is a little sneek peak of our photo session at the Ko Olina Lagoons.