A collection of recent photo expeditions and life experiences.

09.12.09

Reata

Reata has a very special place in my heart. Long story short: When I moved back from Texas Tech I was working at Red, Hot, & Blue where I knew the General Manager. One evening I waited on a man named Al Micallef and his wife Janie. I didn’t know who he was at the time and at the end of the meal he asked me if I would come work for his restaurant that was about to open. I asked him what the name of it was… he replied with “Reata.” Well, like most people I had been to Reata in the Tower on several occasions before the Tornado wiped out the building. I was ecstatic and said “Sure I would LOVE to work there!” I opened Reata with many other servers and bartenders. What an adventure this new job began for me. I have made some of my best friends from there, met wonderful clients, as well as meeting my HUSBAND there (as his waitress)! I worked there for nearly 6 years, but had to leave when I began teaching to focus on my new career. I do miss working there, miss the people I worked with, and really miss meeting new clients. That job really complimented my people loving and conversing skills. So perhaps that was long story made longer?

Anna Shaw Cotton is the private dining coordinator. We worked together as servers a while ago, but she has been promoted to her new position. Anna called me for bridals a year and a half ago and now refers me to clients and asked me to shoot a beautiful event setup for Reata. This is my first commercial photography gig. We were on a major time crunch for this reception, so I got my stuff ready quickly to shoot away. This wedding reception was beautiful. They rented out both rooftop and main dining room. The family hired designers to change Reata’s western feel to more of a “cool lounge” vibe, while incorporating Reata’s western space. I think they did a marvelous job and I hope the photos capture what is was really like inside.

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Posted in Commercial

09.09.09

The 3 P’s & Me at the P(ark)…

So, it’s unofficially official that our daughter will also have a “P” name. This seems so strange to me and is completely UNintentional. I had Pierson James in 2003 and began dating Paul Jenkins in 2006. So “P ” became both of their pet names from me. We got a dog in the beginning of 2009 who we happened to name Pete – again another P name. My maiden name is Prucha and for some reason we cannot get away from the letter P. I mean really Sesame Street should be brought to you by us! So, we have been going back and forth through names for our soon to arrive daughter. Well, I believe we have chosen “Parker Lane Jenkins” as her name! How the heck did we stick to the letter P again? I am dead serious when I say that we didn’t mean to. Pretty soon I am going to sound like the little stutterer on Billy Madison going “P-P-P-Paul, no wait Parker, I mean Pierson, no Pete!” The point of this post (oh no, here I go with even more p words) is to share our time at the park. Paul, Pierson, Parker in the womb, and myself (am I the odd man out?) went to the park to kill some time and I happened to have my camera and a wide angle lens. Not my lens of choice, but it is what I had in hand. So here we are enjoying a magnificently humid and warm evening in Texas!

I had a lot of fun playing with different editing techniques – creating my own actions and utilizing actions made by others, but with my own tweaks to make it look just like I want.

If you want to know of some cool actions I recommend purchasing Boutwell – Totally Rad Actions and Deviant Art has some great artists that share their creations without cost!

I first believe that you should know how to use photoshop, how to work your camera settings, and create your own actions before latching on to other’s creations; in order to make your work your own!

web4 web I love this shot of Paul and the shot of the expanding belly. web1 web2 web3 web5

The sunbeams are spraying out just below his ear! web6

Pierson took these of us. Perhaps he will follow in my footsteps 🙂 web7 web8 web9

They like to have fun. If you haven’t figured it out we are not a very serious and “grown up” bunch. web10

My husband – oh how he makes me smile. web11

Posted in Personal

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Linda – Love the pics. Everyone over here is an S except me. Why is that?September 9, 2009 – 8:26 pm

Ashlee Oredson – I LOVE the name Parker for a girl…that is too precious! We are about the same over here with the names. All the boys start with an A then another vowel and end in an “en”. My name starts with an A and my husbands end in an “en”. My husband is the odd one out because everyone here has A names except him!! You look so precious as a prego!! Wish I looked that great!! Your guys and soon to be baby girl are very lucky to have such a great person who is so full of life!!September 9, 2009 – 12:57 pm

09.04.09

Emily 2010!

My first year of teaching was a crazy year! I had a very important helper in my life that year. Her name was Mary Nickerson and I was teaching her son at the time. She has four children and three of them possess beautiful reddish orange locks! I have worked with her as well – she subbed at our school and was an aide last year. Mary’s spirit is bright and she is full of laughter, wit, and kindness. Okay, enough about her… now onto her stunning daughter Emily! Emily is a senior at North Crowley High School. She plays the flute, has lettered in softball, and is a tall glass of water! She was a great subject I might add. Her freckles, vibrant hair, blue eyes, and beauty were captured so easily. I am so happy they hired me to shoot her senior portraits. I hope the Nickerson Family approves!

p.s. Major shout out to Mary for playing the role of my “assistant” for this evening. She held and positioned my reflector, carried my lenses, and helped Emily and I out through the entire shoot. Mary – you helped me out so much… a very heartfelt Thank YOU! (Oh and if you have something positive or silly to say I would LOVE for you to leave a comment.)

web2 web1 web3 web4 Her face would have been more dull had Mary not been showing that reflector who is boss! web8 web9 web10 web12 This is when you say… “Oh no, my baby has grown up!” web13 web14 web16 web18 web17 web19 web20 web21 web22 Mary saw the image of Sara’s ring (from the Koppes wedding) on the shoes and asked for me to duplicate it for the SENIOR RING! Plus the shoes were a gift from Emily’s aunt. web23 web24 web25 Emily – so beautiful… web26 web27 I love the casual cool of the letter jacket shot. web28 The sun was nearly gone… and the headlights and streetlights began to brighten. web29 web30

Posted in Senioritis!

by Arden Prucha

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Reggie – I was so confused about what to buy, but this makes it udrnestandalbe.August 13, 2011 – 10:55 pm

Tricia Nickerson – My baby sister is not a baby anymore, such a heart breaker, gorgeous pictures!September 9, 2009 – 8:09 am

Tara – Sister, this brought tears to my eyes youve grown up to be so beautiful and i miss you so much!!! Arden you did a wonderful job. i’ll be comin to see you when i get back to texas for sureSeptember 6, 2009 – 1:50 pm

Arden Prucha – I am so thankful for all of your kind words. Emily was a blast to shoot and we were fortunate with beautiful weather, a cool setting, and Mary to keep us smiling! I appreciate you ALL!September 5, 2009 – 9:07 am

Auntie Ellen – My beautiful niece! The photographer so captured you on film! I hope your parents will be able to part with a picture to share with the rest of us, not just here in cyberspace. Love you young lady!September 5, 2009 – 8:18 am

Diane Nickerson – such beautiful pictures of a very beutiful girl!!September 5, 2009 – 7:44 am

roy and judy nickerson – Love the pictures. I think we like the smiling Emily best, but the serious Emily is beautiful too. It’s going to be a tough decision to choose.September 5, 2009 – 7:26 am

Susan – I would love to give a shout out…but I’m speechless. You have truly captured the essence of Emily. Great job!!!!:)September 4, 2009 – 10:48 pm

Harold and Dianne Shannon – The photos are superb:however, we echo your phrase “oh no, our grandaughter has grown up!September 4, 2009 – 8:21 pm

Harold and Dianne Shannon – The photos are stunning:however, we echo your phrase “oh no! Our grandaughter has grown up.September 4, 2009 – 8:20 pm

The Shannons – The photographs are stunning, but we are echoing your phrase “oh no, our grandaughter has grown up”.September 4, 2009 – 8:14 pm

Teri Tomme – Beautiful!!! Cant wait for our turn.September 4, 2009 – 4:46 pm

mary nickerson – oh arden…I don’t know if we can find the words…they are everything we were hoping for…we love them all!
Nickerson FamilySeptember 4, 2009 – 4:33 pm

Alyssa 2010 » Arden Prucha Photography – […] such a sweet spirit, was so fun to work with. Her friends Emily and Chelsea came to me last year and she was bound and determined to have me photograph her. Even […]February 16, 2010 – 11:28 am

Senior Session – Chelsea! » Arden Prucha Photography – […] and her family found me through her best friend Emily’s post. Her parents came along and were just as helpful as Emily’s mom, Mary. I am so […]October 2, 2009 – 11:06 am

08.31.09

The Prim Fam

So, we are moving right across the street from the Prims! Paul, Pierson, and I are so excited that we will have some awesome neighbors that we have a lot in common with. Paul shared my website with them and they immediately scheduled a session. Unfortunately, we scheduled right around the kiddos’ bedtime and it was hot! We managed to get quite a few great shots, but have rescheduled for a sunrise shoot this coming week. I had to share these even though I will have more to come later. How cute is this family? I am really looking forward to getting to know them better as new neighbors.

Thanks Beth and Trent for having impeccable patience with tired and hot babies (as well as the photogapher)! web9 web1 web11 web7 web13 web6 web5 web8 web12

Posted in Children, Families

08.29.09

The Boobles Shoot…

Yes that is “BOOBles” that you read. My brother in law’s brother (Eric Tomme) has been writing and performing parody songs for years! He is like a “Weird Al Yankovic,” but sometimes a little more crass, clever, and funny. He has been working on a CD covering Beatles songs and all of the songs have one thing in common… “Boobs!” Now, he is not just some dude who is stuck on boobies, he actually is going to raise money for breast cancer awareness with this album. He has had a lot of donations in time and skills with this project so that he is able to raise money for a CURE. I hope you enjoy the humor with these photos. If you cannot guess what their masks are, just re-read the title. We had fun at this shoot and actually had people yelling on the street “Don’t go rob a bank!” I hope the fellas enjoy these shots and if you would like more info you can visit their website www.theboobles.org
love…a! web1 Running from the fans! (they kind of do look like bank robbers)
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Love the train track shots. 2 minutes after we took these two of the tracks had trains truckin’ through, kind of spooky because we had just been all over them. web4 web5 web6 web7 web8