Laguna Beach + the Hat That Changed my Life:

I wrote this a while back on an old blog, but I wanted to re-post for all the newer readers. This was one of the greatest times of my life...

On Friday, February 13, 2009, I boarded a plane to Los Angeles, CA. I was so nervous that my heart was beating out of my chest, and I just wanted to snap my fingers and be in LA. Well, about 6 hours later, I was.

As I walked out of LAX and saw LA for the first time, I was pretty speechless. I caught the shuttle to get a rental car, and then chased the sun. I was trying to make it to Santa Monica to watch my first Pacific sunset, but I only made it to Venice Beach.
I ran out to the beach with my camera and started snapping away. Then, ran back to the car, and headed to Santa Monica.
I absolutely fell in LOVE with the Santa Monica Pier!!!!! Really, I just can't tell you how awesome that was! It was pretty deserted because it was almost dark and had rained earlier in the day.
Just as I started walking down the pier, I heard Coldplay's "The Scientist" floating in the ocean breeze...seriously. This moment probably couldn't have been anymore perfect.
As I got closer, it was street musician, James Valenti (I highly recommend you look him up at www.myspace.com/jamesvalentimusic). He was AWESOME!
So, after that, he played Jason Mraz "I'm Yours". Music + the ocean = happiness. haha.

After I soaked in Santa Monica, I took off down Santa Monica Blvd through Beverly Hills (which wasn't exactly what I'd expected, then I made it to HOLLYWOOD!!!!!!
I parked at the Kodak Theater and walked through all of the stars on the walk, and got my photo taken by The Doors' star, and with Clint Eastwood and Tom Hank's signatures in the cement. :) NICE.
They were setting everything up for the Oscars, so it was amazing out in front of the Kodak.
I had dinner at a strange little place there called uWink. That was interesting. Then, it was off to buy postcards and your normal tourist stuff. I couldn't help it. :)

I walked around the corner from the restaurant, and there was the Hollywood sign. So weird to be there.

After all of that, I finally made my way to my hotel in Long Beach. On the way, I passed the Queen Mary. I had no idea it was that huge!!

So, for the super life-changing experience:

Most of you know about my "freedom hat". It is my brown trucker hat that I bought right before I went to Miami/Key West back in 2005. Well, oddly enough, the hat says "Laguna Beach" on it. This didn't mean anything to me when I bought it because I never imagined I would ever actually be there. I simply bought it because it was a brown trucker hat...um..that was the defiance in me. haha.
Well, I got surprised last night. I actually had the extra time to drive the 47 miles or so to Laguna Beach. I wasn't supposed to get to see it until next month, but hey, if you are that close, and you have time, just go, right?
I packed a towel, my hat, my sunglasses, my ipod, and my camera and took off.
I got there in PLENTY of time to enjoy it and then watch the sunset.
Something about me: I've always had a sort of "Life List". Well, back in 2005, I was sitting in my beautiful apartment in downtown Tifton listening to music, and just randomly said, "One day, I'm going to stand in the Pacific Ocean and watch the sunset." Apparently, you really should be careful what you wish for because I did just that!

I took a look at the cliffs, rocks, and crashing waves of the Pacific Ocean, and immediately teared up. It was the most beautiful thing.
I took off my shoes, put on my hat, and took off straight for the water (which was SO cold).
Then, I walked around all of the rocks and just soaked it all in while the sun slowly melted in to the horizon. I just stood there on top of these massive rocks watching each wave crash, and just thought, "I made it." How crazy!
All I could do was think about everything I've done in the past five years, and how all of this is probably never going to sink in. It was pretty much the same feeling I had when I met Coldplay, only this time, I cried. haha.

As the sun finally left, I took my hat off, and dipped it into the ocean. For some reason, I had this crazy urge to just throw it out as far as possible, but I just couldn't bring myself to do that.

I got back up to the car, and rolled up my jeans, put a towel in the car, and headed back to Long Beach. Well, when I made it back to my hotel, I went to get all of my stuff out, and realized that my hat was still in Laguna Beach. Immediately the symbolism made me tear up again. I do believe, that was God's way of telling me, "It's over. It's all over. You made it, and you are ok."

That hat certainly did it's job, and now it has come full circle and is home where it belongs.
I hope some girl finds that hat, picks it up, and lets it bring her all of the blessings it brought me. I can't tell you how free I feel. I can't explain how significant it is that the hat is now in Laguna Beach. That's a sign if I've ever seen one!

Athens Artist to Watch

I went to to see Kelly Joe Phelps at Eddie's Attic, in Decatur, GA and I already knew it was going to be a great show. What I didn't expect was the talent of the guy who opened for him.

This unsuspecting guy came out on stage with an acoustic guitar and a harmonica.
When he started playing I was thinking ok, this is pretty awesome, but when he started singing, I was amazed. He had a very unique tone to his voice, and the lyrics were very well written.

This incredible artist's name is Ken Will Morton, and he is in Athens, GA. After catching up with him and his manager, Michelle Roche, I got to do some photos of him for his newest album, "True Grit". I had a blast, and I've loved every show since. 

I figured I would share some of the photos from that shoot, and let you know how you can check out his music as well.

This is a video of one of my favorite songs by Ken:

Shaun Hopper | Kids + Their Dreams

To all of you who grew up in a small town, you will get this right away: as a kid, my friends and I had nothing to do but get in trouble, or dream.
I can remember all the crazy phases of my life where I'd sit in school, and daydream about how my life would be in the years to come.
I have a very large extended family, and 90% of them are into music in some way or another. So, of course, I have a huge place for music in my life. Over the years, I dreamed I was everyone from Reba to Alanis. I always wanted to take music and voice lessons, but sadly there just wasn't anyone around who offered any.  That led me to wishing I was one of those people who could miraculously teach themselves...which leads me to this guy...
There was a guy in my neighborhood, named Shaun Hopper. We would hang out-or should I say fight-in the front yard until my dad would tell him he needed to go home, and you guessed it, I would get into trouble. Time would eventually take us down two separate roads. I kept hearing talk around town that he had gotten into playing guitar and was playing at some smaller places. I'm not really sure why, but our paths never crossed again until many years later.
I finally took a chance and tried out to be the new singer in a band that Shaun happened to be in. I'll never forget that crazy night. I sang Silverchair's "Tomorrow"...only to later be told it was Shaun who said he didn't want a female lead singer. So, there went my dream, right? Not quite. Two years, and a new direction (the path of photography) later, I ran into a friend from high school in the mall. He had a band t-shirt on and I asked him who that was because I hadn't heard of them. He told me, and he told me that Shaun was their bassist. I told him the story of that dreadful "try-out" and he is the reason everything was cleared up. I then got a call from Shaun about a week later asking if I could come check out his band because they would be needing photos for their upcoming album.
I went, and that started a great friendship, and many, many band photos.
Even though I may not be writing songs that I get to share with the world from a stage, I am very blessed to get to capture the unique things about musicians that I used to flip through all of my Guitar World and Rolling Stone magazines just wishing I could be a part of it all.
Every time I see one of my music photos published somewhere, I remember that little girl who used to dream until her heart ached, and I just smile and say, "You made it."

So, here are my latest photos of Shaun Hopper for his latest album, "lower case letters". And if you get a chance to see this guy live, you will be amazed. I promise. He's so talented that it makes me sick.

And, of course, I have to share one of his videos with you...enjoy.

Gamston Faith + Music + Good Days

I feel like I'm just a little behind on this whole blogging thing since my weekend has somehow seemed to last through my Monday. I certainly can't complain about that, though.
To start, I headed to the first day of volunteering at The Revolve Tour on Friday. I was assigned to the Grand Canyon University booth where I got to work with some amazing people!
It was so great to see all of those teen girls giggling and having a blast with their groups of friends.
And, since for some reason, I'm still a teenager at heart, I had a blast, too. The music was incredible, but there was one girl who stood out. Her name is Jamie Grace. She was fun, bubbly, she had a wonderful story to tell, and her voice completely blew me away. She seemed so comfortable up on that stage.
So, day two of volunteering was great because I had the chance to talk until I ALMOST couldn't talk any more. Imagine that. haha!
Then, Sunday felt like an extension of The Revolve Tour at our church. A guy on the worship team did an acoustic version of "Amazing Grace" and it was absolutely beautiful.

That brings us to today...
Wow! The whole message that has been thrown at me, from last Sunday's "Be Bold" to this weekend's "Dream On" really saw the light of day today. I received a phone call, from one of the sweetest ladies I know, wanting to get headshots taken of her daughter--BECAUSE SHE WAS JUST SIGNED TO SPRING FALL RECORDS!!!! I was so excited! I was excited about their excitement, and excited to be doing photos for someone I consider to be amazingly talented! Her name is Gamston Faith.

I first found out that she sang because her mom passed along this video of her singing in Nashville...and I was blown away.

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  Gamston!! (I was having a little fun with my iphone). 

  
  

As soon as Gamston and her new label choose the photos they want to use, I will get to share them with you!! I cannot even tell you how happy I am to see such a truly talented, NICE girl get to make a mark! Now, hopefully she'll let me tag along for some photos while she's recording her album. :)

Enjoy her amazing voice with her original song, "42 Cents"...

Family + Baby | My first Baby Plan family!

Babies are precious, and we could all just stare at them for hours, right?

All of the stages of a new family just make my heart melt. So, I made an 

addition to my growing portrait business. 

I am so happy to share my first growing family with you!

This family has been completely amazing and warm. All of the stages have been incredible.

From their exciting news of expecting their first baby, them welcoming me into their home for their maternity session,  and them putting their trust in me to capture those ever so sweet first newborn portraits. These are such wonderful memories for me, and I'm constantly looking forward to the rest

of their sessions to complete their Baby's First Year album. My hopes are that this album will be a treasure for this amazingly sweet family for years to come.

I look forward to sharing the next few sessions with you soon!

Absolutely in love...again.

We all know that the use of technology is how we spend most of our time. I think this has taken me from the super spontaneous girl I used to be and made me into some sort of super planner. On the one hand, this is a great thing. However, it has also slowed my spontaneous photos I used to take all the time.

Now, thanks to a free app for the iphone 4 (that I'm sure everyone's already aware of), I am now back to my fun photos. Maybe it's because I'm always looking at things as though I'm looking through my camera, but it's absolutely fantastic to tune back into really looking-and capturing-these things again.

I thought I'd share some of the fun I've been having being spontaneous:

My love for writing.

Coffee AND Encouragement.

Sunday Driving.

 I hope you've enjoyed my random views on life-via instagr.am.

New Website/New Blog

I am MORE than excited to finally share the new Alisha McKellar Portrait Design blog with you! 

This will now be the home of new happenings, photos, and of course, a few random things here and there. 

As I spent time sorting and organizing photographs to share on the new site, it simply reminded me of the importance of photos--they tell stories you don't have to write. Going through them was like playing a movie of happy moments in time. So, I thought I would share a few of my favorites with you (which was very difficult to narrow down).

Laguna Beach, CA

First trip to Hollywood, CA.

 I watched the sunset while my feet were in the Pacific Ocean. This was the after.

 Backstage after a shoot with the amazing band, The Notion @ Smith's Olde Bar.

 I'm definitely a beach person-even though my hair does not agree with that statement. Destin, FL

The night I met my husband...he's in the white hat. I was attempting to sing "Zombie" by The Cranberries. Happiness.

Be sure to sign up to follow the blog, check out the new website- www.AlishaMcKellar.com - and as always...feel free to comment!

I absolutely love hearing what you think!

Thank you so much for all of your support!

~Alisha