Sunday, September 29, 2013

Photo Shoot With My Trainer

My husband Scott and I scheduled a photo shoot with my fitness trainer, Tania, for our photography company SM Squared Photography. I usually just assist Scott, lug his lights around, etc. but this time when we showed up, Tania said that what she wanted to do was a personal training session with me and one of the girls who works in the gym who is practically a daughter-in-law to Tania. I protested - no, I said, I wasn't even wearing sneakers. ("What size shoe do you wear?" Tania asked. "An eight," I replied. "Perfect, she said, "I have an extra pair for you.") Oh, but I'm not dressed for a photo shoot. "Get Stephanie a Beachside t-shirt," was the answer. "I'm already signed up for a Kangoo class tonight." "That's ok, we'll be done in plenty of time, and I've seen you do PLENTY of double workouts. You can do it."

Ok then. No more excuses. Here are some of the images from our shoot. We used the Indo-row rowing machines, kettle bells, plyo boxes, TRX straps, ropes, Real Ryder bikes, body bars, and more. It was a pretty tough workout and really shows the diversity of a Beachside workout. I love this woman. She is an amazing trainer and has inspired me so much!































Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Before and Now

My friend April is a fellow member of my surgical support group. She's also a photographer, a Crossfit instructor, and mom to three little kids (including a set of twins). In other words...she's amazing! I don't attend my support group very often anymore - it conflicts with the time of my Kangoo class and I HATE to miss that if I don't have to - but I try to go every few months. At the last one, I had my Kangoo boots in the car and April wanted to see what they were like so I strapped them on and bounced around while April took some shots. She made this little collage with one of my "before" pics and this is what she sent me:



That, my friends, is what a lap band, determination, hard work, and an awesome fitness studio can do. I'm pretty proud of myself for the difference.

I also wanted to take a minute to tell you about my new venture. My husband and I started a photography business. Scott has been interested in photography for way longer than I have known him - he had a darkroom in the condo he was living in when we started dating, before digital was a big thing. He's a wonderful photographer and I've been pushing him to do it for other people, so we started a business. He's had several wonderful photo shoots and is extremely talented at fitness photography - he was the official photographer for my gym's fitness expo. But then he did something we are incredibly proud of. One of my trainers, Nikki, was so happy with the photos he took of her that she had Scott do a shoot with her and one of her own trainers. Check out a few of the pics here:










I'm so proud of Scott. Please check out some more of the photos from the shoot on his blog here:

Our blog can be found here: http://smsquaredphotography.blogspot.com/