It's about time I do a formal introduction. I have been posting here for a couple weeks, and haven't quite made it to this intro forum. I've been in St. Louis since 2001; prior to that was at Mizzou in Columbia when I went to school after leaving sunny SoCal. My wife has been encouraging me to pursue more of my photography and through friends and family my calendar began filling up with shoots. Now my reach is slowly broadening and I am making a legitimate run at my own business.



I still have much to learn and appreciate the input and support on this forum. BTW, if anyone is looking for a local 2^nd shooter, please drop me a line. I have done many shoots, but am needing to flesh out my portfolio with a couple weddings.



Soon, I will have a more recent photo of myself on my profile (my wife calls the current shot of me and one of my childhood dogs "Truth in Advertising"). I also updated and included the link to my webpage. This page hopefully will be changed soon so go easy on the critiques of it. There is way too much verbage and no package information. A shoot I did a couple weeks ago should pay for my new site, I am trying to figure out now if I go with Big Folio, Creative Motion Design or BluDomain.



Anyway that is my wordy intro. Thanks for letting me hang around.

Welcome transplant! I wish I could transplant to SoCal!
I've had a good experince with Big Folio. That's who hosts my kids and my boudoir sites.
~Alisha

Welcome Matt. We moved from Huntington Beach, Cali to Wentzville, MO back in 2000. Culture shock for sure, yet we love it.

Glad your here!!

brandi

Alisha-
Thanks for the Big Folio suggestion. They seem like a pretty solid company. Hopefully in the next couple weeks I can pull the trigger on the site and get it going.

Your photos are amazing. Many months ago I stumbled across your site and within a week, one of my friends mentioned a St. Louis photographer with a "maternity package". They had heard about you (I'm not sure where) and thought it was a great idea.

But the big question...While in Cali with [b], did you grab an In-N-Out Burger? No trip to the coast is complete with a Double-Double









Brandi- There seem to be quite a few of us transplants around here. Your site is great, especially your bio. Your candidness is appreciated. I began looking at the world differently and really became more serious about my photography in high school after being diagnosed with a brain tumor. It is amazing how quickly perspective changes.

WELCOME!!!!!

No In-N-Out Burger this time. I have White Castle to keep me company!

Jennifer,

Thank you for the welcome. I appreciate it because it allows me to post my 30th post making me no longer a "Shy Cat"! What can I say, it's the simple things in life that make me happy.

Welcome! I lived in so cal for a long time (since about 3rd grade), so trust me, I understand missing it. That's so funny that In-n-Out got mentioned because when I go to visit my family, the first place I go is there! I miss that place almost as much as I miss my sister:)

PM me and I might have a couple of weddings that you can tag a long with this coming season.

In-N-Out by LAX is always our first stop. On our last trip out we picked up a rental car, it had 1 mile on it. We drove to In-N-Out and before the car had 3 miles on it, we had a parking ticket. We took the last spot at the curb to run in and grab lunch, not noticing the no parking sign had been knocked sideways so we didn't see it. But after 2 years without it, a $65 Double-Double was well worth it.

greetings

Welcome!

Welcome to St. Louis! We may not have In-n-Out but we have Imo's, Crown Candy, toasted ravioli, Gus' pretzels, gooey butter cake ... I think I covered them all.

Welcome back to the hood.

Matt,

You mentioned In-n-Out, but what about Roberto's?

I haven't had the pleasure of eating at Roberto's, but my wife introduced me to Rubio's fish tacos, good stuff, and Tito's Tacos in LA. Last spring we also ate at an incredible mexican restaurant on Del Mar. I don;t remember the name of it, but the best chimichanga around. The closest we have been able to get here in St. Louis is Mi Lupita on Manchester. Pepe owns the place and is a great guy. His mom (I think) hand rolls all tamales each morning.

This Sunday I might be tough to track down at church, we are hosting our small group for lunch and will be heading out pretty quickly after the service to make sure our guests don't have to wait for us at our house. I'm sure we will bump into each other soon. If not, we will have to make a point to meet up.

I miss Rubio's too:) We will check out the other place. See ya soon.

Ummmm, double-double, cheese-cheese, burger-burger, please-please!

Oh man now I'm hungry!

Welcome to St. Louis! We moved back to St. Louis from CA in 1995. Spent 20 years out there but family is all in St. Louis so when hubby retired from the Navy we came back home. Still miss CA very much. I loved going to the mountains on Saturday then to the coast on Sunday. Not to forget about the Garlic Festival in Gilroy!

When we moved back we made sure lunch happened at In-N-Out as we knew it would be a very long time before we got another one. Ralley's is kinda close (if you close one eye and squint).

I'm sorry, but Rubio's just can't compared to the random taco shack by the beach. I'm sure the food is safer to eat at rubio's though

Oh how I miss Old Chicago. Do you have those in the show me state?

I'm a former midwest transplant - San Diego -> Peoria, IL (went to Bradley) -> Back to San Diego again.

Had Rubio's fish taco for lunch today, my fav! I even worked there in college!

Welcome to the forums!

You got it! I need to order one of their bumber stickers. i love driving in StL and seeing an In-N-Out urge sticker when someone has taken off the B and R. That is a true Californian born and bred. I definitely miss the mountain/ocean combo. That;s how I used to navigate. You pick out a relay station on top of the nearest mountain (if you could see that far through the smog) and you knew your general location.



random shack, scary, but often delicious.

Hey there! Moved here in '90 after living in L.A., Phx, and Miami. This place got me to finally stop moving around! Good to meet you!

Thanks for the welcome Melissa. Old Chicago is good. There is one in Columbia, MO where I went to school. good stuff. Never managed to take their beer of the world tour though.

Oh you are missing out! I did one complete tour (110 beers) and am half way through a second tour! They aren't in Cali though

Interesting. It was Phx, Mia, DC then St. Louis for me.

Taka,

Your name was given to me by Rachel at Lacour a few months back when I mentioned I was turning my photography into a business. She said you would be a good person to talk to at some point. Apparently around the time I contacted her, you had been in communication with her husband. Hopefully OSP Missouri will come about and create a chance to meet.

I am rather new to OSP (long time lurker) but I am the opposite...a St.Louisian who transplated to Southern California in 1978! Been in the Bay Area since 1989 and loving it. I miss St.Louis at times. There's a lot of nice places to visit and check out. I just don't miss the humidity!!!