Theres no place like HOME.

HOME, being, where the heart is. My Mom always kept a framed picture of the saying "Home is where the Marine Corps sends you" laying around. Considering we lived in approximately 8? different places since I was born, I'de say the saying is pretty true. And since I grew up military and have ended up promising forever and always with a military man, this means, I GET IT. And I get everything good and bad that comes with it. Health care, GOOD! Deployments, BAD. Skype? AWESOME. At the end of the day it doesnt matter what that special person in your life does for a living. When its all said and done, every time they go away, it's worth the wait, and when they come home, you are lucky enough to spend another day with the person who makes your soul sing. Whenever I question if its all worth it (because its HARD, and yes I have questions), I kick myself in the ass, tell myself to stop being such an idiot, and remember how fucking happy I am when that man comes home, holds me, and tells me loves me.

Here are some recent Deployment Homecoming photos, and even though a Navy Seal comes home much more quietly than some, without big banners or dressed up in uniform, their homecomings are just as happy, just as heartfelt, just as big a GIFT, and just as celebrated.

Kiss your loved ones today and remember how lucky you are to have them.

-Tatum

LOVE is in the air...

or at least thats how I always feel when fall rolls around. Fall is my favorite of all the seasons. I love the smell. I love the feeling. I LOOOOOVE the shopping. and I'm quite fond of pumpkin carving as well :)

But speaking of LOVE, some friends of ours were recently engaged and what better gift to give than an engagement session with Tatum Kathleen Photography! I know, best present ever. Try not to be completely overwhelmed by the cuddling, kissing, and smiling. These two were so amazing, lasting through multiple locations and wardrobe changes. My favorite assistant was in tow and with a makeup artist on set it felt more like a fashion shoot than anything else. Enjoy!

Photographer's ( if I had to pick two ) FAVORITES!!!

Congratulations Quinn & Ashley.

We love you guys... like, A LOT!!!

-Tatum

America all over their asses!

When I'm not spending time taking pictures I'm usually assisting other photographers with their shoots or doing hair and makeup for different concepts. I love being involved in all the different aspects of what makes up a photo shoot, but my first love is being in front of the camera. SO! Since I'm always getting you ladies out there to take your clothes off and do boudoir sessions, I figured I would share with you when I go out and do it myself! Plus its not everyday you get body painted and it looks like America threw up all over you :)

Before ( arrive makeup free and moisturized! )

Stefanie from A Style Concierge did the hair and makeup for the shoot. They have a great salon in downtown San Diego so call and book with her! I loved her work and it helped that she was an awesome Yogi vegetarian. We had lots to chat about.

*Disclaimer*

I'm wearing pasties and underwear. So don't be scared folks. No nudity involved.

:)

The body painting company is Skin Tight Body Art. They do a lot of events around San Diego and even go out to private parties where they "tattoo" people. They are also the masterminds behind the Body Painting and Henna tattoo booth that we have all seen at the Del Mar Fair.

The most surprising thing about the shoot was the TIME it takes to get the paint design on and how much they are constantly touching up. Paint on the body means cracking with every movement. It is a very very long process. Skin Tight Body Art was so fun to work with. They kept my tea cup full to warm me up, and fend off the chills that the cold airbrush paint gives you.

Tom Yip was the photographer for the shoot. I LOVE behind the scene pics so I was really happy when he was taking pics while we were getting our paint on.

I loved my hair and makeup....

and then... then the "Star eye" came into play. I get a good laugh whenever I see these.

For your viewing pleasure :)

Keep your eyes peeled for next years Fourth of July publications ;)

-Tatum

Keeping Up with the Kardashians?!!

Try keeping up with TATUM!! ....

A good friend and favorite model of mine, Alicia ( holla! ), called me this morning to inform me that she saw one of those Kardashian girls, Kim, Kourtney something with a K, I don't know, was on the cover of LA Confidential wearing MY suit!

Not only a purchase for my own personal collection of fabulously fashionable items but the suit that I used for a beach swimwear shoot with Alicia MONTHS ago. We are very fashion forward over at Tatum Kathleen Photography.

Sadly, I will tuck my suit away and not be seen amongst the masses that will inevitably purchase and be wearing SAID suit. On the up side of things, I am reaffirmed that I have great style, and am further confused as to whether I would rather be a photographer or a stylist. Thanks to Bravo TV's Double Exposure & Rachel Zoe Project, I will continue to be torn between the two.

Maybe I would be a little less bitter if LA Confidential had hired me to take the photos! haha clearly I am just as capable. & I enjoy the amo case and scattered bullets in my pics better anyway :)

-Tatum

24 hour visitors

David returned home for a solid 24 hours, ok maybe more like 36, but long enough for me to bombard him with all the happenings around the house with TK Photography & long enough for him to do the dishes. Oh I love this man! It was nice having someone around to marvel at my fabulously freshly delivered MAGNETIC business cards! "Ohhh look they are so cool!!"... "oh my goodness! they even actually stick to the fridge".... "Ohhhhhh SHIT. Photography is spelled wrong." HAHAHA so by spending just a little extra $$$$ to make sure my cards stood out from the stupid 'free on Vista print' cards , I feel that I got to laugh a little extra when the damn things didn't even turn out.

Who wants free super cool spelled wrong magnetic business cards with my phone number!!! Anybody?...

At least when David is home he feeds me! So we celebrated Sunday on Tuesday and went to our favorite spot for lemon poppy seed pancakes. They are AMAZING! We are usually guilty of ordering far too many dishes to even fit on our table. I do not have a picture of the pancakes, but here is photographic evidence of our table on one such occasion in Venice.

( please note the fat American extension that was added to our table )

( I wish I had taken a picture of the huge golden retriever on the floor of the restaurant right below us. Very dog friendly! )

Now I know what you are thinking, ok , you were in Venice, you were trying out the cuisine. No people! Every time we go out to sushi the waiter verbally recommends against the copious amounts of food that are being ordered. But my man heeds no warning! And eats the shit outta that food every time. Shocking waiters all across the world. You go honey :)

Due to the HORRIBLY WRETCHED BLAZING MFCKN INFERNO that is San Diego these past few days, I mostly haven't left the house. And have been diligently editing. I will occasionally sneak off to dog beach to get the kids out of the house, but only after the sun has begun it's descent.

there is a fabulously free spirited woman in a white dress that always splashes around in the ocean with her fluffy white little doggy. I love them.

& I always enviously watch as the German sheperds and golden retrievers of the world mindfully follow their owners ever command, while keeping a watchful eye on my very disobedient beasts,

Disobedient Beast # 1 ^

Fisher Man

Sneak Peak of This Week's Shoot! At least until I get permission to use any other images publicly...

I may have a small shoe addiction, but seriously, these look so cool in this pic!

Next Shoot @ 8 am tomorrow! More pics to follow soon!

- Tatum

Weekend Recap of Mommies & Doggies

This weekend was very productive and very exhausting. I have slept away the entire Sunday but managed to make a little compilation of this weekends events before shooting begins again tomorrow. Enjoy!

Some shots from the luscious ladies on set this weekend...

Coronado, I love you, & the weenies love going to dog beach, so everybody wins!

the weenies...

can NEVER pass up a fuzzy blanket within jumping distance.

With love,

-Tatum

Violence & Beauty

This is when I usually get home from work. Work being my OTHER job when I'm not trying to get people to pay me for taking pictures. These two days out of the week are usually loaded with unusually high spikes in my blood pressure, anxiety and/or rage ( I have a hard time distinguishing the two ) through my veins. At one point in my life I attended anger management classes. This is a particularly funny story, and I'll save it for another day. But I will say this, that it wasn't voluntary, and it didn't seem to work. I digress...

Tonight sucked. Multiple out bursts of violence do not thrill my work environment experience. Especially when it leaves my work space littered with tiny pools of blood. It's moments like these I am disappointed with humanity, or at least the drink-our-faces-off-till-we-make-really- stupid-decisions variety. Breaking a bottle ( or glass ) and hitting someone with it doesn't work out in real life like it does in the movies, where the antagonist comically passes out below the bar belly and the hero shrugs, kisses the damsel in distress, and orders another whiskey. In real life its called trying to kill someone even if you just slashed half their face off.

Dear Ghandi,

Please come to downtown San Diego. We need you desperately. Thanks. Still working on the anger thing. Peace out homie.

-Tatum

aside from tonight, TODAY was awesome,

Let's focus on that.

I had two beautiful ladies come to shoot with me. It was a very busy day for my makeshift little studio. I mean, totally awesome and totally professional studio! I already sneak peaked on the one... so lets sneak peak on the other shall we?

Listen up folks... this photo isn't edited.... AT ALL. straight outta the camera. Sadly my blog wouldn't upload a raw format image otherwise I wouldn't have even had to convert the thing to jpg. At this point in the shoot, I did not say a WORD, which is saying something because I never shut up. I sat there and took a good 100 pictures because what was happening was so amazing and beautiful. I know you must agree :)

Until next time.

-Tatum

Military Mommy

Sneak Peak of Today's studio shoot:

I am so lucky to have such beautiful women who are willing to help me practice, expand my business, and share the images we make with the world. I know that I shoot all types of photography, but I really hold the boudoir sessions closest to my heart. I LOVE reminding you ladies how incredibly amazing you are!

Today's mommy of two & military wife was amazing to work with. Even when my lighting equipment suddenly stopped firing, she stuck with me, and we made it work! And the result, I think you will agree, is AMAZING.

Thank you :)

-Tatum

Hair & Makeup also by yours truly

A B&B Getaway

Since David spends a great deal of time away, we are always trying to pretend like we are on vacation even when we aren't able to leave the city, state, country... we improvise! So when an unexpected change of schedule occurred and David was leaving for training ahead of schedule, this left us with a very sad Laguna Beach hotel reservation that ended up having only one person check in :( (sigh*) But David always pulls through, and surprises me by giving me instructions to immediately pack a bag and saying we had to leave as quickly as possible! Leaving only enough time to drop off the steam cleaner that he so diligently used a 1/2 before on everything upholstered that we own while I napped. Seriously, I know I'm lucky.

After a short drive we were right across the street from the coast in La Jolla and the cutest little b&b, The Bed & Breakfast Inn at La Jolla.

I had never stayed at a B&B before within the "states" and the instant I stepped foot inside and heard the "old floors" I was in love. Seriously, old shit? This girl loves it! I tried unsuccessfully for a few days to convince David to buy a home that was built in 1909 ( and practically falling to pieces), 1) because it had a basement, in California, yes that is impressive and 2) it too had old floors. They had homemade cookies and coffee laid out to greet as you came in and you get a REAL key to your room just like we did in Venice. It's the little things! We stayed in the Pacific View room.

I was totally in love with the Nautical theme and am always on the look out for antique nautical items and anything brass I can mount on my walls. Sea Junk is located right off the 5 near Old Town and I always notice the Huge SEA JUNK sign calling my name from the freeway. Once I actually maneuvered my way to it ( pre-GPS purchase) I was in HEAVEN. It is a sanctuary for refurbished nautical pieces like port hole covers and captains' quarters furniture. Antique maps and anchors galore! The prices are NOT cheap and I spent a $150 on a solid brass eagle that hangs over our living room that is so bad ass it was worth every penny.

but lets get back to the B&B...

I was too excited for breakfast so my internal body clock woke me up a little too early but I got to take sneaky pictures of David which I always love...

Seriously, I catch the man smiling in his sleep. He's pretending in this one! But really, REM sleep, with a smile. He does it.

This is the dining room for breakfast. In Venice there were separate tables for everyone. So I was surprised at the big joint table and avoided it at all costs.

I didn't think I could bear to smile and pretend to be interested in peoples questions that early in the morning. There were two small tables off to the side and thankfully we got one because it was painful just overhearing this girl talk about how she's an actress from LA and she loves peeling back the layers of her characters blah blah blah. She even went into the differences between being an actress for film, tv, & theatre. Please. No. Not before I've had my coffee.

Annoying breakfast guests aside,

I always enjoy my breakfast view.

I enjoy going out to breakfast more than dinner or any other meal. It is a Sunday ritual for David and I and has historical significance, as our very first date was a breakfast date :)

His preferred breakfast view.

These little cuties couldn't stop snuggling (the seals). Why go to Sea World when you can watch them kickin' it in their real live habitat.