Amanda’s Senior Portraits

June 27, 2008

Two weeks ago was the week of firsts for me! I have never photographed senior portraits before. I was referred to Lori by my friend Beckie. Lori is Beckie’s sister and Amanda is Lori’s daughter. Amanda is the “senior” in the senior portraits. Got it??? Don’t you just hate when people do that to you??? and you’re like… “huh?”

Nevermind all that….meet Amanda

Maternity pictures at Otay Lakes

June 18, 2008

I know, I’ve been gone for a while…did you miss me??? I thought I’d come back with a punch!!!
I’m really into recycling and “going green” and this series of photographs speaks with that theme. I didn’t plan it that way, the environment just lent itself to the idea and I really like the way they turned out.

I have never shot maternity photos before. Jessica and Eric are my past clients so I was excited to try it out!! We decided to head out to Otay Lakes. Jessica was so kind and supportive of being the guinea pig and I’m amazed and honored that she believed in me enough to experiment!

She already has a little boy named Tristan (what an awesome name!). He joined us for the shoot and did some posing of his own. Eric and Jessica are SUCH great parents already so this baby’s in good hands.

Eric and Jessica are having another little boy. I know Jessica’s not a fan of her belly button but I think this picture wouldn’t have worked without it, its so cute!

I think that being fit is one of the ways to live life to its fullest. Jessica seems to embody this. I can’t believe she did a handstand and nailed it for the picture! Who does that? Seriously, who can do that? I can hardly balance upright and this girl has a 5lb bowling ball attached to her belly and she still makes it happen! AMAZING

Otay Lakes was a gorgeous setting for these pictures. I just love the great outdoors!!!

Thanks for hiring me and being SO adventurous Jessica!

Karey’s having a baby!

June 7, 2008

My good friend Karey had a baby shower on Monday and although I wasn’t commissioned to shoot it, I was asked to attend. Of course, I always bring my camera. Its a really easy and fun way for me to give back to my friends and I just love it. I’m the type of person that is happy by making others happy.
Our friend Becky put the whole thing together and I just loved all of the little details.

Here’s Karey. How beautiful is she?!!!! They’re going to name the little baby Izzy. Its a GIRL!

I’ve mentioned before that I love to swim. Well, I also love to surf and Karey and I have been surfing together before and I told her if she didn’t make a water baby out of Izzy, I would. So… my friend Lori and I got her these cute rash guards (shirt-like tops that you wear surfing) with matching bottoms. I LOVE it!

Karey getting a little practice in.

You’re going to make a great mom Karey!

Family portraits at Crystal Pier

May 20, 2008

Living in San Diego and being a professional photographer is just a dream come true!!! The weather is amazing almost year round. I am a beach girl. I am a swimmer and a surfer and if I could have been born a mermaid, I would have!!!
So it probably goes without saying, I love heading to the beach to take portraits of children! There is SO much fun to be had!!! Its impossible not to get a smile out of them!
A little over a week ago I met up with my friends Stephanie, Todd and their 3 year old Lily. I’ve been taking pictures of little Lily since she was really young. She has THE most adorable face. I think she looks like one of those Precious Moments statues….big eyes and a little button nose. She is just too adorable and I always have a fun time with her. We were running ALL over the place. (a sure sign I’ll get great pictures)

Props are genius!!! I’m so glad Stephanie brought this pink ball!!! I think props are a great idea to bring to a child portrait session. It keeps the childrens mind off of the fact that there is a camera in their face. You always get more relaxed and natural expressions.

Even Todd got in on the fun. We worked up a sweat but it was all worth it!

My personal favorite

The Grandma’s joined us too. The whole gang was there. I had a great time and I hope they had a great Mothers (grandmothers) Day!!!

San Diego State Aztec Crew Team

April 29, 2008

I recently donated my services to a silent auction for the San Diego Crew Classic. The highest bidders were the parents of this lovely lady, Caitlynn.

I had to wake up at 5:30AM!!!! Normally I go to bed at that time…okay not really, but 6AM is the standard start time for these ladies. They were doing push- up’s when I arrived. Ugh!

The sunrise was beautiful and if I could just get myself to wake up that early, I could experience more of those.

Caitlynn is the COXSWAIN(cock-sin). If you are like me, you aren’t familiar with that word. Basically, she is like the quarterback of the boat. She does the steering and calls all of the shots!!!

Usually the coxswain is the smallest person on the team but as you can see, she packs quite the punch!!!

I was truly impressed by these girls…waking up so early and just working soooo hard at the crack of dawn. Best of luck to them in their season….thanks for having me

Haven’s One Year Old Birthday partaaaayyyy.

April 14, 2008

Does this say “kid” or what????

Okay so that wasn’t the birthday girl…this is!!!! Little Haven is ONE! Oh my gosh, she is CUTE!!!!!!!

Now she didn’t look like that when I arrived. She looked like this…wondering what I was up to!

So, Haven is the daughter of my fabulous graphic designer Phoebe of Pantages Studios.
I can’t begin to tell you how happy I am with my logo. The logo is absolutely perfect. The great thing about Pantages Studios is, they give you a long questionaire about your tastes and come up with a couple of designs. She nailed it on the head on the first go-round! Thanks Phoebe, I love it!
Okay now back to the birthday party…

Haven’s cute cousin…I didn’t even ask her to pose. This is natural attitude folks

A lady bug stopped by to say “haaaaaaaye”

Oh and how cute is this!

The first winner of the referral program!!!!

April 2, 2008

Matt and Geri have been clients and friends of mine since 2005. Geri has been, by far, THE best client I have EVER had. Since her wedding, she has referred me to at least 5-6 more events! My business is IN business because of her and people like her. So, to show my gratitude….she would get to go shopping, just like I promised! I also offered her portraits. She just insisted on the portrait session only. Can you believe that? What girl doesn’t want to go shopping??????? Do you people see how important photography is??? It beats out shopping!!!

Matt must have fallen in love with Geri’s eyes first. Look closely at those things, they’re amazing! Matt has NO idea what I’m up to in this picture.

Matt’s always the jokester

Oh Ella, how beautiful you are…

March 28, 2008

How I met Ella…
Long, long story but, I’m getting older and I occasionally have severe neck pain. I was reading [b]eckers blog and he was talking about having acupuncture done on him..and how much he enjoyed the experience. I had always thought about acupuncture but never had enough motivation to have it performed on me. I googled Acupuncture San Diego and found Julie Chang. Acupuncture a success! I offered to do portraits of her little daughter and, Wham! There’s Ella! Okay, this gorgeous little child, Ella, wanted nothing to do with me at first. Somehow, she warmed up to me quickly and we were off and running… literally!
I think thats the key with child photography. You can’t force the child to do anything. They have to WANT to do it. So…we went running, and skipping, and splashing in the water! Sounds like fun huh? It was!
In the midst of all of the fun, Ella finds a huge blue bouncy ball. It’s a photographers dream. I didn’t even have to bring props!

I had so much fun Julie! That last picture of Ella may be my favorite portrait of all time. Thanks for making it happen!