Julian's One-derful Birthday

One of my favorite babies turned one last month.  He is truly a little miracle!  Born six weeks early, Mom was forewarned that he would be behind in achieving benchmarks and milestones.  Tell that to this little man who started walking at 10 months!  He continues to surpass the doctors' expectations.  Even though I am not his mama I could not be more proud of him.  It just warms my heart to see this special little boy and his family have such a happy ending! 
Mom wanted to have a coupled themed shoots.  One with Daddy's tie and another with Julian diving into his very first cake.  That morning while walking one of my dogs I stumbled upon a fabulous garage sale with oodles of vintage goodies.  When I laid eyes on the piano I knew it would be perfect for Julian's shoot that afternoon.  The gentleman was kind of enough to hold it for me so I could walk home, get cash, and return before Julian came over.  He had so much fun creating his own little tunes while I snapped away.  And his reaction to the cake?  I think the photos will speak for his reaction.
Happy birthday Julian!  You are a miracle and a blessing!

Maddie's Sneak Peak

You know how they say the carpenter's house is the last to get fixed?  That seems to be the case in our household.  Only for us it's the photographer's kids are the last to get photographed.  Of course I shoot their photos on a daily basis , but it has been some time since I had an actual photoshoot with them (I am quite embarrassed about this by the way!)  I finally scheduled some time to do a shoot with Maddie.  It was a short shoot at a new location I found and wanted to experiment with.  An old barn!  Swoon!
On a side note, she often forces a smile.  I call it the "cheese smile" because it looks as if she is saying "cheese" while she does it.  So to get her to relax and find her inner attitude I told her to pretend she was a fifth grader.  All of a sudden this cool as a cucumber 'tude was unleashed!  Hilarious!

Harry & Alex

For the past three years I have had the pleasure of getting to know Harry, Alex, and their parents (the boys attend the same school as my daughter.)  Mom had been wanting to do a photo shoot for some time.  But when the newest addition to their family, a German Shepherd puppy named Bailey, arrived it seemed like the perfect opportunity.  The boys were so gracious and patient.  Most boys would rather be doing a million other things than sitting still to have their photo taken on a stifling hot day.  I enjoyed catching up on all of their summer activities such as swim team and pool parties.  They had me giggling at the end of the shoot, it was such a "boys will be boys" moment of silliness.  And Bailey?  Could she get any cuter?!?  What a sweet puppy!  Almost makes me want another dog.  Almost!  

Ilene, Amy, & Reagan Part 2

For this part of the shoot we visited the San Francisco Creamery.  Such a fun place!!  I am seriously considering having a birthday party there for one of my kiddos.  The menu and ice cream selection, to die for.
We were all excited to see Reagan's reaction to her milkshake, banana split, and overflowing sundae.  The sundae was huge, oozing with chocolate and whipping cream.  De-lish!  Her reaction to the cherry was classic.  Total sour-face! Reagan got full pretty quickly so the rest of us enjoyed her left-overs. 
This was my favorite part of the shoot.  I got to hang out and just capture Reagan and Mommy sharing a special moment over ice cream.  And with the distraction of so many tastey options I ceased to exist and was able to capture a lot of fun and quirky facial expressions on Reagan. 

  

Ilene, Amy, & Reagan

This is the first of a two part series.  Amy and Reagan wanted to give Hubby/Dad some updated photos of the two of them for Father's Day.  Grandma Ilene hoped to get some photos of her with her girls as well.  We broke the shoot up into two parts:  a typical, outdoor shoot, and then a lifestyle/editorial shoot at an ice cream parlor.  We were all super-excited about until we got the weather report.  Here in California we are 99.9% of the time safe from any potential June rainstorms.  But with this little weather anomaly known as, La Nina, this has not been the case.  Apparently there was an apparent monsoon in the forecast for the day of our shoot.  Oh, and this was the only day Amy could sneak in the shoot without her hubby finding out.  It was one of those tricky moments you get as a photographer.  An outdoor shoot, seriously inclement weather, a time crunch (they had a wedding to attend later that evening, yikes!), and a toddler that woke up at 6am and wanted nothing to do with a nap or posing for pictures.  This could have been a disaster of epic proportions, but somehow we managed to make it work.  And it reminded me, no matter how prepared you think you are anything can happen!
A few days before the shoot I scouted out some new locations that are 1.)  outdoors, yet would work with the rain 2.) were pretty (a must!!) and 3.) gave us some variety.  Luck behold! I found a historic home that fit all three requirements.  And Amy had discovered a fabulous brick building that used to be a bank.  It was an unexpected gem!  Go Amy!!
Surprisingly the weather held out while we were shooting outside.  Yay!  But once the rain began (on our way to the ice cream parlor) LOOK OUT!  It poured!  Like, tropical storm poured.
Here is part one from our shoot.  Ice cream parlor shots to follow!




Honestly, who could resist a sweet face like this?!?!