Month end contest!!!

Okay.....contest time again :)
This time around I thought it would be fun to do something a little bit different. Im going to run a "cover kiddo" contest. Below you will see an image from the past few weeks of sessions. Take a peek, pick your favorite kiddo, scroll to the bottom of this post and vote! The winner of this poll with be the "cover kiddo" for the photography by charise blog (replacing the adorable little pumpkin kiddo at the top of my blog) AND mom and dad will receive one complimentary 8x10 print of the image as well. So, get to voting!! The only thing I ask is that you not vote more than once a day.

Kiddo #1

Kiddo #2

Kiddo #3

Kiddos #4

Kiddo #5

Kiddo #6

Kiddos #7

Kiddo #8

Kiddo #9

jon + lisa

I was so excited to have been given the opportunity to photograph the long awaited wedding of some very good friends, Jon and Lisa! The wedding was beautiful, the bride was stunning and Jon was beaming with happiness and their little "L" was as adorable as ever in his tux! Both the reception and ceremony took place at the beautiful Secret Garden in Moorpark. And of course, here is a peek at a few shots from the wedding. Congrats again to you both!



The new Mr and Mrs....











The whole gang...

The details.....

The celebration...

Holiday Schedule and Deadline UPDATES

As mentioned in a previous post my current holiday session availablity is booking up quickly. And as promised here is an update of dates that are available for weekend sessions.

Saturday, November 10th in the afternoon
Sunday, November 11th in the afternoon
Saturday, November 17th in the morning
Sunday, November 25th anytime

Weekday availability is more flexible, please call for availability.

And of course.....a peek at a shot from a holiday session this week :)

The Morales Boys

This handsome trio came to the studio for a family session last week. This session was one of my favorites thus far for a very special reason......they are my nephews that were in visiting from Texas. We havent seen them since the begining of the year so not only did I get the pleasure of a great visit and lots of playtime with them but I was also able to sneek them into the studio for some updated portraits of them. We miss you guys already and will hopefully make it out to Texas sometime soon to visit all of you.

Holiday Schedule and Deadlines

As the holidays are quickly approaching and my schedule is quickly filling up I thought it would be a good idea to let you all know what dates are currently available for those of you interested in booking a session in time for the holidays.

The date for the last appointment to ensure your prints will arrive in time for the holidays is going to November, 26th. That is just a few weeks away so please dont wait to make your appointments. If you are planning on ordering Holiday Cards it is best to choose an earlier date to allow for proofing, printing and of course mailing. Holiday Cards can also be ordered using images from previous sessions if you choose.

As of right now my weekend availability is getting pretty slim, here is a list of available dates

Saturday, October 27th in the afternoon

Sunday, November 4th in the afternoon

Saturday, November 10th in the afternoon

Sunday, November 11th

Saturday, November 17th in the morning

Sunday, November 25th

Weekdays are more open for sessions, if you have a preferred date durning the week please let me know and I can check my schedule for you.

As always, sessions are available on location, at your home or in my NEW studio!

And of course, a post really isnt a post without a pic :) Here is a sneek peek shot from a holiday session earlier this week.

The "T" kiddos

Last week I also had the pleasure of photographing the Thompson kiddos. What sweeties these two are. Big sis just adores her little brother! We had a great time playing at the Park and grabbed some great images in between! Here is a quick sneek peek from our session last week!

3 + 3 = family

I am very pleased to post this next sneek peek of the White Family. The 3 VERY sweet little girls are all biological sisters that have been joined together with the Whites by adoption to make a complete and very loving family of 6. This wonderful family took part in a Celebrating Adoption session with me last weekend. Even after only spending a very short time with the White Family I was able to see how much love this family shares and nevermind how great all of these kiddos are. Little Brother wasnt crazy about the camera but I think we were still able to capture some good images, especially some that really show his great personality. Enjoy your sneek peek!

A very special session...

This past weekend I along with 3 other photographer friends of mine had the very special opportunity to capture the return of some very special and brave seabees as they returned from their 7 month tour in Iraq. No matter how many times you are lucky enough to be a part of this amazing experience it is never any less special or any less emotional. These families were so amazing and of course overjoyed to see their seabees return safely from Iraq. It is NEVER easy to keep focused behind the camera to capture these very special moments. Im not sure that I could possibly put into words how wonderful of an experience this truly is. Together we shot more than 350 images so its hard to pick only a few to share, but is a sneek peak of a few of my favorite images.

This is the "J" family. You may remember the the adorable kiddos from a previous session I did while dad was still deployed. After our session I mailed a complimentary session album to dad in Iraq, he was so happy and greatful, he kept thanking me when we had this opportunity to meet....as if I am the one that deserves thanks...he is the one fighting for our Country...he is the one that really deserves the thanks. The album is only a small token of thanks from me to him. Kurt, I can only hope that the images I captured for you upon your return mean as much to you as the first session did. Here is a sneak peak from your homecoming!

Now this shot needs a bit of explaination. This is dad with "squirtle" very special friend of his youngest daughter. Before dad deployed to Iraq she asked him to bring along her very favorite stuffed animal "squirtle", he of course couldnt imagine taking her favorite stuffed animal for 7 long months, but she insisted that he take it as it would keep him safe while he was there. Of course, after that request he knew he must take squritle with him. Not only did squirtle go to Iraq but he traveled everywhere with dad, anywhere and everywhere he went squirtle came to. They also played a fun game of find squirtle, whenever dad would send pics home or video he would hide squirtle in the background somewhere for the kids to find in the picture. Dad says that if he deploys again he will be bringing along one of each of his 3 kids toys.