They grow and change so fast!

Having a child of my own I should really know this by now, but for some reason it never ceases to amaze me how fast children really grow. One of my favorite things about being a photographer is when I get the opportunity to see these beautiful children that I photograph change and grow as they continue to come in for new sessions. Honestly, I get this amazing gift of seeing the ever evolving and changing person that they will become....what an awesome thing to be a part of!

This is the second time that I have had the great opportunity to photograph these two cuties. Our first session was around the end of 07, we did a really fun and casual session on the beach and captured some great images for their holiday card. It really seems like just yesterday we were out shooting that session so when Stephanie came in with "E" and "G" I was just shocked at how much they have grown. I mean really, it seems like it was just yesterday!!! "G" is turning into such a little man...sigh...so sweet!!! And "E" such the little girl, she loved putting on my petti skirts and dancing around like a princess...gotta love that!

These two shots are from our session last year





And here are the cuties from our most recent session.

VIVA LAS VEGAS!!

Whew......I just returned from an amazing week in Vegas for a huge Photography Convention (WPPI) What an amazing week! I have come home mentally refreshed, inspired, full of new information, and well to be honest a bit exhausted. By day I attended different classes and seminars, then hit the venue booth and trade show floors to check out all sorts of great products, then off to a few more classes and/or seminars and completed the evenings with some awesome parties thrown by some awesome vendors and other photographers!

On Tuesday afternoon and again at night myself and my good friend and fellow photographer Emma were able to sneak away to hit the Vegas strip for some shooting...we started out just having some fun shooting the normal stuff on the strip.

You know I love me some sun flare....

This is Emma shooting me while I'm shooting her :)

Then we hit the strip again once the sun went down and classes were over

We decided we were on a mission to find us a bride and groom somewhere on the strip that would let us shoot them so we headed across the street to the Bellagio hoping we would find an unsuspecting couple watching the water show.

And wouldn't you know it....we found ourselves the newly married Christine and Kevin, who agreed to let us photograph them...although I'm not too sure they realized what they were in for :) It started as just myself and Emma, and we were soon joined by Melissa McClure and her fiance and Lauren Wright, and soon a few other photographers that happened to be walking the strip...and I even think we drew the attention of some completely random people with their point and shoot cameras as they were walking by, ohhh, and we cant leave out the wonderful people driving by cheering the bride and groom on....LOL....ahhhh Vegas.

In all seriousness, Christine and Kevin were SUCH troopers, so sweet and honestly I cant thank them enough for taking some time out of their big night to satisfy our photography passion. You guys were AWESOME and I will be emailing you soon to get your address so we can mail you your images...thanks again you two!

I also want to thank my clients and prospective clients for their patience while I was away...my Internet service at the hotel was SO spotty and we were on the go so much that getting emails out was super difficult. I have a few galleries that are just about ready for viewing and will be posting a few more sneak peeks tomorrow!

Congrats to my brother :)

Most of my blogging is usually about my wonderful clients and our recent sessions but today I wanted to give a shout out to my brother as I am truly so very proud of him and his accomplishments.

My brother Mark has been working for FedEx Kinkos for about 10 years now. He started as co-worker, running print jobs, taking customer orders and all that good stuff that comes along with it. He slowly started to work is way up the Kinkos ladder and was recently promoted to a branch manager of the NEW East Simi Valley FedEx Kinkos Branch. Yesterday they had their offical 'ribbon cutting' to celebrate the grand opening so I packed up my camera (go figure) and my daughter, who was really excited to go see Uncle Mark, and captured a few snaps of his 'big day'.



already hard at work :)






Scott (the Branch Manager for the West Simi FedEx Kinkos location) and Mark getting ready to cut the ribbon while surrounded by a few members of the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce.




After the ribbon has been cut all of the attending chamber members sign the ribbon


The new store is located on Tapo Canyon right across the parking lot from the Regal Cinemas so next time you need some copies, need to send a shipment, or need some office supplies, be sure to drop by and say hi to him. Ohh, I should add that the West Simi Valley FedEx Kinkos isnt going anywhere...they just added another branch in Simi to make things a little more convenient for all of us.

Jeremy + Melissa : I DO

Several months ago when I met with Jeremy and Melissa to discuss their wedding I remember us talking about their big day, all the plans they had made and the "what if it rains?". The weather here in So Cal has been so back and forth we weren't sure what to expect. Well their big day came, and there was definitely no sign of rain....it was a beautiful day, the sun made such an appearance that we were actually struggling to hide from it on several occasions :). I was joined by my very good friend and fellow photographer Cheyenne who helped me capture their big day.

Their morning started with a small and intimate ceremony at the Los Angeles Temple, followed by a nice relaxing lunch and mini celebration at the Sheraton Delfina in Santa Monica with their family and bridal party. Shortly after lunch we snuck away for some beautiful portraits (and some fun) at the hotel and at the Santa Monica Pier. After our trip to the pier, we returned to the Sheraton where Jeremy and Melissa had a very touching ring ceremony while surrounded by all of their friends and family. And then of course the big celebration began! It was an amazing day full of fun, joy and love!

**Beware, image overload :)

Lunch and celebration at the hotel before the ring ceremony








a little fun in the elevator :)


















some fun on the pier












Jeremy and Melissa had taken dance lessons and had the most adorable first dance routine together....so sweet!

Unique Floral Design + Cest La Fete Events

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to do some work with Laurie from Unique Floral Designs and Heather from Cest La Fete Events. Both of these women are wonderfuly talented and put together an amazingly beautiful Moroccan inspired spread to celebrate a special bridal shower. Here are just a few of the images I captured of their event. If you are in need of a florist or an event planner please give these lovely ladies a call, they really do amazing work.

The place settings and favors...




The beautiful table set up












The details and decor...















the yummy stuff...


the beautiful cake was provided by Skiffs Cakes (who makes some KILLER cakes by the way)


The meal provided by the Thai House in Simi Valley

"Happy Birthday little dada"

My poor husband has been working long hours and very stressful days these past few weeks as his store awaits their corporate audit team. He has been leaving every morning at 5am and gets home around 5pm only to take a 45 min conference call to prep for the next day. Well, today is his birthday, so to brighten his day a little I had our daughter call him to wish him a happy birthday as soon as she woke up. "Hello?" he answered in a flustered voice, "Happy Birthday dada" she said, "lets sing!" And she started to sing happy birthday to him. The two of them sing happy birthday all the time, but its always "happy birthday little Shayna, happy birthday too you" But today she sang "happy birthday little dada, happy birthday to you" It was so sweet, it really just melted my heart. I could tell immediately by the tone of his voice that this one little phone call really made his day. She was so excited that it was daddy's birthday. She anxiously awaited his arrival home from work, knowing she had helped wrap his present in the ducky bag she insisted we used and because there was cake with "candles to blow". As soon as he walked in the door, she ran to him saying "happy birthday, happy birthday, dada!" Well it wasn't too long before it was time for cake. She was just tickled beyond belief that while daddy was in the shower we were going to get the cake ready and surprise him. So as I set it on the island she tells me...."I have an idea", well as you can imagine, any 2 year old that has an idea when there is a cake in front of them...its probably not an idea that is in the best interest of the cake.





The final project of her "idea"


But, shhhh, here comes daddy, lets surprise him......"ta'da daddy"


Singing...."Happy Birthday Little Dada"


"Blowin candles"

OpLove on the Beach :)

I was so happy to get a chance to hit the beach for a session last week. With the weather being so back and forth from rain to sun you just never know lately. Ohh how I was missing the beautiful So Cal weather! It really was a beautiful day....then to be greeted by the adorable 'Z' and her parents for an OpLove session.....even better! Little 'Z' is so full of personality and energy, I just adored getting to know her. Here is a sneak peek from our session.





'Z' wasnt crazy about the idea of daddy throwing her up in the air when I first suggested it. But after the first or second toss, she loved it and wanted to keep going :). Ohhh, and just a quick PSA, if I do an outdoor session for you, Im pretty much addicted to sun flare so its pretty much a given that you will end up with a fun sun flare shot ;)


When I aked 'Z' to give her her best model pose...this is what she gave me. LOVE IT!


We tried to get a few shots of 'Z' with daddys cover on...however this was her idea of how the image should be made. We even tried to bribe her with a quesadilla! Face or no face, still a super fun capture in my book.

Beautiful Baby Bellies!

Last weekend I was graced with not one, not two but THREE beautiful baby bellies to photograph!!! What an amazing day of sessions it was! I will be back with some images from the third session however here are a few sneak peeks from the first two.

First up is Kristin...such a sweetheart and simply glowing! And we cant forget the new dad to be, smiling from ear to ear with excitment :)





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And next I shot Breann...Breann and I had a great time during her session just laughing and chatting...and stealing a few shots of her beauty and gorgeous bump in between!







I cant wait for both of your beautiful babies to make their entrance into the world so we can capture their beauty and innocence outside of your wonderful baby bumps.