We were going to do Mia’s photos at Cobb Ranch last week, but when we got there I had no shade to work with, and it just looked kinda desolate for some reason.  It didn’t fit Mia’s personality, either.  So we hopped over to Woodward Park instead, and ended up having a fun adventure there.  We found a little creek, so I pulled over and we walked over to it.  When we got closer, we saw that the creek went uphill and had several levels to it.  Along the way were pockets of densely wooded forrest that seemed like a fairy tale setting.  It was cool and shaded, with the sound of running water….  It was such a magical place!  The creek water was strangely warm, too, like bath water.  Only about ankle deep, so Mia was happy to splash around and walk in it with me.  We found little pathways leading to open sunny meadows, and little nooks that went out to the bigger lake at the top of the hill.  We searched for fairies and monkeys and goblins, but all we found were some squirrels in the trees.  It was such a fun photo shoot, and such a peaceful, beautiful place.  If you’re ever driving through woodward park, stop at that creek and walk up the hill to check out the hidden forrest.  After our shoot was over, it kind of felt like we’d been to another world, when really we never left Fresno! 

Tags: 2009, Uncategorized, families and children, on location //

I had the pleasure of visiting the Noll family home in Clovis last week.  The family lives on a beautiful, big property that feels like the country.   Their two little girls were so sweet and happy.  They weren’t really into my idea of hugging each other, but they were happy to play with Mom and Dad and go for wagon rides.  We took pictures out by their pond, by their willow trees, in the front yard, and around the house, too.  The kids thought it was great fun to play on Mom and Dad’s bed for awhile, and then we played out in the sand box and the swing in the back yard.  Hannah has this adorable way of speaking that sounds like she’s singing.  Every sentence sounds like a little bird is chirping something cute at you.  And then miss Kay-Kay was just too cute, wanting to push all the buttons on my camera and making these little soundless pouty faces when she got frustrated.  I had a lot of fun with the Noll family.  I am reminded once again that on-location photo shoots are so fun, because the backgrounds are all unique, never the same place twice, and the kids interact so well in a comfortable environment.  It makes it interesting for me, and it’s so much easier to get those cute little kid smiles we all love. 

Tags: 2009, families and children, on location //

I had the utmost pleasure of working with little Corbin Culver yesterday.  He was by far the easiest, happiest, most fun little baby I’ve ever photographed.  From the moment I arrived he was just grinning at me, laughing, and posing for the camera.  I thought my luck was going to run out at any moment so I kept snapping away, waiting for the normal kid to emerge - one who would get tired of my dumb camera tricks and make me actually do some work.  But no, Corbin was so happy the whole time.  I think I took more great photos in that hour than I ever have in a session.  Usually I take a bunch of photos and every fourth one or so is a really good shot, so I keep that one.  With him, they were ALL good shots, and I had hundreds of them.  I’ve never had such a hard time narrowing down a batch of photos before, all because Corbin is so happy and adorable in the shots, and made eye contact with the camera almost the whole time - amazing for his age!  His parents are so lucky to have such a cheery little guy.  You can’t help but smile yourself when you see him.  Am I right?  Are you smiling right now? 

Tags: Uncategorized //

I had the pleasure of photographing the younger sisters of my childhood best friend yesterday, down in Oak Park, California.  It was quite a change from the norm (for me) since the girls were a little older than most of my clients, but it was a lovely change.  I actually got to POSE these girls and ask them to do things for me to get the shots, and they complied so well!  Even the little one was all smiles for the whole shoot.  We took these in the family’s backyard.  Here are a few of the three sisters.  Aren’t they gorgeous?  I would kill for the blue eyes on all of these girls.  And Mom’s hot, too!  And the dog even sat for me!  Too bad we couldn’t drag Dad away from work.  Maybe next time!  So to the Wilson family, here’s a sneak peek of your photos.  Hope you like them! 

Tags: 2009, April, families, families and children //

Meet Miss M, barely 5 months old.  She was a tough little baby, braving 93 degree heat and an annoying breeze and bright sunlight to get her pictures taken with her mom and dad today.  She wasn’t too sure about the outdoor pictures, especially the part where she had to keep sitting or lying in the pokey weeds.  A tractor came by just as we were starting our shoot and plowed down my magical field of flowers.  So sorry to those of you who had been looking forward to using it this year.  I think there will still be a small corner to use for future photo shoots, but now the field will need to be combined with another outdoor or indoor location because I’ve lost my variety in that field.  Sigh…

 But anyway, baby M was so sweet!  She really loves her daddy, but thinks her mom and I were okay folks, too.  After braving the itchy grass and flowers and wind and sun, we drove to my studio and took a few more pictures there.  Baby M cheered up quite a bit once we got to the studio, but I’m glad we got some cute outdoor shots of the family, too.  Especially since our time for using that location has run out already!

 So here is little baby M, who has the cutest little dimples when she really smiles. 

Tags: 2009, April, families, families and children, on location, studio //

Oh.  My.  Goodness.   This little dancing queen was probably the easiest, happiest, sweetest child I’ve ever had the pleasure of photographing.  Little Miss A is 4, loves princesses and takes ballet lessons.  She was so happy to show off her dance moves to me, and didn’t have one ounce of shyness or impatience or anything.  She was just hamming it up for my camera for as long as I asked her to.  She was eager to please, this one, and what a delight that was!  She even thought all my dumb jokes were funny!  :)  We had so much fun with this session.  We went out to the field of flowers in East Clovis and danced and twirled and laughed for awhile, and then we drove over to a grove of trees in town and the whole thing over again.  Her mother assures me that Miss A isn’t always so perfect and has her moments like all children, but from the way she was for our photo shoot, I’m not sure I believe Mom ;-) 

Tags: 2009, families and children, on location //

My daughter’s best friend, Emily, is now a big sister!  Little Sophia Kate was born a couple of weeks ago, and I had the pleasure of taking her pictures at their house yesterday.  My daughter, Gracie, keeps referring to baby Sophia as “Emily’s baby.”  I tried explaining to her that it’s Emily’s baby SISTER, but she’ll have none of that.  As far as she’s concerned, the baby belongs to 3 year old Emily and that’s final.  I think Emily might agree, seeing how much she loves her new little sister and dotes on her.   

Little Sophia has dark hair and blue eyes now, but I’m thinking she’ll probably end up being a blondie like her sister when she gets a little older.   She is the most alert newborn I’ve seen in a long time.  She actually made eye contact and followed my camera as I photographed her - babies never do that!  She’s an amazing, wise little thing.  She was a little fussy for her shoot, so her mom kept feeding her, but then Sophia decided it would be really fun to pee and poop several times on Mom and Dad.  But like all new parents, they took it in stride.  After an hour or so we gave up on naked baby shots and put Sophia in a diaper before Mom and Dad ran out of clean clothes.  :)   Then we decided to try no clothes on mom.  What a good sport!  I love the result:

Little Sophia makes me want another baby girl, too.  I told her parents I had to get out of the house before Sophia inspired me to pick up a new kid.  I do loooooove the babies!  They are so sweet and quiet and cute.  I have to remind myself that Gracie was once helplessly small, quiet as a church mouse, and good as gold once upon a time too.  :)   Isn’t she precious?  Yes, she is….

Tags: 2009, Personal notes, families and children, newborns, on location //

Taryn came to me for newborn pictures 9 months ago or so, and boy has she changed!  She always had a lot of hair for such a tiny little peanut, but now she has a full head of adorable blond hair!  It’s hard to believe she’s still a baby, until you hold her and realize she’s a petite little thing - definitely still a baby.  So baby Taryn and I hung out with her parents for a couple hours this weekend.   I went to their house for a casual family session.  We took some fun family pictures in the living room, including some with the family dog, Kobe.  Then we got to jump around and mess up Mommy and Daddy’s perfectly made bed.  When we were through with that, Taryn took a nice bubble bath and I took her picture splashing and playing in the water.  And then when we were all squeaky clean (dish soap makes excellent bubbles, and it tastes good to babies, too!)  we got Taryn dressed up in a cute little white dress and went to the cherry tree orchard down the road and got some gorgeous shots in the blossoms.  By then we were all pooped and decided to call it a day.  I had such a great time hanging out with little Taryn.  The personality packed in that tiny body is amazing!  She’s going to be a real ham when she grows up.  She also reminds me in looks and personality, of her friend Addison, who I took pics of just a couple of weeks ago.  I just love on location shoots like this, where we can change the scenery quickly and easily, and the kids are often more comfortable than they are in the studio.  My studio photography days just might be numbered.  You can see why….right?  I love the way these turned out, and there are many more. 

Tags: 2009, Uncategorized, families, families and children, on location //

I did a family shoot last week.  The idea was to get pictures of Westin, the baby, and also some of Jonah if I could somehow coax him into the picture.  I was told Jonah really dislikes having his picture taken.  My usual tricks didn’t work very well, but good old-fashioned bribery worked like a charm.  Dad suggested using Smarties candies to lure Jonah into the pictures, and suddenly he turned extremely cooperative on me!  It was fantastic!  Westin seemed excited to have his big brother to play with.  I got quite a few shots of Jonah looking at the camera while baby Westin looked adoringly at Jonah. 

Look at the blue eyes on these boys!  Aren’t they precious??

And one of the whole family, which I was told could not be done (that’s an excellent way to encourage me to get a shot - tell me it can’t be done.):

Tags: Uncategorized //

My best supermodel, Addison, is a big sister already!  Little man Trenton was only five days old when I got to take his picture, but he seems like such a little man man, it’s hard to believe he’s just a newborn.  Addison came to me when she was a newborn 2 years ago, and her little brother looks very much like she did as a baby, except Trenton looks like a boy.  He’s got this adorable little grown up scowl, but I don’t have that preview pic just yet.  Here’s a much more serene expression.  Squeeee!  I love the little babies!

Addison was sooooo good about her new baby brother.  No jealousy or anything, just totally excited and happy to play with him.  And for such a little girl, she was very sweet and gentle with him.   I was impressed!

 She tickled his little footsies (how cute is that?!)….

And then she happily posed for a family picture for me.  Addison has always been the BEST little subject.  I hope she rubs off on her baby brother.  So far, so good!!

Tags: 2009, families, newborns, on location //