malibu ca family photography: the little beach beauty

i always feel blessed when people invite me to spend an afternoon with their family. 

i love capturing the relationships, the love, and of course, the little details of what make their family tick. 

traci and i had planned on the beach session for her 7 month old daughter abrianna. after rescheduling do to some cold and nasty weather, we settled on our date. we knew her hubs had to work, so we were making it an all important mommy and me session. 

but to our surprise, her awesome husband eric surprised her by coming home from work just in time to throw a few shirts in the car and join in the fun!

we set up shop on the beach, and to our dismay, the sand whipping wind kicked up. and when i say sand whipping, i mean pelting your skin like tiny razor sharp bullets wind. i'm not gonna lie, it sucked! abrianna is a trooper. she didn't cry (until we tried changing her in the wind- i'd cry too being naked with that sand), she snuggled with her mama and daddy and gave me gorgeous eyes,  you could just feel the love oozing from the family.  

thank you, traci, eric and abrianna for a fun afternoon at the beach! it was a pleasure getting to spend time with your loving family, and i look forward to getting to do it again in the future!

los angeles photography: a day with chef

patty is amazing. 

she is a total talent in the kitchen, both making divine culinary experiences and baking scrumptious desserts and treats. 

she recently graduated from culinary school and is starting her own catering business, so she asked if i would join her downtown to browse through some restaurant supply stores. i thought that would be a great place to photographer her for her new website that is under construction. 

after our mini shoot in the store (and some funny looks from the staff), we headed to bottega louie for lunch. it was Dlish! we've decided she's going to take me on culinary adventures every month, and broaden my taste buds!

*** when blogger was down last week, it erased the rest of my post!***
i'll recreate it at a later date, but for now, i wanted to get these up! 

project 52, week 17,18and 19

i'm lagging. 

i don't mean to lag, but life gets busy sometimes, and blogging is the last thing on the to do list, behind playing with the babies and cleaning the house, baseball games and laundry, editing and cooking dinner, fulfilling orders and rocking the babies to sleep, and planning baby showers and bridal showers. yes, i do it all. and i love doing it all. and so sometimes, even though yes, i have taken my picture a week (ok, more like my 200 pictures a week- seriously), i just don't always get the time to sit and post them. so here's a recap of the last 3 weeks:

week 17:

old enzo.
we just found out he has skin cancer. now, our epileptic, partially deaf, 100 lb pit pull also has cancer. he is the biggest, sweetest small horse of a dog you could ever meet. we are saddened by the news, but at least it is treatable, and they expect him to live a full and happy life still (minus having to limit his "sunbathing" time). 

 week 18:
my birthday boy

two years ago you came into the world, into our family, and kidnapped our hearts.

 your curiosity takes you to every water puddle and dirt patch.

your sense of adventure takes you to the tops of the furniture.

your fearlessness has you jumping off.

you are my cuddle bug, still loving to be rocked every night.

you bring so much joy to our family.

 week 19:
he makes my heart happy.
mothers day was a joy since the boys are old enough to  tell me how much they love me :) e learned how to make a heart with his hands at preschool, and now it's his favorite way to tell me he loves me.
 it makes my heart glow!

xo

san jose children's photography: lyla b

she made her entrance all by herself. 

labor came faster than her parents were ready for, dad was on a business trip, and at 1 am, mom called to say GET HOME! 

but lyla didn't wait till dad got home. in fact, she didn't wait for the paramedics to get there either. 

at almost 2 am, she was born. 

with only her mom and her 2 year old brother in the house. 

her entrance into the world is not one she will ever live down, but it is memorable for all who hear it! 

we took these pictures last month while i was in san jose and she was 3 months old. there were so many i adored, that it has taken me this long to chose exactly which ones to blog!  

i love you lyla b, and can't wait to watch you grow!


featured on:

los angeles family photography: the triplets turned one!

it's amazing how in the last month, i think i have had 6 of my little faces all turn one! 

the triplets were my first set of multiple newborns. 

i can remember being so excited, yet nervous at the thought of positioning THREE babies. 

i think only one of my ideas ended up working, because when you are working with multiple children (of any age, but more so babies), you cannot predict the dynamics and attitudes of each of the babies. 

as much as these three love each other, there were moments when i couldn't get one to sit next to the other, and don't even think of putting that one next to the other right now, and then trying to get all of them happy, or even just looking in my direction! whew! i am exhausted all over again! i don't know how their parents do it. but they do it with complete grace and love. 

 we discovered jack is more of an action shots kind of kid. there was NO getting this little man to pose!

 the only way we could get them all to sit together! oh the power of a bottle!

happy first birthday jack, hana and dalya! i have loved watching you grow, and can't wait to see you again soon!