When Aryn of Equine Avenue and her students asked me to come out to the Hummingbird’s Nest Ranch in Simi Valley to photograph them with their horses, I had no idea what was in store for me. I can honestly say that I’ve never been in a barn with chandeliers before. It is truly an amazing place and the girls had a fabulous time hacking and jumping on the grass course. 
I was honored to be one of a few people in the delivery room during Jenn’s labor to document the fashionably late arrival of Rylee. Congrats on your new family!!!
Jenn was an amazing trouper through labor
Jenn & Darrin took a cat nap while her mom caught up on a little reading
The Grandparents were so excited… Darrin too
Little Rylee gets checked out
Daddy’s girl
The new family of three – Congrats!!!
Every once in a while you meet someone that truly reminds you that every day we have with our families is precious. Christina is a 29 year old single mother of two adorable kids who is battling stage 4 breast cancer. Despite being let go from her job when she was unable to work and getting ready for her 10th round of chemotherapy, she is so incredibly positive. You can’t help but smile when you’re in the room with her. I was fortunate enough to meet her through friends and offered to photograph her family. I had so much fun with Christina and the kids. There wasn’t a dry eye in the studio when we she saw her images for the first time today. (see images below)
Helping Hearts for Friends Foundation along with Hush Parties and Lowers Welding are hosting a fundraiser for Christina on November 21st, 2008 at 6:00 pm at Maggies Pub in Santa Fe Springs. Tickets are $100 per person and are tax deductible. There will be raffle drawings all night long.
All Monetary contributions are tax deductible through: “Helping Hearts for Friends”
Make checks payable to: Helping Hearts for friends with Christina’s name in the memo section.
(Your canceled check qualifies as your tax deductible receipt)
Mail all donations to: Tori Dawson C/O Hush Parties
1938 N. Batavia St. Suite M. Orange, Ca 92865
Donations can also be made via Paypal.
We’d love to see you there!
Every year we’ve done our best to make sure that everyone gets their order by the holidays (if possible). This year we decided to post our holiday deadline for orders of prints, mini albums and holiday cards. All orders need to be in the studio by December 1st in order to receive them by Christmas. If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at the studio – (562) 299-2506.
Speaking of holiday cards… here are a few designs from last year.
We’re finally heading out on our honeymoon… only eight months after our wedding. LOL We’re starting our trip in Vegas with his company ESU and finishing up with a little camping and exploring. It’s going to be a great trip with no concrete plans. Just hit the road and enjoy.
We’re also very excited to announce our new studio manager Mindi. After doing several sessions with Mindi and her family as well as having her in the studio to do hair and makeup for several of our clients; we’ve decided that she’s the perfect person to join our studio. Welcome Aboard Mindi!!!
Meet Mindi
Every year Deena Jeffs has an Easter Egg hunt at her home and this year was no exception. Well over 20 ‘big’ kids waited while the little kids got a head start on the hunt. Minutes later all the eggs were found. Lots of happy kids enjoyed their finds while the moms and dads feasted on fruit, bagels and other snacks.
Six Pack to go is a Long Beach based band with rockabilly roots. They recently had a gig at the Blue Cafe in Long Beach and asked me to come along and take a few photos. They played some great original songs as well as some killer covers. To find out more about Six Pack To Go and hear a little bit of their music – be sure to check out their MySpace page.
The holiday rush was amazing thanks to all of my fantastic clients. The big annual photographers convention in Tampa Florida was a whirlwind and I’m still in the throes of the Valentine’s rush – again thanks to you all. Blogging unfortunately has taken a second seat to life in general… for the moment. One more big thing in my life at the moment … Michael and I are getting married tomorrow. Yup… tomorrow!
As a wedding photographer myself I thought it would be hard to pick a photographer to document my own engagement session and wedding and it was. Not because I was super picky but because I have so many great friends that are amazing photographers. It made it really hard to pick just one. So ultimately I ended up picking two. John Michael Cooper of alt-f photography did our engagement session in Vegas. He has an amazing talent and off beat vision that I love and his wife Dalisa is one of the sweetest people that I’ve ever met.
For the wedding Amy & JP Prutch from AJS Studio out of Vancouver Washington are flying down to photograph our wedding as well as take some pre-ceremony photos. Amy and JP are not only amazing photographers but they are like the best family you can imagine having only you didn’t get to meet them until you were grown up. To make it even more fun JP will be officiating our ceremony. I’ll be sure to post some photos of the wedding soon.
Since we’re doing a camping honeymoon in a couple of months, I’ll be back at work Monday afternoon and promise to catch up on my blog posts right after St. Valentine’s Day.
A few photos from our e-session with John Michael Cooper.
ESU in Santa Fe Springs California takes very special care of their employees with an annual trip to Vegas. This was our 2nd trip with them and in true ESU fashion, they really made this a trip to remember. After a fun filled bus ride (yes… I said fun filled and bus ride in the same sentence ), we ended up at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Hotel. After checking in, a few of us headed down to the wave pool to check things out. Kelly and Amanda decided to go in… fully clothed. It was so much fun, they couldn’t help but get soaking wet. The hotel’s security people were nice enough to bring the girls some towels to dry off. After breakfast on our own Saturday morning, we met the ESU crew up in one of the cabanas for a private party. Food, drink, friendship and fun… It was truly a great time. Sunday morning we got back on the bus for the long ride home. Thanks to ESU, the DeFazio and Fackiner families for a truly memorable and fun trip.
Sweet little Lucas turned one this month and had a birthday gathering for family and friends at Wardlow Park in Long Beach. The kids ate pizza, fruit kabobs and cupcakes and then played games with a kid sized parachute, t-ball, puppets and ran through the sprinklers. Of course Lucas got to smear a cupcake all over his face and open his presents too.
