Brandon’s First Official Photoshoot…

I usually recommend to my clients to bring their babies in early for photos. There’s something adorable and extra special about a newborn in the first few days. I just love how squishy and bendy they are. My grandson Brandon was no exception. So… at three days he had his first photo shoot in the comfort of his own home. The images of him by himself were actually taken with him on a boppy in an office chair with a blanket draped over it. Not too bad for his MacGyver photographer grandmother. LOL Thankfully he only peed on me and his daddy once during the session.

Carole-Ann and Michael Are Having a Baby…

It’s not every day that my daughter sends me a text showing a little stick with a plus sign on it but several months ago she did just that. Just months after her beautiful wedding to my most favorite son-in-law in the world. Of course he’s my only son-in-law but that doesn’t matter; he’s still my favorite. Fast forward to her showing… I mean really showing and we’re doing her maternity photos.

How could time possibly have gone so fast that she went from her being a darling little girl stealing my soda (calling it Dadoo) and licking ketchup off her french fries until they were soggy messes? Where did the little girl running through the sprinklers with a big stick go? My sweet teenager showing the horse that her father and leased for her and volunteering at the barn? Yes… I said sweet and teenager in the same sentence and I meant it. Where did my little girl go? It’s quite obvious that more than a few years have passed though and that I’m going to be a grandmother. Wow… a grandmother…. a very cool thing indeed but I’m worried – my baby is going to be in labor and in pain delivering this little angel into this world. If I could carry that pain for her, I would. I think that any parent worth their salt would. Life just doesn’t happen that way though now does it? The truth is that no matter how old she gets or how many children she has, she’ll always be my little girl.

Congrats to my gorgeous daughter and favorite son-in-law! Note – my adorable grandson has already arrived by the time of this blog post. Grandma has been a busy bee and is just now catching up. More to follow.

Love Stories at Salon Cheval…

Thayra Rothweiler, one of the stylists that works frequently in the studio also works at Salon Cheval in Whittier. She invited me to a photographic play date with the stylists there. The salon owner and stylists had decided on ‘Love Stories’ as the main theme and each of the stylists did different styling based on their individual themes. I had fun photographing styling and ideas from three different stylists.

Theme -  The Notebook

Styling by Thayra Rothweiler

Photographed in a crowded parking lot as the sun was setting.

Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash

Styling by Sheila Young

Photographed in a crowded parking lot after sunset. It was quite dark but some new led lights I picked up after convention did the trick.

Sid and Nancy

Styling by Jessica Cid Del Prado

Photographed after dark in a small loading doc with led lights.

Andrea & Janelle… Victorian Session

Brooke’s Flowers…

When this little girl walked into my studio with her family, she had a great smile and an avid interest in photography. She was already a natural at composition but wanted to learn the technical aspects of photography. We’ve been meeting just a couple hours a month and already she’s knocking my socks off.  Brooke isn’t even a teenager yet and I suspect in a short time she’s going to be running with photography full steam.

A few of Brooke’s amazing images…

Special Project… Joy & Mindi

Mindi & Heather… Old Hollywood, True Blue Style

As a photographer I am constantly working on perfecting my art, learning more and relearning things that I haven’t used in a while. (Sometimes too long). So in my effort to add more skills to my photo tool belt, I try to do a personal project once a month using sets, equipment and lighting that I don’t use every day. This time I busted out my old Novatron lights and some satin sheets and enlisted the help of a couple of friends to work up a little Old Hollywood Magic. Thanks to Mindi and Heather for helping me with this fun shoot. While neither of them are models, both of them very well could be.

Heather

Mindi

Vintage Session…

Every so often I get a wild hair to do a special project. With studio manager and stylist Mindi and client Brenda in cahoots with me, we did a very cool vintage shoot at the Ebell Club in Long Beach. Enjoy!

Michael’s Tattoo…

My darling husband started his tattoo just 3 short weeks before our wedding in February. After several sessions, his body art is finished. I went along to his last appointment and watched Jason Martin of Lefty’s Tattoo in Orange complete the finishing touches. Jason did an awesome job bringing Dayna DeLux and 2 vintage Fords to life.

Easter Picnic 2008

Every year my family and a few friends get together for a picnic on Easter Sunday. As usual we met at Wardlow Park in Long Beach. It was a gorgeous day and I spent my rare day off happily sitting in a beach chair with a cold Diet Coke. We even brought the dogs with us.

Odie & Kona

Chrissy

My gorgeous niece Madison

Michael

Greg

Richard