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
My best friend Traci asked me when Michael and I got engaged what I wanted to do for my ‘bachelorette’ party. Since I’m not too big into parties I told her that I wanted to spend a weekend hanging out with her in New Orleans. I’ve been dying to go for years and finally we did it. Mmmmm - I miss the beignets already.
Bourbon Street
Street Performers
Musicians - Steamboat Willie
The Royal Street Jug Band
Cool Old Cemeteries
And of course our one splurge… brunch at Commander’s Palace. Not only did the food look fantastic but it tasted amazing!
Traci bought this funky pair of ’sunglasses’ made from forks from a shop on Royal Street. She’s going to use it has a head band instead but was kind enough to model them for me as sunglasses first. LOL
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.
The family got together on Saturday to celebrate Uncle Bob’s 75th birthday. Uncle Bob blew out the candles on his birthday cake and then in true ‘Bob’ fashion; cut the first piece with his pocket knife. As usual, there was a jam session in Bob Jr’s studio and then the girls snuggled up for a movie.
On Easter my extended family and friends all got together for our annual potluck picnic at Wardlow Park in Long Beach. I came with homemade brownies and my camera - of course. Here are a few photos from our day.
Emily’s first chocolate chip cookie
A kiss from Brenda for mom
My cousin Don
Auntie K and a friend say ‘Hi’ to Emily
Gilligan (dalmatian pitbull mix) taken by my son Josh.
My son Josh
Me and my kids (taken by my friend Traci)
The Easter Egg hunt (taken by Josh)
My Aunt Minta and cousin Kerri
Uncle Brian and Aunt Helen
Chris and Madison having fun on the swing
Many professions require continuing education in order to maintain professional licenses. Unfortunately the photography profession isn’t one of them. Our associations sometimes give us credits for taking courses but it’s not a requirement of the job. It’s sad because I think as a group we have so much to gain by attending periodic workshops to help us to grow as artists and business people. Yeah - being a photographer can be fun (ok - it IS fun!) but it’s a lot of hard work too. Technology and the tools we use to capture your family’s images change constantly and I think it’s important for us to keep up with those changes. Another benefit of taking workshops is that you’d be amazed at how much a group of photographers can inspire each other. We benefit as artists but I believe that it is our clients that benefit the most.
I was lucky enough to spend all of last week in Scott’s Valley California attending Tina Wilson’s class on Children’s Photography put on by the California Photographic Workshops. It was an incredible experience and I learned so much from her, the other instructors and my colleagues. Here are some images from my week.
“THE” Tina Wilson and my fellow photographers…
Some of the awesome children that came to play with us…
I lost count of how many people were at this party but it was clear that most of them were related. Aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, friends and a HUGE bunch of cousins. Joe was so surprised when he walked in and saw everyone. When the Smith’s get together, it’s always a great party!
I flew out to San Antonio Texas last week to attend 4 days of workshops with some of the hottest photographers in the industry. I am so lucky that I get to make a living doing something that I love so much. Spending time with so many wonderful photographers was inspiring and the workshops were awesome. It can be both fun and tough to shoot with so many other photographers at the same time. Here are some images from my week.
The models
My fellow photographers
Last week I stopped in to take a few headshots of my bonus mom for the website of the law firm where she works. We followed this session up with lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. Yum!
We spent Christmas weekend with Michael’s family at the Poco Diablo resort in Sedona Arizona. I knew that the light would be harsh so I borrowed a camera that had been converted to shoot infrared photos from my friend Britney. We had a great time hanging out with the family, hiking and capturing Sedona’s famous red rock with a new perspective.
Cathedral Rock the usual way… (Photographed by Michael)
Cathedral Rock In Infrared
On the way up to Bell Rock
From a look out point near Bell Rock
Me overlooking Sedona (taken by Michael)
