Meet the Daane family.   Well, so did I…

I’ve known Beth from our local photography organization here in Sacramento for some time.  Probably had a dozen conversations with her about our respective families and finally I got to meet the rest of them.

It’s always interesting what kind of preconceived notions people have about having their portraits made.  Some are nervous, some are excited, some are anxious, but I will say without exception that when they are open and honest with each other, wonderful things happen.  They certainly did here.

Beth, I can’t thank you enough for allowing me this opportunity and for your sincerity in these images.  And thank you for letting me peer into the bond of your family. You are beautiful!

I love it when clients have specific locations in mind for their senior portraits, and I really love it when the locations look like this!  Meet Bridget, Oak Ridge High class of 2010.  Bridget decided to have us up in her neck of the woods for her portrait session, and the day was perfect…so was the light.  She also brought along a personal make up artist to help with different looks during the session, very cool!  I had a great time here and Bridget made things easy being so comfortable in front of the lens.  She was particularly good about acting out “scenes”, especially the “I’m lost and wandering around in this gorgeous dress” story:)

We ended with a few photos on the balcony and Marti (mom) was kind enough to serve up some spinach dip, pita chips and mini hot dogs…perfect way to end a session.  Thanks so much!

Today our “baby” turns 5.  It’s hard not to get sappy and sentimental at times like this.  It’s so cliche to say how time flies and in the blink of an eye babies turn into young ladies, but it’s SO true!  Five years ago today we had no idea who this baby girl would become; what her personality would be like, who she would resemble, and the role she would play in our family.  Well, we have learned much about her in five years.  Our Teagan is so full of life, energy, humor, wit and compassion.  She is the funniest kid I’ve ever met, can be so stubborn, but the next minute melts your heart with love.  We keep asking her why she’s growing up so fast, and her reply is always the same: “Because I want to grow up.”  Slow down, sweet Teagan.  Enjoy each day (and she does!).

Here is her actual birth announcement we sent out; the photograph was taken when she was 3 weeks old.  The images below are very recent.  In fact, the ones outside were taken just a couple of days ago.  She was modeling some dresses for the Silver Spoon, so the session also became her five-year portrait session.  She did a great job but was much more concerned about the little ladybug she found and was holding in her hands most of the time we were out.  The last couple in the hat were some fun outtakes from the mommy & me promo session the girls and I did last month.  As much as I love every one of these images of her for different reasons, James and I both agree that the last one pretty much sums up our little girl.  Happy Birthday Teagan!

San Diego beach sessions are here!  We are excited to announce that we will be in San Diego and offering beach portrait sessions between June 22-June 25.  There’s just something magical about portraits at the beach, and now is your chance to get “enchanted” portraits by the sea!  We will have a limited number of sessions available, so please call soon for details (916-759-8140).

While we were in San Diego earlier in the year, we were lucky enough to photograph the lovely McGuckin family.  We met the McGuckin’s when big sister was a brand-new baby; G was the first newborn we ever photographed!  Over the years we have not only photographed this family on multiple occasions, but also grown to call them friends.  Suffice it to say, we were sad when they moved to San Diego….until I got a call from Scott telling me he wanted to surprise Janelle with beach portraits for her birthday.  Anyone who knows us at all knows that we visit San Diego several times per year (James’ family lives there and we used to, too!) and welcome requests for portrait sessions while we visit.  This session was one of those that just had everything going for it:  a perfect day, gorgeous family, and more love than we can describe.  The session took place on Coronado Beach with Pt. Loma just off in the background, which was especially cool because both Scott and Janelle attended Pt. Loma University.  We were thrilled about everything surrounding this session, but most of all, just the chance to get to see some old friends/clients in such a gorgeous setting!

If you’re looking at the images wishing you could have portraits like this someday, stay tuned….very soon we will be announcing San Diego sessions for June!

Meet Bronte, Casa Roble class of 2010.  Full of life, energy & adventure, she had all kinds of ideas for fun with her senior portrait session.  Cool clothes, cool attitude, and oh yeah, she managed to order the best looking sky I’ve seen in a long while.

Bronte came to us from her friend Kayla (the now famous VW bus girl), who also came along for the session.  Kayla played the part of Bronte’s personal assistant, coat rack and expression coach.  Such a good friend, she even gave Bronte the shirt off her back…really.  Thank you Bronte for being so inspiring, and thank you Kayla for the introduction (and the help!)

Some of my faves.

The Hansen kiddos came for little brother’s Bebe Graduation session, but we couldn’t help but sneak big sis in for a few sweet shots.  If you’ve been checking out a blog for a while, you might recognize Miss L from our cutest kid contest we had last year.  A year later, she’s just as cute and even more beautiful as she has become quite the little lady.  Little T was quite the dapper dude in his sweet little suit.  Couldn’t have asked for a better time with these sweet cherubs (and had fun with mom, too!).

Miss T finally earned her wings this week and learned to ride without the training wheels.  Thought I’d share a few of her showing off her stuff.

p.s.  Helmet was removed for photography purposes only.   Do not try this at home..

Some of you may have heard us mention Roseville pediatrician Dr. Benjamin Valdez before, and for good reason.  We not only have some of our work displayed in their state-of-the art office, but he is also our girls’ pediatrician.  We had the honor of photographing Dr. Valdez’s wife, Debbie’s, extended family, which was quite a feat since one of her sisters and her family live in Germany!  This session was meant to be completely on location outside, but it started pouring down rain seconds after this first image was shot.  As we always say, it only takes one, but this was a bit literal for us!  Thanks to the group’s great flexibility (and need to finish the photographs while the whole family was together on this rare occasion), we headed back to the studio to finish out the session.  It all worked out in the end, thank goodness!

The Klein’s are another family on their 2nd round of Bebe membership with us; we first start photographing them when Miss A was just a baby, and now little brother has graduated from his Bebe year as well.  When A was smaller, she was, let’s say, a bit of a challenge to photograph.  Fast forward a year and she has become quite the show stealer!  Of course Mr. C was as cute as can be, especially in his cool digs, but A has grown to love the camera!  What a difference a couple of years can make!  Meet the Klein kiddos: