Meet Ciara – class of 2011.  A future beauty school student, Ciara really knew how to tailor her look.  She brought the perfect clothing for a mix of some studio drama, and then it was outside to chase some light.  I particularly liked her dreamy look in this set.  Great job Ciara.  And thanks Julia B for the recommendation!

some faves.

Meet the Mitchell’s, one of our favorite Sac-town families that came all the way to San Diego for our beach sessions!  I was so excited the day I got the call from Katie telling me they were going to plan a trip to San Diego around the dates of our sessions. Now, I’ve mentioned before that the weather wasn’t exactly ideal for these sessions; it was windy and pretty chilly, especially considering everyone was dressed for summer!  Having been there and freezing myself, I just have to recognize what troopers everyone was during their sessions, and especially Katie.  By the end of their session, James noticed that her lips were turning blue, but not once did she complain or mention being cold.  Now that’s what I call commitment to getting the perfect family portrait!  (and I just have to mention their awesome clothing choices….the girls’ dresses were a home run, thanks to the Silver Spoon!)

When we first met with Leah, she already had very specific ideas for the session she wanted to do with her 2 darling daughters, including having their dresses all ready to go! (thanks to the Silver Spoon children’s boutique in Roseville)  She knew she wanted to be in a natural, field-like setting with her girls, and we knew just where to go.  We were in a race against time before big sister’s 2 front teeth would fall out…as of today, she’s toothless according to mom!  It was so neat to see the girls’ sweet interactions with mom, and they’ll forever have these images to remind them of this special, innocent time in their lives.  We want to thank all three of the lovely Robinson ladies for their willingness to climb through pokey weeds with bare legs, all in an effort to get the perfect shot!

Meet Kaitlyn, class of 2010.  Yep, 2010.  When she and her mom found out we were traveling to San Diego for beach sessions, they decided that was worth the wait for Kaitlyn’s senior portraits.

I knew we would be photographing out in the sand & surf, but Kaitlyn had such great outfits and accessories, I just had to make some images inside the Hotel Del.  Since there was no way to be inconspicuous with lights and reflectors, my plan was to shoot as much as we could until we got asked to leave.  We started in the Crown room and just went for it.  Much to my surprise, no one paid attention to us…even with the not so stealthy lighting rig I had strapped to Stef’s back.  So we all just acted like we were supposed to be there and photographed everywhere.

Kaitlyn did a wonderful job and as you can see, had some gorgeous adornments for her hair.  Just a  fantastic session.  Thank you Kaitlyn and Steph(mom) for this adventure!

Some faves.

p.s.  did I mention that I love, love, love, all your accessories?  Have fun at APU!

Yes, it’s already that time again!  For the first time ever, our girls started school on the same day, at the same school today!  Reilly started 3rd grade and Teagan started kindergarten, and I’m not sure who was more excited–us or them!  Everyone was up and ready for school on time and in great moods.  Both girls had their outfits chosen and laid out well in advance.  Now if only we can stay as prepared, on time, and chipper as we all were this morning….one can have dreams, I suppose!  For today, at least, it fantastic!  As you can see from the photos, Reilly was much more concerned with getting to school and seeing her friends than posing for pictures.  Teagan was more excited about her outfit and shoes.  :-)  They both had a great day to what is sure to be a fantastic school year for both.  Congratulations to all of you parents out there experiencing the joy of back-to-school!

We met the Reid family for the first time on the beautiful beach at Coronado Island.  They are friends of our friends & clients, the McGuckin’s, who moved to San Diego a few years back.  The McGuckin family had their own beach portraits made last January, and when they heard we were coming down for beach sessions again, they told their friends (thanks for that, by the way!).  It’s unusual for us to meet a family for the first time at the session, but the Reid’s were so warm and friendly that it took no time at all for the kids to turn it on for the camera.  The kids were full of life and had no reservations about showing all of us!  We especially loved the interaction between the family, who clearly have a very close, loving relationship.  One thing about our beach sessions we didn’t expect in June–wind!  It wasn’t exactly calm and balmy for any of our beach sessions, and we just want to say thanks to everyone who came out and played with us and braved the conditions….you’d never know by the images that it wasn’t a warm summer day!

We knew when we met the Cosentino family that theirs would be a lively session with their 2 sweet kiddos.  Young L had all the energy and excitement that any little boy should, and Miss P was at the perfect point of “almost” walking (our favorite!).  The session was not only a family session, but also Miss P’s one-year portraits–she had the outfits and accessories to put any woman to shame!  The Cosentino’s are so warm and lovely, and we were thrilled to be able to capture this special time in their young family’s life.

When I spoke with Jennifer initially and she told us she had preemie twins (a boy and a girl) and wanted to do newborn portraits in their home, we were dually excited (no pun intended..:-).  We love to photograph babies on location in their homes, but we don’t get to do it as often as we do in-studio sessions, so this was a welcome treat.  The twins were about 9 weeks old when these photographs were made, and as you can see, brother was just a tad bigger than sister (to say the least!).  James and I felt like we were at Disneyland in the Cox/Sherwood home, as every time we turned a corner there was a great place to photograph!  Jennifer & Kevin were such gracious hosts, and the soft music playing in the background and breeze blowing through the windows set the stage for a wonderful experience for all of us that day.  We decided it was important to try to get a family portrait with their first 2 babies (the dogs), and couldn’t have imagined a better moment than the one shown here.  I could go on and on, but I won’t, as I’m sure you want to get on to looking at these beautiful babies!  Can’t wait for the next session!

We go way back with the Olson family–big brother was just a baby the first time we met and photographed them!  We still fondly refer to G as “Cheerio boy” because mom had to throw Cheerios at him to get him to stay in one spot.  Hence, there were a lot of images from that first session of him eating!  Things have changed quite a bit in those years since, and we are thrilled that the Olson’s have come back to us several times to document the growth of their beautiful family.  This time around, the timing was set to capture G’s last bit of his baby teeth smile.  I’m guessing next time around will be to do the same for Miss A…time goes by so quickly!

We knew we were in for a treat when we first met the Lewis family.  Miss P was right around a year old, and this is such a fun age to capture!  Stacey had plenty of great ideas and brought the clothes to match!  For those of you wondering how to put clothing together for a family session, take notes!  They weren’t sure if they wanted to go light or dark, so they did both.  I LOVE the way both looks turned out so classic looking, yet in no way boring or without style.  We had such a great time with the Lewis family, and P was a trooper all the way!  We also learned some very exciting news the day of the session….they’re expecting baby #2!  Congrats to you guys!  On a personal note, James and I are very grateful to Stacey for being one of the people who told us about our new workout obsession, The Dailey Method.  Whenever I’m struggling during the class, I just think about Stacey and her now bigger pregnant belly doing the same things and just grin and bear it!