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!

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!

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!).

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:

Our first portrait session with the Wagner’s was a bit delayed because sweet R was under the weather the first date we scheduled, so we tried again, and with great success!  We get to see so many different babies with so many varieties of hair (or lack thereof), and R was no exception.  He had one of those heads I couldn’t resist rubbing!  As happens all too often, we had another “small world” moment upon first meeting the Wagner’s, when we discovered that dad had helped on our major kitchen remodel 3 years ago.  We had a great time with this lovely family and can’t wait to see them back for Mr. R’s second Bebe session!

This sweet newborn session was extra special because little Miss M was joined by her cousin, Mr. J, another one of our Bebe Collection members.  We thought little J was so sweet peering over the basket at his darling little cousin, but when the families saw the images for the first time, they cracked up because they thought it looked like J was contemplating jumping into the basket and eating her! (a joke, of course…J is just a little big for his age and looked especially big to them next to the tiny baby).  Both beautiful babies for sure, and a lovely family we are blessed to work with!

Tatyana came to us from our friends at Olympus Pointe Orthodontics (one of the coolest looking orthodontists offices I might add).  She recently had her braces removed and was ready to show off her new look.  When we met with Tatyana for her consultation, we were surprised to hear she had never had professional portraits taken, so you can imagine her excitement.  The day of the session, she arrived with fabulous hair & makeup and was ready to go…almost.

She said she was very nervous and was afraid she might not know what to do.  I told her not to worry, we would take all the time we need to make her comfortable.  20 minutes later, she was acting like a seasoned pro in front of the lens and just lit things up with that new smile.  Here are a few of my faves.  Thanks Tatyana!