Meet the Patock family….their session was one of those where all of the stars just seemed to be aligned–perfect weather, great clothing, and kids that were awesome (okay, the parents weren’t too bad either…:-)).  We had so much fun getting to know them, and as has happened on so many occasions, it turns out we had some mutual acquaintances that we discovered just chatting during the session.  Way to go on the great hat and scarf–we loved it!

Last Sunday we took the girls over to our friends at the Silver Spoon children’s boutique to photograph some of their brand-new spring arrivals.  We all agreed that some of the outfits definitely needed live models; enter Reilly & Teagan.  While the ladies pulled outfits, I styled the girls in and out of clothes as fast as Superwoman changed into her digs.  The girls had so much fun trying on all of the super adorable clothing, and even insisted on choosing a new hair accessory from the store’s vast assortment for each outfit.  Enjoy a peek at some of the Silver Spoon’s gorgeous new selection!

You might have seen our earlier post with the fun images James shot while having fun with the Good Day Sacramento folks, and now we finally have the video clips to share.  Good Day invited James down last month to talk about the many awards he brought home from the SPA (Senior Portrait Artists) event in San Diego, as well as do a mock senior photo session with their weekends anchors on air.  I guess they must have liked it, because they invited him back the following weekend to share the images he took of them on air.  The clips below are in order and include his appearances on both weekends.  James had a blast and absolutely loved everything about the fun group at Good Day Sacramento.  Thanks to their entire team for making it such a great experience!  We’ve also included his winning high school senior folio that garnered the most awards at the SPA event.  Click on the clips below to see his TV debut…

Good Day Sacramento pt. 1 from james on Vimeo.

Good Day Sacramento pt. 2 from james on Vimeo.

Good Day Sacramento pt. 3 from james on Vimeo.

Good Day Sacramento pt. 4 from james on Vimeo.

As many of you know, we held our first annual Vintage Valentine portrait event at the Silver Spoon children’s boutique a few weeks ago.  As this was our first go at this particular “theme” if you will, we had no idea how it would go, especially given that they were 15 minute mini-sessions.  Much to our delight, we had an overwhelming response, completely filled every available spot and then some, and the images turned out–magical.  We provided tutus, pettiskirts, tanks, and hair accessories for the girls (and thanks to the Silver Spoon for adding to the selection, as well as our talented friend who provided the amazing hand-made flower headbands-you can find her one-of-a-kind pieces on her Etsy store, Wrapped in Clover), but the boys were on their own this time around, with some suggestions to guide their choices.  As you can see from these examples, the boys looked adorable, too!  I wish we could post everything, including all of the delicious Valentine cards and custom montages people ordered, because they were all just too cute for words!  This event was such a fun experience for us and everyone who came out, that I’m sure this will not be the last…we’re already thinking of next year’s Valentine event.  We’ve chosen a few faves to post here, but it was painful to only show a sampling; if we had posted everything I wanted to, it would have pretty much been every image from every session!  Happy Valentine’s Day!

We met the lovely Cubias family last fall (pretty sad that it’s February and we’re still not finished blogging from before Christmas!) and thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them and their adorable kiddos.  Mom did an awesome job on their wardrobe selections, and we just loved the girls’ hats and big brother’s colorful scarf.  The girls were like supermodels and seemed to quite enjoy being photographed; I think they would have stayed longer if we had let them!  A fun fact we learned is that their daughter goes to the same pre-school as Teagan (our youngest), so we often see each other there during morning drop-off.  Meet the Cubias family:

Meet Mallory.  From the moment she arrived at her consultation, I knew we were in for something special for her senior portraits.  Great clothing choices, gorgeous hand made accessories & scarves, and very specific looks in mind.  Among Mallory’s many talents was dance choreography, and she was kind enough to perform for me to capture.   At the end we ran outside to capture the last bit of dusk…and some more dancing.  This was very much a collaborative effort and Mallory’s input was wonderful.  Here are a few of my favorites.

The lovely folks at Good Day Sacramento took an interest in our awards from SPA this year and asked to come down to the studio to chat about them.  They also decided to have us do some shooting with Lori & Cody (the morning anchors) to “relive” their senior portraits.  Lori was a natural.  Cody was…well…Cody.  Big thanks to both Lori and Cody for having us, Dale for taking care of us, Ashley for all the communication, and last but not least, Ann Wokas for the hookup.  It was a fun time for me and a great TV debut!  Here are a few images from the shoot.   Enjoy! 

When we met with Natasha last fall to discuss the portraits she wanted to have made of her family, we were excited on so many levels; first off, she is sort of family–she is my (Stef) aunt’s step-granddaughter; and second, she brought the coolest clothes to her consultation!  We knew if was going to be fun when she had so many ideas of looks that she liked, not to mention the fact that on the day of the session, she and and her daughter went to our friends at Article Salon (in the Fountains) to have their hair done especially for their portraits.  On the day of the session, the weather was perfect and the kids were superstars.  Miss A was a mini-supermodel and was up for changing clothes and looks as many times as she could squeeze in.  Little N was not quite as into being a supermodel as his sister, but he still did awesome nonetheless!  If I remember correctly, this session ended not because we ran out of outfits to change into, but because we ran out of light outside!  They were such a fun family to photograph and it shows.  Meet the Vasilopoulos family:

The McNaughton family was one of those few lucky folks who happened to come to us during the PERFECT weekend in November for fall family portraits.  The weather was great, the leaves were at their amazing colorful best, and to top it off, they wore super cool clothes!  Miss L and Mr N were at that age where you really just follow their lead and see what’s next, so that’s exactly what we did.  The image of N in the corner of the red wall was one of my very favorites from the session, for so many reasons, but mostly because you can almost see the wheels spinning in his head, thinking about exactly how many seconds he’s going to stand there until running to his next locale.  Lovely family=lovely images!  Meet the McNaughton’s…

When we met Krista for her portrait design consultation and discussed what type of portraits she was hoping for, she suggested we photograph her young family at her mother’s property.  After she began explaining the acres of vineyard and orchards where a few years ago she and her husband got married, we were super excited!  Not only do we love venturing out to new places, it’s also a treat to photograph a family at a place that’s special to them.  When James and I arrived at the location, we were overwhelmed with the litany of awesome places to photograph the Fenske’s.  It was especially fun following the kids around and watching them explore their own private wonderland.  Meet the fun Fenske family!