First off, our apologies for the lack of updates lately–we spent the last week in San Diego with James’ entire family, celebrating his grandmother’s 90th birthday and just generally having fun.  Stay tuned for images from that, as well as more updates about what else has been taking up a good deal of our time lately–moving into the new Enchanted studio (again, stay tuned for images!).

Now that I have that off my chest, on to more important things, like the lovely Perdue family.  We knew photographing this family would be a fun challenge, as they described wanting anything but “typical.”  They showed up fabulously frocked and up for anything; when I say anything, I mean anything.  Their session was on one of the windiest days in recent memory.  Thankfully a little wind and chill didn’t intimidate them!  We ended up down by the train tracks, and found a spot under the bridge that we first went to in an effort to block the wind, but found out it had more merit than just blocking the wind.  Just for fun at the end, we went further down the tracks.  Literally a minute or two after telling them that trains never come by when we’re down there, lo and behold, a train began approaching.  Jackpot!  Our favorite images (and theirs) of the day came as a result of this happy accident.  I should also mention, even though obvious through the images, that miss S was quite the show-stopper.  Thanks to the Perdue family for sticking with us through the cold and wind–it was worth it!  In fact, we loved one of their images so much that it is hanging in the gallery of our new studio…

Meet Isabel.  When we met with her at her design consultation, she brought a wonderful variety of outfits, from soft to edgy to editorial/catalog looks. Every one perfectly planned, we made sure we matched the environment to her look.  Ran into some interesting “onlookers” downtown that gave us a laugh, then it was out to the fields for a softer look.  Thank you Isabel for being so confident in front of the camera, it really showed in these images.  Here are some faves.

It’s always a bittersweet thing when one of our Bebe Collection members turns one.  We grow to know and love these families over baby’s first year and know we get to see them every few months.  Then the baby turns one, and we know we won’t see them every few months anymore….:-(  Miss A is such a sweet girl and made every session even more fun than the last.  Her one-year session turned out to be quite a blustery day, but it didn’t seem to phase her.  We want to thank Briana & James for entrusting A’s precious first year portraits to us–you guys are the best!

Meet Becca – class of 2011.  Soft, flowy, romantic…these were some of the words that came up in Becca’s design consultation.  She pulled it off nicely here and had the perfect outfits for this look.  Didn’t hurt that the light outside was just magical that day…

Thank you Becca and Justina(mom), I had a wonderful time.  Good luck at Cal Poly!

My faves.

Meet Taylor, class of 2011.  Knew this was going to be a fun session when we spent just as much time discussing America’s Next Top Model as we did Taylor’s clothes at her design consultation.  And it showed.  She certainly had no trouble in front of the camera. And those boots…

Fantastic job Taylor, see you at sushi!

Faves.

Whenever the kids are on a break from school we try to take advantage of it, even if only  for a couple of days.  One of our favorite nearby getaways is Carmel/Monterey.  I’ve grown somewhat addicted to online travel deals, and when I got the email about this cute Carmel bed & breakfast, I knew just where we were going during Spring Break!  This was the first time we stayed in the heart of Carmel, which is definitely cool since we could walk everywhere.  The kids were especially fond of the breakfast portion of the B & B, as well as the free VHS movie checkout (no, that’s not a typo…probably the last time we’ll see VHS tapes anywhere! 🙂 Another one of my new online addictions is to find the best places to eat wherever we’re at.  Well, the review sites did not disappoint, as we had a fantastic dinner at Flying Fish Grill (Japanese) and amazing lunch at Dametra Cafe (Greek).  Of course we had to visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium (the kids weren’t letting us off the hook on that one), but I honestly think we had the most fun just hanging out in Carmel and exploring.  You will see from the images that the kids did an excellent job of that!  Can’t wait to find out where our next unexpected travel deal will take us!

Meet Kelsea.  Kelsea came to us in an unusual way, her aunt went to high school with Stef and saw our work on facebook.  Crazy small world.

Now on to Kelsea.  Bravo on her outfits!  I really had a tough time not spending too much time with that purple hat…gorgeous!!  And then of course the cowboy hat…

We spent the afternoon running through every possible emotion to get these incredible images.  Confident, whimsical, curious, vulnerable, beautiful…she got them all.  Grandma was along for the session and was just as excited about it as Kelsea.  Thank you both for this great time.

Some faves.

Yesterday our baby girl turned six.  While we tend to go somewhere besides home for the birthday parties (much less work and kids always have fun!), this year we decided to get a little crazy and have Teagan’s birthday at home for a change.  We kept it small and had Kidzart come and do an art project with the kids.  Teagan chose to create ice cream sundaes out of clay (I think the number of fingers she’s holding up below is how many scoops she wanted to make, not how old she is! :-).  The girls had a great time building their creations, followed by a little pizza, cake, & coloring.  Teagan had a blast with her friends and said the art project was the favorite part of her party.  We ended her special day with dinner out at Mikuni Kaizen (mom & dad deserved some fun, too!.  To our sweet, fun, crazy little girl, we hope you had the best birthday and we are so blessed to be your parents!  Love you!

Amanda came to us from lovely South Lake Tahoe.  A fan of our work for quite a while, she knew she wanted to make the trip for her senior portraits.  We are so glad she did.  Some of her outfits had and urban vibe so we started downtown, had an “interesting” encounter with a local , then moved out to the grassy fields.  Light was great, and so was Amanda.  Perfect selection of outfits, style and attitude.  Thanks for coming down the hill Amanda, I had a great time.  Some faves

We first met the Armijo’s last summer thanks to some of our other clients.  The Armijo’s opened up the first Dailey Method studio in our area, and we are so thrilled for lots of reasons!  We first found out about them because of the rave reviews we heard about this unique exercise studio, and then we were so excited when they asked us to do some of the photography for their studio, and then, their own family.  We have been loyal to the Dailey Method every since (minus a couple of interruptions due to surgery and broken wrists for me–Stef…).  We were thrilled when Adam & Stacey asked us to photograph their family at Folsom Lake, where they like to spend time as a family.  Little Mr. R. was so cute and we loved watching him enjoy his surroundings.  We have been fortunate to get to know this family in several settings, and are proud to introduce them here.  Meet the Armijo family: