I am back from Holiday Break and am ready to take on 2008! As you may have noticed there have been some changes…A new website and logo for starters! I am really excited to get back to work so keep an eye out for awesome deals and discounts! Because no post is complete without a picture here is one photo from the Holiday. I hope yours was as great as mine!
Its here!!! Christmas break! My family and I are going to celebrate Christmas in Yosemite this year. I am pretty excited! So from Saturday, December 22nd until the New Year I will be out of town. I will try to check my email as often as possible but I have a feeling my Internet connection might not be so great in the wilderness. 
I want to thank everyone for such a wonderful year! I feel so blessed to be able to do what I love and to all my clients who have invited me into your lives to capture your cherished memories, I thank you.
My good friend Ingrid is 30 weeks pregnant with her 4th child she has 3 wonderful little boys and is pregnant with her first girl! I AM SOOOO HAPPY FOR HER!! From the first day I found out she was pregnant I had planned on taking her maternity photos. This is a shot from yesterday’s “session” and I say “session” because this photo was taken as a collaboration of many awesome photographers ideas who were also there shooting on this day. she was so good to us! Looking at this picture totally brings a smile to my face. I had no idea she was going to jump!!! LOOK AT THAT AIR!
Anyways, The light was failing, my focus was off, and my ISO was high…Her face is a little blurry but even with all of that this has to be one of my favorite maternity shots I have done so far, thats what happens when you get 5 photographers together! She still has at least 8 weeks left so there will be LOADS more shots to come. I love you my friend!!
I don’t get to work with older kids that often so this shoot was a lot of fun.
Lise, your kids are wonderful! Naomi said that she preferred black and white because “everyone looks good in black and white.” let me just say…You look FABULOUS in color Naomi and Will, Your hair looks great 
Enjoy your sneak peek!
Lisa, I really enjoyed meeting you and your beautiful family! I hope you love your pictures as much as I do. Enjoy your sneak peek!
Its always fun to see your work somewhere else. Last week I was featured on the cover of Tot Trends Weekly (www.tottrendsweekly.com) which was pretty exciting for me because a lot of photographers I admire have graced their covers.
Tot Trends Weekly is an online magazine that features the latest and greatest in baby and kids gear. If you don’t already subscribe you should check it out! They have Really cool stuff.
If you watched the news during Katrina you probably thought, “I wonder what I would take with me if I had to leave my home?” then you turn the T.V. off and don’t think about it again until the
next disaster…Much to my surprise I was faced with this question but in a much different way. I live in San Diego and my family was evacuated for the fires, I never thought I would have to pick just a few things that were most important to me and leave the rest to potentially be destroyed. On Sunday, October 21st, our tiny community was red and smoky but there was no real threat so we went about things as usual by Monday, The 24th it was a much different story. We woke up about 8:00am and outside of our bedroom window there was a line of cars as far as the eye could see and we knew then that the fires were close. We turned on the news and we shocked to see that we were being evacuated and that the Witch fire was just mere miles from our home. The sky was a deep orange and ash was falling, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
By 9:30am things were much worse. The police had entered our neighborhood, they were knocking on doors telling people to “GET OUT!” at that point I was in a panic, I grabbed some clothes, my
cameras, computer, important documents, and server and left. As I was leaving I had so many emotions. I never thought I would be in the position, I mean we all know that its possible but how many of us have put much thought into what we would do? I know I didn’t. Coming around the corner the danger was clear. It was close..and the Santa Ana winds were blowing it in fast!
It took about four attempts to actually get out of the area..All major streets were blocked from fire or traffic. Luckily we have our trusty GPS! We were able to take back roads and avoid the traffic. (Here is a view from about 10 miles away it was surprisingly calm during this picture because just moments before the Santa Ana’s were blowing gusts of 80MPH winds.)
Once on the freeway I was able to think clearly and started to calm down. At that point all that mattered was what my family was safe.
(View from the freeway.)
We ended up in Santa Ana staying right next to Disneyland! So for the next 3 days we turned something really aweful into a mini Disney vacation! It was a great way to get your mind off of everything..So for your viewing pleasure…DISNEY PICTURES!!
We ate lunch at the golden horseshoe and had lunch and a show! This band was a lot of fun, I could hardly eat they were so funny!
All and all the whole experience was surreal. We were lucky enough to be able to come home thanks to the wonderful firefighters who held the perimeter around our community, the fires came within 2000 feet from our home according to Google maps. That is too close for comfort.
(Screen shot from Google maps)
A big thank you to everyone who has called me and emailed me wishing our family well during the evacuation we really appreciated all the thoughts and prayers. Also a HUGE thank you to the firefighters and law enforcement because without you I would probably be typing from a hotel room right now.
My absolute favorite age to photograph is six months old! I love how expressive and happy a six month old is. Baby G is one of the most expressive babies I have ever met! Maria, I hope you enjoy your sneak peek!
My friend and very talented fellow photographer Ashley Skjaveland has tagged me in a friendly game of Blog Tag.
Post the rules before you give the facts. Post eight random facts about yourself. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag eight people and list their names. Leave the people you tagged a comment on their
blog, letting them know that they’ve been tagged.
#1. I have a Diet Coke addiction–Its bad! I am on #4 today!
#2. I love the tween shows on Nickelodeon and Disney (Thats so Raven, Drake and Josh) I tell my husband that its on for My 9yr old but its more for me.
#3. My Favorite color is blue.
#4. I am a little OCD when I take a shower I have to wash everything twice or I just don’t feel clean enough.
#5. I am chronically early, If I have an appointment at noon I will most likely be there at 11:00.
#6. I am a baked Goods junkie! I have been known to polish off a cake in one afternoon….All by myself!
#7. I am always on a diet that starts tomorrow.
#8. I spent most of my childhood in europe and the middle east.
In no particular
order, I’m tagging:
Erin Vey
Peta Mazey
Angela Calderon
Leigh Taylor
Jeanette LeBlanc
Marina Miller
Marie Cox
Amanda Keeys
