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Did anyone miss me?
I have been on “vacation” for the last three weeks, who knew vacation could be so exhausting..hence the quotes..
While on vacation my good friend Pam Biasotti asked me if I would take some pictures of her and her pup Riley and even though I was sooo totally sick and could barely say a word because my throat hurt soooooo bad!!! it was a blast.
If you don’t know Pam check her out here..
I will be accepting Sacramento/Bay area sessions now through July 11th please email ashley@ashleymcnamara.com to book your session. Spots are limited.
Because no post is complete without a picture.. I thought I would leave you with something pretty. 
I had the pleasure of shooting 10yr old Ally on Thursday…soooo cute.
Doesn’t she look like the next Lindsay Lohan? You know, like Lindsay in her Parent Trap days…no so much anymore..Don’t even get me started…
Anyhow, the spiders and thorns were worth it I am loving these shots and Ally was up for anything!
Nancy, enjoy your sneak peek..Sorry it took so long!
She lost a tooth 2 days before the shoot hehehe.
Ok, seriously…I don’t remember girls being this good looking when I was in high school or even in college.. I am having so much fun with these shoots that I am feeling kind of guilty calling this a job.
This is Susan and she is actually in college not high school and next year she will be transferring to UCLA and she will then go on to get her law degree…so good looks and smarts!
Susan, it was such a pleasure shooting your gorgeous self. Enjoy your sneak peek!!
So a couple of days ago my daughter came home with a nest of itty bitty hummingbirds, she said that she and her friend found them in their nest in the street…
poor little guys…. so she brought them to me and asked if she could take care of them..I told her no she couldn’t because they had a mommy who missed them.. The little guys looked hungry so we did some research on humming birds and with them being that young they can’t eat the man made nectar for more than 24 hours or it will harm them..and apparently they also need to be fed like 4 times an hour..so we called some hummingbird rescue numbers (5 to be exact) and no one answered..Sigh…
Well after all that we went back to where we found them and looked for a place to put them and we finally placed them in a bush, sheltered from the wind, but off of the ground and we really hoped momma hummingbird would come and take care of her babies (we were hopeful) but we knew that they had a better chance out there than they had here..I felt terrible. They were so cute.
Being the animal lover that I am I really didn’t sleep that night thinking about those little guys so about 5:30am I went outside to check on them and one baby had been EATEN BY SNAILS!! They were up pretty high so that was crazy…but the other one was alive so I scooped him up and brought him home..I thought that it would be better for him to die with me than be eaten alive my carnivorous snails…so we fed him sugar water and he was doing really well..super feisty little guy! We finally got in touch with Project Wildlife and drove 30 mins up the road and gave him to them…I am so glad I went and checked on him.. 
I took a couple of pictures of them..I couldn’t help it. hehe..Its not often you see a Hummingbird up close especially babies…They are sooooo small! About the size of a prune.
I read this article on my good friend Deb’s blog I really wanted to share it…
From REAL SIMPLE’s website…
Note To Self
Get Professional Photos of Your Children
I’ve never forgotten an invaluable piece of advice that I heard from an older friend right after my first child was born. She told me, “One of my greatest regrets about my children’s childhoods was that I didn’t have more professional pictures taken.”“You didn’t take many pictures?” I asked.
“I took tons of pictures,” she said, “but the fact is, professional photographs are so much better than even the best snapshots.”
I absolutely agree—professional photos are better. And keeping her advice in mind, ever since my daughters were born, I’ve been zealous about getting their photos taken professionally at least once a year.
While it’s a lot of fun (and also a pain) to take pictures myself, it’s terrific to have some pictures that are truly excellent. These photos don’t take the place of the on-the-spot pictures that I take myself—I still take scads of photos at birthday parties, first days of school, on the slide, with a popsicle—but these pictures memorialize my children’s childhoods in a different way.
Plus they make great family gifts. I can never figure out a good present for the grandparents and great-grandparents, but they always love to get a really great photograph—especially the relatives who don’t often get a chance to see the girls in person.
Also, research shows that one way to boost your happiness is to reflect on happy times, and looking at photographs helps keep memories more vivid.
It’s a splurge, of course. Professional photos aren’t cheap.
However, I figure that the money I spend on these photographs will strengthen family bonds, enhance happy memories, and capture the fleeting moments of childhood. They give me more pleasure than practically any other purchases that I make. That strikes me as pretty good happiness bang for the buck.
A friend’s family had another great photography tradition. For her whole life, at every milestone, her parents took a picture of her and her brother sitting exactly the same way on their front stoop. It’s fascinating to see them change through the years. Along the same lines, the artist Nicholas Nixon took a photograph of his wife and her three sisters once a year for 33 years. The collection of these photographs, The Brown Sisters, is riveting.
Getting professional photos take is a great example of the tiresome fact that happiness takes thought and effort. These photographs are easy to arrange; in the scheme of things, not terribly expensive; contribute greatly to our family happiness—and yet it probably never would have occurred to me to do it if my friend hadn’t suggested it.
Rubin, Gretchen. REAL SIMPLE.
http://simplystated.realsimple.com/life/2008/03/unforgettable-a.html
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!!
