Sometimes you meet someone who just carries a natural grace and poise about her that is unmistakable. Such was the case with “K” – she was so natural in front of the camera and such a joy to be around. I loved her fairly modest attire that let her true inner beauty shine through!  She will be heading out to UC Santa Barbara this fall and I am sure she has a very bright future ahead of her! It was my pleasure to spend the afternoon with her and her mother! Congrats on graduating this year and enjoy your sneak peek!

Tori was one of my favorite Senior portrait sessions that I never got around to blogging! You may recognize her picture from my homepage header or from the entry in the Orange County Fair recently.  We had a fabulous adventure out in the woods of Riley Wilderness Park in Coto de Caza and what made it even more fun was my daughter, Kate, came along to help!  Tori is super fun and very natural in front of the camera, so that made getting some great images a piece of cake!  Enjoy the rather belated sneak peek!

Gorgeous Stassia recently moved here from the mid-west.  Water polo player, big sister, beloved daughter, great student….and fabulous looks  - she’s got it all going for her! We had an amazing time last October at the beach, and I couldn’t have asked for a prettier day …or a prettier sunset! Here are just a very few of my favorites from this session:

It’s that time of year again! Time for scouring the markets for great “back-to-school” deals on supplies and clothes. Time for savoring the last remaining days of summer fun (at least where we live). And time for Seniors to get their fabulous senior portraits made for their final year of High School!  And I am so fortunate to get to photograph the most gorgeous seniors ever! Mallory came to me from the blazing heat of Arizona to the more hospitable clime of San Diego. We chose my favorite beach to shoot at down there – Windansea beach, which is such a beautiful setting.  And Mallory was such a natural in front of the camera, that it was a piece of cake to get more beautiful portraits than I can possibly show in a sneak peek – choosing was the hardest part! Enjoy your Sneak Peek Mallory!

So I finally had a chance to edit all of Misha’s Senior Portraits. There were so many fun ones of her with each of her two horses, Gem and Willing – and some of them all together. As well as just a few of Misha by herself. My favorites were the riding ones though. Even though I had already gone riding that day, I liked the feeling of living vicariously. And the horses were quite beautiful – almost as much so as their gorgeous friend and rider!  Here are just a few of my favorites taken that day at Santiago Oaks Regional Park in Orange- I’ll be sure to post more on my Facebook page later!  Enjoy your gallery which you will be receiving momentarily Misha! And if you like what you see, please leave a comment to let me know! Thanks!

So I finally had a chance to edit all of Misha’s Senior Portraits. There were so many fun ones of her with each of her two horses, Gem and Willing – and some of them all together. As well as just a few of Misha by herself. My favorites were the riding ones though. Even though I had already gone riding that day, I liked the feeling of living vicariously. And the horses were quite beautiful – almost as much so as their gorgeous friend and rider!  Here are just a few of my favorites taken that day at Santiago Oaks Regional Park in Orange- I’ll be sure to post more on my Facebook page later!  Enjoy your gallery which you will be receiving momentarily Misha! And if you like what you see, please leave a comment to let me know! Thanks!

I had the most amazing  time this weekend with Misha and her gorgeous Connemara mare, Gem ( who is also a Reserve Champion for her breed) and he very lovely Arabian gelding, Willing.  We hit it off on so many levels – Misha is a Senior in High School with big plans to follow her father’s footsteps and go to Vet School (which was just like me at that age – I actually graduated with a 4 year degree in Veterinary Technology, not photography).  Misha also competes in hunter/jumper classes and has ridden dressage (also what I was doing at that age) and adores riding her grey Arab gelding (which I still do to this day!)  So I was having a blast the entire time – holding and playing with the horses as much as I was shooting!  Of course it was only natural,  given her love of horses and riding that she have her Senior portraits taken with her riding companions in equine form!  We met at the back end of Santiago Oaks  Regional Park in Orange where we enjoyed beautiful trails, gorgeous scenery and lovely light as well…I haven’t even had a chance to look through all of the images we took from this session, but a few leaped out at me as I was downloading them that night, and I couldn’t resist editing just a couple of them. This truly will be a “sneak peek” as I haven’t even seen all of the images yet, and there were so many fun ones that I am pretty certain to want to blog more of this session later.  But for now, here is a little tiny peak into the wonderful time that was had by all last Friday evening!

Phew…..it’s been a whirlwind of a week! Five days in Las Vegas for WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International), followed by two full days of shooting, followed by two full days of recording a Christmas CD for the OCMCO…  I’m glad to be settled down again, back to my regular routine of kids, editing, shooting and working on making my business better for my clients a little bit at a time.  I learned so much that I can do to improve how I shoot, light, pose and edit as well as have stellar customer service this last week at WPPI, and I can’t wait to implement all of the wonderful things I learned!  One goal I have is to be a more consistent blogger, so although this is a short post, I would like to  show off a fun set of Senior Portrait Graduation Announcement cards that I designed and ordered today for one of my beautiful Senior clients!  Designing announcements is such fun!

Had the loveliest time with Rachel and her mom, who wanted to give her a special gift of portraits to celebrate the beautiful daughter she has inside and out!  We started out in the park area at Heisler Park before venturing down to the sandy shores of Picnic Beach. Couldn’t have asked for nicer weather, more beautiful light, a less crowded beach or a more gorgeous subject.   Enjoy your sneak peek Megan and Rachel!

Meet Eliza, who rocked her senior portrait session, which we held right after her mom’s wedding ceremony (why not kill two birds with one stone, right?)  I mean seriously, could she be any more beautiful? I don’t think so. And man thanks to her sister who helped out with some tricky lighting situations! She made a great assistant!