This is a follow up post to family portrait taken of my friend Jason and his lovely family in Red Rock Canyon, Nevada, shown here!  Because it was so cold and windy that day, I set up a tiny little portrait studio in their hotel room early the next morning. Little Eliza was still running on London time, so she was up and running quite early in the AM!  In spite of having spent all whole day on a plane and then a day meeting all sorts of new people, this little gal was so friendly and happy and personable. I think I’m smitten…and you likely will be too when you see her lovely photos…taken in the tiny cramped corner of a hotel room with one light and some grey paper.

What do you get when you cross a gorgeous Shih Tzu with and adorable Yorkshire Terrier (Yorkie)? You get a Shorkie!  And that’s just what I had the pleasure of photographing the week of Christmas!  She’s pretty darn cute, wouldn’t you say? And the best behaved pet subject to come my way in quite some time to boot!

Lovely Shaibani came to my studio looking for some professional head shots to jump start her modeling career. I wish her the best of luck!

I have done so many fun and amazing sessions with this family over the years! Every single time I look forward to it with much anticipation – and this was no exception! We did this marathon family session in segments – we first set up a studio in their impeccably clean garage (seriously – I’ve never been in such a spotless and uncluttered garage) to get some more formal shots of the family. But in this case, formal = fun! I loved the cute ideas they had with the letters spelling their last name…more of that to come in the next sneak peek. After that we got some fun shots around the house and by the pool, and then we piled into their car to get some neat shots at Newport Harbor High School.

But there were so many fun shots during each segment, that I’ll have to devote a peek on this blog for each of them. Starting with the grey backdrop shots – and I loved that we were able to get so many great ones with their chocolate lab – sometimes he was the only one behaving himself!  But that’s one thing I love about my repeat clients – I love that they feel so free to just be themselves with me!  Enjoy your sneak peek Tiffany – I know you’ve been waiting! And hopefully the other peeks will be soon to follow – as each part kept getting better and better, I thought!

Little Baby “N”  came into my Newport Beach studio at 5 weeks old and was not the sleepiest baby ever – in fact I don’t think we were able to get one “classic” newborn sleeping baby shot. But he was just so good! And check out those gorgeous “baby blues!” This was really more of a combination family and newborn photo session, and baby “N’s” big brother was turning on the charm every chance he got – trying to steal the show! And he obviously adored his new little brother!  Thanks so much for your patience waiting for this sneak peek!

I knew right off the bat that I had a lot in common with this new client!  Mika is a vet who will be opening up her new practice in Japan in the coming year.  She really wanted some professional head shots, but also some portraits showing her interacting with some animals to display in her office!  It was very apparent that she has a great rapport with the pets and gets along well with all animals.  She brought with her a beautiful, but ancient cat – her beloved Rio – who looks amazing for her age! And was probably the easiest cat I have ever photographed. We were also happy to provide some other lovely pups as models for this shoot – thanks Scott and Rebecca for lending your dogs, Lola and Jango.  They were quite charming models!  And Mika – thanks so much for your patience! Enjoy your sneak peek and your gallery will be up momentarily!

A Very Happy Valentine’s Day from our family to yours!

“Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”  ~Robert Heinlein

“You really shouldn’t say “I love you” unless you mean it.  But if you mean it, you should say it a lot.  People forget.”  ~Author unknown, attributed to an 8-year-old named Jessica

“It is not that love is blind.  It is that love sees with a painter’s eye, finding the essence that renders all else background.”  ~Robert Brault

“Love one another and you will be happy.  It’s as simple and as difficult as that.”  ~Michael Leunig

Pets are family too! Well, certainly these pets are!  They are wonderful companions for their adopted “mom,” Deborah.  And so well behaved too!  Well at least some of them were… I have to admit it was a bit chaotic keeping track of two dogs, two cats and two rabbits n a new place – they kept wanting to run into the fireplace and kept me and my assistant, Gabby on our toes!  But we had a great time, all of us! These are many of the same pets as seen in the last Holiday post, but I suggested we get some more “timeless” portraits done that could be displayed any time of year, while we had them all there!  And this was the result. They’re pretty cute all in all!

Every once in a while I take a step back from the super creative process of creating fun and whimsical portraits and just take some regular old head-and-shoulders head shots. There is a real need for better photographs than snapshots in the corporate workplace and even for places like Facebook or LinkedIn profiles.  While not quite as exciting as chasing balloon-toting toddlers and commanding the attention of large family groups (not to mention getting everyone to look at the camera at once)…taking some plain head shots, whether for corporate work, modeling portfolio or personal use,  can be refreshing.   And this was such an easy session – it was great working with Jeremy – so laid back and natural in front of the camera.  Enjoy your sneak peek Jeremy – your gallery will be up before you know it!

This was my third year coming to this lovely home to photograph these adorable children!  Only, this time there was a beautiful new little face to photograph!  Little Joshua arrived this last spring, and it was a pleasure to meet him this year!  We were going to meet at the Segerstrom Concert Hall near where dad works, but the kids got colds and mom wanted to keep it indoors and simple, so we reverted to plan B – simple white backdrop with white t-shirts and jeans!  This year dad was finally able to be in the pics – yay!  Even though it was late and the kids were tired, we managed to pull a few smiles out of them!  You can view last year’s session here.  Enjoy your sneak peek this year Julia!