I was lucky enough to photograph this picture perfect family in their picture perfect home (which they’ve worked very hard on for the last three years) with their perfectly well behaved pets!  But they weren’t just beautiful on the outside – they were such a lovely family inside and out.  There was an atmosphere of love and respect in their home and with the way they treated one another.  I love when I get to come into a family’s home and take photos there – it adds such a personal element!  Thanks for giving me the lovely opportunity “L” & “L!”

Patsi Smith is one of my favorite people of all time. I first met her as a 12 year old – what they call a “beehive” in our church youth program – and she was my leader. All the girls revered Patsi because she was so hip and cool and fun!  And to top it off, she made the best ever chocolate chip cookies, and she always kept a batch ready to bake in her fridge at home.  The reason I know this is because I spent quite a bit of time at her house (and dare I say it? sneaking small bites of her famous cookie dough out of the fridge), watching her two baby girls….first Jenessa for a couple of years, and then Marissa when she was just a tiny baby.  Now those tiny little girls are all grown up and Jenessa just returned from a mission and Marissa is soon going to leave on one!  It seems like yesterday that I was changing their diapers!

When Patsi messaged me and wanted to know if I could photograph all of their extended family when I came up to Utah for Christmas I was more than thrilled.  It’s been far too long since I’ve seen everyone – and who better to spend a lovely Christmas Eve day with (other than family, of course).  And this was actually my second session of the day on Christmas Eve (that first one will just need to be patient for a little while longer to see their sneak peek) and it was actually rather harrying to get to this session – we drove from Bountiful to Provo in a full on blizzard, but were welcomed warmly into this family’s lovely home, which made for a perfect setting for photos.  Thanks for making wonderful  Christmas memories with me and enjoy your sneak peek!

I have always loved animals – so much so that I always thought I would be a veterinarian when I grew up as a child. I even majored in pre-vet and then Veterinary Technology in college, graduating with a BS in Animal Science.  I took nary a photography class! But working at a vet clinic didn’t exactly mesh with my goals of staying home with my children, and photography allowed that. But I still love to work with animals every chance I can get! Usually pets are more challenging even than little children, with shorter attentions spans and not as easy to reason with. They keep me on my toes!  But every once in a while I have a pet session where everyone is listening, and everyone is photogenic…and I get more great shots than I know what to do with. This was one of those sessions.  All three of these dogs were gorgeous and so well behaved! And their people were super cooperative and photogenic as well. I couldn’t ask for more! Enjoy your sneak peek just in time for Christmas!

I snagged a few fun snapshots of these beautiful cats in their Newport Beach home while on another assignment. I just couldn’t help myself! I love kitties! And these guys were both cooperative and photogenic.  I couldn’t ask for more!

I knew this would be an interesting shoot when I got the call….come take photos for a book. A book produced by IGC of their team members in their own working environments.  So I got to see what Ian does, which  looks a lot to me like playing with diamonds all day! What a fun job! Oh, and while I was there, I got to take some photos of their cats! But we’ll introduce them soon. This post is all about Ian (with one or two shots of his lovely wife Cynthia), doing what they do best from their home in Newport Beach!

It’s been such a pleasure to watch this twinkly-eyed, smiley gal grow the last couple of years. Those baby blues, flowing blond hair and sweet nature always make a great impact on film. You can see some of her past sessions here and here.  And of course these mini sessions were a blast as always – more like a party than a photo shoot!

For the last year I’ve had the privilege of having my artwork grace the walls of the newest office for this wonderful group of doctors.  They have an amazing, state of the art clinic and I have gotten to know the staff and some of the doctor’s personally.  So I was more than happy to update their staff portrait to something a little more casual and less formal than the professional portrait they already have.  Getting this many busy doctors together in one place at one time outside of work can be a challenge, but they were up to it! We met at the backyard of one doctor in one of my favorite places to be – Nellie Gale Ranch! Such a lovely setting – too bad the weather wasn’t cooperating (hoping for the lovely blue skies that dominated most of last week!).

Check out their fabulous and informative website HERE and the special offer I have for their clients for my Baby Plan on my website here!  And see their new group professional photos here below.

Two of my favorite girls are starting their very first day of school tomorrow!  I am so excited for them. They have their own teacher and their own little schoolhouse and it’s all just so adorable!  Of course we just had to capture this memory with a little itty bitty shoot to remember this important and special time -this is such a fun time of year for photos! To book your own little back to school session, just call me at (949-478-3147) or email me at vanessa@hondaphotoart.com.

Enjoy your sneak peek girls! And happy first day of school!

I just love photographing families in their homes.  Everyone is so comfortable there, and the end result has more meaning it feels like when taken in such a familiar place!  And I can even set up my backdrops and lights to get that studio look as well as the home as the background! As an additional bonus – it’s so much easier to include the family pets! This 2nd part of 3 of this family includes photos taken of the other studio look as well as images from around their home. To view part one, just click here!

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!