Vanessa Honda Photography

Happy Father’s Day to all the amazing fathers out there!

vanessa — Sun, 16 Jun 2013 07:22:33 +0000

Father’s Day was officially signed into law in 1972 by President Richard M. Nixon. But did you know that the Father’s Day celebrations as we know them began in 1910 thanks to the efforts of Ms Sonora Louise Smart Dodd, the loving daughter of a civil war veteran and widower who raised his 5 children after his wife died in childbirth? “Fairly mature at the age of 27, Sonora listened to a Sunday Sermon on Mother’s Day in 1909. Loving daughter of a devoted father, Sonora wondered that if there is a day to honor mothers why is there no corresponding day to honor all fathers. The question left a deep impression on her mind and she resolved to get fathers their due respect in the society.”

And did you know the reason why we celebrate Father’s day in June is because Sonora’s father’s birthday was then? But many scholars insist that a celebration of a Father’s Day goes back even farther. There are records of a young boy named Elmesu having carved a Father’s Day message on a card made of clay more than 4,000 years ago in ancient Babylon! He wished his father good health and long life.

It’s no wonder that fathers have been celebrated through the centuries and in many countries of the world. They provide such an important role and have shaped the lives of many millions of children. I have been blessed with a wonderful father who has always supported me in following my dreams and has taught me the value of hard work and perseverance. I have never doubted that he has loved me and he is and inspiration and role model to me in so many ways. I love watching him as a grandfather to my own kids (and my nieces and nephews as well). He sure loves those kids and they love him in return, as quirky as he can sometimes be! I have also been blessed to be married to a man who takes seriously his role as a father and who loves my children every bit as much as if they were his very own. He is a wonderful father, a great teacher and a whole lot of fun to be around! He’s a great example to me of how to be an awesome parent, and the kids love for him to be around.

So this is my tribute to father’s everywhere. Probably my favorite aspect of my job is the opportunity to capture meaningful relationships -and the love between a father and his children is evident in so many sessions that I’ve captured! Enjoy just a sampling of the beautiful relationships I get to see on almost a daily basis in my wonderful job!

Whereas my photos of moms with their kiddos are usually close and snuggly, my photos of dads with their kids are often action shots!

Finally, here is a photo of my own dad, taken last Thanksgiving:

And more recently, at my own wedding this year. Photography by Gilmore Studios!

Juliet turns one! {Southern California Baby Portraits}

vanessa — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 16:56:30 +0000

I’ve had my eye on this adorable baby since she was born, and always hoped I would have the opportunity to capture her charming ways! But I live and work so far away… Fortunately her family lives in the Conejo valley near where I grew up and where my husband is from as well, so we make it out that way often enough. And it worked out perfectly for me to come up for Memorial day weekend so that I could get some photos of the sweet and lovely Juliet in time for her first birthday. As you can see, narrowing down to my favorite images was the most difficult part of this session…it was just a cuteness overload. Juliet is a super happy baby, and very well loved by everyone around her. I secretly hope to have the chance to come and photograph her and her family again sometime! Enjoy your sneak peek!

Happy Birthday Juliet! {Baby’s first year cake smash photos}

vanessa — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 16:33:15 +0000

After we were done taking photos at the park, we came back to Juliet’s home to get some photos of her first try at cake – a birthday cake in this case – in her very own bedroom. Juliet wasn’t sure at first, but once she dug in was pretty enthusiastic about the cake. Even Kate and Zach (big brother and big sister ) got into the action after it was all over. There was cake everywhere, but I think everyone had a good time (except maybe the carpet, which wasn’t looking so great when we were done). Juliet’s mom invited me in to see the bath water during the cake smash cleanup – it was actually pink! So cute! And everyone even ate a nice dinner afterwards. Pretty cute stuff!

Picture perfect family {Conejo Valley Family Portrait Photographer}

vanessa — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 16:19:26 +0000

Marci is a friend of mine, who I didn’t know all that well in High School, but have gotten to know better on Facebook. I’ve always thought that she had the loveliest family, and was super excited when she asked me to come out to take photos of her darling daughter Juliet for her first birthday. While the primary focus of the session was to get some adorable photos of Juliet, we wanted to capture a few family shots while we were at it. We walked down to a park near her home in Simi Valley and focused on the family shots first. After the photo shoot Marci invited me to come hang out with the family and stay for dinner, and I was so glad that I did. It was really fun to get to know them all better and to just be in their home and see how they all interact. The thing that stuck out the most to me was how much the big kids just adore their little sister! There is so much love and warmth in their home! Because this session resulted in so many adorable photos I am going to break it into three blog posts – one for family, one of the cake smash and one featuring the beautiful Juliet! I know you’ve been eagerly anticipating this Marci, so enjoy your sneak peek!

Lovely family of three {Orange County Studio Photographer}

vanessa — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 21:39:44 +0000

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.

Had to get a few with mum and dad!

And may as well get some updated head shots while we’re at it.

Finally, enjoy this storyboard collage showing the many wonderful faces and personalities of this adorable 1 year old!

Portraits in Red Rock Canyon {Orange County Destination Photographer}

vanessa — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 21:21:40 +0000

Jason and I have been good friends since my sophomore year in high school, and he is the man primarily responsible for all of my clients who found me by “googling” Orange County Photograher or Newport Beach Photographer or many of those search terms. He’s done a lot of the back-end work on my site and my SEO for years now…all from his home base in London! So I was thrilled to have the opportunity to photograph his family when they came out to visit for Christmas this last year. They would be staying in Las Vegas and I just happened to be driving through on my way to visit family in Utah, so we spent a couple of days together, getting to know one another’s families better! My kids still talk about their adventures flying aero-props with him in the parking lot. But our bigger adventure was heading out to Red Rock Canyon, just a little ways outside of Las Vegas for portraits. The scenery was gorgeous, but unfortunately it was super windy and cold, so no one wanted to get out of their coats and everyone’s cheeks were a bit chapped. But the colors were amazing and it was fun to capture some shots with a little bit of a different look than my usual beach and field or urban photos! And fortunately I brought along some studio equipment to get more photos later indoors. But for this post it’ll just be the red rock photos. This is the same man who tells me all of the time I post WAY too many images and it will slow down my site. So he tries to limit me to 9. {I think he doesn’t get that I just can’t help myself} But for his sake, I will limit his posts that way at least…with one clever little workaround called a storyboard Enjoy!

He and Jane make an adorable couple!

Here’s a 16×20 storyboard that can go on their wall!

Finally, one last shot of the two of us – photo credit goes to Jane, who did a pretty good job figuring out how to work my beast of a camera on a cold and windy day!

Natural Beauty {Orange County Senior Portraits}

vanessa — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 16:58:00 +0000

“M” is a very special gal. Beautiful on the inside as well as the outside! And so very natural in front of the camera. She’s the oldest of five equally amazing kids (like me!) – and also like me, she’ll be attending the best school ever in the fall – Brigham Young University (Go Cougars!). Even though her Senior portraits were combined with a session for her family (stay tuned!) so we had a little less time than usual… I had the hardest time narrowing down my favorites in this session! This girl doesn’t know how to take a bad photo! So please excuse the image overload and just enjoy this natural beauty! Taken at Riley Wilderness Park in Coto de Caza in Southeast Orange County. Enjoy your session preview “M!”

Shhh….don’t tell daddy! {Orange County Children’s Portraits}

vanessa — Thu, 30 May 2013 18:36:28 +0000

I’ve known most of these kids since they were teeny tiny babies – I have photos of the oldest boy and my middle daughter together when they were two…and now they are in the same class at school! Mom wanted to do a secret, surprise session to surprise dad with some neat images for Father’s day! Fortunately, I’m about 100% sure that dad doesn’t follow this blog! Hopefully he’s thrilled with his Father’s day gifts – it’s hard to go wrong with such cute kids! We spent a rather overcast May evening at Shaw’s Cove in Laguna Beach playing, finding crabs, chasing waves and getting a few photos taken in between. As is usually the case, the photos take on more of a documentary feel with the littlest guy…getting a posed shot of the four of them all together AND looking at the camera (and not making goofy faces) did require some head swapping (resulting image is the first one). Most of the rest of the group shots looked more like the following collage of photos with the three oldest kids posing nicely for the camera and the youngest running off to his own fun adventures! Good times!

Here are the “bloopers” so to speak…the group shots we tried to get that didn’t work out as planned…but were still pretty cute!

Catching up {Orange County Professional Head Shots}

vanessa — Wed, 29 May 2013 18:47:27 +0000

I had so much fun catching up with Daley Erickson, who will very soon be launching a new website for her awesome new business, and is, as she puts it, “a happy wife and mother, health advocate and Personal Power Planner helping people meet their goals and craft their very best lives.” She’s also a great friend with an amazing family, who I got to know when I shot their first portrait session years ago! I always look forward to taking photos of their family, but this session was just to update Daley’s professional head shots and to get some images for her new website, which you can find right HERE! She’s looking pretty amazing right now, so getting some nice photos at the lovely Shaw’s Cove in Laguna Beach was a piece of cake! Enjoy your sneak peek!

Summer is coming! {Orange County Family Beach Portraits}

vanessa — Sat, 25 May 2013 06:06:03 +0000

Yes, summer is coming. And with it the plethora of portrait sessions at the beach! Many of those I do each year are from families out of town. But this session was from a local Irvine family who needed a portrait to hang on the wall in time for company coming to town! I loved the little pop of color that the coral shirts the girls were wearing to the other light colors. Everyone was super well behaved and we had a gorgeous evening with perfect light and a fairly uncrowded Picnic Beach for a Saturday night!

And here is the finished 24×36″ wall potrait ready to deliver to them less than a week after their photo session at the beach!