Vanessa Honda Photography

Once again I will be offering an incentive for those of you procrastinators(and to my fav always early clients!) to get your holiday card pictures done early! Now is a great time before the kids head off to school (for the older kids) and another hectic school year begins (for those with kids still in school at home) to have your family’s portrait taken. And if you can have your holiday cards ready in October, that is just one more thing you can cross of your list – early!  So for every full session booked by September 1st, I will be including a FREE set of  24 press printed holiday greeting cards!  To book your session now, just click here! And to whet your palate for the scrumptious card designs available, here are a few images of some cards from last year!

To accommodate more clients who want to get their family or children’s portraits done early and those who don’t have time or funds to dedicate to a full session, I have opened up 3 dates in the month of August for mini sessions.  All mini sessions will be for 25 minutes and include one full resolution digital file (perfect for making prints or on a holiday card).  The mini session price is only $100.

Saturday August 7th I will be holding portrait sessions on location at General Thomas F. Riley Wilderness Park in Coto de Caza.  The perfect “woodsy and natural setting” for a different look for your family portraits!
Time slots available are: 4:00, 4:30, 5:00, 5:30, 6:00, 6:30 and 7:00. Click here to book your session and reserve your time!

Friday August 13th I will be holding beach portrait sessions at Shaw’s Cove in Laguna Beach. This beach has a variety of different looks and settings, and offers good shade to start earlier in the day.
Time slots available are: 4:30, 5:00, 5:30, 6:00, 6:30 and 7:00.  Click here to book your session and reserve your time!

Saturday August 21st is a day set aside for families with furry friends!  I will be offering location pet/family sessions at Tewinkle park for the late afternoon/evening, and possibly studio sessions in the morning to early afternoon at the Passionate Pet Store in Irvine, CA.  Call 949-553-2434 for more details on the studio sessions. To book your location session, just click here!
Time slots for Tewinkle Park available are: 4:30, 5:00, 5:30, 6:00, 6:30 and 7:00.  Click here to book your session and reserve your time!

Do you ever wonder what it would be like to be featured in a documentary on your own special family? Maybe featured in the “Day in the Life of America” coffee table book?  Or do you have kids or a husband who dreads the yearly family portrait session because of the stuffy clothes and poses?  How can you make capturing the essence of your family so you can remember the milestones and relationships between you years from now… fun?
This year, instead of having a more traditional portrait session, consider making things fun and different by planning “Day in the Life” photography session to tell the story of your family.  These sessions usually last from 2 – 4 hours and take on more of a documentary feel. Some images may be set up (so you have one perfect image to put on the holiday card), but most images will be capturing your life as it happens.  There are many activities you can plan on doing  – from hanging out around the house together to going out for ice cream and window shopping downtown! Or playing in Balboa’s fun zone and then heading down to the pier. The activities can and should be as unique as your family is.. if you would like, I can help you plan something original and fun for your family. The best part is, everyone can have a great time and enjoy themselves and one another – nothing photographs better! Or captures the essense of the relationship you enjoy!
Day in the Life Sessions are $200 for the session only or $1000 for a session plus a 10×10 exquisite Fine Art Coffee Table Book.  And for all Day in the Life Book sessions scheduled by September, I will include a free additional 7×7 companion book – a perfect holiday gift for grandparents, etc.
Some ideas of activities you can plan to do as a family include:
-A day hanging out and playing at home – one of my favs!

-going on a picnic

-flying kites
-riding bikes

-swimming

-riding horses
-baking cookies

-bath time

-reading stories

-backyard BBQ

-swimming in the pool

-birthday parties

-playing games together (croquet anyone?

-dance class or sports team or lessons

-ice cream or candy shoppe outings

-a day on the town

-a day at the fair

-day at the beach

-going fishing

-hiking and exploring

-Day at Disneyland

-Gardening
I would love to hear from any of you about your fun portrait activity ideas!

Eight years ago to this day, I became the mother to a daughter. What a wonderful joy and adventure this has been!  Kate is a shining light to all that know her, and one of the joys of my life.  She has a very open, giving and friendly personality.  Sharing has always come easily to her, as do enthusiasm and an exuberance for life.  Kate is growing up so fast – I can hardly believe it!  She loves to cook, read, swim, play with her friends. And she is always asking to take pictures with my cameras…or to come and help me on a photo shoot.  So for her birthday today, she got her very own point and shoot camera… waterproof, shock drop – proof, dust proof, you-name-it…  She is so excited!  In addition to loving to snap pictures herself, she is my most willing participant in family photo shoots – and the camera loves her as well!

For her birthday today, she wanted to help me bake her favorite cake: lemon meringue cake (four layers of lemon cake, with homemade lemon pie filling spread between each layer and topped with a homemade meringue topping), and her favorite ice cream: raspberry sour cream ice cream (the best ice cream recipe ever – truly!).

Afterward I took her out for an ultra-quick, 5 minute photo shoot – so we could remember what she looks like the day she turned 8!

She really, really wanted me to take an upside down picture…so I humored her. Despite the thick overcast, the light was still too bright for her to open her eyes more than 1 second!  Her eyes were closed in 90% of these pics!

Then we had a very simple party – consisting of cake, ice cream and of course opening presents with a few friends!

Then grandma whisked her and her brother and sister off to Southern Utah to spend the weekend hiking and celebrating Utah’s July 24th holiday (Pioneer Day)!  I wish I could be there now!  All in all, a pretty good day for Kate!

But now that it’s quiet in the house and the kids are gone, I can’t help but miss them and reflect on the years that have flown so quickly by!  So I lost myself looking through the years in pictures and thought I would post a few of Kate through the years.  Quick disclaimer – the first couple of years I did not have a professional camera or experience!  But I still love to reflect on those times – no matter what your equipment or your abilities as a photographer, don’t forget to capture the moments as they happen, because they go by so fast. One day I was holding Kate newly born in my arms, and the next she is running off with her friends to 3rd grade! Here she is the day she was born:

One thing that made today so special was that my littlest brother Zach, had his first child, beautiful Emery Saige , early this morning!  Kate will share her birthday with a cousin.  I shared my birthday with both my grandmother and my aunt, and I loved that!  Here is Zach, 8 years ago today, holding Kate the day she was born.  Now he holds a daughter of his own…

Kate’s eyes seem to change color every year. For the first year they were a startling blue!

On her first day of Kindergarten:

With her best friend Maren:

First day of 1st Grade:

Kate and cousin Courtney – they are such great friends!

Kate’s eyes have turned to a beautiful shade of green. We’ll see what next year brings!

So, when our good friends, the Llewellyn family, came out to visit us and bring their family to Disneyland this spring, we were so excited to see them.  And though they had a pretty packed week, I mentioned that I would be happy to fit in a photo session while they were here.  The only day available was the morning of the day they would be heading back to Utah.  Because the sun rises quickly, and the mid-morning sun can be harsh at the beach, we’d have to start early – like around 7:00 – will that work?  They were game  – but poor Lisa was up until 3:00 that morning and then had the get everyone up super early to eat breakfast, get dressed, pack up their week’s belongings and check out of their hotel at Disneyland!  And everyone had stayed late to watch the fireworks at Disneyland the night before!  So it was one tired crew that showed up at the beach that chilly May morning.  And in spite of the cold and exhaustion, everyone did great!  The boys were so well behaved and we had a great time together. My hubbie and kids came and met us at the beach after our session and we had a grand time chasing waves and collecting seashells.  Sorry for the wait to see your images Brian and Lisa – I am just finally starting to get caught up!  But I hope you will agree when you hang the prints in your home that it was all worth it!  Enjoy!

So this is my nephew Owen on his 4th birthday.  I usually bring my camera to friend and family birthday parties and snap plenty of shots while I am there.  But usually the pictures get downloaded and sit on one of my hard drives, forgotten about for years, along with most of my other personal shots. My intentions are good – I mean to edit and give the pics to their respective owners. But in reality, paying client’s pictures always take precedent over my own personal images and the fun pics I take for family and friends.  But in this case, I really OWE my AWESOME sister Brittany.  Because she agreed to take ALL of my 3 kids this week – in addition to her own 4 – so that I can finally get caught up (or at least headed that way) on work!  Our kids are best of friends and she has planned so many fun things for them to do this week.  But I also know that she has already had at least one sleepless night (maybe two), so I thought I could say “Thank You” by fishing out and editing these pics from Owen’s birthday party.  Brittany always does such a great job at planning parties – I think she should go into business!  This party was a pirate themed party – with a pirate ship pinata, a real treasure hunt, golden coins and pirate patches.  Very very fun!  And Owen was such a ham!  Owen has  a mind of his own, and usually his ideas do not include having a camera pointed in his direction. But on this day he was very obliging about looking in my general direction – even with the camera in hand!  Enjoy the pics Britt & Tyson – I will bring a disc down when I come pick up the kids!

There was a yummy yummy cupcake tree!

Owen was determined to eat his cupcake in the pool. Too bad we ate cupcakes first, ’cause you can see the effects of the cupcake eating on everyone’s faces the rest of the time!

The kids enjoyed whacking away at the pirate ship pinata!

The treasure hunt may well have been the highlight of the day..

My kids still have their patches and gold coins – the pirate booty!

Opening presents is always a great deal of fun for the birthday boy…

The thing Owen REALLY REALLY wanted for his birthday was a shiny, red, new bike… and mom and dad delivered!

Happy Birthday Owen – and have lots of fun with your cousins this week!  Aunt Vanessa Loves You!

Little Xander is growing up! I can’t believe he has turned 2!  My fabulous sister-in-law came down to do my hair and brought little “X” along for his two-year pics. She had the greatest idea – put him in the little sailor suit that my brother (his dad) was photographed in at the same age.  She bought a frame that would hold both pictures (father and son in the same outfit) and gave it to Brandon for Father’s Day…  We were planning on taking these pics at the beach, but suprise surprise – it was raining in the morning when they arrived. So we hopped on down to my studio for a very quick photo session.  One bonus – the studio is in a pet store, and there are always adoption pets available for making little guys and gals happy and excited!

This was probably my most highly anticipated shoot of the year – ’cause sweet Sedona is the darling daughter of an old high school friend that I hadn’t seen for 15 years!  She currently lives in Las Vegas, but was coming out to visit her father in Irvine, so she contacted me on FB and set up a portrait session for her 6 month old daughter!  And the best part is -she is married to another old high school friend -so I got to see two old friends and their new baby all at once!  It was so great to catch up with them and to play with cute baby Sedona.  She is such a happy, good baby!  Since she is more of a morning girl than an evening one, we met early in the morning at Tewinkle park.  Early morning is a great time to shoot at the park as we had virtually the whole place to ourselves!  The only thing that would have made it better would have been a little bit of sunshine…  But Sedona made her own sparkling rays with her brilliant smile. Enjoy your sneak peak Jason and Adrianna!

Well this is a long overdue sneak peak for the “A” Family!  They are friends visiting from out of town of another beautiful family – they came out for their son’s graduation from UCI!  They decided to get some family portraits while they were out here, and I am so glad that they did!  We had such a good time together – they were one fun loving family!  But life has been a bit crazy since then with school ending (and the multitude of accompanying activities), and my husband studying for the bar, among many other things.  So I was busy trying to play catchup and working on these photos earlier this week when I received a message on my computer screen notifying me that my hard drive was in danger of imminent failure.  Well, at least it was nice enough to warn me. And at least I had all of my data backed up (I have triple backups on all my client files).  But I could no longer work on my editing and it was a three day process to 1) diagnose the problem, 2)get a new internal drive and replace the old one and 3) get the computer set up to the way I had it previously, including installing all of my applications, Photoshop actions, etc…  Thank goodness for imaging!  But it wasn’t until tonight I had everything up and running again, so I am burning the midnight oil to get just a few sneak peak pictures up for this very, very patient family!  I can’t wait for you to see the rest!

When I first arrived at the beach, on an early June morning, I had hopes that it would be a “no-gloom” kind of a day. But as I awaited the arrival of the “O” family, a chilly wind came up, bringing the clouds with it.  So, as  you can guess, it was not the most pleasant morning to be out on freezing cold rocks and sand.  Yet another “out of town” family disappointed by the effects of “June Gloom.”  But hey, the one upside was – we got the entire beach to ourselves!  And the kids were so great, shrugging out of the jackets long enough to get some decent shots before bundling up again to warm up for our next shots!  They were really pretty cooperative, and absolutely adorable with each other!  Enjoy your sneak peak “O” family!

Last week, I had the incredible opportunity to spend a day at the Amadeus Spa and Resort with my mom.  And I was blown away by the experience!  The attention to detail and quality of service was top-notch -from the complimentary valet service upon arrival to the sumptuous and tranquil surroundings during the entire stay to their graciously helping me get out the door on time to pick up my daughter at the end.  I have honestly never felt so pampered in my life.  And the massage was out of this world wonderful – the facial exquisite (never having had one before, I didn’t know what to expect, but it was so relaxing, felt so good and my face looked so much better afterwards) – and getting the pedicure and manicure was really fun and relaxing.  And to top things off, the director of this spa is one of my beautiful brides whose wedding I will be shooting in September.  So, because I so highly recommend the experience and had such a great time myself, I am teaming up with Spa Amadeus to bring all of my clients 2 Special Offers!

1) Book a wedding anytime this summer (June through Sept) and you will receive a complimentary certificate to Spa Amadeus to enjoy before your wedding day!

Book an Engagement Session AND a Wedding during that time and receive a FREE Gallery Wrap Canvas to display at your wedding (a $380 value) in addition to your spa certificate!

2) Are you gearing up for a gorgeous family portrait this summer and want to look your best?  Or do you just need updated headshots for work or your facebook page?  Book an appointment at the spa for hair design/style and a facial (or any two spa services) AND a photography session with Vanessa Honda Photography and receive $50 off of each service (your spa services and your photo session).  Photography sessions may take place on location (at the beach, a park, downtown), in your home, or in a studio setting.

To purchase your special discounted Spa/Family Session CLICK HERE

To purchase your special discounted Spa/Individual Portrait Session CLICK HERE

To schedule your spa services, just call 949.428.5799.  The Amadeus Spa is located at the Fairmont Newport Beach (4500 MacArthur Boulevard, Newport Beach, CA 92660).

For more information, call Vanessa Honda at 949.553.2434