Vanessa Honda Photography

I couldn’t think of any other title to sum up this post. So many beach sessions, and all very similar locations, but so much fun to meet so many different people and learn their stories!  This was an aunt whose niece and nephew were coming from out of state to visit.  And she planned a photo session with them, so they could have beautiful memories of their time shared and Christmas gifts for the parents.  And each one of them was truly beautiful, on the inside as well as out.  I am so lucky to have so many beautiful clients!  I know they’ve been eagerly waiting to view their images – thanks so much for your patience as I attempt to get caught up!  Enjoy your sneak peak!

This was another fun new family visiting from out of state.  They had 5 delightful and well-behaved kids.  We met at Wood’s Cove and stayed until well past sunset,  just talking and watching the kids play in the waves. In between there somewhere we got in a few shots of the family and the kids (and even a few of mom and dad).  Enjoy your sneak peak “S” family!

Another beautiful family on another beautiful beach with beautiful light… what a fun job I have!  And the love this family has for each other shines through in each and every image!  Trying to keep things short so I can get more posts up, but the pictures sort of speak for themselves here anyways.

What a fun family this was – 7 children, 18 grandchildren… and around 34 or so people all together – I lost count after a while!  And a beautiful family at that…all of them!  All together at the beach for a fun day in the sun!  We photographed one family after another and finally everyone together.  And everyone was amazingly cooperative!  thanks for making my job easier and for the great time we spent together!

Time for a “sneak peak” for the P family – they have been waiting patiently to see their images, and I am finally starting to get caught up  – so here you go!  Lots more sneak peaks to come…

This was such a fun and loving family (not to mention photogenic) – so narrowing down the images was the most difficult part!  The kids were so great to work with and everyone was beautiful.  I hope you enjoyed your stay here guys – and hope you come back next year!

For now, enjoy these pics while I busily finish getting your gallery ready to view!  Thanks for a great session!

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!

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!

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!

I met this beautiful family on a rather gloomy day in June for their portraits. And not only was it rather gloomy and overcast, but the tide was higher than I have ever seen at this beach (Diver’s Cove in Laguna Beach), and we had very little sand to work with. But in spite of all of these limitations, we managed to have a great time together and capture some pretty decent portraits as well!  Here in Southern California, this is what is known as “June Gloom” and often visitors from out of state can be a little disappointed when they came to spend a week here in the sunshine in June and end up with fogged in or overcast weather the entire time. But this family took it all in stride and the boys brought their own “sunshine” with them. I thoroughly enjoyed out time spent together – especially chasing those sneaky waves (or was it the waves chasing us?) Here is your “sneak peak” – the gallery of all of your beach portraits is not far behind!