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!

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.

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!

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!

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!

Well Mom “M” was supposed to be the star of this show, but her daughter, little “M” kinda stole the spotlight…It was all fun all the time for little “M” and her precocious and vibrant personality really shown through!  There were so many cute images from this session – and many that I designed into storyboards, as they seemed to just fit together in one frame.  I will have to restrain myself to leave some for your online gallery – you have to have a few surprises!  I can’t wait to photograph the new little addition due the end of July. Can you believe she’s 7 months pregnant? So tiny!  And just glowing!  Enjoy your sneak peak!

This family really got a tour of Laguna Beach for their session(s).  The first time we were scheduled they showed up as planned, but poor baby “K” had a fever and a runny nose and just wasn’t his normal, happy self.  So about 15 minutes into the session, we decided to reschedule and meet again another day. Well, another day came, but unfortunately it was high tide, and our first beach, Wood’s Cove, virtually disappears during high tide.  So we met again at Shaw’s cove for our next session.  When the “S” family decided they would like a great sunset portrait, we decided to head over to Diver’s cove – where you can get a much better view of the sunset.  It was fun to get a variety of different shots and different looks at the various beaches in Laguna Beach.  This little family was so adorable together – you could really feel the love. And it was fun to see little “K” feeling better too!  Enjoy your sneak peak!

I had a blast last weekend with the “M” family visiting here from Utah!  I was a little bit worried when they didn’t have any evening available during their stay here, but I was so grateful they were up for a very early morning.  I actually love early morning shoots – sunrise light is just as flattering as sunset light and the beach is usually very empty during the 7:00 hour in the am.  Plus, little kids actually do much better in the morning a lot of the times when they are fresh and ready to face the day!  These kids were great and although they weren’t too sure about the water, they warmed right up to the idea of being at the beach after a little while.  I think everyone had a swell time!  Enjoy your “Sneak Peak” Emily – we’ll be in contact soon about putting your gallery up!