Bay Area Family Photography: Biggest fans
These two are some of the biggest Bay Area sports fans I know. They love the Giants and the 49ers with open hearts. Last year when I photographed their family we had planned to do at least one family portrait in their sports jerseys. We had a blast of a session, and time ran out before we got to it. I kicked myself for awhile afterward, so this year I swore I wouldn’t let that happen again… and we started with the sports gear.
This mini session was my last of the day at the San Jose City College campus. It rained so hard that morning: even my first session of the day got rained out, so we hid under over-hangs the whole time. However, we had planned for the rain to last through these guys’ family photography session, and J brought an umbrella… Giants branded, of course!
However, as the morning progressed, the rain decided to take a break, and we had the run of campus, shade-free… and I loved it!!! We kicked off our session on the side of a building in front of two receiving doors. I just fell in love with their symmetry, color, and texture: it was just the perfect background for the bold orange and black colors of J and J’s shirts.
I had scoped out a couple of different spots on the grounds, and dragged these guys around them all. It was awesome, and they were so willing to go with the flow. J was even cool with the local, campus police driving right passed us as she was changing for the next location. Go J! I love it when my families can just take things in stride, and laugh about them later.
Chloe did great for us that morning too. This time around there were no ground squirrels popping up every few seconds, so it was a lot easier to get her cooperation too.
I hope you enjoy this Bay Area family photography session. It was a blast to shoot.
Bay Area Family Portraits: Just being a kid
This family portraits session was part of my foggy mini session event in Sam Mateo last fall. Our Bay Area weather can be so unpredictable, but I love the different textures and colors that we get that way. It means that every session is a little different even if done at the same place, same time of day. My only request for the sun, though, is that it sets its mind and goes with it: all overcast or all sunny are fine with me. Even starting overcast and gradually transitioning to sunny (or vice versa) are good here. I’m just not a special fan of the peek-a-boo games the sun wants to play behind clouds: then my shutter controlling finger gets a workout. That and moving families around after we have the perfect spot, is kind of rough… especially with young involved. After all kids don’t exactly excel in patience. Ha!
I can’t get over how big H has gotten. He’s such a little boy now. I photographed his family while he was chillin’ in his mom’s belly, his newborn photos, and a few times since, but it’s been awhile since I’ve seen him. He has such an incredible smile, and he is sure one handsome kid!
It’s great watching kids make the best of their environment and find toys in everything. H found this great stick and went to town. Honestly, the two of him carrying it around are probably my two favorite from our session. Don’t get me wrong: there are so many from that morning that I loved, but those two just my favorite — it’s an insight into kids being kids.
Belmont Photography: Ooops!
Kids come in all sizes and attitudes: it’s part of what makes family photography fun and it’s what gives each session a unique feel. This little man keeps blowing my mind though — it’s not the first time he’s appeared in front of my lens, and each time he comes with an incredibly sweet attitude, ready to get down for my camera… down to the cheesy grins. I don’t know what P and J do to 1) have such an awesome kid; 2) get him ready for our sessions, because whatever it is: I want some of that for MY family.
A day before we met, I had to call J on the phone and ask him to move up his appointment. As much as I hate to admit it, I miscalculated sunset. Oops! I am usually really cautious about this, but given that I had planned my mini session events months in advance, I miscalculated this event by half an hour. Also, the sun sets even sooner behind the tall hills of Belmont’s Elevator Trail. I called him, pretty much, saying “You see how dark it is right now? This is supposed to be our session time! Is there ANY chance you can come 2 hours early?”. I wanted them to start off my mini session event instead of ending it. Thankfully they were OK with making such a shift. I feel terrible having to make such changes. I know it can throw everything off, especially if there is little one involved. There are naps to be considerate of, snack time, and some clients time their hair/makeup appointments: it’s just not ideal. This is why I cannot thank these guys enough for their incredible flexibility. I mean it!
J’s mom joined us for our appointment — they were on their way to their airport to drop her off for her flight home — yet another reason I feel so thankful for them being so accommodating.
However, one of the best bonuses of our switch-e-roo is the amazing light we received that afternoon. We captured what was probably the last bit of sun coming through the hills, and it was beautiful.
I guess that was the sun’s way of thanking them too 🙂
Los Altos Family Photography: Yeah, yeah, yeah!
Do you ever have a moment where you turn on the radio and the song playing describes exactly how you feel? Well, that happened to me when I started my car after my family photography session with these guys. My Pandora radio station kicked off “Mercy” by Duffy. The “Yeah, yeah, yeah” running in my mind was now also echoed by my speakers. Come see why…
I love photographing these guys. I have been every year since E was born, and it’s great! Last time we had an awesome afternoon at Grant San Francisquito Creek in Palo Alto, and this year was no exception. We met at Foothill College in Los Altos. I’ve been making my way through some of the incredible sights of our local community colleges, and I’ve had my eye on Foothill for quite some time. It’s even more awesome to me that K is a lecturer on staff with this group of colleges. I had picked this location, primarily in case it rained, and it looked cool, but it felt even more special to me knowing that there was also this connection.
In our last few sessions, E had always brought a special toy with him. From Mortimer, his first moose, through Bartholomew the Bear. This time, we got Mikey (the Minion) as a water bottle. Mikey didn’t make the photo cut, I’m afraid, but E’s M&M treat did. Let me tell ya’, he was pretty excited to get his hands on those, although if there’s ever a kid that doesn’t need to be bribed to cooperate for family pics, it’s this little dude — he’s always been with it and tried my ideas. For example: this year I asked him to sneak up on his mom and dad. He did his very best, though having an (almost) 5 year old sneak up, isn’t all that sneaky. Oh well… we tried.
Hope you like the photos ahead.
Menlo Park Mini Session Photographer: Double the awesome
Hopefully your head is not spinning from the bouncing around from session locations yet. There is a reason I’m doing this. It is purposeful: in big part not to bore you with the same location a whole bunch in a row.
This post wraps up my Menlo Park mini sessions at El Palo Alto Park. It was an awesome one that I’ve been waiting at the edge of patience to share with you. It’s finally time!
It feels like 2014 has been a year of twins for me. I don’t know how it happened, but I’ll take it! I got to witness the birth of twins, photograph their newborn session, then two sets of twin siblings over summer for There With Care, and of course these two lovely ladies. I’m digging it and saying “bring on more twin siblings!” There’s a different relationship between twins that I see that feels … different. Sure I’ve seen siblings be best friends: but in the event of older/younger siblings I see a lot of respect & protection to round out the sibling experience. With twins it feel more of a balance & partner in crime. Still a ton of love; still a sense of “best friends forever”… but it is just different.
I loved working with the C family! I could tell some of the things that I asked them to do didn’t feel very natural at first, but they embraced it and responded with such honest expressions, that I still can’t get over it. I’m referring to the photos of D&D (aka Mom & Dad) holding each other while laughing. I can still hear their giggles in my head. I hope as they look back on these photos they do too.
Their daughters were incredibly awesome to be around and photograph: they were good natured, and the perfect blend between spunky and polite. I posted a very quick teaser of them peeking through mom’s arms, and this image remains on of my favorites to this day.
Enjoy!
