Sometimes.

The sky is pretty, the air is warm, the tide is super low, and you just have to drop everything and go explore the things that are usually under water.

Galaxy-ography (Samsung Galaxy3)

Waves Weekend with American Authors

Food trucks, yummmmmm. College Kid picks up new swag whenever it’s free. Ruth and I attended Pepperdine together, both business majors.  Our boys were born 3 weeks apart, and now they both attend Pepperdine.  So awesome to get to hang out again! After last year’s booming, rocking concert with Plain White T’s and Andy Grammer, Little Dude came prepared this year with “earplugs”. Alumni Park is a pretty fantastic venue for a picnic evening concert… First concert … Goldford. American Authors!

Joey!! :: Orange County Baby Lifestyle Photography

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again:  home sessions make my heart sing.  Way back in the 90s, a series of photography books was published, the first being A Day in the Life of America.  The goal of the book was simple: 200 of the world's leading photojournalists set out across America to capture the life of a nation on film in a single day.  The instructions given to the photographers was likewise simple & focused:  “Don’t try to make the definitive statement about America.  Avoid cliches.  Instead do the hardest thing of all – make extraordinary pictures of ordinary events.”   In a home session, this is exactly what I try to do: simply capture what your family looks like at this particular moment in time.  To me, your “ordinary” is extraordinary. 

When clients see and understand this about my style and give me free reign to capture real life – their real life – the resulting collective “portrait” is pretty special.  Many 谢谢s (thank yous) to this sweet family for allowing me to do my thing.  We documented an afternoon in the life of 7 month-old Joey, replete with cuddling, crawling, listening to It’s a Small World, using Grandpa as a high chair, demonstrating hair that stands up even when Joey is lying down, and proving that non-toys are sometimes the most preferred toys :-). 




Grandpa swaps out, makes sure Joey is hooked up with the most recent iPhone in the family – grin. Joey, again showing that the best toys are non-toys, in this case, Grandma’s clothing.  Grandma doesn’t mind, because she LOVES Joey. So does Auntie :-).  And Minions are Joey’s buddies. His hair.  Hilariously adorable.
Somebody’s looking sleepy, and it’s not Grandpa. Naptime?  Joey clearly thought everyone was jesting! But Mom really was serious about nap time ;-).
And I know I’ve said this before, too, but it bears repeating: I’m so grateful when clients trust me to enter into their lives and allow me to photographically document them in an authentic way.  500+ years ago Francis Bacon stated, “The contemplation of things as they are, without error or confusion, without substitution or imposture, is in itself a nobler thing than a whole harvest of invention.”  I entered into a normal, everyday, ordinary afternoon with this family, and it was extraordinary.