The Patten Family | Sneak Peek

With the Holiday craze, I've been slacking on my blogging and sneak peeks unfortunately.  Though I have been very fortunate to receive some holiday cards with images taken by me on them!  I consider myself very lucky to be able to take pictures of my friends and their families around the holiday season.  Either they are very trusting of me or very desperate... either way I'll take it!  I absolutely LOVE taking pictures of people, especially when I have a connection with them.  Receiving some of those images back in the form of a Christmas or Holiday Greeting card is icing on the cake.  Without further delay,  here's a Sneak Peek of the Patten Family.  Melissa and I go way back to our early college days at the Cal Poly Horse Unit.  We went on the same Equine Breeding Internship later in life and then worked on the same breeding farm for a while after that.  Since her and Chad have been together since high school, he was there for a good portion of our shenanigans as well.  He's kind of like the brother I never had (or wanted sometimes considering how often he pokes fun at me).  Poking fun aside, these two humans are rather important to me and their family recently doubled in size with the addition of Jackie and Baby Gus.  A few weeks ago we got to gallivant around the ranch where Melissa and I used to work for a quick and FREEZING cold family photo session.  It was so thrilling that Baby Gus wasn't awake for much of it, though Jackie did have a fantastic time playing in the leaves with her goofy dad.  I can tell you from careful observation that Jackie has her dad wrapped around her little finger and that Baby Gus has a very loving big sister. Thanks Patten Family - you were fun and delightful as usual!

The Moore Family | Sneak Peek

I had the honor of photographing a lifelong friend and her family a few weeks ago in her in-laws stunning backyard and learned a ton in the process of wrangler a toddler, two dogs and having a ball!  I've known Jenna since I was five and she was three, she's like another sister and someone I value in the highest sense in my life. Matt and Jenna met at the best school ever (Cal Poly, SLO) and created an adorable tiny human roughly two years ago and will have another Miss Thang gracing us with her presence very soon! I learn a ton every time I photograph someone which is why I'm so lucky that my friends let me practice on them - this time was no exception.  I learned that toddlers and dogs are tough, really tough - like pick one and go with that, doing both is quite the challenge.  I learned that ice cream WITH sprinkles is the ultimate bribe.  And I learned that my husband is a most excellent prop assistant when prepped for the tasks at hand.  I also learned that after a toddler has had ice cream WITH sprinkles, she will want to play and pose with all the props she previously did not want any part of.  Lessons Learned. 

Check out some of my favorite moments from the day!

Carrie's Bridal Shower | Sneak Peek

I had the honor to be a guest at my good friend Carrie's Bridal Shower this past weekend at Broken Earth Winery in beautiful (and extremely hot) Paso Robles, Ca.  It was a distinctly bright and beautiful day with temperatures topping 100 degrees and counting - but who's counting, because anything over 100, you just don't want to know about in my opinion. 

I met Carrie roughly 8 years ago when we both worked for Sephora slinging makeup-up brushes and eye cream like it was going out of style.  I can honestly say Carrie was the significant person that made me feel a welcomed part of the team of terrific and talented women that I cherish to this day as some of my truest friends.  She has the warmest heart and is the type of person to give you the shirt off her back and in October will be marrying Jeremy who is cut from the same cloth of kindness. 

Here's a sneak peek into the beautiful day at the winery honoring our dear friend Carrie! (and yes that is a baby in the winery fountain - we were all wishing we were her at that point which is why none of us felt the need to take her our of said fountain but we assure you she was being watched carefully)

Zamora Family | Sneak Peek

I had the honor of photographing my friend and her stunning daughters over the Memorial Day weekend and not only had fun catching up with her, but the added bonus of witty banter with her and her daughters, relaxed photo taking, and a new education on bands I must immediately go look up on Spotify - the huge benefit of teenagers is that they keep you young! 

Here's a brief sneak peek into what we came up with last weekend:

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Selfie Sparingly

While I love documenting life's moments through photography, I almost can't stand being in front of the camera lens.  Blame it on 12 years of Catholic school with the token "mean girls" or the fact that I was always a very physically awkward child until about age 23 -- I mean the whole gamut: braces, glasses, brakes and sprains of my spindly limbs and the complete inability to style my own hair.  Needless to say I'm not used to being comfortable with the way I look.  Reaching that point has been a slow process of learning to accept myself with it's hiccups along the way.  The only lens I've ever felt comfortable in front of belongs to Daniel Ballesteros of Ballesteros Photography.  Back in the days when I worked with his beautiful and talented wife Kari of Kari Jane Make-up at Sephora, Dan took THESE photos of my horse and I and later on they both came out to the ranch to take John and my Engagement photos and then our Wedding photos.  I've always been curious as to what it would be like to be in front of my own lens and I've always wanted to do a shoot with a tripod, timer and/or mirror.  Well, the other night when I was supposed to be packing to go out of town, I got a wild hair.  In my workout clothes and freshly cut hair (I blame the saucy haircut really), I grabbed my beloved Canon 60D and went at it.  I did not allow myself to be my own worst critic and instead kept snapping until I was tired... and really panicking about not packing.  I only viewed the images at the end rather than critiquing each one as I took it and kind of laughed at the end of the little exercise.  It really was fun and kind of interesting in a way I don't fully get yet.  It was just... playing - with big(ger) kid toys.  I guess, this is how I "Selfie"! #selfiesparingly #selflove

Learning Curve

If you follow along on any of my Social Media channels, you probably know that I like to dabble in many things -- one of those things being photography.  I've been lucky enough to have great friends willing to let me practice on them in order for me to develop, learn and grow as a photographer.  I've started up a Pixieset account where I can post the photos in password locked albums for people, so I can attempt to look all cool and professional.  So far I love Pixieset for the professional look, ease of use and convenience.  I've even been learning how to make blog templates in Lightroom with my photos, which only proves that you can learn just about anything on the internet!

Here's a little of what I've been learning and producing!