Patsy & Devin's Engagement. Saratoga

Patsy and Devin wanted to explore downtown Saratoga. What a great idea! I'm always open to visiting new places, and besides, it was near a field I've been dying to use as a photography location. So we spent a Sunday afternoon wandering around Big Basin Way. Despite being only about 5 blocks long, the town had plenty of spots for us to enjoy. Patsy and Devin had big easy smiles, laughed readily, and were super easy to photograph. I took a ton of pictures; these were some of my favorites.

You'll be seeing more of this cute couple in about a month when they'll be getting married. Can't wait!

The Lee Family - Chloe Turns One! San Jose

The one year milestone is traditionally significant in many Asian countries. Julie and Alan wanted to do something special to commemorate their daughter Chloe's first birthday which included a lifestyle session in traditional Korean clothing called a hanbok. That's when fortune shined on me and Julie sent an email inquiry. She liked my outdoor on-location work and wanted something similar for her family.

I've started developing my portrait work a little bit and this sounded like a wonderful opportunity! Of course I said "yes". We got together so I could meet the family, especially Chloe. (You never know how a child will react and I didn't want to seem like a stranger when the time came to photograph everyone.) Chloe is cute, very well behaved, and mild mannered - a perfect subject. We got along wonderfully and set a date.

I arrived at their home just before Chloe was going to wake up from her normal afternoon nap. Its always a good idea to schedule sessions after a nap, take every advantage you can get. This also gave me some time to work with the wonderfully colorful clothing and capture a few of the important details. There were the garments, the shoes, socks, and rings given by the grandparents. I liked the banners which Julie said were hung when celebrating the first birthday. Chloe woke up all fresh and happy and we made our way to San Jose City Hall. The grays and neutrals nicely highlighted the family's colorful clothing. Virtually deserted on a Sunday afternoon, we roamed freely.

I took soooo many pictures! Thank you for including me in the celebration :)

Valerie & Justin's Engagement. Niles Canyon

Thank you Sotheary and James for introducing us! Turns out, we are also connected through 2 other clients of mine. Small world indeed!

Valerie and Justin share a love for beer and the Oakland A's. Early on when we talked about their engagement session we thought about going to the Coliseum during a game or maybe something centered around a brew pub. Then one weekend they went to explore Sunol and that was it, it was going to be the train yard.

The Niles Canyon Railway is a well known attraction and runs restored trains between Niles and Sunol on weekends. The Sunol Railyard is where trains are parked during the week and worked on by a crew of dedicated volunteers. It's kind of open to the public so we made sure to call ahead and sign our waivers. It was pretty neat wandering around the place. Most of the passenger cars are locked up but there are still plenty of opportunities. We could have spent all day there! Great place and they host a night shoot during the full moon.

Nora & Garratt's Engagement. San Francisco

Do the names Diana and Alex ring a bell? You may recall that Diana baked her own multi layered wedding cake. Well, their friends from high school are getting married this summer and gave me a call. I am ever thankful for the wonderful clients that have trusted their weddings to me and suggest that their friends give me a call too!

Recently, while Nora and Garratt were on a spring break/wedding planning trip back to the Bay Area, we met up at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. This happened to also be one of the wettest weeks on record for Northern California which made our indoor plans quite appropriate. Forget about the rain because we had a serene afternoon exploring the museum and pondering some of its more interesting exhibits. There's a reason it's called modern art after all. A break in the storm allowed us to take a short walk to the Zeum Carousel. It's a beautifully restored early 1900's amusement park ride that found a new home in San Francisco when Yerba Buena Gardens was constructed. Arrived just in time for the last two rides of the day. Nice :)

Nora and Garratt described themselves as fun and quirky. Their robot and zombie inspired save-the-date card certainly proves that. Can't wait to see what they come up with on the wedding day because the words steampunk, swords, and robots were mentioned alongside the Arts and Crafts style of the turn of the century venue.

Manchester Twins. Sunnyvale

Happy New Year everyone!

Torie and Todd were married in 2007 and last March Torie gave birth to Molly and Andrew. Two months later, I walked across the street to photograph a couple hours of family time. (Yes, we really do live across the street from each other). The twins are very cute and could certainly make someone seriously consider having more kids.

Happy, lively, warm, and full are keys to easy baby pictures. By design, I arrived as they were napping. Babies look so peaceful when they sleep. Molly and Andrew were very cooperative as they woke up with minimal fuss; one played as the other drank. After diaper changes with Mr. Squirrel, they bundled up and we strolled to our little local park. It was nice outdoor family time.

These images were a long time coming. Early in my career and up until about May I wasn't certain if I wanted to pursue babies and families, often referring clients to friends of mine. Babies are fun but challenging to photograph and it wasn't until the Spring of 2010 that I really started to consider it. You could call this a watershed moment because now I think I've hit upon how I want to approach this type of portrait work. Thank you to all of my previous clients for spurring me on because your requests have helped me define what it is I want to do! Look out for announcements in early 2011.