It’s a precious time right before school starts, and I’m always a little sad during this time. My sense of nostalgia was really strong, and I really wanted to capture my kids authentically at this threshold. We always love the beach, and it’s a treat for us. So, we headed there for our last hoorah of the summer.

Naturally, the beach was freezing, as is typical for San Francisco area beaches! We started out wrapped up in our towels to stay warm, but we soon shed them as we started to explore and play.

A little more grown up. A little more serious. Yet, still a little young and silly. I love to capture all the different expressions that my children show.

My oldest always loves to make things with her hands.

She tunes out the crazy mud fight between her brother and sister until her creation is finished.

Meanwhile, these two run around slinging mud at each other. They think it’s hilarious! (I do, too.)

I love the wind in their messy hair.

He got so dirty that I was cleaning sand out of his ears at the end of the day!

He still has chubby cheeks and peach fuzz.

A day is not complete until sand gets between his toes.

I love the drama of this.

They are so big.

But, I’ll always remember them like this.

I love the dreamy quality of this. It’s like a memory that’s not clear anymore. Rather than being about details, this image is about a feeling.

A time of childhood ends. A new year begins.

Baby S is both joyful and a joy to know. He is curious, charming, and smart.

S’s name means “smile,” and he was always full of smiles whenever I came to visit. When I arrived at our portrait session, Baby S had just woken up. He greeted me with beaming smiles and laughter. His mom and dad had told me during our consultation that this is how they are greeted everyday when Baby S wakes up from his naps. How lucky they are! How cute are his two front teeth??

Mom told me how she loved all his little details—how his toes curled, how he held things with his fingers, his curly hair, how he smiled and frowned. These were some of the details that I made sure to capture during our session.

I was so touched by Mom and Dad’s dedication to their son. They told me how they so much enjoyed playing with Baby S. Baby S hasn’t learned to walk, yet, so they spend a lot of their playtime crawling around the house.

Dad loves the time he has with Baby S, and they are so eager to see each other when Dad comes home from work. Mom and Baby S wait on the stairs by the door for Dad to come home.

This is the smiling face that greets him!

I love how, in lifestyle photography, we can capture the beauty of everyday life. A baby’s life is about finding joy the simple things, such as a bath and playing with water. The way his hair curls and sticks up melts my heart.

I loooove this image of Baby S nursing and sharing a quiet moment with Mom. There’s no closer bond between baby and parent. Breastfeeding is beautiful, nurturing, and natural and is never something that should be hidden away.

Our session was an adventure, not only at home, but outside, too. We found the beautiful Concannon Vineyard to spend the afternoon.

Baby S is adorable in all his shortness. His tip-toes just barely touch the ground as Mom and Dad help him learn to walk.

The peaceful, happy images that portrait photographers show of babies and children can be a little misleading in the sense that we might think that only the most well-behaved kids produce good images. Quite the opposite. All kids have their moments of frustration and tiredness. Young babies have a lot of them. But, I’m happy to provide break-time to my portrait families to recover from these moments of frustration. I also love capturing some of those grumpy expressions. They are a part of our personalities just as much as the happy expressions.

Patience also pays off, resulting in images that make my heart skip a beat. I love how dramatic this family portrait is. Can you imagine this as a large wall portrait?

What a cutie!

My heartfelt thanks to the S. Family for sharing your family time with me! It was an honor and a privelege!

As you might know from my previous post, that I’ve been adding voice-overs and video clips to my still photography to create portrait fusion slideshows.

I’m smitten by the results.

I love how mom’s or dad’s thoughts can be preserved for the future. When Baby J. is all grown up, he might not remember very much about being baby. Who does? I barely remember anything before age 3. But he can have a little token of the love he experienced. This is even a fabulous memento for mom and dad, because let’s face it—it’s hard to get around to recording all the little details about your baby growing up. Did you really fill out all of your baby’s 1 year calendar with all his miletones? I tried for my first baby and got it mostly filled out. I failed miserably for my 2nd and 3rd. I meant to write down all those neat, cute, funny, amazing things they did. I really meant to! I never got around to it, because life just got in the way. I can never reclaim those moments. How cool would it have been to have something like this?

Enjoy!

It’s become my mission to tell stories—stories that can help families remember the love they experienced together. Children are little for only so long. They grow less chubby each day. They say fewer hilariously innocent and disarming things each day. They grow in indepedence so quickly. And, I hate to be morbid, but we, as parents, are here for only so long. When we are growing up (and even after we’ve “finished” growing up), it’s so easy to lose heart and confidence as a result of the things that happen in our daily lives. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a little token to remind ourselves of exactly how much we are loved and how important we are to our family? This intense desire to create these things for my own family and children has risen up and is ready to permeate into the work I do for my clients.

Here is what I’ve created for the M. Family. This is what’s called by the photography industry a “fusion slideshow.” Fusion slideshows incorporate video with still photography. Fusion has taken hold to a limited extent with wedding photographers, but not not so much with portrait photographers. Still photography is still the main subject, but video is added to move the story along and add extra dimension.

The M. Family’s photography slideshow is baking-inspired. It shows how the little ones have endeavored to bake some cookies by themselves, with a little help and with lots of love. Enjoy!

Bath time is bonding time. These little toes get some TLC.

Baby J. was not happy in his bath, but being in mom’s arms made everything better.

Oh, the little curled toes!

Little newborn bodies are so full of character. Wrinkled skin, grimaces, and swirls of hair all over the body. Baby J. has a mini faux hawk that sticks up on his forehead.

Having a newborn is a special time. I think it’s not just because of having the baby, but also because it’s a time to dream of the future. There are so many possibilities. There will be so many moments of joy to come!

Congratulations to the S. Family! Enjoy this gorgeous baby, and dream some big dreams!

It was also a treat for us to take pictures of each other and our kids. We moms (photographer and non-photographer alike) are so often behind the camera and rarely in front of the camera. It’s a shame that even though we spend so much time with our kids, there aren’t more pictures of us with the kids.

Here’s Ajira’s little boy, Chesaweh. Despite his blue eyes and blond hair, he is the spitting image of his mom. And oh, do his blue eyes sparkle! Chesaweh was putting everything in his mouth! Yum, wood!

I’m a sucker for baby lashes.

Chesaweh had gotten hurt and started crying.

This is what Ajira calls, “the lip.” Heart-breaking, isn’t it?

Mom makes it all better.

If there were just one thing that I could tell you about Ajira, it would be that she is such a compassionate woman. When we were checking out a little cafe as a pit stop, there was another mother who came rushing out with a crying baby. The woman was frazzled and upset and desperately trying to calm her baby. Ajira’s heart clearly went out to this woman, who was a complete stranger! I could see that Ajira wanted so much to reach out and help.

Here’s a serious portrait of Ajira.

In reality, most of the time was spent like this. We laughed a lot.

Thanks for hanging out with me. We must do it again soon!

We started with having some coffee in the garden bistro. Coffee and conversation between a loving couple are not complete without hand-holding and belly-rubbing.

Detail images images, which don’t contain people, can tell just as much of a story as images that do contain people. Can you just feel the anticipation and love that this room holds?

Can a woman be any more gorgeous and radiant?

One journey ends, and another begins. Eowyn and Kenny welcomed their daughter, Eala, last year. Congratulations to them!

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