Friends, Family and a photo collaboration

This is a total throwback to April 2012 and I am excited to finally have some catch up time on the blog to share some of the things I do in between my commissioned shoots.

1.  Travel
2.  Create new projects to shoot and practice
3.  Spend time with my loved ones

I travel frequently up to Mendocino County in Northern California because I have family in that area and they are so great in referring their friends to me for work, so it's a double win!

I was so excited for this trip in particular because I had been planning a "meet-date" with Sarah Wolfe of Sarah Wolfe Photography, she is quite talented (check out her work here) and lives in Seattle, Washington.  Sarah is friends with my cousin, Nadine, who has graced the blog with her beautiful face a few times over the years.

We had planned to do an afternoon of shooting and I was excited!!  It was so great to watch another photographer shoot and learn from and vice versa.  I admit, I was nervous being watched as I photograph because it's such an intimate thing for me, but I had a blast.  I feel through every shoot I do, I get to know each individual through the lens and on a more personal level than just through simply talking, it's a bit difficult to articulate exactly what I mean, but I hope that these images will explain that.

Sarah is a fantastic person to spend time with and I so appreciate her taking time to be in front of my camera and have fun.  She also photographed me, which I usually get anxious about, but had a great time!  I also had the pleasure of meeting Ashley Roberts, an aspiring and talented makeup artist.  She is absolutely gorgeous and was totally model-worthy, I loved it!

Enjoy :)

 The beautiful Sarah Wolfe.

 Meet Ashley Roberts, love her jacket and hair.

 These gals have been friends for many years, so sweet!

 My cousin Nadine (on the left) is so beautiful, such a sweet person.

 In love with these two frames, ah!!

Cristina & lil Nathan, City of Ten Thousand Buddhas, Ukiah, Ca

Well hello there blog, it's been a while...

I have been m.i.a for quite sometime, but for great reasons! Photography has been keeping me so busy, it's wonderful, so fortunate and blessed to be able to do what I love day in and day out and it never feels like work!

Now that it is fall, I have to play catch up on my blog.  Poor blog has had no love for far too long.

That is about to change.

I am so excited to share with you a session from early in April featuring the lovely Cristina, aka my best cousin/friend/everything, and her little man, the always adorable Nathan. It's been a while since I last photographed Nathan, he is now 3 years old! Can you believe it? I can't sometimes.  He has grown up so fast and he talks so much, he is so sweet and loves his mama to pieces.

When I was visiting them in their hometown,Ukiah (if you've never been, you must, it's tucked away in Mendocino County on highway 101, 2 hours north of San Francisco) we went to the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas to spend some time together and take a few pictures. I really enjoy going there because it is so peaceful and quiet, beautiful peacocks roam the grounds and it's a nice place to take a stroll and relax.

Enjoy a few goodies here because there is quite a lot more to come in the next few weeks ;)

Amy, Jocelyn & Cody- Lifestyle Session

I am so excited to share this session with you! I got together with Amy, Cody and Jocelyn a few weeks back in Redwood Valley for a family lifestyle session at their gorgeous property at the top of a mountain overlooking the hills of the Mendocino County.  It was breathtaking, fresh air, gorgeous trees, beautiful Manzanita trees everywhere and so peaceful.

Amy asked me to photograph her and her children to update their portraits and to just capture them as they are, in their element and I was very excited to follow them around and have fun!  Jocelyn is such a little sassy girl and so darn cute, her smile is infectious and Cody is such a sweetheart, very soft spoken and shy, a really great kid. Amy has such a wonderful personality, a very loving mother and just a beautiful spirit, I love being around her!

Here are my favorites from the morning with the family, enjoy!

Jarrod + Sally

A couple of weeks ago I met Jarrod and Sally at Parducci Winery in Ukiah for a lifestyle session. I absolutely love Mendocino County because they have some of the best wineries in California and Parducci sells my favorite dessert wine, Muscat Canelli and because I just love my family who lives the area, the gorgeous scenery, the mountains, the crisp air, it's wonderful!

We chatted over a bottle of wine, they told me their wonderful love story, how they met and we had plenty of laughs during our time together! Our entire session was on the grounds of the winery, we began in the wine tasting room, ventured outdoors on the patio and later down to a gorgeous garden with mini-waterfalls, a pond, trees and flowers everywhere! It was quite magical.

I have to give major thanks to my awesome cousin Nadine arranging our session at Parducci, she set everything up for us to stay after hours, you rock Nadine!! It's also very helpful to arrange a photoshoot at a winery when you know someone who works there (big thanks to Nadine's mom, my aunt!!).

Here are a handful of my favorites, enjoy!


























Details of Parducci Winery

Mini-winter session: Nathan

I absolutely adore little Nathan, he is growing so fast and has the cutest smile ever! I may be a little biased when I say how cute he is, but we are related so it's absolutely okay! Hahaha!

I had a surprise visit from my dear cousin Cristina and her little guy, Nathan, this past weekend and I told her she wasn't leaving until I snapped a few pictures of him. Which was totally fine with Cristina, she knows how I love to document his growth. As you may remember we have been photographing Nathan since right before he was born!

Nathan is almost 1 1/2, wow, time has flown by! Enjoy this little cutie and be on the lookout for more pictures of him in a few months!