Today while editing some images and working on some album designs, I decided that I would take advantage of this fabulous rainy day and take some random photos… It’s been a while since we’ve had some good rain here in So. California!!

I’ve been thinking about the idea of posting a photo every day here on my blog. It will give me an excuse to photograph more, and it will force me to get even more creative with my photography as sometimes it’s difficult to find true photographic inspiration in everyday life. So, this will hopefully be a start to a “Daily Photo” post… I’m going to at least challenge myself to try to do it until Christmas…

Today my inspiration was mostly the rain…. What better to do on a rainy Friday afternoon than take some time to shoot some random things in the rain?

First off, my rain boots. I hardly ever get to use these things, but I love them!

They’re especially fun for stomping through puddles…

Now here’s where the “random” part of this post…. We have these great lawn gnomes in our front yard and while roaming around looking for interesting stuff to shoot, I got the urge to photograph these little guys. Yes… I’m a little quirky at times…

It’s definitely almost winter in our backyard…

And, finally, to finish up the random theme of the day, here’s a photo of the pumpkin I picked out this year in the pumpkin patch. While walking through the pumpkin patch, my sister and I were each trying to find the perfect pumpkin to carve. I was having little luck finding one that I loved until I walked to the far corner of the lot and saw this beauty… I knew right then I had to have it! Yes, it’s hideously disformed, but I love it and I get happy every time I come home and see it sitting on our doorstep… As you can see, I left it completely intact. With a shape like this there’s no need to carve it!

This was fun! I’m already thinking of things I can photograph tomorrow…

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My sister’s friend Jessica is having a baby in about 3 weeks, so I invited her over today so that I could get some pregancy shots of her before the baby is born. I have never shot a maternity session before, so this was great practice.

Jessica and Ian are such a cute couple. They can hardly hold a pose without cracking up at each other! They are both so much fun and it was great to photograph people who are so easy-going and are just into having a good time. I am so happy for them and I can tell they are going to be great parents for little baby Jaylyn. I cannot wait for her to be born so that I can get some newborn shots… but until then, here are my favorite shots from today.

This first set of photos is simply lovely.

This was a spontaneous moment that I was so happy I caught…

These two were such goofballs! I loved it! It was really hard to get a normal shot of them because they were feeling a little awkward in front of the camera at the beginning of the shoot… so instead of “normal” I went for quirky.

I love this one…

Such a sweet moment…

I had some fun with the color of this backdrop. I love bright backgrounds!

This was a really relaxed moment. I imagine this is exactly how they are at home.

And finally, a little sunset window light.

There are a few others I really like, but I don’t have permission to post them yet. If it’s ok with Jessica, I’ll post them in the next couple days.

Can’t wait to meet little Jaylyn!

UPDATE: I got permission from Jessica to post these two other photos. I didn’t think there would be a problem as we did all of the “less-clothed” photos very tastefully… and Jess isn’t shy! … but I just wanted to make sure as I do with all of my clients. I’m so glad she didn’t mind because these two shots are two of my favorites!

2 Comments » Posted by admin / Portraits & Fun

Hey everyone!

I’ve just completed a revamp of my blog. This look is a preview of what my all new Web site will look like when (finally) launched toward the end of December…

Since I’m designing and creating it myself, I’ve been hesitant to give myself a firm launch date… It’s a huge project and is slowly-but-surely being completed when I have time between my many other photo and design projects. It’s so close to being done and I am so excited to finally have a real site!

Until then, leave comments to let me know what you think of the new blog design.

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On Sunday I had the pleasure of shooting an engagement session with Mandee & Doug. Though it was quite a trek to Temecula, I was so glad that Mandee decided to have the shoot at the Ponte Vineyard. It’s a great vineyard with beautiful grounds, and the people who work there were so nice to let us shoot though they were having a wedding there that day.

Mandee and Doug will be getting married in April at the Miramonte Resort in Indian Wells, CA. My great friend Hillary works at the Miramonte and was kind enough to refer Mandee to me because she was having such a hard time finding a photographer in that area. I’m so grateful to Hillary for the referral because Mandee, Doug and I totally hit it off right away. It may have been partly due to the fact that they had been wine-tasting before I even arrived, but they were so laid back and were willing to do whatever for the photos… even kiss each other repeatedly, as Mandee pointed out throughout the shoot.

These are my favorite shots of the day.

How can you have a shoot at a vineyard and not enjoy a little of the “local flavor”?

I had never been wine-tasting before, so Mandee and Doug insisted that I join them for a round. Mandee even bought me a souvenir wine glass to take home! That was beyond thoughtful– Thanks you guys! Here is a shot of our mid-shoot cheers:

The Ponte has this great room that has walls stacked to the top with wine barrels! Though they were having a reception in the room that evening, the great people of the Ponte allowed us to go in and shoot for a few minutes. Here’s my absolute favorite from that series.

I had us start a little earlier than normal because I had never been to the site before and wasn’t sure how much time we would need before sunset. So, the light was a little harsh in the beginning, but I absolutely love this shot because of that.

A shot with the shades on.

Mandee said I’m going to have to get Doug to smile more on the Wedding day… but I think he looks great not smiling, too.

Through the lattice.

A couple of simple portraits.

Mandee and Doug let me get as creative as I wanted without questioning. I loved that! This came as a result of that freedom.

One of my favorite series I’ve ever shot.

Thanks for everything, Mandee and Doug! I’m so excited for your wedding! Hope you enjoy these shots!

3 Comments » Posted by admin / Engagement Sessions

I walked into the home where the bride would be getting ready and moments later I heard, “Heather! I know you!” I looked up to see a familiar face — though especially glamorous this day, she looked the very same she did when I last saw her in London 3 years ago. June and I studied together in London, and by a purely random coincidence, she was the bride’s sister at the wedding I shot with Kim this weekend! Both from colleges in So. Cal., we ended up living in the same building in Kensington and we had a blast touring the city together. Not only is June one of the sweetest girls I have ever met, but I was able to rely on her during moments of severe homesickness, as she did with me. I remember one particular conversation we had early on in our stay there… though we loved the city, we missed our boyfriends, friends and family- and just the simple familiarity of home.

I had Kim take a photo of June and I during the reception, but until I can get that from her to post, here’s a flashback photo of June and I by the River Thames the first weekend we were in London. I believe this was right after she and some of the other girls got me to eat squid, which I could have sworn was octopus!

I’m still proud of this moment.

Since being home from London, I realized that going there for a semester abroad was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Not only did I learn so much about the UK, Europe and the world, I learned invaluable lessons about myself, my values and what I want from life. I was lucky enough to share the whole experience with one of my best friends, Tracy. Though we don’t get a chance to hang out as much these days, that trip together bonded us for life… mostly due to the fact that we shared a room that was barely 5 feet by 10 feet! Ugh, I don’t know how we did that!

So, needless to say, shooting Aileen and Ben’s wedding was especially fun because I was able to reminisce with June about our great time in London. Oh, and by the way, Aileen and Ben are the sweetest couple ever! One of the people June missed most during our stay in London was her sister, and now that I’ve met her I can totally understand why. She’s so sweet and so much fun. The wedding was in gorgeous Palos Verdes at La Venta Inn, a great venue that overlooks the ocean and city at the same time.

I have so many favorites from this wedding and it was difficult to sort through them. Here are those that made the blog cut!

The rings:

I love this shot of the happy couple.

Aileen is absolutely gorgeous, and when she and Ben look at each other her face just lights up!

A fun shot. Ben looks so happy.

I’m pretty sure this is my absolute favorite shot of the whole day.

A great moment of Aileen and her father walking down the aisle.

A simply happy moment during the ceremony.

The cake.

The first dance.

The lovely June and her fiance. They’re getting married next summer! Congratulations! They may even go to Europe for their honeymoon!

I just could not resist the view of this sunset.

Congratulations Aileen and Ben! — and it was so good to see you, June!

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 This weekend Tu & Daniel were married at the Los Angeles Arboretum, a beautiful site to go on a nice afternoon here in So. California. I had never been to the Arboretum, but have heard great things about it so I was really happy when Kim Fox asked me to second shoot on this wedding.

Tu & Daniel are high school sweethearts, and after an 11 year relationship decided to finally tie the knot. They were a very sweet couple. My favorite part about this wedding was that it truly felt like a merging of two families. It was really beautiful to see each of their families embrace the new couple.

Here are a few images from the day:

A quick portrait of the bride while we were waiting for the wedding party to assemble on the lawn:

Here’s Kim shooting Tu and her ladies. I couldn’t resist posting this photo– Thanks Daniel (and sorry Kim :).

The lovely ceremony details:

The ceremony:

I love shooting kids and bubbles!

A beautiful, and very special, detail on Tu’s bouquet– a photo of her mom:

The reception was a traditional Chinese banquet. The venue was a great room that had these screens sporadically placed around the perimeter. I fell in love with this lovely artwork.

This is where the cocktail reception took place. It was Tu and Daniel’s idea to hang these flower arrangements from the faux tree that already existed in the room. It added a touch of fantasy to the room and was simply gorgeous.

I shot Charlene and Anthony’s wedding last year with Kim and Anthony was one of Daniel’s groomsmen. I snagged this portrait of a self-portrait during the reception. Aren’t they such a cute couple?!

First dance:

Congratulations! It was a lovely day!

2 Comments » Posted by admin / Weddings

A few weekends ago I shot Kayli and Matt’s wedding with Kim Fox and am just now finding the time to actually post the images. Even though “wedding season” is over, I’m still extremely busy with shoots, editing, and other various “get my business going” tasks. One of those tasks that is at the top of my daily To Do list is working on my Web site. Since I’m designing and creating the site myself, I’ve found it very difficult to decide what look I like best, how I want the site to function, etc. But, after I have the site up and running, I’m sure I’ll feel so satisfied knowing that the site truly represents who I am as a photographer and artist. As any designer will tell you, it’s the most difficult to design for my own business because I’m my biggest critic. Look out for my new site to launch by the end of the year!

Now to Kayli and Matt’s wedding… This wedding was really fun to shoot. It was held at the Malibu Nature Preserve, which is a really interesting venue. As it was mentioned many times throughout the day, Kayli is a HUGE nature lover and one of her favorite pass-times is climbing trees! So, for her, the Nature Preserve was an obvious choice as a wedding venue.

Kayli and Matt are the sweetest couple and really made this day a special celebration. Here are a few of my favorite photos from the day.

This is my favorite shot of the day.

Another great one of the bride. I love those eyes!

The ceremony site overlooking Malibu Beach. It was quite a bumpy ride up to this spot, but the view was worth it!

Married! I love Matt’s expression. He’s so proud!

A quick portrait on the bluff. Really harsh lighting, but I love they way Kayli and Matt connect in this photo. It was their moment together right after the ceremony and you can just tell how happy they both are.

Just a beautiful portrait.

Congratulations! More posts to follow soon!

3 Comments » Posted by admin / Weddings