The day after Jason & Carries engagement session in Coronado, I was honored to have photographed Carries sisters 1 year old daughter Lila for a little portrait session around Coronado beach. Lila is full of great energy & she is one of the best 1 year olds that I have ever met!! During our shoot, it was the first time that she had ever encountered sand!! It was hilarious, she was laughing and giggling as she put sand all over her face and rolled around the beach!

Lila, you were too much fun!!

Beautiful shot of Mom & Daughter!

Jason & Jaime met a few years back through some mutual friends. Their love has been growing for the past few years and they are set to get married this June. When I first met with Jaime this past Fall she explained to me how important Jason’s daughter is to their relationship. I always ask every client “what is the one special thing you both share together?” Their answer was that his daughter, Kelsey is the one most special person in his life. I specifically told them for their engagement session last month in Newport Beach at The Balboa Fun Zone to bring her with them! Having her there with us was SO much fun!!

Their session brought me back to feeling like a kid for one day! Oh what am I saying, I am total kid at heart and we got everything that you do at a fair… corndogs, cotton candy and soda! It was a BLAST!

Here are a few of my favorite images from the shoot!

If you are one of my dedicated blog readers, “The Alfano Family” is something you have seen on my blog previously. A few months back, I photographed The Alfano Family in Balboa Park. Recently, I got an email from the fathers brother telling me that his family, also named “The Alfano’s” would love to team up with me for a really fun “Coronado style” family portrait session. Let me point out that “Coronado Style” is a popular & fun beach portrait style where the families always wear white shirts & blue jeans. I am a fan of this style and it was exciting for me that they wanted the “Coronado Style” added to their session.

One thing I always look for in my surroundings during a shoot is shooting in a small space and creating it to look much larger than it really is. During our session I found a random brick wall in the park and we decided to use it for some shots. Don’t you just have to love random brick walls in your shooting space? Yes, Please!!

Tom Alfano & his amazing wife Rose have one daughter, Maddie. They made our session so much fun and it makes me smile even writing about them because they were one my faviorate family sessions to date! They allowed me to try new shooting techniques that worked perfectly and Maddie kept running around and making funny faces into my lens and eventually I bursted out in laughter and that opened up a large bucket of fun for the rest of our session!

Thank You to the Alfano Family. I had so much fun with you & I cannot wait to hang out with you again sometime!!

A few months ago I was contacted by my home church, The Rock Church of San Diego. They asked if I would be interested in donating a family portrait session to their Miles Ahead benefit concert featuring one of my favorite bands, Delirious?. The family session was part of the VIP-Pre Show silent auction which will help send a crusade to the Philippines in 2010.

Miles Ahead was started by pastor Miles McPherson through their mission of sharing the good news of Jesus Christ around the world. Last year they organized an amazing crusade to Jamaica that changed the lives of hundreds and impacted their city with pure love that will continue to stay their for years.

The event was a huge success & my phone rang a week later with a call from The Pelling Family! As I got to know the family via phone I couldn’t wait for this session because not only would it give back to an amazing organization but it was going to bless this family with some amazing images! Our session began in Encinitas, right near their home. If I were to describe the pelling family in 3 words, they would be: energetic, humble and loving. The energetic totally describes their two little daughters. Humble & loving are the exact words for the entire family! They are one of the nicest families I have ever met and our friendship will be continuing!

Thank You to The Rock Church for giving me this incredible oppurtunity. I loved being involved with this benefit event & by looking at these images. I will have to say that everybody won! Thank You so much to the Pelling family! I had so much fun on our session & I can’t wait to see you all again soon!!

A few months ago, The Rock Church contacted me asking if I would be interested in donating a family portrait session as a donation for their silent auction during the recent Delirious? Concert. The Pelling Family Session is a result of the silent auction. This family session had to of been one of my favorite shoots to date and the rest of the images will be showcased in an upcoming blog post. I really wanted everyone to see a Teaser from our great shoot!

One of my main reasons for visiting Seattle last month was to share the joy of welcoming my newest niece Norah.   She is the third child from my amazing sister Alison and her great husband Jason, who incidentally just celebrated their 8th wedding anniversary. “The Brown Family shoot” had to be one of my favorites during my time up North!

Our shoot took place at none other than Newcastle Beach Park right outside of Renton. You may remember one of my other family sessions (Kennedy Family) took place at this park. I love everything it has to offer- the view of Lake Washington, the tall trees, a “secret forest” and the great playground setup! If you are ever on the Eastside of Seattle, this is one park you have to visit!

There was something really fun and special about our family session. I think it has to do with my two nephews who didn’t want to play along with me – and thus, kept me on my toes!  They know I am their uncle and that they could mess around with my usual family shooting style.  To tell you the truth, this made it so much more fun!  In general, I love running after the kids during a shoot because it brings out my inner-child…and, I get a great workout chasing really fast kids!

This family session was the last one in a string of shoots I conducted during my stay in Seattle this past September. I can’t wait to travel up North again, and continue shooting in their amazing city! Hopefully sometime next spring!!

You can never forget about including grandma into your portrait sessions!!

Happy 8th Wedding Anniversary to Alison & Jason! You two are great together and you sure have raised 3 wonderful children!

All of us photographers usually attend or host workshops throughout the year. Scarlett Lillian & I along with The Bui Brothers, Bobby Earle & Kylie Banks are  all speaking on the 2010 Photog Retreat to The Bahamas! If you are a photographer that is either starting out or your a long-time vetran, we all need a vacation that gives us a lot of rest along with the time to build our craft stronger through all the amazing lessons we will all learn!

One thing that stands out at me is the opportunity to shoot models in the Bahamas!! I am so excited that Photog Retreat picked me to organize the very first shootout in Nassau, Bahamas! Be ready to expect some exotic models paired up with one of the top exotic locations in the world with one on one shooting instruction from the speakers!

I think this cruise is right at the perfect time because it’s right after the 2009 wedding season & its a few months before the next wedding season in 2010 begins! I would love to tell everyone to attend this cruise and not to miss out on the amazing learning & growth opportunity that is standing in front of you!

Check out this awesome video that Scarlett Lillian & I made that gives you a little more information about the cruise!

I remember the day so well when my sister, Alison married her soul mate Jason. They recently celebrated 8 years of Marriage along with their 3 amazing children. You might remember their new daughter Norah from the recent baby session I did while I was in Seattle this past September. I would love to share this image from their family session as a teaser to give in a little to their awesome session we had at Newcastle Beach Park! I will post the rest of their images really soon!

It’s that time of year again. The air is getting colder, costco already has the decorations for sale & starbucks is getting all those red printed cups ready for their seasonal drinks! It’s almost…. CHRISTMAS! We all know the true reason for the season is to come together and rejoice!

I hope you could agree with me that there is nothing more special than the final three months of the year that all correspond with tons of food, the traditions that all of us share and possibly waiting for a big guy in a red suit to come down the chimney. Im still waiting…. Just Kidding!

This is why I am SO excited to announce my new Holiday Portrait Sessions beginning today and running through December 1st! I love everything about photography but I really enjoy capturing those special moments that could especially be during the holidays! It doesn’t matter if your newlyweds, new parents, the whole entire family, even throw the dog in! I want to take this Holiday Season to capture who you are right now and enjoy the moments with all of you!

Holiday Sessions for 1.5 hour in length and can be anywhere in San Diego County or International location. All of your images will be uploaded to a private online gallery for you to share with friends, disk of images & $40 print credit so you can get some holiday cards printed with your favorite images on them! The final date to shoot is December 1st. This date gives us the time to edit so you can send your images to everyone before Christmas!

The best way to book your session is email me with your available dates & possible locations and we can shoot as soon as you want to!

Happy Holidays!!

During my stay in Seattle, I had the opportunity to explore San Juan Island!  The Moore family generously invited me and my sister’s family to join them for a few days – giving me the chance to take in a place that is full of lush farmland infused with strong maritime culture.  It is truly a special place located near the coast of Canada & not too far from Washington!

One of the most heartwarming aspects of our trip was hanging out with the Moore family!  They are so full of energy and enthusiasm, and their 2 daughters are just adorable.  Scoping out a location for their family shoot was quite an adventure.  We started in an open field, when I quickly spied a working farm out of the corner of my eye.  I have wanted to shoot at a farm location for so long, but its on the verge of impossible to find one in San Diego.  Well, I couldn’t let this opportunity slip away!  I approached the farm owners, and told them how I was from San Diego and would really love to shoot their farm.  Full of grace, the owners granted us permission!  I can’t begin to tell you how much fun it was to shoot there!!

As photographers, I believe we need to not only lead our shoots but take the risks that we see before us!  It was a potential risk going onto private property and asking permission to use their farm.  I really want to encourage the photographers reading my blog to take a risk next time on a shoot.  If you see something that you really want to incorporate into the shoot, make it happen!

Thank You for everything, Moore Family! I will forever remember all the fun we had in San Juan Island!

One of the best parts of a family shoot is hooking the parents up with some awesome images! The parents usually tell me they haven’t had images taken since their engagement session years ago and I love getting some shots of Mom & Dad having a moment to themselves while I snap a few shots! Bill & Amanda totally knew how to work the camera, they are awesome!!