natural

just a taste • mrs. d • boudoir session • palos verdes estates, ca

beauty & boudoir

Mrs. D is one of the most wise, crafty, & creative wives I’ve ever met. She speaks with an understanding of relationships & men’s brains that far exceeds her age, so much so that I really think she ought to write a book. While planning her boudoir session, I was really awed by how attuned she is to her husband’s likings & tastes. And she spoke of making him happy in the most generous, enthusiastic way. And their efforts to stoke the flames of love & desire & connection are all the more meaningful, as he is deployed somewhere far, far away, for much, much too long. Mrs. D & I had such a fun time getting creative, & she was bold, & brave, & a celebration of feminine wiles. Can’t wait for Mr. D to finally see these soon…And they’ll be more to come after this sneak peek…

impromptu • cuevas family • pregnancy portraits

outdoors, pregnancy, we are family

Freedom lately has meant not having my youngest baby strapped to my chest at a party–because it means that I can snap away with my camera without the added 18 pounds of chub! And being more quick & agile on my feet means I’m able to take advantage of the gorgeous late-day light & the as-yet unphotographed belly of my friend Erin, who is due in August with Baby #3. We were both attending the birthday party for our mutual friend’s little girl, & as the day stretched out into the early evening, the sun stayed warm & hovered just above the tree line, bathing us all in the glow of summer. I had done pregnancy portraits for Erin almost two years ago when she was pregnant with Jack (the beautiful boy you see below), & this time, she didn’t have any real plans for formal portraits. So, I just asked her to stand in the sun for me, & I clicked away as she, Jack, & hubby Frank laughed & played & hugged (daughter Sienna was off with the other kids). And oh, how much I love these impromptu portraits…

And this was Jack, informing us all, “I’m tired…”

finale • fourth of july 2011

events, holidays, little ones, personal, we are family

Every year, we invite family & friends to potluck & enjoy front row seats to see the local fireworks from the balcony of my parents’ house. It’s a late-night gathering, because the fireworks display begins after it’s completely dark–usually around 9:30 PM. As the kids get older, they are more likely to stay awake long enough to see what all the excitement’s about, but every year, there’s at least one littl’un that succumbs to sleep before (or sometimes during) the show. This was my favorite pic from our party this year: Sweet Neave asleep on her Daddy’s shoulder, her parents trying to beat the traffic & heading out before the show was over. In the background, you can see the finale; the foreground, Chris & Shannon catching one last glimpse before heading home at the end of a three-day weekend…

joanne choi • mom/food blogger • headshots • santa monica, ca

headshots

It’s hard to believe that Joanne & I have known each other since 1994! That was long ago, when we were both in the graduate teacher’s program at Stanford–before embarking our beloved careers teaching English, before finding Love & getting married, before becoming moms, & before starting second careers. And seeing her for the first time in a decade this last weekend was just like seeing family–we just fell right into step with each other, talking like not a minute had passed since our last face-to-face conversation (which was incidentally, probably very quick, since it was at her wedding!). We met up in Santa Monica, where she was visiting her brother & his family. I finally got to meet her three beautiful kids, which is like a glimpse into my future, because she also has two daughters & a son, a couple years ahead of me.

Joanne is a food blogger with her amazing Week of Menus. This is doubly impressive to me, because in addition to raising her three children while her hard-working hubby works far away, she is able to blog…about cooking. Do you realize that involves: 1) grocery shopping, 2) actually cooking, & 3) writing about cooking, & 4) taking pictures of what you’ve cooked! Anyone who knows me knows that cooking is as foreign to me as raising alpaca, shoeing horses, & learning Swahili. I just don’t have a knack for it–or any concept of how to begin. It’s an art, a language, a way of being–and I just never got the bug. Joanne has quite the following, & it’s easy to see why, because her writing is wonderful to read, & her recipes are delicious. I’m proud to say that recently one of her blog posts included a snippet of a conversation we were having over Facebook; too be included in one of her reflections is a true compliment!

One of my favorite things Joanne does is that she’ll ask her Facebook fans: What do you have in your fridge right now? And then she’ll give them ideas to create something yummy out of those ingredients! (If you think you could use that kind of Cooking Fairy Godmother, then find her on Facebook!)

Joanne also has a love for photography & is always so supportive of my work. It was a treat for me to be able to “play” & do some headshots for her. I can’t wait to shoot her whole family. And next time, hopefully a full-blown environmental portrait with her in action.