Graduated!

Amber just graduated from UCLA, and her mom wanted to commemorate the occasion with photos.

It was time to replace the senior in high school portrait on the mantel with something new… so what could be more California than beach portraits to celebrate?!!!

 

Beautiful at the Beach

These beautiful images are from my goddaughter’s session with me at the end of July.

She was so excited to wear the new dress we bought and she’s been begging to wear the mermaid outfit since I bought it last October.

I say “was” because the moment we arrived, everything changed. You’d have thought I dragged her to the doctor for shots and the dentist for a root canal all rolled into one.

She no longer wanted to do pictures… why? Because she “didn’t want to.”

This after planning outfits and the session, driving there, doing her hair, and getting everything ready…  So what to do?

I begged.

I pleaded.

I bribed.

I threatened.

She whined.

She pouted.

She sobbed.

She sulked.

And somehow, in the midst of frustration on both ends… we got these images.

There was giggles.

And laughter.

And dancing.

And fun.

 

Fun at the Beach

Just delivered this lovely family their beach photos from last month – we spent time at their ordering session designing a wall around their favorite images with a lovely set of frames Mom had just been waiting to updated.   Then we put together two collages, picked out a few special ones for grandma… and when I went by to deliver the prints yesterday I saw Mom had already gotten all her proofs into a slip in album to show off every image!

Little Andrew was a delight to photograph. From the moment he stepped out of the car we connected like longtime buddies.  And with his great sense of humor, the sweet expressions just came pouring out of him…. I can’t wait for our next session!

Family Portraits at the Beach

Catching up on blogging photo sessions…. this was my first beach session for 2011 and despite it being March…. it was cold!  However, this family didn’t let a little thing like chilly weather stop them; we just squished them in together (for warmth) and kept shooting!

Actually, despite most people thinking bright sunny days are the ideal beach session weather, the opposite is actually true: I prefer overcast days. We have better even lighting, and no squinting.  The beach is open to us to go where we please on cloudy days.

This, however, was not your average overcast day: sunset came an hour early due to heavy cloud cover. In addition, it started pouring rain about 30 minutes after we packed up and headed to the cars.

And yet… does it matter? They had a great photo session at the beach, and these images are going up on their walls to showcase all the fun they had that evening….