Reza, Narmina and little Karli when I first met them

Baby Photography…I love it! Back in June, 09, I took baby portraits of Karli when she was just about 4 months old.  Narmina found me via google and she and her husband Reza came to my studio with their beautiful daughter sometime mid-day.  They are such a cute family..

Karli was a very happy baby and when Reza lifted her into the air she would laugh away with the most infectious giggle that we were all laughing with her.  So adorable!! A laughing baby is a beautiful thing.

Karli - 1 year old

Well it’s now February and a year has passed since she came into this world. All the way back in June, after she saw the portraits, Narmina asked me to photograph her 1 year birthday party Feb. 2010. I do event photography sometimes, when people ask, even though baby and family portraits are my main thing.

I like to photograph events because I slip quietly around and capture moments when people have forgotten there is a camera there.  Some posed shots come up, always but it’s the candids I love.

And the maneuvering it takes to get them right makes it a fun challenge, especially at events such as this.

I was expecting a smaller affair.  A party of maybe 20 at a restaurant.  When I arrived I found they had rented out an entire restaurant in the heart of Hollywood for 80 guests.  Family of all ages were there to celebrate!

I was really impressed by the turn out.  Narmina and Karli both looked gorgeous!  And I couldn’t help but think that with so many family and friends, Karli is sure to be surrounded by love and support as she grows up.  And the fact that we had the entire place to ourselves was great for me too, because I could shoot freely.

everyone was part of the party and everyone was to photographed.

There was lots of dancing, food, hugs and laughter.  It was quite an affair.  Russian music played and guests danced throughout the evening, arms in the air, wrists twisting to the melody, smiling.

Narmina loves to dance - and is great at it.  She and I hit it off during the original photo session in June and she invited me salsa dancing with her and her friends.  I quickly accepted (I love to dance, too!) and went with her sometime last August.  We had a blast.  I’d never been!  She was really good.  I was a mess.  A happy mess.

This night at the party, Reza played a video he’d made of Karli’s first year, which everyone loved.  There was of course a toast, and cake and a very happy baby girl.  I thought Karli handled all the attention really well.  She’s going to be a super star, so why shouldn’t she?  ;)

The best part for them was the party - the best part for me… receiving an email from Narmina after she saw the photos. “OMG! Felle! These are AMAZING!!!! I knew you were good, but this has surpassed my expectations! Such great photos, you managed to capture the most precious moments. Once again thank you! You are officially my family photographer!”

Best. Feeling. Ever.

Part of finding more balance in between being a baby photographer, a headshot photographer and having a life outside of work has meant my saying yes to invitations.  My friend Deirdre changed her profile pic on Facebook to a snowboarding image of herself from a couple years back, it spurred a rash of “We should DO THAT!” from a group of friends.  I hadn’t been to Mammoth in 12 years (!) and suggested we go there.  Mara put together the cabin for us which was a task in and of itself…and soon we had 8 people all set to go.

Rob, Doug, Me, Casey, Mara

Deirdre

Deirdre and I put the dogs in the car and headed up - the others would follow afterward.  We passed small town after small town along the 14 and the 395 and marveled at the fact that people could live so far away from any kind of city.  Signs pointed us to where we could buy things like frog balls, fresh jerky …and guns. It was really quite amusing.  When we drove up the final hill to Mammoth Lakes we saw our first snow.   From no snow to snow everywhere - !

Our cabin was decorated with dead animals which did not make us happy but Deirdre had a gay old time taking pictures of all of them anyway.  ”Look at how gross!” (click!)  I didn’t so you won’t see any on here.  That’s something I’d like to forget (but won’t, anytime soon.)  The others joined us that night and we all sat around and chatted over a couple beers about the plans the next day.

I planned to hit the slopes on Saturday only, and we all got up at about 7am to go to the rental place and take one of the free shuttles to the slopes.  I chose to ski so I would stay upright for the day.  Ha!  I’ve never snowboarded but I’m an okay skiier and what I looooooove to do is to glide down a mountain.  Just glide as long as it takes me.  And it was SUCH a beautiful day; sunny, not too cold, and not windy.
Casey, one of our friends had never been skiing or snowboarding before.  Ever.  He promptly lost his glove on the first lift and since he had chosen to snowboard this meant he would have his hands on the snow, and often.

Mara loaned him her scarf to wrap around his hand, making him look bandaged and impossible. You can see it in this shot.

After one or two lifts I realized I could do without my gloves, and gave him one of mine.  One glove on and my bare hand tucked into my jacket a bit (which I’d borrowed from Deirdre because I don’t have any coats like that in my Los-Angeles-weather-friendly wardrobe) and I went on my merry way.  So much fun. (You can see how much fun in the video link at the bottom of this post)

Saturday night the boys made tacos and the next night the girls (or really just Deirdre - I don’t know how that happened but I’m grateful to her because I’m not the best cook) made jambalaya.  Both were a BIG hit.  The jambalaya was GONE and quick.  So so tasty in fact that she’s recreating it for her superbowl party.

On the last day there was a big snowstorm so we headed out early, only to arrive in LA in the middle of a thunderstorm.  I love driving in those conditions but I’m afraid I scared poor Deirdre who had to ask me to slow down.  The dogs were content and unmoved by my speed, but I slowed down to assuage her terror, just the same.  ;) I returned to prepare prints for canvases a client ordered soon afterward.  I’ll blog about them next.  And tonight I’m taking pictures at a birthday party for a baby photography client who’s daughter, Karli, is turning 1 year old.  I will also blog about that sometime later this week.  I took pictures of her when she was 3 months old and I can’t wait to see how much she’s changed!

Oh - and as promised…here’s a little video from the trip…click on the link below for 5 seconds of greatness.  :)  CLICK HERE TO SEE VIDEO

Rachel’s sister called me from another state to gift her sister a portrait session for Rachel’s new baby girl, Mila.  This isn’t the first time someone has called from another state to book a baby photo session, or a maternity - or both!  I think it’s such a great gift to give, over the normal baby shower items because the gift last a lifetime.  I knew Rachel was expecting soon, and I made up a certificate to mail to her (snail mail) so that she would know what her sister had given.  I let her know that when she was ready, she could capture the time she wanted, and directed her to my site, which she’d not seen yet, of course… so she would know what to expect.

I got word via email from Rachel that Mila had been born and we set up a time for them to come over.  Rachel also lives in Sherman Oaks so she opted to come to my studio.  It’s nice to do it either way.  When people come here I have music playing that is very soothing; Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong… songs from that era.  It’s happened often that I’ll burn a CD of the music - my clients like the mix so much!  It was a compilation made by a friend, and I absolutely love it.

Also, I always turn on the heater to make sure when the babies are in the birthday suits, they aren’t cold.  This day was a warm one, however, so we quickly decided to turn it off.  The weather has been so wacky lately!  Rachel didn’t want to be in the photographs but I did persuade her to include her hands in the photos, where she is holding her baby girl’s feet or fingers.  It’s so great to see the comparison in size, especially since they’ll never again be that tiny.  And it’s so sweet to see a child holding onto their parent’s hand… the symbolism of trust, intimacy, and support always moves me.

Mila was a little angel.  She didn’t cry once, which is rare.  Babies usually cry to let us know they’re hungry and need a minute to regain their supermodel strength.  She was perfectly content to have her moment in the sun, basking in the attention.  Plus the pillow I use for baby photography seems to have a magical quality to it.  Even the parents who say “Oh, he doesn’t like to lie down.  He prefers to be held” have to retract it with “Look - he loves it!!” as they see their child smiling away, or even falling asleep.

The session went by pretty fast and all three ladies - Mommy, baby, and me - said our goodbyes smiling.  I love my job.