I had the wonderful pleasure of photographing a wedding in Ireland recently.  The wedding was in a very old stone church and the reception was held in Cabra Castle.  Both were amazing… 

Carmen lived here in Los Angeles when she met John during a visit to Ireland.  She had no idea that about a year and half later she would be living in the very center of Ireland, married to a wonderful man who truly loves her.  

The bride is a very dear friend of mine.  I was already slated to be a bridesmaid when I got the call that she couldn’t find a photographer that she liked. 

And so it was that I became both a bridesmaid and the photographer.  I took pictures in strappy sandals and a bridesmaid dress.  It was really funny actually.  Most of the people there didn’t know what to make of it as I put my very large camera, extra lens and flash down, and walked down the aisle with Nico, one of the grooms when the wedding was over.  :) This is me, taken by Maxie at the house before we left.

So I flew to Ireland and spent the week previous, helping her get ready for the big day.  We tested makeup artists, got manicures, went to the last dress fitting, drank lots of coffee and had a really fantastic time all ’round.  

They live in a wonderful stone farm house that has five bedrooms (or was it more?) surrounded by farmland and the cattle that John raises.  It was really nice for me to get away from Los Angeles life and decompress, and of course spend time with my friends.  

On the big day it was incredibly windy and in fact decided to hail for a bit.  Then out of nowhere the clouds would clear and the sun would do its best to warm us whenever we weren’t in the church or the castle.  You can see in some of the shots where Carmen’s veil is flying, or she is wearing John’s coat to keep warm, which turned out to make for really sweet pictures.  

I always include color and black and white images for my clients when I do family portraits, infant and maternity photography and wedding portraits, but for the reception I opted this time for all black and white images.  The Irish dancing and laughing, in all ages (and with some wearing some very fun hats) just looked so good in black and white,  I knew it was best.  

During the reception John got up with the band and sang some Neil Diamond songs.  Everyone went wild!  He truly sounds just like Neil Diamond.  It was amazing!  

All in all I took a lot of photographs, met a lot of really great people, and after I knew I’d gotten all of the images I wanted from the reception I put my camera down and danced my butt off.  I have no idea how my feet didn’t hurt.  I’m the type of photographer who normally wears Converse sneakers.  But somehow, the focus of getting the perfect shot time and time again, kept me footloose and fancy free.  (Oh my - did I really just write that.  I can be a bit of a goofball)

It’s not a common things to love who your friends choose for a mate, but John really is perfect for Carmen. I think it’s quite fitting that they celebrate their union in a castle - because theirs really is a fairy tale.  And you know how the end of that goes… they lived happily ever after.  :)

Katrina and Jackson met me at my favorite beach location on a Saturday afternoon.  It was a beautiful day and there were sea lions sunbathing on a rock not far from where we shot.  I love this beach for family portraiture because there are usually very few people on it.  More room to run, especially for children. And there’s very little chance of a stranger popping up in the proofs later!  :)

They brought their dog Sugar with them.  I brought Pippin, my little pooch too and the two of them ran all over the place.  I followed mother and son with my camera, allowing them to interact naturally with one another.  I prefer to shoot portraits this way because I get more of the true personality of my subjects 

If I had directed them, I probably would have never found out that Jackson likes to jump when the waves come.  He would hold onto his mother’s hand and the two of them would leap together.  Such a beautiful thing.

During the hour I shot their photographs I learned that Jackson recently learned how to write out his name.  He did this for his mom on the sand.

The smile on her face, as she pet the very happy Sugar, was so proud.  A real smile comes from within and lights up the world. There isn’t anything like it.  And to watch a mother’s love pour light onto her son, encouraging him to write his name again and again just made my day.  I never get bored of being a photographer.  

I later heard back from Katrina that her husband Bret absolutely loved the photographs.  It was an afternoon well spent.  And fleeting yet gorgeous moments…. were captured forever.  

The Yoshioka’s sent me their address via a google maps link that, when I clicked on it, came up with the text written in Japanese.  I thought this was very cool.  It never occurred to me that google comes in other languages.  The sheltered life of an American.  In Europe lots of people speak many different languages because of the proximity of countries.  Here, most of us just speak one.  I think this is a real pity.

Regardless of language, I can usually follow a map.  This time however my assistant and I got a bit lost and passed the exit completely.  We caught on quickly and backtracked, while I called Yasue and told her we were on our way!  She told me people always got lost going there so I didn’t feel so bad.  

We arrived for the portrait photography session with all of my equipment which took several trips to bring in.  As it turned out the father is a bit of a photographer and had a studio-type setup in one of his rooms already.  We plugged in the lights and I tested lighting before we brought in little Itusi.

One of the things I love about photographing babies is watching the parents and learning about their ideas of parenting.  With the Yoshiokas they had pasted magazine images up in the hallway.  When I asked about this they said it was to stimulate his mind.  When they held him they’d walk him in front of the images and let him look at them.  They showed me some of his favorites, one of which was a Prada ad.  The kid has good taste.

Little Itusi only liked to be held.  If he was laid down he would cry and so I had to devise ways to capture all the details of his little baby self.  His parents both wore black which served as a nice backdrop for his feet or hands, his ear, or any detail I wanted to photograph.  The shoot went wonderfully.  They were really beautiful together.  And it was impossible to capture a bad photograph of Mom.  She was exquisite in every shot.  :)

As always I love being a photographer.  And to be able to capture moments like these is a real honor that I don’t take for granted.

I photographed the Marcus, Nickee, Milan and Cali Brown on a really lovely afternoon on a beach in Malibu.  Nickee chose white for the family to wear and I thought it was the perfect choice for them.  I recently heard that one of the photos from the shoot got the family a Target commercial audition.  Who would’ve thought?

I let the girls run around the beach, being themselves so that I could capture their individual personalities in the portraits.  Cali looks the most like her mother and is the wild child of the two.  Milan is the more ethereal one, angelically dancing around on the sand. I am told she has musical talent, like her father.   

One of the perks of photographing families is I get to see love up close.  It’s a really beautiful thing! I feel lucky to be asked to capture these moments for people.  I always leave these shoots feeling great. And this beautiful picture below of Marcus and Nickee just breaks my heart it’s so sweet.

I’ll be blogging more now that I’ve corrected some technical difficulties I was having.  Thank you for reading and hope you’re having a wonderful day!

Mirthala found me a month after her baby girl, Natali, was born.  She and her husband Yaniv and his mother (who had just arrived from Israel) brought little Natali to my studio and I instantly fell in love.  She was sleeping in her little carrier when she arrived but woke up the second we got her ready to take pictures. Little supermodel that she is, she wanted to be ready for her big moment!

When I got ready to take this picture Yaniv said “Oh, I’m going to love this picture.  I can tell already!”  And sure enough, this is his favorite portrait of her.  Such a cutie!

I began exploring baby photography when I was asked by a friend of a friend to take pictures of their newborn, quite awhile back.  I really had no idea how much I would love it.  Since then I’ve come to learn that my favorite way to photograph newborns is in the studio because I can make them their most comfortable.  I use the softest blankets for them to lie on.  While I like doing family portraits on the beach, an infant covered in sand does not a happy baby make!  

During the photo session it was discovered that Natali does the same thing with her hand that her dad does (and has since he was a baby) which is to fold her thumb underneath her fingers.  It’s amazing mannerisms get passed down from one generation to another.  He was so happy when he saw it.  I know the feeling.  I have often looked down at my own hands and been happy to see how much they look like my mother’s.  These are the things that make us feel connected to one another.  

Mirthala ordered the 11×15 coffee table book and after I retouched all the 50 images or so and designed it, I dropped it by her husband’s office where she was visiting him during lunch hour.  She looked amazing!  Such a cute outfit and so trim, which is rare so quickly after delivery.  And they are such a happy couple.  During the session I got to hear about the courtship and what a gift that is! I am a romantic and such a sucker for a great story.  I won’t share it here because it’s theirs to share… 

A concierge at Casa Del Mar, owned by Shutters On The Beach called and asked me about shooting a family’s portrait while they visited our beautiful city.  I said I would love to, grabbed my Canon 5D and headed west.  Upon entering their hotel I was immediately struck by how beautiful their children were.  We went over clothes, which Amy, their mom, had picked out specially for the occasion with some direction on my part.  I loved the light blue and yellows she came up with… and with that we headed out.  

The children thought it was really fun to run around me while I took their pictures, each competing with the other for speed and face-time.  Needless to say I laughed a lot this day.  

It was of course a gorgeous day, it being Los Angeles (Santa Monica to be more specific) and I had so much fun taking these pictures.  It was awhile before the kids lost steam and said “I’m thirsty!” so I had a chance to get a lot of great shots, causing Amy to write me and say she needed ideas about what to do with so many great pictures.  That’s a “complaint” I always love to hear.  I suggested a montage 4×6 frame or a coffee table book.

I thought it was an excellent way to hold onto the memories of a vacation.

 Children grow so quickly…

The Raphael’s found me while their baby was still a couple of months from being born.  I came to their home, set up my portable studio in their living room, and then we just had a blast.  People are always so surprised at my sessions because there is simply no stress involved.  I love what I do and it makes it so much easier on the subjects.

I even got pictures of their dog, Sebastian who was quite the romping poodle! I chased him all over the yard with my camera and was laughing my heart out.  He would come at me like I was a fellow dog (I’ll take that as a compliment, thank you) and The Raphaels were really surprised and pleased to see how he took to me.

A couple months later and I had the pleasure of taking pictures of their new baby girl, Charlotte Sophia.  She was just a couple weeks old and yet stayed awake the entire time!  Very alert and curious, she was a perfect little angel, loving the camera like she was born to be a little star.  Which is exactly what she is.  Did I mention I love my job?