My beautiful baby girl...

I love you.

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Jazzlynne Jade!

I've been a picture takin', blogging fool lately! I posted some of Jazz's last week and here are the rest via slideshow. Two of my favorites:

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Bobbi & Che - SNEAK PEEK

Just a few from our nice session with Bobbi and Che. They introduced to a beautiful place that I've never been to before - and I've lived here my entire life! They are expecting little Ella soon and I cannot wait to see what she is going to look like...she's going to be a cutie, that's for sure!!











And I liked this image cropped one way and hubby liked the other because it focused on the word "love" a little more. Since it's my blog, I'm posting both. ;)-

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Miss "S" - SNEAK PEEK

It's a wonderful feeling when you meet someone who is beautiful and sweet. I had a nice time hanging out with this lovely lady and a hard time picking some favorites for her sneak peek.

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One more of Laurie...

...since she didn't get a proper sneak peek.

Happy Earth Day all! I vow to start using reusable bags for groceries from this point on...well, I'm going to try my very best to use them on every trip. It's a start.

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Laurie - SNEAK PEEK

Lately my sneak peeks have been more than just a peek...about 5 or more images! I wanted to do the same for Laurie tonight, but Riley is not having it. Time to give the baby girl a bath, some milk and get her ready for bed. I'll be working on this session and others later tonight, but for now, here is beautiful Laurie:

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Jazzlynne Jade - SNEAK PEEK

It was a beautiful day hanging out Jazzlynne and her boyfriend. I almost wanted to call this post "Little Miss Sunshine" because she was so full of energy. Every time we finished with one location, she would almost "skip" to the other. Too cute! I was helping her add some new photos to her portfolio, so here is a sneak peek of what's to come.

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Scouting Seal Beach

Riley and I went scouting around Seal Beach today to find some different locations for a couple of sessions coming up. So many clients love to have their pictures taken at the beach, but there is so much more to Seal Beach than just that.

I've decided to start scouting different locations, not just around Seal Beach, but everywhere. I'm going to dedicate an album on Facebook just to locations and I'm also going to show them here after I've scouted them. This way I can refer clients/family/friends to one of those sites to show them different options other than the beach and the park.

Here are a few spots in Seal Beach that I fell in love with today. Hopefully, I'll be using a couple of these spots in a couple of sessions coming up this weekend/week. Not tomorrow though - I have a maternity session at a...you guessed it: park...but at least it's a park I've never been to before. :)









Riley started fussing and a man came out behind the steps here. He told me the story behind the sun after he saw me taking a picture of it and asked about it. His friends give him a hard time and say, "Hey, Sunshine..." :) I told him that I thought it was beautiful. I also know exactly where I would place someone in this shot...and it wouldn't be directly under the sun.


I've learned to never take alleys for granted...sometimes they have the most colorful doors in the back of houses or sometimes painted walls. Sometimes it's just nice to have a subject walking down the alley.


I know exactly what I'd do with someone in this shot too.


Oh, how I love this little house.

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Just because...

I love you, baby girl.

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Happy 3 Months, Baby Girl!

Dear Riley Grace,

Wow! Time is flying. 3 months ago we were on our way to the hospital ready to have you (maybe not COMPLETELY ready ;)), and now we have a baby girl that coos, smiles, is starting to recognize people and things AND sleeps a good 5-8 hours a night, depending on the night!

I thought I really was starting to bond with you at two months, but the bond continues to get stronger and stronger everyday. I love you so much. You are such a good baby girl. I cannot tell you how many times I have run errands with you and you just either sleep, look around or look at me while you are riding in the shopping carts. Rarely do you fuss...only if you are hungry usually. You are ready to be home by the time we get home, but during the errands, you are so good. I am so thankful for that.

I love that you are smiling more. It melts our hearts. I have started singing a silly song to you and every time I do, you smile:

The baby Riley Grace, the baby Riley Grace
Hi ho the merri-o, the baby Riley Grace

Daddy says when other kids start learning the real song "The Farmer in the Dell", you're going to think to yourself "That's not how it goes!" :)

You're starting to develop a little personality too. Daddy and I have noticed that every time you don't want something or don't want to do something you start faking a little cough. It's so funny.

We have you dressed up in your first Angels shirt because we are going to Dominic's 1st birthday party and they said to wear your favorite jersey. We don't have a jersey for you yet, so this is good (and cute) enough! :) We're so excited that we get to introduce you some of our friends, but also to help celebrate with Michelle and Gabriel. We helped take their maternity photos and wedding photos (I'll show you some day), so it's an honor to share another big event with them. It's a big day for their family and I'm happy that we will all be there to share in their blessing of little Dominic!

I am going to print out these little letters to you and put them in your scrapbook with each month's picture of you. Today you were not amused with the picture taking process so I didn't get the sharpest pictures of you, but you are still a cutie.

We love you so much, Riley Grace. Happy 3 month "birthday"!

Love,
Mommy

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Japanese Garden at Cal State Long Beach

A couple of weekends ago, the three of us met my Mom and Don at Earl Burns Japanese Garden. I've lived around this city my entire life and have never been. Although it was lovely, I still prefer El Dorado Nature Center for walking/reflecting/relaxing. I thought I should post a couple of images in case others were interested in checking it out.

It's kind of nice shooting something different. I have a couple of sessions lined up in the next few weeks and of course, they are all of people...I rarely shoot objects or structures anymore. I forget just how interesting and pretty they can be. Today Riley and I took a walk through our neighborhood and there were so many beautiful flowers and trees blooming...I could of kicked myself for not bringing my camera. My husband has a motto..."never leave your camera at home". So true. Maybe this week I will head out again and show you some of the beauty I saw today. I'm going to try to make this blog a little more about my everyday life...not just sessions.

Anyway, I didn't get the "regular" shots that some get. I decided to get bits and pieces of what made up the garden. These three were my favorites.






And to start off making it a bit more personal, here are two favorites of Riley that I've taken recently - those of you on Facebook and MySpace have seen these. She's coming up on three months. Crazy.

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Honored, Flattered and Humbled

I had a few different, fun titles for this blog, but they all sounded to boastful, so I thought I'd just stick to how I really feel. Honored, flattered, humbled.

Most of you know from here and Facebook (and if you're not my friend on Facebook, become my friend!) that I entered the Los Alamitos photo contest again this year. Al and I have entered it the last three years and always have a good time with it. Tonight was a GREAT night. I won 1st place in the Masters Landscape/Seascape category! Al also received an Honorable Mention in the People/Animals category. It started out being a great night but then it turned into a surprising and exciting night...

The community asks everyone that attends the showing to take a piece of paper and pencil and vote for the "People's Choice" award. Well, they voted for my photograph! Wow. It is just now sinking in. You see, I had accepted my other award earlier and Riley was starting to fuss, so I picked her up and was standing against the wall. I was rocking her while listening to other awards and then the People's Choice was announced and she held up my photograph and said my name! Because I was holding Riley and had to take her up there with me, I wasn't really taking it all in. Now I am and wow, what an honor to have people choose my photograph.

I have to say, I'm surprised...this was another photo that I took on the fly (like the one I captured of my cousin Jayson that so many people liked). Al and I were in Mammoth and just leaving a fish farm and had to go down a long, dusty road. Brooks & Dunn's "Cowboy Town" was playing in my truck, I was preggo and we were just enjoying one of our last "vacations" together. When we were about to leave the long road and head out to the highway, I saw the group of mailboxes and decided to stop real quick and snap a shot of them. Just a quick shot...not one that I "set up" for. I seriously thought another image I entered would place tonight, but it didn't. It's so crazy how photography is so subjective and everyone sees something different.

Anyway, I want to thank all of my family and friends, including my awesome blog friends, for always encouraging me, visiting this blog, and giving me your thoughts on my photos. I love hearing from you all and I appreciate the feedback, even the constructive criticism...it's always helpful. (My blogger friend Ruby won an award at WPPI, which is a HUGE honor!, and was so humble when telling us about it. Could you imagine how long this entry would be if I had won it?! LOL!! I mean, this is just a local photo contest! Ha!)

I'd also like to thank my wonderful husband who has taught me sooooo much about photography (especially the rule of thirds), my Cypress Community college Photography 101 instructor (even though he probably never knew of this blog) who taught me about aperture, shutter speed and ISO - all of which I'm still trying to perfect everytime I shoot. I'd also like to thank God for all of my blessings, Canon for a great camera ;), the judges and people of Los Alamitos - a sweet little town that I love, and the beautiful area of Mammoth for letting me capture a winning photograph. :)



Excuse the softness of the words/plaques. I had to adjust my aperture for the light since I rarely use my flash and it softened the rest.


And hubby's Honorable Mention:


Original photo:

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