My First Family Shoot | San Francisco Bay Area Family Photographer

I met these beautiful people at my girls' Karate class, and they agreed to let me practice photographing them last weekend. I love spending time with real people and getting a glimpse into their world. Shooting four people at once is definitely a challenge, exacerbated by a certain five year old who didn't want to look at the camera. If only I had gotten my shutter monkey a couple days sooner. Hopefully this will be my first family shoot of many. Thank you Aaron and Jeannine for welcoming me into your lovely home and letting me spend time with your family. Asher and Dinah, you're as cute as they come.

An Update

Life is good. I feel really happy. I love being a nanny. I love that I get to watch the sunset with my girls every day instead of being trapped inside from noon to nine. I love that I get asked questions like "are fairies real?" and that we have dance parties. They love my crazy dancing. And I'm taking them to swim every week. I missed being in the water. I taught swimming lessons all through high school and it's one of the things I'm best at. Not to boast, but I am also really good at reading aloud, and we do a lot of that. Most of all, I love that there are so many moments in my day that I appreciate.

And I love that I get weekends off.

Today was our first soccer practice of the season and it feels amazing to be playing again. I am always so pleasantly surprised by how playing again after not playing for awhile makes me feel so happy and alive. It was a glorious day in Golden Gate Park, and it made me appreciative once again of being a Californian. Marina drove me to practice and sat in the sun while we played, and then we went out to sushi for lunch, followed by pedicures. I walked barefoot through the park to get to the de Young, so not to mess up my toes. I felt like a kid, and it felt good. The ground was freezing in the shade, reminding me that it's February. The Girl with a Pearl Earring was sold out, but we did get to see my handsome husband, working his second to last day. Tomorrow is his last, and then we get to have weekends off together, for the first time ever. It feels momentous. Like the beginning of our lives as real people. I can't believe he has been working 6-7 days a week since August. What a champion.

Tomorrow I have a photo shoot with a beautiful family that I met at the girls' Karate class. Toehead curls, freckled noses, and long eyelashes, 3 1/2 year old sister, 5 year old brother. I am stoked to have have found something that I love doing so much that I will get out of bed early for, on a Sunday morning, for free. I am building my portfolio and I know it will take time. I am patient. It feels right.

On Tuesday my parents arrive for a few days. So dinners with them, which is exciting. There are a lot of upcoming things I'm looking forward to, which is the best feeling. For a long time it felt like we were just trying to get through things, and I can endure a lot, for a long time. Now, for the first time in ten years, we are living.

Maile at Maku'u Market | Hilo Hawaii Child Photographer

I met up with Miss Maile and her momma at the Maku'u Farmer's Market on one of my last mornings in Hawaii to snap some photos, and I am really excited with how they tuned out.

The light was incredible, and Maile was such a willing little model. It was so much fun, and I can't wait to do more photo shoots with little ones. Thank you Sarah and Maile!

My Mother the Gardener

I captured some images of my lovely mother in her garden one evening while we were harvesting veggies for a salad. Beach hair and all. I think I've really onto something here: photograph someone while they are concentrating on one of their passions. Next up: my father the musician.

Home

It is so nice being home. We're eating a lot of food right out of the garden, fresh fruit, fresh salad, fresh eggs. It has been beautiful the last couple days, plenty of sun with scattered showers and incredible clouds. I love spending time with my parents, getting the opportunity to talk past, present, and future. Tomorrow is Jeffery and my first wedding anniversary and I wish he were here. But we'll have many more to celebrate together.

1. Sweet greetings from my favorite pup. 2. Downpour soon after we arrived. 3. Pretty reflections. 4. Lilikoi. 5. Harvesting. 6. Bok Choy. 7. Ferns in the garden. 8. Hens. 9. Sunset over the Monkeypod.

Highlights from 2012

Jeffery and I toured an orchid farm  in Hilo.

We got married! Here are the photos, taken by the talented Travis Deuel.

We honeymooned on Kauai.

I wrote a post about my parents and choosing a life.

I celebrated a birthday and figured out what I want to do with my life.

I was able to do a couple of photo shoots with tiny people: Ramsay, and baby Grace and big sister Ellie.

After living in San Francisco for six years we moved to Oakland!

My parents came to visit and we rented a house in Santa Cruz for the 4th of July.

We adopted this little guy.

We celebrated two weddings with long time friends. Jeff was a groomsman for Sam and Christian, and I was a bridesmaid for Aimee and Brady.

I featured two more local businesses: Mission Pie, and Love and Luxe.

I went back to school for photography and learned how to use my camera.

I am really looking forward to some changes in 2013. As soon as I get back from visiting my parents I am starting a new job as a nanny for two little girls in Berkeley. I can ride my bike to work, and somehow I will have my mornings, evenings and weekends back. Jeffery and I will have more time off to do fun things together, and I am really excited. I plan to take a whole lot more photos in 2013 and work to develop my eye and my aesthetic as a photographer.

Fish for Christmas

We had a really mellow Christmas. It rained all day. Marina brought ingredients for bouillabaise and we had crab as an appetizer, played scrabble, watched basketball and ate many desserts. The boys got new socks. The heater worked when it wanted to and when it didn't we put on more sweaters. It was nice staying home all day while the kitties slept and played, slept and played.

I leave for Hawaii in two weeks, and I can't wait to see my mom and dad and Nala and Mochi. It's probably good that Jeffery won't be joining me, because the 12 days I'm there won't feel as short and it will be much easier to say goodbye and come home again. I get a lump in my throat thinking about leaving Hawaii, not knowing when I'll be back. Spending 12 days a year there is not enough.

Holiday Tradition: Gingerbread

Marina and I have started a gingerbread cookie baking tradition. We had a really nice date today hanging out with the kitties, getting in a couple games of Scrabble, and doing some holiday shopping for one another. We have a nice arrangement going. I find her new lipsticks and she keeps our kitchen stocked with gadgets. Today she replaced our salad spinner. We liked the old version because it was collapsable, but it had a pull string that had one too many goes. The new one has an "effortless lever." We'll see how long it lasts.

1. Kitty in the sun. 2. Marina's cookie cutter collection. 3. Kitty on the rug. 4. Marina doing work. 5. Marina-grown arugula drying on tea towels. 6. Cooling. 7. Edible violas=pretty salad. 8. Turkey soup and three bean salad for lunch. 9. Kitten face. 10. Birdhouses in Berkeley. 11. On a truck! 12. Rain clouds clearing.

Oh, Tree

Marina bought us a little tree and I picked out a black cat ornament off etsy to top it. And our little one does all he can to pull the whole thing down. The hand painted wooden ornaments once belonged to my great grandmother and I'm so glad we have them. All of a sudden I've become sentimental. And I'm really looking forward to picking out some ornaments to add to our collection from my parent's tree when I'm there next month (!). We tried to make it happen last year, but with all the wedding craziness Christmas got packed up as fast as possible.

Photography Final Project | My Grandmother the Painter

For my photography class final project I shot a series of portraits of Marina painting. I am very pleased with the final product. I had them printed as full frame 5x7s with white boarders and matted them on 11x15 black mat board. We had a potluck lunch on the final day to present our work, and I invited Marina to come. She baked a pear frangipane tart, and was a big hit, as always. I am so lucky she's mine.