Apparently I have the worlds worst luck with beach shoots and ZERO sunsets ;) I can't even remember the last time I had a beach shoot when there was actually SUN and a sunset. Saturday rolled around and it was a beautiful, sunny, warm day.......well up in my area anyway. The P family was visiting from Pasadena, vacationing at The Hotel Del Coronado and wanted to do the shoot there (which was cool for me since I hadn't been there since I was a kid. But acck....crossing the Coronado Bridge freaks me out). I had some cool shots envisioned.....but they entailed a SUNSET.....something that we didn't get that evening (yet, OF COURSE I saw it on my drive home as I neared North County. Apparently it was just fine (gorgeous, pink/orange sunset) up there, but nothing but clouds and gloom down south). It's ok though.....sun or no sun, they BROUGHT the "sunshine".....in form of their two adorable kids.....Matteo and Valentina :) 

 

Matteo wasn't feeling too good, but was a trooper anyway :)  He did give me a few "looks" though ;) haha..........

 

Summer has officially started here in the Cruz household! Miss PJ graduated from preschool last week, so along with shoots, editing, shoots for PJ, selling a bunch of PJ's stuff and getting ready to give her room a make-over and such, i'm trying to enjoy this short summer with her since she starts Kindergarten in August (p.s - I still think it's weird that school starts in August nowadays). I took this past weekend off for Fathers Day, just got home from spending the day at Sea World with miss PJ...and since my next shoots aren't until Saturday and next week, I wanted to do a quick catch up post on things going on.....

 

(1) *THE WEEK OF WOW!* - Starting on Monday - July 5th, I will be doing "The Week of WOW". What is the week of wow, you ask?  Well, July 10th is Lot116's      *3 YEAR* Anniversary! Last year I gave away 2 shoots for my 2 year anniversary....but I wanted to do something different this year. Since Lot116 wouldn't be what it is without the love and support of so many of you......I wanted to give back to those who have helped make Lot116 what it is. Sooooo.......I contacted some of my favorite vendors and will be doing giveaways ALL.WEEK.LONG! How do you win? It's as easy as leaving a comment on my Lot116 Facebook page. In order to do that, you'll need to "fan/like" Lot116 on Facebook, so be sure to do that before the giveaways start up!

 

 

(2) *FORMSPRING.me* - Wanna ask me a question? Wanna learn more about me? Visit www.formspring.me/jc2 and read/ask away! Please read before asking though....since a lot of the questions I receive have already been answered before....some numerous times ;)

 

 

(3) *CLICKIN' MOMS* - Are you a mom/woman just starting out in the biz? Maybe just a mom who is looking to learn more about photography so that you can capture better photos of your own kiddos? If so, I highly recommend joining "Clickin' Moms". You can ask questions, share photos, get tips/tricks, find things for sale, etc, etc. It's a wealth of knowledge and a wonderful group of women. Ready to join? Just click on the banner/link below and you'll be learning and loving in minutes!.....

 

 

(4) *"DO YOU SHOOT WEDDINGS?"* - I've gotten this question 3 times since yesterday, so I thought I would answer that here (for future visitors). No, although i'm flattered,  I don't shoot weddings....but I have lots of wonderful friends who I can recommend! :)  

 

Alrighty, well keep posted for sneak peeks in a few days....and hopefully some other cool news in the next few weeks :)  Thank you for visiting!! :) 

I know Fathers Day isn't until Sunday......but reality is that most people aren't online on the weekends, so I figured I would post a little early ;) 

Anyway, last year I booked a session with my wonderful friend Cindy of Orange Turtle Photography. Instead of family pics (oops, that reminds me that we still need some taken this year!), I wanted to book a shoot with my dad and my sisters. My dad will be 78 years old this fall.....and I realized we had NO good photos with him. All of the photos we have are just random snapshots from meeting up for breakfast or lunch, trips to Sea World, birthday parties, etc. I wanted to have some great photos to put up....and I knew Cindy would work her magic, as always.  

This post is dedicated to our amazing dad. To give you a small idea of how amazing our dad is, after our parents divorced (I believe I was in 4th or 5th grade?), our dad raised us, while also working full time. Big deal, you say? Yes, it is. This man woke up EVERY morning and made us breakfast. No, not cereal and toast, a COMPLETE breakfast. We usually had eggs (and keep in mind we ALL liked our eggs cooked differently....and YES, he would cook scrambled, over-hard AND sunny side up), bacon, toast, a glass of juice....AND a Flintstone vitamin next to our juice. On top of making us breakfast....he also packed all of our lunches....and again, of course we couldn't be easy. One liked ham, one liked turkey, one liked tuna, etc....and one liked potato chips, one liked Fritos and another liked Doritos.  He also gave in when we brought home a random kitten one day. He let us get pet hamsters and rabbits. He made it to soccer games, cross country and track races, paid for clothing, gas, dresses for dances, etc...on top of everything else. Oh and as if parenting already isn't hard enough....can you imagine a father raising 3 TEENAGE girls? Oy vey. Of course now that i'm old enough to realize what a complete pain in the ass I was.....I can't even begin to imagine what we (ok, mainly I - haha) put him through.  Well we all got married, had children....and he is still the man that send ALL of us cards on EVERY.single.holiday. Yes, the kids ALL (even if he has to send 2 to 1 house) get cards on Valentines Day, St Patricks Day, graduation, etc....and we all receive cards on Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Christmas, etc.  I'm starting to wonder if my dad owns stock in Hallmark ;) If not, I bet you he knows the names of every person working at his local Hallmark store. That's just how he is. He's that cute old guy that walks to Starbucks (sorry, he corrected me - haha!) McDonalds each morning and they all know him by name and knows exactly what he wants (coffee - black) ;) The grandkids are spoiled with Zoo passes, gifts, books, artwork, you name it.  I could go on and on about how amazing our dad is....but let's get to some of the pics ;)   Happy Fathers Day Dad! We love you!! :) 

 

Cindy - Thank you again for taking your time and talent to capture these memories for us! You are an awesome friend....and an amazing photographer. 

Clients/visitors - Yes, i'm booked up for the year, but if you are looking for some gorgeous family pics, book a session with Cindy at Orange Turtle Photography. I recommend her 100%! :)   

~*HAPPY FATHERS DAY*~ to ALL of the dads out there!....including my amazing husband, Mark! :)  I could easily do a whole post on how amazing he is too....but ummm....he hates having his picture taken...so I would be lacking photos ;) 

Oh and a VERY special thank you to each and every dad who has had to deal with being "tortured" with taking family pics with me ;) 98% of the dads LOATHE having photos taken, but they do it for their wives and their kids. So thank you all for being good sports and dealing with it for an hour or so ;) Hopefully the torture has been worth it ;) ....and thank you to the dad's who have personally emailed me to thank me for the photos afterwards. It's always awesome...especially coming from the dads :) 

Enjoy your weekend everyone! :) 

When I first met Sean (age 5) and his mommy, Sean was acting really shy, not saying anything, looking everywhere but at me, etc. It's totally normal and happens quite often, but when you're a photographer, you do get a little nervous and wonder if you can break their shell. All it took was a little sword fighting....and it was all smiles, giggles and fun after that ;) Even when we were done, Sean still wanted to stay and sword fight....and told his mom that he wanted to come back to that exact spot to sword fight (keep in mind they live a good 45 min away - haha). Sorry V, I hope I didn't create a "sword fighting" monster who is asking you 24/7 to sword fight with him now ;) Oh and yes, we started off at one of my most requested locations....."the green wall" (per mama) :) 

 

Sean was soooo funny.....

 

.....and of course we ended with more sword fighting (per Sean's request) :)

 

......and a quick thank you to a few of our special guests......

Zenia contacted me a few weeks ago and told me about a new blog that she was launching, called Inspire Me Baby, and asked if she could showcase the "retro/vintage" shoot I did (which happens to be the same family I posted about yesterday!). I was flattered and then even more flattered to find out that they chose me for their very first feature!  Check out my showcase here :)