It was another one of those "gloomy and cool one second, bright and hot then next" kind of mornings. We popped in and out of shade, dodged lizards, watched for drool, etc. Oh and trying gain the attention of 2 little boys who were smarter than me and knew that there was way too much cool stuff to look at than take pictures....wasn't an easy feat.  In fact, I think Nathan was trying to tell me something in this first pic ;) 

Everett (8 months) was definitely a smiler. The hard part was trying to get him NOT to lay down and start grazing on the grass. Luckily mama's arms and the blankets she brought helped with that ;)

Yesterday morning I had the pleasure of seeing one of my favorite clients and their brand new baby boy, Camden.  At just 7 days old, Camden was by far one of the easiest newborns i've ever photographed. Usually I will only take newborns outdoors for photos if it's pretty hot out, but there wasn't much natural light to work with in the house (especially since it's was totally overcast and gloomy out), so we headed out for most of the shoot.....and i'm so glad we did. Camden did AMAZING and didn't make a peep, even though it was only about 60-64 degrees outside (keep in mind that newborns prefer nice toasty places.....especially seeing as though they are used to being in a nice hot belly)! Not once did he cry when we were outside!.....hmmm actually, I think he only cried once the entire shoot....and that was just for a snack ;) 

During the shoot I gave dad ONE mini sneak peek (on my camera screen). He was quite blown away and was saying how his wife would not even believe it when she saw it. Later on I received an email from mom saying that dad was STILL talking about it. 

Here was part of her email...... 

"THANK YOU so much for today!!  I am so thankful to you, you are wonderful with Kiara and with itty bitty babies!!  I am looking forward to the pictures, Jas is still RAVING about the one peek he had, he said it looked super imposed, not even real it was so perfect!!". 

Anyway, here is "the shot"............

Keep in mind that this is pretty much what it looked like out of the camera. I did nothing besides bumping up the brightness a tad and also bumping up the contrast (no color popping, crazy actions, etc here)....because honestly, it didn't need it and it was already a little surreal looking and I didn't want it to end up looking completely fake and overdone.  Is he not just absolutely perfect in every way???

Big sister Kiara is SUCH a happy, sweet and proud big sister. She was so gentle and adorable with him.  During feeding/changing breaks, I snapped a few photos of big sis. She is a crack up and wants to be America's Next Top Model :) 

It's funny how certain locations seem to book all around the same time. Usually i'm hoping and praying for urban/street shoots. Well this month I have 3 scheduled (maybe more if anyone else decides on it) and they all happened to be within 8 days! So yeah, sorry if you see a few of the same locations, but they are quite awesome little spots i've found so I will be using them whenever I have a chance :)  

On Sunday Carli (age 7), her parents and her cousin Jayson (9) drove all the way from OXNARD for their shoot! The kids definitely enjoyed more of the goofy pics, but we snuck in some others as well. 

Yes, i'm pretty funny ;) 

I almost put Carli to sleep at one point, apparently ;) .............

..........and their favorite part of the shoot...............

I'm thrilled to announce my 4th cover for Tot Trends Weekly!

This photo was from a shoot I did last year, but they emailed me to say that they loved it and wanted to use it......so of course I was honored and flattered as usual! :) 

Congrats to Elise for making the cover!!!

I'm working on sneak peeks from my shoots this weekend, so be sure to check back soon!  I'm hoping to get one set up today and the other tomorrow or Wednesday!!

On Saturday morning I met up with the wonderful "H" family and drove around to various locations. Ethan (3) and Matthias (17 months) were pretty serious guys, but we managed to crack some smiles here and there :)  Check out the tough guys ;)