Are you ready for your closeup?! Here is a list of things to check as you count down to your senior portrait session. Fingernail inspection – Chances are excellent your hands will be in many photos. Be sure to tidy up those nails of any snaggled edges and chipped or worn paint. Thread check – Look over your outfit(s) closely and check for loose threads along the edges of your garments that may show against your skin or a different…
What to expect at your session No stiff or stuffy posing–or sitting around bored at my sessions! I will keep you on the move throughout your session, as we literally chase the light! 😀 And possibly climb a few trees … boulders … and go on fun photo adventure to create your one-of-a-kind senior portraits! Here are three important things I need to make sure you understand before our shoot: 1. Your session is timed for the best natural lighting…
Four years ago today, the first Women’s Marches sprang up around the globe. An estimated 100,000 people assembled for the event in San Francisco alone — an impressive figure, especially when you consider that Oakland had already had 100,000 Women’s Marchers earlier in the day, San Jose weighed in with 25,000, and some smaller towns like Walnut Creek hosted their own events as well. In San Francisco, the official Women’s March events didn’t start until 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time, when…
Fall Student Portraits in the East Bay — in the crazy year 2020? If there’s one thing we can agree on these days, it’s that 2020 has been a year of surprises. When I’d originally expected a fall filled with family photo sessions, along came news of a pandemic. Then shelter-in-place orders, a summer surge, a badly sprained elbow for me and return to remote learning for my 3 kids. And just when it looked like fall outdoor family photo…
Whether this is your first headshot or you’re a seasoned veteran of business portrait sessions, you’ll likely still find yourself staring into the closet at some point asking, “What should I wear?” If so, this post is for you. Your headshot is very similar to a billboard advertisement: With just a brief moment to be in front of your target market, you want to be memorable—but for the right reasons. Here are some tips to help as you consider what…
So your family photo session is booked — hooray! What’s next? If you’re like many parents, you may find yourself asking the age-old question, “What should we wear for our family photos?” My best answer for this is to wear what you feel good wearing! The photo shoot is about you and your people, not the clothing. If you feel best in a pair of hiking boots and a flannel shirt—or a faux leopard coat and red rubber boots, then…
Family Photography with a view of San Francisco Bay When photographing a family in the golden hour, there are no guarantees what kind of show the sun may — or may not — put on as it slips into its final act. But sometimes, like this during this recent family photo shoot, you get lucky. I have a favorite location in the hills where I love to photograph families on days with interesting skies. In addition to a variety of…
There is nothing like a pending PG&E power shutdown (she typed quickly) to bring back memories of this week two years ago, when those of us living “a good distance” from the wildfires ripping through Napa and Sonoma suddenly realized we are not. On October 12, 2017 — the date these photos were taken — the San Francisco Bay Area itself was engulfed in smoke as we had never seen before. Sadly we would see it again 13 months later,…
Happy World Animal Day to my animal-loving friends out there! I thought this was the perfect occasion to share some of my favorite WILD animal photos. Up first (above) are some snoozing California sea lions on the Central Coast at Morro Bay. (If you’d like to plan a trip to Morro Bay, don’t miss my vacation guide–it’s a favorite destination of my family.) However, I must also give a shout out to the most famous furry residents of Morro Bay:…
Puerto Vallarta, Mexico – As I continued setting up the new photo galleries this week, I found myself spending extra time staring into these photos of the Puerto Vallarta sculptures on the Malecon. Not so much the sunny, colorful captures of the “boardwalk” (you can see them all here). But instead these moody almost monotone photos taken on a twilight stroll as the storm clouds gathered. It was an incredibly busy family trip (as usual), with full agendas each day–and…
