Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas! I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a Happy New Years. Stay safe, see you all in the new year!

Barber Family Portraits

Today Sandy and I headed down to Hermosa Beach to do some family portraits of her sisters husbands family, the Barbers. The location was Valley Park, a great little spot in the middle of Hermosa. While we were there we took advantage and also did pregnancy portraits with Sandy's sister Lori, and her husband Tom. They are expecting a baby boy in April, very exciting!

We found this really cool tree and had to take a few shots of Sabrina and her mom Michelle

A couple portraits of Sabrina with the buttery 50mm 1.2 @ 1.2

The Barbers (from NY, down for xmas!)

A final shot of Sabrina before we left

I am off to bed to get ready for the holiday madness. I hope you all got your shopping done in time! Merry Xmas everyone.

Cheers

Ode to Sadie

I thought I would take a moment to blog about Sadie. Sadie is a Welsh Corgie and was born on January 17th, 2006. Before we got her I had no idea what a Corgie was, but my girlfriend had one as a child and has wanted to get another one ever since. So last year we decided to take the plunge and get this little furball. Let me tell you, these are the cutest little dogs I have ever seen! They are the perfect size and are very smart, plus they are great with kids. If you are thinking about getting a dog but don't know what kind, look no further!

Now Sadie is her legal name, but we rarely call her by that. Below is a list of the more common names we usually call her....and don't ask me where we came up with these or how!! Somehow they just evolved over the last year ;)

saders, sades, sadies, darth sader, darth sader potater, stinkers, stinky, fatty, da puppers, puppers, poopy butt, cow belly, stinky butt

....um yea, like I said, don't ask....

Here is a little collage documenting her almost 2-year-long existence:

Excited!

Today the man in brown showed up and delivered my brand spankin new Canon 85mm 1.2L II lens! My collection of prime lenses is now complete and I am very excited. Eventually I want to pick up the 90mm TS lens, but that is not a must have for me and who knows, maybe Santa will bring it for xmas ;). Check out this beast of a lens:

I can't wait to put this lens into action and see what it can really do. Be sure to check back to see photos taken with this bad boy. Oh yea, happy Monday everyone.

Day at the Beach

Sunday was a perfect day so we decided to head down to Manhattan Beach to do some family portraits for my girlfriends sister and her family. The Thompson's consist of Jon, Kristi, Kylie, and their newest addition, Emmy. I always enjoy shooting portraits down at the beach because the lighting is amazing and the sand acts as a huge reflector and gives off such a nice look. And I guess it helps when the family is as good looking as this family is! It near impossible to shoot a bad picture with such a great looking family.

Just the girls

Kylie loves her new little sister!

Jon, I am confident that the next one will be a boy....but for now you have 2 of the cutest girls I have ever seen!

Kylie LOVES tattoos, especially if they have anything to do with Disney.

...she also loves seashells!

Playing on the lifeguard tower

Playtime is over, time to go home...booo

New Glass

Last weekend I picked up a couple new toys for my arsenal. These bad boys are both awesome lenses and I can't wait to use them at a wedding! The 50mm 1.2 is replacing my trusty old 50mm 1.4, and is mostly used for detail shots and portraits. The buttery 1.2 aperture is so sweet and gives a look like no other lens can duplicate (except its cousin the 85mm 1.2). The 24mm 1.4 is am amazing wide angle lens, especially on the 5D. Most wide angles inherently have a large depth of field, so it is very hard to get background blur. This lens is definitely an exception. With a max aperture of 1.4, this baby can blur the background like no other wide angle can.

Katy + Tim: Engagement

Today I had an engagement shoot down in Laguna Beach. Katy and Tim are from Connecticut, but are getting married in Redondo Beach next year. These two were so much fun to work with! I was so excited when they booked me because I could tell they would be up for anything, and they are very laid back and easy going. It turns out my hunch was right....because....well just check out the photos below!

You don't see this kind of stuff to often in late November! I didn't even have to ask them, they just showed up prepared to get wet....it was great. Thanks Katy and Tim for hanging out with me today, I had a blast!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I hope everyone had a great turkey day! I sure did...although now I feel fat and useless! Have an awesome weekend everyone.

Cheers

Herrera Family

Yesterday I did studio shots for some family friends, the Herrera's. They just had a new addition to the family, so they wanted to get some photo's done for xmas. Sam, Chris, Katelyn and Lauren were refreshingly easy to work with. I love photographing kids, but I admit they can be a handful! Luckily Katelyn and Lauren were very cooperative so we got some really nice shots. Check em out!

I think Lauren was a little sleepy

Just the girls

Aren't they such a good looking family?

Big sister, little sister

Katelyn's 'mean' face!

Baby Devin

We finally got around to taking some nice studio shots of my nephew Devin. What a little stud he is turning out to be! He has doubled in weight since he was born so he is a little porker now, but I think it makes him even cuter as a baby haha. We are going to try and take photos of him every month so we can capture the different stages as he grows, it's going to be very exciting!

Anna + Greg: Wedding

Two weeks ago I had the pleasure of shooting Anna & Greg's wedding at one of my favorite locations, Monteleone Meadows. This place is just filled with lush greenery and has an amazing pond and waterfall right smack in the middle. I could literally spend hours shooting a couple here and never get bored! To all brides-to-be that have not chosen a venue I would definitely recommend this place! The weather always seems to be perfect here and the staff is amazing. Check out some photos!

We started the day off at Anna's parents house. Her dress was so beautiful!

They had this very cool looking door and I just had to take a few shots of Anna in front of it before we headed out to the ceremony.

They got married in the same chapel that Anna's parent got married in. It was a very unique looking place.....I loved it!

Greg cleans up nicely eh?

A portrait of the happy couple on the dock that extends out over the pond. I love this spot at just the right time.....you can get such perfect light!

The girls......

Who doesn't love polka dots??

Loving the late afternoon sunlight.......

To see more of Anna and Greg's wedding, click here for a slideshow.