Emma

Here is a little sweety I had fun taking pics of on the 4th of July. Her name is Emma.

Grace the Grad!

Grace graduated 6th grade last night. Not only was she a beauty she also got the top award of the night - the teacher's award which was given to one student from all three classes for personal dedication, academic excellence and christian character.


She also sang a solo last night that sounded beautiful too. The end of one chapter and the beginning on the next.




Grace with her teacher Mrs. Hooper.

Blessed are the children

I don't think any subject is more inspirational than a child. Their sweet faces get me everytime. Here is a family of brothers and sisters who were all adopted and I have to say for ages 4-9 they were the most well behaved kids I've worked with. Good job Twyla! Hope you enjoy these as much as I do.

Five for Fighting

Our family has always loved the music of Five for Fighting and this weekend we got the opportunity to go to a concert. It was so great. For those of your not familiar...he sings the songs "Superman", "100 years", and "Something About You" along with dozens more I love. Not only was the perfomance outstanding but it turned into an unforgettable night for Sam and Grace.
We ended up in the very front row at the stage because all these adults were all gaga and Grace couldn't see! But we had a blast singing all the songs and dancing. At one point John threw out his pick to the audience and later that evening Sam went to sit down and found the pick sitting in his chair. It was a riot. It is a pick he will never lose!
And then he sang a cover song "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" and when he was doing the intro to the song he looked down at Grace and told me I should cover her ears. So she DID...and it was so cute. He didn't even say anything bad he was just playing. He's a dad of two kids and his whole show was just so intimate and real. He talked about his dad, his kids and how much family means to him. Anyway at the end of the concert he reached down and shook Grace's hand and then went looking for something to give her. She got a wadded up song list and she felt like a princess. It was so cute. Then after the encore he did a little finger wave good-bye to her. What made it such a crack up was there were all these 40 something women going all gaga and he was giving Grace all the attention. She loved it! And I am sure he's got fans for life after the night the kids had.
So I wanted to share it with you guys. Here are some pics.





This is the hand of one of the gaga women...I missed it when he gave Grace his hand, I was enjoying the moment too much to be a photographer.




Too cute!

Having a bite to eat at Denny's at midnight. Can you tell we are tired?

Afternoon in Riverside

Joyce Anne needed some headshots for a business she is starting up. And we had a really great time in Riverside this afternoon. We took some fun ones too and they ended up being my favorites.

A Little Romance

Here are some photos I took yesterday in downtown Riverside. They are the first couple I've done and we had a blast. It was a lot of fun. I just looked at some inspiration photos and when to town. Hope you like them.

San Luis pics

These were some of the pics that interested me that I took yesterday. This farm had all these shoes and boots on their fence posts. I stopped to take some pics and it didn't take long before Ma sent out the Posse to do a little investigating. Turns out they were worried I was a photographer sent by their neighbors who don't like their "junk". I told them I liked their junk just fine and he smiled and we were good.

This photo was taken at Morro Bay. The rock was all covered up with fog, so I looked down and saw this boat and thought the colors looked pretty neat.

What can I say but I just loved this.

We all grow up some day...but for now this little girl was totally oblivious to the true message of this store window.

While this isn't the best pic of the day I was struck here by the willingness of people to give money to strangers. Especially if they held a sign asking for it. It is a testimony to the kindness of people and perhaps to their cunning.

I just like how "clean" this shot is of trash.

This guy was so great. He just played away and was so happy. I loved all the stuff he had with him.

There are plenty more where those came from but time is a wasting. I'm heading home today. I had a geat trip and will no doubt take more pics on the way home.

Nature and all it's wonders

I'm on day three of my little four day trip and I am having a great, relaxing trip. I wasn't expecting to see so much nature but as you will see I saw plenty of it on my first real day out and about. Yesterday was my scenic day. I did a lot of driving. Today I intend on going to a mission and taking in some city sites but I'm gonna start later cause I got pooped out right when the sun was setting yesterday and lost my creative energy.

Here is a sample of pics.



these were taken at a cemetery in Cambria


I went on a bunch of backroads and almost made myself sick driving and scoping out pics at the same time!

gearing up

Okay - I know its been a while since I last posted. But honestly I've had a lot going on and not much of it has been photography. Aside from the excitement of stepping on a rusty nail while I shot this lovely pic for Grace's 6th grade graduation montage.

But - I have a wedding I'm attending tomorrow that will prove to have all kinds of opportunties for good candid like pics. The groom asked me to bring it along and how could I say no? I also have a shoot on Sunday and more the next weekend. This next week I'll be upstate taking some time off and will hopefully be shooting a lot of good pics.

So I'll be back soon and maybe I'll catch up with Dawn soon. Not likely!