Life. Now Photography | San Francisco Bay Area Maternity, Newborn, Baby, Child and Family Custom Photography » your life. right now.

I can’t believe summer is almost over.  Although you’d never know it from the weather we’ve been having over the last few days!  No one in the Bay Area has A/C.  We just don’t need it.  But the last couple days have been scorchers!  Makes me wish I did have A/C!

One of the things I love about summer is my dahlias are in full bloom:

So even though I’m lookig forward to cooler weather, Im not looking forward to the end of summer.  Maybe I love summer because it’s the season I was born in.  Well, at least I can look back on this picture once the weather gets super cold and be reminded of summer.  Now if only looking at it could make my feet warm up, too.  Because I HATE having cold feet.

I will miss you, summer…

Wendy

I don’t even remember how this all came about.  I just know I didn’t suggest it.  I don’t think I even knew this was considered its own type of photography.  But it is.  Oh man, it really, really is.

I try to surround myself with beautiful people.  It’s a requirement.  If you want to be my friend, you have to be beautiful.  And my friend K is no exception to the rule (OK, it’s not a rule, it just happens to be that all my friends are beauties).  Her hubby is in finance and has been working crazy long hours.  So she wanted to give him a little present.  I can’t think of anything better than some sexy shots of her.  What man in his right mind wouldn’t love these:

I had 20 of her favorites printed out in 5×7 and we placed them in a lovely red box.  The lid of the box has an image of her, too, and it’s signed “love, me”.  I’m kicking myself for not taking pictures of the box as we speak.  Sigh.  It was beautiful in its simplicity.  Just like her.

I thought I would feel awkward doing this shoot, but it was awesome!  I definitely plan on offering boudoir sessions once I’m open for business.  There’s nothing like capturing a woman’s sensuality.  We are all sensual beings and it’s amazing watching someone transform from shy and insecure to bold and confident.  That’s worth capturing for all eternity!

K, thanks for trusting me to do these for you and M.  You have been so generous with your support and your patience!

I’ve loved photography for as long as I can remember.  When I was a little girl, I wanted one of those Kodak 110 cameras that were long and skinny, remember those?

So old school...

I took a Black & White Photography class my senior year in college.  I remember having to borrow a friend’s SLR camera since I didn’t have one.  I was living in Los Angeles at the time and attending UC Santa Barbara (that’s a different post), and I would drive up the 101 every Tuesday for my photography lecture and then drive back up again on Thursday to use the dark room to develop my stuff.  The days in the lab flew by.  I would walk in there when they opened at 10:00 a.m. and the next thing I knew they were kicking me out because it was closing time!

After college, life got hectic and photography took a back seat.  It wasn’t until I had my second son in 2007 that I got my first DSLR.  I’d had a digital point-and-shoot for many years but was finding that I wasn’t able to get the type of images I wanted with it.  I was starting to feel very limited by its…limitations.  So I upgraded to a DSLR.  A few months after that I bought these two DVD’s.  Then I signed up for an amazing workshop in 2008 and another one earlier this year, and I haven’t really looked back.

I recently read a post on a message board that talked about the road to becoming a photographer.  Here is part of it:

“Do NOT compare your work or where you are in your photography journey to someone else and where they are. Instead, compare yourself to where you were just a few weeks/months/years ago. That’s the true test of if you’re a good photographer. You should always see an improvement in your work.  When I quit focusing on where I wasn’t and focused instead on how far I’d come since I started, I realized I wasn’t doing as bad as I thought I was.”

See, the thing with photographers is that we always have doubts.  About whether we are good enough and whether people will like our work.  After all, photography is very subjective.  Some people still like the old-school studio look with the grey marbleized  backdrop.  And even if you didn’t ever really like it, that was your only choice (Exhibit A would be my high school senior pictures, and I’m NOT going to show you those!).  I have doubts about whether or not I’m “good enough” almost every day.  After reading the post above, I decided to take a look back through my pictures over the last year.  And all I can say is wow.  I have tons of pictures from last year where I have no idea what I was thinking with regards to my settings.  I would be shooting outside, in bright light and have my ISO set to 800!  Or I’d be inside my poorly lit house trying to take pictures of my fast-moving kids and my shutter speed was at 1/80, my aperture was at f8.0, my ISO was at 100 and I couldn’t figure out why they were all blurry and dark!  Then I went through a phase where I shot wide-open all the time.  Even when I had multiple subjects and they were on a swing.  My rational?  I wanted that blurred background.  What I got instead was blurred everything!  And while my images now are not always perfect, they are better.  I know to set my shutter speed first if I have a fast moving subject that I want to freeze in motion followed by my aperture so I can get a correct exposure. And I know that I need to bump my ISO, or switch to a faster lens if I’m inside my (poorly lit) house and want to get images of my kids.

So I’m improving.  Every time I push that shutter release button I learn something.  Every time I mess up a shot I learn from it.  So hopefully the next time I’m having doubts about whether or not I should do this (a.k.a. at some point tomorrow), I can think back to the me of last year and know that by this time next year, I will have learned at least 5,000 things.

How many images do you have stored on your computer’s hard drive/external drive?  I have over 5,000 from this year alone (and it’s only August!!).  Of your images, how many are tangible?  Meaning you can touch them in some way shape or form.  I’m going to guess you don’t have many.  I myself struggle with this, too.  But doesn’t it defeat the purpose of taking photos and capturing these memories if no one can see them?

One of the ways I hope to differentiate LNP is by the products I will offer.  I plan on including something tangible with every session.  There will be options for those that prefer to display something on a wall as well as something for those that prefer something more handle-able.  Having photos that you and your loved ones can physically  look back on years from now is very important to me, and I want anyone that books a session with me to have that.  One of the things I’ve found that I just love are these photo boxes:

Images by Melissa Surprise, click on them to see her site. used with permission, of course :)

Aren’t these just beautiful?  I plan on ordering some for myself and I can’t wait to get my hands on them.  They can be personalized any way you want!  You can have your individual images matted (so they’re sturdier) and then display them on an easel as an alternative to having something framed.  What a simple way to show off your stuff!  You can also just grab the box with all the images inside on your way out the door and  take it to Grandma’s house to show her.  Or just leave the box on your coffee table.  It’s beautiful on it’s own, and anyone that sees it will gravitate towards it to check it out.  It’s like having your own personalized coffee table book!!!  Featuring YOU!

I’m keeping an eye out for other beautiful things, too.  So stay tuned to see what I find!

Wendy

And this couple truly has it.  I had the pleasure of getting some images of Matt and Laura while I was at a workshop earlier this year.  Aren’t they a stunning couple?!?  And as human beings go, they are just amazing.  They are both photographers (hello, can you say intimidating to take pictures of them!), and Laura is also a Design QUEEN.  It is so obvious that the two of them are soooo in love!  They just had their 7-year wedding anniversary, but they could easily be mistaken for honeymooners:

That last series is just one of my favorites.  It captures their quiet, deep love for each other as well as their fun side.  And you definitely need both sides when you’re married!

So thanks, you two, for being such great models during the workshop.  You both gave me a lot to think about for my future sessions and I am oh so grateful.

I’ve lived in the Bay Area for 10 years now.  And while the original plan when I first moved up here was to stay for just a couple of years, things changed.  For starters, my husband had a great job.  His company was full of young, vibrant people that we enjoyed socializing with.  We started building a community here, and I got to the point where I just couldn’t imagine living somewhere else.  So here I am…

My husband is still at the same company and decided that he wanted some “art” for his office walls.  Enter photographer wife (that’s me)!  I talked to him about what he envisioned and decided to spend a day in San Francisco snapping away.  Now, even though I live in the Bay Area, I’ve never lived in San Francisco proper.  And even though I’m from Los Angeles, driving in SF downright scares me.  SF drivers are crazy!  So my knowledge of the city is somewhat limited.  I mean, after living here for 10 years, I’d never been to China Town!  That’s just not ok. So I parked my car in a lot and starting walking around.  His office is by the water, and it was a beautiful day, so I ended up on the Embarcadero.

Since it was a Saturday morning, the Farmer’s Market was all set up.  I love this next shot.  I call it “The Exchange”

I figured I couldn’t walk the whole city, and I knew I wasn’t getting back in my car and DRIVING!  So i decided to catch a cab.  There was a whole line of them just waiting for me outside of one of the hotels.

I decided to go to China Town, since I’d never been there.  It’s a.ma.zing!

I got some shots that I really loved of the various modes of transportation.  Because really.  Public transportation is part of what makes SF, well, SF.

Ok, so maybe that scooter isn’t exactly public transportation.  But I had to include it!

So even though I’ve never lived in the city, I think I kinda love it.  Even with all its crazy drivers!  I look forward to getting back up there and taking some more shots of this great city…

I did it.  It’s official.  Or I guess I should say I’M official!  I am a proud small business owner!!!  I have a business license, Federal Tax ID, Business Bank Account, and most importantly, a BLOG!  Life. Now Photography is alive!  I know, it’s not the blog that makes me official.  But the blog is the place where I will connect with my clients.  And friends.  Because how can you capture intimate, meaningful images of people and not end up being friends, right?!?

I’ve been on this photography journey for quite some time now.  I’ve been following other inspirational photographers, practicing on my kiddos, friends and family and having long heart-to-hearts with my husband, Shawn, about all of this.  And I feel it’s time.  Time to just GO, as Jodie Allen and many others would say.  Time to stop listening to those voices in my head whose only purpose is to keep me from doing what I love.  To make me doubt myself and instill fear in me.  I mean, really, people.  What’s the worst that can happen?  Nobody hires me?  I’ll still know that I went for it, and I’ll still have a great blog where I can document my family’s life.  After all, I already took the hardest step in following this dream.  I QUIT MY DAY JOB.  The totally safe, secure one that was paying me almost $90,000 a year (yeah, I said it) to compromise who I was and sucked every ounce of life out of me on a daily basis (for 9 years, people!).

So I’m not scared.  Because there is one thing I know for sure (not to get all Oprah on you): I love photography and I will be doing it until the day I die.  And the more I do it, the better I will get.  So if I average one session a month for the rest of my life, I will be happy with that.  Because I will be doing what I love.  I will be a part of documenting someone’s life.  For later.  Because, sadly, we all forget things.  Important things.  But through photography, we are able to look back on our life and remember the things that are important to us NOW. Important to us TODAY.   Things like how your baby had such good thigh chub that you just wanted to nibble on it.  Just a little.  Or how it’s possible that she once fit into the nook of your elbow.   How your belly button looked when it popped out at the end of your pregnancy.  Or how your 20-year-old son STILL gets that same look on his face when he is focusing really hard on something (you have a picture of him with that same look on his face when he first learned how to tie his shoes!) .

So here I go.  I’m taking the steps necessary to make this happen.  I have a logo that is in the works and have a lot to think about as it relates to product offerings, etc.  I was going to wait to put the word out about LNP until I had all of that figured out.  Obviously I changed my mind!  So while I’m not “open for business” yet, I am open to sharing.  Over the next several months my business will be developing into something I can be proud to call my own.  And I plan on documenting that process here.  So add me to your reader, or subscribe to my feed above.  Or just bookmark this site so that you can see all the updates I’ll be making to this site.  Because you’re gonna wanna follow this.  For all I know, this may be a train wreck!  And everyone loves a good train wreck, right?  If they didn’t, all those “Housewives” would’ve been booted off the air a long time ago (not that I watch that stuff…honest).

And because a post isn’t a post without a picture, here is one SOOC (straight out of camera) that I just love of my 2-year-old, Max:

How cute is that kid?!?

Wendy

Life Now Photography is on it’s way to getting up and running!  Please check back soon!