Life. Now Photography | San Francisco Bay Area Maternity, Newborn, Baby, Child and Family Custom Photography

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Welcome to Life. Now Photography

Life is messy. Life is awkward. Life is fun. Life is love. Life is real. Capture your life as it is, so that you can go back and remember your life right now, later...

Custom Photography for the San Francisco Bay Area

My name is Wendy Tienken and I'd be honored to capture your life! So whether you are pregnant, have a newborn or just need a photo session to record you and yours as they are right now, please contact me.

Beautiful Things

Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 2:41pm

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, used with permission

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

Posted in LNP, The Goods

All you need is LOVE…

Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 10:03pm

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:

Matt_Laura

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.

Posted in Love

I left my heart…

Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 3:21pm

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”

TheExchange

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.

CabLove

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

Chinatown

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.

Transportation

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…

Posted in My Life

Here we go….

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 2:04pm

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:

Yesheis