37 weeks pregnant and I just knew I wanted to document this special time with our rainbow baby still in my belly. Between school, work, and all the kids activities though, it was so hard to find that free evening. It was a random weekday where we all happened to be at home. I looked out the window and saw the sunset was going to be beautiful. With that, we ran like madmen and women and got ourselves together in 20 minutes flat. Rushing up to the hill by our house I knew we had about 15 minutes of sunlight left. I figured if my husband could just grab a single good one I would be so happy. Well, my kids were dreams, my husband outdid himself, and they gave me the most special gift of this pregnancy. I will cherish these photos forever with my greatest loves.
Engagement Session in Newport Beach | Orange County Family Photographer
These two: cutest ever!!! I cannot choose a favorite from my time with them! Engagement sessions will forever and always have my heart, and these two brought it with all their love and sweetness. This was one of my very last sessions I did before taking my maternity leave, and it didn’t disappoint. We met along the coast of Newport at a mostly empty winter beach. And speaking of love: COLOR!! I just love the choices of her blue and pink dresses and the way they brought that extra pop to the scene. Give me all the fun loving, colorful, Newport beach couples please? :)
Watching Your Family Grow | Laguna and Newport Beach Family Photographer
I absolutely love meeting new families and capturing their special moments behind my lens. I always feel like we’re all best friends by the end. :) But when my best friends come back year after year, that is a whole other level of love for me! Watching families grow behind my camera is such a special gift that I did not realize would be so special when I had first started out in photography. I met this particular family when brother was just an only child. I still remember when I got the message they were expecting their little girl. I have been able to see these little beach babes become little toddlers and preschoolers. It has been such a joy seeing them each year and getting to tell their story over and over again.
Let's Say Goodbye to the Stuffy Photoshoots | Newport Beach Family Photographer
If you’re wanting the super posed, super perfect children, photo session… I’m probably not your best bet! :) Give me all the fun, happy families, please. Swing those kids around and throw them in the air. Chase them till you’re both ready to crash by the end. Energy, excitement, and love of life is what children are made of, and how I love to capture that true sense of who they are. I fully believe when you look back at all this joy it will be well worth the chaos that most often defines a family photo session at the beach. We will leave full of sand, a little bit of exhaustion, and priceless memories of your beautiful life together.
This is the second time I had the privilege of getting this family behind my lens. The last time big sister was in her momma’s belly for our first maternity session together. Now they are getting ready to add a baby brother to the mix, and I couldn’t be more excited for them. The weather was absolutely perfect at Newport Beach this evening with the sun illuminating their sweet love. Let the photos speak for themselves—stuffy photos are so yesterday’s news. ;)
Engagement Photos Forever Please | Newport Beach Family Photographer
I don’t think I’ll ever grow tired of shooting engagement and couple’s photos! I mean who doesn’t like getting to pretend like you’re creating a romance story on the beach, right? ;) When you find the one your soul was made for, there really is nothing like it. Holding hands with your best friend till you’re old and gray.
Maternity Sessions in the Cold Still Works: Newport Beach Family Photographer
Winter photo sessions are my very personal favorite! Yes, it is cold. Yes, I have to go unthaw in a hot shower when I get home. But, also, YES, to empty beaches!! Not only does a small crowd help make it so much easier to get those beautiful landscape shots, but the comfort level is next level. Unless you model for a living, no one is usually super comfortable being behind a camera. But how about being behind a camera with people sitting on the sand just staring at you? Or trying to get a shot and having to keep waiting for others to walk by? In the winter months we get to erase all of that, and just concentrate on having fun! And hello, the fun I had with this beautiful, growing family! These two are going to be the BEST parents ever!
Also, side note: who else wants to wear a yellow dress on the beach?! I absolutely loved the way this color popped among the sunset!
You Can Have Fun at Your Family Photo Session | Newport Beach Photographer
Gone are the days of stuffy fake smiles at the lady you just met. Hello to having fun on the beach together, playing and dancing, and enjoying an hour together on the sand. When you allow your family to make it a good time, that is where the magic begins. Yes, I “pose” you, putting you in the good light and giving simple prompts to create some fun and sweet moments. But letting yourselves enjoy the moments, allowing your children to run and dance…. Tickles and cuddles and creating those moments of togetherness—that is the type of photography I love. And it’s not so hard when we work together to make it happen. :) Newport gives us its big playground, let’s enjoy it while the kids are young. :)
Sunset Love on the Beach | Newport and Laguna Beach Engagement Photographer
These two were my first session of the new year, and they made for such a fun way to start it off too! Since I don’t shoot weddings, I also don’t do a ton of engagement sessions. Because of this I am extra excited whenever I have the opportunity to photograph this sweet love on the sand. I cannot describe how much I love witnessing each side of family behind my lens; from the beginning of two people falling in love, to hanging out years later with their teenage kids. Each moment is beautiful in itself, and each one worth capturing. I love to think how their kids will look back at these someday. I have just a couple of old polaroid pictures of my own mom and dad and how much fun it still is to look at them now. That place where their own love story was all just beginning to unfold.
That Beach Photographer Life | Newport and Laguna Beach Family Photographer
I remember the first time we came to Newport on vacation. It all seemed like a dream that people actually lived their day to day in a place like this. I remember walking on the beach one afternoon while my family was napping thinking how unreal it would be to call this town home. Fast forward seven years later and the beach is now my backyard. Like most everything in life, I unfortunately don’t feel quite the hazy dream when I step onto the sand anymore. However, it’s still one of our favorite places to come hang out at on the weekends. And those sunsets continue to make me oh so happy every time I get to shoot a family in front of it! Especially when the family has as much joy as this one! I’ve had the privilege of watching these boys behind my camera since the youngest was just a little baby. Each year with them is my new favorite! So much love and happiness, the sun and sky seemed to want to laugh right along with them. :)
Two Months Old and Already a Beach Babe | Newport Beach Family Photographer
This sweet family was moving out of state and wanted to capture some memories before leaving their Newport Beach home. Baby girl was only two months old and oh my goodness gave me alllll the baby fever again! My Adele was this same age just last year at this time and yet it already seems so long ago that she was so itty bitty like this. I say it over and over, but I will repeat again: take all the photos. Record all the videos. Capture every last memory and moment as they really will be here and gone before you blink.
I very rarely photograph such a young age at the beach but this doll was made for the camera! She stayed calm and alert for our entire time together, moving her big eyes between her momma and the camera! There really is something about that ocean roar that puts even the smallest of us at peace. Orange County will miss this family, but luckily they will be back to visit often. I’m already looking forward to the next time I get to have them behind my camera again!
Give Me All the Maternity Photoshoots Please | Newport and Laguna Beach Family Photographer
I feel like the luckiest photographer as I almost always have at least one or two maternity photoshoots each month! I have no doubt they will forever be one of my very favorite genres to shoot. I never take it lightly that I have the privilege to document this priceless moment in time for these growing families. We met for this photoshoot in the middle of Southern California’s “June gloom” so made sure to arrive extra early just in case the clouds stayed thick. I was so happy when the afternoon winds blew all but the beautiful skies away for these sweetest parents to be. And how perfect that Newport beach showed up with its pinks and purples for baby girl!
Beaches and Bellies | Newport and Laguna Beach Maternity Photographer
Have I happened to mention once or twice how much I love photographing maternity sessions?? ;) There are just no adequate words to describe how beautiful this time is. Watching as your belly expands, knowing there is a miraculous life that you will have the privilege to raise. First time parents are my very favorite to shoot, as I know the way their hearts are about to beat right outside their chest.
I love for my maternity sessions to carry that whimsical feeling of the inner hopes and excitement parents are feeling at this time. To give each mom a small piece of that unmatched beauty that is motherhood. She may not always feel so pretty. By the end it’s sometimes more liked a beached whale—haha! But her beauty is far beyond the physical. It’s that real glow that comes from growing a real life. My number one goal each and every time I pick up my camera is to show her how amazing she is.
And this evening, my goodness! When we showed up Newport Beach was pretty heavy with clouds, but I saw that along the horizon there was a patch of clear and was pretty sure it would break out for us. Within a few minutes it did just that, showing off in all its unmatched glow and illuminating the sky! Just perfect for one of the sweetest couples you will ever meet, who are going to be THE best mom and dad.
Let's Capture Some Photos With Your Big Kids Too | Newport and Laguna Beach Family Photographer
You don’t have to stop the family photos just because your kids are older. They are still every bit the moments you will never want to forget. By far, the vast majority of shoots I do are of younger kids, and I totally get that. First off, they look completely different from one year to the next, growing before we have time to blink. And at their age they don’t even think much about the lady with the big camera, besides that I’m there to have a good time with them. As our kids grow so do their schedules. I think they become even busier than us in fact as our life suddenly becomes mini van parent. ;) And from year to year the appearance doesn’t change so much. But that doesn’t mean that just once or twice you can’t find an evening where everyone’s schedules magically coincide and you freeze this still beautiful time together.
When I first started in photography I was at such a loss for how to capture genuine interaction during the teenage years. My babies were babies—I had no experience with these big kids! ;) As my own two are now growing though I realize the bond is still there, the relationship simply shifting from cuddles and goldfish crackers to nice meals around the table with your friends. The love is still there, just waiting to be captured. And this is exactly how these four were together. So much connection and joy, we laughed and talked and enjoyed our time together in the hills of Newport. Orange County was in the middle of shifting from its spring green to summer browns and I just loved all the texture and color. It fit so perfectly with all their sweet love.
Newport and Laguna Beach are Opened for Travel | Orange County Family Photographer
I have taken more photos of out of state families in the past month than all of last year combined, and I am here for it! I never knew how much I had taken for granted the way Newport and Laguna rely so much on tourism. We are beach towns, we need beach goers. Last year was hard for all, and watching businesses close for good hurt. But as things have slowly opened, the crowds have slowly began coming again. I had the best time with all the Spring break families who ventured this way during the spring and cannot wait to meet all on my summer calendar soon!
This family actually lives right here in Newport, but only for about a week more. They are packing up the boxes and moving out to the East Coast next month. They wanted to capture a little piece of their life here before they left, and I had the most fun time doing just that with them. Four kids “should” be a challenge, but they were the most joyful and sweet spirits and made for the most perfect evening. And hello gorgeous sunset to bid them farewell!
Happy 1st Birthday to My Baby Girl || Newport Beach Family Photographer
Cue all the alligator tears, my baby just celebrated her very first birthday! I swear I was just bringing her home from the hospital and pacing the floors at night. But I blinked and here we are. Adele is a constant ray of sunshine to our home and it’s hard to remember how we ever lived without her sweet smile.
Happy birthday baby girl. Thank you, thank you, thank you for letting me be your mom.
Senior Photos in Newport Beach | Orange County Graduation Photography
I’m definitely known as a family photographer, and it' is most definitely what takes up most my schedule. However, a few times each year I have the opportunity to photograph a senior session, and it’s one of my favorite things to do! Especially this year, when life robbed these girls of way too much. They may not get to walk across a stage this year, but I cannot wait to see all that life has in store for them. And crossing all the fingers a physical college is in their future this fall!
Also, for a side note can we talk about how not beautiful or posed I was my own senior year back in the day! I still remember my mom taking me to the lovely “Glamour Shots” in our local mall. At one point the photographer there thought it would be cute if I put a cowboy hat on my feet and held them high into the air. Not sure where it all came from, but at the time I loved the images nonetheless, and my mom has the three she purchased hanging on her wall to this day. :)
Let's Go Play in the Fields | Newport and Laguna Beach Family Photographer
That one time of year when it spits a bit of rain here in Orange County and we all go crazy with our tease of green. ;) Seriously though, I am totally and completely obsessed with late winter/early spring here in Newport and the way it brings its life to our usual brown landscape. If only it could last all year!
I have had the privilege of watching this family grow from the time this sweet girl was just a fruit size in her momma’s belly. I have photographed the bump, newborn, one year, and now the big two. I cannot express how much it means to me when families come back year after year. I feel like they become old friends and we are able to pick right back up from where we started last. The connection these three hold together is pure beauty, and I just love the way the light and hills reflected it for them this evening. So much love, laughter, and even a spot of purple wildflowers on this late February day.
Is the Beach Best for Your Family Photoshoot? | Newport and Laguna Beach Family Photographer
Is the beach the best spot to have your family captured? It depends one hundred percent on your kids! I have shot children who were absolutely terrified of the ocean’s roar and waves. We’ve had to go up top just to get them away from it all! I also have kids who are one hundred percent in their natural element of pure joy and laughter when playing along the sandy shoreline. If your kids are the latter type, then definitely, let’s go for it! Putting children in an area where they can really run, play, and be themselves is a set up for the best kind of photos.
Two small high energy boys “should” be a difficult set up, right? But these little guys are absolute lovers of the beach and it showed completely during our time together. We tickled, ran, and flew, but in between each moment captured big brother was able to be in his natural element and baby could take in the awesomeness of everything around him. It was the perfect place to allow a fun and easy going atmosphere but also capture some magic.
So to recap, should you be choosing the beach for your own family backdrop? Let your children decide! :)
First Family Photo Shoot of 2021: Laguna and Newport Beach Photographer
When you get to start the new year taking photos with this family, you just know it’s going to be a good one! They were such a breath of fresh air, filling the beach with all their love and laughter. Winter beaches will forever be a favorite for me as a photographer, because: good bye crowds! But this winter in particular we have been crazy spoiled with amazing weather where we don’t actually feel like our fingers are going to fall off by the end. ;)
This mom gave me the biggest compliment after receiving her photos too. She explained they have family picturess taken almost every year, but with these images, “I don’t have one favorite. They are all my favorite! Every single one is perfect!” I definitely spent the rest of that day smiling. I put my everything into each and every session I do, and to hear these words back means much more than I can express.
Florida With My Babies
Gosh I’ve been missing in action over here! I still post to my Instagram lots though so would love to see you over there: lifenowphotography
I’ll try to post more on here soon as I have SOOOO many amazing families to share! Life has been crazy busy and does anyone read blogs anymore even?? Here are a quick few of my own babes during our New Year’s in Florida. Vacation is definitely good for the soul. <3
