I’m so excited for these sweet friends! They welcomed their first baby and asked me to photograph these special moments. I had the pleasure of photographing their maternity session in Laguna Beach then a few months later I photographed their in home family session, which I’ll share soon, too!
Ugh my sweet friends Emma and Nicole!! They went through IVF and welcomed a beautiful baby girl! I second shoot for Nicole A TON and she’s one of the best photographers I know, so I was both honored and insanely nervous going into this shoot. At the time, I hadn’t done a ton of maternity sessions, or at least not one recently and photographing your mentor is stressful as heck!! I felt like I didn’t know how to direct or any ideas went straight out of my mind! It was overwhelming, but fun at the same time. Even though she told me she loves my photos (and I believe her), it’s still intimidating and I wanted to deliver the best photos to her and Emma.
We met at Top of the World at golden hour and let me tell you, it was beyond dreamy! The light was perfect and the hills looked awesome in the background. It’s definitely become one of my favorite places to shoot at .
I often get asked where most of my work comes from and how people find me. To tell you the truth, it’s A LOT of word of mouth with the occasional “I found you on Pinterest/Google/Instagram.” The Leets family reached out because Lisa is in my mom’s Bible study. You know moms - they talk about their kids and of course my mom tells everyone she knows about her “photographer daughter who travels all over the world.” So when I was in town and Whitney and her boyfriend were in town, we scheduled a family shoot! Side note and making it an even smaller world than it already is - Whitney and I had played basketball together at one point and her dad coached us. We sort of remembered each other, enough to know each other’s face, but le't’s real, it’s been YEARS!
We met up at Los Rios St - one of my favorite places for family photos. I shared some sample photos with them along with sample outfit ideas - most of the families I photographed rock navy or burgundy. I love the color palette they chose - simple, clean, and everything flows together without being too different or too matchy. PRO-TIP: Choose a color palette to stick to and let everyone choose their own outfits. Minimal patterns like Lisa’s top work great as well as solids. If you’re going to do prints or even if you’re going to do solids, don’t get too matchy. Remember the family photos when we were kids? White shirts, blue jeans… let’s not repeat that. Don’t forget to see how the outfits look together BEFORE your shoot day. Don’t wait until the morning of to decide to see how everyone’s outfits look together. Also, don’t forget to try your outfit on before shoot day - make sure you feel comfortable and like yourself in the outfit.
There’s a white wall on Los Rios St, so I always do a quick round of headshots for anyone who needs them.
Capture real, raw moments.
