The JOURNAL

The day was abnormally warm and bright for winter in SoCal (seems to be a theme this year…). I met the Korneychuk family at the beach for some family photos to document their recent move to Santa Monica from Orange County. New chapter in their life means new family photos… and they sure came out […]

It was Christmas time in Southern California when Mercedes dropped me an email asking about family portraits. She explained that this Christmas was different from their usual holiday traditions…. it was different because everyone would be there. Her parents (the original Mr. and Mrs. Cantu) would be coming, all her brothers and sisters would be […]

What can I say about the Rhee family? Well…. they’re a family after my own heart. Inspired by my own family’s crazy Christmas tree photos, we planned a crazy fun holiday shoot with a little “nice” mixed in there for good measure. We started off at Irvine Regional Park, where we discovered acorns, romped in […]

The Maghy Family arrived full of energy and ready to go. It was…. awesome. There’s usually at least one person in every family that DREADS taking family portrait…. but THIS family was great! We smiled, laughed, talked, and had a great time shooting at Jeffrey Park in Irvine. And even though there were probably 10 […]

Meet the McKinnon Family…. McKinnon Family, meet everyone. This is yet another beautiful family I had the opportunity to photograph this holiday season…. and once again, I left the shoot with feelings of joy and encouragement from these smiling faces. This year, Katie is off at college, Andrew has moved to the midwest, and Emily […]

Aside from the mountain of work and the broken foot escapades, these past 5 months of married life have been pretty cool. Getting to know each other’s sleeping patterns, cleaning habits, and scheduling preferences has been a challenge, but a fun one because we get to do it together as husband and wife. I’ve always […]

It’s crazy  how fast time flies…. and it such a strange feeling running into someone and remembering the way they were when they were 5 years old. I’m not quite sure what to do in moments like those…. hug them?… or bury my head in my hands and try to make time stand still for […]

When I was younger, the change of seasons meant different things to me: warm sunny weather meant no school and lots of time in the pool, cooler weather and falling leaves meant the beginning of school and Santa Ana winds, and rainy weather with green leaves meant Easter was coming. While somewhat correct, my perceptions […]

Grandmother’s china tea set, a big stuffed bear, a warm autumn afternoon, and cookies…. could there be a better set up for a family portrait? I think not! When Mary first contacted me about taking her family’s portraits, we brainstormed a bunch of ideas on how we could make it creative, fun, and unique to […]

I had never met Iris before, but after following her blog for a little while, I felt like we might be the same person…. and I knew we’d get along real well. Iris is a another wedding and portrait photographer in Orange County who is pretty much a super woman. When we talked on the […]