The JOURNAL

The esteemed actress of 80 years Helen Hayes once said, ” The expert in anything was once a beginner.” As a new photographer in a world where “everyone’s a photographer”, those words invite courage and creativity to an otherwise lonely journey. 6 years ago I was a newbie to the photography world, and even though […]

The Gamboa family is one of my favorites to photograph and is one of the sweetest families ever! We all met through Horizon Christina Fellowship in Rancho Santa Fe, and I first photographed their family portraits a few years back in 2009 when everyone was a tad bit littler. Well, Noah’s headed off to college […]

Fall has fallen in southern California, even though the temperatures are being kind of bi-polar. Fall means school, shorter days, the race to find that ONE changing tree in SoCal, pumpkin everything… and family portraits. Even though most of my work throughout the year is weddings and engagements, I get to change it up a […]

November was a month of family portraits for me. I got to spend the late afternoon hours running around and documenting the love of moms and dads and kids! When Amber asked me recently to photographer her growing family, I was SO EXCITED because I had seen the adorableness of two year old twins through the […]

It’s that time of year again. Whaaaat?!! I know. Time flies. Today, as I walked to get the mail, my feet crunched a pile of fallen leaves…. already…. in August! Summer is officially over, and the holidays will be here before we know it! Time to start making lists, buying gifts, planning parties, and getting […]

Last year, November marked the time of year when Christopher decided to sport a mustache. (You can view last year’s mustache here.) I thought maybe it had gotten out of his system, but one morning early in the month, I walked into the kitchen to find a mustached man eating Christopher’s breakfast. “Wonderful,” I thought. […]

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 […]

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 […]