Redondo Beach Child Photographer | Seeing Red {or “how I won’t get the Best Mom Ever award for 2013”}

Don’t you love those days when everything works out perfectly, when the stars perfectly align in the sky and all is well in the world. 

That wasn’t yesterday - or the day before for that matter.  It was one of those “pouring orange juice on the cereal” kind of days. I tried to pull out of it but I was a hot mess and the stars were just, plain out of alignment – or so it felt). 
…and then I realized we don’t have the Valentine cards for school – I needed 30 Valentine cards – STAT!

 

Last year I started early and was even able to accommodate for a change.  Unfortunately, Harrison got sick and missed Valentines day at school. 
This year – I completely dropped the ball… and I was Seeing Red (you know. When you’re grumpy, agitated, cranky, in a bad mood for no good reason).  A deadly combination. When he got home from school, I reminded Harrison that we still needed to take pictures to make cards. I was greeted with the all-too-common-lately Moans and Groans – the seven-year-old version of weeping and gnashing of teeth – and I Am Seeing Red {not conducive for “Best Mom Ever” awards}.  I walk away.

The G.I.D. stepped up and took Harrison to the store to get basic, boring cookie-cutter V-cards. 
Slam-Dunk Done – Fine. 20 minutes later he calls, “We’ve struck out at three different places, all that’s left is Bob The Builder.” 

Back to square one.  More battles, more Red, more Gnashing of Teeth – all around. 
Fast forward to 4:40 pm, the day before they are due.  We get to the park, camera and prop in hand, it’s cold, the sun is quickly moving lower in the sky. We walk over to the entrance – and it’s closed. 
Seriously? Closed?
Okay. No problem.

We’ll roll with the punches, the parking lot will do. We are on mission! After all, there will be NO pre-fab Valentine cards, not after last year’s offering.  It just didn’t feel right in my bones. However, we’re in a hurry, it’s getting colder, he’s making more goofy faces then nice smiles and my vision is just not panning out.  Deep breath. Move on.

I get home, upload and view my images, smash my forehead into my palm, … Now it’s 5:30pm. The hubby gets pizza, I eat, go choose favorites, edit a photo and create a Valentine. 6:00pm – the computer freezes up and I have to restart.  6:30 – hubby takes Harrison to his Awana’s group, I upload to Costco to print and pick up in an hour before picking up H. 8pm – before I hit “send” I see that Costco’s local photo center is down.  7pm, more research, everything is closing (and time is closing in on me). 7:10 - I upload to the local Walmart photo center out of shear desperation.  7:40 I get the message that the pictures were ready at 7:25.  I pick up H at 8pm, we run over to Walmart, no one is in the photo department.  I find someone, they can’t find my order… or the order of the person now standing next to me, or the person who approached after that. Great, I am officially in Valentine making hell. 40 minutes and three people later, a manager picks up a pile of prints off the machine and asks another guy, “what are these?”  “Those are Mine!” I say, seeing red and green.  “Oh, I didn’t think they were it because they didn’t have anything attached”  YA COULD HAVE ASKED ME! 8:50 – we are heading home. PHEW!

9:30 – Harrison has signed all Valentines and is in bed by 9:35pm.
He looks at me and says, “That was fun!” 

We filled bags with chocolates (no guilt this year!), folded the 4x6’s in half and stapled them closed. 
Done – just in the knick of time!

Okay, I may not get the Best Mom Ever award but at least stars are back in alignment – just in time for Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day!

Where Have all His Ghoul Friends Gone?

Did you ever meet Harrison’s Ghoulish Friend?  If not, you can meet him here it’s worth it. 

Well, had we ever wondered  what became of him after the Blue Light Special was over we now have our answer.

I stumbled upon him at the Rose Bowl Flea Market- literally.

I had a Mom’s day out at the Rose Bowl Flea Market a few months back. {I love going up there whenever I can; which is only about once a year}  As I was rounding a corner in the far end of the farthest end of the flea market, there he was! 
Of course, I had to snap a picture for Harrison.

Headless Harry sat on the ground still holding his head as if nursing a permanent headache.
I can’t say that I blame him based on his current condition.

Poor Headless Harry. 

Now he’s body-less too.

Redondo Beach Portrait Photographer | All Grown Up

If I dug deep enough I know I could find some images of her five-year-old self; one of the last few times I saw her.

I got married and moved away; soon after, her family moved away. 
And then time ticks by in leaps and bounds.

However, with today’s technology, her mom and I are only a Facebook update away from each other now days and when my dear friend asked me if I would take her daughter’s Senior portraits I was THRILLED to accommodate – even drive out to Temecula for the honor.
  
I had NO idea that there were so many vineyards in that area.  We drove around on a Sunday afternoon to find just the right vineyard to shoot at; being a gorgeous late-Spring day, the vineyards were bursting with people out for a day of music and wine-tasting. Lucky for us we found a little piece of heaven hidden off the road.



It’s hard to believe I was a Bride’s Maid in her mom’s wedding, it doesn’t seem like that long ago and now she has a high school graduate. And what a beautiful mother and daughter they are.

Linked In | Memories on the Shelf

Growing up, my mom had a lot of nick-nacks, on Ah. Lot. of shelves. 

And as soon as I was old enough, it was my job to dust them – All. Once or twice a week, I would take EVERYTHING off those shelves one by one, dust the shelf and the trinket and put them all back.

I hated it.

Yet I unwittingly fed into this curio collection by buying little things are yard sales in the neighborhood, coming home and joyously presenting them to my mom.  She in turn proudly added each one to a display on a shelf and I began the process of dusting yet another useless piece of junk found treasure. 

^{(My most cherished find for my mom. I still remember when and where she came from.)}

After my mom passed I was tasked with cleaning out her home. All the years of tchotchke collecting stared me in the face. Wooden Buda's and elephants from Thailand and India, porcelain dogs and figurines from England,  a trio of nuns that wound up to play a tune, vintage Avon bottles shaped like Victorian women a collection of brass piggybank 1920’s style cars from a bank, little cottages and don’t forget all those little add-ons from my childhood yard sale days – plus SO much more.  They all has sentimental value. I couldn’t discard them, but I didn’t want all of them either.

I was conflicted.

Thank goodness for shows like Clean House and Clean Sweep, though!
I loved watching these shows any chance I got and I learned a few things.  Two things I gleaned: 1) I kept what I loved and what meant the most to me (all the vintage books and most of the china) and 2) I took pictures of the rest for memory’s sake then lightened the load.

 

Now days I still have Tchotchkes; what can I say, I am my mom’s daughter.

But I have a lot less of them and
They are VERY dusty any given day.

And we won’t talk about my obsession with vintage Asian bobble-head dolls and globes!

Go visit other “Link-In” memories with Jenn,Heather, Tracey, Stacey, Andrea, Amanda, Heather,  Janet, Jean,  Kristi,Carla, Rose, Tracy, Heidi, Kristin, Hanne, Liza and Rhonda.

Redondo Beach Portrait Photographer | Wordless Wednesday | Portraits in Black and White

Sometimes I need to put everything aside and be creative.

Sometimes “being creative” is just spending time on an image in the “digital darkroom”.

Converting to black & white and color tones or adding texture and grain, like my film days.

I forget just how passionate I am about black and white images.
…and how powerful they can be.

Want some REAL B&W inspiration? check out this link, eight famous black and white photographers.

More Wordless Wednesday here and here.

Redondo Beach Senior Portrait Photographer | “Take These Wee Little Hands…”

I remember that little, two-year-old voice calling out those sweet words like it was yesterday.

I’ve known her mom since our college days and when our circle of friends transplanted to Southern California one by one we became better friends. That group friends are an extended family to me, we were there at each other’s life moments, new love, broken hearts, careers, weddings, births, loss...  And I was there shortly after she was born. Nervously holding her tiny body in my arms.

Two years later, she stood in the middle of a group of adults who were busy talking and planning an event, she wanted someone to stop and play with her. The adults towered over her like a forest of Redwoods, their words rustling like a wind above her head.  Then in the brief lull, she stretched out her small hands like an angel in an Italian Renaissance painting and asked, “Will Anybody take these WEE little hands and play with me?” 

Right then and there she commanded the room.  Everyone was silent, everyone focused on her.

Since that day, she has grown into an incredible young woman – ready to take on the world.  She has lived as a Missionary, she loves God, she loves her family, she is beautiful and I was delighted when her mom contacted me to take her Senior portraits.

It was like coming home.

And as most things in life, a senior shoot is best shared with a good friend.

Thanks Ladies for trusting me with your senior pictures and for coming out to play!  It was a blessing!

Redondo Beach Portrait Photographer | Lovin’ Me Some White Space

I love those days when the moon and the stars all line up and everything falls into place perfectly… smoothly…just like butter.  That’s what it was like the day my previous employer, Temple Menorah, hired me to do a special shoot for a new marketing campaign early last month.
They had an idea that meant taking pictures of individuals of all ages, almost 60 people in less than four hours, on a white background. As much as I love shooting outside or in and around client’s homes with natural light, I happen to LOVE the look of clean white, high-key backgrounds so I was excited to take on this challenge.
And now, every time I look at these images, from editing to delivery - I do the happy-dance.  I can’t help but smile. 



Honestly I could say this woke me up out of a creative slumber.  So many changes hit me at once this summer that I felt like I was quickly sinking and then I spent a few wonderful hours with all these incredible people and I found myself pumped full of bubbling excitement to go shot EVERYONE in this way! 
We had So. Much. Fun!
Check it out.

All I had to do was… Just Add COLOR The rest was… magic.
Thank you everyone from Temple Menorah for coming out to play!