Lighting Workshop in Dixon

I just had to post this image that Ryan captured on Sunday during our lighting workshop in Dixon. I'll have more fun stuff to post about that later.

Megan's Sr. Portrait

Well, Megan, I know you are dying to see these. Some of my favorite shots from our session. Your mom was a great assistant with the lighting and fan - thanks, Janie. You can view your slideshow *here*. Enjoy!

Michelle & Alex's Wedding at Empire Mines

Michelle and Alex were married at the impressive Empire Mines State Historic Park in Grass Valley on September 15.
We really loved the lighting and architecture and had a great time running around after the ceremony with them.

The park has the most incredible reflecting pools.

And of course, we can't forget the stunning fountains.

Alex's only task relating to their wedding planning was to pick the DJ and he did an awesome job by choosing to work with Justin and Kisty Rose of In The Mix 916. They were such a blast to work with and Justin is an incredible DJ, making it easy for us to get lots of terrific dancing photos.

Our slideshow from the day is *here*.

Margaret and Austin Engagement in San Francisco

Ryan and I took a quick jaunt down to the City to meet up with Austin and Margaret for their engagement session. We had planned to go directly to Baker Beach but none of us realized it was Fleet Week and there would be way too much traffic to handle. Anyways, our plan went awry but we worked it out okay by hanging out at Crissy Field and then moving on to the bluff overlooking the Golden Gate and Baker Beach.

Ryan picked out these favorites. The first image was Austin's idea which I think turned out pretty interesting.


I really like the feel of this one.

Here's our first attempt at embedding a slideshow into the blog for viewing, just click on the play button in the middle.

Casey's Maternity Session

Casey and I had a terrific session today documenting her pregnancy of Connor Jack. Casey had some great apparel ideas, like bringing an old favorite pair of jeans,

a beautiful fabric that had been used as a draping on the head table at her wedding,


another slip of gorgeous fabric that was part of the veil she wore on her wedding day,

and a bow from her Christmas tree with a little note from God.

I can't wait to meet to Connor Jack! Enjoy your slideshow.

Spencer turns 3!

I am so in love with not-so-little-anymore Spencer. I mean, look at this face, how could you not fall in love? He is just too cute, plus has the sweetest way of always greeting me by name.


We've been working together since before he was born and I am always so glad to get a chance to play with him. At his last session (2.5 years) he was driving around a tricked-out little trike, this time he had graduated to a cool new bike with training wheels, and man is he fast! He's also still into sticks and grabbed one or two at every chance. We had to work at getting Spencer to slow down long enough to grab a few family photos, but here's one taken on the playground at Andrews Park.

Bei Family Portrait Session

Nancy Bei had me out to the ranch for a very personalized family portrait session. I love working on these "lifestyle" sessions because I feel that the resulting portraits are much more meaningful in later years. As an example, because they have a large almond orchard, we spent a little time out there capturing individual and family images.


We also moved on the rest of the ranch where everyone got to ride around on their quads, play on the tractors, hay bales and playground equipment, pick out some pumpkins for me (thanks guys, that was a great gift!), and Brandon & Alyssa got to show off some of their sport talent. You have got to check out their *slideshow* to see some of Brandon's awesome ninja-style soccer skills.

Nancy and Spencer, thanks for having me out - I had a great time!

Chase and Logan

I had a great time photographing Logan and his little bro, Chase. We did one session in the studio and I made a collage of images that tell the story of the boys' relationship with their mother right now - Chase does not want to be held he can't stand to not be running around checking everything out and Logan loves to cuddle.
We also went to Andrews Park in Vacaville for some relaxed family portraits



and the boys loved playing on the playground equipment. You can view a slideshow of both sessions by clicking *here*.

Amee and Jared's Wedding on Travis AFB

Well, Amee, I know just how impatient you are ;p so I had to post some of my favorite images from your wedding before you even had the chance to think about calling me. These will have to tide you over for a little while. You and Jared were so great to work with - you look fabulous together and have such great energy. Carlos and I had a great time yesterday. A big shout out to my buddy, Carlos Rivera, for all his help - thank you, thank you!



By the way, you know I'm dying to trash your dress (hee, hee).

Dixon Chamber September Mixer

I am always at our Chamber mixers each month taking photos and have never posted any of them, this time I couldn't resist. Our September mixer was held at Dixon Mini-Storage where Donna put on a great luau-themed party.

My favorite photo was this one of Gracie Gabby proudly wearing her Vote for [her daddy] John Gabby - School Board pin. Gracie is a huge supporter of not only her dad, but the Chamber as well. She has probably been to more mixers than I have and it is always a pleasure to see her there.

Here's a photo of John sporting my new tattoo. Thanks for wearing it John. I hope this photo doesn't harm your campaign ;) You know, of course, that you're getting my vote!

Eden Miller ~ 2 months

I did a maternity session for Jillian a couple of months back

and had the opportunity to see the little cutie, Eden, for the first time last month when she hit 8 weeks old. She has the same gorgeous blue eyes as her sister and is so roly-poly it was adorable.


Big sister, Kiana, was just a little bored with the whole process.

Jennifer and Bryan's engagement session in Napa

Jennifer and Bryan love wine, and are getting married at the Ironstone Winery in Murphy's next year, so it was fitting that we went to Napa for their engagement session. We started at Opus One Winery,



stopped at Peju for some tasting,

and ended up downtown at the old theatre. In between all of that we stopped at a parking garage (yes, there were a few photo ops), and a very cool wine lounge. There were way too many cool images to post - we spent about six hours shooting because we were having so much fun and Jennifer and Bryan were a couple of pro posers.

It was very interesting to read what they each wrote answering their questionnaires for their Wed-Site. We caught a lot of attention having the Mac in the middle of our dinner table. I can't remember where we ate in Napa, but it was great! Plus Jennifer picked a great wine.

Karlie and Erick Engagement Session

Okay, Karlie, I couldn't wait to post some of these and I really had trouble narrowing down to these few images. You and Erick were so much fun to work with and were up for anything. We love your creativity - and Erick for taking off his shirt so willingly ;) Enjoy!

We started pretty tame

and ended here......
this has got to be the hottest engagement photo I have taken

- you guys rock!