Pink & Glitter [Celina & Andrew]

Corona Wedding Photographer

An amazingly beautiful wedding. I dont really know what else to say, except that this was expertly put together and I had a blast with Celina & Andrew! After their Ceremony in Loma Linda, they came with me out to Downtown Pomona for their pictures before going to Vellano Country Club for a romantic, fun, beautiful reception.

Check out these shoes!!!! She had matching flats to wear too. =)

Maybe one of the biggest and most beautiful cakes I've seen. Some Crust Bakery in Claremont

The gorgeous bridge at Vellano Country Club

Ceremony: St. Joseph the Worker

Venue: Vellano Country Club

Florist: Acacia Country Florist

Entertainment: Dangerous Stranger

Bakery: Some Crust Bakery

Baby Noah

Riverside Infant Photographer

My wonderful friends, Dan & Erin, invited me to visit their newborn baby Noah. Only 5 days old, he was pretty much still in a ball. =)

I've known Daniel for a VERY long time. We went to Jr. High and High school together. We were in Choir together, and kept in touch all through collage as well. When we both ended up back in Corona, with super super busy lives, we were lucky to still keep in touch. I met Erin while her and Dan were still dating, and I've gotten to know her and call her my friend. We hang out without Daniel sometimes too.

Dan & Erin had me photograph their wedding and I've done family pictures for them a couple of times as well. So, when I went to their quaint "cottage" in the wood streets of Riverside, I was super excited to see so much of my work on their walls. But my work wasnt the center of attention. Baby Noah is definitely the center of that home and why wouldn't he be. What a cutie. Have a look...

Baby Ian

Corona Infant Photographer

At 13 days old, I was a little worried about how well Ian would get into "baby modeling" mode, but he did great. He loved to eat!!! and mommy was kind enough to have a bottle for me to give him when he got restless. Great Job Ian

I cant tell you how many times I have take this picture. These babies just dont like this pose. I should do a collage of all the crying babies. (I obviously dont usually post it, but this one is so cute!)

Lorenz Family

Hemet Photographer

Jake and Krista!!! oh, and dont forget... Ethan!!! Jake worked with my husband when he was first put at the Haz Mat station and I've never seen Nick so happy at work. Sadly, Jake isnt there anymore, but we were lucky enough to make some great friends out of it. =) I took Ethan's Pictures 6 months ago when he was only 12 days old. He's grown so much!!! Thanks guys for having me do your fall family pictures!!!

What an adventurous and easy going couple. I finally convinced someone to come with me to my favorite Corona location... the river bottom. All the other shoots I've done there were Engagements and Seniors. the Lorenz's were the first family to come out for their shoot in the completely unmanufactured beauty of the River bottom. Well, let me just thank them for being so calm even when they were sitting in red ants that started to bite Jake, and then didn't freak out when they saw a snake. =) oops.... Maybe not the greatest place to bring a 6 month old. But I have to give them props for keeping smiles on their faces and still having fun.

BTW, my blanket is still in the river bottom covered in red ants.

Wild Wedding

Riverside Wedding Photographer

A big thank you to Kristen Wild Photography for having me as her second shooter at this wonderful Riverside Wedding. I always love working with Kristen and I cant wait to do it again!

Love is alive!!

Irvine Wedding Photographer

I love weddings. It makes my job so much fun because I get to go to a lot of them. A wedding touches my heart. It wraps up the hopes and dreams of two people who just don't ever want to live without each other. Maybe I love weddings because I'm so madly in love with my husband. We're approaching our 5 year wedding anniversary and I can still just look at him and get butterflies and feel that amazing joy deep in my spine (why my spine... i dont know). I'm getting all teary eyed just typing this.

I go to weddings where I barely know the bride and groom. Sure, I helped them plan, I get an idea of who they are, and sometimes I even know their story.... but, I dont know them like I know my family and friends and even these weddings, my clients' weddings, make me feel all the hope and dreams of a wonderful future.

This is what makes THIS wedding so special to me. I met Krista a few years ago when she joined my mom's group. Krista, Kami (my neighbor and friend) and I all started to hang out a lot in this past year. Our husbands became friends, and our little group of 3 couples and all our toddlers makes for some really fun backyard BBQs. Krista and Steve arent the "lovey dovey" type. So when I said I'd do their pictures I was a little worried they wouldnt want to "snuggle" for me. But, on the contrary, they are so very much in love and seeing that my friends are just as in love as my husband and I makes me happier than I can put into words.

Steve and Krista were married 3 years ago, but didnt have a wedding, so this was more of a vow renewal, but their only wedding. Beautiful, fun, touching and an amazing celebration of their love.

Love really does exist! It can make you happier than any material thing in the world, and just seeing it makes me a happier person.

A Day's Work

Photographer's Work

What do I do all day? Do you ever wonder why your professional photography costs so much? Man, sometimes I wonder why I have to charge so much. I know, as a family, that there's never a time where you're not watching your money. Who wants to "over spend" on anything? So, again, I ask, what is it that takes so much of my office time?

I recently started to log my office activities on Thursdays.... the one day a week that my kids are in daycare. And it kind of goes like this:

update invoice and pricing - 1 hour

respond to emails - 1 hour

Promotional Materials (samples albums, prints, products, business cards, etc) - 1 hour

More emails - 1 hour

Back up computer - 1 hour

Blog/Sneak Peak pictures - 15 minutes

Facebook ads - 15 minutes

Client pricing information - 45 mintues

Contracts - 15 minutes

Blog Prep - 10 minutes

Clean out my computer - 1 hour

Work on Public Pricing - 1 hour

All of this responding to emails, and posting blogs has to do with new business. Now, This is just last thursday and I'm spending a decent amount of time learning a new contract and pricing system. Hopefully, once set up, it will help lower the amount of time I spent on contracts, pricing and emails. But, notice that I didnt even really get to touch pictures. I did ONE blog post (which didn't even go up because I let my intern do some of the grunt work).

So, if that was my 8 hour day, not including any photoshoots or editing, It makes some more sense that I need to paid for all of that time. Also remember that a good portion of time is spent constantly attracting new clients and advertising. Some businesses (hair, childcare, etc) have ongoing customers, but I'm really lucky when I have a customer come to me once a year. Which I really am lucky because I have quite a few of those amazing loyal customer. =)

To wrap things up, Thank you so much to my loyal and wonderful clients who have taken the time and money to invest in their pictures because they will last a lifetime!!!!