have you picked a baby name? || bay area maternity photographer

Last month my good friend Marisa flew me up to San Jose to take some maternity photos during her baby shower weekend. Marisa and I met each other freshman year at UCLA in the dorms - Rieber Hall Floor 6... way too many years ago. We even lived together in a 4 girl room in our sorority house (sorry, I just outed us Marisa... yes, we were in the anti-sorority sorority). And after graduating, Marisa returned to her Bay Area roots and bought a home a mile away from the house I grew up in (and where my parents still live). So every time I go home to visit my parents I get to ride my bike (or drive my LA-self) over to Marisa's house.

Since I do lots of photo shoots at the beaches down here, I thought we'd try something a little different for Marisa's maternity session. We made a quick drive up Highway 9 in Saratoga and stopped in a lovely forested area for most of these shots. The first couple were taken with Marisa's husband Ryan and their doggie Lexi (at their new house which is not so close to my parents any more). So happy for you guys! ...but so sad you'll be further away.

















taken through a hole in a tree










isn't she gorgeous?!

baby on the way! || santa monica maternity photographer

A few weeks ago I was supposed to help host a baby shower for my good friend Ann. The shower was to be at our house... that's 20-30 ladies, here in our humble home. Ack! It was just the motivation I needed to get some improvements done. In a few weeks, the house was painted a fresh new color, had a new front and side gate, side fence stained, new door knob and light fixture proudly glowing the patio, some new plants... you get the picture. It's all stuff we've been planning on doing, but I could never get around to do. We still need window treatments, a photo gallery wall... and my motivation has seemed to fizzle a bit. Anyone else need me to host a shower? ;)

Anyway, a few days before the shower, both Jack and Kaylie got the stomach flu! Ack! Germs everywhere! So we had a last minute change of venue (whew!) and everything went great. Oh, except that Ann, the guest of honor, showed up over an hour late! Talk about pregnancy brain! lol. She thought she was only 15 minutes late... not an hour and 15 minutes! Just had to razz her about that a bit, but I'm a bit worried for what will happen when she gets mom brain!

Without further ado, here is my gorgeous friend Ann, due the first week of September.

Happy Memorial Day!

Our little Jack's trying to recover from his cold in time for his birthday on Wednesday, and the rest of us are trying not to get sick. Grandma and Grandpa came to town, so we opened a few of his presents early and have been having fun relaxing around the house.

I just wanted to post a couple more photos I've been working on... here's Danielle, John and Mason. EXCITING NEWS! If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you already know, and if you don't, go over and add me. :) Danielle invited me to come along with her maternity shoot with Nigel Barker from America's Next Top Model. Woo hoo!!! So I joined Danielle and another prego friend Alyssa on their photoshoots. Amazing! It was so eye opening to see how Nigel shoots and what his set up was like (studio backdrop set up in a backyard patio). I got to chat with him and his family (gorgeous and super friendly wife and 2 cutie pie kids) and the hair and makeup guys who made the mommies to be look even more radiant. I cannot wait to see how the photos come out since I'm sure the lighting set up will make them look so much more dramatic than what I got to see with the daylight.

Anyway, Happy Memorial Day! Thanks to all those protecting our country!

family of 3 or make that 4 || malibu family and maternity photography

Yesterday it was dreary and overcast out - looks like June Gloom has arrived early in Pacific Palisades. But for family photos scheduled at noon, I was actually happy to see the cloud cover as bright full noon sun doesn't always make for the most flattering images (unless you like to have dark raccoon eyes). The overcast skies help keep the images soft which is a perfect look for maternity.

We started off at Danielle and John's house... tested out the dining room table... I just couldn't resist the hard wood table and delicate chandelier.




then one in the yard... Danielle insists she's only having grapefruit cravings but I'm not so sure...




on the way to their house I found this cool green wall.
mason leading the way.







then we headed down to the beach.
how gorgeous is she?







my new shot for little kids when they're too busy to stop and take pictures. A slow shutter speed shows Mason's fast movement (and his tongue sticking out)...


more to come!

maternity mama

I took Alyssa's family photo back in December...she's got 2 beautiful daughters and one more baby on the way! Alyssa came over for a quick photo session today and I was so surprised when I saw her walking toward the door... first thing that caught my eye, tatoos painted down both shoulders and a very hip looking bob. AWESOME! Alyssa, you just look so beautiful and I love your spirit. Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy!

Congratulations to America's Next Top Maternity Model!

A day after we tried to get Amy in to see ANTM photographer Nigel Barker for some more maternity photos, Amy's baby must have decided she wanted to meet Nigel in person, because at 3:22am last night I got a phone call from Alden saying Amy was in labor. Woo hoo! I had just gone to bed two hours earlier, but I couldn't have been happier to get the call. Amy, Alden and Lo zoomed over and dropped off soon-to-be-big-brother Lo for a little slumber party while the pregnant party headed to the hospital.

A few hours later, a perfect little girl was born - Marlo Leigh Harris. So a big congrats so Amy, Alden and Lo! Now... time for some newborn pics!!!

*ANTM = America's Next Top Model
Note: If you're pregnant and live near NYC or are willing to travel for some amazing photos (and want to possibly be part of a coffee table book)... check out Nigel's blog post. Don't you love how I'm talking like I know him or something? Well, it just seems so cool!

Oh, and here are a few more photos from when we went down to the beach where Alden was being interviewed by Jamie Chambers of KTLA News because he'd seen a couple great white sharks at Will Rogers beach (while he was swimming... ACK!).





congrats to the proud parents!




An interesting top down shot of Amy's belly button!

belly photos with some vintage inspiration

I'm back again with a few more pics of my muse Amy. She wanted to see more car ones... so here you go!













and wow, doesn't she look beautiful here?

more maternity madness! skates, classic car, harley, grass fields, pipes

Here's a quick sneak peek! I just love my gorgeous model/mom/mom-to-be/teacher! At 8am this morning she sent out a blast text to all her friends asking if anyone had any old-school roller skates. She found some cool green shorts and thought skates would complete the look for our classic cadillac shoot we were going to do at 9am. Lucky for Amy I had the exact skates we needed (and I even found them in the garage), but no way was I letting her actually skate in them. We did some seated shots and then I helped her over to the back of the car (not that she wanted my help).

fierce. can you tell someone has been watching studying America's Next Top Model?













This shot was inspired by another I've seen... thanks for jumping for me Amy!









back with more soon!

maternity photo . looking for...

her old life? her toes? naw, just the barrette she lost...




a little grass in the hair trick




with a little vintage color wash




a beautiful bright day




one of my favs! mom and son having fun