Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone! I hope you are spending this weekend with your families, barbecuing, relaxing, and, most importantly, remembering those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

For most people, this weekend signifies the unofficial kick off for the Summer season. It is a time when we feel rejuvenated and refreshed by the first warm days of Spring and we are busy making plans to catch up with family and friends. This season is my favorite time of year. I love the warm weather and I try to soak up very last minute of the weather here in Long Beach. We spend almost every minute of the day outside whether it be at the park, the beach or simply just lounging on our deck.

I had a wonderful Fall season photographing families and children for their holiday photos. Although I loved every second of this time, I had very little time to keep up with blogging. Now that the dust has settled, I am finally catching up on blogging some of the newborns and birthdays that I photographed recently.

I love photographing first birthdays, especially when they involve cake smashes. My studio birthday portrait packages include two sets. Because a lot of what I do involves lifestyle photography, I usually encourage clients to utilize one of the more natural set ups that my studio provides, such as my bed or teal velvet couch. I find that these set ups allow for more natural images, as opposed to children being posed on a rigid backdrop. Now don’t get me wrong, I love the clean and classic look that my backdrops provide, but I find that you will be more likely to hang an image in your home of your child on a bed or seated on a couch.

With the exception of the Winter months, I always encourage my clients to schedule their child's first birthday session outdoors. There is nothing more beautiful than using nature as a backdrop and photographing outdoors allows me to capture your child exploring the world in a natural way.

To capture that soft and gorgeous golden light, I only schedule beach photos at sunset. I have recently been photographing families who have young children at sunrise. Because sunset is so late in the summer, this time of day seems to work better for toddlers. I will be the first to admit that getting up early enough to catch a sunrise at around 6 am is very difficult; however, the light at this time of day is absolutely breathtaking and I can't think of a better way to start your day than watching your child frolic and play in the sand while the sun is rising.   

II have come to the realization that the older I get and the older my children get, life just seems to get increasingly chaotic. Most of the time, I am able to embrace the chaos of life and roll with it, but like most working moms, I often find it extremely challenging to pause, remain present in the moment, and enjoy the simple things in life. Sadly, there are many times that I put off doing things with my children because I have deadlines to meet or am caught up in the day to day routine of being a mom.  Compounding to this problem is the fact that I am a Virgo and, therefore, by nature I find it difficult to deviate from my work and routines and tend to be strive for perfection. 

I love my new studio here in Long Beach and I have been getting lots of use out of it over the past year.  I have been making changes to the studio and will be adding more as the year goes on so that. can give my clients diversity in their gallery of images and also make them as comfortable as possible during their photo session with me. 

I absolutely love when I have the honor to photograph my former newborn clients for their first birthday portrait session. It is so wonderful to see how much the baby has grown over the course of the year and I just love to see how each she has developed a unique personality.