Rocking the Bump

It is true what they say about photographers, we do not like photos taken of us... well at least this one. I don't post a lot of pictures of myself here but after reflecting on Mother's Day I thought maybe I'd share some very personal photos of my Maternity shoot. No one has ever seen these except myself and Mitch.

These were taken 8 days before Luke was born (talk about waiting til the last minute). I wanted train tracks and roads but I wanted taken it in the middle of no where and in the dark (or at least near dark). These were shot by Mitch and he delivered! Have I mention how he's the master of lighting?




Excuse the look on my face. This was taken on a well traveled intersection and I was very conscious about drivers stopping and staring. And yes my belly was that white. I tan very well in the summer. I also heart my rainboots so I wore them. Mitch thinks they're atrocious. Blah I say!




^_^

Megs

My 1st Mother's Day

It was 7 am Mother's Day morning and Mitch and Luke had taken me out for an early breakfast. Before our food arrived Mitch slid a green folded up piece of paper to me and said this is from Luke.

My eyes teared up as I read how he thanked me for feeding him, playing with him, and taking him places. He also told me how much he knew I loved him and how he loved Mommy. On the other side were drawings of an airplane, a frog, a bottle, my Canon camera (complete with the red ring on the 50mm lens), and our family riding in the Scoobie. Images of our life.

Mitch smiled at me and said, "He also drew all that with crayons from his Dad's collection. I believe he's been saving those since kindergarten".

Mitch remember how much I love old crayons from when we were children (they don't make crayons like they use to). Aside from his wonderful gifts of massages (yes plural) while he watched Luke, I think I"ll treasure the card the most. It was written and drawn by a 5 1/2 month old! How amazing is that! *wink*


Megs

Happy Mother's Day

Wishing all the wonderful Mothers out there a very happy Mother's Day! A special shout out to those who are celebrating their very 1st Mother's Day along with me (that means you Angie and Nikki!).

Mother's day has always been special to me because of my Mom. Through war and poverty both her and my Dad struggled to bring me to this country and raised a wonderful family. She left her own family over 30 years ago in order to give us a better life. She hasn't seen her own mother since then either. As a mom I don't think I will ever have to have the same struggles or make the same sacrifices that she has had to make. For that I am forever grateful and one of many reasons I will celebrate.

Cheers!

Megs

Baby Touring

Luke checking out the waves in La Jolla.

We are on Baby Tour 2010 right now. We just spent a couple of amazing days in San Diego for some much wanted time with family and fun. We had fun in the sun/fog haze, caught a marathon, and took Luke to the San Diego Zoo (where I lost his--ok MY--favorite hat T_T).

Taking a small break from the 'tour' to do some work and then we will be off again to sunny Florida this time. Hoping to introduce Luke to a much warmer ocean and a different type of sand.

We'll be back just in time to celebrate my first Mother's Day *fist pump*. After that we'll be shooting a wedding!

~Megs

Adventure is out there! - Death Valley

Mitch is heading out with some friends for a couple of days to Death Valley. He's going to chase the annual blooms there.

We went last year around this time when I was pregnant with Luke and it was definitely an adventure! We were hoping to all go as a family this year but I think Luke is going to have to wait til next year to go (he'll be walking by then and can walk up the sand dunes himself heh).

Wishing my love a safe trip and many pretty flowers! Remember no doing donuts or speeding on the salt flats!

Paper Love

It has been one of my longest love. The smell of it. The touch of it. How it feels against my finger tips. I find so much beauty in paper. A friend's wedding invitation came in the mail yesterday and I was immediately reminded of how much I heart paper! I instantly fell in love with the address label. The invitation and reply cards were absolutely adorable! The words and theme just screamed their personality (and I loved it!).

I don't know what it is about paper. I collect stationary like nobody's business. I have three different types of thank you cards (different colors and styles and even language) and I will grab unique looking blank cards off the rack at stores (especially Ross *cough*sales*cough*). Oh and I also don't throw cards away - especially the beautiful ones! (Does that make me a hoarder?)

When we were planning our wedding I made the decision to make our invitations by hand and ordered all the materials from the Paper Source. I spent hours online at their website and went to both of their stores in San Francisco to look at patterns and colors and just to feel the card stock quality. Just talking about it makes me want to sit down and make invitations again! (Does anyone need me to make invitations for them? I have time-- sort of, well not really, shoot.)

Ok. I'll stop now or I'll do something I might regret- like go shopping. For paper.

p.s.

I know paper kills trees and I'm a tree hugger. I will shamelessly buy non recycled paper though. The way I see it I don't throw paper away or if I do it gets recycled. Someone has to use the non recycled paper first in order for it to become recycled right? And that's where I step in :)

Happy Bunny, Unhappy Baby

Hoping everyone has a Hoppy Easter!



Luke fell asleep minutes before the Easter Bunny showed up so we had to wake him up and plop him down on Mr. E Bunny's lap for his photo.

As you can see Luke was not amused.

Best.Easter.Photo.Ever!

Getting to know me (MacGyver)...

While hitting 'yes I will attend' to an Evite tonight I was directed to set up a profile of myself (which I for some reason thought I had done years ago when this Evite thingy came along). I clicked 'Sure' (it didn't really say that) and I was taken to a page to set up my profile photo and etc. I saw the About Me section and cringed. I hate writing about myself (unless it's random writing like here in the blog world).

I don't know if it's the self importance of it all (even though you are suppose to write about yourself) or the talking about myself. I never know what I want to say. What would I want strangers who have never met me know about me first? That I love clearance sales and that I have one leg shorter than the other? Well in all it's Evite awesomeness there were questions for me to answer instead of a blank sheet for me to throw up on (and what makes me interesting).

After happily answering questions instead of having to actually talk about myself I looked back at my answers and I still think I came across weird. My answers are all over the place (like my writing) but in a strange way it expressed a little of me and how odd I am.

So in order for you to know me better I thought I'd post some of the questions and my answers.

TV show I never miss

The Local News

Song that gets me dancing

Love is a Battlefield - Pat Benatar (I rock the shoulder dance- ask my BFF Jason Graham).

First concert I ever attended

Metallica

Childhood hero

MacGyver

Now that last question Mitch kindly reminded me isn't a real person. Blah! My beloved MacGyver is so a Hero. I've seen every single episode and he's always the hero. Plus he was featured in MythBusters which makes him cool.

And no one will ever ROCK a mullet like Richard Dean Anderson.

Okay so I'm ending this blog post with MacGyver because I seriously heart MacGyver!

Writer I am not (really).

I will say (and you will hear this often or have heard it in the past) I am not a writer. I use to be, or at least wanted to be years ago ( and secretly still do). I have these grand plans of oozing out amazing words and having them flow like melted chocolate over ice cream. I'll go back to past posts and think "Seriously? I actually wrote that? It sounds brilliant!" or "Oh my God was I on Benadryl when I wrote that?!?".

I dream of writing long worded stories to where my readers are so deeply entranced they forget about time or space. Instead I hold my breath, hope they didn't get lost from all the confusion of where I'm going at with something, and then "oh shiny picture!". Don't talk to me about punctuations either. Sometimes I'll even indent and make another paragraph to distract.

If I had the time I would love to do writing exercises or even go to writing seminars and workshops. No one would have guess that not only am I a published photographer, I'm also a published writer (shhhhh don't tell anyone). I hide behind bad blog posts and good photographs.

I loved reading growing up (still do) so naturally writing was also a love of mine. I've had a novel trapped in my head for decades (gasp.. I'm old enough to say decades now) and I'm not throwing a release party anytime soon.

Writing is a form of expression just as photography is a form of expression and they both have similar goals: to tell a story. Whither I'm shooting a couple or ranting about how I lost Luke's favorite blanket while shopping (I still feel bad although I replaced it) , I'm telling a story.

I see myself as a photographer and as a storyteller. As cheesy as it sounds I do believe in my quote:

I believe we are our own story tellers, in our lives and in the lives of others.

Through photography time stands still for us and our stories live forever in them. -Megs

And for those of you who are completely lost in this post: Look a photo!



Mitch showing Momo Jelly fishes for the first time. We are a science loving family!

Tennis with Dad

How Super Dads use their Bjorns!









Weekends (when we're not shooting) is family time. Mitch switches from working Dad to super Dad (although he's super all the time). Luke loves spending time with Dad and Dad loves spending time with Luke. He loves being outdoors and that is a plus when we we go on photo adventures such as the above. Life is interesting when you have photographers for parents!

p.s. For those who were concerned Mitch wasn't actually playing tennis. We were taking photos for fun and posing.

Fingers...

What I caught Luke doing while I was working in the office.

Now that the 'ON' button has been switch to maximum drool he's been constantly fascinated with his fingers. They're licked, chewed, and most of the time being stuffed into his mouth. And his nails grow like weeds. I'm having to clip them every other day it seems like.

His fingers are so much fun that he's ignored almost all forms of entertainment. His mobile, bouncy, even Dr. Oz (sometimes).

Amazing for ordinary...

So one thing Luke has been practicing is his sitting skills. Tummy time is a whole other beast that he does not like to talk about. But sitting is okay with him ONLY because he get's a better view during his Dr. Oz Show in the morning (he's addicted!).

Now I know I don't need to mention how many photos we have of him (cough*hashisownharddrive*cough) but photos of him are usually taken during play and random times through out the day. He's not forced to sit in any position for long periods of time or required to work over time with no pay. It's as relaxed as the photoshoots that I do for my clients---and that is one of my favorite things.

To be able to take amazing shots of everyday life is one of the things I absolutely love about photography.

Happy Quarter Mochi!

Happy 4 months to our little Luke! Each day you bring us joy, love, laughter, and the best jobs in the whole world - being your parents. You've taken over this blog (which I am not that sorry about really) and of course over our entire world. You're kind of like Stewie from Family Guy minus Brian. Thank you for always giving love to Mommy's camera and giving Dad a reason to rush home so he can play with you and tuck you in.

All our Love,

Mom and Dad

P.S. Sorry about giving you your shots on your quart-day. I'm sure you won't remember though :)

P.S.S. I know it's not really a quarter but it sounds better!

Anytime Shoot - Joane & Justin

Remember, it doesn't have to be a special occasion to do a photo shoot. Anytime is a good time! (Provided that you have a Meg and amazing light of course :)

My baby sister Joane (clearly no longer a baby) and her beau (I use this word because it sounds much nicer than boyfriend) Justin had just done a Bridal Fashion show and asked for an impromptu photo shoot. I of course couldn't say no.


Cheers!

Megs

It's Hip to Be Cool

(Sporting his new Hoodsie!)

Our Luke turned three months yesterday! Gone is the little newborn and in his place is a giggly and expressive baby who's favorite past time is to suck his fist (or individual finger, depending on how he feels at the time) and to talk (a lot) to Mommy. He's also becoming quite the model and knows what he needs to do to help Mommy get 'the shot'. The only thing we fight about are his naps.

So far, he's winning.

Happy 3rd Month little man!


- Megs

Seeing Myself

It's Friday night and I'm sitting downstairs on the laptop listening to Luke on his baby monitor. It's bedtime for him. He's been changed, fed, and lovingly swaddled to bed by his awesome Dad. Unfortunately, he is not asleep. Between the wailing of whales from his SleepSheep I can hear him talk to himself. Oh my little Nurple (that's one of many nicknames we have for him). He's not crying at all, just laying in his crib talking and every now and then a sigh. I'm resisting the urge to run up stairs and cuddle him to sleep, so instead I'm cuddling my blog, briefly.

It's been a tiring but oh so rewarding 3 months. They say the newborn stage is one of the toughest and I concur. The constant worrying and the feeling that you are swimming in the dark all the time is not as fun as it sounds (oh maybe it's a little fun). Thankfully I've discovered the magical power of Mother's groups. The support and the adult companionship (even if it's for a few hours) has been so helpful and rewarding. It gives me a reason to wear nice clothes (anything other than my workout clothes or sweatpants), do my hair, and *gasp* maybe apply makeup!

But when things get tough I always have this saying in the back of my head, " The days are long, but the years are short". Nothing reminds me more of how short time really is than his photos; his many, many photos! Taken every single day. Enough that I can print them all out and make a flip book!

I truly treasure every single picture I have of him because when I was born there were no pictures taken.

The earliest picture of myself that exist of me was when I was about two. It was taken with a film camera with 10+ members of my family in Thailand. Among all the adults stood this tiny little girl in pigtails in a white shirt and red sweat pants hiding in her Mom's shadow. You can barely make out my face. Not another photo would be taken again until a couple of years later when we were on our way to this great place called America.

Remembering this I feel truly blessed that I'm able to make memories not only for my son but for all my clients and friends. I see my missing photos in all the babies and children that I shoot.

I especially see myself in the little baby upstairs who is now sound asleep among the soft sounds of the whales.

Adventure is out there!

Mitch shooting under the Golden Gate Bridge while Luke supervises.

It has been raining for just about the entire week here in the Bay Area. We've even had a Tornado warning in certain parts (no Toto we are not in Kansas). With all this gloomy soggy weather it's been hard to get out and shoot but today Mother Nature gave us a break!

She must have known little Luke turned 2 months today because we saw actual sunshine! We quickly jumped in the Scoobie and went on a photo adventure (before Mother Nature changed her mind)!

We drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and then underneath to watch some spectacular waves and (first time I've seen this) a gaggle of surfers braving the dangerous rocks near the fort to catch them!

Now us NorCal peeps are hardcore when it comes to surfing because we surf in crap! That is stupid cold water and crappy waves. I quote this from Mitch since he is the surfer in the family. He took me out surfing once a few years ago. ONCE. The water was soo cold and the wet suit did not help. Even in the middle of summer. It also didn't help that my surfboard slipped from underneath me and decided to beat the snot out of me (and my head) in three feet of water. It took lifeguard Mitch to separate us. We no longer talk, the board and I.

Afterward we explored the fort and found a lot of interesting and amazing things. Almost the entire fort is made from brick and had amazing archways and spiral staircases. We probably only saw a quarter of what is there because it started to rain and had to leave. Rain does not go well with baby.

We had a lot of fun though and it definitely was an adventure. Especially for Luke. Who was asleep the entire time.

New Year, New Look!

With the new year comes a new look. Finally updated the website! Go looky loo!

www.megs-photography.com

Cheers!

Megs

No Nap Please

Luke is almost two months old now! I can't believe how time just flies when you're having fun. I'm almost getting the hang of this (this meaning the newborn stage). Well I guess he is no longer a newborn but now an infant, an infant with personality that is!

Today was the first day he actually went down for a nap in his own crib, during the day, all by himself! Well the sheep helped him (Sleep Sheep).

This was after I wore him down with an impromptu photoshoot for his fans, he apparently has several of them. I'm actually debating on maybe getting him a Twitter account so his fans can follow his every move. When he sleeps, when he eats, if he poops, and the ever so important... what is he wearing! (Today was Dr. Seuss.)

I've got to keep my eye on him sometimes because during his nap today he cried three times and every time I ran out of the office and into the room to check on him he'd give me a smile and close his eyes and go back to sleep! (I kid you not!).

Anyways back to the shoot. This baby LOVES the camera (already). He's only 7 weeks old but his eyes followed me at every angle and he smiled... a lot. He also didn't mind keeping an eye on the equipment for me while I took my breaks :)

And to answer the question--- I took only 74 shots.

That's not much, no really, it isn't.

Cheers!

Megs (and Baby Luke)

New Year, New Mom

I've finally found some time to sit down long enough to write something! It's the beginning of the New Year and there are so many new things going on. The main thing of course is our little Luke joining our family.

As first time parents it's been quite a ride and it's only been six weeks! We've tried to prepare ourselves mentally for this but every day is a winding road full of surprises and wonder. (Like this morning, when he peed on me during a diaper change, after I had JUST taken a shower :).

He's been a challenge but we could not have asked for such a sweeter baby. It seems like he's changing every single day. I wake up in the morning and go "Who are you?" to him in his crib because he is not the same baby I put to bed the night before. (I'm sure all you parents out there know what I'm talking about). Thankfully we are there to snap as many photos as possible of him so we can remember what he looked like (the day before).

Although we are excited about Luke we are also excited about coming back from our Baby sabbatical and begin shooting again. Stay tuned!

Cheers!

Megs


Asleep in his favorite swaddle blanket from aden + anais. (I absolutely love these blankets!)