Vanessa: Senior Session

We had a fun time shooting Vanessa's Senor portrait the other weekend. The light was a fiery red towards sunset in Modesto Ca. She was a bit nervous at first which is understandable for anyone who isn't always in front of the camera. Towards the end though she had a lot of fun and really came out of her shell. Hope you love these as much as we do Vanessa!

xoxo

Megs

Sneak Peek: Getty Family

The wonderful Getty Family coming up soon!

xoxo
Megs

Willette + Derek Engagement Monterey Bay Aquarium

To know Willette is to love Willette. She is someone who when you meet, you love instantly! She is spunky, energetic, caring, and I can go on and on. I've known her for years (in fact I consider her the older sister I never had). I was absolutely thrilled she chose me to shoot her Engagement photos.

At our initial meeting she picked a Hawaiian BBQ place and I wasn't sure which was more exciting, to eat there or to see her again (of course it was the later, don't be silly).

Then she had to BLOW me away by telling me she wanted their photos done at the Monterey Bay Aquarium! Are you kidding me! I was just beyond thrilled!

It was a gorgeous day in Monterey that day. While the rest of the Bay was sweltering in an odd heat wave we were in a dark cool place surrounded by beautiful aquatic life.

Derek and Willette, thank you so much for such a fun shoot! Wishing you nothing but happiness, laughter, salsa dancing, and love.

xoxo

Megs

Sneak Peek: Vanessa Senior Session

It's been a hectic week. I know I'm behind but wanted to share a peek at Vanessa's fabulous Senior shoot. The sky was just a fiery red near sunset. More to come. I pinky promise!

Sneak Peek: Engagement Monterey Bay Aquarium

A Sneak Peek of yesterday's shoot at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

(I was sweating bullets because of the low light situation but thankfully it was dark and you couldn't see my face melting:)

Family Reunion

Three generations

Hanging with Dad at Sunset

We headed up to South Lake Tahoe for a small family reunion. The weather was nice and warm (most of the time) and the lake was the pretty blue that you see in postcards. Luke got to spend some time with his grandparents, his twin cousins from San Diego, and some time sitting on the beach eating sand (or at least trying to).

It was a wonderful five days. I didn't want to come back. Well at least not so soon :)

Megs

Rock a Bye Baby

I always say I'm a Mom first and a Photographer second (err well maybe third since Wife comes before that). I love being a mom and have always loved babies. Long before I even thought of having a Luke I use to help put my baby sister and brother down for naps by sitting in our old wooden rocking chair and singing to them.

Like so many Moms nowadays I've been told rocking my baby to sleep was bad because it develops bad sleeping habits. Luke's been pretty good at falling asleep on his own at bedtime because of his nightly routine (bath, bottle, cuddles, and then bed). What he's not good at is naps. While my other mommy friends had babies that slept for hours at a time during the day, mine would nap for 20 minutes and wake up. Barely time for a shower or to shovel food down my throat.

Yesterday I watched on Luke's baby monitor as he sat quietly in his crib for half an hour. He stared off into the distance, crawled around, and then started checking out how sturdy the bars on his crib were (probably planning a future escape). After struggling to keep his head up he finally got frustrated and stared into the camera (oh he knows he's being watched) with his 'come get me' look. I finally decided he needed some love and snuggles. After scooping him up I sat quietly in our dark room rocking him back and forth while listening to an instrumental lullaby. He snuggled his little nose up against me and fell asleep instantly.

I thought to myself WHY didn't I do this earlier? I love rocking my baby to sleep. I love singing lullabies to him. I love the bonding, the closeness, and the way he smeyes* at me with half closed eyes before drifting into peaceful sleep.

I use to rock him as a small infant before this whole sleep training started. I thought to myself, "My baby will only be a baby for so long and I am missing out on this!".

Well not anymore! I think from now on (at least for naps) I'll take every opportunity I can to do what I've always wanted to do when I had my own baby.

Rock and sing him to sleep.

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky!

*Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!*

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.

Then the traveler in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.

In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.

As your bright and tiny spark,
Lights the traveler in the dark,—
Though I know not what you are,
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

-wikipedia

*smeyes is smiling with your eyes

** So this post is probably plagued with tons of errors but I have a 9 1/2 month old crawling into everything so I'll just leave it the way it is. Making sure Luke doesn't chew on the iPhone cable is a bit high on the priority list at this time ;). k k!

Justin & Joane: Engagement China Camp

My baby sister is getting married! It felt like just the other day that she was a baby all dressed in pink and smiling at everyone with those huge eyes of hers. Now she's all grown up and getting married to a wonderful guy!

Justin will be leading as the new Youth Pastor at the Life Church in Stockton Ca. and Joane will be joining him. They've dedicated their lives to God and his ministry and will be changing the lives of youths.

Justin welcome to the family! Now you can join Mitch in the corner at family gatherings while my Mom shoves food into your mouth and not understanding a word we're saying when we break in to Laotian :)

Love,

Your soon to be sister in law!



























p.s. I'll be changing the blog site soon! Stay tuned! To see larger versions please visit my facebook.

I can be pretty crafty...

Sneak look at J & J's Engagement shoot at China Camp in Marin County. I was feeling very artsy fartsy for this shoot so I convinced Mitch to custom make some chalkboard signs for me. (Ok so I didn't really make make them. Mitch cut the wood and painted it but I did buy the chalkboard paint! It took me half an hour to hunt down the Home Depot.)

I think they turned out fabulous! Stay tuned for more photos of this cute couple!



(So glad they trusted me to put my chicken scratch on the sign for them!)


Cheers!

Megs

9 Months already?

The weeks and months are zooming by ever so fast. His face is changing by the day and his clothes are getting smaller and tighter on him.

These are just a few little reminders for me that he's not going to be my little baby for too long. But he will always be our little baby in pictures.

Happy 9 month birthday Mochi!

We love you! (Even when you're mad at us :)

Love,

Mom and Dad

Solomon - Anytime Funtime

When my baby brother ask me to do a shoot with him of course I said yes. I love my baby brother. He may be three times as tall as I am (and probably one of the tallest Asian guys you'll ever meet) but he's a sweetie. Just don't ask him if he plays basketball (because not ALL tall people play basketball).

We had a lot of fun on his shoot and a lot of fun chasing the sunlight. I hope you love this as much as I do Solo. Oh and don't forget to show Mom. And tell her yes I'll be printing her out some for her walls, wallet, and key chain.

Love,

Your Oldest, Shortest Sister.

Shoot/Black Out

It's been a while since I've had to chase the sunlight but it was was a lot of fun doing Solomon's shoot for his portfolio. Stay tuned for more photos. And the reason why was when we got back home there was a complete blackout! We were in the middle of uploading and doing photo back ups (and I was preheating the oven for dinner) when the power went out. Mitch went out to find dinner and he reported back that half the city was sitting in darkness. It was a bit creepy. We had all our flashlights out and hung a lantern outside our door. Of course with no electricty meant now post, no Internets, and no playing on the iPhone! So we all went to bed early haha.

Cheers!

Megs

Yo yo Yosemite!

We took Luke on his first camping trip to Yosemite last weekend and he loved it!

During the mornings he'd wake up in our tent and smile and stare at the blue ceiling of our very very old tent that Mitch inherited from his Dad who got it from some guy in Nantucket years ago. It's pretty old.

Because the nights were cold he'd snuggled between the both of us and slept in peace knowing that if a bear attacked his parents would be eaten first.

He did some hiking with Dad and some of his friends. This involved him falling asleep and being carried by Dad most of the time.

He even dipped his toes in Mirror lake but cried because the water was too cold. We dipped them twice just to be sure.

Between hikes he spent time laying at our Upper Pine's campsite staring at the trees that towered above him in amazement and daydreamed (probably about climbing them).

The only thing he didn't do was enjoy the campfires. He would fall asleep before it ever got dark enough to start one. He missed out on some really good s'mores. It's okay. I ate his share.

Over all it was a great camping trip and we can't wait to do it again next year! He should be walking by then so he can carry his own backpack ;) That is if we can get him to keep his shoes on and not eat them first.






Hiking with and on Dad to Mirror Lake.


Cheers!

Megs

Photo montage!

Mitch and Luke's photo montage!


Training for Yosemite!


Watching the Ferris Wheel at the Marin County Fair but not tall enough to ride.





Sometimes I can't tell which one of these two is the cute one :)