Category Archives: Photography

A (much needed) Mini Break

22 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by in Photography, The Family, The Travels

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I was in need of a mini break, so we took an overnight trip to the Highland Springs Resort in Cherry Valley. It’s kind of a cool place. The whole resort is surrounded by lavender fields and it smells amazing and relaxing. The resort itself was established in the late 1800’s. It’s pretty run down now, but it’s easy to walk by the old tennis courts and pool area and imagine what it was like in it’s prime. It’s a really neat place to wander around, I’ve never been anywhere like it.

But our favorite thing was the lavender fields and the large olive trees. We had a nice dinner at their restaurant and then wandered around as the sun set.

It seems like I’m hardly ever in pictures because I always have the camera, so Big T sat me down and took this picture of me.

Little T liked watching the dust go in the air. He was so dirty after this walk, but much fun was had! He’s such a little boy. :p

And here’s Little T and Big T the next morning playing hide and go seek. He’s such a ham.

Right after this picture he ran into the bathroom and locked himself inside and we had to call security to get him out. I was totally panicked about it, but when we got the door open, he looked at me and said “geez mom, I was just brushing my teeth”. I told him not to put hand soap on my toothbrush next time.

*side note: Sometimes I forget we’re a multi-cultural family, but I was reminded when the security guys opened the door and were surprised to see Little T in there, lol.

We had a great time! We went hiking the next morning and then drove home, making a lunch stop at the Loving Hut and the Last Drop Cafe on the way, because you can’t end a good trip without a vegan banana chocolate chip cookie. That’s the law.

 

Easter Sunday

09 Monday Apr 2012

Posted by in Photography, The Adventures of Little T, The Family, vegan

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For Easter we spent the day with Big T’s family at Grandma K’s house. We weren’t going to be able to eat a lot of the food there, so we made a vegetable pot pie and orange and strawberry cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. I had bought these Peter Rabbit Cupcake Holders a year ago, and I was really looking forward to using them:

The cupcakes turned out delicious, there were only a few lonely cupcakes left at the end of the night.
As always, Grandma K’s backyard was beautiful.

We’d practiced opening Easter Eggs with Little T earlier in the day, so he ran to the yard when he saw that we’d put all of the eggs out there. In the eggs we had fruit sweetened vegan jelly beans, stickers, bunny grahams, and some vegetable snack crisps.

Little T wasn’t the only one who enjoyed the Easter Eggs:

After the Easter Egg hunt, we caught up with family members:

Yep, that’s a body bugg on my arm. I wear it because I’ve been sitting so much since I started editing, and I want to make sure I get my 10,000 steps in every day. 

And Little T played trains with his Uncle D:

And then he played with Dad:

We always end the night by sharing a song from each family member in the group. This year Little T even had a song. It was “Nice N Clean” by Chromeo. Little T loved to dance to everyone’s music, he has the Night at the Roxbury head bob down pat.

I hope you all had a great weekend, and a great Easter for those of you that celebrate. 🙂

three years ago….

05 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by in Photography, The Family

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Yesterday was our third anniversary, but everything has been so crazy around here that we completely forgot to make plans. My mom, who knows me so well and knows how busy it’s been, sent me an e-mail telling me not to forget to take the time to celebrate. So at the last minute, our friends Michelle and AJ offered to watch Little T while we had a quick dinner/dancing date together at California Adventure.

We started out with a glass of wine and some funny faces.

Then we moved over to ElecTronica:

And then we tested out our hot dance moves. I think Little T would have been proud.

It was only two hours, but it was one of the best dates we’d had in a long time and turned out to be a surprisingly awesome forgotten anniversary.

Adventures at Wondercon

20 Tuesday Mar 2012

Posted by in Photography

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Last Friday I was sitting in my chair editing photos and mentally planning out my weekend, when I got an e-mail asking if I’d be the photographer for Save Our Seeker, a super cool group of people that were going to be hosting a photo session with Craig Horner from “Legend of the Seeker” at Wondercon. They asked if I could take photos for an hour on Saturday and Sunday, while people did a meet and greet with Craig.

Being the neurotic over-planner that I am, I got to Wondercon 2 hours early. Big T came to help me carry the equipment, with the idea was that he’d watch Little T while I took photos. We went to lunch because we had time to spare (!!!mistake!!!), and then made our way to Wondercon. I’d never been at the Anaheim Convention Center before, but the place was jam packed. It took us half an hour just to make a turn to get near the front of the convention center. From our car we could see that the parking garages were full and the nearest parking was 2 miles away. My heart sunk as I realized there was no way we could park, carry equipment, manage a baby, and get there on time. We quickly decided to drop off Big T with the heavy equipment while I parked. The traffic was terrible though, and by the time it took us to get to the front of Wondercon, we only had 30 minutes to get to the location, and I still had to register.

In a moment of recklessness and panic, I had Big T drop ME off with 65 pounds of clunky equipment-I know because we weighed it later. I carefully positioned bags and around my shoulders and started the long walk in the rain to the convention. I’m not kidding when I say long, because what had looked like the front of the convention center turned out to be the opposite side of where Wondercon was. My body was aching and the calories on my body bugg were spiking like crazy! It took me about 15-20 minutes to get to where I needed to go, and then I had to walk down the stairs with everything and go from person to person trying to figure out where I needed to get a pass. One kind man with an awesome tattoo finally took pity on me because of all the things I was lugging around, and gave me a pass and said to come earlier next time. Erg.

My friend Cha met me downstairs, and we split divided the equipment and made our way to the photo shoot. Big T never made it to the parking lot because the traffic was too bad, and decided to wait at Downtown Disney with Little T instead.

Once we got to the booth though, everything turned around. The group from Save Our Seeker was awesome, and Craig Horner was one of the sweetest and most genuine guys I’ve ever met, and kept trying to help me set up the photo equipment. He talked about his new pilot that’s coming out on the CW, and chatted and took pictures. He even listened to me go on about Little T (oh man, I’m one of those parents that goes on and on about their kid). :p After the photos were finished, I took my equipment downstairs and called Big T and asked him to come and pick me up. My friend Jackie texted while I was sitting there, and said she was at the convention center too! I immediately begged for her to help me carry my equipment outside, and she said she’d meet me in the lobby by the bar. I looked around wondering where the bar was at the convention center, and it took us a while to realize that we were in two completely different buildings, heh heh. So I gathered up the equipment, and hobbled outside and down the street to search for Big T. A few moments later he came driving up. The way I remember it-there was a beaming light shining down on him and angels singing in the distance as he drove towards me, because I couldn’t have been happier to see him…and his car.

So, the moral of the story? Get a friggin dolley! Sheesh! Oh…and Craig Horner is really nice.

We did it!

06 Tuesday Mar 2012

Posted by in Photography, The Family

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Tuesday, I photographed Jeff Murray.

Wednesday, I had an all day engagement shoot for Disney’s One More Day:

Friday, I photographed a group of girlfriends for some fun vintage inspired photos in the park:

*side note: they were filming Modern Family on this day and we got to watch for a bit. I love that show!

Saturday, I had a wedding!

And Sunday, I had an editorial shoot:

It has been a _crazy_ week, and my body is physically exhausted. The hardest thing has been finding help with Little T. This is one of those weeks where I really felt how hard it can be to parent. Big T and I scrambled to find sitters for Little T while I worked. It’s hard because there just aren’t a lot of options for us that we can afford. Not to mention, it’s rough having my baby gone from my side. I miss him so much when I’m working, but I’m sure it’s a good break for both of us. But we figured it all out and I’m proud of Big T and our little family. We had a few snags, but we survived!

I’m still hereeeeeee…..

02 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by in Photography

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I’m still here! I have five photo shoots this week and am busy busy busy! Here’s a few photos from my week so far:

Photos of MMA fighter Jeff Murray:

And an engagement shoot for Disney’s “One More Day of Disney”. This photo was taken at the end of the all day shoot. We were a little tired, can you tell? 😉

Hope you’re all having a great week!

Portland Part 1

24 Friday Feb 2012

Posted by in Photography, Quick Snippets, The Adventures of Little T, The Family, The Travels, vegan

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Pioneer Square:

Portland’s known for their food carts, and we had one we were dying to try:

The Vegan Food Cart: Homegrown Smoker

We got the side plate with Cornbread, baked beans, collards, MacNoCheese, and the STFU puppies:

Their menu brought back some sweet memories of my grandma from Oklahoma. Now, if only I can find some biscuits and gravy…

Later in the afternoon we drove over to the Vegan Mall to pick up a few things for my mom. Before we went shopping, we stopped at The SweetPea Vegan Baking Company and picked up some tasty treats.

Lemon Pastry, chocolate chip cookie, bostom creme pie cake:

I also ordered some vegan chili for Little T, but we didn’t prefer it. I was expecting a beany chili and we don’t usually eat a lot of fake meats, so it wasn’t what we were used to and Little T only had a few bites. I’m going to have to stop here again though, because there were some other things on the menu that I’d really like to try.

There was a beautiful park where I wanted to take Little T, but I couldn’t do it because there was a homeless person sitting on one of the benches and I’m still having a hard time from what happened last month. I usually wouldn’t have walked through the park anyway, but it was too hard right now. I’ve noticed that I’m also really jumpy when I hear police sirens. =/

After the park, we got lost and took an accidental scenic drive around Portland (teehee). Little T took a nap, and then we went to have dinner at Big T’s conference. On the way we stopped and showed Little T a living wall. We’re trying to teach him plants, leaves, flowers, branches, etc. Whenever we give him a flower to smell, he blows his nose at it instead of sniffing in to smell the rose. Ah well, he’s getting there.

Travleing by shoulders=Little T’s favorite way to travel in Portland:

We had a great time at the dinner, and Little T managed to obtain a tiny football from one of the conference vendors. We chatted and played with Little T until they started to take the tables down and we figured that was our cue to leave. 😉

During the day, Little T and I have been going solo while Big T’s been working hard at the conference, so the next day we took the metro to the Children’s museum.

On the way, we stopped in a building with some fountains and I snapped a picture of the other side of the street. I don’t know what it is about the colors in Portland, but the stones and the lights on the building are so beautiful. It’s peaceful, walking through the buildings.

On the metro. This is the only way I get pictures of myself on vacation (I’ve got to get Little T to stop relying so much on his pacifier, if any mommy out there has tips, please let me know):

The Children’s Museum was wonderful. Little T loved exploring the exhibits and stayed for three hours. I was planning on staying for only two, but after lunch I put Little T down to gather up my things for the metro, and he went running/screaming with glee back into the museum. Erm, I guess he had other plans for us. I couldn’t resist his enthusiasm and decided to let him stay.

The digging room:

The Train room:

The Theater room:

And playing with a giant light up peg board:

We didn’t get back until 2:00, and Little T slept until it was time to go meet Big T and some colleagues for dinner. We went to Persian food, and they had a very extensive vegan menu and homemade pita bread and we were in heaven.

After dinner, we walked by Powell’s Bookstore on the way to Voodoo Donuts. The outside of the donut shop was covered with glitter. (!!!)

I asked the lady at the shop which vegan donut she recommended, and she handed me a donut called, “The Old Dirty Bastard”.

It had dark chocolate, oreos, and peanut butter. It was a donut sent from the heavens and it gave my taste buds a ride on the flavor train to yumsville. My tummy was a little upset afterward, so I wondered if I’d been given a donut that wasn’t vegan by accident, but it might have been the sugar overload. Definitely stop there if you’re in Portland.

When we were finished, we walked back and listened to some street artists. One of them came up and hugged us because he said he was adopted like Little T. 🙂 Little T enjoyed the music and I think the artist got a kick out of watching Little T having such a good time.

So that’s what we’ve been up to so far. I bet you’re all looking forward to the weekend, I hope you have a great one.

My Fun Filled Full of Photography Weekend (phew)

13 Monday Feb 2012

Posted by in Photography

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I told you my schedule was about to get busy, right? Well, last weekend was the start of it all, and it was soooo much fun!

I started out my weekend with an engagement shoot at Cal Poly with Ashley and Chris. If you think you’ve seen Ashley before, it’s because she’s an actress who has worked as an extra on a few popular television shows. It was fun getting to work with her, in fact…I didn’t really feel like I was working. I just had to watch them be cute together and snap away. 🙂

Towards the end of our shoot it began to rain. Fortunately, Cal Poly had a beautiful hallway (used in the movie Gattaca), that we were able to duck into.

On Sunday, I got to meet Rosanna and Steven. It was the first time we met in person and our shoot began with a great big hug. Always a fun way to begin. Steven and Rosanna met at my house ahead of time so Rosanna could have her hair and makeup done by Jenna Murray. We had bagels and chatted while our dogs played together in our living room.

Hair and makeup by Jenna Murray.

Steven works in the film industry and they’re both huge movie buffs, so I’d arranged for them to have their photos taken at the Laemmle Claremont 5 Theatre in Downtown Claremont.

It. Was. Awesome.

My better half, Trevor Henderson, set up the lighting while Jenna kept Rosie’s hair and makeup looking perfect. Here’s a sneak peak of a few pictures, I can’t wait to share the rest with you!

 

and we finished our shoot at The Last Drop Cafe…where we may or may not have snuck in some time for a Vegan Banana Chocolate Chip cookie. Heh heh, I hope my trainer doesn’t read that.

After our shoot, we went back to my home to see what trouble our dogs had been up to, and we wound up talking for another hour or two. I’m really looking forward to their wedding, I know it’s going to be as beautiful as they are.

That was my weekend, I hope you all had a great one!