Erin and Tyler's rainy Berkley wedding was featured on Inspired by This today!
Thanks to Lelia and Lauren from for wanting to share my work. Your site is beautiful and full of just what it says...inspiration!
Excited for my next San Francisco wedding coming up in July.
I rarely shoot in BW. Usually I shoot in color and convert to BW...but I am kind of a sucker for black and white film. This roll was a happy mistake. Thought I had a color roll loaded..nope.
More from these engagements soon.
Also I know I told you I posting Nova's birth story yesterday, but I lied. My friend ended up coming in to town a few days early and I choose him over posting. Forgive me?
This was taken on a iphone a few hours after she was born.
I love it.
It sums up pretty much what I want to be doing all the time.
Being a Mother is what I like best about myself.
It is overwhelming and I feel inadequate but every little step forward feels like the best accomplishment I've ever achieved.
She is my prize.
Happy Mother's Day to every life giver.
Happy Mother's Day to my Mom. I can't believe all the sacrifices you've made for me. Thank you.
Some shots on the Hasselblad from a work trip we took with Grant.
Thanks to Richards Photo Lab for the developing and scans!
Best decision I made for my daughters birth was being surrounded by these women...
Molly, Juli and Debbie, we love you and are so grateful for the safe, caring entrance you helped to give our Nova. You are all angels.
Bless all the Midwives that sacrifice and work so hard so women can choose how and where they want to birth. Thank you to the whole staff at the Sanctuary.
Happy Midwife Day.
(In honor of my 1st official Mother's Day, birth story goes live Monday.)
She's changing and growing a little too fast for my liking.
Here she is at 9 weeks.
Still the center of everything.
Family has been in town this week so blogging suffers. Once they leave I will get my act together.
I will be doing something similar to this in Southern CA next month.
Yay for mini sessions that aren't called mini sessions!
I am back in the saddle again. Shooting after a long (needed) maternity break is like a jolt of energy. I feel like I am starting to refuel every time I pick up the camera.
Shot some photos for a friend and his family. Josh happens to be a very talented photographer based out of New York City. Shooting photos of a photographer is nerve-racking but also a great compliment. Josh then took photos and video for us yesterday at our home. I consider it the best perk of the business...having really talented photographers as friends.
They have such a diverse and lovely family.
More mustard flower shoots to come!
This last Friday we celebrated 8wks of your life.
So far you have spent both of your month birthdays out state. Nevada and now Arizona. Both sets of images were shot on hotel comforters.
You don't look like my newborn anymore! You are longer and your cheeks are giving your eyes more room.
We went to your checkup with Dr. Lin today and you are only 10.3lbs. I thought you were going to be chunkiest of chunkeys..turns out you are only average chunk. Sorry.
Lots of people told me before you were born that you wouldn't ever wear newborn stuff..and would start wearing 3mos clothing right away. WRONG. You are still wearing all of your newborn stuff. 0-3 is still a little big. Another reason why you are naked all the time, I didn't buy you enough newborn sized stuff.
You have started sleeping 8ish hrs a night on a regular basis.
You stare strait in to my eyes and can hold it for a really long time. It's all you really want to do when you are awake and happy, stare at me.
For your nighttime sleep you like to be put to bed with me lying next to you, so close you can feel my breath, as I stroke your face and tell you how much I love you. You stuck on your binksies in your little straitjacket and fall right asleep. It kills me with ridiculous amounts of obsession. You fall asleep around 5am the same way..and sometimes I can't fall back asleep as fast so I just stare at you and Dad and think about how in love I am.
You went on your first plane ride! I thought non stop about it for days..all for nothing. It was super easy. Your head didn't explode from the altitude change and I think I teared up from happiness when you sleep the whole way through check in. I was going to give you back if you didn't travel well...looks like you're staying!!
I was strolling you around the pool in AZ and since it was so low key didn't buckle you in. The stroller tipped and you luckily stayed in your seat but fell forward. I scooped you up and pretty much ran back to the room and cried. Never again. Strapped in ALWAYS.
Your breath smells like sweet cream.
Your hair is getting lighter and in certain light looks strawberry blond.
You fists still clench up a lot and gather lint and stink after naps because of sweat. Sorry about that.
When I feed you I examine your whole body and find any and all weird bumps. Doctor says the "bumps" are normal and looks at me with a smile.
I need to take some month shots of you without the sign...oh well. Next month. I think I would like these better without the card. Dang.
I take so many photos of you I am thinking of starting your own tumbler so I don't overload this WORK blog.
You love your lavender oil massages after bath time. I say all your body parts as I massage them to help you learn.
Sometimes I look at your Dad with you and I feel like he's borrowing you. I feel like you're mine and he borrows you.
But I know he's your Dad because you have some gas issues at night and in the morning.
I am trying to wrap you on me at least once a day. Yesterday we made Dad a meatloaf (his favorite..don't ask) wrapped and we went to the mall wrapped.
When I wear you wrapped everyone wants to know if the feet dangling out of the bottom are boy or girl.
People stare for different reasons..now all the staring is because I wear my baby. It's the best..and so much better than being stared out for any other reason. People LOVE when you wear your baby.
I'm not sure if you need to start playing with toys but I do feel pressure to entertain you properly while you are awake. So far I seem pretty funny.
I left you at home with Dad for about an hour. It was a very weird feeling. All I wanted to do was get back.
Your Dad and I talk about you pretty much all the time. Sometimes when you are asleep we look at photos of you awake on our iphones. We caught ourselves doing this in the airport and couldn't stop laughing. You were right next to us and we missed you.
Your Dad and I look at each other numerous times a day and have to say out loud how perfect we think you are. It has to be said at least 20 times a day or we explode.
Lately I call you "Nooks" a lot and I talk in dodo de dodi do a lot to you. I guess you have to be there.
Sometimes friends and family call or email to tell us how beautiful they think you are. It is the best ever. I'm like..."I know!! Right?!!"
If they already think you are beautiful and they don't have Mama love running through them..imagine how I see you?!
You are the MOST of everything.
Marci and Redge's wedding was featured on this Greek wedding site. Awesome.
And can someone from Greece fly me on over there to shoot something pretty? Thanks in advance.
This is seriously how she is every time after eating. It is the most amazing 15mins. It's the best self esteem boost. It's like happiness pours out of me and into her.
From the expression on the last photo...looks like we were pressing our luck with "happy time". We probably swaddled 2 seconds later. Baby gets what baby wants.
This post is really more for us than anyone else. There was so many images of her first weeks, I thought this would be a good way to share a few (and believe me, this is only a few). So here it is, her first hour through 7th week at a glance.
Her first photo and one about an hour after birth. (birth story and more photos of labor coming soon!)
Dad's first diaper change.
Can you believe they make diapers this little?
This ring was a gift Grant gave to me during labor. Someday I will give it to her.
Grandma and Grandpa Thurston holding her day 1. They live too far away!
Her first time going outside!
An expression that perfectly describes how it feels to direct other people when taking photos of me with my camera.
Her first time in the office.
Trying to get work done..not very successful.
Our first walk as a family.
She was born like this...with her paw next to her head. Adorable.
Cleavage!
Not super happy about her first bath.
Bathtime she now loves...once Mom and Dad figured out how to do it.
Her hair just dries like this most of the time.
Her first time at the beach.
Cousin love!
Major came to visit.
She loves her Papa.
The most gorgeous. The most.
Even though the title of this blog post is "Nick"...The real reason I am posting is Lacie.
Nick is one of my very best friends and has been since we were 17. Lacie, his younger sister, passed away a few days ago. Today they celebrated and honored her life at her funeral. It was too hard for me to go since it was out of state and I have such a small baby....but Lacie, Nick and the whole Odom family have been on my mind.
Nick and I were only ever friends. One of those rare boy/girl friendships that was able to stand the test of time. Although there was never any romance, I did fantasize about being a part of his family. I adored them. I wanted his sisters to be my sisters. I wanted Lacie and Keri. I wanted their parents. I wanted Lexie to never grow big and always want me to hold her. I really love that family. Now Nick has an amazing wife and 2 gorgeous children, that I love just as much.
So today I miss Lacie and my thoughts are with my sweet friend Nick.
Life is too short to surround yourself with people you only kind of care about. I am so grateful for all of my friendships. I am grateful I have people in my life that I really care about. I am grateful that I want to be there to cry with them when days are hard and celebrate with them when days are easy.
(these were the only photos I had on hand of us. Circa 1997 and 2004ish)
Rebecca & Derek's bike brigade Los Angeles wedding was featured on Green Wedding Shoes today!
Go here to see the whole feature.
Thanks to Jen from GWS for sharing my work! I love emails from Jen!!!
...and I also love being a part of a wedding that is inspiring so much creativity.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd3JE-LpUl4&w=800&h=480]
Went shopping yesterday to try and dress this in between body.
Not fun.
BUT these scarf ideas from Free People are really fun. I love the braided one.
Here is a little peak at the logo of a new site that will be going live very soon.
It has been in the works for over a year and I'm sick of putting off the finishing touches. This is going to be the year of "finishing the unfinished"...if that even makes sense.
Logo props to J. Arthur.
Our chunkster is 6wks old tomorrow.
She would like me to let all of you know she only looks this rolly polly when I make her scrunch into a ball. (case in point: diaper shot)
She would also like me to tell you she really likes being the baby.
(iphone images. #lapphotography)
I found this article on teamBoo's blog (that I found linked through TrueLu's blog).
It is a near perfect explantion of what Mothers and Fathers DO all day long when raising children.
I know I haven't even come close to everything parenting will entail but while reading this article...I felt validated. And I laughed.
What makes me think I am up for the challenge of teaching "virtually everything...language, manners, safety, resourcefulness, discipline, curiosity, creativity, empathy. Everything"??...
I guess it's her little face looking at me saying "What now Mama?" It lights a fire under me and I GO!