family session

The Friedeck Family Portrait Session | Felicita Park, Escondido

This is the third family portrait session that I have done for the Friedeck Family and it has been so much fun to watch their little family grow! We have had kids at the same time, even with similar names haha- Milo and Mila. :) And we have shot all the way from Old Town, up to Sunset Beach and now all the way up to Felicita Park in Escondido. When I am photographing Tammy I feel like I am with an old friend, more fun than work.

Felicita Park was amazing! I feel like I could shoot here over and over again and still find a million new places to shoot. I will definitely be coming back to this location again!

Tammy I hope you love the pics!

The Street Family | Marian Bear Park

I have been taking pictures of Ashley’s family since Kelsie was just a baby. Ashley and I worked together at the same elementary school and have had our babies at the same time two times in a row. In fact, our mom tribe formed naturally as 4 of us teachers became moms all around the same time. Since that time, our tribe has moved to different parts, gotten new jobs, and added more babies. I miss being able to see each other down the hall at work, but so blessed to call Ashley and the rest of our tribe friends.

Ashley, I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Lucas Turns One | Balboa Park Family Portrait Shoot

Lucas’ Mommy is a fellow teacher, colleague, and much more- one of my close friends. We taught together on the same team for only two years, but in those two years we depended on each other ( and our team greatly) to be the best teachers possible to our students. It was such a joy to find out that Lucas was on the way when Linda was first pregnant. And although Covid has kept us from being together as often as I would like, I have a special love in my heart for him and am so blessed to be able to photograph him.

We started our day early in the morning- yes very early, 6:30 am- at Balboa Park and then made our way back to their house to shoot some traditional Korean One Year Pictures. Except for me accidentally popping the balloon at the end, the day felt like a success and Lucas did great.

Part 2

For Part 2 we headed back to their house and shot Lucas in a traditional Korean first birthday outfit. And look, he is still smiling even after going on the third hour of shooting. What a trooper!

Part 3

And lastly, we ended our shoot with a little cake smash!

Baby Penelope Newborn Session

Going back in time here a bit, Penelope is a big one year old now but she was the sweetest little newborn. I always say that newborn shoots are the hardest of all types of photography but I have to say, Penelope was probably the easiest of all the newborn shoots I have done. She did exactly what we needed- slept pretty much the whole time.

I love watching Liz as a mom- she rocks it. Not only is she a hot mama but she is raising one strong, independent woman that could conquer the world, because that is exactly what Liz is teaching her. Liz is also so stylish, making her family even more fun to photograph. And Trent is the perfect support for her, super chill and go with the flow and always a sport when it comes to taking pictures. You have no idea how much easier that makes my job.

Since this photoshoot I have shot pictures of their little family many times. But these still are some of my favorites!

The Acosta Family Portraits at Mission Trails

About 12 years ago I met Nena and her family for the first time on a mission’s trip down to Mexico. I had, of course, no idea how that trip would completely change the direction of my entire life. Just one of the countless ways that it changed was by binding my heart to my friend who has become more sister then friend. Fede and Nena are our children’s godparents, and truly love our daughter’s as their own. Those that have kids know that there is nothing greater than this that you can ask for in our friendship. They are also our pastors, our confidants, our encouragers, our “keeping it real” people, through the thick and thin they have stuck. I am so blessed to have this gift of friendship in my life.

I have taken pictures of Lesly and Aaron since Aaron was barely old enough to walk. Now, Lesly has just turned 15. It is sort of unbelievable how time flies by. And also, how my photography has improved, haha… when I was editing these pictures I was somewhat taken aback looking at how they have grown, almost adults themselves. Any parent will know that this is bittersweet. You want to pause moments, relive them- but you can’t. So we try to do these shoots as often as we can because in some way we are pausing the moment so that we can later relive it. This is a gift I can give and I can’t put into words how honored I feel to do so.

I am going to warn you ahead of time, I am going to overpost, I can’t help it.

The Papapietro Family at Presidio Park

This special family are no strangers to my blog- in fact, this fall I did pictures of Amanda’s family by themselves and Liz’s family by themselves. But I absolutely love that every year Katie, Amanda and Liz’s mom, makes it a priority to get them all together and do what I refer to as “the big family shoot”. It is always eventful- full of laughing, crying (mostly the toddler but sometimes the mom chasing the toddler lol), and lots of singing/dancing/yelling/hooting/anything to get the kids’ attention.

I love this family, each and everyone of them. I can’t imagine a single year where we don’t do this. I hope it never stops.

The Metcalfe Family Portraits at Mission Trails

Two days before Thanksgiving I got to take pictures of this sweet family! How fun to grow up in a family with 4 kids- you have constant built-in best friends! My little family of two seemed so small in comparison! Belle kept telling me that it was going to crazy with the kids, but they did really well. I live for this type of crazy. :) .

Mission Trails was the perfect spot, just what I was looking for! I have shot here before but for whatever reason this field wasn’t calling my name. It definitely was this time! The day was pretty overcast, following a few days of pretty intense rain- but there were a few moments throughout the shoot where the sun would start to peak through and give the sweet, warm glow that I can’t resist. We had talked about maybe going to two spots but we were loving this field so much that we ended up starting and finishing our shoot here.

Belle I hope you love your pictures and thank you for trusting me to take them! I hope this is the first of many!

The Oberem Family Portraits at Marian Bear Park

For the last two years I have shot Belinda and her beautiful family’s pictures, but this year, her mom decided she wanting to do big family portraits as well. So we ended up photographing at the same location just one week later. But the amazing thing about Marian Bear Park is that there are so many little hidden treasures there that really you could shoot there every day and find new spots to explore.

There is something beautiful about shooting these generational sessions like this- capturing the moments of the whole family together. Truly family is our greatest earthly gift that we have in this life- and all too fast our kids grow up and our parents grow older. Freezing these moments in time is priceless.

The Griffith Family Portraits at Marian Bear Park

This is the second time that I have shot the Griffith’s family pictures- the first time was at Torrey Pines and we knew that was going to be a tough location to beat. There was one shot in particular from that shoot that was just a show stopper with the beautiful hill rolling in the backgrounds. So that meant that choosing the location this time wasn’t going to be easy. After going back and forth we finally ended up settling on Marian Bear Park. It seemed like all hope might be loss when we ended up at different parts of the park- but after a little encouragement we found each other and continued on with the shoot! I am so glad we did because the day was beautiful and Marian Bear Park didn’t disappoint- just like always. One day when I have time I want to explore that park and see what other hidden treasure might be hiding there. For now, I definitely have my favorite spots.

The Griffiths and I actually go all the way back to college days. We attended the same church for a while and had similar circles of friends. The fact that we both ended up in San Diego really was a great coincidence. It has been fun to reconnect and to have pictures be the reason and way for that. The kids are just as sweet as can be and really easy to photograph- hence all the family pictures where all the kids are looking at the camera, because we all know how hard that is with 4 kids. They rocked it though, seriously. Belinda, I hope you enjoy the pictures!

Brix's Not-So-Newborn Session at Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve

I am calling this the Not-So-Newborn Session because originally this was supposed to be a newborn session but time got away from us- like many months away from us, haha. But we finally got out there to get the pictures that had long been planned on! Brix was a trooper and so were Megan and Branden. They are first time parents to little Brix and I seriously can’t believe how much it seems like they have it together! I was such a stress case with my first baby but they couldn’t have been more chill during the shoot.

The weather was gorgeous and Los Penasquitos Canyon was just as beautiful as ever. I am soaking up these sunny days because the sun always does something magical to photos. Red Starbucks cups are right around the corner but for now I am grateful for the sunny days.