Wildflowers Photography » * Family Sessions http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog Blog Tue, 07 Feb 2012 06:15:15 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 a dr. seuss inspired shoot! http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/a-dr-seuss-inspired-shoot/ http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/a-dr-seuss-inspired-shoot/#comments Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:10:09 +0000 Joy http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/?p=5196 our little do-it-yourself crafty take on a dr. seuss scene inspired by this sweet family’s own adorable ‘thing 1 and thing 2′ !   :)

]]> http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/a-dr-seuss-inspired-shoot/feed/ 9 Twister & Waffles with the Parsons family! http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/twister-waffles-with-the-parsons-family/ http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/twister-waffles-with-the-parsons-family/#comments Fri, 16 Dec 2011 01:59:36 +0000 Joy http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/?p=5072 this is the parsons family, down for a visit all the way from friday harbor, washington!  sara and her hubby, sean, are college sweethearts and have been married for 11 years (and i can testify after photographing them that they are still giddy in love).  stella is 8, she loves to laugh.  jonah is 6 and all boy.  ava is 4, the baby, silly and loves to be barefoot.  sara is a photographer too but they had never had family photos taken and when she wrote me an email with the starting sentence “hi, my name is sara and i am your number one fan” i knew we would get along famously.  ;)   she said they would be near me for thanksgiving and would love to have a family session.  what stuck out in sara’s email more than anything was that “they were so thankful to be a family” which i thought was just plain inspirational.  not everyone can say that!   so, the parsons have a tradition of waffle breakfasts with lots of syrup and laughter so we of course had to keep the tradition rollin for the shoot along with a vintage game of twister for a little extra fun.  :)  and i feel like i gained some very sweet friends in the process…

]]> http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/twister-waffles-with-the-parsons-family/feed/ 22 “What Little Boys Are Made Of” – themed session! http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/what-little-boys-are-made-of-themed-session/ http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/what-little-boys-are-made-of-themed-session/#comments Mon, 21 Nov 2011 02:02:04 +0000 Joy http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/?p=4953 this is a new favorite session of mine! cameron & carson’s mama had told me all about how these brothers were 100% boy… getting dirty, building forts, fishing with sticks, catching bugs in jars (especially fireflies like they had done in the country!) and running free.  and so the vision for this shoot was born; “frogs and snail and puppy dog tails” with a bit of a holiday feel thrown in.  it felt like pure magic that evening.  before we headed to our location, donny chopped off some branches off of the tree in our backyard to build the branch fort for the boys and it was so special how even as he was setting up when we got there, cameron and carson were right in there with him with their imaginations running wild from the first second!  this shoot really shows the beauty of why we love telling a story with our family sessions, especially with the children, they just get right in there and start playing in this wonderland made special just for them.  there was hardly any posing, just waiting for the boys to get into character.  :)

i usually like to blog in the sequence that the session unfolded, however, i have to begin with one of the firefly images and then go back to the beginning so that you will be more likely to scroll all the way to the bottom… i promise it will be worth it (i just couldn’t narrow these down)!

]]> http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/what-little-boys-are-made-of-themed-session/feed/ 29 what i’m working on now… http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/what-im-working-on-now/ http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/what-im-working-on-now/#comments Sat, 19 Nov 2011 21:29:01 +0000 Joy http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/?p=4934 lots of sessions to blog!  just a few sneak peeks for now…

cameron & carson (“what little boys are made of” session!):

skye & gary (a very special farm stand shoot, a year in the making!):

dorothy & josh (their very lovely wedding at the victorian in santa monica!):

the fike family (and all their organic farm fun, taken at ‘a wildflowers workshop’):

little ryker, our workshop newborn model and our own ‘local honey’!:

mon & milk’s engagement session (they flew allllll the way from hong kong for the shoot! awesome!):

the lovely miss lizzie metcalf (celebrating life!!!):

the jankelow family (he gave his wife this session as a gift all the way from canada! so sweet):

jennifer & steve’s engagement (a little dog washin’ with their pup, bailey!):

lisa & mike’s wedding (with a stunning old hollywood feel at a beautiful location in los angeles):

dylan & drake (our styled up version of an ice cream truck using our vintage trailer!):

the precious eynon girls (and our chickens in the backyard! so fun!):

the trejos family (a family full of life, celebrating a very healed and healthy little boy):

my sweet little clementine… just because she is growing so quick:

chris & alicia’s wedding (a beautifully styled and creative vintage wedding, can’t wait to share the images):

… full posts coming soon!  :)

]]> http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/what-im-working-on-now/feed/ 22 The Hahn Family all painted up! http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/the-hahn-family-all-painted-up/ http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/the-hahn-family-all-painted-up/#comments Sat, 22 Oct 2011 05:42:33 +0000 Joy http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/?p=4820 i have known the mama of this family, nicole, for years and had seen her photos online of her kids just being covered in fingerpaint from head to toe year after year.  that is their happy place, being able to be free and messy and forget about everything else.  so when she contacted me about a family shoot my mind went immediately to the theme of being all painted up, in their happy place.  i was so glad that she was 110% on board with me about the idea and they surely did not disappoint and keep things too clean.  ;)  besides their love of art they just really dive in to life.  they play even when it is difficult.  and the joy in their children in so evident because of it.  love you, hahn family!

]]> http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/the-hahn-family-all-painted-up/feed/ 20 “Papa, please get the moon for me” with the Kido family! http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/papa-please-get-the-moon-for-me-with-the-kido-family/ http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/papa-please-get-the-moon-for-me-with-the-kido-family/#comments Sat, 27 Aug 2011 22:02:23 +0000 Joy http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/?p=4717 this session was FUN!!!  :)  our theme was based on eric carle’s wonderful children’s book, “papa, please get the moon for me”… a very sweet book that tells the story of a little girl who peers out the window of her little red house every night and stretches and stretches to get the moon but can never reach it.  that was until she kindly asked her papa to get the moon for her… he built a very long ladder to reach all the way up to the moon to bring it down for her.  now i can just tell you that ryan and anna, the papa and mama of these little girls in this shoot, adore their daughters to the ends of the earth and i also know that if there was any way for them to reach the moon for them that they would do it.  but seeing that i couldn’t find a ladder long enough to retell this story exactly as it was told in the book, we did our best to build a set that would set the scene.  we painted a huge canvas in classic eric carle style, made a cardboard happy faced moon, donny built a very colorful and child-friendly moon-reaching ladder, and we brought out my very favorite dollhouse and gave it a fresh coat of red paint to be a tiny version of the house from the story!  we then made a cozy little spot right in front of it on a fun quilt perfect for playing and dancing and we had ourselves a little party.  it was wonderfully fun and i love that we were able to tell this classic children’s story but at the same time really make it personal for the kido family.  i have been blessed to be able to photograph this family for the last four years and am so very touched to continue to be in their lives and photograph their children.  thank you, kido family, for dancing your hearts out during this session; the love you have for your girls is so very joyful and incredibly contagious.  xoxo

]]> http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/papa-please-get-the-moon-for-me-with-the-kido-family/feed/ 33 The Comden Family at Venice Beach! http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/the-comden-family-at-venice-beach/ http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/the-comden-family-at-venice-beach/#comments Fri, 29 Jul 2011 21:49:29 +0000 Joy http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/?p=4600 one of the most lovely and relaxed family sessions i have photographed i do believe.  it was natural and it showed exactly the way they live their happy life as a family every single day.  playing at home, riding their bikes, skating at the beach and a whole lot of cuddling in the sand…

]]> http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/the-comden-family-at-venice-beach/feed/ 19 The Atkins Family at the farm! http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/the-atkins-family-at-the-farm/ http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/the-atkins-family-at-the-farm/#comments Wed, 06 Jul 2011 20:42:48 +0000 Joy http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/?p=4537 this darling family contacted me alllllll the way from australia earlier this year to set up a shoot when they would be here in the states for vacation to capture their new little man, kieren and them together as a little family!  we had grand plans initially of a shoot at the beach but the weather didn’t want to cooperate so we instead planned for a happy day at the farm instead.  lara (the mama) ended up picking this farm because she worked there when she was in school back in her younger years. (i think it worked out as it should have, though, in the end to be able to come back around the world and show her new little family the place now as a mommy!) she pulled her little guy around in a wagon, holding the hand of her love… they picked strawberries, cuddled in the cabbage patch and danced their way through all the dirt rows.  their love was incredibly contagious… see for yourself.  (p.s.  lara, can’t wait to visit you all in australia one of these days and finally do that beach shoot we dreamed about.) ;)

]]> http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/the-atkins-family-at-the-farm/feed/ 13 The Reed Family Pie Eating Contest! http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/the-reed-family-pie-eating-contest/ http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/the-reed-family-pie-eating-contest/#comments Wed, 29 Jun 2011 18:43:13 +0000 Joy http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/?p=4473 to say i am giddy over this shoot would be an understatement.  so excited to finally share it here!  i set up this shoot in julian, ca for my most recent “a wildflowers workshop” and i had been planning it for half a year with the mama of this shoot, the lovely miss shauna reed.  the idea began with the idea of using tons of pies (the tiny town of julian is well known for their famous apple pies!) which then gave us the idea of making it into a pie eating contest… anything where the kids could get really messy and go home with bellies full of sugar would sure to be a success.  ;)  i envisioned the outfits being authentic 1950′s and so shauna began to sew together all of the clothing (yes, she made hers and her little ella’s outfits, amazing!) and she also made that adorable pie eating contest chalkboard sign.  she also wanted her boys to really be involved to she put them to task at hammering and distressing all of the old pie tins and then strung them into banners with doilies and burlap to be hung over our pie table (i am very blessed to have such a creative friend – you can check out her amazing blog, cake & cotton).  from there, i began to collect all of the other vintage pieces for the shoot and also was lucky to be able to use the timeless vintage place settings loaned to me by the vintage table co. (love them)!  lisa from lisa’s mini madhattery made stunning 50′s inspired headpieces (thank you!), stephanie at sprinkle baby vintage made the coolest handkerchief quilt and then we got the most delicious pies in town from mom’s pies in julian.  shauna and the kids even picked blackberries from her dad’s yard to use for the berry smashing session.   to top it all off i got special permission from patrick, owner of raven hill orchard, to be able to photograph the session in his beautiful orchard.  he was so very kind to accomodate all of us… my workshop attendees, our set-up and the whole reed family… there was a serious amount of giddiness going on in that orchard.  it was really, really lovely.  hope you enjoy the photographs!!!

]]> http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/the-reed-family-pie-eating-contest/feed/ 27 Three Little Bears… one year later! http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/three-little-bears-one-year-later/ http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/three-little-bears-one-year-later/#comments Thu, 23 Jun 2011 21:09:32 +0000 Joy http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/?p=4447 i had the honor of photographing jesse, marmaduke and huckleberry, who belong to the very brave bear grylls (man vs. wild!) and his incredibly sweet wife shara, last year on their annual visit to malibu and got to play on the beach with them again this year!  i love that they purely want the session is to just be the boys at play.  we walked out to the sand where they showed me their driftwood and seaweed village creations complete with little trees with kelp as branches, a fence made of sticks and a boat put together with sticks and seaweed.  they seem to have picked up a few of their daddy’s survival skills.  ;)  then they had to show me how fun it would be to smash it all to pieces with huge driftwood logs… these boys might be small but they are pretty darn strong!  they just giggled and wrestled and then grabbed their kite for a run on the beach as the sun set.  really, this is one of the sweetest families i have photographed, just full of kindness and joy so much so that it hardly felt like any work at all!

]]> http://wildflowersphotos.com/blog/three-little-bears-one-year-later/feed/ 15