A huge part of my life in the Bay Area centered around a girl named Brenda.  She was my friend through thick and thin.  Her and her daughter Kira spent countless hours at our house.  We made Chipotle our weekly hang out and our kids thought they were siblings.

The last time I came out to visit, I could not help but photograph my friend with her new fiance.  I am so excited for her!  I think Jeremy is the perfect guy to marry Brenda and I can’t wait for their wedding in August!!

Here’s just a few of my favorites…

I couldn’t be happier for you guys!!

-Kristin

It doesn’t get any better than the perfectly mellow sunset lighting on the beach!  When I first talked to Bobbi, she knew she wanted beach pictures and her birthday was the perfect excuse to get her girls and their families together for images they would remember forever.

The lighting cooperated, the kids cooperated, even the beach patrol cooperated!

This was one of the first pictures we took and Hudson wasn’t too sure how he felt about the sand and water!  But, it’s so picturesque…I had to share it!

It took Kate a little bit to warm up too, but before long she was all smiles!

Here’s a little more family love…

I could keep on sharing, but I have to save some for later!  Have a wonderful birthday week!

-Kristin

A few weeks ago, we packed the family up for a cloudy afternoon at Bolsa Chica.  It was too cold for the kids to surf with Brent, but not cold enough to stop them from hunting for shells and making sand castles.

We are snuggled together, not just because we love each other, but because it was freeeeezing!

Sorry about the blurriness- the timer thought the waves and the clouds were more important than us!  I’m off to a sunset photo session in Laguna Beach tonight.  It will be much warmer than this day was!!

-Kristin

A few weekends ago when I was down in the Bay Area I met up with Krista and her family.  Krista is an up and coming photographer, so we spent the time talking shop and shooting…back and forth.  It was so much fun!  Her kids happen to be adorable models, so they spent a lot of time in front of the camera for us. 🙂

The photo session was at 2pm…high noon for all intensive purposes!  We talked about how angle is everything when you don’t have a lot to block the sun.  When I’m shooting in an open field like this, I want to angle my camera down so I don’t let as much light in.  That way I get more detail in the picture, instead of a blown out white mess.

After walking around for a bit, we found a perfect little nook of tall grass where the sun filtered in perfectly!

When I have great lighting, I love to shoot with the 50mm 1.2 lens.  Wide open, it creates creamy skin tones and vignettes the photo, so it almost cuccoons the subject.

What a perfect day for a photo session, what perfect kids to photograph!!  Thanks for the great time! 🙂

-Kristin

So many people comment about the eyes in my portraits.  And usually they want to know what I “do” to get them to look that way.  To be honest, it’s all in the lighting.  Perfect, soft, indirect light makes children’s eyes POP!  Kids’ eyes are so perfectly clear…it’s just highlighting what’s already there.

Lucy’s the perfect example of this.  Take a look…

And she happened to look down for a second…just as the wind picked up her hair.  Beautiful.

And I love this fairytale-esque picture…

Have a great Wednesday!

-Kristin

I had so much fun planning this photo session!  I knew it would be four girl cousins that loved being girly, so I pulled out all the stops.  We had parasols, vintage furniture and butterflies strung through the trees.  Let’s just say I was in heaven.

So, without further hesitation…

Girls…I had so much fun with you!  I hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as I did. 🙂

-Kristin

Jordan is the one who started the whole trip out to the Bay Area.  She mentioned that Bella would be turning one…she had me at Bella.  Take a look at this link from my old blog.  Bella was such a sweet newborn.  I was excited to see what she would be like at one.  Of course she smiled on cue and cuddled with her parents.  I knew it! 🙂

Oh and she also wore a mini-skirt.  Hello, miss thang!

Here is the whole beautiful family…

A tiny little patch of garden at the park–in the middle of a frisbee game, a choir practice, a birthday party…  It was a busy Saturday!

It was sooo great seeing Bella a whole year later!!

-Kristin