my kid | arroyo grande child photography

just editing and catching up on personal photos and i found this image of my sweet logan from november. this image is so her. she'll pose for plenty of pretty pictures, but she's all goof :)

merry christmas!

lisa | steve | matty | david | morro bay family photography

i was beyond excited for the chance to photograph lisa leonard's family last weekend. i'm a big fan of her handmade jewelry and am consistently impressed with her lovely, creative daily blog.

we met up in morro bay for a fun family urban session.

matty and the trolley stop... matty is a superhero in training and is definitely faster than my camera:



i'm sure lisa and steve wondered what on earth i was doing with their son here... but they let us play, and i was rewarded with one sweet image (and a head on my shoulder peeking at the viewfinder to see himself, even superheroes have cuddly moments!)





this one just screams parenthood to me... mom & dad have everything under control:



some family randomness:



and some family sweetness:





thank you lisa and steve and matty and david! it was a joy to meet you.

head over to lisa's site and check out her gorgeous necklaces. (slip a link into your hubby's e-mail!) she's even sharing a 10% discount, just enter 'findbeauty' when you check out.

jen | john | cate | braden | arroyo grande family photography

jen and i have been casually talking about doing family portraits since early this summer. for one reason or another it didn't happen until now, but i'm so happy to finally have had the chance to capture this family's personality. as usual, our session was more like running around and playing with the kids than a 'pose and say cheese' marathon (although we did get smiles out of cate by saying 'pleeease')

but this girl is just perfection without asking her to say anything cheezy:


and big brother? look at those eyes!


pure sibling sweetness. cate loves braden and braden loves cate.


aand more gorgeousness:

benjamin | nicholas | rick | kellie | arroyo grande famliy photographer

this was my second opportunity to photograph this family this year (see round 1 here). we ran around behind these old barns and talked a whole lot about transformers... stuff this mama of two girls knows nearly nothing about.



sweet benjamin... these boys just shine when they get all of my attention :)


and nicholas... seriously an adorable kid

perfect autumn

catching up here... i have a ton of sessions to catch up on but am still quite behind on editing... but how could i not share these amazing blue eyes???

gina | richard | madison | pismo beach family photography

my favorite favorite mommy/daughter moments:



and the perfect central coast evening...

baby jake | six months later

baby jake was one of my first real newborn sessions just about six months ago. i was so excited to get to see this sweet boy again today and was in awe of how big he's gotten.

at one week old:


and today:


josh and jennie are simply fun to photograph. they're gorgeous and their sweet little family is so full of love.





my funky favorite of the session:

which one? | arroyo grande family photography

i can never decide which color edit i prefer... bright and colorful? black and white? desaturated antique? i think i love them all when the kids are this cute!

baby dj | santa maria newborn photography

sweet baby dj... i was able to photograph him on day one and day seven of his life. remember his mama's maternity session with two friends?

i love these squished-up newborn shots:

kamrin.ben.lexi.grant.drake | paso robles famliy photography

i met this gorgeous family at a winery in shandon where dad, ben, works. i had the pleasure of taking drake's one year photos (here). and was just a little mesmerized by his eyes then. it turns out that all 3 kids (and mom!) have the same stunning pale blue/green eyes.





grant absolutely hamming it up for my camera. my 4.5 year old does things like this too... i have no idea where they get it!




i often find myself saying 'pretend you like each other' - sarcastically during my sessions. i'm still not sure if it was a serious statement to lexi or not...

sydney & noah | san luis obispo family photography

a few of sweet sydney and noah. they were pretty unsure of me at first, but i was thrilled to get hugs from them at the end of our session.





i love when families just go with my odd suggestions for angles... i'd love my own family portrait to look like this:

it's about the happiness | santa maria family photographer

two-year-old j grabbed my hand the minute his mama opened the door to show me around his house. he was excited and exuberant and not so interested in posed shots (me neither!) but we had a blast rolling in the grass.

sweet mr m | san luis obispo newborn photography

he's just perfect!

just a peek | san luis obispo family photographer