Beaches and Bellies | Newport and Laguna Beach Maternity Photographer

Have I happened to mention once or twice how much I love photographing maternity sessions?? ;) There are just no adequate words to describe how beautiful this time is. Watching as your belly expands, knowing there is a miraculous life that you will have the privilege to raise. First time parents are my very favorite to shoot, as I know the way their hearts are about to beat right outside their chest.

I love for my maternity sessions to carry that whimsical feeling of the inner hopes and excitement parents are feeling at this time. To give each mom a small piece of that unmatched beauty that is motherhood. She may not always feel so pretty. By the end it’s sometimes more liked a beached whale—haha! But her beauty is far beyond the physical. It’s that real glow that comes from growing a real life. My number one goal each and every time I pick up my camera is to show her how amazing she is.

And this evening, my goodness! When we showed up Newport Beach was pretty heavy with clouds, but I saw that along the horizon there was a patch of clear and was pretty sure it would break out for us. Within a few minutes it did just that, showing off in all its unmatched glow and illuminating the sky! Just perfect for one of the sweetest couples you will ever meet, who are going to be THE best mom and dad.

Let's Capture Some Photos With Your Big Kids Too | Newport and Laguna Beach Family Photographer

You don’t have to stop the family photos just because your kids are older. They are still every bit the moments you will never want to forget. By far, the vast majority of shoots I do are of younger kids, and I totally get that. First off, they look completely different from one year to the next, growing before we have time to blink. And at their age they don’t even think much about the lady with the big camera, besides that I’m there to have a good time with them. As our kids grow so do their schedules. I think they become even busier than us in fact as our life suddenly becomes mini van parent. ;) And from year to year the appearance doesn’t change so much. But that doesn’t mean that just once or twice you can’t find an evening where everyone’s schedules magically coincide and you freeze this still beautiful time together.

When I first started in photography I was at such a loss for how to capture genuine interaction during the teenage years. My babies were babies—I had no experience with these big kids! ;) As my own two are now growing though I realize the bond is still there, the relationship simply shifting from cuddles and goldfish crackers to nice meals around the table with your friends. The love is still there, just waiting to be captured. And this is exactly how these four were together. So much connection and joy, we laughed and talked and enjoyed our time together in the hills of Newport. Orange County was in the middle of shifting from its spring green to summer browns and I just loved all the texture and color. It fit so perfectly with all their sweet love.

Newport and Laguna Beach are Opened for Travel | Orange County Family Photographer

I have taken more photos of out of state families in the past month than all of last year combined, and I am here for it! I never knew how much I had taken for granted the way Newport and Laguna rely so much on tourism. We are beach towns, we need beach goers. Last year was hard for all, and watching businesses close for good hurt. But as things have slowly opened, the crowds have slowly began coming again. I had the best time with all the Spring break families who ventured this way during the spring and cannot wait to meet all on my summer calendar soon!

This family actually lives right here in Newport, but only for about a week more. They are packing up the boxes and moving out to the East Coast next month. They wanted to capture a little piece of their life here before they left, and I had the most fun time doing just that with them. Four kids “should” be a challenge, but they were the most joyful and sweet spirits and made for the most perfect evening. And hello gorgeous sunset to bid them farewell!

Happy 1st Birthday to My Baby Girl || Newport Beach Family Photographer

Cue all the alligator tears, my baby just celebrated her very first birthday! I swear I was just bringing her home from the hospital and pacing the floors at night. But I blinked and here we are. Adele is a constant ray of sunshine to our home and it’s hard to remember how we ever lived without her sweet smile.

Happy birthday baby girl. Thank you, thank you, thank you for letting me be your mom.

Senior Photos in Newport Beach | Orange County Graduation Photography

I’m definitely known as a family photographer, and it' is most definitely what takes up most my schedule. However, a few times each year I have the opportunity to photograph a senior session, and it’s one of my favorite things to do! Especially this year, when life robbed these girls of way too much. They may not get to walk across a stage this year, but I cannot wait to see all that life has in store for them. And crossing all the fingers a physical college is in their future this fall!

Also, for a side note can we talk about how not beautiful or posed I was my own senior year back in the day! I still remember my mom taking me to the lovely “Glamour Shots” in our local mall. At one point the photographer there thought it would be cute if I put a cowboy hat on my feet and held them high into the air. Not sure where it all came from, but at the time I loved the images nonetheless, and my mom has the three she purchased hanging on her wall to this day. :)

Let's Go Play in the Fields | Newport and Laguna Beach Family Photographer

That one time of year when it spits a bit of rain here in Orange County and we all go crazy with our tease of green. ;) Seriously though, I am totally and completely obsessed with late winter/early spring here in Newport and the way it brings its life to our usual brown landscape. If only it could last all year!

I have had the privilege of watching this family grow from the time this sweet girl was just a fruit size in her momma’s belly. I have photographed the bump, newborn, one year, and now the big two. I cannot express how much it means to me when families come back year after year. I feel like they become old friends and we are able to pick right back up from where we started last. The connection these three hold together is pure beauty, and I just love the way the light and hills reflected it for them this evening. So much love, laughter, and even a spot of purple wildflowers on this late February day.

Is the Beach Best for Your Family Photoshoot? | Newport and Laguna Beach Family Photographer

Is the beach the best spot to have your family captured? It depends one hundred percent on your kids! I have shot children who were absolutely terrified of the ocean’s roar and waves. We’ve had to go up top just to get them away from it all! I also have kids who are one hundred percent in their natural element of pure joy and laughter when playing along the sandy shoreline. If your kids are the latter type, then definitely, let’s go for it! Putting children in an area where they can really run, play, and be themselves is a set up for the best kind of photos.

Two small high energy boys “should” be a difficult set up, right? But these little guys are absolute lovers of the beach and it showed completely during our time together. We tickled, ran, and flew, but in between each moment captured big brother was able to be in his natural element and baby could take in the awesomeness of everything around him. It was the perfect place to allow a fun and easy going atmosphere but also capture some magic.

So to recap, should you be choosing the beach for your own family backdrop? Let your children decide! :)

First Family Photo Shoot of 2021: Laguna and Newport Beach Photographer

When you get to start the new year taking photos with this family, you just know it’s going to be a good one! They were such a breath of fresh air, filling the beach with all their love and laughter. Winter beaches will forever be a favorite for me as a photographer, because: good bye crowds! But this winter in particular we have been crazy spoiled with amazing weather where we don’t actually feel like our fingers are going to fall off by the end. ;)

This mom gave me the biggest compliment after receiving her photos too. She explained they have family picturess taken almost every year, but with these images, “I don’t have one favorite. They are all my favorite! Every single one is perfect!” I definitely spent the rest of that day smiling. I put my everything into each and every session I do, and to hear these words back means much more than I can express.

Florida With My Babies

Gosh I’ve been missing in action over here! I still post to my Instagram lots though so would love to see you over there: lifenowphotography

I’ll try to post more on here soon as I have SOOOO many amazing families to share! Life has been crazy busy and does anyone read blogs anymore even?? Here are a quick few of my own babes during our New Year’s in Florida. Vacation is definitely good for the soul. <3

Who Wants Spring Photos? || Orange County Family Photographer

Ahh, I just realized it’s been two months since I last posted anything on here! I’ve been able to photograph so many amazing families lately—both new and returning—and am on heart full with all the sweet moments captured. BUT life is crazy busy and when that happens the first thing to go seems to be keeping up with posting any new photos. Once the business of fall settles down I’ll be trying to get some more sessions up on here. For now though, here are a couple quick snaps of me and my baby girl from this summer in Michigan. The girl who I’ll admit is the one keeping me the most behind in everything else in life. How does one exactly run a business and baby plus homeschool two older kids simultaneously? I’m yet to figure that one out, but never been so happy in my life regardless. :)

Fall time in Southern California is brown fields and dead foliage. It also has its own beauty, no doubt. But being from the midwest, my heart is forever a lover of green fields and wildflowers. So a push to anyone considering booking a session this coming spring! Orange County shows off in all its colorful goodness come end of February to April, and the scenes are my very favorite of the entire year!

What Does a Family Photo Session With Young Kids Look Like | Newport Beach Photographer

Family sessions at the beach usually entail 10% posing and 90% chaos. And that is what I love best. Forget the fake smiles and stiff poses and lets give you some real memories of your babies being who they were meant to be. I am a firm believer that these will be the ones you will look back on with tears someday. Because let’s be real, babies, toddlers, big kids—none of them keep! This time is so fleeting. We blink and they grow another year. That joy, laughter, adventure that fills your home and life right now, I want to put it into a frame for you. A canvas of some real life love. So let the kids run and play, scoop them up and fly them in the air. Embrace the wild, the wet, the sand filled car driving home. This time is one to be remembered, so let’s do just that. :)

June Gloom Had Nothing On Us | Newport Beach Family Photographer

For everyone local to Orange County, there is the ever popular phrase “May Gray, June Gloom.” And for the five years we have lived here it has always made its grand appearance. The actual gloom is really the marine layer that comes over the ocean and spreads over all the towns nearby. That thick, gray cloud coverage rushes in like clockwork sometime during the evening and lingers until around noon the next day. You then get a few hours of beautiful sunshine, only to be met by another layer that same evening. For ever sunny California it’s actually a most welcomed time here for most. That cloud coverage does wonders in what would usually be some hot months, giving us instead some amazing temperatures where we can play all day outside without breaking a sweat! For photography, however, they are the months that I generally look forward to the least. It is so hard to plan what to do as we can think it’s going to be a perfect sunset, and then watch as the dark gray mass comes sweeping in right before we start our shoot.

I took the month of May off this year as baby girl was just born. :) Starting back up again mid month, I had five sessions for June and was fully prepared to embrace the soft blues that the layer lends. But nature seemed to want to treat me extra kindly all five days, bringing in some amazing sun breaking right in the middle of those “gloom” clouds. We were gifted with the most beautiful shades of light and color! How I got so lucky I do not know, but no complaints over on this end! I like to think it was the families themselves, filled with so much happy sunshine they simply chased those clouds away. :)

My Own Little Beach Babe | Newport and Laguna Beach Family Photographer

I started working again mid June and have seriously have had the BEST families to ease myself back from maternity leave! So many photos I need to share here, but first some quick snaps I took of baby girl a few ago. And by quick, I’m not joking. The attention of a five week old is definitely a short one! My gosh, they change by the day though. At now eight weeks she is smiling and cooing and filling my heart into an overflowing pile of happy mush. Also, lucky for me, she loves the beach! I guess being part of this family, what choice did she really have though? ;)

Our Baby Girl is Finally Here | Orange County Family Photographer

She’s finally here!!!!! Adele London made her appearance on May 1st. 30 seconds of pushing, and she flew out so quickly the doctor didn’t even make it to the hospital. 😆 I have no words to express how full my heart is right now. How I wish I could make time stand still with her. It is as though she was always meant to be here... which she was.

Her big brother and sister have been a part of the entire process. From praying for a baby, to thinking there was a snake in the toilet when I came out of the bathroom screaming. I was, in fact, telling everyone I had a positive pregnancy test, but sounded incoherent for the first bit of it. My son told me he thought for sure it was a snake. 😆 🐍 There were a couple bad scares along the way, all which turned out to be false. But at the time they would somehow know the words to say to make my faith stronger... They now tell me she is better than they had ever imagined, that we are the luckiest family of all to have her... It was just the two of them for so long it’s still sinking in to me how she is their sister. The three of them together filling my heart in places I didn’t even know were missing.

I’m behind on everything in life and sleep has become a long lost word, but never have I been so full of joy.

Bed Time at Sunset | Newport Beach OC Family Photographer

I’m definitely feeling this first yawn here in this last bit of pregnancy. 😆At 38 weeks tomorrow, I’ve been having so much “false” labor waking me up throughout the night, coupled with her sweet little kicks and rolls, and of course the fifty thousand trips to the bathroom! Not pregnant, I never ever nap. I’ve taken one three days in a row now though, which for me is beyond a milestone and a true sign things are definitely getting to the end. ;)

This doll right here had reached her bedtime by the time the sun dipped behind the horizon, but my gosh that sunset was showing off for her. And so we pushed her a tiny bit past for some sweet, sleepy memories. And I’m oh so glad we did too. This was actually the very last session I did before I was informed by Newport that all beach shoots were being shut down due to the Corona Virus. How happy I was to have one last epic sunset before everything went into quarantine. And although this time of simply enjoying hanging with my family and soaking in these last weeks of pregnancy has been a nice break, I cannot wait to get back out here again. Fingers crossed, by mid summer!!

37 Week Bump Update | Orange County Family & Maternity Photographer

37 weeks!!!!!🤰🤰🤰And I thought it only fitting to grab some shots in my home as what better way to truly reflect on these final weeks of carrying her during a nation wide shut down? I often get asked how I’m doing with the pregnancy and everything going on right now, and my answer is not a lie: I’m doing great! I am a firm believer that God already knew this baby’s birthdate. And in the middle of a time marked with so much fear and uncertainty, she will enter this world as a beacon of hope and promise. Light in the middle of darkness... Now if I can just contain my own heart that feels like it may burst in all the anticipation of seeing her face. ❤️

Covid-19 and Photography | Newport Beach Family Photographer

I won’t lie, the fact that I have to reschedule almost two months of sessions hasn’t been easy. And since I shoot so many families who come here to Newport on vacation, some of them we have just had to cancel for the time being. Financially it’s hard. Mentally it’s hard. Being out of work, even when you know it’s only temporary and definitely worth it to slow the spread, is still a challenge to say the least.

BUT there have been so many beautiful blessings all around me too. My children have always been my world and my heart has been soaking up all these extra hours together. A little calm, a little crazy, these kids haven’t skipped a beat during any of this with their love for life and adventure always on full. They remind me to take each day and embrace it for the beauty it holds. To let go of the fears of the unknown and instead breathe in the moments around me. 

Coronavirus sucks. It’s ugly and vicious and has sunk its bite much deeper than I had ever imagined. But with most of life there is the silver lining. And this whole slowing down together as a family has been a beautiful thing. As Americans it seems we are simply wired to hit the ground running from morning to night, and keeping busy is seen as the good. But maybe after it’s all through we will realize these days without all the pressures of life’s to do(s) and social activities to attend, we became stronger together. Creating some amazing memories in the process….All that said though, let’s still kick COVID-19 to the curb.

The Beauty of In Home Newborn Photos | Orange County Family Photographer

I have no words for how much I absolutely love in home newborn photo sessions! There is just something so intimate and and beautiful about capturing those first memories right where they are happening. I mean, let’s be real, where do you spend 95% of those first few weeks at? And what day is it even? ;-)

When you look back at your photos five, ten, twenty years from now, what better way to bring back all those sweet memories than looking at those real moments captured? <3 And what better way to capture real memories than to let your baby simply be real? In home means 100% baby led. If she is awake, we capture her eyes, if she’s sleeping we allow her to do so comfortably.

And my gosh the interactions captured!! This little doll was only one week old and already making eye contact and even following my camera around! I’m just five weeks away now from my own due date of baby girl so this session was very extra special to me and turned my baby fever to a whole new high. :)

Maternity Photos in the Foothills of Orange County | Newport Beach Family Photographer

Right when we though Orange County was in for a year of sunshine, warmth, and a little drought—it poured! And like every year, we complained about the rain. As hard as it is during it though, especially with all the having to reschedule and such, I just love the way everything starts to bloom—even the desert filled foothills!

It was such a perfect backdrop for this gorgeous momma to be, and I cannot wait for her to welcome her baby girl soon!

Orange County Green Fields With My Girl | OC Family Photographer

This girl of mine. ❤️ To know her is to love her, and to love her is to feel your heart overflow. We celebrated the big 8 1/2 this week (it's been our tradition to do half birthday for a while now 🎊), and I'm feeling all the emotions watching her grow up way too quickly. My little bestie, I can't imagine doing life without her smiles.

And hello happy photographer life, all this rain is turning Orange County into my very favorite time of the whole year! Green may be my very favorite color and it coming up in abundance right now! I sometimes get asked for green fields in the fall time when families are wanting Christmas card pics, but sadly everything is back to brown by then. SO, if your ever thinking of really changing up the photo backdrop, think Spring! There is nothing quite so lovely here in Southern California, in my own opinion at least. ;)