happy holidays

Yes I have neglected this little blog for quite some time, but hey this girl has been kind of busy you know?
I feel so fortunate to have been able to travel to Budapest, Paris, CT and New York this year with little guy in-tow! (I still can't believe he turned FOUR yesterday!) Both trips were amazing for different reasons, and I am quite proud of myself for actually being able to pick out a few favorite shots to post. That doesn't happen too often, hence the absence of photos on this blog that is supposed to be about....well, photos...See the issue is when it comes to my personal family pics I am; a. indecisive b. a procrastinator c. a perfectionist. So there you have it. Luckily my clients don't have to deal with these little issues, thank goodness.
Except with the perfectionist part, but that is a good thing - I think. I also feel fortunate to be a part of the MKI team ( Mending Kids International) and will be posting updates on our Portraits With a Purpose fundraisers. I hope you're all getting cozy with your families for the holidays. Cheers, Anita
This has to be my favorite pic right now. My grandfather meeting his first great-grandson (Luke) for the first time. Atany, Hungary.
Playing in the fountain at Place des Vosges, in Paris. Hey I don't blame the kid, it was so hot I wish I could have jumped in there. Paris, France These were shot a few weeks ago in NY. We ended up hanging out at the zoo and park for almost six hours which is awesome if you're fingers aren't frozen! Luke was all cozy and warm, but I of course had to go sans gloves, since I was messing with my camera settings most of the time. It was all worth it.

Central Park Zoo, New York

gratitude

I am a big fan of living with intention. Resolutions not so much, however this year an ambitious intention of mine is to commit to one blog post per week. Minimum. Words, pictures, anything. I must admit this is a little intimidating, and it may sound simple and easy - but some days I just don't have that much to be chatty about, or not sure what to share.I welcome any encouragement from anyone who reads my blog. SOAR Sisters are you out there? :)

It's interesting looking back on my last post, it seems so long ago. I have weekly blog ideas, will scribble them down to work on them and a few days later think, oh THAT wasn't important enough to blog about, who would want to hear about THAT, and does anyone REALLY want to see Luke making his first peanut butter & jelly sandwich? So I end up keeping these to myself, along with images to go along with the story. So maybe it is not so much that I don't have anything to say or share, the issue is being afraid or hesitant to. And yes, sometimes it is about prioritizing hanging out with little guy instead of the computer.

I do want to share a recent experience, that keeps me on my toes about gratitude. This was originally written on Feb 3rd, after my last shoot.

GRATITUDE

It is hard to describe or put into words the feelings that come up when you see
an injured child. As a mother; pure empathy and love, mixed with sadness, hope and strength.

I took portraits today that made me feel awkward. Portraits with purpose, that made me feel a little embarrassed. Portraits of a little girl from Haiti who was injured in the earthquake, with thousands of other children. She was beautiful, sad, lost, confused and scared. I don't think she liked me very much for pointing a camera at her. I wish I could have told her "good luck" and that she will be in amazing hands of talented doctors and surgeons. I am just documenting and capturing "what is" and that things will get better. I wish I could have said many things to this little girl, but because of the language barrier we pretty much communicated through gestures and eye contact.

Maybe in a strange way I related to her. I was the same age when I arrived at LAX with my mom (as she with hers) flying for the first time, across oceans, not speaking the language, feeling lost, confused and scared. She will be going home, or what is left of her home after 3 months of surgeries, healing, and the generous hospitality of her "host family".

I have the privilege of staying here and living my life, being a mom to an amazing little guy, and using my talents to help other people in need. All I can say is GRATITUDE.

We are so removed from the Haiti tragedy, and many other similar situations around the world. It is easy to walk away from the television or internet, and choose to "forget" about real people in need. It is an indescribable experience meeting a mother and child face-to-face, with hopes and dreams, knowing that a tragic event will effect their lives forever. That is not so easy to walk away from.

The organization responsible for bringing this little girl and her mom here, along with providing the medical care (and setting her up with a host-family) is http://www.mendingkids.org/ I have been offered the amazing opportunity to help document the stories of numerous children they will be bringing here, by photographing them.

The pages of my gratitude journal are filling up with daily thanks, big and small since January 1st. This journal keeps me grounded, reminds me to live with intention, to be mindful & to give daily thanks.

PEZ

You know it's going to be a good day when a little package from Brooklyn arrives at your doorstep. We were just getting back from our nap-time drive when I saw THE BOX. I sprung up the stairs with passed out child in my arms, to run back down and tear THE BOX open. I love getting that box, never know what kind of treat will be inside, but yummie you can count on.
My sis in law is at it again, and this time sadly (though not so sad for us) the goodies were devoured before I remembered to take a pic. Yikes. That sounds bad. I mean it took us about two days to finish the amazing cranberry pumpkin bread, but somehow I kept forgetting to take a pic.
Really the purpose of this box was Halloween goodies for Luke - his first box of Halloween goodies, and I wanted to capture how happy he was opening them. So at least we have that, and since she can't be here to open it with us I thought documenting would be the next best thing. Thanks Bissy!

my superman

MAKING PIZZA

Out of Focus

I'm finally coming around and posting again, this summer I have been out of sorts a little - or you could say out of focus. Summer always makes me feel like I am on vacation, so it's okay to give in to my whimsical schedules and ideas since it's....summer. Anyone relate? I have tons of images to share, but I'll start with this one of little guy happily splashing (and note) with swimmies on arms. A month after I shot this he jumped into a pool without swimmies, and no I didn't have time to capture that one! I followed him right in, fully clothed of course. :) How many of you guys have experienced this? From talking with other moms, my conclusion is that boys are professional pool jumpers and mom scarers, and I'm not sure which one of those comes first. I hope you all had a happy summer!

Happy June

I must say I am thoroughly shocked that it is June 1st. I know that sounds strange, but what's up with Christmas being only 6 months away? Time to book holiday sessions, right?
Speaking of being away - we took a nice long (3 day each way) road-trip. I'm a little late on this one since the trip happened in April, but better late than never. The purpose of the trip was a vacation / photo workshop and I must say the experience was amazing. If anyone out there is thinking about going to Kevin Kubota digital photography boot camp - do it, and do it now! It was so inspiring to hang out with other creative peeps, not to mention photo mama's who are in similar situations of juggling (sometimes not so gracefully:) photography, children, passions and the likes. And it was a boot-camp indeed - learning, shooting, eating and sleeping photography 24/7 for 5 days! Awesome!







Future photographer?

It was awesome to do something different and to shoot a wedding couple! Maybe weddings are on the horizon? Just maybe.....

A Little Boy and His Dog

I have so much to catch you guys up on ; road-trip to Oregon, Kubota boot-camp (photo work-shop) fabulous new photog friends, but before I get to that I wanted to post a few fun images from my last shoot in April.

This is CJ and Bee-Dog.

Bee-Dog made a long treck from Colombia in the cockpit of a commercial airplane (that lucky dog) so he can be CJ's pet.

He is definitely CJ's new best friend, and THE cutest dog ever.

Just look at that face. We had so much fun together on this shoot. Hmmmm, maybe we should get a dog for Luke, ahem..

I'm sure my husband will go for that one.

how awesome is my sister in-law?

My sis in-law sent us this amaaaaazing organic banana tractor cake (she whipped up) oh about a month ago...but I am still dreaming about how yummo it was. It is why I'm posting about it many weeks later, because I think about this cake often. And I also thought it would make a good addition to Luke's real tractor photos. Happy March! Time to come out of winter hibernation and work off that cake!
                                           his cute little face says it all. awesome! thank you!
                                    He didn't eat the whole thing...just grabbed a handful

in a nutshell

                                                                     

                                   ALL BOY


It's raining and yuckie outside, and Luke happens to be also napping so I thought what a perfect time to update the blog! It's been long enough. I have shot so many pics, and kept thinking I was going to post them with stories etc, but days and weeks have come and gone and I will have to do a bit of a rewind. Probably a holiday rewind as well, so I can share a few holiday pics. So instead of getting overwhelmed and not posting anything I'll be doing my posts in reverse, with most recent activities and adventures with Mr. Luke. Hmmm, what have we been up to the past month? 

1. had east coast grandpa over for a visit
2. went to the long beach aquarium
3. had dinner at Benihana where Luke sat through a meal for the first time ever!
4. got diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease
5. watched Luke make his first peanut butter & jelly sandwich, awesome
6. visited west coast grandparents - Luke attempted to clean up horse poop
7. chased after tricycle riding toddler on boardwalk
8. chased after fast tricycle riding toddler on boardwalk 
9. fed lots of duckies at park 
10. thought about updating my blog
11. thought about opening my new best friend (gocco printer)
12. Luke got a haircut 
13. toured a pre school
14. had a play-date
15. got food poisoning 
16. visited west coast grandparents again - Luke drove a tractor with grandpa
17. had dinner with a friend (first time solo in two years :)
18. made a home for kid mattress on floor so toddler can jump, slide, and catch air
19. repeat last activity - at least 10 times per day

So that is it in a nutshell, I may be leaving a few things out and believe it or not I have pics to go along with all these lovely activities. This will help me be more organized with the post. Pics coming soon.

a new year

If you are one of the few lovely people who actually reads this blog, THANK YOU and I wish you all the best in 2009!

The last two months we have been busy baking, wrapping, shipping, shooting, downloading, editing and all that good stuff. And jumping around.....a lot although my job is to do the catching most of the time, as Luke jumps off of something probably too high and dangerous. Oh yeah, and Luke turned 2! I really can't believe how fast these little creatures grow. I have to tell you that although I have weekly pics documenting his growth, changes, messy faces, etc. I really wish I would have been more disciplined to write with the pics, more personal blogging to remember all the little quirky funny things he says now on a daily basis. I am happy that I documented with photos like crazy.  I will go back and post a ton of catch up pics (especially for family) if I don't let my perfectionism get in the way. Just kidding, sort of...:)

Here is my little dude being curious about mommy's ancient medium format camera. Even though this pic is a little grainy I really do love it because it is something I stumbled upon, Luke sitting in our living room quiet and concentrating, which does not happen very often. Notice the one shoe, and the oh-so-clean toes.


                                                more pumpkin muffins please!

I finished the Core studio promos, and now we are ready to go with private sessions, kids head shots and drum roll....PHOTO PARTIES! I had quite a few phone calls asking if or when I will be offering group sessions again and I decided to do something a little different this year. I will announce details as soon as I have everything together. I will probably only do 1 or 2 per month, so please let me know asap if you are interested.

I am also working on a few creative projects, and will be opening an ETSY store soon.

I have to share an inspiring quote that I read in my current favorite book "The Creative Family" by Amanda Blake Soule, 
I highly recommend this book to anyone with children, especially for creative moms. Something to think about for 2009.

If we did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves. 

-Thomas Edison

little monkey

This one is for the grandparents. :) So once again we dressed up our little monkey as....a little monkey. Same costume as last year, but hey the size is 12-24 months, and the pants were only a wee bit short. That's sort of creative right? At least he was warm and cozy in it. We took Luke to a local Halloween stroll, full of bouncy houses and adorable toddlers in costumes. There were plenty of hugs, kisses and high fives going around. As soon as we pulled up I spotted this cute mural in a parking lot, and I just had to use it as a backdrop.

beautiful family

This gorgeous family of four is a recent fave session. Pssst, don't tell anyone! You can't help but notice the love & bond between them, it makes me happy that I played a tiny role in documenting a part of their lives.

look at this handsome little dude...


and his stunning big sis.

a few favorites

Just a few current favorite images I am working on. What do you guys think of the textures in the background? Would love some feedback. Happy Sunday!

wow, new post!

Ok, so I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. :) I have been blessed with many photo sessions since March, and I am doing my best juggling taking care of a toddler (who is sick right now) :( running a photo business, shooting, orders, printing, shipping, and all the glorious things that come with doing what you love! Oh yeah, and I'm also going to be setting up camp (studio) at the core which I am super excited about! Luke was in bed by 9 pm tonight, (10 ish is his usual) so I had just a few extra minutes to update with a favorite pic from this past Saturday. This little girl was such a ham, very sweet and animated. :) This was a fun image to work with. More images to come.

happy mama's day!

I just love lilacs, and I couldn't resist sharing them with you guys.
Take some time out for yourself today.

Color vs BW

Decisions, decisions. This is one of my fave images from the PV Hills shoots, and I wanted to post in color and b/w to show off the difference. It is amazing how the same image can differ so much, based on color choices in the photo. I just love playing around with color, but I also love a classic b/w. If you are trying to figure out which images to order and display, definitely think about the many options you have when it comes to choosing your priceless pics. :)