Three Generations in Hillsborough

Back in the beginning of the year I photographed this family get-together. I’ve had the joy of photographing Theresa and Brad twice before, for their wedding and their maternity shots, but this time Theresa and her siblings wanted to gift her mom with family photos for her 60th birthday, so on her birthday weekend all three of her kids and all six of her grandchildren came to hang out together. It’s actually a thing they do fairly regularly, as they are just those type of close-knit people who make seeing each other a priority.

Even though this particular weekend ended up coming with some hiccups- two sick kids, one who had literally just had an emergency surgery the day before(!)- they still managed to be over-the-moon to see each other; running out to the car to greet uncles and aunts, running up and down the stairs with cousins (the same stairs the now grown-up kids ran up and down when they were little), snuggling, watching movies together, and just hanging out with coffee and snacks. Plus, getting to see the middle generation jump up and down and squeak baby toys and act like circus clowns in order to get the kids to smile was totally worth all the crying babies and sad faces in these family pictures.

Em's Ice Cream

Em’s Ice Cream is the best. (If you have any idea how much ice cream I eat, you’ll know that is not a statement to be taken lightly). I recognize I’m totally biased given that the “Em” in Em’s Ice Cream is my good friend of 15 years, Emily. But regardless, I’d be willing to bet this would be my choice in a blindfolded taste test!

Emily’s husband Andrew started the company in Denver about seven years ago I think, and it has been growing every season. Last summer when I was out there I swung by the shop to take a few pictures for them. Their little Lily was of course the star.

Maile and Kawika's garden wedding in Waikiki at the Hale Koa

This wedding is from over a year ago, but we just got back from Maile’s sister’s wedding this week. It was on the same island of Oahu, and involved celebrating with many of the same people, so I had this wedding (that I hadn’t managed to share in the last 15 months) on my mind.

Both of these weddings are so special to me. While Maile’s family is from Hawaii and she moved back there maybe 20 years ago, she spent her growing-up years in Milpitas, next-door to me :) I met Maile when I was 11 years old and, looking back, I have no idea how in the world I got so lucky as to move in right next door to another 11 year old girl! And not just any 11 year old girl. This one would introduce me to poetry, and environmentalism, and drag queens, and poi, and dancing, and eyelash-curling, and euthanasia, and my first R-rated movie, and eventually, my husband.

If you’ve ever asked Shawn and I how we met, we love to answer with this: “He’s my next-door neighbor’s older sister’s ex-boyfriend’s nephew’s best friend”. So regardless of how much time we don’t get to spend together nowadays, Maile is forever intertwined into our lives. She was one of my bridesmaids almost 18 years ago and I got the even better job of being her photographer last year.

Her and Kawika got married at the Hale Koa in the Maile Gardens!! :) I clearly don’t know Kawika like I know Maile but it’s easy to tell that the warmth of his smile goes way deeper than just that.

(*you’ll note an image with a couple of my children plotting to dive their faces into the cake :))

And here’s one of me and Maile. It’s out-of-focus as I wasn’t the one taking it, but I love it. I feel like Maile put on her tweenage smile for this one :)

Karen and Cliff's Backyard Wedding in San Jose

This wedding was from back in the Fall, but I just went to Karen’s baby shower (!!!) a few weekends ago so I’ve got these cute people on my mind.

Karen is one of my favorites. Period. I’ve known her for a lot of years. She is an amazing photographer, gardener, friend, travel companion, and most of all, person. Cliff, I don’t know as well yet, but Karen likes him a whole lot, so I’m pretty sure he’s great too.

These guys got married in their backyard. Being the fabulous gardener she is, Karen had unknowingly been creating the perfect backdrop for their vows for the past decade or so. But that was just the tip of the “personal touch” iceberg. In a testament to how loved these two people are, they had almost everything handled by their friends- the food, the drinks, the photography, the music, the officiating. It really was so sweet to have so many people coming together to help celebrate.

Theresa and Brad- maternity shoot in San Carlos

This little maternity shoot was from last Spring sometime, but just this past weekend I photographed the baby that was living in Theresa’s belly in these pictures, and it reminded me I should share these! That baby, by the way, is now 8 months old and goes by the name of Max. He’s absolutely charming and all smiles (just like his parents).

We did this quick shoot at their little apartment in San Carlos where they say they spend hour upon hour just staring at and holding onto that adorable belly, and then we popped downtown to grab some iced tea over where they take their evening walks.

Pete and Beth's Backyard Wedding in Willow Glen

This wedding was really dear to me for several reasons. The biggest being that Beth is the sister of Ellen, whose wedding I photographed 10 years prior! I loved their family then, and I love them a decade later. They are kind, thoughtful, sentimental, and present people, the kind of people it feels good to be around. They have a way of doing everything with meaning. From the fact that Beth wore her grandmother’s wedding dress, to their choice of ceremony readings, to the fact that the celebration itself was held at her parents house, the one Beth grew up in, the one where she planted a redwood seedling she got from 6th grade Science Camp on the side yard and now all these years later, we got to take wedding pictures in the shade of this giant.

I also think I’m in awe of the love Beth and Ellen have for each other. Clearly two very different personalities, these sisters are so connected. Listening to Ellen’s speech, I just thought “this is exactly what I want my girls to be able to feel and say about each other when they are grown”.

And then there’s the fact that Pete can rock pink slippers so well :)

I had help from the super talented and tall Stan Olszewski

Planner/coordinator Sarah Carroll of Small Shindigs

Most of the props were from Pete and Beth’s own vintage shop Montebello Road

Senior Portraits on Haight Street with Isabel

Earlier this year I did these senior portraits with Isabel over around Haight Ashbury. For someone who loves music and dance and ice cream and books and city vibes, it was a good fit.

During the photo shoot I kept having these existential moments. I’ve known Isabel since she was a little kid, but I don’t actually see her very often, so to me it just felt like she turned into an adult overnight. Isabel’s mom Jenny is a dear friend of mine; she has another daughter a few years older and I regularly bug Jenny to tell me every single thing she knows about raising daughters. I admire her immensely and would be quite pleased if my kids turned out remotely like hers. During our shoot, having the realization that, given my oldest is nine, I’m really only nine years away from this point in life, I would vacillate between feeling utterly horrified at the sound of the things a graduating senior does on her own (has a job, munis all over town, bathes, picks out music, gets body art) and feeling such a sense of hope and excitement that if I am so lucky, I could have one of these kind, opinionated, fun, funny, smart, employed, independent little grown-ups (especially one that loves her mom so much. There are a bunch of shots of Jenny in here too because Isabel kept grabbing her and hugging her and laughing and talking with her).

Emma

In a follow-up to my last post, here you can see baby Emma a little more clearly ;)

I got to meet Emma at her home over in the East Bay about a week after she was born. She has parents and grandparents alike there ready to hold her every second, and wanting to make sure they do everything just right!

Tracy and Lance- Expecting Emma

It was over a decade ago that I photographed Lance and Tracy’s wedding. Since then they’ve traveled around the world, eaten every amazing thing you can imagine, repeatedly referred me to their friends and family (thank you guys!), and gotten pregnant . . . I’m sure they’ve done a lot of other stuff too, but those are the things I’m most aware of :)

We did this mini session back on a cold June evening. We kept waiting for it to get warm so we could get glowy, sunny maternity photos, but the San Francisco summer wouldn’t budge, so we just had to go for it before baby Emma decided to start budging!

Checking in with the world.

Finding the time to finish this new website is not happening like it was supposed to. Alas, so ‘goes. In the meantime, I’ve decided, I should at least start blogging stuff I’ve been working on. I was sorta saving all of it for when the website was done, but I’ve gotten to know myself over the past several decades, and admittedly, that could be another few years.

Kainoa is Five, last summer

I have so many photo shoots waiting to be shared but I keep not doing it because I keep thinking I'm gonna have time to get my website done, and I'll want to share them then. But in order for that to happen I would have to have more than 3 free minutes in the day and that just isn't in the cards at this stage in my life. (But one day. Oh my forever and always 'one day').

In the meantime, here's one of those many shoots sitting. I saw Pam last week and it reminded me how much I loved these photos. I've done a photo shoot with her family each time one of their three kids has turned 5. Each time it's been at a different house while they were living in a different neighborhood. And I feel more than my fair share of satisfaction that each of those have been documented ;)

This family is an ideal mix of sporty and bookish, outdoorsy and homebodies, fun and focused, and I think these capture all of that, and them.

Melissa and Dillon, married in Tulare

Melissa is Shawn's cousin. (But really, who isn't?! That guy has like 97 of them or something). Her and Dillon and their sweet little baby Mia live in Idaho but they came out to CA to get married at Dillon's parent's farm a few months ago. And at the last minute, Melissa asked if I could take the pictures. Well, hopefully they wanted like 50% of the pictures to be of their second cousins (my children :)) cause I took a whole bunch of those!

There are a few of Melissa and Dillon in there too. They said 'i do' under an arbor Dillon built, and on the very farm he grew up on. (His niece, one of the bridesmaids, even had to get up during dinner to go feed the horses!) The sunlight and greenery and baby goats were enough to make me think we should all move to Tulare. Or at least get married there. 

*Note Clementine crying during the ceremony every time she noticed me :)

Ezra Golden is born

Rebecca and Derek called to tell me the hospital suggested they to go back home but admitted them anyway since they had the room, and that I could head over whenever but it would probably be a while. So I casually took another 20 minutes to drop the kids off at school and such and then, without an ounce of urgency in my step, made my way over to the hospital. But as I approached the door, I heard newborn wailing! I couldn't believe I missed it! Apparently, everyone else was rather shocked by the all-of-the-sudden immediate arrival as well! (Although probably not anyone more so than Rebecca. Except maybe Ezra.)

So, minus the entrance, here's the first few hours of baby Ezra's life. 

Brad and Theresa

I'm in the middle of getting my new website up ("middle" being a very loose term I've used for the last year and a half now) so I haven't been blogging much current work because I keep thinking, I'll save this for the new blog. But, I've been with myself long enough to know that that could still be a while. So I'm conceding I should just start posting stuff. (Do refrain from looking much of anywhere else on the site though, as it's likely filled with generic placeholder content written in Swedish). 

I probably would have continued to try to hold out and not blog anything until the new site was ready had it not been for Theresa and Brad. But I like them too much. They are wonderful. They love their families and adventure and each other. And their wedding was filled with all of it. Plus SusieCakes. (I love SusieCakes). Their dance floor felt like the happiest place on earth--they literally had every family member, from like age 2 to age 90, out there getting down. It was beautiful! As are they.