Married on a Mountain

It was June 25, 2017 that Kareen & Cody tied the knot on the top of Mammoth Mountain. Wow, what a year that was for snow! And WOW, am I super behind on blogging?!
With the 2018 wedding season ramping up and with more weddings on my docket than ever before, I’m getting super pumped to get behind the camera. Here are a few highlight shots from a beautiful day with a beautiful couple.
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Home Family Photography Session

This little angle of a baby was only 2 weeks old when I took these pictures, just a couple weeks ago. It’s so crazy how fast your baby grows and changes that documenting wether professionally or with your iPhone (like 99% of my pictures of John Henry are on my iPhone — convenience, right?) Anyway, this session was going to be pushed back but Mama decided to arrange their schedule JUST to get these pics done pronto. They never are going to be as young as the are today.
I love photographing families in their home. This family photography session was taken in Bishop, CA — they just happened to have that AMAZING willow tree in the back yard. I told them people pay a lot of money to style their wedding with stuff like that, they replied that that tree alone was one of the reasons they bought their house.
This session was shot with my Canon 5d and my Sigma 35mm lens. I have been obsessed with using my prism with you can tell made an appearance on the 3rd image below.
Oh babies. I have always wanted to be a mom and now that I am one, it really is as good as I always hoped. Photographing other moms is becoming one of my new favorite things.
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Fall Color in Convict Lake

So many families come up from Southern California to vacation and enjoy the fall color around the Eastern Sierra. My family and I always head up to Rock Creek (definite soft spot for that canyon) but rarely get out to other places — I’m so thankful that my photography gets me out when I would probably otherwise me cuddled up at home with Phil & John Henry…. Husband + Baby = My World.
So, are you coming up from So Cal and looking for a photographer to document your family around the holidays? These photos are taken up at Convict Lake, just 15 or 20 minutes south of Mammoth Lakes. Of course there is NO shortage of beautiful locations to photograph families and loved ones, and hey! So many options just walking distance from the car.
I love wrangling kiddos although with just 6 months of mommyhood under my belt, I can’t claim I’m an expert or anything but I love being a part of the family, if even just for an hour.
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Fall Color in Bishop CA

I can’t believe I haven’t gone up to South Lake in AGES!!! The fall color is so beautiful right now and the temperatures are just perfect. I got to photograph this wonderful family and their adorbs 6 month old little girl. So happy to actually call these folks my friends.
Fall family photography sessions in Bishop, CA near South Lake. Now booking holiday family photography sessions in Bishop, Mammoth Lakes and everywhere in between.
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Daisy & Daniel

As our evening together was coming to an end, the weather was just beginning to roll in. We approached Convict Lake’s Shale Beach and all I could think of was how it was so beautifully emotional.
The wind. The waves. And of course, the love.
Personal: Unexpected Inspiration

I’ve ALWAYS preferred to take pictures of people over landscapes, wildlife, etc. etc. etc. Aside from taking pictures professionally, my number one subject has been my husband, Phil — Phil LOVES having his picture taken — TOTALLY KIDDING. He tolerates it. Since John Henry was born, Phil has gotten off the picture-taking-hook.
OK, so we’re going to go down a little rabbit hole for just a sec. If John Henry wasn’t born, I probably would have never gotten this incredible jaw ache that I was experiencing a few weeks ago from clenching & grinding my teeth, turns out motherhood is quite overwhelming… and if I hadn’t gotten that horrific pain, I probably would have never sought out acupuncture to relieve it. AND if I didn’t seek out acupuncture, I for sure would have never met Jean, the amazing acupuncturist I stumbled upon.
Jean is my unexpected inspiration for taking these pictures. Hi Jean!!! Hopefully she reads this :-p
Jean dappled in photography a few years back but recently upgraded to a nicer digital camera. At my appointments we have talked a bit about photography here and there and she mentioned the photo group that she’s been attending (which I ALSO attended when we first moved to Bishop). Well, this month the theme of the group was wood & structure.
Although I unfortunately don’t think I’ll get to make it to the group, leaving Phil to single handedly care for John Henry during the witching hour just seems cruel, I thought I would pick up my camera and try to get some fun images anyway.
Thank you Jean for the inspiration! I still love taking pictures of people but I had a good time with a different subject matter. Can’t wait for next months theme.
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And one John Henry picture for good measure. I love those skeptical eyes.
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Michael & Lacey

The more weddings I do, the more photos I take, the more I figure out who I am as a photographer, and the more I figure out who my dream client is.
Lacey & Michael are my dream client.
These two are the real deal. In love.
Because of their laid back nature and overall chemistry, it really was no wonder that their guests were even my dream clients as well – relaxed & genuinely happy. Seriously, there was so much goodness going around it was hard to take it all in. These are my people.
Lacey & Michael exchanged vows in a beautiful field, nestled in the Alabama Hills with the looming Sierra in the background. They had their guests camp out on the property, and as fun as the ceremony was, I imagined that the real partying happened after I left.
It truly was a day to remember. The wind. The beautiful bouquet Lacey gathered from her guests as she walked down the aisle. The pinky promise. The vows. And of course…
The love, the love, the love.
<3 <3 <3
Holy WOW Missy Soltero

About a month and a half before John Henry was born, I decided I wanted to try to take some head shots, maybe, you know, break into a new line of photography.
I asked my friend, who happens to be drop dead gorgeous, Missy Soltero, to come over to help me out. Missy, who is a singing masseuse, Pilates teaching, over-all fabulous human of the year type of woman — of course said she would be right over ON HER LUNCH BREAK. This woman literally does it all.
Missy, having had a tough day, not like you can tell from the pictures, puts on a little make-up, combs her hair is in ready to go. We did take some headshots, but its the magic that always happens at the end of a session that I usually am most pleased with. Photographing Missy has always been a total and complete pleasure.
Missy eased in and out of a series of yoga poses and I just clicked away. This series of black and whites, although it’s taken me almost 4 months to go though and edit, are some of my favorite pictures I have ever taken.
And if you’re wondering, these don’t really look like headshots, well they aren’t :-p
That blog will be coming soon.