Bill and Jen are one of my favorite couples! They got married a few years ago and since then, I photograph their adorable family every year!
I met up with them at Old Poway Park. There were about 6 other photographers there doing family portraits! Tis the season!
Little Will is getting so big now!
It’s always a pleasure shooting your family! And thanks for the fun train ride!
Love you guys!
xoxo, M
Last Saturday was cold. And not throw on your sweatshirt and drink cocoa cold. It was, if you don’t have a scarf and mittens your limbs might fall off, cold.
Ok I might be exaggerating. But this California girl isn’t used to the Midwest weather anymore!
The wedding was held at the church where Dana grew up. She actually went all through 8th grade at the school where they got ready and held the reception!
Dana was very calm the whole day, even while getting her hair and makeup done!
Love colored shoes!
Since they got ready in the school, I went along with the theme!
Abby, Dana and Hattie!
And the handsome groom, Kyle. We have known each other for about 4 years now. He is actually a photographer as well!
This was all the groomsmen idea! They had a fun time with this stop sign!
Bobby, Kyle and Lonnie.
Uniting.
I convinced them we had to go outside for at least 5 minutes. In between shots, Lonnie (the groomsman) had a fleece blanket that he would wrap around Dana! You can see it in the slideshow!
See..it was worth the cold! 
I had such a fun time during my 4 days in Indiana. I love seeing different parts of the country. Thank you to Dana and Kyle for having complete faith in me! I wish you two the happiest life together and I will see you in a month when you visit Cali!
xoxo, M
ps Big thanks to Alicia for driving down to shoot with me!
Last Thursday I met Janice and Andrew at the train depot in San Juan Capistrano for their much anticipated engagement session!
When I first met these two love birds a few months back they were planning their Sept 09 wedding in San Diego. Shortly after they sent in their contract, I got an email from Janice explaining that they changed the location and date of the wedding. It was now in May 09 in…Las Vegas!!! Woo Hoo, I love that city!
I love their coordinated outfits!
mmm some yummy light!
We snuck in to an area that was red taped off…so they requested proof of our trespassing!
It doesn’t get much hotter than this!!!!!!!!!
Janice and Andrew – I’m so looking forward to your Vegas wedding! We are going to have such a blast!
You two rock, thanks for dinner too!!
xoxo, M
ps Thanks to their friend Olivia too, for coming along and being my light holder!
Hey all my faithful blog readers (and those here for the first time!)
I am in the Hoosier State (aka Indiana) this weekend for Dana and Kyle’s awesome wedding. I have been freezing my butt off here in the Midwest! It has been in the 20’s most of the time I have been here. I actually had to go buy a scarf, gloves and a hat the day I got here!
I flew in to Indianapolis on Thursday night. I had some time to roam the city on Friday and was amazed by the big fluffy clouds in the sky! I just had to document them! This is the downtown Indy skyline:
Of course, I had to do a self portrait to prove I was there!
I headed down to So. Indiana on Friday afternoon. I kept seeing how these cool trees framed the blue sky. I pulled off on a dirt road and grabbed a couple of shots!
I shot the wedding today and am seeing some old and new friends for the next two days! I fly home Monday afternoon!
Have a great week!XOXO, M
I can’t believe it’s been a week and a day since the birth of little Rayce.
I headed up to the Chapp home to grab some photos for his newborn announcement.
Of course, I can’t help but taking some photos of Riyen too!
The happy family
Jodi’s one request was a feet shot! Rayce didn’t quite know what was going on!
He slept most of the time I was there. Only stopping to eat and cry.
Rayce justs get more and more precious every time I see him!
XOXO, M
Last Saturday, I got the pleasure to assist the talented Jasmine Wang from San Francisco. Check out her blog for more images from this wedding. She has a very artistic style!
I started the day hanging with the gentlemen at Loews in Coronado!
Shortly after, we boarded the steamy limo and headed to the Immaculata at USD. (I say steamy because the air was broken…and the heat wouldn’t turn off!)
The handsome groom, Rick. Despite his Soprano’s appearance in this photo, he was a very kind man.
The beautiful flowers below were all from Haydee’s Creative Flowers.
The bride’s family all flew in from Ireland to watch her get married.
Celebrating in the limo after!
The last bit of light left…
On to the party!
Melissa Barrad of I Do…Weddings turned this ballroom in to an amazing setting!
Mariachis!
My favorite part of the toasts…the reactions!
DJ Bill Calhoun was running the mic, but in between the band Inside Out rocked the dance floor!
Jasmine, thank you for having me along! I enjoyed the day spent with you!
xoxo, M
On Monday, I got the honor of photographing the birth of baby Rayce. This was my first ever experience with birth (other than my own, of course) and I am so glad that my friend’s Jodi and Adam trusted me to photograph this miraculous event. It was a long but rewarding day. A healthy baby boy was born at 3:59pm, weighing just over 8lbs and 20.5 inches tall. It was a very emotional moment, even I shed some tears from behind my viewfinder.
Ok, I’ll admit it. I shed some tears editing these photos today. It was an amazing experience that I am having trouble putting in to words. It definitely did not scare me off of having my own children (in the future, not anytime soon).
And thank you to Jodi for allowing me to share these special images. I have the more graphic ones on lock and key, but I want to show you the emotions that go along with the labor.
I got there early, so it was just me, Adam and Jodi for the first few hours. They had just induced her at this point.
Listening to the babies heartbeat
And the contractions start….Adam is watching the seconds hand.
And she is starting to feel them…
I got pretty good at watching this machine. It shows when she is having contractions…as if she couldn’t already tell! The top line is Rayce’s heartbeat.
The family showed up mid-day
She was still smiling between the pain
This is just 55 seconds before he was born. She pushed for under 3 minutes.
Welcome to the world!!
We had a bet going to how much he would weigh (their daughter was 9.9lbs!) I guessed 8lbs, so I was the closest!
Proud papa Adam
While everyone got their turn holding him, Jodi was texting the news to everyone else not in the room!
This is Rayce’s big sister Riyen meeting him for the first time!
I love this because Riyen is looking at Adam like, “Dad, I know what I’m doing here.”
Riyen turned to Jodi and said “I like him”
One of my favorite shots of the day.
Wow, here i go again, I have something in my eye…
Jodi and Adam (and Riyen), I am so happy for you and your healthy baby boy! I am looking forward to seeing him again next week for his newborn photos!!
XOXO, M
Just a quick update before I crash in to my pillow! I photographed Baby Rayce’s birth today. A first for me. Mommy and baby are perfectly healthy and had a great delivery!
There are many more to come, but I wanted to share one shot that was taken within minutes after he was born.
It was amazing.
More soon, I promise.
This wedding was a long time coming! Not only for Mandi and Jeremy (*ahem* 8 years???) but also for me. Mandi booked be shortly after her friend Alison got married in 2007. Since then I have gotten to know Mandi very well over email correspondence and even helped her buy her first professional camera! She is a budding photographer.
Pat Gregory showed up to do the hair of Mandi and her girls! Please email me for Pat’s contact info if interested. (Mandi did her own makeup)
Her gorgeous Maggie Sottero dress!
Love this shot that my assistant Jen got of Mandi. This is so gonna be me on my wedding day!
And the stunning florals done by Suzan M!
Waiting to become a Mrs.
It’s official! I love how big Jeremy’s smile is here!
Another one by Jen, Jeremy and his entourage!
Mandi and her bitches! (That is what she lovingly calls them, I didn’t say it!!)
Jeremy is such a good sport, carrying Erica’s bouquet while she does her MOH duties.
And of course, no wedding is complete without a fabulous wedding coordinator! And Brenda Swann is among the best!
First dance inside the castle:
Mandi surprised Jeremy with a Lakers garter. He had no idea until this very moment!
Getting their sprinkler on!
And a romantic way to end the night….
A big thank you to my assistants, Jen Harris (aka my BFF) and Scott Hatlestad for shooting with me!
And Mandi and Jeremy, I hope you have an amazing time on your Honeymoon in Cancun! You two are so caring, you really made me feel like I was a guest, not a vendor! Mandi, when are you going to come assist me on a wedding? haha
XOXO, M
Last week I organized a get together with some photographer friends (new and old) in Old Town San Diego. The purpose was to get together for networking, photographing new headshots of each other and drinking margaritas!
I’ll start off with the group shot, which happened at the end of the shoot. Photographers love their jumping shots! It was after sunset and pretty dark outside when we took this, so I shot this at a low shutter speed. I think its hilarious! I never knew Jamie was so flexible!
And here are a few of the headshots I took that evening.
Miss Sylvia Borgo! Look for this lovely lady and her family on my blog very soon. I am taking her family photos later this month!
And here is the fabulous Michelle Bellafatto:
And my good friend, Kim Irons!
And the beautiful Emily Faulkner {can’t find her link right now 
}
The very sweet Marissa Feliciano:
Kim again, in some gorgeous light.
The always fun Vanessa Elders!
And of course my very good friend (and sometimes assistant) Jamie Lawler!
I love when she laughs 
Here are a few photos taken by my friends!
Photo by Simeon (sorry no link!)
Kim and me playing in the leaves! (Photo by Michelle Bellafatto)
I love this shot (by Geri Goodale) of me and Jamie hamming it up!
Shot of the group shooting me! (Photo by Marissa)
Photo by Sarah Tolson
Don’t you remember me mentioning margaritas???
A shot my friend Ally took of our pool game after (Jamie on the left, then me with some bad pool form)!
Jamie took this shot of me!
Me, Jamie, Kim and Ally! (both these next two were taken by my camera’s timer!)
We got some weird looks for this shot!
I had so much fun with everyone, can’t wait till we do it again!
XOXO, M
