The Shield Family- Now numbering Four!

I met Janae many years ago at a photography workshop, and as we were chatting we realized that we literally live around the corner from each other! After that, we got into the occasional habit of taking walks along the Great Highway together, where our conversations have evolved from being mostly centered around our photography businesses to being mostly centered around our babies :)

Janae and Parry just had their second babe, lil' Lincoln, and since I was due just a month or so later, we decided to do a little session for each other; here's the half I did for her and her wonderful family- hey boys Parry, Cooper, and baby Linc.

Morgan- One Year!

I photographed Morgan when she was a brand new newbown last October, and then just last month got to take some One Year photos of her, and of course her big sister Paris the Pug, again as well!

Back before Morgan was born, these guys relocated to the South Bay to be closer to family when starting their family, but before that move, they lived over in SOMA. So for our photo shoot, they took Morgan on a field-trip to some of their old spots- a little park (where another visitor still remembered Paris!!) and Sightglass Coffee, their favorite coffee shop.

Tavie's Senior Portraits

Octavia is our (Shawn's) like 67th cousin or something . . . ok, it's probably closer to 3rd, but he has so many people in his family and I get so confused as to who fits where-- All I know about Tavie is that she's family, and I think she's fabulous! Shawn's parents came out to visit in August and Tavie came with them. She was about to start her Senior year the day after they got back to Idaho, so we decided to do some Senior Portraits of her on the beach right before they left. I've never actually done Senior Portraits (they just aren't big out here) so I have no idea if I did 'em right :), but I do know that Octavia is an absolutely beautiful girl who has overcome a lot in her life and managed to let that gorgeous smile prevail, and so I was happy I got to take her pictures!

Duygu and Yusuf's new family set-up

Back in May I got to photograph little Deniz's birth (a major highlight in my job!). Then in August I went back down to Palo Alto to photograph everyone as they adjusted to life with a newbie around: Duygu and Yusuf, Derin (3yrs), Deniz (3mo) and Grandma (still visiting from Turkey). I remain a huge fan of this family- such thoughtful and warm people.

Derin makes me realize I don't think I was cut out for boys; I think 80% of what he does involves wrestling of some sort or another. He spent much of the time just climbing on and over anything and everything, especially the rest of his family! Every once in a while he took a short break and lounged around on the big bed for a minute, and he showed me how he fit "perfectly" into Deniz's bassinet, but mostly he's just pure, joyful energy! At one point, as if I couldn't love these guys more, they pulled out their VitaMix to make some smoothies! (If you know me at all, you probably know I love that machine as if it were one of my children). At the end of the day we left the house and headed over to Stanford, where Duygu and Yusuf went to school together, and where they still go almost every weekend to let Derin ride his bike around, and we spent the warm evening running and lounging around there.

I absolutely love this next one of Duygu and her mom- such a beautiful bond they have.