Angela Valerie PhotographyCamarillo Family Photographer – 9 month old Grace
Posted on February 28, 2013
Oh boy this post isn’t short because I loved this session and I love this baby so much. Little Grace has my heart. She is so sweet and ADORABLE! She is funny too. She amazes me. She is so little and standing and walking with a walker and she is also so bright. She would probably call me out on that run on sentence that I just typed. HAHA! No, really though, she is incredibly bright. I am so excited for her upcoming one year shoot AND birthday party. I really lucked out with being this family’s photographer. They are awesome.
So, for this shoot, we decided to document some of the things that define Grace at 9 months old and also we decided to have her experience her first visit to the park. It was a bit chilly out but she was a trooper. She was so serious when we put her in the swing. Then her face started turning red and she sandwiched her thumb between her fingers. She wasn’t so sure. But after a few swings she was enjoying it. But, there was more to explore and she did some exploring. A first trip down the slide, some leaf handling, and some good old fashion grass pulling were on her agenda.
I really love to document a baby’s first year. I’m pretty sure it’s my favorite. But, it’s not only because I love babies so much, it’s because I get to witness the parents loving their babies so much. Parenthood is such an amazing gift and I feel like the luckiest person in the world that I am one. I also feel so lucky to be able to re-live the early days, the feeling of being a new parent through my clients. I really miss the early days and it is so refreshing to be reminded of what it was like.
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Ventura County Family Photographer – The Beach in January!
Posted on February 22, 2013
This is Mr. B and I have been smitten with him ever since I laid eyes on him over a year ago. Look at that face! He is so ADORABLE! His eyes and lashes are amazing and he has two of the cutest dimples (which he was being very reserved about showing off for me). He goes to preschool with my kids and I was fortunate enough to have been chosen for his family portraits. Such an adorable family and my heart breaks knowing that they will be moving away very soon. Fortunately I am following his mom on Instagram, so at least I can get my Mr. B fix that way. For this shoot I brought along a fellow photographer friend and you should really check out her work. So great! It was awesome having her there.
Something that I struggle with at every session is when I hear the parents say something and then I OBSESS over it. I don’t realize I am doing it, but when I hear “hey, smile for the camera!” I immediately make it my mission to get their kid to smile. I heard it, so it MUST be important. Then, I spend the entire session so focused on that one thing, that I sometimes will miss out on other photo ops. This kid has my heart, but did not want to smile. Totally OK with me and thankfully mama didn’t mind (probably not nearly as much as I had during the session). But in the end, I gave a new trick that I had never tried before a go. I decided to sing to the poor child. Ya, that didn’t go over too well. HAHA! But, it did make for one of my favorite pictures of the day. You will know what picture I’m talking about when you get closer to the bottom of this post. It’s not the pointing one. That one also cracks me up and I am still unsure as to what he was pointing at.
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Conejo Valley Family Photographer – The B Family
Posted on February 19, 2013
This family is awesome. In just one hour I felt such a sense of kindness about them. Also a mutual respect for each other along with mutual and complete adoration for little Mr. P (who, btw, couldn’t possibly be any cuter). Little Mr. P was such a gentleman humoring me with smiles. I am not joking when I say that most babies don’t like me. I don’t know what it is, and it may be a premature assumption, but I have a track record of getting plenty of stink eye from the babies. So his smiles made my day. It truly takes every ounce of willpower for me not to grab and kiss my client’s babies (stink eye or not) and Mr. P was no exception. The older siblings were AMAZING! The nicest kids ever! They live with mom in Canada and so it was without a doubt a fantastic idea to have their family photos taken while they were out visiting and I am SO happy they chose me.
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Moorpark Maternity Photographer – The Miracle Baby
Posted on February 16, 2013
I enjoyed being around these two SO much! They were so natural in front of the camera and took very little direction. They were just enjoying each other’s company. lots of laughter and affection. They made me feel so happy the whole time. I love when I feel a connection with my clients immediately and it’s a good thing too because we are doing a baby’s first year. I have already shot the newborn session and I can’t wait to finish those and share them. Such a wonderful little guy! When I shot this, mama told me that this baby is their “miracle baby” because they had been trying to conceive for quite some time. Well, I am sure they agree that he was definitely worth the wait. A really sweet boy. Just wait until you see his sleepy smiles. 🙂
For this session, we decided to keep the shoot easy and go to one of my favorite parks because mama was on bed rest. This park is great and somehow we got this amazing haze/fog towards the end of the shoot that gave us some gorgeous light. Just a nice compliment to this adorable couple. They have fallen into the parent role perfectly and it was such a privilege to have witnessed that. I can’t wait to see the changes throughout the year.
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I Heart Faces Photo Challenge – Love
Posted on February 9, 2013
Gosh, this was a hard one. There are tons of pictures that say “love” to me, but I had to find one that might say “love” to everyone else and it was hard. So, I went with this image. This was a moment right after my husband came home from a week long business trip. It was the longest week ever and the kids were overjoyed to have him back, but he was more overjoyed to be back.
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Thousand Oaks Family Photographer – The L Family
Posted on February 6, 2013
I don’t do very many large group photo sessions, but this shoot was different in that it was a family session and then it split into a couple’s session. The reason I don’t do many of these shoots is due to a few reasons:
1. I am not great at directing people. Being more of a story telling photographer, I am used to just observing life as I just click away. When this session began, they asked “what do you want us to do? How should we stand? Where should we stand?” I replied with “well, I don’t like to pose people, so I usually just ask that you gather naturally.” They all started laughing. Then I started laughing. I guess that is pretty funny. It’s not NATURAL to stand together like this and smile while all looking in the same direction. People wouldn’t just do this naturally. They do it because there is a camera and they are supposed to say “cheese”. That’s how it goes.
2. I don’t love doing group pictures because I am not a perfectionist. I am not saying that you have to be a perfectionist to take group pictures, but you have to be able to see things while you are in the moment. I usually get home and THEN notice that one person wasn’t looking at the camera in 30 of the 35 frames or someone has a hair tie around their wrist or someone forgot to take off their hat or purse. I SHOULD notice these things, but I usually don’t. Then I have to get into some heavy photoshop work to swap a head or remove the hair tie or purse strap (if even possible). I love photoshop and I love to be challenged, but I don’t like the time involved because it takes time away from my time with my family.
3. I suffer (a little bit) from social anxiety. With large groups, I get nervous. Everyone is looking at me expectantly and I begin to feel very self conscience. For some reason at weddings, it’s not so bad, but I think that is just because I am nervous anyway and instead of an hour of a shooting, it’s all day and I just sort of get over it. The chaos of the wedding kind of mutes the unease I feel. But when it’s myself with a group at a quiet location, I start to clam up a bit.
With all that being said, what I LOVE about photographing large groups is getting to see the family dynamic and getting to capture some candid in between moments. I definitely got to capture some great candid moments with this family and this family was a pleasure to be around. Little Mr. A was HILARIOUS. He was photo bombing the pictures as you will see him below getting pushed away. His mom (the one in the red shirt) decided to pose on the tree for her boyfriend and (in my opinion) created another great candid moment. There was a lot of laughter and it was a really fun hour. I am so happy I was chosen to take their pictures.
Angela Valerie Photography 