Angela Valerie PhotographyNewbury Park Family Photographer – Three Amazing Kids
Posted on February 4, 2014
Here are some kids that I am in awe over. They are AMAZING! I know this family through my daughter Amelie’s school and what lucky people we are to know them. Not only are they the nicest family, but when my daughter Amelie gets together with Dominic (the brother in the plaid) they are like two peas in a pod. Amelie is more on the weird side while Dominic is more silly, but they get along so great. Dominic is such a sweet and kind person. They totally have my permission to get married when they grow up. I just had to put that out there. 😉
These sibling blow me away. They have so much love and respect for each other. The boys are twins. Jeremy in the red shirt is autistic. I had no idea what to expect from our shoot because I didn’t know Jeremy very well. I worried that my camera in his face might overwhelm him. What a foolish fear for me to have had! He was SO MUCH FUN! He was full of smiles and watching him see the world was such an honor. The way his siblings interact with him melted my heart. I really can’t gush over them enough. Big sister Angelina is an angel. Seriously, her name is PERFECT for her. These kids must make their parents so proud and I have no doubt that they will be amazing adults in the future. This shoot was for Dad’s birthday present. I feel so honored to have been chosen for this job.
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Southern Calfornia Story Telling Photography – The Nelke Family
Posted on March 25, 2013
This blog post is LONG overdue. I was so booked up last fall that when I shot this session of my sister and her family, I told her that she would have to wait to get the images and that she would just have to pick from un-edited pictures to have me edit quickly and email to her for her Christmas card. Well, things didn’t start slowing down until about now! Better late than never, though. 🙂 I loved this shoot even on such a gloomy day. We just had fun at the beach and marina. Anywhere where kids can run and play is fun, really (although there was no running at the marina. That wouldn’t be safe). Poor baby Camille was coming down with a fever and through all of the smiles, some cranky and sad came out, but not much. She was a trooper especially since we didn’t know she was feverish until after the shoot.
When our shoot started, there was another family photo shoot going on. To my surprise, they happened to know my sister and her husband. It was a totally different type of photo shoot and I posted a small view of what it was like for the other photographer. It’s the last image in this post.
And then there they are. The large family all dressed in white shirts and blue jeans. They seemed like a totally awesome family and they probably got fantastic photos that they LOVE. I just want you to know that this is NOT what I do. I need to tell a story even if there are some posed family pictures during the shoot, the majority of the shoot is documentary. I will document your time because that is what I feel is important in family photography. That’s all. The end. 🙂
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Camarillo 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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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.
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Newbury Park Newborn Photographer – Baby P
Posted on January 29, 2013
This little baby girl has the BEST hair! I just couldn’t get enough of it. She is so sweet and so cute. I am very happy that I got to meet her and her awesome parents. This shoot was great because it was a little of everything. A newborn session, family session, and a tiny bit of documentary. Their dog is a recent rescue and is the sweetest thing. So gentle and loving. There was limited light in the house and it was a rainy day, but we got some great window light and then when the rain stopped we went to an outdoor location for some family shots.
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Conejo Valley Family Photographer – The R Family
Posted on January 18, 2013
The most photogenic family of the year award goes to this family. WOW! Even with “little dude” being afraid of me…or the camera…let’s say it was the camera…he was AMAZING. I was able to capture so many smiles. Little Dude and his big sister love each other so much! I just loved watching them together. During the shoot, there was running, dance moves, swinging, and stick collecting. It was perfect. =)
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Ventura Family Photographer – The Climber, The Fairy, and their Awesome Parents
Posted on January 8, 2013
This shoot was fun! These adorable kids were so happy the whole time. They were having so much fun running around and exploring. Little brother’s favorite part was the stairs. If only stairs were made out of cotton so that babies could climb without parental caution. He was a great stair climber, though and wanted to be independent in doing so. Big sister had her fairy costume toward the end of the shoot and she was made even happier (if that was even possible). The best shoots are when the parents let their kids run and play for the majority of the shoot because that is when you get the most genuine moments and I love chasing kids around to try to capture them. 🙂
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Thousand Oaks Family Photographer – An Amazing Birthday Present
Posted on December 27, 2012
This lovely young lady got a photo session as a birthday present from a GOOD friend. She decided to get photos taken with her boyfriend and her sister. How cute are they????
Angela Valerie Photography 