Angela Valerie PhotographyConejo Valley Lifestyle Photographer – The H Family
Posted on January 29, 2015
The beach was super low tide, the skies were blue, and this family was awesome. There was one issue: wind. There is usually always wind at beach shoots, but it was quite blustery. It’s great for photographers because wind swept hair can be dreamy. But for clients, sometimes spending time on your hair only to have the wind destroy it can be such a bummer. Sometimes the sand hurts the kids when it whips against their legs or flies into their eyes. I can be disastrous. This shoot was by far NO disaster. The kids were so fun and playful and I can easily say that this is one of my favorite shoots of 2014. I think I have 3 favorites and this is one of them. I just love the joy and expressions from the kids. I love the light and the low tide and blue skies and even the wind. I love that a dog photo bombed the shoot. I love that we found some creatures in the tide pools. I love that even in the forced pictures the kids were so willing and so happy. Such a sweet and gorgeous family and I hope that we have more shoots with maybe less wind in our future. Oh, and a little back story on how we know each other. Our girls played soccer together, our boys are currently in the same transitional kindergarten class, and very soon our boys will be playing baseball on the same team. 🙂
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Ventura County Lifestyle Photographer – The Feeney Family
Posted on January 27, 2015
This was our 3rd shoot together! So thankful to have such loyal clients who book me every year. I love getting to witness the changes in the children as they grow up. These two kids are the sweetest! They always give me so much at our shoots and I am so thankful for that. The parent’s couldn’t be more cool too. I love how they let the kids roll down the hill in their nice clothes. That was before the extended family photo that we had yet to shoot, too. I was so impressed because if you know me, I think grass stains and dirt adds to shoots because kids should have fun and get dirty. It’s part of childhood. They somehow didn’t manage to get dirty this time, though. I don’t normally shoot large groups so that is why I didn’t include the end result (don’t want to include it to avoid potential large group shoot inquiries coming my way since it’s not a service that I offer), but I was more than happy to do it for them at the end of their shoot. You will see when you scroll down that I did, however, include a cute picture of Little Miss Grace with Grandpa. Such a cute moment! The last thing I must mention is that two years in a row Grace decided to put her hand on top of her brother Owen’s head and I managed to snap in time to capture it. It totally cracks me up! It’s like a sign of dominance and I just love it. Might be my favorite shot of this shoot.
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Conejo Valley Family Photographer – The B Family
Posted on January 26, 2015
I was fortunate enough to have met this beautiful vegan mama when she contacted me about a photo shoot. She is a friend of a friend and she had won a photo shoot that I had donated to a fundraiser raffle. It was so meant to be because we are now friends and have already shared some vegan meals together. I was able to squeeze this shoot in December with enough time for her to have Christmas cards made, but my favorite part of the shoot was the puppy love time outside. These rescue dogs of theirs are the sweetest ever. Swizzle is the black pit mix and Mama bear is the chow mix. There is nothing I love more than having pets incorporated into family photos. They are family too! Little Mr. N was so full of joy at the shoot he made my heart so happy. He is a truly happy kid. I can say this because I have had more interaction with him than from this shoot. He shared our vegan food dates with us. He is always so happy! He blows me away with his intelligence. At this point in time, he was passionate about bridges. He knew the names of all the different kinds and he could even draw them. I have no doubt that he will be a part of something amazing in the future. His parents are doing an amazing job and did I mention that he is home schooled? Yes, and he is definitely far ahead of the standard for his age. Oh, and he also built a train out of paper. It was huge and it was impressive. Can’t wait for more lunch dates and to see what Mr. N takes interest in next.
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Newbury Park Family Photographer – The O Family
Posted on January 24, 2015
This gorgeous mama is my long time friend’s best friend. She is also my neighbor! They live like 4 houses away. Funny small world it is because we knew each other before we learned that we were neighbors. I was thrilled when they chose me for their family pictures! These boys of theirs are just too cute and so super sweet! Older brother Z was full of adventure and so super playful. I enjoyed having him chase me so that I could capture his excitement. Younger brother C was such a ham and loved the camera. I want to eat his face! I love how different the boys look. They definitely look like brothers, but could never be mistaken for twins. Their personalities were very different too. Love both of them! My favorite moment, though was in the beginning of the shoot when a wave came up and nabbed dad. I love his surprised look, but even more so, I love Mr. C’s look of anticipation. Then the next frame where Mr. C is processing what just happened! SO great! 
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Newbury Park Family Photographer – The W Family
Posted on January 23, 2015
This family wins the cutest family award. Seriously! This is my second time photographing them and I think I said the same thing about them in their last blog post! Also, I am in love with these two kids. I melt every time I see them. Little Miss K is just the cutest thing I have ever seen. She is so sweet she is just such a beautiful girl inside and out. I get to see her biweekly while I photograph the special events at her preschool and she is always so kind and polite. Her brother Mr. N doesn’t go to school there yet, but he is a ball of love. I know this because he once blew me a kiss. Okay, mom asked him to, but still, he seemed to agree that I deserved it. 😉 Mr. N had a lot of energy at the shoot and I don’t think he ever held still on his own aside from the one image I got with him and the weed that he thought was a dandelion. I love chasing after kids during shoots but he outsmarted me many times and I missed many shots. I love the challenge, though. He wasn’t the kind of kid that was wild and the second you pick him up he would be frustrated, he was just on the go and happy the whole time. Love him!
I must share with you the embarrassing thing that happened to me at this shoot. We crossed over a border (that I didn’t know existed) between National Park and State Park. I have a permit to shoot in the national parks. So, it was a big surprise when we got kicked out. Ya, not my favorite moment of the shoot. But, the guy that gave us the boot ended up catching up with us later and was a pretty nice guy. He was just doing his job. This shoot was at King Gillette Ranch and while we were there, we got to see The Biggest Loser contestants walking around. It was pretty cool…at least for me since I watch that show. 😉 
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Conejo Valley Lifestyle Photographer – The Brych Family
Posted on January 22, 2015
It was such an honor to be chosen a second time to photograph this awesome family. The location that they picked couldn’t have been more perfect. I had been to this location before but had never done a shoot there. It is beautiful and we even saw a couple of deer! Mr. Liam had his toy train with him and I just love that he got to take pictures with it in his hand. It may be small, but it’s something that defines who he is at this time and I think it’s great that it was documented. Little miss Finley is such a sweet thing. She seemed to have really enjoyed herself on our little nature walk. I love how comfortable they all are with the camera. It’s a joy photographing them! 🙂
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Newbury Park Lifestyle Photographer – A Birthday Present For Dad
Posted on January 21, 2015
I can seriously photograph these 3 amazing kids all day long. I LOVE them! This was our second shoot together and it couldn’t have been more amazing. I wasn’t sure it would top our first shoot but it did. Within the first 10 minutes all 3 kids were drenched. It wasn’t planned at all. What started out with feet in the water turned into a full on beach party. It was fantastic. Angelina is the most amazing big sister. She truly lives up to her name. She cares so much for her brothers and even though she is a teenager, she is never above playing with them. Oh and she is beyond extremely talented and will be famous someday, just so you know. Dominic is my daughter Amelie’s classmate and friend. He is the kindest, sweetest boy I know. He too, will be famous someday, I’m certain of it. He and Amelie usually do stand up comedy for the talent show every year and he is a natural talent. I can’t wait to see them up on stage together again this year. Jeremy is Dominic’s twin brother. He is the one in the stripes. He is so full of joy and wonder. I absolutely adore him. I was so thrilled about how eager he was to play at the beach. I’ve mentioned it before in the blog from their last shoot that Jeremy is autistic. His view of the world is mesmerizing and I could literally photograph him all day. He is such a sweet boy too. My favorite was when he found a bird’s feather and just held onto it and my favorite shot was when he released it and I caught the feather in mid air. Amazing to watch him, seriously. Now as I gush over these amazing kids, I must mention that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree because they have some pretty darn amazing parents. I feel so lucky to have them in our lives and I hope that I will have the privilege to continue to provide more birthday present photo shoots for their dad. This is definitely one of my favorite shoots of 2014. 
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Thousand Oaks Lifestyle Photographer – The R Family
Posted on January 20, 2015
This is my 3rd time photographing this adorable family. I have been friends with Jaimee since childhood and you can read about our story as friends on the blog from a previous blogged shoot.
I just adore this family because they are so engaging and expressive and photogenic! I always get so many great shots. My favorite by far is an outtake that I have included where they are sitting on the blanket and it’s just an amazing moment of chaos. Hopefully you will see what I mean. We spent time at the park on a gorgeous evening and watched the ducks, said hi to the dogs (and their owners) walking by, and finished off with some fun in the playground. Little Mr. H accidentally put his shorts on backwards and that, to me, was the best detail of the shoot. This is the stuff that will be great to look back at and remember. If Little miss E could be any more expressive, I think I would die of cuteness overkill. I truly hope she never loses her enthusiasm. She is such a doll. This might be one of my oldest shoots that I left on the back burner to blog. Although I don’ t appreciate my procrastination, I do enjoy getting to relive this day again and soak up the kid cuteness.
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Newbury Park Family Photographer – The Rain Didn’t Stop Us
Posted on January 16, 2015
I’ve taken my kids out into the rain for pictures, I have even had a client session in the rain, intentionally. This wasn’t intentional. We knew the rain was coming, but the forecast (oh that liar) said the chance was small at the hour we would be doing the shoot. We chose Paramount Ranch just in case because I knew we would at least have some cover to work with. Thankfully the family embraced the rain as much as they could. They didn’t even seem the slightest bit stressed. I’m sure I was freaking out more than they were. There was another photographer there shooting in the rain with me…well, she stayed under cover with her clients the whole time and it was more of a posed shoot. But they were out there, so I didn’t feel completely insane. Sheesh. It was a challenge, but I am very happy with what we got. In the end though, I wasn’t okay with it completely and suggested that in a week I come over to their house and get a few dry pictures. Pictures for the Christmas card, perhaps. I am glad they agreed and I just added a couple of my favorite dry pics on the bottom, although, truth be told, the rain ones are my favorite. 🙂
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Thousand Oaks Family Photographer – The Andrew Family
Posted on January 15, 2015
This is crazy because this was my first family shoot with older kids. I almost didn’t know what to do with myself. It was so fun! I seriously enjoyed this shoot so much because it was like grown up social time for me. I felt so comfortable hanging out with them. Hopefully they felt the same with me. This was their first family photo shoot, so I imagine it was weird for them especially since I aim for candids and give very little direction. The image of Mr. Bow tie Bailey (BTW that is totally his style all on his own and I LOVE IT!) where he is peeking through a doorway was a candid tactic that I use with children. I saw him walk around and anticipated him peeking through, so I crouched down and waited. It worked! He was very surprised. He also claimed to be camera shy, but he was SO great! I’m pretty sure I made him nervous a few times, but he survived even though he said that his throat was drying up. HA! Is it insensitive of me to find that funny? I hope he meant it as joke or was at least half serious. I really love his character.
Little miss Chloe was such a joy! She loved the camera and was so fun, adventurous and animated. She was definitely my muse for the day. The colors that she wore were just perfect against the fall foliage and she consistently gave me photo ops. And I got a huge hug at the end of the shoot! Love her.
Such a cool family and so honored that they chose me for their first go at family pictures. OH, and I’ve known the parents for years because…well…Pete is my husband’s boss. So I think that they must like the pictures since my husband is still employed. ;0)
Angela Valerie Photography 