Happy Halloween

We had a fun Halloween this year.  Milo had some of his buddies over for a Halloween get together.  There was lots of sugar and lots of crazy little munchkins.  My bright idea was to have all these pre-tots pose patiently on this great grey backdrop that I had picked up special for the day.  What was I thinking!  That lasted a whole couple minutes and then it was all about the candids.  There's a few shots from earlier this week at the pumpkin patch too.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Birthday Christian

Happy Birthday to my awesome husband Christian.  Milo and I had loads of fun secretly baking him a cake yesterday, 'cause he had no idea that a surprise dinner party was coming his way tonight.

We love you Christian.  You've put so much hard work in to your business this past year and you definitely deserved a day that you could call your own.  You're a wonderful father and a great husband.  Happy Birthday!

Decadent Atwood Ranch Wedding Design

I love photographing Julie Atwood's event set-ups especially the one's at her Glen Ellen ranch.  This round of photographs was for a gorgeous Hindu wedding which she designed several indoor spaces to accommodate the multiple ceremonies as well as dinner/ reception.  Her main concern for documenting the space was to capture the decadent lighting that spawned across the property creating a truly romantic scene.

Illuminated hay bales in the barn, lantern studded pathways and roadways, golden carnation draped ceremonial Mandap,  and beautifully dramatic up-lighting in the ceremony tent all contributed to a gorgeous setup even with the drab weather on that day. Here are some of my favorite shots.

Glitz, Glamor, and Dancing

This past weekend I was asked by event planning extraordinaire, Julie Atwood, to photograph her sparkling and glitzy event design which transformed the vets building into a glamorous dance hall for the Sonoma Valley Hospitals, Dance With Our Stars fundraiser event.  Wow, did the event hall grab peoples attention and make them want to get up and dance.  I secretly wanted to check out this event, so I was thrilled when asked to come photograph the setup.

I have to admit.  This is probably the most challenging setup I've ever photographed for Julie.  But I love a challenge.  Getting the glimmer to really reflect of the sequins table clothes and incorporating the gel lights produced by Lux Productions created some stunning images that really captured the scene.

Staying for the whole event wasn't my intention, but after photographing the setup, I  had to hang out for the dance competition and see some wonderful locals show off their dance moves.  Not to mention the amazing cheese table presented by Bea Beasley & Company catering luring me (the 28 week pregnant lady) into the scene.  Here are some of my favorite shots depicting the event from setup to competition and a few things in between.

New Product... And, I'm Excited

I am so excited to be offering this new product to my customers.  They are digitally printed fine art prints that are absolutely beautiful.  I just received my first sample yesterday and it was beyond my expectations.  The color is exceptional.  The frame and mat are of great quality.  And overall, I'm very impressed.

Digital printing has an advantage over traditional photographic prints for many reasons.  First, it's an eco-friendly process doing away with chemical processing.  Second, the color consistency and quality can be far superior.  And third, the archival properties long outlast traditional prints and you can expect your prints to last up to 100 years without fading.  These prints are protected from fading and scratching with a UV coat.

There are 12 paper types to choose from ranging from a Lustre photographic style paper to an eco-friendly sugar cane paper which has a gorgeous "artistic" texture.  There are 32 styles of frames offered including skinny frames, traditional frames, and floating frames.  There all 100% sustainable wood or 80% recycled materials frames.  The prints are mounted and matted, can be set behind scratch resistant plexi glass, and are finished off with black paper backing and ready to hang.

I'm such a photo nerd right now.  I'm sooo excited about these prints!