Enjoy!

My high hopes this time go out to Carla! I saw her natural gift right away for showing off her stunning features!

More on the session and photos too coming soon!

Among many things, the creation, then birth of a new life leaves me speechless.

I’ve always had the deepest thoughts about welcoming a tiny little being into this World, into the life of two people.

A soul and personality to watch grow, to love, to care about more than words can say. They fulfill couples’ lives with joy and laughter, generate emotions and a unique connection women and men never knew they could have.

This photo shoot was such a wonderful delight! Monique and Michael’s first baby, Teddy was born just a couple of weeks ago.

I was filled with anticipation to capture this very special new life! Mommy and Grandma shared my excitement and were ready with many ideas and props.

It took a while for Teddy to feel the same way about being photographed that day…

I have experienced this before when photographing newborn babies, but I learned again, that there are many factors in creating comfort for a delicate little body.

Keeping Teddy safe and warm, rocking him into sleep, positioning him gently were some of the key elements for success.

He wasn’t always content with our intentions to create memories of him, but every time he was calm enough, I sure was ready with my camera and got some very precious photos of him and his new parents!

Monique and Michael, congratulations on your Baby Boy!

This was without a doubt the most memorable travel of my life. The most amazing, genuine smiles, faces and moments of a different culture and religion.

Even almost a decade ago, my photography focused on people, more than anything else. I felt my soul reaching out to connect with the very special beings of two very special countries.

At times it was with great hesitation lifting up my camera, not knowing the reaction I would get. I quickly learned though that people wanted to look at me, engage with me, smile back at me. They wanted me to capture them. Their soul was just as wide open as mine.

In retrospect, I believe that this experience was the one that scintillated the meaning of documenting lives of people, encompassing their wonderful essence. These inviting countries encouraged me more to connect with humans through my lens with escalating candor.

Seeing these images today, gives me even greater reassurance and inspiration that this is where my heart is in my profession.

I wanted to showcase some of my most beautiful photographs from Vietnam and Cambodia. Each one of them comes with a story that enriched my life.

What an epic morning after a winter storm that dumped a good foot of soft, white blanket! The snow covered everything in sight, outlining the shape of all objects.

I started shoveling at 6:30 am and enjoyed the way the morning unfolded between each throw I sent off to the side. The light started to glow as the sun stretched her first rays on the other side of Heavenly.

I knew exactly what I wanted to do as soon as I got to my camera…

Sadly, by the time I was on my snowshoes with camera in hand, the sun was gone and gray clouds took over taking away the contrast and definition of light. Still. It was breathtaking out there. I walked around in the deep snow for a while, then just stood there for a long time listening. The stillness made me hold my breath for I felt like I’d ruin it somehow. At the same time, the sounds of the creek, birds chirping happily and a woodpecker fit in perfectly. The sounds of nature.

I took a few shots, but decided that just allowing my senses to enjoy was all that I needed.

Then, my early morning outing got even better! I met up with my nature photographer friend, Jeff Aiello and a beautiful couple was also out there on the trail with their little baby. We stopped to chat and what do you know, there I was taking photos of them! They fit right into this stunning snowy scene with the glow in their eyes!

Erin and Josh, it was so nice to meet you!

I met his wonderful mommy, Aiste, who is originally from Lithuania, in my American Sign Language class. I’ve been taking this class since September as I’m hoping to become an interpreter and Aiste is learning sign language to teach her son the deaf way of communication.

Not hearing versus hearing with a Cochlear device in the deaf world has been quite the controversial topic in deaf communities and also in my ASL class. We have had many different views after watching documentaries about this fascinating concept. We even met a deaf girl, Loni from Carson City who had the device implanted at the age of eight and she has stopped using it. She is in her early twenties now and is very passionate about why she became opposed to its use and why it’s better for her to live the way she is comfortable living, without hearing.

While looking at pros and cons, my friend has had one wish: to give her son the ability to hear at a very young age, but never diminishing the fact that he’ll always be deaf. She battled the insurance companies for months to approve the Cochlear surgery for Tim. About a week ago she got the green light and this beautiful little boy is going in for surgery in just a couple of days!

Aiste asked me to take some photos of her baby before the surgery and I was beyond belief honored to do that!
It was interesting to try to get little Tim’s attention… I kept catching myself wanting to make noise, but every time I realized with a smile that it was not going to work. All things without sounds become only visual.

Aiste and I were cracking up waiving our arms, moving our bodies side to side, jumping up and down, even throwing things towards Timas just to get him to look! And this adorable little guy just kept doing what any other almost one year old baby would do… Being in his own world of discovery, awe and happiness with or without sounds…

Tim will have a hearing with the help of a Cochlear device by his first birthday… What a special gift to him, and his parents! The gift of hearing.

If we could freeze them, especially the best, the most joyous ones to forever stay in them, we certainly would.

I may not be able to stop a moment in real life, but I can create it into a photographic impression to trace memories. Stories of days… Stories of people… Stories of life.

These images here were captured a few weeks ago at Eryn and Brian’s wonderful wedding celebration. I can see the glow and joy of the day in every single one of them!

Congratulations to this very beautiful couple and their family!

I get breathless and speechless all the time photographing people. When looking through my viewfinder experiencing the wonder of a genuine moment or expression, breathing becomes secondary.

During this very special portrait of 8 months pregnant Erin and her husband I caught myself holding my breath several times. Their happiness and glow waiting for their Baby Girl touched my soul in many ways and radiated right through my lens as well.

The beauty of a woman’s belly never stops to amaze me not to mention the precious gift that’s behind it. The creation of a new life.

The anticipation becomes tremendous as the time approaches for a new mother to finally meet the hidden being she protected for almost a year and will for a lifetime.

I can only imagine the feeling of finally discovering the identity, the shapes and features of your child.

The moment can’t come soon enough for Erin and Brian.

I really wanted to be able to capture these photos with the softness and glow of available light only to match the way this stunning young couple looked.

We were fortunate to occupy Erin’s parents’ lakefront house in Kings Beach with warm morning sunlight. With that wonderful tool, I carefully composed each pose utilizing the light to enhance curves and features.

Here they are. I hope you enjoy them!

Erin, and Brian, I can hardly wait to see your Baby Girl and capture her with the two of you soon!

The last few months of  this winter has been the exact opposite, providing warm, sunny days endlessly. It was actually just perfectly fine with me, but when you’re a local, you eventually become concerned about the economy here in town.

Truth is, that we all want those tourists to be coming up here for some fun skiing, lodging and dining. And they have, but they will be even more now that we finally got the amount of snow that makes for a wintery-looking destination!

Yay for Heavenly for several feet of solid foundation on the slopes! And yes, solid foundation means real heavy stuff, the kind that gives you cramps in your arms from shoveling (i.e. me this morning). Now we’re ready for powder!

I jumped outside today on my new snowshoes and with my camera to grab this one shot for this one post.