I was so excited to return to Alisha and Shawn’s home in Valencia for Braylen’s one year old portraits!  When Alisha contacted me, I couldn’t believe that it’s had already been a year since their maternity and newborn photography sessions.  Braylen had just had his first birthday party the day before I came, so Alisha wanted to commemorate his first birthday with a cake smashing at the end of the session.  Instead of a plain background, I suggested using their beautiful wild hills behind their home.  I’m so glad Alisha took me up on that idea – I think this was one of my most favorite first year sessions and totally represents their family and personality.  First, we started with a few at home on mom and dad’s bed.

Braylen and Chancy were so cute together.  Love it!

Braylen is a sweet pea – so accurate.  :)

We stopped by the park, on our way to the hills behind their home.

I wanted to do a variation on one of my favorite maternity photos I took of Chancy in between Shawn and Alisha.  I’m so glad we did!  I think I have a new favorite with Braylen’s adorable reaction to his parents’ kiss.  So cute!

A great father, son moment.

And one with mama.

The light was beautiful!  Definitely one of my favorite locations ever!

Shawn and Alisha brought these nice colorful balloons left over from the party, so we decided to use them in their cake shots.

Braylen is simply adorable!

I think this is my favorite shot form the session.  Great lighting, great location and LOVE Braylen with all the cake on his face.

Since baby Jeffrey is already almost 4 months old, I need to share his newborn photos!!  I’ll go ahead and combine this post with a few of his mama–Becca’s–maternity photos.  First is a picture of the sweet family with their first baby, Credit.  He was such a gentle giant and is so good with baby Jeffrey.

I love this shot of Becca and I’m glad she was totally up for my crazy idea.  I passed by their cute kitchen and asked if she had any cravings.  I suggested she eat some ice cream – what a nice break.  :)

Becca, you are a stunning pregnant mama.

At the end of the session, we took Credit for a short walk around the neighborhood.

One last shot of Becca’s cute baby bump.

And here is cute baby Jeffrey.  He was a few weeks early, so he was so small and petite, but he sure is adorable!  I love the faint smile on his lips, looking at mommy and daddy.

Ahhh – so protected in daddy’s arms.

Love his big eyes!

Credit is so protective and gentle with baby Jeffrey.

Thank you so much for asking me to be a part of this special time in your lives.  I hope you love the pictures of baby Jeffrey – he is adorable!

And the winner of the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Photo Shoot contest is…….

….Jenny Shepard, who would love a family shoot!

And because a post is always better with a photo, here is a sneak peak from a senior graduation shoot I did at Disneyland yesterday.

The Avon Walk is quickly approaching; there are only 45 days left!!  We are making great progress toward our goals but now it’s crunch time!  Over the next few weeks, we will walk over 120 miles in preparation for the event.

On the fundraising front, we have reached $7,660 of our $9,000 commitment.  That’s 85%!!  But that means we still have a little bit more to go.  To help us reach our fundraising goals, I have offered to raffle off a FREE photography session plus the DIGITAL NEGATIVES (over a $400 value) to one lucky winner who donates to our team.

To enter:

1) Receive one entry in the raffle for every $10 you donate.  Go to our team page and donate to one of our team members who still needs to meet the $1800 minimum goal.*

2) Come back to this post and submit a comment answering this question: What type of session you would choose if you win – maternity, baby, family, engagement?  Your entry is not complete without this.

3) For an extra entry create a Facebook or Twitter post about this contest.  Make sure you are a fan/follower of Amber Katrina Photography and link to my page.

Details:

The contest ends at 12pm on August 13, 2010.

All completed entries will be entered into a raffle for one FREE photo shoot.  The winner of this photo shoot will get a 1-2 hour session and the digital negatives on a CD (over $400 value).  The session must take place in the Los Angeles area by September 30^th, 2010.  Your choice of a maternity, baby, family, couple or engagement session (excludes wedding sessions).

100% of the proceeds go to support the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.

*Donations already made to our team may be submitted to the raffle by commenting on this post.

My friend, Christine, asked me to come take pictures of her family and their first home, since they were moving.  They wanted to record the memories of this time in their lives.  I was so excited for two reasons.  Christine and her husband Matt have an awesome casual, cool style in their dress, home decor and personality.  They are so laid back, I knew it was going to be a fun session.  Secondly, they described my favorite kind of session when they told me what they wanted: to just hang out at home doing some of their favorite activities as a family.  And I was not disappointed.  This was definitely an amazing session.  One of my favorite!

Christine and Matt’s little boy, Emerson is around the same age as my son, Elijah.  So I knew it was going to take some skills to get him excited about participating in the photo session.  When I got there, Emerson was “mowing the lawn” with his little toy mower.  And he didn’t really want to take family pictures.  So I told Christine and Matt to ignore him.  What?!  Did you know that’s the worst thing you can do to a toddler?

We took some great pictures of Matt and Christine…

All the while, Emerson was getting more and more interested in what we were doing.

And just like that, he wanted to join in the fun.  I’m so tricky.  :)

We went inside to do some fun things they enjoy as a family, like reading books.

They are a very musical family.  In fact, that was the theme of Emerson’s third birthday party.  Emerson showed off his guitar skills.

And then got to rock out with daddy.

We even went down to their basement and played drums.

Next we played with some of Emerson’s toy trains.

And then we got to jump on mommy and daddy’s bed.  This was definitely a favorite.

I loved this series of Emerson jumping on the bed.

And then they got to snuggle as a family.

Next we went outside and they showed me all the different fruits and vegetables in their garden.

Some more time playing as a family.

And then skateboarding.

Oh la la.

Finally, I wanted to share a special picture that Christine asked me to take for her and gave me permission to share.  About a year ago, Christine lost a pregnancy to miscarriage.  She was able to do it in the sanctity of her own home and these memories are precious to their family.  Christine asked that I take a photo to remind her of her special baby in heaven, Quinn.  I hope this captures the spirit of your emotions, Christine.

Thank you for asking me to capture this special time in your lives, Christine and Matt.  I love your family and I was honored to be a part of it for this day.