Friday, May 9, 2014

Mother's Day 2014

I photograph a lot amazing women constantly.
Some of my most favorite photographs are the ones I take of a mother with her child.
Specifically, of a mother looking at her child. There is just something about it.

Here are some of my fav's from the last few months...

Jocelyn & Brixton
Jocelyn brought Brix into the studio for some kiddie portraits. She did not plan to be in any photos. But she pulled her hair out of her loose bun & jumped in for a few. I wish I was that put together by accident!
 Diana is a friend of mine. This is her & her little girl, Maddie.
I was lying in bed one night thinking & had this vision of Mother/Daughter Sessions.
Why wasn't anyone doing these? Why wasn't I doing these???
Anyways, Diana brought MaddieCakes to the studio. Madison was not feelin' it! So, out of desperation, I told Diana to get on the bed with Maddie and tickle her. And this moment just unfolded organically.
My studio is right down the street from Lover's Point in Pacific Grove, so we ran down there to do some beach style photos as well. It was an amazing day!

 Jillian & Julie are from the Bay Area, but they come to Carmel once a year for a little R&R. I love that they do this together as Mother & Daughter. What a special treat! Jillian found me on Groupon and set up a beach session for her & her momma. So sweet!
This is my beautiful cousin Erin, on her wedding day, with her mother & sister.
She is the godmother of my daughter & I just love her more than I can express!
Courtney with her baby love, Jacob. What an angel he was. Slept the entire time.
Didn't pee or poo on me once!
Araceli & her little lover, Vaida.
I like to call Vaida, Vaidakins. If you haven't noticed, I enjoy giving all my little Sweet Pea's nicknames!
 Celi & her son, Albert...

 From a recent Birth I photographed.
When Adrian's grandmother came in to meet him for the first time, I lost it!
My heart literally felt like it was going to explode.

 This is my most favorite little muffin, Elloise!!!!!
I seriously have a major love affair going with this entire family.
Carrie & Scott hired me to take their maternity photos at the end of last year & we had an amazing time together! Then.... (I don't even know if Carrie knows this) she made my ultimate dream come true by asking me to come to the hospital and snap some photos of them with the baby after he/she was born. I had been wanting to do this for Y E A R S. I had been consistently asking all of my friends, family, anyone really I knew that was having a baby if they would let me come and do this for them. And I was getting shut down all over the place. So anyways, she asked and I died. Finally! Someone trusted me enough to let me in & from that one experience I have been able to bring a whole other dream into fruition. So Carrie. Thank you. I will always, always, love you.

Kindra & Parker
I am so in love with every inch of this image...
Grace & Lily Anna.
Grace contacted me and loved my Meet The Photographer message & also that our daughters were both named Lily! Then I told her my daughter's full name is actually Lilyana!!!! Small world.

 Jackie & Ariyah.
I had a great maternity session with Jackie. But we forgot to do this particular pose! Dang it! Good thing Jackie remembered and texted me the next morning. She met up with me and I took a few snaps of just Ariyah and The Belly. It's hard to remember all the things you want to capture during a session.
 Sara & Jacob met me in this great open field off Hwy 68 a couple weeks ago.
I love everything about how their photos turned out!

Lastly, and on a more personal note, this is myself (top right) with three of my cousins, Alexandra, Erika & Erin, with our grandmother just before her 89th birthday.
Happy Mother's Day to all the amazing mothers out there!

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Sweet Pea Blog

Greetings!

I started this company over six years ago.
If you have known me over the course of this journey, you know that I have failed at consistent blogging about forty times in the past! It is the one thing I just can't seem to master.

Alas, I have dusted myself off and I am ready to try again. For the forty first time.

A little snippet about me:

My name is Jessica. I am an entirely self taught lifestyle photographer. I am married. My husband's name is Jason. We have been together for 15 years (whoa!) and married for 5. We met by chance at a keg party in San Diego when I was just 18 & he was 21. We have an 8 year old daughter. Her name is Lily. And Stella is our American Bull Dog.

I just opened a studio space in Pacific Grove a couple of months ago, where I primarily photograph little kids and newborns. But my first love is outdoor, natural light photography. I love all genres of photography. Seriously. I fall in and out of love with different things all the time. I am always dreaming up new ideas & thinking of more creative ways I can try things. Currently, I am relatively obsessed with lifestyle photography.

What is lifestyle photography, you ask?
I have a short list of "lifestyle" activities I would like to photograph.
Here they are...

1. Siblings bathing in the tub with cutesie scuba gear & tons of bubbles!
2. A family flying kites in the park or at the beach
3. Parents making pancakes or cookies with their kids in the family kitchen
4. Kids playing in the sprinklers in the front yard.
5. A beach campfire & S'mores!
6. Homework & snack time after school
7. Anything on a boat!

Let me elaborate on the boat idea... Jason & I took Lily sailing recently. We don't own a boat. We just went to the Wharf and found some guy & hired him to take us sailing. We do random things like this often. Anyways, when we were on the boat, I took some photos of Jason & Lily. And I just loved everything about it! Who owns a boat?!?