Holidays are a great time to do family shoots, because if nothing else—everyone is present and accounted for!

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Ah, the year in review… it’s extraordinarily difficult to select my favorites from my favorites out of ALL the photos I took this year, but here’s what made the cut!

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Wow. I totally didn’t notice until posting them how many of my favorites included pets portraits.  <3

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Who wouldn’t want to know them?? Seriously. My kind of family. Happy holidays, you crazy sibs!

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All I want for Christmas is a tub of darling puppies, and a basket of fuzzy kittens!

You could probably hear me squealing for miles if I found this kind of preciousness under my tree Christmas morning.

Find a furry friend for Christmas at the OC Humane Society this winter!

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Colette’s Catering event goddess Natalie was so taken with the portraits I’ve done for the Orange County Humane Society that she commissioned me to photograph her doxies 1-yr-old Piper and 2-yr-old Maggie for the holidays.

 

SO cute.  Piper is a very dainty doggie who doesn’t like spending a lot of time in the cool grass, so a wee little cushion was necessary.  I think they look like calendar models in this shot!  Weenie pin-ups!

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Ten-year-old Miles was determined to play it uber-cool.  This kid should be a pre-teen catalog model, seriously.

Twelve-year-old Emily and fifteen-year-old Karina should also be models. Stunners, fo’ sho.  Instead, they are all about volleyball and fashion, respectively.

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Harvey & Harvey, father and son

This family is so fun it should be illegal.

Veronica & Jessica, mother and daughter

Jessica is a stellar professional makeup artist, but I think her secret to eternally youthful looks is how much she laughs.

See?  Illegal.

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Many thanks to Jason Meyer for inviting me to help him photograph this brilliantly-colored wedding. Here are a few of my favorites from the bridal room prior to the ceremony:

 

 

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The Orange County Humane Society is up to their ears in bunnies!  I can personally testify that once you realize they are NOT like cats or dogs, rabbits make for excellent pets; they are quiet, low-maintenance (compared to a dog), and excellent for folks living in apartments or other small living quarters.  Do your research, however—rabbits need space to run and rooms with open cables and wires need to be bunnyproofed!

 

 

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YES!  Time for more furry faces from the OC Humane Society!

Mia has an adorable snaggletooth!

Tooti and her luminous eyes

The Humane Society has an unusual number of rabbits right now, likely due to bunnies bought as babies during the Easter season and promptly dumped during the summer as they grew bigger and their owners lost interest.  Look at those curious ears!

Poor Chloe II hates living in a noisy, scary shelter!

The OC Humane Society staff tells me that sadly, cats and rabbits with black coats are generally not as popular as their lighter-colored cousins :\

Dylin’s picture makes me laugh. Sitting so pretty and so eager for a photo!

Costello the kitten

Pola and his heart-melting eyes

Sweet “Cherry”

“OJ” has the same markings as my cat. So pretty!

Hannah. Doesn’t she have a rockin’ hairdo?

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This week I had the pleasure of photographing fitness and nutrition experts Toneka and Linda of BWell Fitness. These ladies have summer bods year-round, and are brimming with pro advice on how to slim down and shape up without drastically altering your diet or lifestyle.  While other personal trainers act as support for an hour or so while they work out with you, Linda and Toneka focus on how you can maintain a healthy body 24/7, regardless whether they are there or not, or whether you’re working out or just doing your normal thing!

The ever-cheery Linda

And the stunning Toneka

At Muscle Beach in Venice, CA

Toneka = skillz

What a couple of sweeties!  Be sure to check out their blog for current and future contests and giveaways, particularly for brides looking to get in shape before their wedding day!

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“Pound Song” from Lady & the Tramp

Summer’s here and so are more friendly faces from the Orange County Humane Society shelter, just a block up Newland from the beach!  The Humane Society is now also showcasing some of their dogs, cats, and rabbits at the Strand on 5th and PCH during the Huntington Beach Tuesday night street fair every week.  Check them out!

Bobby begs, “Please, pick me!”

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I’ve gotten comments before on how Clarissa and I look related. That’s because we are!  Clarissa is my cousin from Taft, CA who made a special trip down just to visit me…and my camera.

Looking at this picture, I sure as heck HOPE we look related!  WOW.

Clarissa told me that she really loves “music, piano, and [her] chucks.”  A girl after my own heart! I wore my own red ones during this shoot just for her!  OK, and maybe a little bit for me. Those red sneakers of mine have history, you know.

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Katelyn came out from New Hampshire for her brother Zach’s wedding (that’s another blog!) and was eager to get her senior portraits taken while she wasn’t among the “pine trees and maple leaves” of the East Coast.  Katelyn is actually only 16, but wanted to take advantage of the Californian scenery; what she didn’t count on—what nobody in California counted on—was the massive heat wave that blew through here the week we shot her pictures.  Can you guess how hot it was by looking at the photos?

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It was 103, by the way. 103 sweltering degrees during this shoot. Katelyn was (obviously) cool as a cucumber the entire time, though. In fact, I think she was enjoying the warm Cali weather!

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Halie is crazy, is all I can say. At 18 she works 30 hours a week while finishing up high school. I don’t think I even had a job at 18 (loo-zer, right here!).  Luckily she found some time to work it for me for her grad photos:

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Happy Graduation, Halie!

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I always have fun photographing dogs.  So when Alpha Pet Care asked me to capture some portraits of some of their petsitters and client pets, I was delighted to oblige!

 

Long Beach petsitter Lisa, with Chester

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Rock on Alpha sitters…rock on!

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More furry-faced goodness from the OC Humane Society! The OCHS will also be at the America’s Family Pet Expo this weekend at the Orange County Fairgrounds. Stop by and see some of these sweetie pies yourself!

Juliet

Chance giving me the Bambi eyes

 

Oscar models his wee doggie shirt

Poker only has one expression…SMILES!

Goldie is an affectionate mama-dog with a litter of little ones who are all sure to find great homes…and you can see on her face that she hopes to do the same.

BABY PUPPEHS AHHHHHHH!!!

One of Goldie’s pups, who probably has no need for adoption photos given that it’s so flipping cute that it’ll be snatched up immediately!

PUPPEH LUURRRVVEE

But wait! What about the kittehs! Sad kittyfaces

Sweet Emma likes being petted, but she doesn’t get a lot of that in the shelter.

Smithurs decided he wanted a kingly portrait.

Also, if you love pets and would like to get to know the ones at your own local shelter, why not contact them and volunteer? All of these photographs were taken by me for free to help these little guys get adopted sooner, so obviously you can donate more than money to the cause (though money is definitely helpful, too!).  See you at the Expo this weekend!

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The other day Matt and I set out to do some portraits and headshots of our new friend Cheryl, an actress and model who happens to live right around the block from us.

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