Avery + 29 Months

My little lady is almost 2 and a half. She is so much fun. She has a very sassy little personality and is speaking in sentences now. She is into Frozen more than Trolls which is good because Frozen 2 is out soon. Trolls 2 comes out next year so I think she will go back to her love of Trolls. For this shoot, I went to the mall the day before and bought her 3 little outfits from H&M and Forever21 (rip). I took her downtown again. The last time we were down here was exactly 1 year ago. She is definitely not as easy to photograph as her mother was. Her mother (my sister) was a natural poser and loved the camera. Little Avery is not like that. I have to trick her into looking at the camera or bribe her. Here are some of my favorites.

Avery + 28 Months

I have been ignoring my blog and website for awhile and I hate when this happens. I think I need a whiteboard to help stay organized and on top of things.

This is the most recent shoot I did of my niece. I still try to photograph her every single month but I have been slipping when it comes to editing and posting. Trying to find balance between my photo teaching job and my personal photo jobs is challenging. For these photos, we went to Marley Park in Surprise, AZ and just walked around. It was September, so it’s finally not too hot to be outdoors. My niece is wearing glasses now. Might be a temporary thing to help correct an eye issue but even if she wears them forever, she is the cutest little lady ever. She looks like such a big kid now. She is 2 years old now and is talking in almost full sentences. She is obsessed with Trolls and Frozen and a lot of animated movies. She is finally at that age where I can take her on my own and do fun things with her. I took her to Makutu’s Island and she had a blast. Every time I visit her in AZ, we will adventure and have Niece and Tio time. She still calls me “Bubbles” or “Tio Bubbles”. She loves singing to music and she has such a cute little personality. Enjoy the photos….

Jazzy + Encinitas

I met this young lady when I started teaching at San Marcos High School. As a teacher, it takes time to learn names and to bond with students but not with this girl. She instantly stood out from the 200 students and became one of my homies. She was very involved with my photo program and took on leadership roles in multiple ways. She was a co-president of my photo club for 2 years and helped me with anything I needed. She took year 1 of photo with me in her junior year. Then took year 2 and was my assistant in her senior year. She’s an awesome girl and I dreaded the day of her graduating. She became such a huge part of my life at work and not having her around is going to be very different. I am starting to realize now, that with my teaching job, losing students is the hardest part of the job. Luckily she is staying local for college and I am able to connect with her but it is not the same. The photos below are from her senior session and it is going to be a sad day when she leaves SMHS. There is more coming soon. These are the ones I have edited so far.

Alec + Guajome Park

Jenna & Trevor + Oside

I tagged along with two of my students as they photographed. My photo club president, Jenna, was hired to photograph one of her classmates, Trevor. I have had both of these students for 2 years and they are very talented. I tagged along to offer my advice and to help with posing, lighting and location scouting. I took one of my Twin Lens / Medium Format cameras along with me and I scanned the following images.

Grandparents 55th Wedding Anniversary

My grandparents met when they were 18 years old. My Grandpa Hector lived in Douglas, AZ and my Grandma lived in Agua Prieta, MX. These two towns were border towns. They met at a dance and started dating. My Grandpa would walk over the border to visit my Grandma and that’s how their love began. They eventually got married and moved to Phoenix, Arizona to start a family and their life together. They had 3 kids, my Mother Annabell, my Uncle Hector and my Aunt Maria. They have 4 grandkids and 2 great grandchildren. They got married the day after Christmas, December 26th, 1963. 5 years ago, we had a big celebration for them in their hometown, when they reached 50 years. Another 5 years has passed and I felt the need to document them and their love. Every year is special and I feel so lucky to have them in my life. Here are a few photos that I took of them at South Mountain in Phoenix, Arizona.

This is a photo from their first date.

A few photographs from their wedding day.

Fun fact: my grandmother made her own wedding dress and the all of the dresses in the wedding party.

Christmas 2018

Every year, we spend Christmas Eve at my Grandparent’s house from my mother’s side. We eat, talk and play games and try our hardest to wait till midnight to open gifts. Every year we come very close to midnight but usually give in around 11pm. The attention of gifts is always placed on the young kids. My family is very small and we noticed that there is only 1 young kid at a time. That young kid gets all of the attention for years until the next one is born. On Christmas Day, we spend the morning at my Mom’s house, where she hosts with her mother-in-law and both sides of our family come together to eat and open gifts. Here are some of my favorite photos from the holidays.

Marshall + Studio/Moonlight

I haven’t been this excited to photograph someone in a very long time. I saw Marshall on instagram a few months back and I knew I had to photograph him. He is a competitive cheerleader and an aspiring model. His freckles are what caught my attention. I feel that I am in a transition right now. I want to dive back into working with new faces and stepping my fashion game up. I told Marshall that I was going to of course shoot him with a digital camera but that I wanted to shoot a couple of rolls of film with him. I busted out a medium format twin lens camera that I have been wanting to use for awhile. It is a Mamiya C330 and it takes 120/220 film and I just fell in love with it. I took it to a local lab here in Carlsbad, California - North Coast Photo. I am so lucky to have a lab so close by. So Marshall and I started our day in My small studio, shooting some very simple studio lit portraits and then we wandered outside of my house to use tropical plants. We ended our shoot at Moonlight Beach in Encinitas, where I shot with both my digital and film camera. We were there right before sunset and the sky was magic. Here are some of my favorite digital images and I will end with my favorite film shots.

Avery + 18 Months

My niece is officially a year and a half. She is currently OBSESSED with Trolls and Princess Poppy. She dances to every song and watches it multiple times a day. She is repeating words now and photographing her is getting harder and harder, as she walks away from the camera to explore. For the last shoot, I went out and about with her, so for this shoot, I wanted some classic simple black and white images of her. We sat in the living room, I propped up a black background and used a bright LED light to light her face up. I think she does everything in her power to not make eye contact. I am definitely going to have to get creative and find new ways to get her to look at the camera. I think my biggest mistake is not using a tripod and hiding behind the camera. Kids need to see my face and not a big lens. I think I just cracked the code to get her to look at me. I’ll be right back.

Thanksgiving 2018

I went to Phoenix to spend Thanksgiving with my family. My Grandma & Grandpa do all the cooking and have been doing it every year. They host it at their house in South Phoenix. Our Thanksgivings are small. It is usually my aunt, uncle, grandparents and myself. My Little Sister, Bro-in-law and Niece were there as well. As always, I had to make everyone go outside to take a few pictures as I feel documenting our time together is very important. I also just recently purchased a Fuji Instax Wide 300 and used that to snap a few instant photos. I will include the digital images as well as scans from my new little toy camera.

Avery + 17 Months

My little lady turned 17 months and for this months photoshoot, me and my sister decided to take her to downtown Phoenix, in the Arts District. A couple months back, I went to a mall and saw that Forever21 had a line of Polaroid and Kodak clothes. I bought a few things for myself and a Kodak sweater for my niece. I imagined her wearing it oversized for a future shoot and this was that shoot. When I was in my teens and just starting photography, this is where I use to take models to photograph. This area has become oversaturated with photographers now but it’s still one of my favorite areas to photograph in. Avery is now walking very confidently and that definitely makes it harder to photographer her. She is dancing a lot now and repeating words.

Quentin + San Clemente

I met Quentin on Instagram. He is a cool guy, who is currently serving in the Navy here in San Diego. He is OBSESSED with Chris Brown (which I just don’t understand) but that’s his jam. I met him almost a year ago, with intentions of photographing him and a year later in finally happened. We met up and drove north on the i5. We didn’t really have a destination in mind. We were just going with the flow. We ended up in a random little industrial area in San Clemente, right off the the freeway and it overlooked San Onofre beach. Quentin was determined to get some photos in his bike helmet and leather jacket. Here are a few photos from our day together.

Avery + 16 Months

My little niece is 16 months old. She is walking very confidently now. She is starting to say words like “Amen, Meow, and Dog”. She loves the song “Baby Shark” and loves to dance. She is really funny right now. She yells “Ahhhh” when you play with her. She scraped her little knees during this shoot because she insists on walking all the time. I visited her in Surprise, AZ and took her pictures around Marley Park.

Cooper + D Street

From the day I met Cooper, I knew he was going to be a cool guy. He is always happy and always in a good mood. He used to play football for his high school and now is a senior and a huge influence on his school. He is part of ASB and is a leader in his schools student blue crew. He hypes up the crowds at sporting events and helps create content for social media to get more students active in school events and school spirit. He plans to attend a NAU or my alma mater, ASU. He has intentions of being a fireman or possibly entering into the army. I told him he should look into modeling post high school. I will definitely be photographing him again if he does decide to take that route. Meet the “Zac Efron” of SMHS.

Stephanie + Downtown Oside

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Stephanie is a senior and is one of the raddest girls I have met. She doesn’t fit into any stereotypical mold. She is unapologetically herself. She is super down to earth, chill, vegan and has a great sense of humor. For her session, we explored downtown Oceanside looking for new areas. Her mom Andrea, and sister Michelle, came along for the shoot (as well as Josh who was assisting me). This family has a big personality and they instantly make you feel like you are a part of the family. Don’t let the girly clothes fool you, Stephanie plays rugby for her high school team and is one tough chick.