Oahu based family and wedding photographer providing family photographer for all Hawaiian Islands.

Liz Maternity Session with Big Sis HB

12.30.10

The next two posts are going to hit home the gap this year where I was waddling around with a high-risk pregnancy. Yesterday, I dipped my toe back into the photo waters with a shoot of cutesy lil “LP” and realized that my last session before the “big belly phase followed by NICU living” was with LP’s mom and big sister right before LP was born. How fitting that this family who are close friends and pretty-much-family-to-us would be the bookends for this year. And as 2011 looms near, I’m blown away at how fast this year flew by. The last thing I remember, LP was just a cute baby bump and now’s she’s a crawling/ standing/ dimply grinning baby girl. So, before I can post sneak peeks from her session, I have to backtrack and throw up some of my faves from her mom’s maternity session waaaaayyyyy back in the spring.

Liz asked me to take some pictures of her and 2 year-old HB before the new baby arrived to capture their “mommy-me” moments before a baby sister came into the mix. I’m always on the hunt for new and different locations. We do a lot of the tried and true beach sessions but I like a lot of variety. I am also really happy if I can find something on the windward side and close to home. Always a big plus and makes my tired, old Toyota Corolla happy. The creativity in photography is what draws me in and inspires me to scan my surroundings with new eyes. Since my hubby works at Hope Chapel Kaneohe, we make the drive past Kaneohe District Park often. I’ve done a family shoot there but there was this overgrown lawn of grassy weeds that always caught my eye. I love Liz because she’s so flexible and I know she trusts me completely. So, when I asked her to meet me in the parking lot by the corner of the field that looked like it had been neglected by lawnmowers and weed-whackers for months, she didn’t blink an eye. Basically, we played in weeds.I was hoping it would translate in pictures and the pay off was amazing. I loved this session.

I am in love with my little fairy grove that I bet most people pass by without a second glance. You may be able to recognize landmarks in the pictures. And if you live in Kaneohe, chances are you drive right by it regularly…it’s just 20 feet from Kahekili Highway. Every now and then, the workers brave the terrain and, sadly, its beautiful wilderness has been tamed with a good mowing. Wait long enough and it will always grow back.

We took some time for a trip to the nearby playground

Liz, now a mom of two beautiful girls

A 2 year-old certainly keeps you on your toes

I found the perfect fairy for my fairy grove

HB didn't like the grass tickling her legs but mommy made everything fun with a flower tossing game

Liz is stylist at The Cutting Zone in Kailua. She’s very popular, almost everyone we know goes to Liz, including us. And every single one of us are super happy campers. She makes us look good!! Scott would probably interrupt with some joke at this point praising his own natural beauty. I’ll talk a little more about Liz and her hair-styling finesse in my next post. But her talent comes in handy since HB is an active toddler with tons of beautiful hair. HB was having a little bit too much fun so we had to take a minute to tame the hair before we could proceed.

HB had to have a few hair touch-ups in the midst of all the fun

Okay, now I’ve caught up. I can post a sneak peek before the New Year of LP, the third party in this session that we didn’t officially get to meet until later.

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Mikaela’s 1 Year Photo Session

11.03.10

Well, I’m back. You can’t hear me but I’m humming “Return of the mack…once again…the return of the mack.”

So I’m dipping one toe into the water. I have some sessions that have been sitting on the burner, ready for blogging. My baby girl, Casey, is home from the hospital. Today is actually her due date. So, even though she is 3 months old, she follows her adjusted age and fits in perfectly with other newborns. She eats every three hours, weighs in at 7 lb 11 oz, and has a case of the hiccups as we speak. I had to convince her to cruise in her Fisher Price rocker while I finally blog some photos. I tried to hold her and blog but ended up deleted 7 minutes of work by accident. So she’s back to rocking away next to me.

These photos are from a session long before the girls were born, but they’re just too pretty not to showcase.

I love having return clients. I feel blessed to be a part of their milestones, by capturing those events in their family journey. Bow and Troy have invited me to share some key moments with their family. We spent a very special Valentine’s maternity session together. When their little bundle of joy did arrive, Auntie Keao crept quietly in to do a newborn session with sleeping little Mikaela, affectionally called Mimi.

Time flies by so fast and Bow inquired about doing family photos just in time for Mimi’s first birthday.

I was hoping that Mimi remembered me, but I don’t think I made enough of an impression during her newborn sesh. She just stared at me inquisitively with these big, deep brown eyes that you could easily get lost in. I always ask families if they want to choose a location that has significance or memories for them. Bow chose a playground that she takes Mimi to every week. Bow, thanks for introducing me to this playground. I never even knew it existed!!! I can’t tell you how many times I have taken my nieces to this huge playground since this session.

Introducing Mimi

Come celebrate my birthday!!!

Smooches for the birthday girl!!!

Exploring her favorite playground...and showing off a little.

Mikaela with her doting parents, Bow and Troy

This was a very popular playground so it took a little patience to get clear backgrounds for those key shots. This playground was built to delight keiki and it was doing a spectacular job. It was swarming with happy kids running everywhere. It did mean that I had to watch the tides of running kids and wait for the breaks in the crowd to get the shot. We certainlly didn’t want to interfere with anyone’s playtime. We managed to get beautiful family photographs and the kids didn’t even seem to notice us.

Look who's standing!!

Bow wanted current photos of Mimi in time to make a gorgeous scrapbook to have on display at her 1st birthday party. Bow also showed me the design for the birthday party invitation. I actually kept the look and colors of her invitation in mind when I set up the following shots. And the picture belowed would be her birthday invitation. This is something I recommend. Bring the colors and themes for parties to my attention, and I’ll set up pictures to work within that style.

We chose a part of the playground with beautiful yellows and greens in the background and gave Mimi her very first taste of cake. Bow and I were cracking up as Mimi poked her cupcake tentatively. She was not won over by the sugary goodness. I hope that means this girl won’t develop a similar sweet tooth like mine. Lucky me, I had the rest of the cupcakes to myself. Yummy.

My first cupcake=)

Cake sessions with babies are the best, because it means I get to have cake and eat it too.

Bow and Troy have also been really good friends to us. When they found out we were pregnant, Bow stopped by with all sorts of baby goodies. A lamp that fits perfectly with Casey’s safari/jungle nursery. A glider. And they’re even bringing us dinner tomorrow night. Thank you so much!!!

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