Family Portraits

I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas! Most of my family came over to our house, and we had a big dinner on Christmas Eve of both families combined. It was the first time (besides our wedding) that we've had so many family members from both mine and Eric's family there, so it was really fun to get everyone together!

With my side of the family, it's really really hard to get everyone together at once. It seems like at least 1 person is always missing, and we actually got all of us together earlier in the year for 1 day, so naturally my mom insisted that we take a group photo. We shot a couple group ones, but my favorites are when the kids started getting antsy and silly.

Here is the standard group photo that ended up on the Christmas Card

But I'm pretty sure this is the one that will end up on the wall

Bay Area Trash the dress session

Yes, I'm still alive and have not had a horrific construction accident while remodeling the house. It's been a crazy few months my friends, despite what it may seem like on the blog. My wedding season rolled into family portrait season, which rolled into hurry and get all of these albums and cards done before Christmas, which rolled into holy crap I'm pooped and I'm going to fly to Mexico and then Disneyland for vacation. And here we are, 6 weeks later and I'm finally get caught up on the blog! 

First up is this trash the dress session from way back in September. Miriam had really wanted to do a water shot in her wedding dress. Now, those from the Bay Area know that a warm, and pretty place to swim is pretty hard to find without driving hours. We decided on Bass Lake after hearing how amazing it is, and before realizing that it's a 3 mile hike in and out. Luckily, Miriam & Erick were more than happy to have a hiking day, and I welcomed the chance to get out from behind the computer and spend the afternoon hiking and shooting. Not to mention it was really fun to get to hang out more with one of my couples beyond just shooting. We realized we have a ton in common, including who we think should play the movie roles in 50 shades of grey. It was unanimous that Natalie Portrman and Ryan Gosling are the only ones that can class it up enough to not be full on porn. 

Despite the fact that I misjudged the amount of time it would actually take to hike 3 miles, and we ended up walking the last half mile or so in the dark (thank goodness they brought headlamps and snacks!) it was a really great day!

Thanks to Miriam and Erick for being amazing enough to hike 6 miles and go swimming in freezing water!