Qureshi Family - Life Session Portraits Oh boy...where does the time disappear. After months without an update, here's something which should make everyone smile. The Qureshi family have been great clients of mine for some time now and when Tayyiba, Cody, and little Z-Man were in town last fall, we got the chance to take some fun family portraits.

This was actually Tayyiba & Zamaan's second photo session with me in 2009. Here's some of the previous session with his masis

With family portraits, we never know what exactly to expect, so the sessions are way more loose and playful than usual. As you can see from this sampling, Zamaan didn't leave us much chance to pose for shots...which is a great thing!

Labels: Bay Area, Family, Life Session, Portfolio, Portraits, San Mateo

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  Aparna & Jeff's Engagement Portraits Earlier this summer, I took Aparna & Jeff all over San Francisco for their engagement portraits and what a fun time! We got to try out some new spots on that beautiful summer afternoon so it made for some wonderful moments. It was also great since they didn't mind a little public display of affection while we were taking their portraits :)

We started out in North Beach, then headed to the Presidio, and finally to Baker Beach. With each location, since we had extra time, we were able to find some cool little spots that helped their photos to be as unique as possible.

Here are some samples!









I just love this next portrait due to the wind blowing Aparna's hair just so and especially that look in her eyes!



Aparna & Jeff, I can't wait for your wedding next month!

Labels: Beach, Engagements, Portfolio, Portraits, San Francisco

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  Rajan Family - Life Session Portraits Mamatha & Ranjeet got married a couple of years ago and I was lucky enough to photograph their wedding in San Ramon. Fast forward to this spring and they had a son just a little bit after we had our own daughter. So it was a pleasure doing a life session focusing on their one year old son, Ishaan. We started off with some clean portraits with a background then moved onto their backyard and finally to Piedmont Park nearby. I've gotta say, photographing a child in his or her own environment is key to capturing great moments...




I went a bit more abstract with some of the editing. Since I was getting so many great expressions from Ishaan, I just had to go out on a limb with some of these photos.





The dreamy look in this next photo really just hit it for me. I knew it was out of focus when I took it, but I couldn't let go of it. I'd say it's my second favorite from the afternoon.

And what's my fave shot from this session? The next photo! The sheer joy on Ishaan's face with Ranjeet in the background is what these sessions are all about!


And finally...the happy family!

Thanks guys for inviting us to your home. We had a great time and hope to see a lot more of Ishaan as he grows into the rockstar he's destined to be!

Labels: Family, Life Session, Oakland, Piedmont, Portfolio, Portraits

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  Gellon Family - Life Session Portraits The Gellons are close friends of our's and with their son Zaver's first birthday coming up earlier this year, I wanted to make sure they had memorable portraits before his birthday. Instead of going out to a park or the beach, we decided to take advantage of Vic & Sophina's lovely home. We all thought this would not only lead to fun portraits, but make them much more personal.

I had trouble narrowing down the selection of photos for this session, so enjoy this cute and handsome young fellow!









The next bunch of photos are actually from the galf course which is in their backyard.

Labels: Family, Life Session, Portfolio, Portraits

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  Raj & Jag's Engagement Portraits One of the most popular spots for taking portraits has been Stanford University. While it's not as popular nowadays as it has been in the past, it still provides some really classic elements like the columns you see in the background of the first photo. There are also great little spots around campus which provide for great variety. In addition to the Stanford campus, we took a little trip to downtown and had some fun walking in the streets of Palo Alto.

This shot is one of the very few where I do any really visible editing. Usually, the photo speaks for itself, but in this case, I felt that adding in the layers of texure & blur helped to give the shot some extra oomph!




When we moved onto Downtown Palo Alot, I was just in love with all the brick facades!




Raj & Jag, congrats and I wish you all the best in married life!

Labels: Engagements, Palo Alto, Portfolio, Portraits, Stanford

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  Molly & Vid - Wedding Day Sneak Peek One of my favorite things about photography is sharing my work with clients. And a part of that is giving little teasers to whet their appetite for more once the full set of photos is complete. I just had to share these few photos with Molly & Vid earlier this week and I figure blog readers would love to see these too....so here's just a very few from their big day. Many more to come....

Labels: Hindu, Portfolio, Weddings

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  Patel Family - Avila Beach Portraits We did a fun & relaxing family session last month in Avila Beach. Where is Avila Beach, you ask? It's in Central California near San Luis Obispo & Pismo.

We photographed Tejal & Nalin's wedding last year. And this year, her big sister, Roshni, wanted to do family portraits before the first birthday of her twins. So I joined the whole family at Avila Beach close to where their mom lives. And what a wonderful day it was! The weather in mid-June had been so unpredictable, but we all lucked out and get an absolutely gorgeous day at the beach. Besides the awesome weather, it was great catching up with the whole family since I hadn't seen them in over a year. It was also pretty cool doing 3 or 4 mini portrait sessions since the whole family was there.

Here's just a few of the photos from the session:











Happy Birthday Aiden & Alina! I know your mom loves these photos...when you grow up, I expect you to love them too :)

Labels: Avila Beach, Beach, Family, Life Session, Portfolio, Portraits

  Permanent Link 4:52 PM  1 Comments Links to this post

  Shefali & Hitesh's Engagement Portraits Catching up on some Spring & Summer sessions we've had...

I met up with Shefali & Hitesh after a bit of extra planning & coordination...I live in the Bay Area, but Shefali was in San Diego and Hitesh was in Chicago. So where to meet for portraits when everyone's in a different city? Los Angeles!

It was actually a lot of fun planning this session out. Shefali really wanted to do some interesting with modern architecture as well as mix in some traditionally romantic photos. So we settled on 3 great spots in LA & the Westside...the Disney Center in Downtown LA, the UCLA campus in Westwood, and the pier & beach in Santa Monica. So let's get onto the photos!

I just love, love, LOVE the Disney Center's architecture. The shapes are just so interesting and offer a lot of options for us. And when you get closer, this awesome exterior surface of the walls just draw your eyes in.


This is one of those little nooks that I love about the Disney Center. It's such a tiny spot and it's the type of thing I love to find.





For this next shot, Shefali & Hitesh look totally calm, but what doesn't show on their face is a bus hurtling at them at full speed :) I didn't know about this bus until after I took the shot since my back was towards it. Needless to say, we ran very quickly :)

And moving onto my alma mater, UCLA is always a fun place to do portraits. It's always so relaxing there on weekends and it really lends to a more fun & relaxing shoot. Plus there's so many spots for a lot of fun stuff. Here's just a few of the spots....



And who could complain about Santa Monica on a nice spring afternoon?!

Out of the entire shoot, I have to say, this is my favorite shot. It wasn't something I asked Shefali to do, but the look in her eyes is just so memorable for me.

And with that, I'm going to end this post. Shefali & Hitesh, thanks for a wonderful afternoon of portraits. I can't wait for your wedding next month!

Labels: Beach, Disney Center for Perfoming Arts, Engagements, Los Angeles, Portfolio, Portraits, Santa Monica, UCLA, Westwood

  Permanent Link 11:36 AM  0 Comments Links to this post

  Mayuri & Kunaal's Engagement Ceremony You might recall a previous post on Mayuri & Kunaal's portraits. Well, the couple had their engagement ceremony back in May to make it all official. Yes, their engagement was more elaborate than many weddings, but I'm sure a lot of Indians will relate to the importance of the engagement ceremony.

Everyone joined the couple at the Sunol Valley Golf Club for breakfast, the ceremony itself, and a lunch reception afterwards. Without further ado, onto the photos!











Kunaal even got down on one knee to put the engagement ring on Mayuri's finger!


Check out that bouquet! And don't forget about the groom in the background ;)




The lunch reception started immediately after the ceremony ended. And since the clouds and winds had hung around all morning, people were happy to head indoors!

Mayuri and her friends had a sweet Bollywood dance for Kunaal.



Congrats you two! Can't wait to hear about your wedding plans in Seattle!

Labels: Engagements, Gujarati, Hindu, Portfolio, Tamil

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  Patel Family - San Francisco Portraits Catching up on one of the many portrait sessions from the Spring, here are some highlights of the Patel Family from a sunny April afternoon in San Francisco.

We started out at Baker Beach...it was Aarav's first time at the beach and above all, he was just confused by all the water and sand. So it was definitely cute to see him make new discoveries about this 'wierd stuff' :)



We then moved onto a nearby playground where Aarav really opened up. When photographing kids, I always love to catch them in moments that they just LOVE. In this case, Aarav just loves swings and playground equipment...






And just in time for Aarav's first birthday party, the family had a couple of gallery wraps made to hang in their house. We wanted to do two completely different looks so the first one with black & white photos just have a simple background. The second one is more playful and colorful.


Aarav, I'm glad we got the chance to spend an afternoon photographing you! It's going to be a blast watching you grow up!

Labels: Family, Gallery Wrap, Gujarati, Life Session, Portfolio, Portraits

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