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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  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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  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

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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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  Photo of the Week...Again! Well, I don't like to gloat, but heck, I will :)

The previous gallery wrap montage which we featured here on the site has won "photo of the week" honors from Pieces of the Picture.

If you're curious about family photography, Pieces of the Picture goes beyond the typical photography tips type of site since it's about more than just a "how to"...it goes into a lot of the thought process and challenges to capturing a family's moments. Have a look at their site as well as their Flickr group if you have a chance.

As we've been getting more into family portraiture, we've been trying a lot of different things so that our work is fresh and can provide lasting memories for our clients. So that might mean portraits in front of a backdrop or outdoor portraits. The way it's presented, I think, makes a huge difference also. So the online versions of the montages we've shown might look great online, but I love seeing people's reactions when they see these huge wraps in person.

Here's the winning photo montage again in case you didn't see the previous blog post:

Labels: Family, Personal, Portfolio, Portraits, The Biz

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  More Gallery Wrap & Montage Goodness We've been getting such a great response on the Gallery Wraps using photo montages, I figured I'd share a personal example of my daughter Sophia. These gallery wraps have a lustrous metallic finish to them and hang without any need for a frame. It's great any where you want something a bit more modern, but as you can see with the background, we can mix it up for a wide variety of look.

This was a Valentine's Day gift to my wife and now hangs in our family room next to the couch. Safe it say it brings a smile to our faces every time we look at it!

If you're interested in a portrait session for you or your children, or you just want to create a unique enlargement like the example here, drop us a line.

Labels: Enlargements, Family, Gallery Wrap, Personal, Portfolio, Portraits

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  Le Family Portraits Keeping on the Family portraits tips, here are a few highlights from a shoot we did last year of the Le family.

Mom + Daughter + Dog = Lots of fun!

I had met Abra, Asia, and Bodie before, but I had never had a chance to really talk to Asia or play with Bodie. The great thing about doing small portrait sessions like this is that we get a chance to talk, get to know each other, and have some fun along the way. So when Asia's ready for her Senior portraits (hint, hint), this will be an old hat for her!


Somethingt that I just love is parent & child interactions. On a wedding day, there are certainly chances to see and capture those special moments, but it's such a stressful and agenda packed day that I don't think any parent or child can really appreciate things. In a relaxed session like that, we always find some time to let everyone have some fun not just with their poses & the camera, but with each other.

In this case, Asia had a lot of mock anger/angst like any teenager, but we could see right through her facade :P Of course she was just having fun with it and she ended up having a good deal of fun with shots too :)






Isn't Bodie a sweetheart! He was just happy to be out and about and I wanted to make sure we got some of him into the photo session. I have to admit, he didn't want to do EVERY pose imaginable, but he was a real trooper and was smiling throughout!

Thanks Abra, Asia, and Bodie! It was a pleasure spending the afternoon with you and I'm glad you all love your photos!

Labels: Family, Life Session, Portraits

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  Photo of the week Well, whaddya know, a photo from the last photo shoot I posted was selected as Photo of the Week for the "Pieces of the Picture" blog. Always nice to know that people enjoy the work we do and even a little recognition is appreciated. Thanks to Tommy over there for the consideration!

Here's the selected photo:


Here's the blog post on their site about the Photo of the Week

Have a look at the rest of their blog for some great advice on photographing families, especially children: Piece of the Picture

Labels: Family, Life Session, Portfolio, Portraits, The Biz

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  Qureshi Family Portraits Wow, what a fun afternoon with the Qureshi sisters and their kids! I've been itching to post these photos to the blog and now that we've presented the photos to the family, I'm happy to show you some of the highlights.

As we've been doing some work outside of the usual Indian weddings, I've found family life sessions to be so enjoyable. There's a very different vibe with an entire family interacting with each other. And notice that I called these Life Sessions, not portraits...after all, the time we spend with these families is about capturing their lives together, not just about posing for a camera. So during these sessions, we do the usual group portraits, but most of the time is spent finding those family interactions which are so special and will be remembered forever.

Anyways, onto the photos! I know the family from Tayyiba's wedding about 3 years ago. We covered many of their events and so it was a great chance to see the family again, especially how the kids have grown and to meet the newest member of the family, Tayyiba's son, the little Z-Man!

Enjoy the photos!

We started off at the Ferry Building in San Francisco....
Talking about family interactions, this is one of those moments which are so common between a mother and her child. I decided to take this simple moment and make it a bit more special with some extra post-work, tying in textures & illustrations for something which highlights that special bond.


Little Inaaya was a bit shy when posing for her pictures, but she just loved showing me her dancing skills! So here's a few shots I took while she showed me how to dance.




From the Embarcadero, we moved onto Baker Beach. The sunsets there just can't be beat!









And this is an example of the unique montage enlargements we like to provide. It's a way to take a wonderful photo and turn it into something really special that will look great in the family room, living room...anywhere you please!

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

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