I love these guys! This is my third year photographing them - it is so much fun to watch my *little friends* grow up…

Then we headed out to the beach in Santa Monica for a little stroll…

I was loving the flare!

I had some fun playing with different textures - I have more of a *clean and clear* style but this is a rather popular trend that I haven’t dabbled in much and it was FUN!

filed under: Santa Monica kids photographer, Santa Monica beach photographer, children’s commercial photographer, california children’s photographer, beach photo sessions

…i know, i know…i am HORRENDOUSLY behind on posting on the blog!! right now is my crazy-busy time of year - i’ve been focused more on getting everyone’s photos proofed, ordered and back to them! BUT - I am turning over a new leaf and issuing a PROCLAMATION: (my buddy Lisa *loves* it when I make proclamations!)

I, Jennifer Wilson, do hereby declare that I will post on my blog EVERY day for the next 21 days! If (and it won’t happen so just forget it!) I should somehow FAIL in my mission - please feel free to call me out in the comment box here on the blog. I will give some sort of super-duper prize to the person who calls me out on it!

….and now on to some long-awaited photos@! Here are some of the cuties I photographed in las Vegas this fall…

filed under: Las Vegas children’s photographer, Las Vegas baby photographer, children’s lifestyle photographer, modern kids photos, baby photography in Las Vegas

ha! I meant for this sneak peek to be one or two photos…. But - how to choose? I LOVE so many images from this session - and 5 minutes into it it looked like it would be a disaster! Seriously, we hadn’t been there 5 minutes when one of those adorable little girls face-planted into a wave! Luckily, she was a trooper and the whole family were great sports - so we just carried on…and I am SO glad! We laughed a lot, splashed a lot - and had a heck of a good time :)

filed under: Manhattan Beach photographer, Southern California beach photographer, photo sessions at the beach, children’s beach portraits, Los Angeles beach photographer, lifestyle beach portraits

It was such a joy to photograph SO MANY cute kids last week at Pottery Barn Kids! I am such a natural light photographer usually - so it is fun to break out the studio lights a few times a year! These are such classic kids portraits - I hope all the parents love them as much as I do! I love how their little personalities shine through…

Stay tuned for a couple of mini-session dates to be added in October and November… I’ll post more details on the blog tomorrow! I only have one more regular session available in October and only a handful in November, so hoping the mini-sessions will be a way to be able to shoot everyone! I felt so awful last year when I had to turn folks away:(

images tagged Manhattan Beach children’s photographer, Manhattan Beach baby photographer, Classic kids photography, classic kids photos, modern kids portraits, Los Angeles kids photographer, Southern California baby photographer, Pottery Barn Kids photo sessions

Time to post some photos! My poor blog has been neglected as I have been trying to get caught up on proofing a gazillion sessions! I am about to have a blogapaloooza weekend and post LOTS of sneak peeks - so stay tuned!!

First up is Jennafer’s (yes - that IS the way she spells it!) gorgeous family! I know, I know - she doesn’t look old enough to be the mom of all four of these beautiful girls! We had a great time - each girl is just as sweet as she is beautiful and the little ones had SO MUCH FUN splashing in the waves - they were truly a joy to photograph!

The black and white photo of those sweet eyelashes and freckles has moved to the the very tip top of my *current faves* list! I **heart** freckles….

images tagged Manhattan Beach photographer, Manhattan beach beach photography, Southern California beach photographer, kids photos at the beach

How adorable are these two little boys??? I photographed Tucker when he turned one - now it was little brother Brody’s turn! They are just the perfect picture of quintessential California beach boys - so so so cute!!!

I can’t believe how much these little guys have grown since I saw them last (but it HAS been two years, so I guess it should be OBVIOUS that they would grow up a little!). For some reason (probably ’cause I look at their little faces on my computer every day!) I always somehow expect kids to be just a *teensy* bit bigger than when I saw them last…well…not this time! Two years ago they were just dinky - now they are full-on BOYS! SO fun!!!

tagged: children’s lifestyle photography, modern lifestyle photography, Los Angeles child photographer. modern kids photographer, southern california lifestyle photography, modern children’s photography, childrens photojournalistic photography

I love this family!! I first photographed them two years ago in Manhattan beach - they live in Las Vegas, but travel here frequently so I was excited to be able to photograph them again!! Especially since *Mom* has a bit of a photo-fetish and has hired lots of amazing photographers before me, I am flattered that she called me again!

Anyway - enough chit-chat - let’s see some photos!

look at these gorgeous faces!

I had fun playing around with some *vintage-style processing….looks pretty cool, doesn’t it?

then big brother made an appearance…

can you believe the eyelashes on this little boy? AMAZING! I love the warm sunset light on his face…

OKAY - this next photo LOOKS mush scarier than it actually was - but we did all get wet!! Luckily, she was a real trooper - no tears, just giggles!

jumping for joy!!

…the end…

filed under: Manhattan Beach photographer, Los Angeles children’s photographer, los angeles kid photographer, Los Angeles lifestyle photographer, modern lifestyle photographer, lifestyle children’s photographer

I lived! Seriously, I had such an amazingly fantastic time teaching this workshop! I was both flattered AND nervous when I was invited to be an instructor there (the other instructors all had such rock-star resumes!) BUT, they asked me, so I figured they wanted me :) How (pleasantly!) surprised was I to find out that my class was SOLD OUT!!?? Um…pressure :) WOW. Just wow.

…and now on to my list of THANK YOUs… (this is going to be wordy, so please bear with me!)

…to my students - you all were SO awesome! Thanks for making my 2 1/2 days of talking, shooting, rolling around in the grass and clicking around in photoshop such a positive experience! Your energy and enthusiasm carried me through the days (which I needed since Lisa and I were up slaving all night!) I think I might have learned as much from y’all as you **hopefully** learned from me!

…speaking of Lisa :) I am So lucky, SO fortunate, SO happy to have such an amazing friend as my good buddy (and crazy-talented photographer!!) Lisa Maksoudian.{{{click on her site right now!! you’ll fall in love with her!}}} Lisa is the ultimate superhero - she knew I had some mini-anxieties about rambling on for days and she VOLUNTEERED to come help out! (leaving her own work and family behind!) If that isn’t the definition of a great friend, I don’t know what is! She stayed up with me each night working on the presentation, she provided moral support AND chips and salsa and best of all, she was such a great *gift with purchase* surprise for the students! They got to hear from *two* photographers instead of just me :) I know they loved her (as do I!) So - thank you, Lisa!! I owe you big time!!!

…GGS people! Thanks for making us feel welcome (and I’m bummed I missed the instructor’s dinner!) I met my new best buddy :) Kim Sayre as soon as I arrived on campus! You know those people you meet and you just know you’ll be friends forever??? That’s how I felt when we met!! (and that was BEFORE I knew that I had her to thank for the referral!) So - thanks KIM! (and she let me try out her killer lightroom presets and templates which are super-awesomeand can be found at Cottage Industry Designs. My *official GGS-designated* trustee was the talented Jonathan Mandel. Jonathan helped keep the class on track and ensured that everyting ran smoothly. I **loved** his gorgeous photos and was blown away when I looked at his portfolio, he has such a great eye for composition and his work was just gorgeous! Lastly, I was flattered to have the President of the PPGBA in my class!! Jeanne DePolo is already a super-successful portrait and wedding photographer, so I was so flattered to have her attend my class. I know I learned a lot from her (and hopefully she learned from me as well!) and look forward to hanging out again in the future! Her award-winning image of a bride and groom locked in passionate embrace was smokin’ hot - I loved viewing her work!

I regret that I did not get an opportunity to socialize/ hang out with the other GGS instructors and staff. Next year!! I will be more prepared and spend my evenings having fun instead of slaving away!

I had lots of help on the homefront leading up to this crazy week, and my hubby not only managed the kids for 4 days without me, I came home to a clean house with all the laundry done!! Petty cool, huh? My friends Jenn, Lori and kay;a are awesome! Jenn helped me learn a new software program and she and her cousin Renee helped with goodie bag stuffing! Her hubby Scott even got in on the fun and helped sort out some computer issues! So - thanks guys! I am lucky to have such generous friends…

One final comment! I had some VERY GENEROUS vendors step up and offer marketing materials, discounts and give-aways for my class. I know they appreciated it and so do I! So - a big shout out to the following peeps:

Jie at J Lee Albums, Patrick at Simply Canvas(he even came and brought goodies in PERSON!), the fabulous Jamie Schultz, my super-inspiring *hello* buddy Marie Cox of Phreckles Photography, the always impressive Lena Hyde at Design Aglow, my new friend (and up-and-coming rockstar photographer) Kate Parker, world-famous Jinky and Dawn at IttyBitty Actions, CB & Roxanne at Pixel2Canvas, the oh-so-stylish marketing gurus at Bellagraficaand the team at Big Folio

**gasp** (must breathe!)
Kevin Kubota for not only his support and gifties with his EVERY-PHOTOGRAPHER-MUST-HAVE action sets, but also with ASUKAbook discounts and giveaways. Plus, I learned so much at Kevin’s Digital Photography BootCamp in April, he totally changed my workflow and made me a *more-organized* photographer!

Jeff and Caitlin at ProDPI(my fabulous lab!) If you are a photographer and are reading this, you should check them out RIGHT NOW! They have such great quality AND outstanding customer service - you will be THANKING me if you make the switch!

Whew. I think I’m done with the *writing* part - now this post needs some images! Some of my students have emailed me photos, I will add them here ASAP.

Meanwhile….good night!

I wish I had the words to say how much this session meant to me. Madeline is a beautiful little baby girl who was born 11 weeks ago. Tragically, her mommy Liz died just 27 hours after she was born. Daddy Matt has been doing an amazing job getting through this obviously painful and bittersweet (and yet full of love) time. I know that when I first visited his blog I read each entry with tears streaming down my face. I was so honored to have been let into their lives for a little while yesterday morning and although I walked in feeling a little sad and nervous, I was SO happy when I left. Nothing can bring Liz back to Matt and Maddy, but I know she’d be proud of what a great job he is doing, and he IS doing an awesome job balancing all the demands of new daddy-hood while still grieving the loss of his beautiful wife. Madeline is such an adorable little peanut - she is still SO tiny (under 8 lbs!). I’ll add more photos later, but for now, here are a few…

This was the very first shot I took, and honestly, I could’ve put down my camera after this one. The love in their eyes when they look at each other is just so heartfelt…

her beautiful baby blues & teeny teeny toes…

One of Matt’s blog-readers sent these staues. How very very sad and yet, isnt it nice to believe that Liz is looking after them….

Matt & Madeline -I loved meeting you both and *helping* with the curtains (ha!) I hope you are enjoying your flight to Minnesota right now - have fun with your family and I look forward to seeing you both again when you return home…

okay….this shoot was soooooo long ago…can’t believe i am just now posting it but i have the MOST STUNNINGLY BEAUTIFUL coffee table book sittting here waiting to be delivered to them this week so I thought I’d post a sneak peek.
I am DYING to post photos of the book….but I ‘ll be patient and let the parents see it first! (be on the lookout next week!)

The thing I remember most about this shoot was how FAST it was! From the first shot to the last shot was only 37 minutes - I can work quickly but that was super-duper-fast!! Luckily (for me!) they are all so exceptionally photogenic it was impossible to take a bad photo!

Is it weird to start off showing the same exact photo three times??? This is one of those times when I am making *creative* decisions and I talk to myself like this…

“Jen - this shot looks GORGEOUS in color…”

but then I play around a little but and think “but you know - it looks amazing as a black and white also”…

and then I can’t leave well enough alone and must continue to play with a vintage look and say “damn! it looks really great this way too!”

Then I’m just stuck.

So I make a blog post - haha.

Okay - gorgeous parents make beautiful kids…

Who do y’all think he looks like? Just curious…

Isn’t she lovely? Isn’t she beautiful?

How cute are they???

….and we all know how much i love shooting families with dogs!….

filed under: Malibu family photographer, Malibu kids photographer, Malibu children’s photographer, Malibu beach photos, Malibu baby photographer, Malibu beach photos