For the first half of their E-Session they wanted to have their daughter, Nika come along and make it like of a family session.  Nika, who will probably make a great photog one day, brought a lot of energy and fun to the session. She was a great little assistant who knew how to make Eugene and Doreen laugh.  I took them to Cal Poly Pomona which has great textures and diverse backdrops.  It also happens to be where Eugene and I went to college. It was actually kind of fitting. We both went there as naive teens, left as naive men, and were back…. as naive family men. Well, less naive.  For the second half of their shoot we hung out at old town Pasadena. I love the feel of their back alley and buildings. Colorful, rustic, and intimate.

Seeing Eugene again brought back a whole lot of fun memories. Meeting his family, Doreen and Nika,  it was a pleasure to see their great future.

My wife and I have been close to the Yaps for years and now seeing them as a family of five truly fills our hearts with joy.  Well, our first reaction when we found out Gen was pregnant was, “ANOTHER ONE?!” But quickly the shock turned into elation and, “Yay another one!”  With a teenager, a toddler, and a newborn I’m sure life now has new challenges for them, but that’s what family is all about.  Growing in size AND love.  Being an only child I admire big families and the Yaps are so blessed with theirs.

Congrats again guys!! So who’s the point guard?

With a new baby and a growing toddler, the Ortegas wanted to capture this special moment. Their two boys are still very young, but they will grow faster than a blink of an eye… and when they do, we’ll capture that too.

So on January 29, 2005 we got hitched and I became the happiest man on the planet.   So much has happened in the past five years it’s hard to imagine how far we’ve come.  We got married,  her Masters, our first 1 bed room apt, traveled the world, bought a BMW,  got pregnant with twins, sold our BMW =) , bought our first house, etc, etc…

Of course having such supportive friends and family has been such a blessing.  Some of our favorite pictures from the wedding are of our beloved friends and family enjoying themselves. We draw strength from all these beautiful people.  We owe them.

The world continues to change around us; economies go up and down, trends come and go, technologies become obsolete, but we… we stay together. We remain. And that is all I need.

Love you bebe! Happy Anniversary!

My day with the Magboos was simple yet lively.  We knew the kids and we knew what would work.  So we let them loose at a local playground close to their home.  I loved running around with them and catching their faces as they felt the rush of freedom.   At the end of the day I got tons on pictures and some great smiles.  They took on the park with full energy and were more than happy to show it with quick smiles for the camera right before they zoomed away.  And as soon as they were done it was a quick 5 minute ride back home to get some snacks and reset.

The location wasn’t fancy, it was just a park with slides and swings.  But I wasn’t there to take pictures of the location, I was there to capture joy and that’s what we found.