This family was so cool. Not only were they super sweet but they were such good sports. Mom gets out of the car in this gorgeous dress I had them knee high walking in dried up scratchy bushes and scraggle. But the thing that struck me most about them is how in love they truly are. And little Gavin! Loooove him! He was angelic and so very wise. Such an old soul.

This has been a crazy week for me- baby girl’s birthday and planning a birthday party at the beach for both girls. Meanwhile I have three sessions to edit, a Back to School Mini session to plan and my wild one starts kindergarten next week. Here is a shot I pulled out of the vault. Empty beach in full sun. We’re having our annual heat wave here in SoCal and this spot would be so nice right now.

My baby girl is about to turn two! She only has two more days as a one year old, I can’t believe how fast it goes. We took her out to a gorgeous patch of sunflowers for her two year old pictures. This is one of my favorites.

Doing this shoot made me think of my older daughter’s two year old pictures and why custom photography rocks. Every year for their birthdays I get my girls pictures taken and then I send out birthday announcements.  Before I started my own photography journey I would take my youngest to a national chain, big box, shoot and print portrait studio. Here is a comparison showing what you get when you have a custom photographer capturing your memories versus the other guys. And the difference is pretty sad.

The image on the left is obviously mine, at a beautiful location where the kiddo was able to run and play and extra bonus- enjoy the prop. The one on the right is my older girl’s two year old portrait and it is so YUCK! It is blown out, too light, her skin has so much yellow and red she looks sickly. When she saw this last night when I pulled it out she said, “why are my eyes red?”. Poor thing! You cant see any details of her beautiful little neapolitan dress, the crop is weird and there is a lovely wrinkle in the back drop. And it’s not in focus!! And I probably spent about what I would have if I had gone with a custom photographer. I wanted them all because I wanted to remember my baby girl at two years old. I just didn’t know the difference and the comparison makes me a little sad. But now I do and now you do too.

This was a fun one! A sneak peek of sweet little Eisling. Those big blue eyes! Such a little doll.

Here is a sneak peek of a super styled shoot we did yesterday with a “Dream” theme. This little girl, Leotei,  is so stunning with her big blue eyes and curls.

I was excited last week to be featured on one of my favorite photography blogs, Lemonade and Lenses. The session was with Kylie, at a special little spot where no one goes. Probably the only secluded beach in Southern California. She was perfect for this spot with her long mermaid hair. And she’s comfortable enough with me where she just looks at me, I don’t have to pose her, which I love because when it comes to telling people how to position themselves I feel clueless. I love it when they just look at me, I say that to them when I’m shooting them, “look away, now just look at me.” http://www.lemonadeandlenses.com/stephanie-matthew-photography/

This is what summertime looks like around here. These two crack me up.

Caden is turning five! And his mom wanted a session that was pure little boy. Five years is a big deal, he’s about to start kindergarten and he’s starting to play with bigger boy toys, super heros and transformers. So it was important to include all his trains and cars. We wanted to capture that little boy essence- little round tummy, running wild, getting bad guys…. This was fun for us too. We got together one evening and while our hubbies made the teepee and the sword mom and I shopped for fabric and put it all together.

A sneak peek of a family session from a couple of days ago. Busy editing the rest of these. Love the sunflowers and this family is absolutely gorgeous!

My wild one has an all things India obsession lately. At her preschool there were a couple of kids whose mothers would pick them up dressed in beautiful colorful Saris and bindis. She would watch these women walk by with big eyes and one day told me, “Mom! Did you see those girls? They are beautiful! And they have jewelry on their face!” She was in awe. And this has started her obsession. The highlight of her week was having a sweet little teenager give her a henna tattoo. With a peacock even!