"What do you think about this one?" Morgan texted.  She attached an image of this gorgeous white off the shoulder dress.  Um....YES!  Luckily, she happens to work at the Ella J. boutique in Danville where they sell it and was able to put a size small on hold for herself, stat.

This turned out to be incredibly fortunate because, as Morgan's mom Deanna explained, they had just redecorated their house in a farm house style and needed artwork for the walls.  

This dress, in this spot, just called out for a canvas...

But it was hard to pick...

Speaking of break, after graduation Morgan was heading off to Newport beach where she was renting a beach house with 8 other girls from San Ramon Valley High. ​​​

When you leave for college it can be both a really exciting time but also a time that can cause pretty intense homesickness.  Especially at first.  And even though I'm sure that most of my Team 19 isn't really thinking about this yet, I am.  When that time comes, they will have something that I hope will help-- a really lovely photo of them with their mom, right there in their dorm room.  So this shoot was definitely a Mother's Day shoot, but I think it will grow in importance over time.  And without further adieu...some moms and daughters of Team 19!

There's this location that had been bugging me.  I had seen images of it pop up on my Instagram feed from time to time and whenever it did I'd get a renewed enthusiasm for figuring out where it was.  After quite a lot of digging, I finally nailed it down.  And it was even more fantastic than what I expected...  

A few things that I love about this location:
1.  So many spiky plants!  And beautiful colors.  We were there in early April and the tulips were blooming...gorgeous.
2.  There's a mansion on the premises, not to mention a reflecting pool, stone stairways, sculptures...
3.  They have a bathroom so you can change outfits.
4.  Now for a couple of limitations - this venue is only open Mon-Fri and only until 4pm.

If you are a senior portrait client and are interested in a Secret Garden photoshoot, get in touch!  This location adds a little bit of complication to the process but is entirely worth it.

From the get go Viviana wanted something different for her senior portrait shoot.  She's very into fashion (she is Foothill High's "Best Dressed" for the class of 2018, after all) and was interested in a fashion/editorial style senior shoot.  When she showed up for her session and stepped out of the car in her first outfit I pretty much squealed with excitement...

"I have a pair of pants that's an even brighter shade of yellow," she explained.  Her mom, Monica, had told me that she still wanted some traditional portrait-style pictures taken, so I spent the session going back and forth between editorial style (like above), and portrait style (see below).  

So what's the difference between the two?  Well I like to start off by saying that there's no *one* thing that shifts a traditional portrait over, but editorial style pictures are more like what you would see in a magazine.  Take, for example, this next outfit with the red blazer.  Here is a traditional style portrait.  I shot this with a lens that is specifically designed for portraits because it doesn't cause any distortion.  I'm also shooting from an angle that is pretty straight on.  I blurred out the background because, well, I nearly always do that with portraits so that the focus is on YOU.

And here is that same look shot in an editorial style:  

It has a very different look and feel to it, right?  For one thing, you see her in the context of her surroundings-- I'm not blurring anything out.  She isn't posed in an absolutely classic position designed to be ultimately flattering-- it's more spur of the moment.  I'm also shooting from a lower angle.  Finally, this was shot with a wide angle lens, rather than a portrait lens. It distorts around the edges of the frame...but in a fun way.  Here's some more back and forth...

We wrapped up the session at sunset down by the river.  At this point I switched entirely to portrait mode.  The reason was that when we got there, and Viviana put on this dress, the entire scene looked to me like a classical oil panting.  I could have shot editorial here, but I wouldn't chose to do so with this soft golden lighting. 

What are your thoughts on editorial style shooting?  Does this suit your personality or would you like a traditional portrait style shoot?