This past weekend we had the awesome opportunity to shoot a wedding in Yosemite.  It was our first destination wedding and just an FYI party people, we’re totally willing to travel.

I’ve never been to Yosemite and Jonathan hasn’t been since he was little.  The views were absolutely breathtaking.  Back in high school in photography class, my teacher had always talked about Ansel Adams.  Since then I’ve always wanted to see Yosemite and I was so happy to have not only seen it, but shoot a wedding there and spend a little get away time with my partner in crime for our anniversary.  We had a blast, my only gripe is that we were only there for 2 days.  The next time we go, for sure will bring our girls and get away for at least a week.

It’s been two years since Jonathan and I took the plunge and decided to tie the knot with one another and I will honestly say it hasn’t been easy, but its definitely been well worth all the tears, laughter, frustration, and joy.  I love shooting weddings with him because we get to spend time together doing what we love and we’re such love saps.  GO TEAM LOVE!  I swear every single wedding we do helps to keep our marriage alive.  Over the weekend the bride’s dad said something super awesome:  ”You marry the one you love and you learn to love the one you married.”  It’s so true.  Over time in a relationship I feel we change roles of who we are, but nonetheless you’re partners in life; walking hand in hand.  As long as we can remember there, we’ll always be in love.

To celebrate our anniversary we spent the weekend at the lovely Tenaya Lodge, located on the south entrance of Yosemite.  It was gorgeous!  The staff was truly awesome.  They gave us a bottle of wine for our anniversary!  When we got back into civilization and reality on Monday, one of our friends made us some rocking treats.  Two of our friends Nicole + Jenn started this rad bakery called Cakeree Bakery. The little cakepops and crunch rolls are truly addicting.  Like Nicole promised, life altering.  For some yummy goodness at your next party or for just some goodness hit them up, you won’t be let down.  The first thing Jon said when had stuffed his mouth was “Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God.”

2 years ago I shoved a cupcake from Kara’s Cupcakes in his face.  2 days ago he shoved a crunch roll from Cakeree in mine.

For any photographers out there who’s getting stuck in the rut and not being inspired by your own photos taking workshops is a great way of getting all fired up.  Jonathan is the primary photographer in our duo and for the most part I sit back and watch the magic happens.  Although there are times where magic is happening in my own head of how I want to see the actual photo and its hard for me to explain. Taking Tanja Lippert’s workshop on Thursday was rocking in more ways then one.  She provided us with amazing models, Nathan and Lindsey, who are also husband and wife lifestyle photographers of BellaLu Photography.  They were styled up by the fabulous Tia Regan of Freebird Productions.  The location was to die for and everything about it was just amazing.  I got to meet some awesome photographers and we all just had that beautiful common interest of turning our shots into timeless photographs.

The workshop not only helped me to see my vision a little clearer, but there were so many great things that I needed to hear to make my life better.  Such as setting the tone for things and putting the energy into the things you do to really make the outcome better.   When times get rough, work gets overwhelming, and there’s not enough time in the day.  I find myself starting to have less and less energy to do what makes me happy.  After hearing those simple things at Tanja’s workshop, it made me realize that I just needed to re-energize so that I can keep on going and doing the things I love.

So here are some of the shots I got to take at the workshop.  Enjoy!

And this is Tanja, just showing us how she gets the shots she wants.  

This is Shannon Renee of Shannon Renee Photography.  She’s got the most piercing eyes.  One of the most awesome things about this workshop is that Tanja had us break into groups and within our groups we had the chance to be director, model, and the fluffer.  Doing this allowed us to really utilize some of the things we learned that day which I thought was really helpful.

The next two shots are from what I got to direct.  Check out Lindsey’s fire eyes.

And here’s my favorite shot from the day!

So today I had the amazing opportunity to dive into Tanja Lippert and Tia Regan’s amazing art of directing workshop.  A workshop I highly recommend to any photographer!  First of all I wanted to say thank you to this dynamic duo.  Tanja has always been a huge inspiration to me.  Her work is just rawrtastic and any woman who is not only pursuing her dreams, following her passion, and still being able to be an amazing mother and rock it as a beautiful woman is just someone I look up to.  Tia, you rock too!

I know that when life gets complicated, work becomes overwhelming, and stress starts to build up inside its always hard to put in 110% into creating beautiful work.  So its always nice to take a step back and take a look at how other people bring the magic into it and to reignite that fire in yourself. When I got home I couldn’t wait to share with Jonathan all the excitement and new things I got to learn at the workshop and I couldn’t put the camera down just yet.  The only subject I had around me was Miss Olivia who now is almost 4 months old.  So as you hold onto your pants for the hot photos from the workshop, I invite you to melt in your chair at the beautiful photos of our lovely 4 month old!

6 years ago at this exact time I was in labor at Santa Teresa Kaiser with our first beautiful daughter.  I believe I was starting to pass out from the epidural at exactly this time (1:50 am on 05/05/04) not knowing that in 6 hours I would start to give birth to an amazing child. Like any parent, the roller coaster they call “children”, begins the moment you hear your first cry and no matter what those parenting books tell you to expect; you really have no idea what ride you just got yourself into.

In the past six years I have shed my tears of frustration and joy on the crazy ride I call Airis Alexandra, and no matter how tired that ride gets it has also been a fun one.  Now that we have our little one who turned 3 months on Monday; I can’t help but look at Airis in awe and I constantly say to myself, “I can’t believe Airis was that little.”

On Monday, we had a day off.  We decided we weren’t going to work, no editing, no answering phone calls or emails, just FAMILY TIME!! We drove our family of four up to SF on that gorgeous day and spent a few hours at Crown & Crumpet Tea Salon, located in Ghiradelli Square.  First of all I wanted to say to Amy & Chris, the owners; you guys did an amazing job!!  Crown & Crumpet Tea Salon is not only heaven for any photographer to take photos of every little detail there; but its a world of treasures and wonder for any little girl or big boy (like Jonathan) to feel like they’ve fallen through a hole and stepped into wonderland.  The staff is phenomenal, the tea: splendid, the experience: truly magical.

Tea time with our girls made us realize how important it is to just take a break from all the madness and busyness of adult life.  And that the world won’t fall apart around you if you just slow down for just a minute.  So here’s to our beautiful Airis, Happy Birthday.  I love you and thank you for being super for the last 6 years and thank you for being our constant reminder that its okay to be in wonderland.

This is seriously the ULTIMATE “candy bar”.

Details, details, details… Amy & Christopher; you guys did an awesome job of filling this place with DETAILS!!! It wouldn’t surprise me if 20 years from now Airis had a Tea Time themed wedding.I would’ve eaten  this cake, if there wasn’t a sign that said  ”DISPLAY ONLY”.

Both princesses were there, this one was just napping through her tea time.

I hope all your wishes come true!