Inland Empire {senior High School Photographer}

This is lovely Tara. Tara is Ian's (see previous post) girlfriend.....or I could say Ian (see previous post), is Tara's boyfriend! lol. Whichever the case may be....she is a sweetheart. She is one of those girls that seems a bit quiet and reserved, but when I looked at her through my camera lens, it was as if I was photographing a young starlet. I know that sounds a bit corny but every now and then that just happens. Something magical happened and she quietly came alive, and I couldn't have been more pleasantly surprised!
I believe that's how it all starts with many models Tara!!

Inland Empire {Senior High Photographer}

Handsome Ian is the son my girlfriend Mary who I met at school. (when I say school I always mean my kids school. Thank God thats the only school going on in my life right now!!!), Ian is quite the character and quite an antrapenuer! Among tons of activities he has his own little T-shirt business. (He is proudly sporting one of his designs in the image below!
something tells me Ians future is quite bright!!

Inland Empire {Headshots}

Boys don"t sit still! Going in to this photo shoot I knew I was going to have to catch these boys on the run. Actually I think that was the secret to the great images I was able to get. I just went with the flow. Whatever they wanted to do was fine with me.....I did however have to get some headshots of Cooper. Mom is going to persue modeling for this little guy, and needed some good headshots. Coop has a big personality and a cute-ness factor that is off the rictor scale!
Take a peek.

D.I.Y.{ Vintage Hair Pins }

This D.I Y. project is so simple and would go with any wedding dress! They would even make great bridesmaid gifts, or your something blue..... ok, enough, on with the pictures...

I first started with several vintage rhinestone earings that you can get in a number of places like Ebay, Etsy or any flea market. I purchased the hair pins with the blank disk on Etsy.

I used some Fat Daddy cutters to remove the clip from the back of the earing, then used E6000 glue you can get here to attatch the vintage earing. Taadaa! Gorgeous huh?

Inland Empire Photographer {Christmas Stuff}

I know its been a while since I've blogged last but Its only because I couldn't! Well I guess I could have but then I'd of been blowing the whole Christmas Card Surprise thing... and I didn't want to do that. So you see it really wasn't my fault. Now that the Christmas gifts have been given and the cards are but a memory, I can share a few of the fun sessions I had over the Holiday! First up....Charles and Lourdes


Lourdes and I met on the first day of school when our oldest kids went of to kindergarten. We both stood there, each of us holing on to our youngest for dear life, as if someone was going to come and take them away from us too! lol
We have been good friends ever since. We had a great little "Morning Moms" club. You know the few moms who actually get OUT of the car, walk the kids to the playground and chat till the bell rings with our morning coffee. Nothing stays the same for long and now my dear friend has left us and moved to Pasadena. It was just like old times when they came down for their Christmas Picture! We all miss you terribly Lou!

Next up is the Northcotes


This was not like working at all! I have know this family for quite some time! much longer than I'm willing to admit! lol Their daughter is like a little ray of sunshine! I'm sure it helped a little when I showed up on the doorstep with a balloon.The day we took these photos it had been raining for days and several of our dates had been rained out, so we decided to do the best we could and use their outdoor living space, which is more grand than my indoor living space! When I got there the fireplace was ablaze and set a great mood.

The "D" Kids

You may recognize the big sister Amanda from here or here. She models for me quite a bit, so when she asked me to snap a quick shot for her to surprise her mom with for Christmas I was more than happy to do so. I had been quite sick and cant believe I actually went out in public dressed the way I was, puffy red eyes and nose! lol I really didn't want to run into anyone I knew. But as Murphy's Law would have it, I ran into a gal from the kids school who stopped in field we were in and said " follow me back to my house, its just beyond this field, I have a great piece of property", so we did and as you can see it was pretty cool!
So that is just a sampling of what I wasn't able to show you over the month of December.... I do have a VERY cool shoot coming up! cant give away the details just yet, but come back soon.

A Privliged Invitation from {Banana Republic}

Last month I was invited to shoot the Holiday Line for Banana Republic of Crystal Cove Promenade in Newport Beach. This was a rare invitation because they have never before allowed photographers into their store. Each year when the Holiday Line makes its debut the store has a special open house holiday party! This years party was over the top with food, live music, gorgeous models parading around in their hot Banana Republic Holiday clothing and even a red carpet out front. Whats a red carpet without photographers? There were just a select few of us shooting this event, and we had a blast doing it! The party was a huge success.

Romance at Twilight

When my girlfriend Sherry asked if I would shoot her line of Vintage hand dyed slips I instantly knew I wanted to share this opportunity with fellow photogs in my area and turn it into a mock wedding shooting event!
I have not yet had the pleasure of shooting an outdoor wedding in the Temecula wine country, so this was my opportunity to recreate one! ( still dying to do one, if you know anyone)! lol....there is something about an outdoor wedding that I just totally am in love with. Shooting into the sun, getting that warm glow in the photos, how a gentle breeze blows through the brides hair,...I could go on and on!
The shoot took place on the gorgeous property of another girlfriend Linda Carpenter. Linda has a beautiful barn on her property in Temecula and opens it up once a month for a spectacular vintage sale of wares! Linda generously offered us to use many of her pieces in our shoot. It wouldn't have been as amazingly styled without you Linda! Please check out her blog for sale dates and sneak peeks of what will be offered!
Here are some of the pretty details......






A very special thanks to my models and make-up artists. I could'nt of pulled this event off without you guys!
Amanda Goraleski~ Bride
Mark Laribee ~Groom
Carter Hollenbach~ Bridesmaid
Amanda Shaw~ Bridesmaid
Whitney Carpenter~ Bridesmaid

Cathi Singh~ Make-up
Kimberly Bragalone~ Make-up

Ive had a ton of emails from photogs asking if I'm planning another group shoot soon, and I don't have any plans to do another until after the first of the yr! I'm thrilled you all had so much fun and want to get together again for some more shooting Vintage style!