family of five at the santa monica pier • los angeles photographer

this is the third and final session from the L.A. trifecta!

and what a perfect way to end the day. sunset under the pier….one of my favorite places at my favorite times.

this five-some treated me like one of the gang from the moment we met. the three kids were curiously interested in what we were going to do, and were TOTALLY into the session the whole time. i cant remember that ever happening before! mom is another preschool teacher at the seed. she is also another tara, only she says it the opposite of me, (tar-a sounding like car instead of care) so that was tongue twisty – making sure to say her name correctly all night! i dont think she would have cared had i slipped though, so gracious and down to earth she was. the pier was PACKED when we got there and i was a little stressed out, but their happy relaxation rubbed off on me and we had a perfect time walking around together.

(that top left shot was their christmas card)

we played a game i sometimes play-where i tell everyone to hurry! every time i count to three i want you to move and change places! well, the first time we did it, momma ended up alone…look how that played out…

look at these beautiful faces.

and at this beautifully goofy one!

after the pier, as you can see, we went down to the sand for a little bit of beachy time. i love this green wood wall and wish it was what my house was made out of.

sometime over the course of the evening, i heard how tara and justin met. he saw her standing with another girl in central park and walked up to talk to them. he thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and he thought immediately that he would marry her. he also thought she was swedish, because she didnt talk. the other girl did all the talking. the other girl turned out to be tara’s identical twin sister. but justin swears he never noticed her, he only had eyes for tara. they were engaged in the same spot they met. and now they have all of this.

i also wanted to talk about and link to the charity that justin created, called No Next. in 1984 he lost his brother greg to a brain tumor. 20 years later, he lost his sister carolyn to the same disease. because brain tumor research is so critically under funded, his passion to find a cure is a huge priority in their lives. his story about his family touched my heart, and i immediately knew i would want to share it here. with the help of trevor (the father from the bathtub shoot), who lost his only sibling to a brain tumor just 8 years ago, they recently held a very successfull concert that raised 25k for Duke University Brain Cancer Research.

if you have someone in your life who has been affected by brain cancer, or if you know someone who has, please check out their website for information.

thank you rubins.

xo

tara