Blog of Orange County photographer, Tara Whitney. Features client sneak peeks and sessions, the "check it" section (where Tara shares her favorite things found online), and personal stories from her life as a woman and mother of four.
The home was, quite literally, amazing. The children were stunning and lovely to work with. And the parents were super chill and ready for anything. Michel and I were beyond thrilled that someone had finally let us shoot in their home. Earlier in the day, Leah had shared with me the song that she wanted to use for this. The moment it started playing, the goosebumps started. I had never heard it, and I connected, big time. This was the moment that I updated my Twitter feed with this. I spent the next two hours listening to the song on repeat – and while we shot, the lyrics were running through my mind constantly.
I raced off an email to Michel with the song attached, hoping he would be as inspired by it. Yea, I guess he was.
I just stopped writing this to watch it again, so I end with tears in my eyes and a very full heart.
Kerry - amazing song!! Fantastic video! wow. I wish I live in Cali so I could do this....
I instantly recognized those kids! I'm a bit fan of hers too;-)
Kari Coon - So wonderful! This is just amazing! Wonderful work-both of you!
amy - AMAZING!!!!!! Oh. my. gosh. I am in LOVE with song too!! gotta go download it now....
Melissa - My favorite thus far! AMAZING. And that house....holy cow, jealous!
mandy - Wow...sigh. Everytime I see one of these I just get warm fuzzies. I feel like, yes, family life still exists in all of its imperfection, and in all of the worlds complications. Stunning. Beautiful. Moving. Life-filled.
wendy gibson - oh man. wow.
Tanya - oh wow. just wow. I love it - amazing. Did I say wow?
allison waken - I have been saving in a little jar since last year for my tara / michael session. They are always heart stopping!
Jenny J - this is just incredible. so beautiful, Tara.
andrea - just amazing tara and michel (and leah and family). just amazing. xox.
Trish - Beautiful!
Jessica - Perfect song, these movies always make me cry!!
angi - love it!
Melissa - NEVER wanted it to end!!!!!!!!
april - tears..and more tears. (it may have something to do with being pregnant with my first baby...) :)
lovely lovely video/photos! and so fun to see leah in FRONT of the camera!
AmyPunky Photography - This is an amazing video! Fabulous photos!! This family will cherish these memories forever.
rebecca - So wonderful! I just adore everything about it! The PERFECT song for the video too! Fantastic!
patty - loved the movie and the song!!! S*W*E*E*T...
maz - Truly wonderful- I love to think of them viewing this film when the grandchildren come along! Tara your images complement Michel's work so beautifully. The whole is even greater than the sum of the parts:) Can't wait for the next one!
Gail - Ooooh...I so so love Jakob Dylan (his song Three Marlenas was one of my favorites in high school) so I couldn't love this video more.
Fabulous concept and now I have to wipe up all the drool that's left on my keyboard at the sight of all that mid-century furniture in their home. SWOON!
luvlee - What a beautiful family. beautiful movie and amazingly beautiful photos to match..thankyou x
Jen - I am just grinning from ear to ear with goosebumps running all over my body and happy tears in my eyes. They are indeed SUCH a great family and you guys captured them beautifully!!!! Much love to them all!!
Congrats on such a wonderful shoot!!
xo
leah - tara! it turned out awesome. thank you guys so so much! it will be a treasure to us always!! love the umbrella moments...that was such a fun idea!! thank you thank you! off to watch it again! xxoo
amy b - are you kidding me? you got some tears out of me for sure. The video is fantastic and your photos just make it sing.
Leah you all are adorable and fabulous.
Rachael - Everytime you post one of these I cry....I am saving, saving, saving to come down and see you both so I can capture my family this way!
Beautiful job...both of you ;)
Peta - you both did such a beautiful job! I feel like I am right there. love those guys. I just wrote leah and said "next time I miss you all, I will just have to turn that video on!"
elizabeth pellette - Tara girl.. once again you WOW me you and Michel and your amazing combo's..
marie jay - totally leaving with a huge grin on my face, love in my heart and inspiration etched in my head. thank you tara for the amazing post and gorgeous pictures. thank you michael for the videos that tugged on this moms heart and thank you to jakob dylan for a song that i now have ringing in my ears. you all rock.
michelle - divine!!! reminds me why I love to take photos of families... and how important all the tiny moments are.... makes me want to video and capture my children's everydays..... thank you
tara pollard pakosta - hoW BEAUtifuL!!!!!!
loved IT!
tara
Tracey - oh that song has been in my cue for the last few months! I am glad you discovered it! Such a beautiful family...love the umbrella scene. (And I loved their kitchen table set.)
Lisa - AMAZING! Always a beautiful collaboration between you too and your clients! Well Done!
Catherine Clay - Having watched these precious kids grow up in pictures (mostly their Mommy's), it is so cool to see you and Michael's version of them. I love seeing Leah - what a beautiful family, home and life. You both are so good at what you do - thank you for sharing your gift with the rest of us!
Ashley - As I watched it, my four year old son came and sat on my lap and watched with me. :) When it ended, he asked me to show it again.
It's timeless, lovely and just perfect!
Vanessa Paris - Fantastic - thank you to the beautiful family for sharing with us:)
JodyM - I hope I can create something 1/100th as beautiful as for a family someday. This is so real and so beautiful. And two of my favorite photographers teamed up together. Goosebumps is right.
deb schwedhelm - love, love, love!!! you captured the zawadzki family perfectly. i couldn't stop telling leah what a treasure these photos are video are. so special. and one of these days, i will have my pennies saved and have you do my family. i will dream about it till then.
xo.
deb
Dianne K. Nelson - That was awesome! Totally going to buy that song. Thanks so much for making this and sharing it here. Love the way the film/pictures go together. Great work!
Kim K - Lovin' the pouting at 2:00. Those are the "antics" we all forget (at least that's what I'm hoping?)...and we should all remember!
Michelle Davies - Wow. What a perfect slice that you've caught of a day in the family life. Love, love, love it!!!
Julie Cruz (Lot116) - Perfection as always. Love the house, love the kids, love the parents, love the fake rain, love the tie (which reminds me...PJ has one that she used to wear a lot..gotta find that sucker and see if the whole outfit finally fits or not haha), love everything about it :)
Michelle O - YOU.ARE.AMAZING. And don't you ever dare forget it. You bless each family with such a gift. Great work again Miss Whitney! :)
Katie Z - oh my. lovely in every way shape and form.
Kathleen - I love how you see life and how you share that beauty so freely. I so look forward to your posts :) This is no exception. Beautiful beautiful life and love.
Pascale - WOW WOW WOW. Tara (and Michel), that was absolutely amazing in every possible way.
lisa leonard - unbelieveably amazining. they will always cherish it!!
Ali Murphy - Whitney!
I have been stalking your blog from Indiana for several weeks - but I'm shy! I had to write something about this though - it just blew me away. Oh how I wish I had something like this of my family. I immediately went and bought the song too. Thank you for the smiles you just gave me at the end of a long and busy day. You rock!
Ali
Marla - More! More! More! I love these videos. What a gift you guys give to these families.
Laura Biebl - So beautiful. I'm in love with the last scene and those umbrellas :)
Ria - Wow. I love this. My favorite part is when one of the little is upset and turns away from the camera. Priceless.
Alice - I want one of these of my family! So perfect.
LauraRad - Unbelievable video. The mix of video with the photos interspersed - FABULOUS. I especially love the one of the little girl pouting and then turning around to give the cold shoulder to the camera. PERFECT! Wow - so inspiring.
AmyC - Wow! I always love these but this has to be my favorite! You guys ROCK!!
Jen - Just when I think I'm out of tears and winding down for the day, I come visit you and my heart bursts wide open again. You are amazing. Thanks for sharing these beautiful families as captured by you.
cheiron - Great song, great family, great house! I love this!
sarah - tara + michel: i could watch your beautiful movies all day long. brilliant. and beautiful. thank you for sharing!
erin lundy - Beautiful! Heartfelt! Gorgeous! Magnificent! I will stop now...lets just say I LOVED it! I could watch this over and over. Well done.
gina - i'm so moved, i can't move! i'm just sitting here thinking about the many years this family will sit together and watch this and look at their photos and no doubt cry.
just magical!
Shari Schwarz - Brilliant! Who came up with the creative ideas? Locations? Props? ect... Brilliant!!!
TRACYBLAKE26@YAHOO.COM - Sooooo LOVE this. Wish I had one of my family when my kids were young. So beautiful. Thanks for sharing.
stacie - Brilliant!. . . I especially the bit where the little one is "Pouting" . . . so real!
Nice job you guys!
Ada - this. is. fantastic. a true, wonderful look at family. FANTASTIC!
liz kennedy - You know what is awesome!? Seeing two of your favourite photographers in action, one behind the camera and one in front, all on the other side of the planet.
Colleen - Love it, so inspiring I had to share with my FB friends!
Kim - OMG! This is the first home video of yours I've seen. The coolest thing EVER! Major tears. Just beautiful! I'm trying to understand what you did. Is someone filming while you are shooting photos and then this is a melding of the two? Just beautiful!
LisaB - The gifts that you both have make me speechless.
Patti Margarita - I pretty much get teary at every one of these family films you do. The one photo of mom and dad, mom is vertical and dad is horizontal and you just see his eyes, that would be an instant canvas in my house. I am just in awe of this film and the photos. Thank you so much for sharing your work with us.
shelleydalebout - Oh, I want to do it again! Is Texas on your list of places you want to visit? We still watch our film ALL THE TIME but I'd love to have one in our home, too :) Treasure!
Marla - This is lily blue! I LOVE her work, she is so amazing, you did a wonderful job capturing this beautiful family!
Rosie - oh wow! absolutely wonderful! her kids really are the cutest!!
stacymeyers - oh sweet goodness tara and michel!!! :)
domenica - WOW. This is just incredibly special and beautiful. What a treasure for this family and their future generations to have and look back on for many year to come! :) LOVE, love this song too.
michelle - That little girl looks familiar. Is that the family of "Lily Blue"? So lovely!
Brandi C - Ah-mazing! Such a fabulous idea. What a treasure for that family. Did you shoot the video on a Canon 5d?
Teresa - This is so totally awesome. It's heart warming emotion to music, it's creative, inspiring and wonderful. Wish this was my families video. Love the song they chose...and yep it gave me goosebumps too. Thanks for sharing this Tara, love, love loved it.
Judith - This song might become one of my all time favorites! And the video... wow!!!
Ginette Sundin - Okay, you already have a million comments, but i just HAVE TO say something too! I have NEVER been moved to tears by photos/video like I just was. Tara, not only do you have an amazing talent in capturing families and I am sure you bless them with it, you bless me with your blog! Thank you so much for sharing this with us! It was stunning and the most beautiful work of art I have seen in a long time.
stacey fike - i really and truly want to be you when i grow up!! you're amazing!
Last weekend I traveled up north to stay with Jalayne and Justin. My extended family. My 20 years and counting best friend. They are about to have their first baby. In our relationship, I have always been the pregnant one, the breastfeeding one, the one strapped to a child (four of them) one. The tables have turned. Now I am the one with more freedom and older kids, and her life is about to change forever. Her belly is gorgeous. I am home in her home. Our weekend was filled with shopping in the city, lots of bread and hundreds of dollars of cheese, going through old notes and photos, walks with the dogs, and lots of talking. (Thank you Justin for the photo of us, above. I had just ingested a $20 burger and a Long Island iced tea. I was HAPPY.)
Juicy belly. Shopping in the Marina.
Showing Justin the clothes we picked out for baby Jax.
A note she found from me, dated 7.20.92. It is hard to believe, but so much of who I am today came through in this note. Made me cry thinking of how much we have been through together, as we grew up and our life views shifted. Even when our life views were COMPLETELY opposite for a period of time, we remained connected.
Photos from my junior year of high school that gave me quite the laugh.
And a shot we took to celebrate the impending arrival of baby Jax.
margie scherschligt - What a treat! Thank you for letting us peek in on this wonderful time!
Leslie - Oh, hon....just LOOK at these!! I was thinking of you the whole time - especially with Sunday's sunshine - I loved knowing you were wandering around here with your best friend and couldn't wait to see SF thru your lens! Looks like you did it up just right :)
p.s. you are kiling me with that last shot, my dear. YOW.
tara pollard pakosta - HOw awesome to have a friend like that Tara!
You are so luckY! I also have "old" friends, ones
that date all the way back to kindy!
And by the way, can I just mention how FABULOUS you look?! YOu just look BEAUTIFUL! I mean, you always have, but I can totally see how transformed you are! LOVELY!
tara pp
lyndsay hyatt-almeida - that last shot is yummy! and you look AMAZING in the first one!!!
lisa truesdell - beautiful pics, beautiful friends - and i'm in love with your purse. =)
Gail - How cute are you?!! How cute is your friend?!! How much do I covet that camera bag of yours?!!! The answers: Adorable, adorable and VERY MUCH ;)
Jummy - You look so gorgeous, Tara, and Jalayne and belly are beeyootiful too!
AmyC - How fantastic to have a friend like that, that knows you so well! It looks like you had a great weekend and these photos are fabulous!
Jessica - Best friends are the best, as are the glamor shots!
Traci - You had me at "hundreds of dollars of cheese" ;)
jason - whoa. I gasped a little at that last shot. so cool!
erin cobb - Looks like so much fun. There's absolutely nothing better than heart friends.
And can I just say how adorable you look? I hope so....
you look adorable. =)
Miz Booshay - Wonderful San fran-best friend photos!!!
Love the belly shot!
You look so slim and beautiful Tara.
Good goin!
Molly W. - My husband is sitting next to me on his computer and I just said outloud "man, she's a genius" and he said "who?" "Tara, everything she touches turns to gold, wow." :) SF is one of my favorite cities, thank for the glimpse and that last picture is show.stopping. Thanks for my dose of inspiration today. :)
Tiffany - Beautiful picture of you and your bf Tara! You look great and the mama-to-be is glowing. :) You both have such joy on your faces. Your pics told a wonderful story of your weekend...and a friendship to treasure. :)
lizz - the pic of the castro made me gasp. I am dying to go back to S.F and go crazy taking pix. thanks so much.
Lonely Scrapbooker - Great photos, all of them, but that belly/couple shot at the end is just amazing. One of the nicest pregnant pics I've EVER seen. Love the sunflare. It's perfect. Wish I had seen this photo while I was preg!
LauraRad - These photos are simply beautiful. They are timeless photos that will still be in style and just as lovely in 30 years. My favorite kind.
Jaimie - I can't even TELL YOU how inspiring your photos are for me. So lovely.
Rhonda Robbins - what a great shot of your dear friend and her hubby! love these friendships they are few and far between. BTW I totally have the same jacket that you are wearing in the first shot....great minds think a like! :)
Jennifer Urbin - Sounds like you girls had a great time. Aren't old friends the best? Hundreds of dollars on cheese...are you serious...I'm cracking up over here! I absolutely love that shot of your Jaylane and Justin....fabulous as always my dear!
Karen - This is such a sweet post! You guys look so happy:)
tracy - quite possibly the most gorgeous sunflare i have ever seen! how in the world did you do that??? you're amazing, tara.
Deanna - Yeah!! Love you both. You're both gorgeous :) I'm so glad that you guys got some quality time together. Lots of love!!
ketti - You just made me miss my bff even more.
Looooove the last image!!!
Tanja - Beautiful pictures.. best friends are the BEST. Love the pictures of the buildings
Cheryl - You are beautiful. She is beautiful. Here belly is beautiful. It's all just so beautiful I cannot take it.
Kim Hayes - check out that glamour shot!! nice! :)
jeff - Wow hot momma! Gotta love those old photos... good times.
Kat Braman - No matter my mind mood, I always leave uplifted when I visit your blog. You capture happiness.
annie - OMG gorgeous!!!! Glad you had such a special weekend!
elizabeth pellette - These photos are awesome.. and how nice to see a long time friend..
Julie Cruz (Lot116) - So adorable....and I love that last shot.
P.S - You look AWESOME! Loving the jacket and purse/camera bag too :)
Kristal - Love all of these shots. Beautiful! The last one is incredible.
Pam AKA Tara' Mom - Pictures are wonderful!!How I love to see you two together....Two beautiful young women who will remain sixteen in my eyes forever. Both wise beyond your years then,your friendship ripened by time has come full circle. The weight of the world seems lifted now.Jalayne I love seeing you so happy.Hope someday to sneak in Tara's camera bag when she comes to visit! Can't wait to meet Justin and Jax and hug your Mom!!It's been too long....
WINNER IS TYAN, FROM TINY BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY. CONGRATS Tyan!!
Maile Wilson, creator of Epiphanie bags, is sponsoring the giveaway this weekend. HOW COOL IS THAT?
One random commenter, (no bribes please), will be chosen to win an Epiphanie bag of his/her choice.
I also have to mention, Maile herself is doing an INCREDIBLE giveaway of a Canon 5d OR a $2500 Southwest Airlines gift card over on her blog. Details for that can be found here.
For more info, check out the blog: www.haveanepiphanie.com.
Winner will be chosen Monday morning for this one – 9am PST.
by Tara Whitney
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