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.
Just wanted to post here and let clients know that I am taking a few days off. Fri-Sun.
I have emails to respond to and a few sessions to finish up and send out, and that will all get taken care of on Monday.
For now, I have Summer to celebrate!
Also, thank you so much for the love on my family shots. I can’t wait to get them enlarged and hung up all over the house.
xo
Tara
Yellow is one of my favorite colors.
It hasn’t always been this way, but it has crept like a sneaky cat into my heart.
I can’t wear yellow (it makes me look jaundiced-shucks).
But I can decorate with yellow.
And I can photograph it. Remember this post? I was finally able to finish up the rest of the photos taken that afternoon.
Here they are.
Some extra deliciously yellow.
First up, Shane and Rachel snuggle.
He is over six feet tall. She is five-two.
Shane does the incredulous eyebrow. (I can do this too. So can our Dad. So can Drew.)
And my little brother, in one of his many many many sarcastic t-shirts.
Hotness.
And now, (rubbing my hands together with glee), its our turn.
Yes, I am about to show you a lot of pictures. But, you understand, i couldn’t narrow them down. There was something either big or small in each one that is special to me. I have been working on these off and on for about a week, and every time I dig into them, I feel so good. I smile into my screen. My heart swells. I feel complete.
My children, while often causing my blood pressure to soar in unhealthy ways, take my breath away.
and this little one right here, the last one of the bunch, rounds our family out with just the right amount of sweetness.
and was the only one who stayed near me when i asked them to. the others ignored me and took off to play in the grass.
It took that, this and this…
To get to this:
They are all incredibly her, but that last one makes me well up with tears.
I lined all of us up…Shane took these.
I LOVE the candidness of that one, momma duck organizing her ducklings. And i LOVE the depth of field on this one.
From sweet to crazy in 0.0001 seconds flat.
I LOVE every expression in that one. Kenna’s arms up in the air! My beaver teeth! Nate trying to be cool. Anna watching what everyone else is doing. Drew’s sweet “okay, ill jump” face. Jeff’s notorious leap into the air.
Another complete and total head over heels jump up and down on my bed FAVORITE! (Rachel took these)
Then we plopped down in our nest of green and yellow. Having this interaction between all of us and Mckenna is priceless. We love to make her laugh. I can’t remember exactly what was said, but I am sure it was along the lines of “He was half dork, half boy. We called him … DREW!” (spy kids movie quote altered to suit our needs.)
Priceless.
xo
Last week, Dana Pugh from Short and Sweet Photography updated her Twitter feed with:
I replied:
She replied:
And it was on. However, Saturday came and went without me picking up my camera. Not because I didn’t have things I was grateful for…actually I had a lot to be grateful for that day. Sleeping in, cleaning up the house together, my family, Pixar genius, nachos, Anna sitting next to me sharing every giggle, my uncle Michael coming over with board games to play with the boys, Shane and Rachel joining us for dinner, and a nice long conversation after the kids went to bed. But the camera didn’t come out. I was lazy.
So Sunday I was determined to do what I had planned. The day started with a newborn photo shoot. I drove south, towards San Diego. We Southern Californians were graced with our first day of blue sky and sun in WEEKS. I drove with my windows down, soaking in the ocean as I flew past San Clemente and into Oceanside. There is a long stretch of highway where the ocean is just. right. there. with nothing to block the view. It is hard to drive with your eyes on the road. Mine always drift over to the water. But I didn’t stop and take a photo. I had my newborn shoot.
I am grateful for my job. I am grateful that I get paid so well for doing something that I deeply love. I am grateful there are people in this world who choose me, out of the millions of options. Thank you, dear sweet people. Thank you.
I am grateful for fresh flowers. I am grateful I can afford to spend some of our money on fresh flowers every week. I am grateful my grocery store has such a beautiful selection. I love having flowers on my table, above my kitchen sink, in window-sills through-out my house…I love picking them out every few weeks with Anna.
I am grateful for art. Especially the art they bring home from school or create on the floors and tables and corners of the house.
I am grateful that I have the ability to pay someone else to clean my house. That I am helping to support a single mom in this economy. That I don’t have to do laundry, or mop the floor, or scrub the toilets. That I can spend the time I would be doing that with my family or doing projects around the house. I am grateful that once a week, my house gets the Olivia treatment. I am grateful for her hard work. Her shoes on my front step always make me smile.
I am most grateful for us. That we get to spend so much time together. That we actually LIKE to spend so much time together. I am grateful that he is our leader. I am grateful for his sense of humor, the way he smells, how warm and smooth he feels when we snuggle together, that he always knows the right answer. I am grateful we have made it this far, I am grateful for the hard work we have both done in order to have made it this far. That learning more about how we work is important to him. I am grateful that he takes off my glasses and turns off my light most nights, even after I have sworn up and down that “No, I am not falling asleep yet…zzzzz.” I am grateful that he goes grocery shopping. That he loves music as much as I do, even if it isn’t always the kind that I like. I am grateful my children have him as a father. I am grateful for all the days passed, and all the days to come.
You can find Dana’s challenge here. If you participated, please link in the comment section! :)
xo
