Orange County photographer | Tara Whitney – Orange County's Leading Photographer. Family, Pregnancy, Maternity, infant, Newborn, Baby, engagement photography in Orange County, Los Angeles, San Diego

Anna, San Francisco, November.

That is one of her favorite shirts, and it is too small for her as you can see. I didn’t know when I packed it for the trip. The cat’s name on that shirt is Spike, and she appreciates the humor in that. The bag is one we found at a garage sale. She got it for a quarter. (She gets everything for quarters at garage sales. No one can resist her. She doesn’t even have to TRY to haggle them, they fall at her feet! It is the best thing ever. She is my secret weapon.) Inside the purse were certainly found treasures like a bus receipt, a penny, or the swizzle stick from my drink at dinner the night before. Also a camera and lip gloss, and maybe a pen. The hat – I’m not sure you can really tell what it looks like in the picture, but it is one of those puffy hunting type hats with the flaps that hang down over your ears. It’s hot pink plaid with black furry lining.

I had left that morning to meet clients before she was awake. This is how she showed up to meet me after my photo shoot was complete. I saw her and just took her in…smiled to myself, because I am the lucky one that gets to watch her grow up. I asked her if she would stand in front of this wall, but she didn’t want to, was too excited to look at the albino alligator. I told her that was okay, I could wait until she was ready. She came to me a few minutes later, after I had followed her around for awhile. Grabbed my hand and said, “Okay Mom, take the picture now,” in her grown up woman voice, the one she uses when she wants to believe she is, in fact, nineteen years old. I told her where I would like her to stand. She stood, and looked at me like this, and I took two shots, and then she ran off.

I look at this and I see her.

Out of the hundreds of photos I took while we were on vacation in San Francisco, this one, taken at the California Academy of Sciences, is my absolute favorite.

xo

Tara

If I can’t photograph you at home, I would love to photograph you on vacation. My clients who travel to southern California have a different frame of mind. When you are on vacation, everything else tends to fly out the window. Your focus is entirely on the togetherness of your family, and taking in new things. That is the perfect frame of mind, in my opinion. I go at the session with a different frame of mind as well. Instead of following you around doing the things that come normally to your daily routine, I follow you around while you explore a new place. I get a little bit of that vacation magic.

This is the Russell family, who were on vacation, and who I have photographed twice before. (I could only find their first session on the blog – darn!)

Alison sent me a card after seeing her images that said something like this, “Thank you Tara. You help me to see the beauty of my life.”

Thank you Alison, you help me to see the beauty in mine.

xo

Tara

This is what the light looks like at 3:20pm in my bedroom this time of year. I often find myself sitting on the edge of my bed, staring off into space into that little golden slice of light reflecting on the glass of the picture frame. It’s right before I get Mckenna off the bus. Right before the kids come home. Right before the third part of my day begins.

Light affects my mood, and I am always at my most content when it looks like this.