What an incredible wedding!!!
I have to say that Dominique and Houston have so much love for each other and for their faith. What a classy wedding. The queen Mary in Long Beach has to be on my list of top 10 destination wedding locations.
Thanks Dominique and Houston, it was great to be a part of such a beautiful wedding.
Juan and Susie were married this last Friday in Pasadena, California. Stephanie Adriana put together a small slideshow to give a small glimpse of how beautiful their day went.
"A Daughter is a Little Girl who grows up to be a Friend"
-Author Not Known
Carolina, San Juan Capistrano, California.
First communion, San Juan Capistrano Mission.
First communion photography.
"Acting is just a way of making a living; the family is life."
- Denzel Washington
The Jones family, San Juan Capistrano, California.
family portrait photography
A laugh is a smile that bursts.
Mary H. Waldrip
Allison and her big beautiful smile. Rancho Santa Margarita, California.
children photography
Life is a promise; fulfill it.
Mother Theresa
I had too many great photo shoots this weekend so I couldn't just choose one image. I was all over the place, the studio, the beach, the flower field, the San Juan Mission, the park and in someones beautiful back yard.
children photography
executive head shots
studio portrait photography
high school senior portrait photography
"A best friend stands by you when no one else cares.
Understands you when no one else tries
Believes in you when no one else does."
Author Unknown 
The Wilhem kids. Rancho Santa Margarita, California.
Here is the shot of the day from Ireland. My boy Jake volunteered to have a hawk fly to him from across an audience of people.
children photography
Well I'm sitting in the airport in Shannon Ireland waiting to come home. First of all I want to thank Jina for watching over the fort for us while we are far away. What an incredible experience! I spent my trip connecting with my family and close friends and my photography. Stephanie Adriana and her son Mark were able to join us and share Ireland with us. Also, Reesha, Ann's daughter, flew from Salt Lake City to join us. We spent our time in a beautiful cottage on the coast of Dingle. We spent our days exploring the nearby towns and the country sides and photographing to document our trip. We found amazing castles and historical sites. We met incredible people and experienced beautiful music. I'm coming home early to photograph portraits and weddings, the rest of my family will stay in Ireland until the 18th. I had such an incredible spiritual experience, but I can't wait to get back and photograph families, children and weddings!! The magic that you find in Ireland is hard to put into words so we put together a slide show of some of the images that both Stephanie and myself took while we were here. I hope you enjoy.
Recipe for having beautiful children: Be a beautiful parent!
Elbert Hubbard
Savannah in the flowers, Rancho Santa Margarita, California.
Spring Portrait Photography
The family is one of Nature's masterpieces.
~Jane Howard
The Graham family, Irvine, California.
On location family photography
This fantastic story was emailed to me by Jennifer Armstrong from Eureka Montana.
A true story that I just had to share with you. Awesome wonder of God! I hope that you enjoy it.
Freedom and I have been together 10 years this summer. She came in as a baby in 1998 with two broken wings. Her left wing doesn't open all the way even after surgery, it was broken in 4 places. She's my baby.
Jeff
When Freedom came in she could not stand. Both wings were broken, her left wing in 4 places. She was emaciated and covered in lice. We made the decision to give her a chance at life, so I took her to the vet's office. From then on, I was always around her. We had her in a huge dog carrier with the top off, and it was loaded up with shredded newspaper for her to lay in. I used to sit and talk to her, urging her to live, to fight; and she would lay there looking at me with those big brown eyes. We also had to tube feed her for weeks.
This went on for 4-6 weeks, and by then she still couldn't stand. It got to the point where the decision was made to euthanize her if she couldn't stand in a week. You know you don't want to cross that line between torture and rehab, and it looked like death was winning. She was going to be put down that Friday, and I was supposed to come in on that Thursday afternoon. I didn't want to go to the center that Thursday, because I couldn't bear the thought of her being euthanized; but I went anyway, and when I walked in everyone was grinning from ear to ear. I went immediately back to her dog cage; and there she was, standing on her own, a big beautiful eagle. She was ready to live. I was just about in tears by then. That was a very good day.
We knew she could never fly, so the director asked me to glove train her. I got her used to the glove, and then to jesses, and we started doing education programs for schools in western Washington. We wound up in the newspapers, radio (believe it or not) and some TV. Miracle Pets even did a show about us.
In the spring of 2000, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. I had stage 3, which is not good (one major organ plus everywhere), so I wound up doing 8 months of chemo. Lost the hair - the whole bit. I missed a lot of work. When I felt good enough, I would go to Sarvey and take Freedom out for walks. Freedom would also come to me in my dreams and help me fight the cancer. This happened time and time again.
Fast forward to November 2000, the day after Thanksgiving, I went in for my last checkup. I was told that if the cancer was not all gone after 8 rounds of chemo, then my last option was a stem cell transplant. Anyway, they did the tests; and I had to come back Monday for the results. I went in Monday, and I was told that all the cancer was gone. Yahoo!
So the first thing I did was get up to Sarvey and take the big girl out for a walk. It was misty and cold. I went to her flight and jessed her up, and we went out front to the top of the hill. I hadn't said a word to Freedom, but somehow she knew. She looked at me and wrapped both her wings around me to where I could feel them pressing in on my back (I was engulfed in eagle wings), and she touched my nose with her beak and stared into my eyes, and we just stood there like that for I don't know how long. That was a magic moment. We have been soul mates ever since she came in. This is a very special bird.
On a side note: I have had people who were sick come up to us when we are out, and Freedom has some kind of hold on them. I once had a guy who was terminal come up to us and I let him hold her. His knees just about buckled and he swore he could feel her power coarse through his body. I have so many stories like that.
I never forget the honor I have of being so close to such a magnificent spirit as Freedom's.
Hope you enjoy this.
Jeff
I want to thank all of you who sent in photos for this months contest. I can tell that everyone put a lot of thought and creativity in their photography. Since the theme was new babies, it was fun to see animals as well as little people.
The first place winner of this months contest goes to Halie Call. Congratulations Halie, we will be contacting you to get you your new camera!
My little spring cousin is as sweet as these flowers.
Haylie call age 10 Ladera Ranch
baby photography
