A-SESSION LOCATIONS- Mountains

I first met Chris in Bear Valley where we were working together, Chris as a hair stylist and me as a photographer. She was just putting the finishing touches on our bride Briana’s wedding day hair, which I might add looked just as lovely at the end of the wedding as it did at the start of the day. How do you do that? (check out Acqua Hair Design in South Lake – Chris does some beautiful work!) I was honored when she reached out asking me to come to Lake Tahoe for their first family session. It was a…

Well sorta….it was two Gray sessions in one weekend. We just split one session up….first was an early morning with Jack at the Cameron Park Airport before his flying lesson (really what teenagers want a family session at 7:30am?) and then the next afternoon I met the whole family at a more reasonable hour at Sly Park Lake. There’s so much love in and around this family- it’s always a pleasure. The love seeps in to those around. Melinda and I just determined that it has been since 2005 ish that we’ve known each other as our kids went through school…

I’m just going to come right out and say it. This was such a fun session. I’ve known Naomi since I photographed her in preschool and she and my oldest daughter participated in several activities together over the years before The Higgins Family moved to Folsom where Naomi now attends Oak Ridge High School. From an early age Naomi was all about swimming. She swam 6 hours a day(except Sunday when her family went to church). When she told me this, I kinda shook my head in disbelief and asked for clarification. She said, “from 4-7am and then again from…

When Megan contacted me about her upcoming marriage to Avery I was so excited. Not only for her, not only for Avery and not only for me (as I was obviously hoping to be asked to photograph the celebration). I was so excited for the joy that this occasion would no doubt be bringing her family, his family, their families. That made me happy. I’ve been friends with the Byers family for years and got to capture both Megan’s and Travis’s high school senior photographs. It’s connections like these that make the experience of photographing a wedding that much more…

Quick- we have power, we have internet! Upload, upload, upload images, run laundry, run the dishwasher GO!  You think I’m kidding? That’s the reality around here at the moment…how long will we have power? No one knows. The last time I got to photograph the Valdez family we were at Sierra at Tahoe and along with my “sherpa” husband, we chased them around the snow slopes making captures of their favorite winter sport together. This time around, instead of a winter theme, we went with fall…because fall is really the best around here and you don’t even need any power…

When you are seven years old and slip into the lake upon arrival for photographs gently soaking your blue jeans, what do you do? Well, you just roll with it…or run with it, or jump with it, or ride with it. Does it matter to a seven year old? Not really, well…..perhaps a nudge on the knee and a nudge on the ego but after that, did it even happen? I’m grateful for Tom and Graydon and getting to capture this father and son. Tom has an amazingly big heart that his son has clearly inherited. Grateful for Graydon, grateful…

Briana and Danny came ready to party! Taking over an entire mountain-top resort in the incredible Bear Valley, California, this fun-loving couple, their friends and family, started the celebrations the night before we arrived but that didn’t stop the festivities on their big day. The whole day was nothing short of joyful with many unique and personal moments, starting with a unique and heartwarming first-look for Briana, not with Danny, but with her grandparents. It was hard not to have tears in your eyes as they saw Briana in her dress for the first time, or when they walked her…

Andrea and Paul have been married for 22 years and in that time they have opened their hearts and their home to grow their family in many ways including through the foster program. I met Andrea and Paul through my amazing neighbor Leslie who also opens her heart in so many ways to help the community. They all met through Westside Church about 15 years ago and it was Leslie who said to me, “this family needs some photographs.”  And they did! Andrea and Paul got into the foster program for the simple goal of wanting to keep families together.…

Zoie. Vivacious, fun, spunky, (my neighbor) and such a beautiful young lady. Currently a high school senior at Union Mine in El Dorado, CA playing on the basketball team, working for the infamous and adored, John Sanders at the Old Town Grill in Placerville and looking forward to graduating this coming May. After graduation Zoie plans to become a paramedic because she “wants to help people who really need it” and “doesn’t want people to go through trauma if she can help it”. LOVE her heart. In her spare time she likes to read, ride motor cross and hang out…