Pollock Pines

When Kevin approached me to create a photo montage of the Pollock Pines schools in his district – Pinewood, Sierra Ridge, and Silver Fork – I knew this was going to be a special and very meaningful job.  You see, for 6 years Kevin has been my kids’ school Superintendent, and our community has gotten many good opportunities to get to know him.  Always approachable, he would stand outside the school entrance at drop off to socialize with the students and their parents.  Everybody knew Mr. Monsma!  This hands-on approach has always been something I really admired about him.  This summer he moved on to a…

The Bartolo Family- With their youngest in Philadelphia embarking on the first year of her college adventure, Jim and Tammy decided that it is finally time to downsize and sell their beautiful home in Pollock Pines, that Jim actually built. There’s a lot of love in that home. And, with all of the girls and grandma Josephine in town and available over the holidays, it was a perfect time to capture them all in their home, the home they all grew up in (even Jim…ehhh, maybe not- likely still working on it). And I can say that because I’ve known the Bartolo’s for awhile so…

9.20.14: the wedding day of Jamie and Roman, and the infamous King Fire started just one week before. If you were getting married that weekend in the Pollock Pines area, you weren’t really sure where your wedding would be. After several days of thick smoke-filled skies, a bit of blue emerged through the billows for Jamie and Roman’s wedding at Sierra Banquet Center. Although the King Fire had pushed northeast settling our nerves down a bit locally, everyone’s knee-jerk reaction was to look up when they heard planes flying overhead to see what kind of aircraft it was; a jet dropping fire retardant,…

Mike and Leslie are our neighbors. Lucky me, they are so wonderful and kind. Mike is the guy who you can rely on to be at the end of the road in every snow storm, shrinking the burm from the plow with his shovel while Leslie is the kind neighbor who would drop anything for anyone at any time. They both helped us out on several occasions when our girls were younger and, when my assistant Jerri (who was also their daughter’s best friend) faced leaving her friends behind because her family was moving to Montana in her Senior year,…

Getting a family of five together in one place as children head into their teens – and beyond – can be a tough task. It can be even harder to get that dedicated, relaxed family time without the stress and distractions of daily life. Which is why it was a privilege to be able to capture the Butler family at-play and just enjoying one another’s company recently at Sly Park Lake. Eldest son, Josh, was heading off to Air Force boot camp not long after our session and so his mom, Tracie, was especially emotional at having all her” babies”…

Headed over to Gold Ridge on a sunny Christmas eve to capture the Ganno family all in from out of town. This year little Hayes from Colorado was the new addition to the family- just 5 months old. We had planned the shoot for the 23rd but the weather was rainy and I thought it would be best to postpone for sunny Christmas eve. I even had my husband assist me on this one:) A family affair! I think it’s cool when a family who comes together from many locations and generations decides to make this happen. Life is so…

I’ve been running into Matt alot on the “wedding circuit”.  First at Matt and Gretchen’s Fausel Ranch Wedding and then at Elisha and John’s Fausel Ranch Wedding. In fact, at Elisha and John’s wedding, he met Alex, who was a bridesmaid for Elisha. I remember taking a photograph of her looking at Elisha’s dress…. I know it is hard to keep up with but at the end of June I will get to photograph their wedding at Fausel Ranch(one of my favorite spots) while 2 of my past brides(Gretchen and Elisha- who will also both be very pregnant) stand by…