into the woods

I took a break from the glamorous world of child fashion photography to go for a hike in my favorite local woods, Wunderlich Park, with my family. I can't really do justice to the beauty of nature, but here are a few shots.

little models make it big

One of the fun things about working with child models is that you often get to see their cute little faces in national ads and publications. Here are two models I worked with recently who both landed Gap jobs- one for Gap USA and one for Gap Japan! In fact, both little girls have shots for Gap several times.

(please note- I do not mean to suggest that these images were taken by me, they were not...)


http://www.gap.com


http://gap.co.jp/

happy christmas

happy chanukah

more outtakes

This is one of the mock-ups I created for my editorial in Baby Couture entitled "Street Art". I really dig creating digital collages with GIMP. I'm never quite sure how they're going to turn out until I do them, so there's an element of surprise in the process which keeps it interesting for me.

tinsel angel

I love photographing glitzy holiday decor with my lensbaby! Of course, these days every photo editor seems to have a lensbaby-ish effect you can achieve with one click. But still...

cute kid contest

While you have to be careful about photo/modeling contests, this one seems legit and has a great prize. It's sponsored by Carter's. Go to thecutekid.com
The contest ends soon, so hurry!

KIY Photography blogged about this and put the "con" in contest...so, be sure to check-out her comments so you can make an informed decision: DIY Photography

tea collection

If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and would like to see your child in print, Tea Collection uses local kids for their catalogs/websites. My son was a recent cover model. He had a good time and we were treated well by the staff. I'd recommend joining their mailing list from the website and also checking with the website from time-to-time to look for casting notices.

new card

I'm not that great at graphic design, but I desperately needed a new card. So, I put this together last night (contact info on flip side). I liked the "white space" of the umbrella. We'll see how it does.

reflections

I do some kids' fashion/editorial work and it's always interesting to see which shots the editors select for print. Since the holidays are here, I thought I'd share a few of my favorite shots from a shoot I did with some super-dressy duds for little girls, published in the 2007 fall issue of baby couture. I'll be digging these "outtakes" out periodically for future blogs...

$69

The holiday season is upon us and I have nothing to wear to all the festivities. I'm pretty much a tee-shirt and jeans kind of girl, so when it's time to dress-up, I'm at a loss. I decided that I just needed to go to a store I liked and not worry about the cost. How much can one or two outfits cost, anyway? I reserved an afternoon and started at Anthropologie. Now, when I typically go in that store I leave in disgust because I want one o f everything and it's all way too expensive. This time, I walked in the door giving myself permission to get a few outfits. Still, I started with the sale rack. I had an armful of party dresses and lacy shirts and skirts and things and was escorted into the simple and elegant dressing area where I would be catered to, if needed. First of all, I didn't wear a bra when I went shopping. Why? Well, the one I like was in the wash. So, you know, that kind of changes the dynamic of clothes shopping right there. I'd just unsuccessfully put on a wash-out color to my hair and it turned out "old Russian lady" pinkish-purple. So, I wore a knit cap. In the end, it all looked bad. How can those clothes that look so lovely in the catalogs and on the racks look so wretched on me? I headed to several other stores- Lucky, Oilily, Nordstrom Rack, a few trendy boutique type shops, etc.

Again, I remained empty-handed. Time was running out. I decided to hit the thrifts, but on my way out of downtown, like a beacon in the night, was a glimmering new TJ Maxx, right where a Staples used to be. They even had a free parking lot, and this was downtown. Yes! I was just
being too snooty before, TJ Maxx will surely have something. Let me tell you, it was hideous. First of all, the worst holiday music ever was playing. The fluorescent lights made me grumpy. The clothes all looked tacky. Okay, I'll switch tactics and just get some cool shoes, I thought. For some reason not one but two young men were working the size 6 aisle restocking or something. They were very busy in the size 6 aisle and I seemed to be in their way. Still, I was determined to not have my afternoon be a total waste. Unfortunately, the few shoes that I did like actually hurt before my foot was all the way in. This just wasn't working. I drove to my favorite thrift on the way home a nd for some reason there was a handwritten sign up saying it was closed that day. Dejected, I gave up and went to get my son from school. I did manage to get a new hair color to cover up the pink/purple, at least.

The holiday events were still looming, though, and I had nothing to wear. Back to the Community Thrift Store on Valencia Street. My luck had turned around. $69 later, I walked out of the store with this inventory: two dresses, one a traditional mandarin collar style in a gorgeous vintage poppy pattern in various shades of green, two pairs of boots, one pair of adorable chunky high-heeled black shoes, a pair of brown wool pants, two pairs of jeans, a slip, a vintage white tin bread box, and a vintage wooden puzzle. Some nice stockings and tights and a maybe some new jewelry and I'm so set for these parties. That is, assuming the dress fits.

hoop show

I wanted to put in a plug for an art show today in The Mission. It's at my friend's gallery and it's called "The Hoop Show":

SOAP presents: The Hoop Show.

What happens in the hoop, stays in the hoop.

The Hoop Show, a gathering of 30 plus artists, stitching, painting, stretching,
twisting, gluing, cutting within the perimeters of 'The Hoop'

Featuring: Stephen Perkins, Mary Fitzgerald, Scott MacLeod, Eve Mendelson, Jan Blythe, Matt Cella,
Kristen Roberts, David Horton, Wynter Whiteside, Katie Arends, Neils Neilson III, Mike Decker, Muck DeJohnson, Tom Riser,
Jason Mobbs, April Jones, Lisa Mendelson, Julian Lucas, Stephen Maier,Oona Marcus, Lani Asher, Carla Avitable,
Barb Sizelove, Lucinda Walstad, Laura Mauppin, Robert Howard, Greg Lowe, Matthew Davis, Sandy Davis, John Lloyd, Jane Evenson, and more

.

Artist Reception: Saturday December 13, 2008 from 6-9 pm. With Music by Eschew

Show runs till January 8, 2009

Gallery Hours:11-2PM Monday through Thursday
Soap Gallery: 3180 Mission Street(between Valencia & Cesar Chavez)
email: sfsoapgallery@yahoo.com
phone: 415-920-9199
website: riversoap.com/soap-gallery
Curator: SOAP

can you stand it?

I had a session with this little girl last week. Could she be any more adorable? I don't think so!

a real grown-up

I got a referral recently to work with a personal trainer to do the photos for her website www.aliaknowles.com

I'm so used to working with kids that I didn't know what to do! I'm petite and she had legs that wouldn't stop, so I was dealing with a whole new situation. I suggested meeting at Battery Spencer, not realizing it's probably the most photographed vista point for San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge. Still, I wasn't sorry we met there. With her close friend "L" along for moral support we were not to be stopped.

We started in the buildings at the battery itself and got some moody shots in street clothes. Changing clothes in the crowded park was a challenge, but Alia took it all in stride. Deftly switching into shorts and a hoodie, she was ready for a little walk down a path for some "lifestyle" photos. Lastly, it was up to the platform for a sunset shoot of Alia doing yoga. Let me tell you, she was competing with the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset on a Sunday for attention from all the visitors and I think she was winning!

blue chair

I've been photographing this little girl since she was a toddler. Her mother is one of my dearest friends. Although we now live thousands of miles away from each other, I was lucky enough to visit over the summer and wanted to share some shots taken during my trip. Her dad had just found this blue chair at a tag sale for $5 and of course I had to use it.

new work: baby couture magazine

I have some new work in the current issue of Baby Couture Magazine (holiday 2008). This is an editorial close to my heart. I've been taking images of tagging around the city- mostly in my neighborhood, for the last year. I started experimenting digitally with merging tagging images with images of people, giving the effect of the tagging being on the people, or the two being intertwined in some way. Baby Couture was very supportive of this idea and brought in the graphics/post production talents of Lucky Butter. The SOAP Gallery of San Francisco was kind enough to loan me their space for the shoot.

i'll be famous

I was shooting a cute almost four-year-old boy in a park in the China Basin area earlier this week. While shooting, a man walked up behind the boy holding up a piece of art, just beaming. I looked at it, gave an approving nod, and moved on with my shoot. He continued to hold up the piece and finally instructed me to take a picture of the art, saying I would be "famous" for doing so. How, I'm not quite sure. Anyway, the art appears to me as animated sacks of flour with legs. Upon closer examination, someone had scribbled notes which seemed intentionally misspelled and someone had crossed out the artist's signature, adding his own. If anyone knows anything about the artist, please write in!



Now, about the boy - uh, when you look up "energy" in the dictionary, you'll find his picture. He really wore out mom and me. But, for better or worse, I like to let kids be silly and do their own thing while I wait for what I need. In the end, the old "your mommy's not going to tickle me is she?" worked like a charm.

another green-eyed child

This little one kept mom and me on the go, but it was worth every second. Can you believe her eyes?

gotta love those green eyes

I had a session on Sunday with an 8 yo boy for his headshots and let me tell you it was not a boring shoot. This kid had personality out the wazoo. We actually met at his house because by coincidence his big sister had a callback for the same play as my son so they rehearsed while I did the shoot. I'm not always able to go people's homes, but when I do I love rooting through their closets! The treasure of this shoot was a vintage wool sweater in teal, gray and white that the mom said had actually belonged to the boys' father when he was a child. My only regret is that I didn't do more shots in the sweater. I also snapped a few of his little brother (seen in white tee-shirt) who was also far from lacking in the personality department.