Melissa and I are actually retired from wedding and family photography, but if you'd like to take a look around you'll see some of the wonderful clients and memories we had with all these beautiful people.
Sun, smiles, vacation, and family. Sounds like a vacation in Hawaii! Wait, no.. This amazing family was on vacation FROM Hawaii!!
Melissa and I always jump at the chance to do a family shoot in Disneyland. We’re finding that it might be getting more difficult to do these types of shoots as Disneyland might be trying to adopt the “No Pros” rules that Disney World has, but we do what we can! We did have some severe issues walking in with our cameras, as security held us at the checkpoint for quite some time. It wasn’t pleasant, however, the chance to meet families from near and far on vacation to the Happiest Place on Earth is just too tempting for us. :)
The Sagayadoro family came all the way from Hawaii for the first time as a WHOLE family to visit Disneyland and a few other places. We feel so lucky to have met these warm, sweet and FUN people. Take a look at their day and let me know if you think they had a bad time.
Yes by the way.. Little Luke is reenacting the elevator scene from the Gangnam Style video!
Have I ever mentioned that I like Disneyland? No? :)
One of the coolest jobs I have as a lifestyle family photographer is being able to capture real-life moments as they happen. I certainly have an appreciation for posed family pictures, and they will always have their importance, but I’ve learned that the images that have always meant the most to me were the ones of great moments between me and my wife or those between family members. I may be completely wrong here, but I think this is why we like dog and baby videos on Youtube, because these are real moments that really happened, and most of the time they are fun!
One of the advantages (and blessings) I have to living in Southern California, is that Melissa and I are able to travel to Disneyland quite often -usually to enjoy the place- but we’re also available as Disneyland family photographers to those families who may be traveling from out of state or out of the country even! When heading to Disneyland, people sometimes realize that they need to hire someone to capture some real moments with them and their loved ones (even photographers realize this!), instead of taking the pictures themselves. This gives people some more freedom to just have a great time in a truly wonderful place! To some extent, this is why Disneyland invented the “Photopass” system. If you’re not familiar with the system, basically you buy a prepaid package of pictures of your family taken at pre-determined locations throughout the park, along with a collection of stock images of Disneyland (or the Disney Park you’re visiting at the time). All you have to do is look around for the cast member who looks like a photographer with a tripod and a vest (and a hat), you’ll know them when you see them. I think this is a great idea for families who would love to get some family portraits in front of the traditional landmarks of the park.
What I like to offer is something a little more special for those families looking for an “upgrade” of sorts. I like to spend some time with the family, and capture the real moments as they happen. This way families have pictures of them that capture more of their personalities and what makes them unique, not just pictures of the same smiles in front of the landmarks they saw. I will always do my best to capture traditional “portraits” in front of the main landmarks (you HAVE to have these!), but I also like to give families something special and hopefully more emotional. So that when they look back on the images, and even others see their moments, they can remember how happy their time was, and not just of the sights they saw. This is Disneyland! The HAPPIEST Place on Earth!
When Courtney approached me about doing some family photos at our favorite place, of course I jumped at the chance! Courtney is one of the lucky few who made it on to this years’ Disney Parks Moms Panel to answer questions people from everywhere have about visiting the amazing Disney Parks around the world. What a cool job! I may have to submit and application! :)
I had so much fun with the Bautista’s on this SUNNY day in July. Thank you for letting me hang out with you! … and I may or may not be stealing Mason’s outfit for myself.
One of the greatest parts of being a lifestyle and wedding photographer, is that you really get to know your clients better than probably any other genre of photography. A lot of times, you get to become friends of the people you shoot. The very nature of “lifestyle” portraiture depends on a different interaction between the photographer and client than just posing and shooting. That’s even more true shooting a Disneyland lifestyle engagement or family session.
Jeremy and Michelle have become good friends of ours, and excellent Disneyland companions! So after shooting their engagement session in Disneyland, and their wedding (which sadly was NOT in Disneyland), we jumped at the chance to do a maternity session there. We also knew that this wouldn’t be a “normal” maternity shoot. :) We just wanted to show how much they love each other, and how much fun they have together. I think you can see that in these.
Thanks again Eurtos… and little Jude Michael… We can’t wait to meet you!
Melissa and I have loved our recent photo sessions in Disneyland. I always get a little nervous before an engagement session though. As a photographer, the engagement session is your first opportunity to actually *work* together with your clients after your first interactions and meeting. It’s kind of like a second date.. and when the first [date] goes so well.. the bar is set high! Especially when that second date is Disneyland!
Well, only 5 minutes into us meeting in California Adventure, I knew I had nothing to worry about with these two. What fun they were to shoot! We hit it off immediately and we hit the ground running, literally! We were running against the sun, as it didn’t want to hang around long. Eventually a bank of clouds rolled in right before sunset, but we did find some great locations to take advantage of the sun as it peeked through.
These two had so much fun, and Daniel really knows how to bring out the joy in Serena, as you can see in this set. We were all laughing and having a blast together. Thank you Daniel and Serena for the fun time, and we are ecstatic about your Bakersfield wedding in October!
In case you couldn’t guess from the title of this post… Fair warning: It includes gratuitous pictures of people in love, in The Happiest Place On Earth (can I get sued for using that title?).
Fun. Epic. Busy.
That about describes the 2 fantastic days we all got to spend together.. in Disneyland. Melissa and I have been itching to shoot a couple in Disneyland for some time now. Jeremy and Michelle are almost as obsessed with Disneyland as we are! Knowing they had gotten engaged at Disneyland we knew we had to try. We casually (read: not so subtly) mentioned that there was a “strong possibility” we could all hang out at Disneyland, and call it an “Engagement Session.”
We had So. Much. Fun! These two are hilarious!
It was everything we hoped it could be, and BUSY. The park was so packed! We didn’t really expect the park to be as full as it was, but whatever.. We had a blast! The thing I love most about these images is to see Jeremy and Michelle’s honest feelings for each other. They’re just pretty people inside and out… and as you can tell, they just adore each other.
Anyone would be lucky to call these two friends, and after this trip.. We get to. :)
We can’t be more excited for their wedding this November!
PS.. It was tough to work around the crowds, BUT I was able to do a little homage to one of my favorite pictures of Walt Disney. See if you know which one I’m talking about… ;)
