I always enjoy my trips to California. This time I brought my camera and had some fun with it. My awesome hosts (Evis and Jeff) from AWESOMETOWN took such great care of me. We did all kinds of fun stuff… here’s a peek into my lovely week in California. My favorite memories from the trip:

• Lunch at Lucques in Melrose Place
• Best iced mocha ever – at Intelligentsia
• Awesome finds at hipster shops on Abbot Kinney
• Taking random photos with Evis all over LA, inside shops, on the pier, on the beach….
• Getting sand between my toes at Santa Monica and walking on the pier
• Lovely 4th of July celebration with good friends
• Photo session in Filmore, then Santa Paula
• Overdosing on In-N-Out and Yum Yum donuts
• Seeing ol’ friends
• Smelling the air in Newhall. Yes – there is a distinctness to it and i’ve missed it.

Thank you everyone who came out and spent time with me. You know who you are.

Last Sunday the Bean family and I went to the U. S. Botanic Garden in DC for their Christmas photos. I’ve been friends with the Beans for many years and have always been blessed by their friendship. This session was special because I had the chance to play with Alex and spend a little more time with Andrew the latest addition to their family.

What an absolutely loving family. I had such a great  and relaxing time with them. While editing their photos seeing the smiles of Alex (their 3 1/2 yr old) would just make me smile – he is the cutest thing and very photogenic which always helps

Here are some of my favorites from their session. Enjoy!

I got to spend the afternoon at a winery with The Leffins a couple of weeks ago. DJ works at the winery so they thought it was only perfect that we did their family portraits at that beautiful location. I was thrilled to be able to do that. Their little girl Alaithia just turned one. She is absolutely adorable and has recently learned to walk on her own – it was a lot of fun sharing a brief moment of this precious time in her life and help document it. Here are some of my favorites from that session.

DJ+Leighera – thank you for letting me photograph your family. I had a great time!

Paige and I have been friends for a while now. We met in DC in 2001 when she lived here but she has since moved out to California where she met her knight in shining armor, Chris Rogowski, they’ve now been married for about a year.

Paige and Chris were recently in town for a friend’s wedding and thought this would also be a great opportunity to do a photo session with me so we set up a him & her session and did the shoot in Old Town Alexandria.

Here are some of my favorites from that session. Enjoy!

Remember that couple photo sessions don’t always and only have to be engagement sessions. Stillpool Photography’s him & her sessions are specially for couples who want to capture a special time in their lives together. You can be dating, married for 50 years or 5 days and still set up a him & her session with us. We’ll help you capture a moment in your lives that you’ll always remember.

Here are some of my favorites from Anne & Michael’s wedding, October 17, 2009. The wedding was in Winchester, Virignia.
Anne and Mike, thank you so much for giving me the honor of sharing at your wedding in such a special way.

Congratulations Mr and Mrs Hunter!