. a mother’s love
“When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.” ~Sophia Loren
. the creative side of surfing
When I first took the time to learn to surf back when I was 32, I realized what a truly artistic yet athletic sport it is. It’s hard for me to call it a sport actually because the word “sport” conjures up all things jockish: football, soccer, baseball, basketball etc. Surfing and jock would never [...]
. he turns seven
Our beautiful boy turns seven today. We are so proud of all his accomplishments and enthusiasm for life. He loves the ocean—surfing—sailing—sea creatures—dinosaurs—trains—math—art—and especially his little sister—
. oh what an april
Our April was full of Maliea and Me time—Easter—school days—beach days—surfing—bonfires—field trips—a feeling of freedom—playfulness—accomplishments—setbacks—friendship—family—alone time. Photos of me were taken by Maliea. Maliea’s custom dress (on the bike) and tunic (at the beach) by courtneycourtney.
. the growth of a child
This is a fantastic time lapse of a young girl from birth to age 12. The motion gives us insight into so much character and personality that you wouldn’t get in perfect smiling stills. Once again, my faith is renewed that having photos of my children when they are expressing their true selves is more [...]
. a marvelous march
We had a full March with lots of great memories and milestones. Every day I am getting better at balancing my commitments to family and work. It’s a constant trial and error and I have found that the more I put my family and our home first, the easier all the [...]
. a long awaited snowball fight
Merrik and Maliea have been dreaming of snowball fight for years. They have both been in the snow but it wasn’t very memorable. Maliea experienced it pre-memory and Merrik made muddy snowballs from a small patch of melting snow we tracked down with friends last year in the San Gabriel Mountains. Our discovery of [...]
. a look back at how she’s grown
silly beautiful graceful calm confident stylish witty feisty Maliea’s birthday is coming up so this entire week is dedicated to preparing for her birthday celebrations. I have been going through all her photographs to compile posters for her Fourth Birthday celebration at her preschool. I was surprised to discover that there were quite [...]
. rediscovery of a time gone by
I recently stepped back in time to where my heart has been all along. I pulled out my 4×5 camera, some expired Polaroid 52 film and started playing like I used to do years ago. It was 2004 the last time I used my 4×5 for a project and since packing up and putting away [...]
. a creative collaboration
What Path Will She Pick? I was so fortunate to participate in Jane Fulton Alt’s Creative Collaboration!! It was such an amazing process for me and really gave my creative process the nudge it’s been needing. I have always loved ‘making’ images. From the moment I learned how to make high contrast masks of my [...]
. a worthy cause
Fellow photographer, Deb Schwedhelm is raising funds for Tanzania Children | The Foundation For Tomorrow. She will be riding a bike and photographing along the 400 mile trip from Kilimanjaro to the Indian Ocean to bring awareness to this cause. This cause is not only extremely worthy but really strikes a chord personally with me [...]
. february frenzy
Scenes from “The Picnic” A collaboration with Jane Fulton Alt: outtake Halfway through the year last year I decided I would much rather be compiling our family adventures month by month. I didn’t actually start the process until January 2012 and am so glad I did. It’s fun to see how [...]
.a celebration of a vibrant life
I had the honor of attending the Celebration of Life for Beck Hollywood Matson a few weeks ago. It was a truly moving experience to witness the sense of family, community and love being shared at this memorial for a very young boy. His school friends, family friends, beach friends, friends [...]
.your road
All images from my series “Drive By” Your road is everything that a road ought to be…and yet you will not stay in it half a mile, for the reason that little, seductive, mysterious roads are always branching out from it on either hand, and as these curve sharply also and hide what is [...]
.maintaining moxie
This is a custom collage I created as a collaboration for a homecoming memory Going into business as a photographer has taken me years to commit to. I know myself well and the idea of having to do things because it’s business has put the ‘create-on-demand’ factor of having my own photography business off [...]
.happy <3 day
Wishing everyone a fun-loving and carefree valentine’s day. remember what it’s about. love. spending time with the one’s you love and letting them know how you feel about them from your heart. be patient. be sincere. be all the love for them that they need.
.begin it now
“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits one-self, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one [...]
.my 366 project
Everyone seems to be on the bandwagon lately of doing “A Photo A Day” for the year. I did a photo a day on Instagram for the month of January and it took the heart right out of photography for me. I already shoot a photo a day without forcing myself to (on my phone, [...]
.january was a start
New Year’s Day Boat Christening in San Diego Bay Dad, Maliea, Merrik and Grampa Maliea’s “boat shoes” cleat and starboard bollard I enjoyed many beautiful sunrises getting up early to make lunch and get the house in order for the day. An evening at the San Clemente Pier is always something special Merrik’s first [...]
.why I heart Instagram
I am in love with this app called Instagram. It’s got a bad rap for breaking your phone images down into goo with hardly any information left. However, I’ve made a book of all Instagram images from our staycation on the boat last summer because I took so many fun images with my iPhone. [...]
.my birthday
Symbolic images represent important milestones from my last 45 years of life. reflecting on the beauty that has happened in my life traveling developing a personal style continuing to soar even in the darkness learning to settle into my home town continuing to work with my hands learning to rise above building a family relaxing [...]
.jellyfishers
Merrik created installation art in our family room that is to stay up all through winter. It is a field of jellyfish with snow on them. If any of you have six year olds, you might recognize this from Spongebob Squarepants which Merrik is really into because it’s all about living under the sea. Anything [...]
. a picture postcard
I am so grateful that my kids love the ocean as much as I do. In warm or cold weather.
. a little bit of summer
“One must maintain a little bittle of summer, even in the middle of winter.” ― Henry David Thoreau Although we had no say in it… …we all enjoyed the last few days of warm weather even in the overwhelming moments of illness in the family. It’s very characteristic for this time of year here. [...]