A girl in the city

I feel so lucky to have a great small town/urban location only 10 minutes from my home. Old Town Tustin has a little bit of everything. Vintage, nature and lots of rustic, broken down walls. I love these sessions because we are constantly on the go. It's the perfect location if you want variety of in your photos because in an hour we'll cover the gamma.

Not only does the urban setting lend its self to a multitude of looks on location, but in post-production as well.  Graphic in nature, urban photographs can push the limits in color treatments and focus. This makes the apres photo work a blast. Black and white, faded, vibrant, sun faded, bumped up contrast...ANYTHING goes!

Jillian's session is a perfect example of how one girl and one location can yield such a spectrum of photographs. She was natural when it came to posing which made my job easy! A few photos here, a few photos there and walla we've got enough photos to fill a book.

Here are some of my favorites:

Some traditions are meant to be broken

At the beginning of each baseball season, my boys are conducted to line up and take the traditional posed team photo. Maybe it's because I tend to like something more unique, or possibly because these forced, brightly lit photos don't show much of the boys' personalities and attitude, I started a tradition of my own. There is no better way to get to know my kids' friends then by spending a few minutes photographing each one of them. Their personalities can't hide! Not only does it provide parents with a more personable photo, but I walk away more connected to the kids and inspired to cheer just a little bit harder for each and every one.

Meet one of the 2013 Mustang Irvine All-Star teams: