Last time I shot with breakdancer extraordinaire Vince Horiuchi, he mentioned that his mom wanted to take some family photos, and specifically said she wanted some "fun, creative" shots. I was pretty excited about this idea, since I’d already met Vince and his brother Kurt, both talented dancers and martial artists, and naturals in front of the camera. The rest of the family didn’t disappoint, and we had a great time with everyone hamming it up and enjoying the last of the fall color out at the UCD arboretum.

I had a blast on Saturday shooting a combination engagement/family portrait session with Victoria, Jeremy and Tyler. Victoria and Jeremy are actually already married, but their ceremony will be in Montana, so they wanted some "engagement pictures", and they brought along their adorable three-year-old daughter Tyler to share in the fun. They even spent some time the night before coaching Tyler to make a "pretty face," which paid off with some great smiles. We spent the first half of the session wandering around the arboretum chasing ducks and making duck noises  - and then Tyler got a break and mom and dad brought out their best "pretty faces."

When Chris showed me the photo montage video he made to celebrate his daughter Jillian’s upcoming first birthday, I knew we would have a fun family portrait session. She’s a great smiler, with big beautiful blue eyes. Chris and Meredith were lots of fun too, but Jillian was definitely the star of this show! Happy Birthday, and thanks for all the smiles!

I’ve been having lots of fun with my new underwater housing for the Canon G9. I went over to Hickey Pool to take some pictures of my friend Bevin, and then took some fun family portraits of Aimee and her family. Aimee and her girls were great - they’re all swimmers (the girls are on the swim team in Dixon) and they had a great time goofing around in the water while I clicked away. I’m looking forward to getting lots of pictures of my niece and nephew in their backyard pool when I visit them at the end of July.

My first paid family portrait session - Lupe Laguna found me on Craigslist and we met at the arboretum for portraits of his lovely family of nine (seven in the immediate family and two significant others). It was a fun session - the kids are all (mostly) grown up, so it was a bit easier since there was no baby-wrangling involved. It was a bit cold and windy, but they didn’t complain and we ended up with some nice images.