I promised to show off each of my little subjects from our day of mini-sessions at my San Carlos kids portrait studio! First to arrive was the Carrico family, Joel & Pia, being fellow photographers, welcome the chance to get the family in a photo without having to resort to self-timers and photoshop of multiple exposures… Baby Ossi, just a tender newborn two weeks old, stole my heart, but his big brother, Noah, was quite a charmer himself!

Then 3 became 4!!

Woodland Series Portraits on February 15, 2010

I am feeling the spring time, and am so pleased to offer a special portrait mini-session in and around my San Carlos children’s photography studio on Wednesday and Friday, February 10 and 12th,  just in time for Valentine’s Day!!! Only $95, which is a savings of almost $200 from our regular session fee! Reserve your 30 minute studio or outdoor session today by calling 415.515.6370, or sending an email to inquiry@millcottagephoto.com. Sessions are available between 10AM and 4:30PM on those two days only!!! We also will be having a special Woodland Series portrait event on Monday, February 15, and are accepting only three clients for that day for an on location session in the Los Altos Hills. The times available are  11:30, 12:00 noon and 12:30, and sessions will be 20 minutes, 1-2 children only.

All new clients will receive a special $25 gift card with purchase of a session, and current clients will receive a complimentary 5×7 print of their favorite image from the session as well as a $25 gift card! Images will be shown in your own personal, password protected web gallery, and will be available for purchase on-line for 3 days after they have been posted, so alert the grandparents, friends and family to be ready! Reposting your gallery after those 3 days will incur a $100 fee, which will automatically be applied to your order!

Jungle Joe with his handmade puppets rock the house!

One of the things that makes a birthday party, and thus the birthday party ph0tography, so much fun is the activities provided for the children who attend! I know when I go about planning the next birthday party for MY son, Josh, the only website I will visit is California Puppets planning site for Bay Area kids birthday parties! Not only will you see puppet show ventriloquist extraordinaire, Jungle Joe, but there is a plethora of amazing tips and ideas for making your child’s event a huge success! It is a really great resource, especially for first time parents, who have no idea where to start and what to do! Mill Cottage Kids has a great bunch of party ideas, so make sure all your lovely party plans get the photographs they deserve so you and your tot can look back on the occasion for years to come!

Sound the trumpets, strike up the band, in other words, “hit it!” Sydney is here, and she’s such a pretty little newborn baby. You forget how small they are when they are newborns… and how soft they are, and how cute and tiny their feet are, and those soft little birdie sounds they make… Ahhhhhh!!! I love to photograph newborn babies! (Nicole, yours are next, just say the word when they are ready!!)

Newborn portrait - Perfect Pink Princess

I am very proud to be Brooke and Todd’s family photographer… I love to go to their house and see images of them that I photographed over the years, their engagement, their wedding, them at friends’ weddings… Love them! Todd was one of the very first people I met when I moved to San Francisco through our mutual friend Dina, and fate would have it that he would meet and fall in love with the wonderful Brooke, who was friends with my friend Jamie, and the fabric of all of our lives was woven together from all different directions… Ok, so that’s the story of how eventually we would all be completely elated at the arrival of their beautiful daughter, and again me with my camera in tow (which is a great excuse to get in for visits with friends with newborns by the way… :^) gathered with the family to capture Miss Sydney’s new sweetness. I was tempted to sneak her out in my camera bag, and leave my 5DMark II in her place, but even though Brooke is a photographer, I don’t think she would be at all excited about the switcheroo…

Ok, Kim, quit your yapping and show us some pictures…

Newborn Sydney & Daddy Todd

Precious Family

Smiling, Happy Boy!

Special thanks to “Uncle” Mitch for giving Josh his first flying machine today! Daddy and Josh took the plane out for a spin, and crashed a lot to Josh’s giggly delight! Daddy giggled too… :^)

Kim

Josh, Daddy & The Plane

What a wonderful morning we had in the studio today!! It was so great to meet the adorable Schultz Family, and play with their sweet little girls!! Here are some of my favorites! Can’t wait to share the rest with you guys! Thanks again for coming in!
Kim

More from the Appel & Frank Babes to Babies event yesterday in San Francisco! Next time we announce an event like this, make plans to be there, and reserve your mini Kidture session in advance with just a $25 investment! Our two photographers were on hand for 5 hours just to fit everyone in!!! We brought fashionable dress up clothes, and we photographed “kids” from newborn to over 30!! Great fun had by all! To all our new families, we’ll be processing all week to insure you will get your orders by mother’s day, as promised!! Great to meet you all!! Also, special thanks go out to Shannon Elder, Kristy Hardy, Martha Wood, and especially my associate photographer, Amy Shat of Oaks and Acorns Photography, who all made the day run smooth as silk, and I am very grateful!!! Hugs!! Kim

For the past two years I have been fortunate enough to be involved in an amazing transformative project founded by Rhee Bevere and supported by the Soroptomists called Project Smile. We work with women and their families at two South Bay housing communities for victims of battery and abuse. Many of these families escaped their abusers in the dead of night with only the clothes on their backs. They have survived heinous abuse, and through these programs, are beginning the long struggle back to life. They are used to being told they are ugly, fat, useless, bad wives, horrible mothers, and when immersed in this kind of abusive environment it is usually very difficult not to believe what they are told, and very difficult to muster the strength to leave the situation and protect themselves and their families. One of the many things they leave behind with their self esteem is any family photos they may have. Some have no family pictures, but they have their lives and their families are safe. Portraits, while valuable and desired, aren’t high on the priority list, and neither is a day of pampering and beauty. That’s where we come in… The amazing makeup and styling of Maria Chang, Monina Wright, and their staff of makeup and hair people give these ladies a lovely makeover, pampering them, and coaxing out their inner and outer beauty. We create beautiful portraits of them to remind them that they are strong, beautiful women. This is a new beginning. They deserve to be safe, happy and loved. We take portraits of their children, and of the family together. We laugh with them, cry with them, and by the end of the day we leave a wonderful stronger group of women who are beginning to realize their power and their worth. All of the amazing photographers who are a part of this are a joy to work with as well… Jennifer Skog, Angela Banchi, Rhee, and our amazing event coordinator, the lovely and talented Nicole Lisanne (formerly D’Ambra), who pulled it all together for us (great to finally meet you, feel like I’ve known you forever!), along with the Soroptomist and S-Club volunteers – Thanks for a great day! Since I can’t post any of the images of our ladies to protect their identies and their location, I will post two of the portraits I grabbed of Rhee… Isn’t she gorgeous?!

The importance of family portraits is a topic I often discuss, and go on and on about… we don’t get these moments back, and we really need to celebrate our family’s love and document it with images! Today Josh, my mom, Karen, and I went to my good friend Tami Desellier’s studio and we did just that! Tami is an amazing photographer, and while I usually hate to be on the other side of the lens, she made it fun, and the images are fantastic!! I hardly have any images of Josh and me, though Ray does his best to make sure to grab a couple whenever we’re out with the camera… and the last time my mom and I had a portrait taken together was in the 80’s… (she looked great then and now, but I had some freaky hair extensions going on, and don’t look like myself at all…) Thanks so much to Tami and her staff! Here are a couple of my favorites! (All images in this post by Tami Desellier)

So excited to have this gorgeous family in the studio! Avid blog readers, they immediately knew the answer to the Partridge Family Trivia question and they earned their free session!!! Lucky we did the session that day, as daddy hurt himself doing yard work (that’s why I leave my yard like a jungle…) and had to go to the hospital. Luckily no major damage, and he’ll recover well! Healing thought go out to you, and here’s another custom card example too!

We have just returned from a pretty amazing trip… My mother’s family just hosted their 100th family reunion in Hamlin, New York AND my father, who I haven’t seen in almost 15 years organized a smaller, but just as meaningful reunion of his side of the family. It felt so good to hug my daddy and grandpa and for Josh to meet this side of the family. My mom and my brother and his wonderful wife all being with us together was just the greatest! More pictures and the story will follow, but here is one of my boys in a field along the road in the beautiful sweet twilight. I feel complete right now. What is passed is passed, and the present is a gift! Hug your family today! I am sending hugs to mine!!

It is hard to believe that this image was taken almost 3 years ago… They have changed so much since I saw them last, and I can’t wait to do their family session this year! Get ready for the holidays early this year (you know you always wish you had…) and book your holiday sessions now! Happy Summer Vacation!!!