Head shot photography

Living in and around La La Land I figure its about time that I earn my wings as a talent Head shot photographer. I went to a workshop with Nicole Benitz, a longtime pro in this type of work, and learned and practiced quite a bit. We had the opportunity to work with some young models who really know their stuff. It was great fun and I am happy to report that these little beauties are just and beautiful in spirit. 

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In addition to my photography experience I can offer styling help for these type of head shots. I worked and taught in the fashion industry for several years and love to put together outfits and can even shop for you if you like.

Head shots

Are you in need of some updated photos of you? Not your family or your kids but of you? I recently had the pleasure of going to a photography workshop and one of our fun outings was to take head shots of each other. Let me tell you it is a little crazy having four cameras pointed at you at once! But it is awesome to have pictures that I truly like of myself! My little darlings weren't there so I wasn't distracted with thoughts of what kind of trouble they may be getting themselves into and they didn't mess up my outfit! Anyhow bottom line is you deserve to have pictures of you that you like. With so many people running their own businesses and the prevalence of social media lets get you some photos of yourself that you are happy with! Here are a few examples of some lovely outdoor more lifestyle head shots that turned out great.

These ladies run an awesome local (Long Beach and Orange County) business called Spoon & Skillet in which they prepare all the ingredients of fresh healthy meals for you all chopped up and ready to cook and deliver them to your door. Let me tell you the meals are as tasty as Mindy and Meghan are lovely. 

Here are a few more of another client Shelly who runs an interior design firm Van Roseboom Interiors

I also took a few shots for my husband Greg and his business partner Jen recently. Stay tuned for some exciting news about their new business.

To be fair since I'm posting photos of several friends I'll include a few of my own head shots taken by some of my talented photographer friends. 

Taken by Jodi of Paintchips and Cupcakes in NJ and NY.

Taken by Jodi of Paintchips and Cupcakes in NJ and NY.

Taken by Kelley of Pear Tree Photography in the Atlanta area.

Taken by Kelley of Pear Tree Photography in the Atlanta area.

Taken by my idol and guru Wendy at  Blue Lily Photography all over the world.

Taken by my idol and guru Wendy at  Blue Lily Photography all over the world.

Taken by Alicia of Gray Wren Photography in Salt Lake City

Taken by Alicia of Gray Wren Photography in Salt Lake City

Once we've booked your session I can help you from there with tips on what to wear (you can bring changes and options!), the best make-up for your session, and how best to represent you in photos. Cheers friends!

Sweet Baby Ford

Infant sessions can be a challenge in many ways, finding the right time in that so called "perfect window" of 6-10 days for those lovely sleepy shots, finding the right lighting in a clients home, deciding on the outfits and props, trying to get that tiny little comfortable for the photos all at the same time can be daunting. Fortunately it all seemed to come together for this lovely shoot. Since my baby is already 7 I miss those infant snuggles a ton so getting to spend a couple of hours with this sweet guy was a dream.

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Sweet dreams baby Ford! 

Rockin' Family Photos

When Shelly and I discussed where to shoot their family photos she wanted a more urban location and this little street in Long Beach ended up to be the perfect spot for their family photo session.  Their outfits worked so well with the textures and backdrops of the location.  This was my busiest Fall/Holiday family photo shooting season yet and this was my last session of the season, it was great to end it with such a fun shoot.

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Shelly is a talented intereior designer at Van Roseboom Interiors so at the end of our session we took a few more headshot type shots for her to use on Social Media and press. Thanks for stopping by the blog friends!!!

 

Family Photos

It's no surprise that my friend Pamela nailed the outfits for her family photo session - she has worked in the fashion industry for many years and has amazing style! I always mention layers, textures, coordinating prints, and accessories. This is how it's done folks.

I was so excited to capture this darling family and we ended up with some really great shots if I do say so myself! I sent her the images and she replied "it looks like we're having so much fun!" At the time it was a lot of kid wrangling and coaxing, but here's the thing with family photos; all that outfit planning and schedule coordinating and bribing the kids it is so worth it! 

Senior Portraits

As we near the end of the school year and my little one is finishing up Kindergarten to head to first grade it is a nostalgic time. I generally have a more "live in the moment attitude" but lately I feel like my littlest is just getting too big too fast, I guess they both are. That's why taking photos and capturing them at this place in this time is so treasured to me. Senior portraits are such fun for this reason. This moment in their lives is so momentous, you can feel the energy, excitement and slight apprehension as they make that jump from teenagers at home to venturing out on their own. After only spending a little bit of time with this sweet senior I know she will gracefully make that transition. Cheers to you Kelly!

 

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Valentine's Shoot

Next Saturday January 25th I am having a Valentine's mini shoot from 9am-2pm. Get some adorable shots to make Valentines or get prints for Grandma. My friend Andrea of For The Love Of and I collaborated to create this fun backdrop for the shoot. You can find a tutorial on her blog soon to create your own fun decorations. Please drop me a line at 310.308.5575 or and email mirandashanti@gmail.com to schedule your time slot. 

$40 for one child, $75 for two, $95 for three children. A minimum of 5 high resolution images per child plus a free siblings shot. I have 2 fun backgrounds to be included.

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Studio feel

Using a bright striped background is not really what you are supposed to do, but hey we love color and its what I had in my garage and I have to stay I really love these photos of my girls. I wanted to commemorate their birthdays as well as capture P's smile with the missing two front teeth. I was able to use natural light in my living room  for these which I always prefer to studio lighting (maybe because I haven't mastered that yet!). Anyhow thanks for stopping by the blog to take a look and Happy Thanksgiving!!

 

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You're Gonna Hear Me ROAR

There has been several instances where I refer to this little one as animal from the muppets, she can be more than a tad wild, messy, and crazy. When she decided she wanted to be a jaguar for Halloween we all thought it was perfect, never mind the two sets of ears she insists on wearing the mask and headband. Our backyard gets really nice light in the afternoon so I took my baby jaguar out for some photos.

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Two blog posts in a row? Yep I took an online marketing class yesterday - ha! Also Thanks Katy Perry for making another song I can rock out to with my girls!

Holiday Photo Time

This is a family close to the water with many weekend trips on their boat and countless hours spent on the sand it seemed fitting to take their photos this year at the beach. The peninsula in Long Beach is a place where so many local families spend our summers and I have to say after a trip last Friday with a few families we should really spend our Falls there too.  

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I have a couple of openings for holiday sessions so if you are interested please contact me this week!

 

Our National Parks

We travel, Greg and I love to see new places and Charlotte is right there with us, Pfeiffer is learning to love it and she doesn't have much choice in the matter, she will travel. For now while the girls are still pretty young we have focused our travel on the Western US but hope to venture far and wide with them to show them this diverse world of ours. We don't live in a fancy house or drive fancy cars, pretty much any extra funds we have go towards our trips. When looking to put flooring into our house, I look at the $$ amount and think of what kind of trip that could be, it is a bit of a compulsion, but there could be worse ones for sure. We spoil ourselves on experiences. Some of these most memorable experiences are are visiting OUR National Parks. They are a true gift to US, each and everyone of us - these gorgeous lands set aside and preserved for us to gaze in wonder at the beauty of this great county. I have set a goal to visit 2 a year and in 2012 we visited The Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. This year we have visited Yosemite and Glacier National Parks. I write this not to boast but to implore you to plan a trip, finding a place to stay does take some planning ahead, but it is so worth it.

We have only just started watching the Ken Burns film The National Parks on Netflix, its pretty awesome and you should check it out. When we were visiting Greg's grandmother in Northern Idaho this summer we took a day trip to Glacier, next time we'll plan for more time as it was rushed trying to see the park in a day. Here are some pics from our trip to Glacier National Park....as I've said before nature photography is not my specialty, but with places this gorgeous, it doesn't seem to matter.

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So friends what is your favorite National Park? What's on your list to visit next? My short list includes Crater Lake, The Grand Canyon, and Banff (a Canadian National Park), and the Sequoias. 

Oh Idaho

This is the third summer in a row that we have gotten to spend time visiting Gigi in Northern Idaho, but this year Greg was able to join us for the whole time! It is a slow paced, mellow little town and Gigi lives in a beautiful home on the lake. Since I am totally guilty of packing the schedule at home it is such a nice get away with nothing on the calendar and long family days. We played in the lake, took boat rides, made a raft, went into "town" for whoopee pies, hung out with Gigi, took a day trip to Glacier National Park and just plain relaxed. One evening after dinner the girls were hanging in the hammock so I just had to snap some photos.

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So I think a hammock would make a pretty fun spot for a family photo session - anyone up for it? Just a quick not that it is time to start looking at your calendars for holiday photo sessions. I will be sending out information soon, but if know your availability now book early! 

I'll post more from our trip later on. 

Thanks for stopping by! 

 

Baby Julissa

My youngest will start Kinder in less than 2 weeks and at times I want to skip with excitement; one school, one drop off, one pick-up!! This is the moment stay at home moms dream of for years right?! But in the same breath I get teary with the realization that my girls are growing. I really don't dwell much on the time goes by so fast trill, but at this moment it is all too clear. On to new adventures, blow those tears goodbye, because my little Lou is super excited, so I will be too.

For that reason I cherish sweet newborn sessions with the teeny tiny ones. This family has a new home and a new baby and it at such a precious stage of life.

 

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New York New York

These past few months I've gotten to spend quite a bit of time with teenagers, and get this - it was awesome! I have to admit before I started coaching high school swimming in February I was pretty scared of teenagers; their attitudes, brooding and constant texting freaked me out. But I'm happy to say I had it all wrong. These kids on the swim team that I got to know are so smart, hard working, mostly level headed and often funny. I got to witness a poolside serenade to a dripping wet speedo clad swimmer from the glee club, while the entire team cheered and sang along. Another day one kid set up the most adorable prom proposal ever, again with the whole team watching and excited. Not to mention a ton of awesome hard work in the pool resulting in confident swims and countless best times at the end of the season.

This high school senior I feel proud to know, (even though he isn't a swimmer). Heck, all of Long Beach should be proud!  Valedictorian, hard working and creative he'll move on to NYU in the fall and I have no doubt that he will thrive in the big city.

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Holman Ranch Wedding

The location, the bride and groom, the families, the day - just perfect. With my own anniversary just a few days ago I thought it was about time I put up the full post from the wedding.

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​So many beautiful memories, emotions and moments on such a special day. Kaitlin and Chris cheers to you, your marriage, and your beautiful family. Lots of love and happiness will abound!

Baby Nora

When I was in eighth grade we made a mobile with some of our goals for the future and one of the ones I put on there was that I wanted to attend the University of Texas at Austin. They had the best swim team in the country back then so of course thats where I thought I would go to school.  I happily ended up at UCLA, but the thing I love about all the friends I've met who went to UT is their sense of school spirit and pride. Some people laugh at my deep rooted love of UCLA and my school spirit, but Longhorns get it. Anyhow, this fun photo shoot is of a couple of Texan transplants with their sweet new addition who fit right in here in SoCal. I was honored and ever so excited to take pictures of their gorgeous little one.

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Workshop

I had such a great experience at the Blue Lily Go Pro Workshop last month. I truly met some great people, learned so much from Wendy and Tyler and feel freshly inspired! We did two photo shoots while there and let me tell you it is pretty challenging to pull together photos from the session to make it cohesive since there were so many cameras for our families to look at and I wasn't necessarily at the best angle. But I am still happy with several of the images so I wanted to share some here.

Lizzie's family met us at this gorgeous location and it's no wonder big brother was a little overwhelmed - 14 of us wielding a camera! But little brother made up for it with his scrumptious cheeks and happy mood. Lizzie has a blog Lizzie Writes. Thanks so much to your family!

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Hong Kong

Hi friends! Thanks for checking out the blog and keeping up with our travels. Why did we go to Hong Kong? Well Katie, Greg's youngest sister has been living in Hong Kong for a total of about a year between a few trips over the last 18 months. She has been able to have such a great experience working with Disney (her dream job right out of college!) and we wanted to see this incredible city and see what she has been working on at  Hong Kong Disneyland. She put us up in her corporate apartment at the W Hotel in Kowloon, not too shabby! In addition to visiting Katie, this was also Greg and I's first trip longer than a weekend away from the girls. 

We had lots of fun sharing highlights on Instagram as we went, but I wanted to compile a few posts here to recap the trip. After being spoiled in business class last year on my trip to India I was pretty nervous about being able to sleep on the long flight, but Ambien, an empty seat next to us, and Homeland got us through the flight pretty easily. Here are a couple of shots in the Taipei airport on a quick layover. We rented an awesome 85mm lens for my photo workshop and the trip and although it wasn't necessarily the best lens for either of these instances it was awesome and I was very sad to send it back. Now a little disclaimer, my hubby is a pretty awesome photo taker as well and many of the shots from our trip were taken by him.

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The first two days of our trip we decided to take a big red bus tour all around Hong Kong Island. Even though it is a cheesy touristy thing to do we think it is a great way to see an overview of a city to get an idea of where you want to go back to. We lucked out with some pretty great weather and with so many things to see and look up at this was an awesome start to our trip.

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Hong Kong is the most densely populated city in the world. The mix of architecture is pretty amazing as is the contrast against the lush mountains just behind downtown.
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The amount of designer stores is staggering. 

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The second day of our bus tour we went to the South side of the island, it is really tropical which was a surprise to me. We were told that we got the perfect day in Hong Kong. It was sunny, 80 degrees and clear. So a great day to see the beaches.

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2013

It's time to catch up and put the blog back on the weekly to -do list. I did so many fun holiday shoots with lots of amazing families and at some point I hope to go back and share some of my favorites. But for now I want to start with this year since its still sort of new. Like usual it has been a busy year already. We rung in the new year in Hope, Idaho on a family vacation where we got recharged with some beautiful scenery, fun time on the mountain skiing for the kids, snowboarding for Greg and snowshoeing and relaxing for me. We love our bi-annual escapes to visit Greg's Grandmother up in small town Idaho. As some of you know I have in the past kept my photography and family blogs separate, but being that I haven't posted on either in many months I am going to start back here sharing of photos from work shoots, from life, and hope to get back into regular posting. In January I went to a workshop with Wendy and Tyler from Blue Lily Photography. It was eye opening and fun, and I feel like I learned a lot, burt I haven't really had time to absorb it all yet. They even dragged me to my first horror movie, since um, EVER! I will share some of the photos from the shoots we had at the workshop hopefully soon. After finishing the workshop I drove home from San Diego to give my girls a good snuggle just in time to head to the airport to catch a long flight to Hong Kong. Greg and I went on our first trip away for more than 2 nights since we've had the girls, that is 7+ years people! We love to travel and have managed to travel the western US quite a bit as a family and Greg has done some travel on his own and of course I have too, but getting away together was quite a treat! (Huge shout out to my mother and father in law and my sister's family who took such great care of C & P while we were away!) So yes I have LOTS of amazing photos to share from our trip as well, but with 2 different cameras, and iphone photos organizing all the pics is a work in progress. Also the day after returning from our trip, I made my return to the pool deck in many years. Well not really the deck yet as we are just doing dry land (or conditioning for non swimmer types) last week and this week, but I am excited for this new challange coaching the swim team at Los Alamitos High School. It is different spending time around teen agers, but pretty awesome too. The kids get in the pool today and I'm told we have a really great team, so this should be an exciting couple of months joining the Griffins.

Today I will share some photos I took of my little munchkins at the beach last night being their silly wacky selves. I wanted a casual wind blown playful look and although taking photos of my own girls is super challenging (of course taking directions from mom when all you really want to do is collect shells and run wild is not their idea of fun!) I am glad we made the effort. 

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Senior and family shoot

I had such a great time at the park with the lovely Dysart family. Theatrics, dance, yoga, even 2 homecoming kings in the mix, this family does it all. Not to mention that they are absolutely some of the nicest people you will ever meet. It was a pleasure as always and I loved documenting this hardworking senior, the sky is the limit for this kid!

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