Senior Pictures

I did this shoot a couple of weeks ago and I am proud to say it was one of the most fun photo shoots I have done to date. I have known Hannah a long time and in fact she caught the bouquet at my wedding nine years ago. Thankfully she didn't run off and get married at the age of 9!  We ventured through the mud and reeds and our boots got grossly muddy, but we both had a blast. Hannah is venturing off to college next year and what an exciting time to document!

Our first shot - so pretty!

Her beautiful hair against the reeds, love the colors.

Imitating my senior pic pose:

When your subject is beautiful, creative, adventurous and just a tad silly it makes capturing some great photos such fun. Thank you Hannah and good luck at school - you are going to love it.

Claire's Fam

I showed you a little sneak peak of Claire.Now it's time to share the rest of the family. I love the bright colors they wore, makes for some fun vibrant photos. Little sis can strike a pretty good pose too! Look at all these fabulous curls!

More minis

Here is another sweet family I got to capture this past weekend. I also met this mom and daughter through a Long Beach Parks and Rec baby dance class and have stayed connected through a really great local moms group. As big as our city is I have to say it is a pretty cool place for families and we have been lucky to meet so many great ones.

I think this was our second shot - not too bad!

Good friends...

More with a little different look:

 

As most of you know I'm learning more about photography as I go and editing too for that matter! I thank you all of you who have given me a chance to learn as I take photos of your family. With each shoot I hopefully improve and will be better for the next time we meet.

Thanks for checking in.

 

Family Mini Shoot

I first met Meghan and Jack in baby dance class when our "big kids" were only 3 months old - my how they've grown!  I'm loving this Spring look in the editing of these photos. Just a note when I edit your images I always give you the traditional color photo and for the best images I will often give you a couple of versions with different variations in color or black and white.

 

 

Cousins

The curled hair, the outfits!, the boots, the lollipops, the hats; there is way too much cuteness going on in these photos.

Sometimes it is impossible to get that prim and proper smiling all sitting nicely photo, but often times the results of a little cheers of a lolli and sweetness with your cousins is better.

Seriously?!!

Love it!

Stay tuned friends, I have lots of photos to share this week.

And happy SPRING BREAK!

 

Miss Claire

She knows how to work the camera! I think she hit at least 150 poses in a quick 30 minute shoot, this is my favorite....

just a sneak peek into my weekends mini shoots

Mini Shoots

Hi Friends! I will be offering a few mini sessions in preparation for Mother's Day and Father's Day.

I have one time slot at 5:00 open for April 23rd at Gum Grove Park in Seal Beach. And for Father's Day images I will be at the Seal Beach Pier on May 28th. I have time slots of 3:00, 3:30, 4:00, & 4:30 available on May 28th.

Mini Shoot Details:

Cost $45

You get a minimum of 15 edited images on a CD for you to make prints, scrapbook with etc.

Time Slots Will be on the half hour for a 20- 25 minute shoot. (PLEASE BE ON TIME)

I will get the CDs to you a few days after the shoot.

Please email me or leave a comment here on the blog with your choice of day and time and I will confirm via email. I will send you detailed directions as well.

mirandashanti@gmail.com

Here are a couple of examples of photos taken at Gum Grove in Seal Beach:

 

 

 

Here are some examples of photos taken at the Seal Beach Peir:

Cousins

We tried to get all 6 cousins in one great photo. Sometimes kids are not on our agenda, which is just fine. We ended up with lots of great photos to make a nice montage for Grandma.

A kiss and a little hand on the neck from big brother - yeah that's about right!

Five out of six - not too bad!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Baby Connor

 

I had such fun meeting baby Connor last weekend. Such a cutie and man did he do great while we called his name, wiggled his little dog Blue and snapped away. He just loves to make cute little fists and it was great to capture his little 7 week old personality.

 

Stay tough Mr. C!  until next time...

 

the AVA sessions

You first met Ava inside her mommy's tummy then saw her infant shots here and YES she is still a little angel baby now 5 months old and growing up quick. I took these of my little niece Ava up at my Mom's house in Ojai on Monday - such a lovely day!

Such a little sweetie - we caught her cute smile! We have to snap away now before she can squirm and run like her sister and cousins.

Since I grew up in Ojai in the late 70s and 80s the style of filter on these seems particularly Ojai to me!

Party party party!

Hi friends I wanted to let you in on a new service I am offering .... PARTIES! You know I love to attend them, I love to throw them, and I also LOVE to photograph them. I have learned all too well that as the party hostess picking up the camera and snapping great photos at your own party is just downright hard. Or impossible in my case as my youngest does not like my attention directed away from her - sound familiar? Well, I can help you capture all the great details, guests and fun of your party for you. Below are some photos I took at a recent Tinkerbell themed party - such fun!

The Birthday girl getting her face painted by Tink

Favorite photo of the day - SO CLAIRE!

Fairy decorations from Paper and Cake

Tinkerbell from Tiara Parties

Please contact me if you are interested in having a party photographed. 310.308.5575 miranda@mshantiphoto.com

Infiniti Shoot

I had the opportunity to do a commercial job last week at an Infiniti dealership up in San Jose documenting the sales and service processes that go on at a dealership. The images will be used for Infiniti's web training and online articles over the next year or two. It was a taste of what big time photographers do on a regular basis with 4 am alarm to catch an early flight to shoot all day with models and a long shot list. It was a great experience for me as I build my business and am so thankful for the opportunity. I hope to do more projects like this in the coming year. Here are some of the shots:

I love referrals for great projects - give me a call to discuss your needs.

Miranda 310.308.5575

beach boys ... and a girl

Do you know I can do gift certificates - yeah I'm fancy like that! This family received the gift of photos from some friends of theirs for their birthday and these are the results. Need a last minute gift - I could whip you up a little gift certificate and email it to you today - nothing easier than that right?

busy busy boy

Last weekend I met this adorable little boy named Logan to take some photos. Well Logan had other things in mind as adventure seems to be his middle name! So I quickly gave up on trying to get him to sit still and simply tried to capture his spirit. We didn't end up with that perfectly posed picture, but that wouldn't be Logan - instead some great photos of him exploring.

at the beach

This past Sunday evening I met a family down at the beach and let me tell you it was photographer central. I'm finding that this is definitely the busy season as I have certainly been doing lots of mini shoots for families to get some nice photos to send out for their holiday card. I've been having a great time working with many old friends and some new friends too. When I met the Lindsay's down at the beach the first thing Lisa said was she wanted to do some more photo-journalistic styled photos and not too posed = fun for me! Its always fun to mix it up a bit. We braved the wind and even a little water time for some great shots.

In my studio

I did a few mini shoots with a more in studio look a week or so ago -really just my living room with a backdrop and some lights and I am happy with how they turned out.

This first family is our good friends the Howe's and you can catch Andrea's blog here for crafting, food and fashion.

I love the above pic of Taylor - so pretty! And the Cinema filter below looks fun on these, fitting since Art was a film major:

I also had my first session with a pet in this studio session. Little Darby did great and seemed to love the camera with Delaney and Samantha, who is the girls hair stylist - they love visiting her salon!

Good friends

I had a chance to take some pictures for some great friends this past weekend. After a morning wrangling 4 little girls into a family photo 1 kid was a piece of cake!

We went down to Gum Grove Park in Seal Beach, which although it is just behind a residential neighborhood it looks like a secluded area with great trees and nice light just before sunset.

Although technically this next one is way blown out I love the airy light you get when shooting directly into the sun at Sunset

Muse

You know how artists and designers speak about having a muse, well I may have found mine - the Ireland girls. Great eyes, unbelievable poses and such personality! I took some photos of them again this past weekend with their cousins and grandparents - thanks for the fun Irelands.