HAPPY & TOUGH PARENTING MOMENTS

I love these two memories from one of my favorite photo clients about the crazy rollercoaster that is being a new mom. I'm still on a kick about asking any and all parents advice before my wife and I have a baby. I'm all about gathering info from the experts, and so many of the moms in my life are full of advice and wisdom. 

"My toughest mom moment was when I had to be strong and guide her through a scary time when she was in the NICU on her 5th day of life. I had so many emotions running through me worrying about this tiny being. I was also thinking, I worked this hard to push you out, there's no way I'm giving up! A memorable happy moment was when Ripley was about 6 months old.  I remember I made her giggle and squeal at the very loudest I had ever heard her laugh before. At that moment I saw the pure love and joy on her face I realized how much I wanted to make her this happy all the time."   -Kristi Studdert

Ok, I'm happy crying into my coffee now, thanks Kristi! I hope you all have a beautiful day.

 

TRAVELING WITH ANXIETY

My body is in Los Angeles, but my mind is still in Italy.  We planned our honeymoon after a ridiculous amount of overtime and months of hard work for my wife on her latest project, Call of Duty-Black Ops 3. We had such a lovely trip, but my anxiety knocked me on my ass a few times.
Sometimes, I get nervous around big crowds of people. So, traveling after the Paris attacks through places like Brussels was a challenge. There were armed military guards on every block, and my sweet wife checked in and communicated with me in times where all I could think was, "There are three guns within 6 feet of my body- GO HIDE UNDER BLANKETS!"
We didn't hide, we kept all of our plans and did almost everything on our list of "must do's" before we have a baby. I'm so thankful fear didn't stop us from celebrating and exploring Europe together.  

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CARRYING MY CAMERA EVERY DAY

When I was an art student, I practiced every day and had at least one camera with me at all times. That daily photo shoot inspired me to pull myself momentarily out of my anxious-about-everything brain and meet people all over San Diego. 

Once when my friends were playing a big show at an excellent music venue, the NBC photographer who was covering the event didn't show up. I had my equipment with me, so I took photos and submitted them to his editor. After that, I was shooting music weekly for them until I moved to LA. Even though I was getting paid a tiny amount for that work, I was so excited to see my name credited and spelled correctly under every shoot I turned in. Also, I got to be around so much incredible music and met so many creative minds through that adventure of a job. 

After working for almost five years at a corporate photo/video job in the video game industry, I had almost lost that camera carrying habit and only used my cameras when I had a family session, headshots, or for the day job. I am very proud of things I made there; it just wasn't ever really MY work.

Now that I'm out of the corporate world, I've been carrying cameras with me again and am pushing myself to do that regularly because bright ideas pop into my mind every time I leave the house with my tools. 

Through this, I've also prepped a fun lesson for a new art student and turned this theme of keeping creativity an option into some of the work she's going to practice!

STARTING A FAMILY | TWO FUTURE MOMS & A BOTTLE OF WINE

My wife and I are in the long process of trying to have a baby, and it's been such an interesting experience so far. To start the weirdest online shopping we've ever done, we opened a bottle of wine and picked out a donor that is super close to my ancestry, (my wife is the one carrying) and they hit most of our "must haves." Some of those things were: creative, mindful, healthy and smart, and we found a great match. In a fun twist, they even look incredibly similar to my brothers as kids.

We don't have baby news yet, but I'm already having a hard time not picturing a mixture of this sweet face on the left with my weird, frizzy-haired antics on the right. I can't WAIT.

By the way, you can subscribe below to follow along with our crazy baby journey if you'd like! 

Crossing all the things,

Samaria

HAPPY FAMILY PHOTOS IN SOLANA BEACH

This sweet family had me come over to their family home in Solana Beach to take photos of them all in one place. The day was filled with so much love and so many laughs. In a wonderful coincidence, it turns out I played softball in 5th grade with Lauren, who reached out to book the shoot! I just love how small this world is!

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I adore seeing people that have been together for many years flirting with each other. These two are still pinching each other's butts and stealing kisses while their kids and grandkids are occupied. Major marriage goals right here.

 

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