natural light
The first grad photos of the season are always a bit nerve-racking, but this group made it a breeze. Their friendship and energy were infectious, and their looks were on point. Each grad glowed in their own way, and the couple and group photos are too sweet!
On a drizzly San Francisco afternoon, Clarissa and Khadijah met me at the top of San Francisco to take these dreamy engagement photos. When the drizzle stopped, the diffusion of sun through the clouds brought these Sophia-Coppola-Marie-Antoinette vibes to life. A wonderful way to celebrate love with dear friends!
Another engagement session with one of my favorites! This is now my third session with Maya; we previously shot photos for the Womxn of Color Collective Portrait Project and her law school graduation. It was such a treat to feel the love the between these two. The only one who loves Maya more than Jason, is the camera!
When your friends get married, obviously, you take photos! For those of you who’ve been around a while, you’ll recognize Victoria from some of my favorite environmental portraits and engagement portraits. Well, here she is as a stunning as a bride-to-be. Her amazing ‘fit is surrounded by the Sonoma greens and blues. I was so glad to help capture these long awaited moments with family and friends!
Will and Haley are my first good friends from high school to get engaged, and I jumped at the chance to take their engagement photos. They worked around my moving schedule, and we were able to find a day to meet at one of my favorite photo locations, Joaquin Miller Park, to celebrate their engagement and new puppy. Juno definitely stole the show!
I met Alegna at the San Jose courthouse Alegna during her 2L summer. I hosted a small gathering for women of color and after learning about her career aspirations, I connected her with partner who worked in the field. When she reached out to me again months later asking me to take her graduation photos, I couldn’t say no. And the cherry on top is that her fiancé, Ray, also graduated from USF the same year with a masters degree in education. Nothing makes me more proud than seeing two Latinxs with DEGREES!! Felicidades!
Sabrina asked me if she could gift her mom a photo session for Christmas; how could I say no?! I think this was such a sweet, sentimental, life-long gift. In addition to the session itself, Sabrina and her mom spent time together picking coordinating outfits and brainstorming for the session. Hopefully one of these makes it on the wall at the McGraw’s new house!
#WithMoralSupportFromSabrinaMcGraw
Victoria’s back! And this time, she brought Julian. I was so excited to celebrate their engagement. I had a vision of the two of them in front of a wall of plants, so when we realized that the Conservatory of Flowers would be closed, I didn’t realize it was a blessing in disguise. Instead of sticking to the one building, we explored the surrounding park and got this rainbow of backdrops. Between the location and the beautiful golden hour, the photos came out *chef’s kiss*
Genesis came to town and (obviously) had to get some updated headshots in. Now that she is working at a tech company we went from boring grey suit to colors, smiles, and a signature leather jacket.
Between editing all of these galleries and work, I don’t have brain power left to write cute little captions, but look at these photos of Ariel!
Obviously, I took my own holiday card photos. Fernando and I recently moved to San Jose, and we wanted to take our photos here to highlight the life change. While jogging one day, I came across San Jose’s rose garden and knew this would be the place. We came around 8:30 a.m. on picture day, and I’m glad we did because around 9:00 a.m. the garden started filling with other families taking holiday photos. Looks like we picked the spot! The morning fog provided the a nice hazy background and the softest morning light. In 30 minutes we had enough selection for the holidays, and beyond!
When Fernando’s niece asked me to take her senior portraits, my first reaction was “I am cool enough for Gen Z!!” We planned our date around the holidays and got to work. The Claremont colleges served as our backdrop, and they put in work providing beautiful old architecture and maintained greenery for the photos. Mayra came in the cutest preppy outfit that paired nicely with her surroundings. And I have to say, she started out a little camera shy, but after an hour she was hitting poses like it was no one’s business! I am honored to have had a little part in her celebration of this milestone (and I am really looking forward to coming back to this campus to take more photos)!
It is always fun when my lawyering and photography worlds collide. In this case, one of my mentors reached out to me to take some family photos. Apparently many other families had the location in mind because there were at least four other sessions happening at the same time. Luckily, that gave us more time to catch up. And, oh my goodness, when I tell you that her daughter was one of the most special people I’ve ever met, I mean it. I hope to continue to capture her family over time!
When Jenny reached out to me asking me to take her graduation photos, I was so flattered! Despite going to school across the Bay she’d heard of me and loved my work. And then, when she scheduled her photos for the weekend after the bar exam, I was so impressed! This future-public-defender chingona came through looking fly af with smiles, confidence, and lashes for dayyyys!
Niland reeeeeeally didn’t want to drive all the way out to Santa Cruz to take graduation photos, but you only graduate from UC Santa Cruz once! There was no way I was foregoing the diffused light through the redwoods, wide open pastures, and iconic Santa Cruz vistas; and I’m so glad he was convinced. These photos were particularly special because Niland is my sister’s boyfriend, and I am so proud of what I delivered for him and his family. Watch out! Slug crossing!
A full circle moment! Ryan was one of the first senior portrait sessions I ever did, and this year I had the honor of taking photos for his little sister. She loved the idea of going to the same park and recreating some of the looks we did for Ryan. I love watching my work evolve over time. But more importantly, I love watching my relationships with clients involve into genuine friendships!
Although every session is fun, this one was made a little extra special by the group of students who cheered for Rachel as she posed in front of the big Berkeley Law sign. Rachel was all smiles, laughs, and shakas! After we mostly wrapped up we spent a few minutes chatting about the bar exam and hung out long enough to catch the lights come on and get some moody dusk vibes. Congrats Rachel!
Okkk yellow! One of my most fun discoveries this season is that I had virtually no outfit color repeats. And Emma in the yellow just makes sense. And can we talk about how she brought a Berkeley themed trolls doll to photographer with her? A riot! Thank you for the belly laughs and dance moves!
Come to law school for a degree, leave with a sweetheart? Yeah, I know what it’s like. This was primarily Clarissa’s shoot with a few photos of Manny, but I could not help myself and had to go overboard with the couple photos. Clarissa’s pink and seafoam outfits paired with Manny’s brightly colored stole made these photos pop! It was also adorable to see my friends so enamorados. Congratulations y’all!
One of my favorite things about taking graduation portraits is seeing people that I’ve only known in a school context get all snazzy! (At this point, it is also just great to see people after a year, alone, indoors.) Maria cleaned up nice! She was such a joy to photograph and had me cracking up the entire time. The hoops, the red lips, the dress, it was all such a vibe.
