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Why I marched on January 21st, 2017 along with 2.9 million other people…

Here is some of what happened the day after Donald Trump was inaugurated president of the United States, after winning the electoral vote, but losing the popular vote by close to three million votes, because of his campaign promises to make America sexist, racist, homophobic, and full of hate again:_54a1817paigegreenmarchoak01242017City officials estimate that 500,000 people participated in the main march in Washington, DC._54a2227paigegreenmarchoak01242017250,000 in Chicago._54a2165paigegreenmarchoak01242017250,000 people in Boston._54a1950paigegreenmarchoak01242017200,000 more in Denver.

_54a1930paigegreenmarchoak01242017In New York, the estimate ranges from 200,000-500,000.

_54a2038paigegreenmarchoak01242017An estimated 60,000 people marched in Atlanta._54a2257paigegreenmarchoak01242017In Los Angeles, the estimate is anywhere from 200,000-750,000._54a2129paigegreenmarchoak0124201760,000 in St. Paul, MN._54a2048paigegreenmarchoak0124201750,000 in Philadelphia._54a2106paigegreenmarchoak01242017100,000 in Madison, WI._54a2077paigegreenmarchoak0124201720,000 in Pittsburgh._54a2043paigegreenmarchoak0124201720,000 in Nashville, TN._54a2108paigegreenmarchoak01242017And these are few of the 60,000 who I marched with in Oakland, CA._54a2196paigegreenmarchoak01242017In the history of the United States, there has never been a one-day protest that was this large._54a2021paigegreenmarchoak01242017These numbers prove that we are not going accept the agenda of the Trump administration without a serious fight._54a1924paigegreenmarchoak01242017But now that the marches are over… it is time for us to get to work._54a1894paigegreenmarchoak01242017-3

This is not about democrats vs republicans. Or conservatives vs liberals. This is about human rights and decency. This is about love vs hate. To find out what you can do to make your voice heard after the march click here: www.womensmarch.com/100

 

One Street, Four Families and Me…

Last year I was lucky to photograph this cute family…

And that cute family showed their photos to this cute family…

And that cute family showed their photos to this cute family…

And to this cute family…

And because all of these cute families live on the same cute street in the East Bay, this year one of the mothers offered to help organize schedules so I could come back and photograph all of the cute families on the same day.

So that is what we did.

And here are some of my favorites from our marathon photography day on that sunny Saturday in November…


Thank you, Rachel, for suggesting the Clover Drive photography day. And thank you, Kim, for coordinating all of the schedules. I had lots of fun with each of your families and I really hope to see you all again next year.



To dress up, or not to dress up…

This is Charlie, chef and co-owner of Pizzaiolo in Oakland, and the truck he uses to pick up his produce from the farmers’ markets.

And this is his son, Eli.

Charlie’s daughter, Matilda, wanted them to put on suits because she felt weird being the only one dressed-up during the group photos, after her impromptu wedding dress photo shoot.

While I really like the photo above, mostly because of Charlie’s socks, I think I like the one below better…

It is definitely random, but it is more of an honest reflection of who they were on that rainy Monday in the middle of January. I love dressing up but if I have to choose… I prefer honest reflections over imaginary projections any day.

Baby Therapy…

This morning, I kind of was feeling like this…

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But then, a little of this…

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….and I suddenly felt better. I am a strong believer in baby therapy, especially if you get to borrow someone else’s baby, and then sneak away right before the smiles wear off and the nap time blues start to take over. But we got two solid hours worth of toothy grins out of 9 month old Hudson before his modeling session was declared over.

It was a good way to start a Sunday.

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So hard to choose…

Meet Kiea and Colin. They got married on 6-7-8 (june, the sixth month, on the 7th day, and in the year 2008)… and everything about their love story seems to work in that amazing organic way… proving they fit together perfectly. They said their wedding was absolutely wonderful, and their only regret was there weren’t many photographs of just the two of them. They had a different photographer, who did an excellent job, but who didn’t get enough photographs of the two of them.

So they called me and we made a date. Kiea scheduled a hair and make-up appointment with a friend and then we met in the middle… which happens to be in the middle of the most beautiful countryside and a perfect backdrop. And in a matter of 2 hours, we covered just about every beautiful setting possible. Now the only problem is, how do you choose which photo to pick as your favorite… because they all are so darn cute.

It was wonderful to have so much time to play, and to play without the stress of the wedding day. I loved it and only wish I could have a photo shoot after the wedding with all my wedding couples.

OK… I said it was hard to choose a favorite… but this one wins, for me.


Word of Mouth…

I was so happy to receive an email from JoAnn this summer. JoAnn is expecting her second child and she wanted pregnancy photos as well as photos of her cute family. JoAnn got my name from Maria, the mother of the 2-year old who’s birthday party I photographed in the spring, and Maria found me on the internet.

I love that I have been in business for 3 years and I have yet to make business cards… word of mouth is way better than business cards– and it saves trees too! (Although, I know I will receive grumpy comments from my loved ones who wish I had business cards so they can pass them out…. so it is only a matter of time until I give in to the little white rectangles.)

Anyway, here are my favorites so far. I took a few rolls of film too, so as usual, there will be more to come. It was such a fun photo shoot… gorgeous couple with a super happy 2 year old and big beautiful windows. It was a great way to spend a Sunday.

 

Just a typical Thursday with good friends…

Meet Rebecca and Kevin. They are my friends, in fact, they were the first two friends I made when I moved to California in 2001. One reason I like them is because when I say, “Let’s do a photo shoot,” they say, “OK, we’ll wear these hats.” And then we went to the thrift store….

and I bought this hat for $13. That was a good Thursday.

Deborah turns 90

To celebrate Deborah’s 90th Birthday… 99% of her family members turned up for her party in Oakland, some traveling as far as NY. I arrived at the end of their festivities to take portraits and it was fun to see everyone so happy and throughly enjoying each other.

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But one of my highlights was from the week before, when I went to Oakland to meet Deborah and find a good spot for the portraits.

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During the visit she shared some amazing stories about growing up in Berkeley for most of her life and being caught up in the social turmoil during the 60’s. I am so envious of her generation and in awe of all they were able to experience in a lifetime.

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