I know... I know... I said that this year I'm only sticking to Engagement & Wedding photography, but I had already promised my friend Monique that I would take photos of her beautiful family.
Monique and I have been friends since I was 15 years old. I was her maid of honor in her wedding 5 years ago and now I'm taking photos of her cute little family. Oh how time flys! The Gomez family were down for whatever pose I wanted them to do, and baby Dominic is such a happy lil guy! He was so chill the whole time! My Tia Diane went along with me as my second shooter. We had a great time and she helped me a lot by getting the baby's attention. If I could change one thing I would have push the photoshoot back an hour to let the sun soften a little. Overall I am pretty happy with the way this Dodger family’s photos came out!
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It’s a GIRL!!! We’re having a niece!!! Yippee!! She’s going to be so spoiled, it’s not even funny! Can’t wait until she is here! The time has come; my son is already 3 –finally old enough to start playing some sports! Lil Jack had his first soccer practice and we were more excited than he was! They started off with stretching –and he wanted no part of it. I stood next to him looking like a total dork stretching next to all these little kids and my son just stood there and stared at me. When it came time to have them run across the field –he was all about it! He’s the youngest and smallest of the group so he looked so cute running with all the kids. He was so slow, but he had the biggest smile on his face because he was running as fast as he could!! He did a lot better when it came to running around kicking the ball. By the time he finally warmed up to everyone it was already time to go home! We’re all looking forward to the next practice. This Saturday he has his first baseball practice –we’re just going to throw him in everything and he can choose which he likes best. Its Pee Wee non competitive sports, so they’re just teaching him the basics. He wants no part of it... On your mark... Get set... GO!!!! Last but not least... GOAL!!! Now he wants to participate!
Wow guys I hit 161 views (in one day) on my blog, that is totally awesome!!! I appreciate all the luv & support! Feel free to leave some feedback, say hi! or else I'll never know whos reading :) Id be happy to answer any questions... In fact I was asked if I could post some photos of my engagement session, to be more relatable to my readers/ future clients (hopefully). Before I picked up a camera I was a bride lookin for someone to take our photos. So I know the nervousness of being in front of a camera and worrying about looking silly. Lucky for you I feel that the sillier you act, the better photos we get at the end. I will never include a photo that made you look silly (unless you want me to), I just love the natural reactions that people make after the silly pose. During my engagement I had a coworker who was practicing photography and offered to take our photos. We chose the spots and because I had already known her, I was comfortable. It seems that when I’m comfortable, then that helps Jack get comfy. Side note: Jack’s an easygoing guy that can get along with anyone, but he hates taking pictures! So for him to get comfortable was a big deal. The photoshoot was really fun because she knew the photos that she wanted to take and openly communicated with us! Then I was referred to a fellow schoolmate who was becoming a photographer. She wanted to take our wedding photos to build up her portfolio and I was on a tight budget so I was all about it! We had a family/ engagement session before the wedding. Since we really didn’t know the photographer, I felt that our stiffness showed in the photos. She was kind of quiet and didn’t direct us much so we felt kind of lost. I made sure to get to know the photographer more before the wedding, in hopes of us getting more comfortable photos. The photo below was considered a blooper and it was one of my favorites!!! Our wedding photos came out nice. I was very pleased with them, and I had
appreciated all her hard work. But it took me a really long time to get my photos. I learned in school that no matter how beautiful your photos are, if you don’t keep good communication with your clients and deliver them in the time frame promised, you may be leaving a bad impression on the client. I'm very thankful for both of my engagement sessions. If I could leave you with some advice; definitely invest in a professional photographer and videographer. These are moments that you’ll never get back, or be able to do over, so make sure you choose the right person to capture these moments. My sister in law will be finding out the sex of her baby this week, and we’re all so excited! lil Jack told me that he’s excited that he’s having a cousin. He wants it to be a boy so he could teach him how to play the drums! It feels like only yesterday I was lying in the bed getting an ultra sound awaiting the results. I remember right when the technician said do you see that right there?… it’s a BOY! Tears of joy filled my eyes! Are you sure!?! I wanted to make sure she was 100% sure because we really wanted a boy. Then we had a celebration lunch at Jojo’s pizza! Had some yummy bread sticks and ranch!! MMMM!!! Aww the good ol memories! Over the weekend we got to spend some quality time with my parents. I love when everyone can just hang out together. While everyone was just chilling in the backyard, I was shooting some candids. Oh yeah, my lil guy will be starting Pee Wee Soccer tomorrow! Soo Excited! Hope you all have a great week! These are my handsome Jackz!! This is my brother Michael's dog, pretty Roxy! My dad and my son playing with Roxy... He was trying to hug Roxy... This blonde haired, blue eyed guy is my angel, he has made me the person that I am today! He is my little bro Michael. Mike has showed me the meaning of Patience. Humbleness. Love. Purity. Truth. Most of all Courage. He’ll always have a large piece of my heart!
I clearly don’t know the rules about playing in someone else’s front yard; it’s a
total NO NO! After a woozie ride up the mountain (I learned that my son gets motion sickness like I do), we stopped at Alpine Slide (I had never been down this slide, -it felt like I was on that bobsledding movie "Cool Runnings" it’s awesome!), then we finally arrived to the cabin. It seemed as though everyone else had snow in their front yards, except for ours! I spotted a front yard a few cabins over, who didn’t have a fence around it, and it had perfect untouched snow! And lots of it! No one seemed to be home, so I gathered the kids up and decided we’d play in the front yard for a little while. WE HAD A BLAST! Little Jack helped build his first mini snowman, we had a snowball fight, and I found a trash can lid to slide down the mini hill with. After all this fun,the homeowner finally drives up. He was definitely not happy about this! He politely kicked us out. It’s a liability issue if someone else is on your property, if they get hurt they can sue the owner. LESSON LEARNED!! But I think that’s bologna, why would we sue him, when it was our faults for being on his property in the first place! All I know is –if I had a nice patch of snow I would let the neighborhood kids play in it! The next day we took the kiddos to the Bear Mountain ZOO. They had a nice batch of mountain animals. Overall it was a fun week with family and friends! Time well spent! |
I'M JANELLE MARINA
Wife, Mama Shark, + Photographer. Most days, you'll find me in mismatched socks and a top knot, working behind my computer with a smile on my face, listening to Zac Brown Band and R&B --or, dancing in the kitchen with my 3 littles and hunka husband, seeing who could come up with the coolest dance moves. I'm a wedding photographer, West Elm lover, aspiring advocate for our buddies with special needs, and a Certified Dreamer since 1986. We live in a cozy city in Southern California and are always up for a good adventure. I enjoy telling stories with my camera, grubbing on spicy food, and solving the latest Dateline case.
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December 2019
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