A Family Photography for a long time client when they all need headshots.

Last December I photographed my long time client Rachel and her kids in the East Bay Hills. They all needed professional headshots and portraits. Professional Headshots they got.

A family photography in Golden Gate Park

My client wanted a clean and modern family photo session with with one huge request: she wanted the bottom of her shoes (red color) to be visible. This is what she wrote on Yelp about our photo session: Straight to the point, I was looking for a child photographer for my daughter and I. It was a special occasion and I had a vision in mind. Within 10 minutes of our photo shoot Fima achieved my vision. After that he was more than willing to keep going and try new and fun locations for my daughter. She is very sassy and he got great images of her personality coming through. I will definitely hire him again.

A fun family photo session in Danville

When everyone has fun during family photo session, we get great photographs. This was no exception. My client wanted to have the country feel for the photos. Having a tractor as a prop helped!

Family Photography: Baby's First Cake

My client Michelle asked me to take portraits for her baby’s first birthday.  I have a product especially designed for this type of occasion, where I place a birthday cake in front of the child and we watch the fun unfold.  I love being able to photograph a kid tearing through their first birthday cake, especially when I can do it through the lens of a camera, capturing every step of the way.  From these photos, we create a memory book as a keepsake for that family to enjoy for the years to come.

I always like a challenge, so in this particular photo session, I decided to ask Michelle if she and her family had any pets.  Upon discovering that they had a cat and a parrot, I asked if I could photograph their pets in front of a green screen so that I could Photoshop them into their baby’s first cake portraits.

When they  brought in their pets, I had their child pose with one of them, so we could capture an authentic interaction between the baby and their pets.  Of course, having a cat and a bird in the same place might not end up so well, we went with just their parrot, and the photos turned out beautifully.  Who could resist capturing the dynamics available between pets and their human companions?

Using green screen technology, I was able to composite images of their pet cat and parrot next to their child, cake and all.  Creating a portrait with both their child and their pets brought out a side of their family that was playful and whimsical.  Most importantly of all, my clients loved it.

But of course, we couldn’t forget about the big kids in the family: Mom and Dad!  I had them both pose with their child, together and individually.  I loved how their daughter’s magenta dress stood out against the muted tones that her parents picked out.  Wearing neutral tones works best in family photography.  Of course, children tend to look great in whatever they’re wearing, especially if they’re the center of attention.

We took a few more photos of the birthday girl, even adding in their pet parrot for good measure.  This time, we didn’t use a green screen, since we wouldn’t have to have both pets in the same place.

I keep a smattering of stuffed animals, toys, tricycles, tiny chairs, and other accoutrements for children and even parents to play with.  I have a child-sized bench in my lobby, and their daughter immediately took a liking to it.  We brought it into the studio, and it was an immediate win for everybody involved.  It even acted as a perch for their pet parrot!

Taking family portraits is always a rewarding experience.  Taking photos of children, babies, parents, families, and even their pets together brings me a sense of joy, and brings the families themselves closer together.  As a photographer, my job is more than just taking pictures.  I create memories for people to cherish for years and generations to come.

Cleopatra: Examples of Green Screen Photography

Frank and Sonny are long-time clients of mine.  They're wonderful with creative ideas for every photo session we do. Last Halloween, they concocted the idea of dressing up their daughter as Cleopatra, Frank as Julius Caesar, and Sonny as Mark Antony.

For the portraits that I took in their family photo session, I used green screen technology to put photos of their daughter in front of an ancient Egyptian setting.

Frank made every single one of these costumes.  What a family!

Family Photography

Crystal and her family have been clients of mine for several years.  Much like many of my other clients, when I ask them what they want for their family portrait session, they can't decide on whether they want indoor studio photography or outdoor photography.  Luckily, we can make both of those happen in 1 1/2 hours or less, and all for the same price.  We have many parks nearby.  40 minutes in a park, 40 minutes in the studio, and we can make everything that you want for their family photos a possibility.

Newborns and pets

Recently Stacey Wiley of Woof Walks in the East Bay came to me with a challenge. She wanted portraits of her newborn as well as several of her dogs. What came from the photo shoot was a lot of wonderful shots with the dogs as well as the people. I have done a lot of pet photography in my career and these were some of the best behaved dogs I have worked with so far. Stacey really  is a dog whisperer.

San Francisco Studio Family Photography

My client Marica hired me to photograph her whole family. In our San Francisco portrait studio, I had the opportunity to take family portraits of her family, her brother’s family, and her parents. She told me it was the first time in her life that she had a formal photograph taken with her father. The family photos included pictures of the grandparents with their granddaughters, the two cousins playing together, and photos of the entire family together. It was a great opportunity to take these very special photographs for my client.

Portrait of Boxer and his Family

In a studio session with client Carolyne, her husband, and their daughter, I photographed both family portraits and individual shots of this unique family. The husband is a professional boxer, so the family wanted actions shots of him. While the little girl was changing, I got the chance to take portraits of her father as a boxer, plus family portraits as well.

Family Photos in the Presidio

We ventured outside our San Francisco portrait studio for a photo session in the gorgeous Park Presidio of San Francisco. Amid the nature, we photographed client Gisele and her family. Gisele is the owner of newly opened Spark Creativity, on Church Street in Noe Valley. The family portraits included Gisele, her husband, and her kids, and feature whole family photos as well as sibling photos. This was one of my favorite family photo sessions in a while- the entire family looks so happy! The best compliment I can ever have from a child photo session is when children ask their parent if they can do it again next week! When Gisele ask her kids why, their reply was that they had too much fun at this photo session. Even father mentioned that it was very painless experience. He had a lot of reservations about it beforehand.

Green Screen Photography

My longtime client Gitta, and her son Ari, flew in from Australia for a mother-son photo session in our portrait studio. To add some interest to the family portraits, we used green screen technology to put Gitta and Ari in different places around the world. It was a very popular game on Facebook to name the places where photographs were taken, and the backgrounds include such places as the pyramids of Egypt, to the Eiffel Tower in France, and, of course, the Sydney Opera House in Australia.

Sonny and Cher

Having an appreciate for pop music, we paid honor to legends in the 60s and 70s in this family photography session. Sonny and Cher were icons forging the way as husband wife team.  I photographed these timeless portraits capturing the heart of this father and daughter and to the memory of Sonny and Cher.

Rita Hayworth

Reminiscing on the past, this portrait photography session continued along the path of a tribute to the famous stars of the 40s. There needed to be a change that happened in my studio in order to capture the essence of Rita Hayworth. Adding some color and a costume change we got back to photographing and capturing unique family portraits.

Rita Hayworth and her loyal companion. Everyone made it into this photography session even the dog. He was on his best behavior and right by Rita's side!

Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner

At this photography session the family wanted to capture the essence of the 40s and some of that era's legends. I captured this family's' portraits as they would have back in the day at my portrait studio in Noe Valley. Everything was working the wardrobe, make-up and posses. It is as if Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra came back in 2013.

Flashback to the 40's with leading actress, Ava Gardner! Once a classic always a classic

This father daughter portrait was a tribute to the classy 40s era and of course the leading couple Ava Gardner and Frank Sinatra. Black and white photos, pearls and tuxedos you cant get any better than that!

Frank Sinatra at his best, sitting back and enjoying life!

Newborn Studio Photo Session

I had the pleasure of having this lovely family in my portrait studio with their newborn baby girl for a family photo session.  She was only 8 days old when we had this newborn session.

Family Photography in My Portrait Studio

Yulia owns Flowers of the Valley on 24th street and she asked me to photograph her family. We of course had to have flowers in this photo session at my portrait studio. I photographed her children together and then captured the entire family for their family portrait under the mistletoe!

Not Your Usual Family Photos

My friend Keri who is also a professional photographer asked me to photograph her family. We took this photo session outdoors in San Francisco. I suggested they bring a couch to this portrait session.  When I heard her husband was a gymnast, I decided to change things up and add a little spice to the family portrait.

Destination Family Photography

I took this family out of my portrait studio and to Glenn Park for their family photo session. We photographed some precious family moments and took some great portraits of their daughter.

Photographing Newborn

I like the challenge of not only photographing unpredictable moments of children, but throwing in the extended members of families, pets. Pet photography is another challenge in capturing great images but all worked out today we got the family dog winking at the camera.

Every time you take a diaper off during a newborn photo session the child ends up peeing. It just so happened that I caught this newborn at the right time and captured this great shot in my portrait studio. It took me over 3 years to get this exact image.