Aviva Photography Blog

Who says to avoid these groups? I have to say, I was a little apprehensive. I know Crista, she’s a neighbor of Katie’s (mom of adorable J). But I also know of her very shy and sensitive girls. When Crista emailed and wanted some photos done, then mentioned a puppy… well, I was excited but definitely a little worried.

I prepared Kat for a challenging morning, and guess what? I think it went better than I could’ve ever imagined! They also brought their GeoBears (think Travelocity Gnome – they travel around the world and you take photos of them in different places and send them on).

The girls are definitely shy, but it was a quick warm-up process. Somehow I tapped into things that made them smile! I think this talent is geared toward the girls with me – probably because I have one of my own.

Gorgeous A…

And very beautiful happy M….

Oh yeah… and CURLY!

I LOVE that one!! And I realized this dog has one amazing life; the girls LOVE her.

By the way… these lovely sisters are going to be BIG sisters soon – Crista’s pregnant! Congratulations! So look out in several more months for some newborn photos.

Thanks SO much for a great day, everyone! I enjoyed playing with you all morning and can’t wait to see you again and show you the photos.

Sometimes you get lucky. I know I’m very lucky. But particularly with neighbors. We live out in town, and our neighbors are great. Maggie was pregnant when we met her – and I think you’ll recognize beautiful C and baby M from the website & such…

She was less than 2 weeks old I think when I took these. Which is crazy, she was 2 weeks late and a big girl! (Poor Maggie!)

And though Maggie was worried (as every mom is when they have a second), C LOOOOVED her baby sister.

Time goes exponentially faster on this island, I’m convinced. Look at M and C now!

Oh yeah, baby – it was ballerina central with the girls last week! I love these kids, they’re so happy and friendly – and my assistant du jour, Shannan, has three boys, so this was heaven for her too.

Delicious sand-covered goodness…. this makes me so happy.

C is so big now. She’s just lovely and smart and outgoing – oh, and these dresses? Their FATHER decided they should get dresses in Hawaii to wear for their photo shoot with me. I was so floored when I heard that!

The bumble bee song.

Thank you so much, Maggie. What a fun morning this was! Shannan & I just loved playing with your girls. See you soon with all the photos!

It’s an all to common story, espeically to me; “Dad (or Mom) is deployed, we want to do photos when he/she gets home.” I understand. I’ve dealt with 3 of my husband’s deployments too. Though I know it’s harder for others, especially being this far from the states and having more than one child!

Well, Jennifer got in touch with me and said her husband, who is deployed, wanted pictures of her and the kids. And that she’d have to dig out the wedding album for photos of herself because that’s how long it’s been! I know the feeling, Jennifer. Jeff – thanks for your service, and we hope you’re home safe and soon – here are just a few gems from our session at the beach together! I hope you enjoy them. You have a very sweet family and a wonderful wife. A pretty one too, I might add…

It was HOT! And I think the kids let loose when we went to play in the sand and shade by the water.

Oh – I forgot to mention that young S here had a run in with the bed frame and I think the bed frame came out on top… but luckily things were better by the time we went out to play. Poor Jen was worried about it, but we all know that if we wait for scrapes and bruises, the photos would never happen – particularly with boys!
Here’s gorgeous C – with her gold locks and warm brown eyes. What a smart young lady! She loved to play.

Speaking of smart, S here is not only good lookin’ but wise beyond his four years. He even wrote the letters of his name in the sand for me!

In the end, S conquered the cave and C found a friend in a pet rock… who sadly stayed at the beach. But don’t worry – he’s partying with his friends, C!

I’m really excited to share all the photos with you soon, Jen! Thanks for a fun day, and I’m glad you enjoyed the beach afterwards! I look forward to meeting Jeff and getting my camera on your whole family when you’re reunited in the spring.

This past weekend I met Alaina. She’s incredibly smart, she’s fun, she’s driven, she’s humble… oh – and she’s GORGEOUS! Mom’s a teacher and Dad’s a principal, and you can tell this young lady is well educated and will go far. She plans on studying journalism and her dream job is to work for the Alternative Press writing reviews and such. I myself am a fan of music – almost all kinds – and getting to talk to a 17-year-old about music is great for me! I love knowing what the kids are listening to these days. Wow. Could I have sounded like more of a grandma just then?

I know, shut up, Aviva – let’s see the photos. Can you say million dollar smile? The second I saw her I could see gorgeous green eyes and a blinding smile – beautiful!

I’ve been photographing the grads for a while now and I’m still amazed at how comfortable they seem to be with themselves. The self-image kids have these days is incredible; I was such a different kid! I think there’s some great parenting at work too, I’m going to get in on this secret before my daughter is a teenager.

My assistant, Katherine – she’s the best. I love going out there with her because her eye and her ideas are amazing – not to mention she’s so easygoing and makes the subjects feel so comfortable. We both spotted this place and knew we needed to put Alaina in it!

I was speechless when I saw this one. Which as you might imagine, is rare for me.

Sigh. There’s that smile again.

Stunning.

Alaina, thanks for a glorious day. Kat and I loved spending the morning with you! I can’t wait to finish up and share these with you & your family. Thanks for recommending Steel Train – who is from JERSEY btw, and so am I!

(Bear with me for a personal post – tropical storm-ish weather has made for not so shoot-friendly days, but I’ve done personal shooting so here we go!)

Summer is “PCS Season” here in Okinawa and at most overseas installations that harbor families. PCS means “permanent change of station”. It also means we say goodbye to friends and neighbors and new ones move in- the natural progression of things. Bad because friends we’ve made move away, but good because you make some new ones too. And eventually YOU yourself become the “short-timer”.
Well, this summer pretty much our whole block turned over. And two families across the street adopted chocolate lab brothers. Now named Zeus and Todd.

This is Todd.

Yes, he’s had a long day for a little puppy. He’s just as adorable as he looks here. And I am pretty sure he would taste like a brownie.

I live a 1/2-block from the Sunabe Sea Wall. I learned during typhoon season last year, that when you see someone running with a surfboard under their arm – the waves are awesome. When we arrived at the sea wall the other day, I saw this almost surf-show-tailgating scene right here:

This was gonna be good. It didn’t disappoint. As I peeked over the wall, I was thankful (and trust me, I RARELY am because it’s huge and cumbersome) that my hubby got a 100-400mm lens.
The sun was shining on & off through the waves as the sets rolled in. the colors were amazing, and it was just all so hypnotizing.

This was my favorite guy to watch. Rainbow Shorts Dude. Talk about NO fear, you could tell he lived to surf. Which is a very boring existence for about 95% of the year in Okinawa. This is probably my favorite of the day, but I really liked a lot of these.

This was great; this girl was probably about 5. She was so comfortable jumping and running on the jacks (the big concrete things at the sea wall that are built up for exactly such weather), and my husband was SO nervous just watching her. She’d stare at the waves, and when one rolled in, she’d scream and run back to the wall!

As we walked back, I snapped this one. The flip-flops lined the sea wall, and it was just another display to take in while on your way to see the greatest show… who needs movies? I have my friends & neighbors and a free live show on a gorgeous evening. Long post… sorry. I enjoyed this, thanks for indulging me.

I do have more I can share from this day… I’ll get them up one day soon when I have nothing to post about.

The surprise for my lovely senior:

You know I had to! Thanks again, K – it was so great meeting the rest of your family too!

If there is such thing as a second life, I want to come back as Matt & Amy’s daughter. There’s SO much love in this sweet family! And Amy’s taste in clothes for their precious little bundle, let’s just say I got a few tips on kid clothes shopping!
I can’t resist a baby smoosh face.

Hello, happiest baby in the world. She has good reason to be.

6-month-old E is just now starting to sit up – Mom & Dad stayed close as she wobbled, which made me feel much better. Did I mention the wardrobe? And no, they don’t make this dress in grown-up sizes. Bummer.

Those baskets hanging on the wall came in handy.

I feel like I had already been friends with these two. Matt was amazing with his little girl, and so loving with Amy – they really enjoyed it while Kat held E and they could snuggle up. So sweet!

But at the end… they spotted the tall sugar cane. They directed me to take this and it’s one of my faves! (Amy, wowzers.)

Thanks for a fantastic day, you three. I’m so looking forward to E’s first birthday shots so I can play again!

Ok… who got that reference? That’s a song title up there. And I grew up on the band that wrote it (thanks to my father). And what a face it was…

Last week I met Kaitlin. She’s a senior this year, and she contacted me because she’s friends with a couple of girls I’ve had the privilege of photographing. Now normally, in senior shoots, I tell the subjects to leave Mom at home and come play with me – bring a friend! Kaitlin asked about having her “friend” in the shoot – and then it became, “well, she’s a family member…” and then it came out that it was her “Mama”.

From that moment, I knew I’d like this girl. Their relationship was so fantastic. And I was dying to tap into her mother to see where she did all the right things because they had such an incredible relationship! (she told me it was all Kaitlin, by the way)

But then……. then I met them. Man oh man did we have FUN. First of all, I didn’t verify that they weren’t sisters, but you can see why I might doubt that this was her mother.

I also verified they had amazing taste in clothing. They showed up for photos like this:

And then… it began to rain. Now you all know, I’m fine with some rain. It never really poured or anything, but did it dampen the mood here? I’ll let you decide.

Totally sweet personalities: check. Totally up for anything, even in the rain: check. Totally into the arts….CHECK. (WHAT 17-year-old shows up with Andy Warhol totes and an Edie Sedgwick shirt that MUST be in her photos? Love her.)

As the morning went on I didn’t want it to end. I even drove Kaitlin back to her car afterward. And K’s mom was totally on board and had incredible taste. I could see why she was necessary on the shoot, “Oooh! Lie on the ground here…” (K – if you get discovered here, like for supermodel stardom, I just want to come to one of the big events and hang out and drink champagne. Please?)

“Ooh, Kaitlin, your purple headband would be great for that wall…”

I asked mom to quit her job and come work with me. I’m not joking.

A big thank you to Kristie, who assisted me at the last moment – you were fabulous.

Kaitlin, you’re amazing. Thank YOU (and Mama) for such a fun time, for two referrals already, and for reminding me – yet again – why I LOOOOOVE what I do. I can’t wait to see you both to unveil the rest of the shots… and a special surprise. (I’ll post the surprise after they’ve seen it…) I definitely hope to work with your whole family soon!

It’s the OFFICIAL day. Of what? Well… this is IT. The launch. What shall we do to celebrate you ask? Well – a little coupon went out to my Okinawa family members. If you book your session in the first two weeks (by September 15th) you’ll get over 30% off! So if you didn’t get the coupon and you should have – check your spam folder. If you STILL don’t have it and you want it – email me at aviva@aviva-photography.com or visit the website and use the “contact” page.

Hurry! The launch celebration is on NOW!! And I’m so excited I literally feel like my feet are a few inches off the ground!

Sneek peek time…. and I cannot think of a better way to celebrate than with these folks. I have a special relationship with my former boss, the sweet and uber talented Serena Nicole. I’m lucky to have crossed paths with this free-spirited soul, she has been a definite mentor for me. So when she asked me to take a few photos of her and her husband, I was overjoyed and got more and more excited as the day grew closer.

Happy 10th anniversary, you two… it just doesn’t seem possible! And happy BIRTHDAY, M (yeah, I know things).

The love oozed, my monitor was steaming, and it was one of those shoots where you look into the viewfinder and say, “Aww…” a whole lot. The pictures are worth so many more words.

These photos put me in such a relaxed mood… He’s so strong, and they’re so in love.

They just… fit.

Oh, SN – that breeze was workin’ your hair like a supermodel!

Ahem. Speaking of supermodel. Wow.

You find the most delicious light in the strangest of places….

Appropriate. The shoes are NOT going overseas with them… so here they are left behind.

You know Okinawa is hot… but can’t you just imagine a breeze in this relaxed photo?

Um, yeah. We left them alone after this last shot. This is WHY it was hot on that day I’d imagine…

“Thank you” just doesn’t cover it. Kat & I had such fun with you both, and it was a joy shooting someone who knew what she wanted and came prepared to enjoy a day with hubby. Kat and I both want to do a couples shoot now! Thanks so much, SN. Lots and lots of love & squeezes, and all the best for a stress-free (as possible) PCS.