Aviva Photography Blog

I’m having trouble remembering if I met Gina at the swimming pool during kids’ lessons in the summer of ‘07 when we arrived, or on the field watching our kids play soccer together. All I remember is 1. shampoo commercial gorgeous hair and 2. the warmest sweetest smile and personality. Oh yeah, and 3 kids. And a hubby who wasn’t around much – but hey, what’s unusual about that around here? Then…there were FOUR. Gina had little J six months ago – and oh my GOODNESS is he cute! They finally decided to do some family photos and I’m thrilled they called me!

We started at the beach on a gorgeous morning. Can I get a YAY for this amazing weather? Finally!

Mmmmhmmm…hubby hubby too! Sean, I told Gina and I’ll say it publicly – you are in the top 3 of photographed dads in my history. Easygoing, in love with his wife and his kids, having fun, happy – you’re a pleasure to be around. Not that the guys are normally terrible, but we all know it’s usually MOM that wants photos, right? (Myself included!)

Beautiful S in her element, according to Gina – with a handful of sand and running around barefoot in a dress getting dirty! She said she was “making rocks” and showed me one of them.

Sean & Gina really must be aware what trouble they’re in with this one – the oldest, and donning her father’s killer green eyes – you’re a stunner, I.

I love big families. These kids are amazing with each other – especially with the baby. They all just exude love and fun. B holding little J – love it!

Sigh. I love this room. (I might have to make a book of portraits taken in this room one day.) It’s my happy place – and this day was no exception.

(Ok – quick side note – GINA ROCKED on clothing choices. Coordinated, colorful, great-looking but not taking over their beautiful faces. PERFECT!)

AAAAND the kids. (you know these big family posts have lots of photos, right?)

Beautiful I:

Handsome devil B:

Giggle-puss S:

And magically delicious J:

(Oh yeah, that “Itsy Bitsy Spider” is a GOOD one!)

ALL four happy kiddos:

Dad with the girls, always precious.

(Aren’t you feeling the happiness and love??)

And last but not least….the cool gate! I love fisheye shots with big families, but this was new and definitely a favorite.

Whew! More soon folks…I’m not done being busy YET! But I’m also not done loving my job – thank you so much, Gina, Sean & the kids – I had a fantastic time with you.

I think you’ll remember adorable M and A…

(Their mama was pregnant when I took this… A YEAR AGO – OMG!)

Then baby W was born.

Ok – fasten your seat belt – THIS is how quickly time goes. W at nine months.

His beautiful and highly active sisters…

Little miss A there on the left – did NOT STOP MOVING. Oh man, I was having a heart attack every three seconds because she was balancing on a railing and hanging by one arm and swinging around like a monkey on a trapeze! But oh, A – you’re so beautiful and sweet. Little tickle monster.

Big sis M was a different story. Also a balance beam expert and athletic gymnast, however a bit more taken with having a baby brother – and definitely more taken with having the camera trained on her. Uh – can ya tell?

A wanted nothing to do with the baby, but M was different. She was lovin’ all over her little brother.

LOOK! I got them to sit together! Ok, with my assistant Kelly’s help, and with some serious coercing. But it happened. For a split second…

Mom had plans, so they did the hand-off during the shoot. Aaron’s a doctor (which helps because I’m sure he has the perfect bedside manner to deal with these active kiddos!) and after helping the girls with the sand in their eyes they gave him some very good love. THIS photo makes me melt. Sigh.

Then he became the ULTIMATE hero by getting a big hot pink strawberry sno-cone! The girls were ecstatic (and ya know I was too, hello photo op!) but W? Well, he seemed perhaps a bit jealous. OH this is an all time favorite photo – what a laugh!

What a great evening, thanks for playing with me, kids! Crista & Aaron, the kids are all just gorgeous and delightful. Can’t wait to show you all of them soon! Happy Monday – the SUN is back!

There are more than seven people in the family, but I photographed seven of them. Mimi is my daughter’s piano teacher. I think a lot of you might recognize her; she runs Sunset Music School and is also in a rock band called Jet that plays around Okinawa all the time.

We’d been talking about doing her family photos for a while, but I think the birth of their granddaughter firmed her resolve to capture their family. Hey – whatever it takes, right? Then she said, “If everyone shows up that day, i’ll be happy!” Well – they DID!

Yesterday was Mimi & Eddie’s silver anniversary. I think that & Mimi’s big five-oh birthday recently are good enough excuses for some photos too. Mimi – you look fantastic! I know you’ve been working hard on the fitness part – but you just look so young anyway! Wow.

Man I hope I look this good when I’m a grandma…and how ’bout the head of hair on that baby!?

Oldest son, Kei and his wife, Rimi are the proud new parents.

Middle brother, Nico, is graduating high school. (You just might see another photo of him soon in a couple of months…) He’s a really sweet kid. “The golden child” according to Mimi. And the youngest, R, is 13. And he was just not feelin’ the happy family photo vibe. But I suppose I expect that of a 13-year-old. I GOT A SMILE OUT OF YOU! HA HA!

LOVE this one of the brothers!

EVERYONE!

Grandma and Grandpa just have NO love for this baby…it’s such a shame. (Oh does this photo make me swoon…Eddie, you’re so sweet.)

While I was taking photos of Kei & Rimi I turned around and saw THIS!

Last but not least – I know. It’s silly. But man it’s cute, isn’t it? BABY THIGHS!

More soon….thanks so much for coming out for photos, everyone. You made your mama so happy!

**I’m totally booked through December! I’ll start taking 2010 bookings very soon, everyone! Thank you all for keeping me so busy.**

Well, this island is losing another couple of gems in less than two weeks. Jackie and Gus are PCSing at the end of October, and since Gus JUST got back from a deployment in September, I was over the moon happy to squeeze in this shoot! Jackie worked at Kadena marketing. I’ll tell you, walking in that place was what I did when I needed a confidence boost! They are all SO nice over there…I know she’ll miss her co-workers. And they’ll miss her.

Jackie. If I haven’t told you enough – you are just gorgeous. WOW.

This morning was so gorgeous…the ocean sounded soothing, the breeze was blowing. I can’t believe summer broke so early this year. I want this on my wall please. And I’m not even that much of a beach girl!

Beautiful. Inside and out, J…

Just couldn’t pass the identical rental Demeos without taking a photo, could I? Thanks for indulging me.

At one point (Jackie, correct me if I’m wrong) I think I had mentioned how gorgeous Jackie was SO many times, that Gus said, “Yeah. She got the raw end of the deal!” I beg to differ. This is Gus in his “GQ” shot (no DOUBT) – after staying up all night watching college football, mind you. Lucky for me, the Longhorns won – otherwise it would’ve been really SAD red eyes.

Hubba hubby no doubt.

AAAAAND totally smokin’ hotties in the doorway.

Will I ever stop posting photos of these lovebirds?

Ummm….maybe after THIS one.

No.

Not yet. One more of JACKIE….total freaking rock star model.

Sigh…ok, I’ll be finished now. There was one more down there in the previous post – I won’t repost, just go look there. It’s worth it.

Good luck in Twentynine Palms, you two. Go up to Idyllwild sometime – it’s lovely! And it snows there. And then you can snuggle up for a weekend, and go back home where it’s warmer. See you soon, gang – the photos are DONE. Whew…that was close.

I have not been present on this blog, and that’s lame. But most of you know, that sure doesn’t mean I’m sitting here bored out of my skull! I should at least be on here posting some pretty photo like those kitten and flower photos on the highway in Japan when there’s road construction.

Seriously, you guys…I had a week of rain which resulted in THREE shoot cancellations/reschedules. In the next two weeks I have SEVEN shoots. I want to take care of everyone before my mom and dad come to visit in November! (I am so excited!!)

Sunday I had two shoots, yesterday I went to the hospital to photograph a dear friend’s new baby boy, and today (Tuesday) I have another make-up shoot – and I can’t wait to share this fun with you! So – just a taste…

Sunday morning…gorgeous Jackie & Gus. Wow.

Sunday evening…this diverse and musical family of 7 (you can only see 5 1/2 of them in this one, but I’ll have more soon.)

And Monday afternoon – baby G…welcome to the world, little man!

Though I feel like I’m in a pool of water that’s barely up to my eyeballs and I may just drown, I’m still alive. And I’ll be here a couple of more times this week. For sure! Thanks for being patient.

I just love how it started off all tender and sweet and turned into WWF.

It’s been a while – but it’s worth it. Promise!

Photographers out there, you know the first question you get is always, “What will we WEAR??” Nikki (self-coined my “pen pal”) contacted me a while back about family photos. I got an email from her before the shoot saying, “I am already planning outfits!  I don’t know what to pick, I am going to bring lots of outfits, one will be white tops with blue jeans for sure.” Now folks – I’ve taken a lot of portraits now… and my first recommendation to people who choose me, if they’re willing to listen – is to avoid those white shirts. I’m a color photographer; if you’ve chosen me – you LOVE color! And well, white tends to either wash out people’s faces, or create such contrast that features are hard to see. Solid colors are great – white, I suggest avoiding. Yes, even if you aren’t pale. I love her for it, Nikki took this one to heart!

I asked Nikki permission to post HER photos. Yeah, that’s right…she emailed me photos. Because after my email – she went shopping!

She found that dress at Jusco! LOVE this girl…are ya kidding me? I was giddy. She sent this one too.

How flipping cute is that pink dress? I was already excited, but now I was so curious to meet Nikki. Well, as it ends up we did meet by accident in front of Krishna restaurant (she spotted me!) and then for lunch once before the shoot. And that New Yorker is just my speed. I say it all the time – I always meet these families way too late and they leave me!

SO….all that yadda yadda…led to THIS!

Mike and Nikki are so fun together, and their 13-year-old E is a riot! 100% character. LOVE IT!

Sweet happy family that came to have fun. Nothing makes me happier!

E was DYING to ride the slide…had to oblige. Sadly NOT a fast slide, but she makes it look fun nonetheless.

Notice a theme here? Tongue sticker-outers…

That was the silly side…but here was the totally sweet and romantic side…

And the beautiful family in the gorgeous Okinawa water side.

This was WAY too long in coming – SORRY, Nikki! I’ll have one more collage to post here ASAP – I think you know what it is, Nik.

Sorry it’s been so long! Until tomorrow-ish…