I am going to start a new little monday blog series asking the question, who am I? Just to give everyone a little glimpse into my real life, what drives me and what drives my work. So who am I… its a good question to ask yourself and as a artist gives me a look into why I do what I do.

I am passionate…

Passionate for moments, passionate for life, passionate for laughing, singing and dancing (my dancing may be pretty bad, and my wife may get a little embarrassed when we are out in public but I will tear up any dance floor. It usually won’t look pretty but i’ll always have a smile on my face). I love the saying “La Dolce Vita” in Italian translated means the Sweet life. Waking up in the morning with a fresh breath of air, enjoying the gifts God has provided me and the beauty that lies all around me are inspirational to me. I love the little smiles my daughter gives me when she wakes up. I love watching the trees move outside dancing to the wind while I sip on a Mocha. I am passionate for capturing life through my camera’s lens.

One thing that I have always been passionate about in my photography since my teens was capturing those perfect moments. For me that perfect image is always right in between moments when people put their guard down and are just being real, being themselves. I have always loved how photography can capture so much emotion and that perfect image can just bring you right back into the day. Photography for me will always be a way to capture life & to tell stories.

For most of you that really know me or have seen me work know that when I am shooting I get into the shot. I always want to capture the fun of the day and am usually laughing, smiling and crying along with the rest of the family. I was editing a shoot from last month and came across a shot that my 2nd photographer took of me while we were shooting a few bridal party images. This image brought me back to the fun of the day and really got me to remember why I do what I do, it’s not just a job its a passion.

– Mark

One part of the wedding day that I really love to photograph (actually I love it all, but for the sake of this blog post one part I really love) is the first dance and father/daughter, mother/son dance. Normally these are in the reception venue where the lights come down, creating a nice dark room. I love to think of dark places as a nice blank canvas ready to create whatever vision is in my mind.

Since I have a really diverse background in photography (photojournalism and fine art) I pull out lots of different tricks throughout the day to really capture the images in my mind that will show off the day in a artistic and unique way. We usually setup some lights around the dance floor to create some unique lighting for the dancing. This can give us so many different ways to shoot with every angle being a little bit different for lighting.

Here are a few examples of some things you can do for some creative first dance shots:

What is different about our lifestyle family portrait sessions and why are they important? This is a great question that I ask myself all of the time. To be honest I didn’t do a lot of portraits in the past because I never really got it, I never really got how important they were to a family until last year. After having our first child and watching her grow up in front of my eyes already to a 14 month old who is walking and talking I realized how important capturing these little moments with her were. I love looking back at some of the photos of her as a little baby and going through all of the stages of her life so far. Each stage is so different and her personality changes all the time. The images I cherish the most are the natural and fun shots, a photo of me giving her a hug and a kiss brings back so many more memories compared to just a standard studio style photo for me.

After realizing how important it was to capture and create these moments I really started to let more people know of our family portrait sessions. I created a new website just for our lifestyle work: http://www.stagiportraitlife.com and am passionate about documenting life for families. I believe every family should have awesome memories of this time in their life and want to capture your families moments. The sessions are always fun, so forget any past experiences you have had with photographers. Just give us a call and let me do what I love to do, create lasting memories for your family!

There are still some dates left this year for family portraits. A portrait session can be a great Christmas gift or make for a nice personal holiday card to send out to your family. Our lifestyle family portrait sessions are always fun and capture your family in a natural setting being yourself. Here are a few of our recent portrait shoots, to setup your session just give us a call at 408-323-8727 or click on the contact button above.

What an amazing day Jon and Kara had at the Chaminade in Santa Cruz a few weeks ago. It was a really fun day with a great group of people, Kara had such an amazing smile all day long she was just beaming with joy! Here is a little slideshow with some highlights of the day. Thanks for having me as a part of your day!

Well not really her first, but her first time dressing up. She got a little pink poodle for Christmas last year that she loves carrying around the house. I always see her crawling down the hallway with her poodles ear in her mouth and its one of her favorite stuffed animals. So when we saw a poodle costume that matched her stuffed animal at the store a few months ago we knew we had the perfect outfit for her. She only left it on for a little while and then starting taking the hoodie off but I was able to grab a quick video of her on my iPhone.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-IZ0GCVX24[/youtube]