I can’t believe that another year has just flown by. Sitting around the living room on Christmas day and watching the kids open their presents I really couldn’t believe that the year is almost done. It’s been a crazy busy year and now a few weeks of slowness so we can catch up on all of our albums and post production work. Once of my resolutions coming up in the new year will be to blog a little more regularly again. I hope that everyone had an amazing Christmas and is getting ready for a good New Years! We wish you all the best and Thanks to all of our great clients in 2011 for allowing us to capture your special weddings and portraits! I am always grateful and feel blessed to be allowed into your lives.

– Mark

To all of the moms out there I want to wish you all a very happy mothers day. I am so very grateful today to my wonderful wife who is not only a great mom to our 2 kids but a huge help to me. I know it was a huge change for her to go from bring career orientated for many years to a stay at home mom of 2 all within a short amount of time, but she does a great job nurturing our 2 little ones and setting a great example for them. Aside from being a kick butt mom she helps out my photography business more than most of you know. Always willing to take on new things and grow she sets all of my appointments, does a lot of our office work, learned how to color correct and do some of the post production, the list just goes on and on. Lisa, you are a great wife and mom, I do love you.

For every mom out there I hope that you have a amazing day today!

– Mark
Bay Area Wedding Photography

I know I have been slacking a lot with posting some personal photos. I used to try to keep up on the blog with some milestone moments for me or my kids but lately have been totally slacking in keeping you all updated. I do tons of little mini shoots of the kids and try to capture all of the different stages they go though. Its normally just a quick 20 minute shoot here and there and them in their natural environment. The hard part is since they aren’t pressing and I always have so many other shoots to process that are on deadlines I push these to the side and kind of forget about them for awhile. Recently though I have been playing catch up on these so will be finally updating the blog with some things I have been up to lately and our 2 adorable kids. It’s only been 2 1/2 years since our first was born and I can’t believe how blessed I feel every day to have 2 amazing kids in my life now. It’s a tip to even imagine what life was like before them they really do bring a lot of joy to your life.

Here is a few quick images of them the other day. They are growing so fast and are starting to develop such personalities its awesome to watch.

– Mark
Bay Area Wedding and Portrait Photography

Ok, I know it’s not photography related but still relevant. And since I know so many of you are movie buffs out there and getting ready for the red carpet event this sunday with the Oscars I wanted to let you all know of an awesome app out there for the Oscars. I did help to create this so have to say am a little biased but it truly is an awesome app out there with some very cool features and beautiful design and layout. So if you are a movie fan and love the Oscars check out Awards Hero: Oscars Edition. And to make it even sweeter there is a Sweepstakes for a change to win up to $10,000. Just download the app and click the giveaway button.

Awards Hero: Oscars® Edition has just been updated for the 2011 Academy Awards®. This comprehensive iPhone app takes a look at the 2011 Academy Awards ® nominees and lets users vote on their pick to win. You can also quickly create an Oscars® Pool and compete with your friends. With a beautiful interface and easy to use navigation this app is perfect for all movie lovers. Check out a little more about the app below.

Do you have what it takes to be the Academy Awards® hero? Think you can guess all the correct winners from the 2011 Academy Awards®? Awards Hero: Oscars Edition is the ultimate Academy Award app! View all of the 2011 Academy Award® nominees and vote for your pick to win. Share you votes with your friends on Facebook and Twitter and create a Oscar Pool to see who can pick the most winners. You can even view beautiful full screen trailers for the 2011 movie nominees and film info, all built right into the app.

Some other useful features in Awards Hero: Oscars Edition:

• Deepen your movie knowledge with our database of every past nominee and winner with our full list from the inaugural year in 1929 up to today.
• Live news feed to give you daily movie news. Don’t miss any entertainment news as we lead up to the Oscars.
• View trailers for movies all within the app.
• Share your picks on Facebook.

One place that I have been able to visit many times and absolutely love is Hawaii. I have been to most of the Islands in the past, Oahu, Maui and the Big Island. The tropical air and beautiful landscape rich with unique and colorful flowers has always inspired me. Right now sitting in the airport in Honolulu I am amazed at the diverse beauty of this earth. So much detail that we pass in our day to day lives is truly amazing. Sometimes we get so caught up with work, life, family commitment etc… that we really do forget to look around (wherever we are) and appreciate some of the beauty that God has created. I spend a little quiet time this trip exploring and creating photos and it was a great reminder to me of how much beauty we do have on Earth.

This time I was in Kauai which is such a different island so lush, green and just absolutely amazing. Here are just a few images actually from my iPhone, i’ll share more later when I have time to go through everything and also share some very cool photos of the wedding, but in the meantime enjoy and remember to take in a little time wherever you are to take in your surroundings and cherish the day that you have.