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.

Happy Thanksgiving to all our our wonderful clients. We are so thankful to be able to capture some of the most important moments in peoples lives and it really it a huge honor and blessing. As I type this with my 2 year old little princess hanging out on my lap listening to Christmas music already makes me realize how important family is in my life and really part of what I do and focus on as a photographer, creating images that will capture the true love and essence of people and relationships. Thank you for all letting me do what I love to do and allowing me into your personal family space.

Happy Thanksgiving from Stagi Imagery from mark stagi on Vimeo.

Happy Thanksgiving from all at Stagi Imagery

Since I have been posting nothing but wedding photos lately I figured I had to break it up a little bit and throw in a few quick photos (only iPhone photos sorry, no time to do my own post production). Nothing to write today just 2 cute pics

To my Dad and all the Dad’s out there I want to wish you all the best on this Fathers day. Dad’s play such an important role in their kids lives and in a family, they help to shape the future generations and I just want to say thanks to all the amazing Dads out there. Special thanks to my Dad for always being a part of my life. My Dad was the booster club president for my High School my last 2 years of school (and I think even another 4 years after that), he coached all my tee ball and baseball teams, I think even coached a few other spots I was in when I was younger. He was always interested in everything that I did and wanted to coach or somehow be a part of what I was doing. I have the best memories of him taking my sister and me to the boardwalk to play games during the summer, we would play skeeball and other games and save our tickets all summer to try and get something cool, which normally was just some little stuffed animal that we would play with for a few days and then throw it in the closet. When we were little my dad may not have expressed his love that much verbally but he really didn’t have to. We knew we were loved and taken care of by him. He has always been a good provider and a great dad.

As it says in Psalms (20:7) – “The righteous who walks in his integrity– blessed are his children after him!” We have to lead our kids by example, it is so important to set the tone for your kids and family. I know I am far from perfect but hope and pray that I can learn from my mistakes and be guided to live a life of Integrity. And I wish the same for all of the Dad’s out there, that you will have the Wisdom the lead a life of integrity and set the example for not only your children but others as well.

I hope all of the Dad’s out there have a great day today.

I know it’s been a while since I posted any recent images of our kids. It really is crazy how fast babies grow, I still remember holding Faith when she was just born and rocking her to sleep in my arms. I remember her first time eating rice cereal, it all seems like just a few days ago but not she is running around the house and speaking real sentences. I just put her to sleep and read her a book. When I was done she went to a page and remembered what I just read her “Daddies can take you trick or treating. Daddies can help you give the dog a bath”. I just sat there for a minute in amazement, granted her words weren’t crystal clear but they were clear enough to make out each and every word. We all get older very quick, remember to give your kids, parents, siblings lots of love while you can.

Here are a few recent images of these 2 amazing kids!

To my wonderful wife Lisa thank you for all of your support and love over the last 9 years. When I first met you I never would have imagined our lives as they are today. It’s pretty crazy to think about how much has changed over the past 10 years for both of us. So much has changed for us but it seems to have went by in a flash. There are some amazing memories we have together. From our Honeymoon hanging with the crazy New Yorkers in the Bahamas, our whirlwind European adventure, sipping on espresso’s in Venice, late night gelato and pizza, our fun fixer upper projects (knocking down walls with fishtanks), hiking in Yosemite, the list just goes on and on and on. There have been such fun times together and with the birth of our two precious babies growing our family I know so many more adventures and growth coming in the future. I hope to always try and be a better husband and provider to you each and every day and promise to learn to love (or at least try to love) all of your favorite period piece movies.