happy sunday! holiday photos in san diego

we kicked off the holiday photo season early this year, with an end of september shoot that was so much fun.  this family is so amazing, full of love, goodness and friendship (plus, they are gorgeous!) --we've known them since before the little guy was born!  this was at tamarack beach in carlsbad, take a look at a few of our faves...

i mean seriously, does it get any more picture perfect than this? i'm waiting for the magazines to come calling...

happy holidays swensons!

dec 4: a month of charitable giving -- toys for tots | sf bay area photographer

 

in honor of james, whose birthday is today, we are featuring toys for tots, a fantastic organization that you surely have come across in years past.  the toys for tots program was started by the marines and is another organization that is super responsibly run.  we love that most of the money donated goes directly to the children to buy toys and gifts.  

you can donate by clicking here, and make a child's christmas super happy this year. 

and today's photo is another one of our san diego family, at another one of our favorite places, old poway park.  love, love, love, especially the cute little puppy...

happy holidays,

dani + james

dec 3: a month of charitable giving -- USO | sf bay area photographer

as many of you know, james is a former marine, so military-focused charities have a special place in our hearts.  for years, we have been donating to the USO, which provides care packages, entertainment and support to our troops overseas. 

it is amazing how little you can donate and still make a tremendous difference in the lives of the soliders who are away from their families for months at a time.  from phone cards to magazines to basic toiletries to snack foods, the USO provides it all.  and if you want to get more involved, you can volunteer with the USO and provide much needed help welcoming our soldiers back home or assisting in putting together care packages.  you can also check out their facebook page here.

for today's holiday photo, we are sharing a session from balboa park in san diego, one of our favorite locations EVER.  this little guy is so personable, and loves to rock it out with the camera.  thanks holden for being such a little rockstar!

happy holidays,

dani & james

dec 1: a month of charitable giving -- GLIDE SF | sf bay area photographer

every year james and i skip the christmas presents for everyone except the kids and instead donate to our favorite charities.  this year, we are stepping it up and donating to a different charity every day in december.  and we are excited to donate part of our holiday photo proceeds, so thank you to all our fabulous clients for helping us make someone's christmas a little brighter.

 

to start off december, we are donating to GLIDE, a fantastic organization in SF that helps break the cycle of poverty and homelessness.  one of the things we liked most about GLIDE is how involved they are in the local community, you can really see the effects of your donations firsthand, and you can volunteer in so many different ways.

this first post is part of our bay area family and are so much fun.  we did photos at the pulgas water temple, which is super amazing but really hard to get into on the weekends.  make sure you check park times for all the details.

happy holidays!

dani and james

its holiday photo time...and we are partnering with a new card company!

many of you have already signed up for holiday photos, but if you haven't there is still time left.  we'll be in san diego the weekends of nov 2-4 and nov 9-11, then again over thanksgiving weekend, so let us know if you are interested.  this year we are doing mini-sessions which are 15 minutes each, perfect for your holiday card.

and this year, we have partnered with minted.com for photo cards.  they are super cute, very stylish and very customizable.  you can check out our storefront here.  it is a fairly easy process, you go online, request photos from us and then we upload, send you a key and you can design your card.

need a great xmas gift and live in chicago?

then you should head over to play, the coolest toy store around. i know i have mentioned play several times before, when i was showing off all the cool kids photos that are up in the store. but seriously, the store is so awesome it just got featured in where magazine. for those of you who don't have the pleasure of spending 75% of your time in hotels, where is a guide to the coolest things in the city, so it is quite impressive to see my good friend ann featured there.


check out the featured story here

julia and alex

we met my friend sonia and her husband during thanksgiving weekend at a large park in la, and i am not sure why, but i thought the park would be empty, assuming people in la don't go to parks. well it was packed, so we found what we thought was a peaceful spot in front of the lake and snapped away. julia wouldn't cooperate at first, but then got into the spirit when daddy hit himself on the head. alex was all smiles, and seems to love the camera already. here's a few of my faves...


julia loves sticking her tongue out, and has the cutest smile...


she's getting her mom's curls, watch out boys...


alex is quite the little model...



look at the adorable outfit, you can't even tell its about 80 degrees outside...