Remember Diana and Derek?  They were the fabulous couple that won my contest I had a couple of months ago!  I have been sooo looking forward to this session with them!  Not only was I excited to meet them, I was very excited to meet their sweet little twin girls!  As soon as I saw the girls, it was love at first :-)  They are both sooo precious..Emma smiled as soon as I started talking to her and of course that melted my heart :-)

Initially, the concept of the shoot was to have Diana and Derek have some "alone" time and just focus on each other.  But really, their little girls are a part of who they are now as a couple so I thought it only natural to also have some pictures of them with their girls.  To see them with their girls is just so precious..I even thought "hmmm...maybe I want twin girls?"  They seriously made it look so easy although I'm sure it's soooooooo NOT!  It did give me hope though that if they can have twins and still like each other a lot, then Doug and I can have one and still like each other a lot :-P

Diana and Derek...thanks so much for inviting me into your home and sharing a little bit of your life with me!  It made me so happy to see you guys enjoying each other and spending some "alone" time together (even though I was with you the whole time snapping away..lol!)  While I was working on your pictures, I couldn't help but notice how lovingly you two look at each other...that made my heart happy knowing that even with the stress of having two babies to care for, there is still that spark in your eye.  Whatever you do, don't lose that!  

Now for some of my favorites!

How adorable is Kristina!  Since Kristina and Emma are identical twins, I asked Derek how they were able to tell them apart.  If you can see the little bangle on Kristina's leg, that's one way.  Emma wears hers on the left :-)  There's also another way to tell them apart involving ears but Derek told me not to tell :-)

And here's Emma...I love this pic!

So adorable!!

I love this one of them just hangin' with their girls :-)

Now for some Mommy and Daddy alone time!  We started the session in their beautiful backyard..

Then headed to Old Town Tustin...such a cute little town!

Love how they are looking at each other here..can't you feel the sparks?!

One hot mama :-) (thanks to Carina for doing a fab job on hair/makeup!)

and a hot Papa :-)

Love this!

and this!

They seriously make such a cute couple :-)

So, as I mentioned in my last blog post, I attended Jose Villa's workshop a little while ago and had such a great time!  If you're familiar with Jose's work, you'll know that he is a film shooter.  I've always loved the look of film and even sought out a film shooter for my own wedding.  Jose did go into his film work as far as the type of camera/film he uses so if you're looking to get into film or have an interest in it, I would HIGHLY recommend the workshop!  Even if you're a dedicated digital shooter, you'll still gain a lot of insight from the workshop..especially if you want to learn how to get published, pose your clients, etc.

On top of all that, you'll get to meet different photographers and most importantly, get to meet Jose and see how he works to get his kick-ass images :-)  Jose is a great guy..very down to earth, sweet and funny!  All in all, I would highly recommend the workshop to anyone who wants to get inspired!  Be warned though, once you attend, you will have to fight the urge to switch to film!  I think he had us all entertaining the idea of switching to film or at least trying it but what can I say, I love the instant gratification that digital gives you and I love working on my images in photoshop...it's like painting a picture to me :-)  I get to see it unfold right before my eyes :-)

Here are some images I shot from that day.  Special shout out goes to the following for making the shoot awesome!

The Models: Jocilyn, Mark, and Natalie!  Seriously...these guys were amazing...so effortless and easy to work with!

Mar with T.E.A.M Hair and Makeup

Renae's Bouquet

Last weekend, my friend Drew and I took a trip up to Santa Barbara for Jose Villa's workshop...more on that later this week!  Not only was I so excited for the workshop, I was super excited to shoot Elenor and Eric's engagement pictures in beautiful Montecito.  Montecito is one of my most favorite places in the world...with Santa Barbara coming to a close second :-)  I was so excited to not only be shooting somewhere other than OC/LA, I was even more excited to get to see Elenor and Eric again! They are just so cute, fun, easy going, and relaxed together.  It made my job super easy...we had a great time talking about the economy, how to end world hunger, oh yeah...and also how much we love watching The Real Housewives of NYC and the Millionaire Matchmaker! :-)

Oh...and MOST importantly, we talked about what an amazing time Elenor (and Eric!) had at the NKOTB concert in Santa Barbara right before their engagement session...I knew there was a reason why I loved Elenor so much ;-)

I cannot wait for Elenor and Eric's wedding this September!  They both are very close to their families so I'm sure it's going to be a fun, heartwarming, warm-fuzzy-feeling event :-)  Now for the good stuff!  Check out my favs below!