These photographs were part of two sittings for a high school senior portrait. Although we went in many different places in San Francisco and used very colorful clothes and funky walls (more on those later as they’ll be part of a sample album I have in store for a “high school senior portrait package”) these are some of my favorites… Alessandra is just a natural beauty and when she put on her tutu at the Legion of Honor I think she was more herself then wearing her everyday clothes… Her many years studying ballet make her feel so comfortable and relaxed while spinning in front of the camera… Things got even funnier when she started listening to her favorite music on her iPod… one of those nice kid bands I can’t remember the name of… In my days there were Duran Duran girls were tearing their hair out for.. are teenagers nowadays more romantic?

Stanford University Campus is still very popular for engagement sessions. His romantic and warm architecture makes a ideal setting for tender, intimate moments. When I shot these two e-sessions in late July I was lucky to find wonderful flowers that added a wonderful splash of color and softened the lines of the buildings.

Arantxa and Joseph are such a fun couple! A little shy at the beginning of our session they easily relaxed and showed off their playful personality. I met Arantxa a couple of years ago when I photographed her friend’s Alice wedding. She told me she remembered me being easy to work with and appreciated how ‘discreet’ I was during the whole day. For a person that doesn’t like to pose like her, it was an easy choice to hire me for her wedding… During our consultation and E-session we got to know each other a little more and I am glad now Arantxa and Joseph are very relaxed around me and I am looking forward to shoot more of their jocose personality at their wedding in October. We are also planning a lasagne party at my place sometime soon!

Nicole found me searching for a wedding photographer online. During our consultation she told me she was also drawn by my name. Her family is originally from Italy and her grandmother will have someone to speak italian to at their wedding! Nicole and Jack were easy to photograph and they make such a handsome pair! I felt like I was photographing movie stars… Very tender to each other, the energy between them is evident! Their small wedding will be such a romantic one, can’t wait for shoot more images of these two…

a little filter here to soften the stairs and background door to make Nicole and Jack stand out from the surroundings even more.

here I was testing my new 15 mm Canon wide lense.. love the distortion of the building!

for a more ‘urban look’ I desaturated the colors in this photograh…

Although these pictures were taken a few months ago I wanted to thank this beautiful baby girl for her happy face. Doesn’t it make you smile? I couldn’t resist but giving her the spotlight!

As I recommend most of the times, for newborns (and slightly older babies like Mia, she was about 3 months at the time of this shoot), home sittings are the best. At home the baby feels reassured by familiar environment and faces. Moms who are still recovering don’t have to face the hassle of getting organized for a studio session.

As long as there is a big window it’ll be easy to use only the source of natural light for more romantic, soft portraits. At Mia’s home we were using a room where the bed was very close to a big window that received plenty of light but no direct sun light. The soft pattern of the duvet cover is not distracting and the blue wall matched perfectly Mia’s blue and sparkling eyes. Mia herself did the rest! How precious!