The Beautiful Wasim Family

April 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment

I met the Wasim family last year when our children started pre-school together.  Little Ayza is just about the cutest little girl you will ever meet.  She has an adorable bubbly smile and beautiful eyes.  I was super excited when they asked me to photograph her and her new twin baby sisters.   We met at their home in downtown San Francisco and explored their house and courtyard.  Ayza was full of energy so we spent a good amount of time watching her run, play and dance.  And when she wasn’t running around, she was playing big sister which was a lot of fun to see.

Thanks Wasim Family for inviting me into your home and I’m really glad that our families are getting to know each other.  And special thanks to Kathleen Louvegny for assisting me on this session.

Please vote on your favorite photograph.  I give them a print of the most popular.

Girl hugging her twin baby sisters - San Francisco Child Photography

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Girl smiling in San Francisco home - San Francisco Child Photography

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Smiling Girl standing in a brick court yard - San Francisco Child Photography

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Family of parents, grandmother and three daughters - San Francisco Child Photography

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Grandmother and Granddaughter - San Francisco Child Photography

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Mom and Dad hugging - San Francisco Child Photography

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A San Francisco Family laughing- San Francisco Child Photography

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Girl peeking through a steel fence- San Francisco Child Photography

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Baby twin sisters on a rug - San Francisco Child Photography

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Peekaboo- San Francisco Child Photography

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Blog link:   http://jchandlerphotography.com/5271

If you know anyone that is looking for family photographs, please send them my way.  Photos make for great presents especially with Mother’s Day and Father’s Day right around the corner plus I offer cash rewards for referrals.  Contact me to schedule a session or if you have any questions.

 

 

Filed Under: Children/Families Tagged With: , , ,

The Amazing White Family

June 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Every super hero has a secret lair – Batman has the Bat Cave, Superman has the Fortress of Solitude and even the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have their home in the sewer lines.  And while the the White Family may not be superheros in the technical sense, they definitely have a cool secret lair.  And since its on Filmore, their house isn’t so secret but it does make for a great lair.  They are doing an awesome job of remodeling a wonderful old Victorian in the Alamo Square district of San Francisco.  It has such beautiful light and features that a photographer cold spend hours, if not days photographing different areas of the house. So I was super excited when I walked in and started to think about the possibilities.  But the big news from this weekend was that they had a couple chicks (of the feathered type) staying with them.  The little chickadees were refugees from Austin’s school and needed a place to stay over the weekend.  Austin looked liked an old chicken farmer has he deftly handled his feathered friends.  Even the family dog put in a helping paw.  So we took a few photographs in the “barn” upstairs and in the family room.  Then we headed up to Alamo Square.  Austin has just learned to ride a bike at park he accessed his inner Lance Armstrong and was going fast, fast, fast.  He definitely looked like a superhero on a high-tech jet bike.

Thanks White Family for inviting me into your home and good luck with the rest of the house.

The complete gallery is here (password required).

Amazing White Family Photographs-1

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Blog link:  http://jchandlerphotography.com/2300

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Weekly Workshop 5 – Flash and White Balance

April 22, 2010 By 6 Comments

This week I met Elyse and her beautiful daughter Rose.  We were going to meet outside but a cold spring rain kept us inside.  Fortunately, they have a wonderful home in the inner Richmond of San Francisco so it wasn’t a problem at all.  I continued my work with on camera flash and added in a white balance challenge.  A few days back I saw Ed Pignol speak at a PPGBA meeting (Professional Photographers of the Greater Bay Area).  He said that a key aspect of his photography (which is amazing with a capital A), is fine tuning the white balance.  He was the first photographer I heard say that he uses the manual WB setting predominantly rather then the camera presets (Automatic, Sunny, florescent, cloudy, etc).  I had never done that so I thought I would give it a try.  I am always looking for ways to improving results while reducing my post processing time.

Hard to say if it was the great light, beautiful little girl. wonderful house or the white balance fine tuning that produced the results but overall I was really happy with this approach.  Does require for greater awareness of surroundings and settings but that is probably a good thing.  You can see the light got green in the shots from her room (with the horse) where the walls were green, a bit warmer with the hard wood floors, a little cooler/bluer when she was looking out the frontdoor glass.   Next step will be learning the manual settings for different colors.  One big bonus was that post processing was much easier. One color preset to pop the colors a bit and then just a little exposure correction. As a San Francisco Photographer, I think this will be really helpful for shooting in different houses and apartments. Light can be so crazy in San Francisco with the ever changing weather.  Getting great exposure no matter where the house is and no matter where the family is in that house, will be very helpful.

Thanks Elyse and Rose. Hope you enjoy the photos.

And if you want to hear Ed speak this week, come to the San Francisco Smugmug User group meeting.

Blog link:  http://jchandlerphotography.com/1703

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Weekly Workshop 2 – Exposure in bright light

March 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

With the days getting longer, I thought it prudent to practice photographing in bright sunlight. I met Erin and her two fabulous sons Logan and Miles at the Golden Gate Park Playground in San Francisco. It was a beautiful, bright afternoon so it was perfect. I shot in manual with my 85 1.8. And to reduce the “I’ll take care of that with photoshop” thoughts, I shots jpgs instead of RAW. I worked on reading the photographs via the histogram and changing the settings with out moving the camera from my eye. All in all it was a really great shoot – Logan and Miles were perfect models and played in the grass and the trees and I think we got some nice shots.

One cool thing was seeing Miles’s face get lit up by the reflection off of Erin’s shirt. You can see it in the photograph with her laying down and him standing up. His face is ever so slightly light up by the reflection. I never realized that would happen. Might be useful next time I photograph a baby or a toddler.

Thanks Rudsenke Family. I had a great time and learned a ton.

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Blog Link:  http://wp.me/pFbSK-jp

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Nopa Little Ones and Music Together

March 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Sunday was the monthly playgroup for the Nopa Little Ones.  How these parents find time to organize such amazing events, I’ll never know.  This time we were at the Brahma Kumaris Center for Music Together classes.  There must have 50 children plus their families all singing, dancing, pounding on drums and shaking bells.  Lucius and I stayed there for both sessions and it was really nice to see him go from nervous observer (he literally sat in the hall way most of the 1st session) to participant in the second.  If you live in San Francisco, I would definitely recommend checking out the Music Together folks – especially if you are a rhythmically challenged parent like myself.

These photographs were all taken from one place and mostly from the hip.  Apologies in advance for all the children I missed.

A few samples below and the rest are here (password required – you can get it from the nopa list serve).

click here if there is no slide show above.

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blog link:  http://jchandlerphotography.com/1181

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Amanda and Jeff’s Engagement Session at Baker Beach

March 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

One of my favorite parts about being a photographer is seeing people go from nervous to comfortable to actually excited about being in front of the camera.  Its just cool to see and feel a person (or couple) let go of their concerns and really get into the moment.  That’s when the magic starts to happen (at least for me) and the photographs turn out really nice.

That’s exactly what happened with Amanda and Jeff for their engagement portrait session at Baker Beach this weekend.   They started out nervous and made all requisite claims about not being photogenic and how they have never done this before.  But anyone who spends more than a second with them will tell you that they are as “cute as a bugs ear” (does anyone really understand that expression?) and will do just fine in front of a camera.  Plus it was an absolutely perfect San Francisco afternoon.  With the sun and the Golden Gate bridge, its easy to see why Baker Beach is such an ideal spot for engagement shoots (I counted 7 couples being photographed there that day and that doesn’t include the naked shoot that we saw).

All I did was to keep asking them “what would you do on the beach if I wasn’t here?”  After a few “I don’t know”s” they started to walk, hold hands, play, and just be with each.  I kept the camera going and we had a great time.  Amanda looked fairly like in her white dress against the dark skys and blue ocean while Jeff looked was the “man” – especially in some of the silhouettes.   Towards the end, I really had to go, but I kept saying “oh, oh, oh – that’s too good to pass up – go walk over there.”   Of course by this time, there were more than happy to oblige the photographer and kept playing in the sunset.

Amanda and Jeff – thanks so much for giving me this opportunity.  I really enjoyed meeting you and have fun at your wedding.

A few samples below and the full gallery is here (password required).

Click here if there is no slide show

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Blog link:  http://jchandlerphotography.com/1176

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Cheryl, Vijay and Baby-to-be in Alamo Square

March 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Cheryl and Vijay are something like eight and half months pregnant and I have to say they are doing extremely well – happy, relaxed (for the most part), and clearly working together.  I really enjoy seeing a couple that is so connected as they are.  Not only does it make a make a maternity portrait session a joy but you just know that the little child will be well cared for and loved.   Serious congrats to them for not only their new baby (almost) but also for their new house.  They definitely have it going on and I can’t wait see them they are officially a family.

We met at Alamo Square.  If you are familiar with San Francisco or have read any of my previous Alamo Square posts (I have a lot of family photo shoots there), then you know this is the home of famous Painted Ladies.  It’s also windy and on this day gray and cold.  Cheryl and Vijay didn’t let that slow them down and we got some really nice photographs.  Best part was seeing how playful they are together.  Vijay channeled his inner diva and came up with all sorts of posing ideas.  Apparently he had been thinking about this day for sometime.  Cheryl showed a level of grace and elegance that was a pleasure to work with – and that is saying something given how pregnant she is.

Cheryl and Vijay – thank you for letting me be apart of the this time in your lives.  Best wishes with the delivery and in the weeks until I see you again.

A few samples below and the complete gallery here (password required).

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Blog Link: http://jchandlerphotography.com/1170

Filed Under: Maternity/Baby Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Myles in the Mission – Classic San Francisco Portrait Session

February 28, 2010 By 8 Comments

This portrait session goes down as one of the great lessons learned – always be ready and never give up.

Saturday started off as crazy rainy day in San Francisco.  Dark, blustery and definitely not a day for a family portrait session.  The Laffan Family lives right in the middle of the Mission – one the hippest neighborhoods in San Francisco.  Angela wanted a few photographs of little Miles as a child with the murals that decorate numerous buildings and alley ways in that part of town.

We talked at 2 that afternoon when it was raining cats and dogs and decided to postpone the shoot.  By 3pm, the sun was breaking through the clouds and city was looking incredibly beautiful.   I wasn’t entirely comfortable calling back Angela but the light was so amazing that I thought it was worth another call.  Turns out Angela was thinking the same thing so we agreed to meet at 4.  I threw my camera bag in the car and headed to her house.

The portrait session turned out amazing.  We got shots that wouldn’t have happened had it all gone as planned.  Light was reflecting off the water and walls which lit up little Miles’s eyes and great smile.  Plus it gave him numerous puddles to play in.  And when he got hungry, we just rolled with it and got food at a taqueria.  That made for candids that honestly I never would have suggested. Angela was great the entire time and made for a fun and relaxed experience.

Thanks Angela for not letting the weather stop you and Miles.  I really enjoyed meeting you and learned a lot from this session.  I hope you enjoy the photographs.

A few samples below and the Full Gallery here (password required)

If no slide show above, click here.

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Blog Link:  http://jchandlerphotography.com/1110

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Rachel and Alex Maternity Session

February 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I am really starting to love maternity sessions.   I love the excitement and nervous energy that everyone (myself included) is feeling.  It’s just all so crazy.  But what I see in amid all that uncertainty is the love and tenderness from and for everyone involved.  There is just nothing like seeing a mom-to-be looking at her belly with such unconditional love.

All of this was on display when I met Rachel and Alex to take their “baby on the way” photographs at their Alameda home.  They are a nice, welcoming couple with a great little home just a few blocks from the beach.  Rachel is looking fabulous with only a month or so to go and Alex has his “bob the builder” hat on in preparation for the arrival of their daughter.  We spent time at their house and then went down to the marina area for for a fabulous sunset with San Francisco in the background.  They are such a loving couple with a great sense of humor and goofiness.  I think that really shows in these photographs and I’m sure they are going to make a great family.

Thank you Rachel and Alex for letting me take these photos of you.  I can’t wait to meet your daughter and to see you as parents.

A few samples below and the complete gallery here (password required).

Click here if no slideshow above.

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Blog link:  http://jchandlerphotography.com/993

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Angus, Ginger, Tracy and Scotty at the Albany Dog Park

February 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment

“It’s the biggest dog park in the world” Tracy said when we were discussing options for her portrait session with her husband Scotty and their two dogs Ginger and Angus.  Being relatively new to the dog world in San Francisco, I was a bit skeptical but I’m always up seeing new places so we agreed to meet at Pt. Isabella in Albany.  More exactly at the Sit and Stay Cafe which I think is one the best cafe names I’ve come across.   Tracy and Scotty are super nice and Angus and Ginger couldn’t have been happier to be among many, many four legged friends.  I can’t say for sure if the Pt. Isabella dog park is the biggest in the work but I can say that it is freaking huge. Swarms of families and children and many more dogs.  It’s all off leash so there was a good amount of “how are you?  Can I sniff your butt?” going on.

Thanks for showing me something new Tracy and Scotty and hope you enjoy the photos.  A few samples photographs below and full gallery here (password required).

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