go confidently in the direction of your dreams.
live the life you have imagined.
- henry david thoreau

sorry i haven't written more lately in my blog posts. i feel bad. it's been the crazy busy, holiday season. but it's almost done :-) i'm so thankful for this amazing year, but i also welcome the break in december. i welcome the time to reflect, both personally and about the business.

limitations live only in our minds.
but if we use our imaginations
our possibilities become limitless.
- jamie paolinetti

the greatest thing you'll ever learn is to just love and be loved in return.
- eden ahbez

a laugh is a smile that bursts.
- mary h. waldrip



i had the most amazing opportunity last week to photograph the LA No Limits kids, for their upcoming Catolog of Giving. it's always an incredible experience. one of those good for the soul experiences.

and talking about inspirational. No Limits started as one person's dream, michelle christie-adams' dream. michelle was a teacher for the deaf, who had a dream that she would someday make a difference in the lives of deaf/hard of hearing children, while also combining her love for the theater. in 1996, she founded No Limits. today, that dream has evolved into a national, award-winning, one-of-a-kind theatrical arts program and after school education program that helps develop a deaf/hard of hearing child's listening, speaking, language, academics and even self-confidence. the after school program is for children of low-income families and is no cost to the families. space is limited but No Limits is dreaming to expand, both locally and nationally. it's truly amazing. and it all started with a dream.



these identical twins were so cute and fun. one was hearing impaired and the other had normal hearing.

the greatest treasures are those invisible to the eye but found by the heart.
- author unknown



there are many things in life that will catch your eye, but only few that will catch your heart...
pursue those.
- michael nolan

it's funny how things happen sometimes...
i was a tad bit grumpy going to this session. nothing terrible but, well...just grumpy. we all have our moments. our days. so i met this family for our session and...almost instantly, my grumpiness was gone. they were so much fun. and it was exactly what i needed, through and through. as always, i couldn't wait to see what i captured, edit a few and send the client a couple sneak peeks. when mom saw this image, she asked, when did you take the one of the girls doing the heart with their hands? and mom told me that she just so happens to collect hearts. maybe the girls did the heart for that reason. because they knew their mom likes hearts. i don't know. but the moment wasn't posed. it wasn't even talked about (to me). i think i was actually shooting their little brother, when i turned, saw what the girls were doing...and snapped. i'm just so thankful to have this image for mom. and to the S family, from my heart: thank you for being such an amazing family and for giving me exactly what i needed exactly when i needed it most.

i laugh, i love, i hope, i try, i hurt, i need, i fear, i cry.
and i know you do the same things too.
so we're really not that different...
me and you.
- colin raye

have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. do not now look for answers. they cannot now be given to you because you could not live with them. it is a question of experiencing everything. at present you need to live the question. perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day.
- ranier maria rilke

sometimes the most urgent and vital thing you can possibly do is take a complete rest.
- ashleigh brilliant


i'm trying to remind myself of this...the importance of rest.


and this is ryder, just moments after the photo above, telling me "no more pictures momma", with a foot at the camera. a minute or two is all i get.

there is no must in art because art is free.
- wassily kandinsky

whatever life holds in store for me,
i will never forget these words:
"with great power comes great responsibility."
this is my gift, my curse.
who am I?
i'm spiderman.
- peter paker




ETA: today, nov 4th, ryder saw this blog post, started giggling and said, "awesome". it was the cutest thing, espcially since i didn't even know he knew the word 'awesome'. i have no doubt that he will have some great power some day and i hope that i will teach him the great responsibility that goes with it.

clothes make a statement.
costumes tell a story.
- mason cooley

happy belated halloween. the kids had a blast. they were all supposed to be pirates but ryder can't let go of spiderman and so...he was spiderman. he continues to wear his costume, even though halloween has come and gone. i don't mind though...my ultimate superhero, with his spiderman suit and superman hat.



i didn't get a photo of kiele. i'm going to try and convince her to put her costume back on for a photo...we'll see. but it was so cute...on halloween, kiele and sky came dressed in their pirate costumes and kiele had put white eye shadow around both their eyes..."now we look like pirates", she said. i'm not sure what the white was but i told her what a great job she did and that yes...they looked like real pirates.



and wanted to share a story that kiele wrote for her 5th grade class. The story had to be a narrative with a spooky or scary twist. click HERE to read the story kiele wrote, titled The Werewolf In Fever Swamp. i'm always blown away by her reading and writing abilities, so thankful that she has a true love for both. a couple days after kiele wrote the story, i was talking to her about how i wanted to blog her story and said that i needed to come up with a photo of a werewolf and...this is what sky did, her version of a werewolf.