San Francisco Photographer – Bay Area Portrait Photography

They met and they instantly had a connection and fell in love.  Who knew that you could find the love of your life just across the street?  As part of their courtship, Page started making these hearts out of all sorts of materials (flowers, seeds, beads, pencils, buttons, veggies, metal shavings… you name it) for Madalene.  Every Sunday night Page would proudly and loving place her newly created heart on Madalene’s doorstep so when she woke up to go to work, she’d have a beautiful reminder of how much she is loved.

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7 months into the relationship Madalene was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.  4 months later after a difficult and painful battle, she was gone.  Before Madalene passed away, Page promised her to continue to make Monday hearts for the rest of HER life as a way of saying she would never forget Madalene.  It has been 4 years since Madalene left this earth and Page has kept her promise.

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On a suggestion form a friend, she started photographing her works of love.  One day she sent it out to a friend.  And that friend sent it out to others and it snowballed from there.  Well, one thing lead to another and now the collection has been made into amazing book.  I encourage you to check out the book, Monday Hearts for Madalene and visit Pages website.   You could even get a new heart sent to you every week by subscribing to Page’s email list.  Oh, and a percentage of the proceeds to the book go to the Woman’s Cancer Research Center.  How fantastic it that? There is so much love and creatively in this little book, you can really feel the power of love through each of the hearts.  Do yourself a favor and check it out.    Page, thank you so much for being so couragous with your love and sharing it will all of us.  Madalene will never be forgotten.

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My niece Katharina turned 8 last month.  I had the pleasure of taking her birthday portraits during the Thanksgiving break while visiting my family in LA. She is sweet, smart, athletic, sensitive, funny, artistic and just wonderful. Can you tell I’m a proud tia? She picked out her own outfits and her and her sisters did her hair & make-up. It was so wonderful to do these photos and also practice my off-camera lighting with studio lights.   Thank you brother G for setting up your portable studio! Feliz Cumpleanos, Katharina!  I love you very much!

Here’s a little ‘behind the curtain’ shot where you could see a little bit of our setup.

We listened and danced to Michael Jackson during the shoot and we just had to get her with a hat in his honor.

All the Smith girls have amazing hair and I loved getting this series of pictures with her awesome natural hair (that’s _never_ been cut!):

I made up a silly ‘knock-knock’ joke (that didn’t even make sense) and she cracked up.  She’s so funny.

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Milestone moments will make me miss my father even more…

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I will always remember how long it has been since pa died by how old Gemma is. She just turned two and he passed away when she was 6 months old…. it has been 1.5 years. We celebrated Gemma’s birthday in the house he loved and worked so hard to get and keep, never taking out a loan even to improve or fix the house because of fear he’d lose it. In these crazy times where people have and are on the brink of losing their homes I understand my father even better. I know he’s looking down on us and saying ‘Ya vez?’

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So we celebrated Gemma and the family and we knew who was missing though nobody said anything. I danced salsa with my mother because I knew that is what my father would be doing with her at the party. My brother cooked some mean carne asada and guacamole because that is what we do at parties with my father always leading the way.

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I photographed a wedding this past weekend where there was a grandpa who looked and acted just like my father would at parties or any family event. He was happy and full of life and dancing with the bride and stealing the show (something my pa would often do). I remember watching him and thinking that he reminded me of the joy my father always brought to the party. A joy I was missing at Gemma’s party. Don’t get me wrong, we had a fantastic time and so did Gemmita. I’m just saying I missed him, we all did.

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So here we are, 1.5 years later. Gemma is 2 and we are celebrating in the house that pa bought and protected for us:

Gemma meets her abuelito for the first time:

Translation:

Thank you, my Lord, for this wish that you have granted me
I praise you and bless you for such a marvelous thing
For this little person
For this jewel

I ask you Lord that you bless her always
Straighten her roads
Shorten her paths, Lord Jesus
You brought her here for something
And something you will make of her
Unleash all of your love, all of your blessings, all of your protection on her
and her adoring parents, Rosaura and Scott

I give you thanks, Lord, because you granted me my wish of meeting her
and to tell you, Lord Jesus Christ, how Great you are, how Great you are
How will I ever repay you
So many blessings
I thought I would never arrive at this point
But I have arrived… and now I can leave
Whenever you wish

Thank you, my Lord, for the beauty, for the love, for the affection…
For all these things…

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Gracias a pa, la familia, la vida y a Dios por todos los bendiciones hoy y para siempre.

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Just a quick note to say that I will be away and not posting and checking emails until the 29th of June.  I’ll be up in La Honda with 300 other musicians, dancers and artists enjoying nature and music.  Check out the website – maybe next year you’ll come along too!:  www.jazzcampwest.com.

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When I return I’ll make a big post about the week.  I’m one of the official photographers so I’ll have plenty to share.

Take care!

My mother is a sweet, shy, strong and creative person. She moved to the US from Mexico in the late sixties and raised 6 kids with my father whom she was married to for 49 years. This past year has been extremely difficult for the whole family but especially for my mother. My father passed away last March from colon cancer. He was an amazing person but he was also an uber macho Mexican who refused to see the doctor unless there was absolutely no tolerating the pain. So when he finally saw the doctor, he had already advanced to stage 4 cancer, terminal.

For better and for worse, my father was her life. She met him when she was 14 years old and had been with him until his last breath, literally. How does one even try to bounce back from something like that? It has been tough. For many months all she wanted to do was sleep and not get out of bed. My brothers and sisters and I would call and come visit to try to fill the void that my father’s big personality, strength and laughter left. And little by little, day by day, with the help of prayer, support from my family and time, she’s been coming out of the fog. Each one of us has been trying to give her new experiences and help her step into her own.

Well, back in January, when I went to LA for my birthday, my brother Gonzalo and I decided to play with his studio lighting – it was my first time playing with that kind of setup. We asked my mother to be the model and she actually went for it. She surprised us both by coming to the shoot with multiple changes of clothing and fun accessories. She had a lot of fun being the ‘star’ for the day. And my brother and I were so happy to be able to give her a new experience and get her mind off of all the heavy emotions and thoughts she usually has to deal with.

She is a true inspiration for me and my family. She’s been through so many trials and tribulations, so many heartbreaks and woes… but she’s still here and with us and taking it one day at a time. For me she exemplifies the word ‘resilience’ and I really appreciate and love her. So on Mothers’ Day, I’m making this post for my lovely mother. May she continue her new journey and find out who the real Maria Del Carmen Sandoval really is and has become. Feliz Dia De Las Madres!

I found this little tutu at a second-hand store while I was looking for used wedding/fancy dresses and accessories to buy for future photoshoots. We haven’t really done the super girlie thing yet with Gemma so I was surprised (or maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised?) at her amazed reaction when she first saw this hanging to dry. She immediately wanted to try it on and kept looking at all the sparkly bits saying her new ‘Ooooo’. So even though it was waaaaay past her bedtime, I let her try out her very first tutu (even if it was over her sleeper). I’m glad I had my camera and wide angle lens handy to capture the moment. She makes me laugh so much!

Sitting on the kitchen floor checking out the sparkling action on her new dress:

Once she had her fun she definitely wanted to test her limits on how far she could push her bedtime. Here she is putting on her best Defiant Princess look.