I can not tell you how much it has meant to me to have sponsored a child in the Dominican Republic! Actually it doesn’t matter where the child is, but I had never sponsored a child before. I know I will for sure sponsor more, even now. My friend Gustavo Fernandez, decided to start a charity ride called Hog For Kids. An avid Harley rider, Gustavo rode across the United States and Photographed families for a small minimal $100 donation, this didn’t even cover his expenses. But the idea was that every family that he photographed, that family would sponsor a child in his home country of the Dominican Republic. In fact, if you are familiar with his work, you totally hopped on board. Although many of us who donated and sponsored were his friends and fellow photographers, we all were not only excited to help out in the cause but truly super excited to get him to photograph our families, as he is that good! (Excellent Actually!) So I sponsored my child via his link (http://www.hogforkids.com), and he promised to visit the DM very soon and photograph our child…cool…I thought…

I received my first letter, written by my child Christopher a few months ago and every month get an update. I cried when I got my first letter and man, it puts things in perspective. We all have tragedy, great as it may be, but it is nothing compared to what these kids must endure everyday.

At the gym a few minutes ago I received a missed phone call from Mr. Gustavo again, and thought okay what’s up (he called 2 times and he always has good stuff to talk about…..so I checked my email and saw, photographs of my child and his Mom, and his home and I cried, there on the treadmill at 24 hour Fitness….I mean seriously. Come on people, I know money is tight, we are all making small sacrifices these days, but there I was, Ha….with all my problems at a fitness center with my iPod, reading email on my iPhone, sure yeah….I have problems. So again life in perspective. Thank you Gustavo for making a difference not only for me but for my sponsored child and his family. You are what we need more of, people making a difference cause they can, and they want to, not getting anything out of it for yourself but a smile….thank you so much! XXOO

Please Sponsor a Child or Support Gustavo by Clicking here: Hog For Kids

Oh you MUST know by now that I have a sense of humor! I’m sure…how can I not! I am my mother’s daughter! Anyways, seriously….. I like to take clients to places that there isn’t any other photographers….at that time! Which means I do like to go to other places were there are other photographers, just not the same time! I mean I hate trying to wait my turn for certain angles and all that! We all love nice places and it’s no wonder that we all end up at the same place….especially the beach LOL, where the only free place truly that is pretty happens to be very crowded around Christmas Card making time seeing it’s totally portrait season!

So after having my studio in Irvine for a while, and living in Foothill Ranch (Lake Forest), I continued to drive down Jeronimo and couldn’t help but notice how beautiful the eucalyptus trees are. I always thought it would be a great place to take clients, and you know what? It TOTALLY is! What’s awesome for me and using this location is I have never had to get in anyone’s way and no one has ever been in mine and I LOVE that! I also love the lighting here, perfectly diffused, awesome catch lights for the eyes, spectacular “fall” appearance, and no matter what time of day I can ALWAYS find a place to take a group of people and not worry about dappled lighting!

I am sharing this now to EVERYONE, and it truly wasn’t a secret as I take many other photographers here to shoot with me, and I have told anyone who asked! Honestly this is just one small stretch of road, there are plenty of other places but as far as I know, this place is the only one with a bridge!

The problem is, it is private property! Don’t ask permission, ask forgiveness is my motto in this situation, but since I am a resident of Lake Forest, I figure I can interpret the sign as saying that, instead of this development! Anyways, keep it clean, never left trash and always made sure I as well as my clients were pretty quiet!

So I am off to find another location. I still have tons of photos from this location to blog as well as edit and sell to my clients. For this and the sheer reason that I love new locations, I am bored of this place and want to make sure other photographers who may like it, see where it is and can take their clients there if they were interested! I hope you liked the video! LOL…..it’s not supposed to be serious! Just in case you didn’t know!~

Location: City Lake Forest Intersection of Jeronimo and Ridge Route

I can not tell you how excited I am about these new albums! They were just released by one of my vendors and there is just so much to love about them! So to celebrate I made myself this little sample from my Boudoir session last week! How totally cool! I am so stoked to be able to offer this! The greatest thing is that I had this book just 3 days after I ordered it for my clients! How great is that! PLUS it’s totally gorgeous and an alternative to waiting 6-8 weeks let alone the need to order a giant album in order to have a smaller, gift type! But the speed and quality are amazing! If you are a photographer and want to know where I got it, try White House Custom Color!

What I love are all the choices that I can give my clients for the photo wrapped book! I made this book with a metallic pillow cover! SO GORGEOUS! The pages are also FINE ART PAPER! YES!!! Finally a vendor who can turn around a great album like this in just a couple days! WOW!!!! It lays flat! But seriously WOW! Another reason to celebrate is I will be offering this to my clients at a great price, I love these 8 x 8 books! They come in 10-20 and 30 spreads! This sample is just 10 spreads which translates to 20 pages…….coming in 2010 WHCC will be offering more sizes and I am sooooo excited for this! Check out the book in detail and come in my studio for a session to get one of your own!

So for the verdict, you can tell I love it! It feels GREAT in your hands. It is such a high quality I am amazed that it was such a fast turn around time. They are great to keep or to make for gifts! The fine art paper is spectacular. Just need to warn my clients that it is not as forgiving when little Johnny decides to look at your book after eating chocolate! But hey, it’s so worth it! I love the metallic cover, it totally made my Photo look mysterious and gorgeous! I love that it lays flat, I love the weight of the book, feels real heavy. Just great, my clients will love it! Photographers, order a sample copy you will NOT be disappointed!