Four In The City

Her 3rd Birthday Leopard Party!

by Adel Posted on May 22, 2013

Yes that was her very specific request for her party. She wanted leopards and cheetahs!
So off to work I went…I know, I can go a little overboard some times. But really all these decorations and favors were fairly simple to pull together. Plus Pinterest is a god-send for the crazy party-planning mom!

I think she kinda liked it all.
And as always my amazing photographer mama friend, Rachel, was there to capture all the details I couldn’t. The images below are from her…
Yes I hired a clown/magician. And he nearly scared my poor birthday girl to death! *sigh* well at least most of the guests didn’t find him quite as horrifying…
I’m so happy to have these amazing images of her party. Especially ones that prove I was there too. As a mom photographer who is always behind the lens, that is a truly priceless gift.
Thank you Rachel as always for these memories you’ve preserved for our family! <3

Posted in Family | Tagged 3 years, birthday, birthday party, leopards, milestones | 1 Comment

My Baby Turned 3!

by Adel Posted on May 21, 2013

Yeah it happened today. My youngest turned 3!
We had her party over the weekend and her one request was that it be a leopard themed one. Who am I to deny my baby?
The party was fabulously wild, as it should be when you’re celebrating 3 phenomenal years in this world. I will (hopefully) be posting pictures from that shindig soon. In the meantime, I’m just sharing her birthday portraits we took here on the blog…
She’s pretty darn amazing this girl of mine. Love her to pieces.I’ve been blogging long enough now I can actually dig into the archives and find my posts on her 1st and 2nd birthdays. Wow how time flies… *sniff*

Posted in Family | Tagged birthday, birthday party, leopards, milestones | Leave a comment

Mothers Day

by Adel Posted on May 15, 2013

I had a pretty great Mothers Day this year. Largely due to my amazing husband.

One of my favorite gifts was a mini photo session with my children. Courtesy of that same amazing husband.
I was especially grateful to have 2 cooperative kids for this. You guys don’t even know what it probably took for them to do this, given the fact that they have a photographer for a mom!
Well they were cooperative for “most” of it… But I’ll take it!
To have this many great shots of my kids with me in them, well it’s a gift I cherish more than anything Grizz could have bought me.
Best Mothers Day gift ever!
All photos taken by my husband, my Grizzly Bear.

Posted in Family | Tagged gift, mothers day | Leave a comment

Quiet Easel Time

by Adel Posted on May 7, 2013

It makes me immensely sad I’m updating my family blog so little these days. Not so much because I miss blogging all that much, but more because it means I don’t spend nearly enough time as I should just photographing the fleeting everyday moments of my children’s lives.
I think about it often. But I find myself struggling a lot lately, to balance a suddenly flourishing photography business, documenting my quickly growing children’s lives and then all the motherly obligations that increase as they grow. Trying to fit in a creative outlet for my own personal photography growth (and sanity) seems like a luxury now…
I’ve been telling myself that life will slow down soon. That this craziness can’t possibly last for another week or so. Let me just get through this birthday, or 4-job weekend, or backlog of editing, I say to myself. But yeah, I’m not so sure anymore that life will ever slow down. If anything, it seems to accelerate!

I would like to pick up my camera more often to just document the simplest things. Like my daughter, her markers and an easel.
And shoot for what makes me happy right then.

Light.

Love.

And my child and her art.
She turns 3 soon. It makes my heart clench thinking about it.

That quote about the days being long, but the years short? That’s my life right now.

I’m grateful I have reminders like these some days, to remind me to slow down.

Posted in Family, Photography | Tagged art, easel, markers | 1 Comment

CM Blog Circle Monthly Challenge : April – Shooting Through Glass

by Adel Posted on May 1, 2013

I’ve been SO BUSY these past 2 weeks, I barely got this in in time. Phew!

I’d like to say this though, I was very mindful to shoot through glass whenever I could. It pushed me creatively during client sessions this month as I looked for every opportunity to find a window or sliding door. I am grateful for this project in so many ways.

Here is my take on our theme this month.

Funny I did not end up shooting through a window for this even though I was doing it so much with clients! Please continue on through our circle to view how Amanda shot through glass…

Posted in Photography | Tagged CM Blog Circle, Shooting Through Glass | 8 Comments

San Francisco Zoo With My Animal-Lover

by Adel Posted on April 25, 2013

I’m busy a lot lately. Mostly because my photography business has been taking off quite a bit. I keep thinking it will slow down. And that I will have more days like these…

Carefree, sunny ones at our city zoo. With my littlest. You know, where she is having the time of her life but just refuses to pose for a happy shot for her mama? Yeah those days.

You know the ones I mean.

But when I get the chance to spend those few hours with just her, it’s pretty darn cool.
And it’s even better when we randomly run into her preschool buddies. And end up making a whole playdate out of the day.
But then of course someone always trips and falls.
*sigh* After about 30 seconds of loud crying though, she jumped right back into our beautiful, sunny carefree day with her buddies!

Love her!

Posted in Family | Tagged san francisco, zoo | 1 Comment

Filling My Days With Field Trips

by Adel Posted on April 13, 2013

My son is blessed with a wonderful teacher who works very hard to organize some amazing field trips for his class. LOTS of them!

It’s one of the many reasons my blog suffers. I’m spending my days chaperoning and watching my child grow, learn and experience so much of what San Francisco has to offer with its rich culture and arts.

I thought I’d share a few shots from one of my favorite trips recently. The DeYoung Museum of San Francisco.

After this particular excursion, I have completely fallen in love with this gorgeous museum and its beautiful light and lines. I would love to do a session here one day. Maybe I’ll start with one of my kids…

Posted in Family | Tagged deyoung museum, field trip, san francisco | 1 Comment

Academy Of Sciences On Spring Break

by Adel Posted on April 8, 2013

As the kids get older I’ve had to up my game on our daily activities when they’re not in school. The Academy of Sciences never fails to keep them entertained and impressed. Thank God.
And sometimes more than a little mesmerized…
Well this little excursion to one of San Francisco’s favorite kids’ spots was such a hit, we renewed our membership for another year!
I’m guessing this will quickly become our backup summer activity!

Posted in Family | Tagged academy of science, spring break | 1 Comment

North Beach On Our Anniversary

by Adel Posted on April 5, 2013

I’m a little behind in posting images to my blog as you can tell since our anniversary was over a week ago. But I don’t think life will ever slow down for me to be as diligent about blogging as when I first started it back in 2011.

Maybe one day when Jack-Jack is 18… In the meantime I’ll just have to deal with the fact that I’m just going to be behind some times when it comes to this blog.

Since our 9 year anniversary fell right in the middle of the spring break week for us, we decided to just take a nice relaxing day wandering around the area of San Francisco where we tied the knot – North Beach.

We were married at the SS Peter and Paul Catholic Church on Washington Square.

It was fun to lunch and take a leisurely walk around one of the most popular tourist traps in the city.
Yeah it was the week I had my little lensbaby so most all these shots are with that lens

We introduced our littlest to the place where the magic began. But yeah she’s two. And was none too impressed.
Still, it was a fun afternoon out for our family in a part of the city that we don’t frequent often but has a special place in our hearts.

Posted in Family | Tagged 9 years, anniversary, milestones, north beach, wedding | 1 Comment

CM Blog Circle Monthly Challenge : March – Interesting Perspectives

by Adel Posted on April 2, 2013

For our theme this month of Interesting Perspectives, I decided to take the opportunity to rent a lensbaby! I’d been itching to try one out for awhile now so was glad to find an excuse.
I quickly learned that this unusual looking contraption is not the easiest thing to use. Manual focus on a 3 dimensional plane. Yeah, I can barely get stuff in focus when it’s in autofocus in 1 dimension!
But honestly, I really liked this little lens. It took me awhile to get used to using both hands and multiple fingers to focus and shoot, but I slowly got more comfortable with it.
Too bad I had to return it just when I was starting to have fun with it.
I’m thinking it needs to be on my Christmas list to Santa this year…