Anna's Blog

Holiday Cut Off is November 13th!

The Holidays are Coming Fast!

It is that time of year again - when everything gets a little crazy at the studio with the holiday rush. We are actively shooting holiday family portraits sessions. Our official cut off this year is November 14th for sessions that are intended for holiday cards and holiday gifts - which will give us plenty of time to create our custom design cards and beautiful fine art prints and deliver them to you in time for you to get them out for the holidays. If you have not scheduled your fall family portrait session - we still have some openings, but they are going fast - so call the studio 510-748-8959 to  schedule.

More announcements to come for our Annual Toys for Tots Studio Day! Stay Tuned...

Newborn Portraits - Mom and Baby

When I photograph newborns I recommend the best time as 7 to 14 days of age for the optimal pictures of the baby. The baby is less fussy at this time, and also will have better skin as the baby acne has usually not set in yet. But! New Mom's can be less certain that is an ideal time for them to have a photography session as they just gave birth! Not to worry - I focus on showing the best features of the mom at that point - which is usually not the mid-section. Being that I am a mom myself, I have some experience as to how it feels (and looks!) to have just had a baby. However, my clients trust in my experience as a mom and  photographer to photograph them - and the results are beautiful. By focusing on capturing the closeness between mom and baby, and creating an environment where the mom can relax with her newborn - the beauty of the new mom just shines.  Here are some recent favorite mom and newborn baby portraits. 

Tahitian Dancer - Shadow Dancing

This was a fun project. Jen came in for some head shots, but while she was in we also did some photos of her engaging in her new hobby - Tahitian Dancing.  This was from a series that we did of silhouettes.  I thought it looked cool - and there is also something about it that makes me think of Betty from the Flinstones =D

6 month Portraits - Baby Rolls

One of my favorite sessions is a six month baby session - especially when I photographed the baby as a newborn, and got to know them at a week old or so. Seeing these  michelen men babies come back at 6 months cracks me up. I love to document their new teeth and their rolls and their huge grins and their developing personalities.  This little fellow is one of my Oh Baby! Club babies - and he is a riot.  Here are some pics from our last  baby portrait session in studio...

 

Laya's got the blues - 9 month baby portraits

Another great session with Laya - she is such a ham!  She is 9 1/2 months and a member of our Oh Baby! Club, so I get to photograph her every few months in her first year to capture all of her stages.   This little girl really loves the camera!  This image really captured my heart today...

Pregnancy Portraits with beautiful fabrics

I encourage my clients to bring in fabrics for their fine art maternity portrait sessions that they find beautiful to make their session extra special and personal.  Here are some of my recent favorites both with gorgeous fabrics from india...

Newborn Portrait - 9 days old

Meet Miss Chloe - 9 days old and already a diva! We had so much fun with this little newborn girl, even though she did poop right as we took this image...

Halloween Portraits with Anna Myers - Making a Difference with Operation Smile

This year we have something special for Halloween - professional Halloween studio  portraits!  Every October we work to raise money for the wonderful organization, Operation Smile (www.operationsmile.org), and this year we will be doing a Open House Fund raising event at the studio on Friday, October 31st from 10am to 3pm.  Bring your baby, pet, family and friends to the studio for your halloween portrait in costume - no need to sign up, just show up between 10am and 3pm.  Details are in the flyer for the event (click on the image to view it bigger):

Urban Cool Senior Portrait Session

Many are the days when I photograph a newborn in the morning who is just a few days old opening their eyes to their new world, and then move to my afternoon session when I photograph a seventeen your old high school senior ready to take on the world.  It is humbling to be part of documenting these milestones in peoples lives. 

I do love high school senior photography sessions!  I love the clothes changes to show the various personalities.  It is also a great time to get some teenage sibling shots, especially when an older sibling will be moving out of the house soon.  For Alex's session we started in the studio with some quick pictures of her and her younger sister..

Then we hit the streets with Alex to go get some individual shots for her senior portraits.  One of the benefits of being in the San Francisco Bay Area, I have some cool urban locations near the studio that work well, and I am always finding more.  At this session with Alex we worked quite a bit near the train tracks...and even found trains with graffiti...

 

Then we headed off to another urban area to capture her ball dress and shoes with a vintage brick background

Multi-Generational Shot - Baby Sophie, Mom, Grandma and Great Grandma too!

Baby Sophie is one of my Oh Baby! Club babies right now - which means I have the wonderful job of photographing her several times during her first year.  For this session, we did a multi-generational portrait with Baby, Mom, Grandma and Great Grandma. We even had another great grandmother in the portraits as well, but I wanted to get a couple of my favorites up- even though the full set of pictures are not retouched yet.  Generational shots can still be casual and natural - even though we are in the studio. 
 

Then of course Sophie always turns on the charm for her individual shots as well. At 6 to 7 months, babies can usually sit very well, and it is a great time for a portrait session.  With the Oh Baby! Club, Sophie and her family can come in regularly during the first year to capture all of her stages for a great price.  This one was too cute to leave out...