Two Quick Plugs!

Shameless I know....but that's what this social media stuff is all about right?  Networking, sharing, exploring, learning, and business.  :)

Don't have time to blog much right now even though I have a ton of stuff to blog about before I leave for my 3 week Florida vacay in 2 days (!!), but I'm already way behind schedule getting out the door today....so just wanted to say:

1) Haven't done a plug for my own Facebook Fan Page for awhile - so pretty please with a marshmallow on top (waaay better than a cherry!) can you go become a fan of my Avery James Photography page??  I post WAAAY more stuff on there than I do on my blog. :)

2) If you liked the iNMAAKOi pics I posted recently - go become a fan of their page as well here (click on link) and also check out the ego-boosting blog post they did about our photo shoot here. :)

And that's all for today - I'll probably be absent from the blog world till I get back from Florida - but when I come back I'll be able to finish up my San Francisco vacation blog posts, have some Florida vacay posts, more pics from the last 4 or 5 shoots I haven't finished posting about yet, and 3 more Baby's First Year package shoots that will be happening over the next month or so after I get back.  Lots of fun stuff in store!!  

And if you're a fan of my AJP page on FB then you'll see the post notifications when they go up! ::hint hint!:: :) :) :)

Happy May-June everyone!! :)

OH!  I need a picture to post with this blog entry....what to put...uhmmm, lemme look through my folders.....

::a few minutes later::

Oh that's right!  I also took pictures at my friend's son's Taekwondo birthday party recently, so I need to blog about that one too!  Here's a pic from the party, pretty awesome little boy he is. :) 

Jeff and Angela Expecting 3!

This past Saturday I had the honor of photographing this extremely sweet couple, who are expecting not only one baby, but 3!!  Triplets, wow!  How absolutely exciting for them.  They're moving to the mountains in a few weeks, so they wanted to capture this special moment in their lives down at the beach before they leave.  It was pretty chilly outside and very overcast, but they were such good sports about bearing the cold and looking beautiful/handsome through it all. :)

Here's a sneak peek of their photoshoot.  Best wishes to you Jeff and Angela!! :) :)

iNMAAKOi Clothing

A very dear friend of mine and her boyfriend are starting a t-shirt company together called iNMAAKOi.  What does that mean, you say??  'I Need Money And All Kinds Of It'...yea, don't we all??  Something relatable, catchy name...and the positive vibe behind it is more than just hustling to make money - it's about working hard, starting businesses, being creative and motivated, determination, and intelligently driven.

Being the friend with the giant camera, I offered to do the product shots for her tees.  I'm really interested in building my portfolio in this direction though, so this was helping me just as much as her.  I've recently decided that my passion is much more in the realm of photographing adults, and in a creative sense.  Fashion allows a photographer to explore themselves artistically and really develop a 'style'.  I'm still working on narrowing down my style, but for now I'm trying out different looks and feels in my photography to see what I like the most.

So I grabbed a few good-looking friends to be models for the tees (2 of which are working models if you're looking for some talent of your own - the blonde (Maggie Silva) and the dark-skinned stud :) (Christopher Williams)).  Super kind of them to help out and we really appreciated their beautiful/handsome faces and bods being a part of this. :)

Here's a few shots that I've gone through so far.  Haven't had a chance to go through everything yet, but wanted to share a little taste of the shoot. :)

Oh - and become a fan of iNMAAKOi on Facebook: iNMAAKOi

Blog site here: iNMAAKOi Blog

Website coming soon (which will showcase all these pics too!)

BTW - would LOVE your feedback on any and everything about this shoot - good or bad.  I really want to develop myself more in this area and need the constructive criticism to move forward.  So I welcome it all (but preferably written in a respectful way,  I don't want to cry, lol).

Dina and Family

As if spending a sunny, 80' Southern California day at Venice Beach with my son and some friends all afternoon wasn't good enough, I had the opportunity to spend the second half of this gorgeous day yesterday with this fabulous family below in Manhattan Beach.  :)

Yes, the beach was packed with people, and yes it was a bit intimidating at first for the family to have all these onlookers, but the view under the pier was so gorgeous that they couldn't resist...so they pushed on through and I think they did an awesome job. :) :)

In addition to their family photos, they brought their nephew along who will be graduating from Palos Verdes High this year, and was recently accepted to USC to play baseball!  How absolutely exciting for them all!  So we got some graduation announcement photos of him as well as some pics symbolizing his huge baseball accomplishments. :)

Here's a little sneak peek at the shoot....have a great week everyone! :)

Lindsey and Nick's 5th Wedding Anniversary Pics

What a fun morning I had today!  I met up with Lindsey and Nick who recently celebrated their 5th wedding anniversary.  Lindsey's gift to Nick was a photoshoot with little 'ol me!  I felt really special. :) :)

They decided that they wanted to do the shoot in downtown El Segundo.  I know Lindsey is a huge fan of this city in general...it has the cutest main street and it's like you're in a little Mayberry in the middle of a big 'ol city.  Nick's also got ties here as the company he owns and runs, Clear Media, has their office down the street from the main drag.  We were sure to walk over there and take some pics in front of his building as well. :)

I had such a fun time because we just strolled down the street and stopped and took pictures in several spots along the way.  It was like a walking photo tour with two awesome models to go along with it. :)

We got lots of cute pics today, but I just wanted to share a few with you for right now.  I'll definitely be posting more soon! :)

April 2011 San Francisco vacation - Part 7 (Golden Gate Park...and lots of ducks)

Previous San Francisco vacation posts

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6 

Day 2: Monday, April 11, 2011 (continued)

After we exited the Japanese Tea Gardens, we headed back out to explore the rest of Golden Gate Park.  I had a whole to-do list of things to see there, and was really looking forward to this part of my trip.  I had been Facebooking throughout my journey and a friend suggested I check out the little lake area that was nearby...so that was the direction we headed.  

As we walked for quite awhile, I realized that I hadn't seen any shuttle buses go by the entire time we'd been there...that was what I was relying on to get me around the park.  I had read online that it was $2 for an all-day pass and it takes you to all the major attractions in the park.  I started to worry so I looked the info up on my phone again and saw that the shuttle only ran on weekends!  I was sooooooo bummed.  The park was way too huge to walk it, especially for a 5 year old.  Looks like I was just out of luck and gonna have to save the majority of the park for another trip. :(

We  did find the little lake at least and explored that area.  We kinda did the area in fast forward though cause all we had for breakfast was a banana at that point and it was getting on lunch time already....tummies were starting to grumble and my body doesn't cope well when it's hungry...so I knew our time was limited unfortunately.

The lake was really neat though - you could walk around the lake (which was pretty big) and in a couple of spots there were bridges that you could cross to walk on the little island.  There was also a paddle boat rental place and so you could see all the people paddling around the lake.

We even got to see little critters like this one :)

Then when you get on the island you can follow these trails that go to the top of the hill (a great exercise trail!  If I lived here this would be a great place to go get a good workout!).  When you get to the top, you're rewarded with a gorgeous view.  You can even see the Golden Gate Bridge off in the distance to the right!

And here's some writing that was on the little Chinese building that you could see across the lake in the other picture towards the top of this post.  Anyone know what it says??

That was about all I could handle...needed food at that point.  So we headed back towards the main road, stopped at a playground for a couple of minutes, then caught a bus towards Fisherman's Wharf.  More from there in my next post! :)

April 2011 San Francisco vacation - Part 6 (Golden Gate Park - Japanese Tea Garden)

Previous San Francisco vacation posts

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Day 2: Monday, April 11, 2011

Monday morning we [tried to] wake up bright and early to catch the bus down to Golden Gate Park so that we could get in to the Japanese Tea Garden before 10:00am (free admission M, W, F before 10:00am I believe).  Well...we tried, but missed our bus.  So we had to catch another bus (again with that great transportation system, there was another bus not too long afterwards).  We cut it pretty darn close, but made it there about 10 minutes to 10:00am.  Gates were wide open and we just walked on in. :)

What an amazing place....soooo gorgeous.  It doesn't quite compare to the Japanese Gardens at the Huntington Library that I recently visited, but it was pretty darn beautiful on all its own.  Awesome photo opps everywhere for sure!

 

This bridge here you could actually climb up and over it...like a ladder almost.  Really cute. :)

More from Golden Gate Park in my next post! :)