We first photographed Michael and Alison Kenney in 2005. You can imagine how happy we were to create a painting of their beautiful daughters Reagan and Shannon. When they picked up their painting yesterday, we knew they were happy, but then Michael called April this morning and said, "we didn't want to go to bed last night because we just couldn't stop looking at the painting. We are just ecstatic." That made our day.

We had a really inspiring afternoon in Malibu recently with Melanie Gouczwaard and her young daughter Emelia. I did the camera studies at both Paradise Cove and at Point Dume. The coreopsis was in full bloom, and it was absolutely stunning.

Here's a short slide show of our experience:

Last Sunday, we had a special portrait event in partnership with the Strasburg Children store in Camarillo. The clothes that Strasburg sells are perfect for so many of the portrait styles that our studio creates. We photographed a number of young ladies that day, and I wanted to share some of the results with you. Don't you agree that a beautiful dress really makes a special statement?

We are also doing a number of camera studies here in the studio this next week, and when we have some samples I'll share those with you as well.

For more information on Strasburg Children, call Divina at 805.482.5804.