First born and I have been painting up a storm lately. It is in her soul and totally in mine too (forever and always will be!) but who has the time?!?! It has been such a bonding moment to paint together in the afternoons while her bro sleeps. I will say, however, that her art comes so effortlessly and natural. I have to summon that out of me some way, some how!
Family photo season! Whether it creates a slap to the forehead, makes you do a little jig in major excitement or cause you to scream like a banshee just know that it makes me do all three at once! Now that takes some talent.
Available dates and locations:
Photo shoot options:
-Mini sessions: 20-ish minutes, outside, 5-10 final downloadable images. Little flexibility or variety but quick and easy.
-Full family sessions: 1.5-2 hours, in your home and/or outside at a spot that means something to you. 25-40 final images. Full family sessions are a bit more candid, flexible and offer a lot of variety. If your kid needs a break, a snack or time to warm up to me we have the flexibility to give it to him/her. If anyone needs/wants a wardrobe change time allows.
I’ll let you do your thing so things are as natural as we can make it…and we’ll also do some more formal shots. Natural light only and the final images would be a mix of color/black and white. The full sessions I like because they tell more of a story about your life at that time vs crafting a couple nice images in the mini session.
What makes for a good photo? Sharp apparel or lots of mud (depending on the direction of the shoot), awesome lighting, letting your kids be kids, a clutter free space (unless it is mud), stiff drink/s and more than anything else…rolling with whatever comes our way.
If interested shoot me an email at ali [@] aszichild.com with your preferred dates, times and location and we’ll go from there.
Whoa nelly, where have I been?!?! Oh yeah, popped out another kid. Baby #2 is here and we are adjusting to life/work/toddler/baby-hood but LIFE IS GOOD. Nonetheless, we are gearing up for holiday photo season. Are you ready because I sure as heck am.
Available dates and locations:
Denver/Boulder: August 20-28.
San Francisco/Bay Area: October 17-22
Palm Springs/SoCal: December 19-31
Seattle/Portland/Olympia (i.e. PNW): all the dates in between the above mentioned.
Photo shoot options:
-Mini sessions: 20-ish minutes, outside, 5-10 final downloadable images. Little flexibility or variety but quick and easy.
-Full family sessions: 1.5-2 hours, in your home and/or outside at a spot that means something to you. 25-40 final images. Full family sessions are a bit more candid, flexible and offer a lot of variety. If your kid needs a break, a snack or time to warm up to me we have the flexibility to give it to him/her. I’ll let you do your thing so things are as natural as we can make it…and we’ll also do some more formal shots. Natural light only and the final images would be a mix of color/black and white. The full sessions I like because they tell more of a story about your life at that time vs crafting a couple nice images in the mini session.
What makes for a good photo? Sharp apparel or lots of mud (depending on the direction of the shoot), awesome lighting, letting your kids be kids, rolling with it, stiff drink/s and maaaaybe a miniature pony.
If interested shoot me an email at ali [@] aszichild.com
This family. They lived down the hall from us in our crazy loft building and we became good friends. We had babies and bonded. Now they are off on a new adventure and they will seriously be missed but that just means we get to travel to Tennessee (!!!) so it ain’t all bad.
I **think** I’m coming out of hibernation. Maybe. It is sunny and 50 today so I’m full of vigor. I love the word vigor. Anyhow, we’ll be in various parts of the west coast over the next few months so if you are in need of some kid photos hit me up.
Available dates and locations:
Palm Springs/SoCal: February 15-20
San Francisco/Bay Area: March 24-27 (26th not available).
Denver/Boulder: Potentially late April (20th-ish).
Seattle/Portland/Olympia (i.e. PNW): all the dates in between the above mentioned.
Photo shoot options:
-Mini sessions: 20-ish minutes, outside, 5-10 final downloadable images. Little flexibility or variety but quick and easy.
-Full family sessions: 1.5-2 hours, in your home and/or outside at a spot that means something to you. 25-40 final images. Full family sessions are a bit more candid, flexible and offer a lot of variety. If your kid needs a break, a snack break or time to warm up to me we have the flexibility to give it to him/her. I’ll let you do your thing so things are as natural as we can make it…and we’ll also do some more formal shots. Natural light only and the final images would be a mix of color/black and white. The full sessions I like because they tell more of a story about your life at that time vs crafting a couple nice images in the mini session.
What makes for a good photo? Sharp apparel or lots of mud (depending on the direction of the shoot), awesome lighting, letting your kids be kids, dancing like a puppy monkey baby, rolling with it, stiff drink/s.
If interested shoot me an email at ali [@] aszichild.com
Holiday photo time, folks. Since we are still slightly nomadic I will be in various parts of the west coast between now and the end of the year. Get some memories photographed and smash ’em into a holiday card. Book it, yo!
Available dates and locations:
Photo shoot options:
Mini sessions: 20-ish minutes, outside, 5-10 final downloadable images. Little flexibility or variety but quick and easy.
Full family sessions: 1.5-2 hours, in your home and/or outside at a spot that means something to you. 25-40 final images. Full family sessions are a bit more candid, flexible and offer a lot of variety. If your kid needs a break, a snack break or time to warm up to me we have the flexibility to give it to him/her. I’ll let you do your thing so things are as natural as we can make it…and we’ll also do some more formal shots. Natural light only and the final images would be a mix of color/black and white. The full sessions I like because they tell more of a story about your life at that time vs crafting a couple nice images in the mini session.
What makes for a good photo? Dapper apparel, awesome lighting, letting your kids be kids, dancing like a monkey, rolling with it, whisky.
If interested shoot me an email at ali [@] aszichild.com
Soooooo, it has been kind of a long time since I’ve posted on the old blog. Yes, I’m still taking pictures. in fact, I’m sitting on a pile of amazing images and can’t wait to update the site with fresh stuff. But, the big news is my family and I decided to go on what we call a “bay area sabbatical.” The timing just seemed right to pack up our loft and put our lives in storage for awhile. We LOVE the bay area and had been living in paradise for 15 some years, but with a kid and school on the horizon and a dream to own a home (that is not ridiculously expensive) we decided to test out a few areas to see if we “belong” anywhere else. We are on a hunt to find a simpler life, if possible. And, more than anything we hope to be closer to family. Since December of 2014 we’ve been nomadic aka somewhat homeless but mostly bonafide moochers (ha!). With the encouragement of a lot of people I started another blog that documents the changing terrain of our adventure: www.slightlyadrift.com. So, yeah. That is where I’ve been.
“How to Scare the Crap Out of Your Parents” as told my our 23 month old little girl…
Step 1: Dish up a low grade fever. Have your fever go up and down and all around just to confuse them a little…especially if they are the type of parents who can’t remember how high it needs to be before they take you to the hospital.
Step 2: Start to feel better and have your fever go down…right before bedtime. Then act like your silly self so your parents think all is well.
Step 3: Go to bed in record time.
Step 4: About an hour after you are fast asleep have your fever spike and start up a febrile seizure. Let out a shrill sound that your parents have never heard before so they come running.
Step 5: Pass out, turn gray and play dead (but still breathe).
Step 6: By now your parents will really be scared so they’ll probably be screaming in your ear to “Wake up!” and “Stay with us!” and such and such. Just ignore it all, pretend to be a limp noodle and don’t open your eyes.
Step 7: Your parents will now probably rush you to the ER if they haven’t called 911. You’ll get prodded in the bum so the docs can see how high your temperature is and if you are lucky they will put you in a room with a big comfy bed. Keep taking some naps.
Step 8: Now the fun part begins. You get to meet all these nice people who talk to you in high voices and your daddy might show you a video while you get your blood drawn and they have stickers and a coloring book and stuff to look at. Keep in mind that it is now the middle of the night so you get to stay up really late!
Step 9: Your parents get scolded for not giving you Tylenol right when you got that low grade fever.
Step 10: When you get to go home your parents treat you like this magical princess and they give you hugs and kisses every few seconds and the next day you get to read books all day and you’ll maybe even get to watch a Mr. Rodgers show and you get yummy yogurt tubes and your mama makes you chicken noodle soup and man…life is good.
By golly our schedule for the next few months is filling faster than I can keep up. To help tame the madness I have a few dates reserved for our pop-up mini shoots. This is my effort to help you collect awesome pictures of your offspring because hey, YOU MADE HIM/HER/THEM! And, this is a chance to get a quick family portrait for your holiday card…while the focus will be on the kiddos I know you want something with all of you in it too!
The basics:
A 20-30 minute portrait session for up to two kids (max) aged 6 months to 6 years (ish). If you have more than two kids you’ll need two sessions. We’ll have a preset backdrop and lighting set up for all studio shoots and we’ll use natural light for all outdoor shoots (see below).
The dates:
Sessions happen on the hour between 9am and 3pm and time slots must be reserved in advance. Additional days may be added based on demand and availability.
Sept 13th | Location: Studio in Emeryville
Oct 12th | Location: Outdoors, weather permitting (exact location TBD)
Oct 26th | Location: Studio in Emeryville **this will be a Halloween costume themed shoot (SO FUN!) but before the costumes come on we can do a normal family portrait with a gray background.
Nov 1st | Location: Outdoors, weather permitting (exact location TBD)
How much and what do I get?
$200
20-30 minute session
Private online gallery with 10-15 photos
5 high resolution digital files for download
15% off print purchases
Location:
Our studio loft space in Emeryville or outside as noted above.
Tell me more:
Session fee due at the time of booking to reserve your time. The fee is non-refundable. From the online gallery you will choose your 5 favorites photos and send your selects to me. I will electronically send you the high resolution digital files for you to download. The download will include a permission to print release for personal usage only (copyright still belongs to me). Turn around time for the digital files will be three weeks from the shoot date.
Snap, can’t make it on the dates above, will you be doing this on any other days?
Potentially. We’ll see how the demand is and how much insanity I can handle over the next few months. Email me if you are interested and can’t make it and I’ll get a sense for need. More pop-ups to come.
Give it to me! How?
Email ali[at]aszichild.com and let me know:
1.) Your name and the name/s and age/s of your offspring. Two kids max per each session. If you have more than two kids you’ll need two sessions.
2.) The date you wish to reserve.
3.) Your top three picks for time slots in order of preference (i.e. 9am, 11am or 1pm). Reservations are made on a first come first served basis and will start on the hour.
In no particular order a few things that have happened as of late that have brought a good old pile of joy to my plate:
1.) While in a busy Berkeley Bowl grocery shopping trip a stranger and I agreed that we are all dancing around one another trying to make our way through the aisles. And then randomly as I tried to cross the aisle and she tried to cross the aisle we both danced by each other at the same time (literally danced). I guess I would classify my moves as contemporary dance. For the record, I am not a good dancer and kind of don’t like dancing in public but this moment was special.
2.) I treated myself to a big bunch of fresh lavender and have it placed next to me while I work. Getting a big whiff of lavender as the great bay area breeze passes through our loft makes me one happy woman.
3.) MaLou rocking her chemo treatments this go round.
4.) We had an old banana and some hot days which then turned into a little rash of fruit flies. I feel really accomplished because last night I made a fruit fly trap and today I see successful results! The little things, right?
5.) Baby child talking up a storm, giving the tightest unsolicited hugs at random, looking up to big cousins, watching a little boy through a tantrum using so many “No! No! No’s!” and then little F learning how to say the word no two seconds later, using the potty, making friends, playing with friends, wanting to read…I could go on and on. I just love this little person.
6.) Enjoying what we have while we have it.
