San Diego, Day 1

I absolutely love San Diego. The weather is beautiful, mild, and sunny, the air is clean and humid, everything is within 15 minutes drive wherever you are, you get the best of both worlds: city and beach, and the food and shopping rock.

We're staying for a total of 10 days, so we're gonna spread out the activities. Today, for the first day of the trip, we just chilled and drove around exploring with no agenda in mind.

First, last night, when we got in to my mom's place, Evan charmed her into letting him play with her computer:



This morning, after dropping mom off to work at the clinic, we grab some lunch at Horton Plaza downtown. I love this mall! I'm a huge mallrat, so wherever I go on vacation, I have to see the malls. This one is a nice gem hidden downtown, with 7 levels of outdoor shopping. Fabulous. We hit up Steve and Barry's too.



Next, we wandered over to Balboa Park. A huge attraction that houses gardens and several museums. I set Desmond up to take this picture of me... lol. I rarely want my picture taken, but since I'm always behind the camera, I wanted a turn too!


Here's Evan goofing around at Pacific Beach. Crowded, but perfect for surf. Chic little hotels on the beach, thrift shops, and a YogurtWorld. We plan on going back to PB next week and rent some cruisers and ride around the beach. We gotta work off all the food we've been eating!



And under the pier:


Finally, toward the end of the day, picking up Mom at the clinic after work... bored waiting in the car, so why not take some pictures =)



We ended the night in Kearny Mesa (land of all food that is Asian), with a Japanese dinner... followed by Yogurtworld! I had a strawberry tart yogurt covered in mochi. Yum. BTW, I'm on a quest to try any and all Yogurt places I ever encounter. A review of all these places will follow in a later post. =)

OK, time to sleep... another adventure tomorrow. Good night!

off we go!

We're packing to go to San Diego! YAY! The plan: Stay at Mom's place, Kainoa's 1st Birthday Party, a few photo shoots to build up the portfolio, and we're gonna use the Go Card to get us into Legoland, the Wild Animal Park, and some Harbor cruises. Good deal! Fun times, and hopefully, some colorful pictures to bring back and share.

Meanwhile, I'm packing up the photo equipment, and of course, Evan's "helping" me:



What I'm trying to fit in the bags:

• Macbook
• Nikon sb-28 speedlight
• Nikon sb-800 speedlight
• Lightsphere
• Nikon D200 body
• Nikon 70-200 2.8 lens
• Nikon 17-55 2.8 lens
• Nikon 50mm 1.8 lens
• 2 pocket wizards
• 2 CF cards, 12 rechargeable AAs, 2 chargers
• tripod
• umbrella
• My new Shootsac!!!
  
  This will be my first time experimenting with off-camera lighting. It sounds like a lot to pack, but I made sure to only buy equipment that folds down compactly, so let's see how that works. I hope squeeze into the schedule a family portrait session at a park, and an engagement session at the beach. Location TBA. Pictures will follow later.
  

In the meantime, here are a few pictures from this past weekend. Have a great week, and I'll blog from San Diego!

Some new spots.

I get to create my own work, and you know what... I love it. Many people think I don't do anything all day except watch Evan run around. WRONG! I definitely keep myself busy.

I spend most of my time online, in blogs, forums, etc, teaching myself more about photography and building and running a business. The other part of my day is focused on shooting for practice, and also scouting out locations around Sacramento to hold portrait sessions. I'm totally excited that I found a new "spot" to take pictures. You know, I spend half my time on this blog complaining about how Sacramento has nothing interesting compared to the Bay Area, but I realized I need to really change my point of view.... appreciate Sacramento for what it is: a city known for its rivers and regional preserves.

So, today was spent "researching" and building my new business: Kira Lauren Photography. I actually found a hidden treasure I've been searching for: a vast meadow of wheat, with some trees for shady spots. After finding it online this morning, and we drove out there to check it out.

Hopefully soon, I'll have a client to photograph in this golden field:



And of course, where there's a camera, there are pictures of my son.



I've also found another spot for myself: ONLINE! Yes, very soon, within the next week or two, I will officially have a Kira Lauren Photography website. I've been spending the last weeks getting it ready, and after some final touches, it will launch!

If you, or someone you know would like some fabulous photos taken, please send them my way. It will be a welcome addition to the growing portfolio.

Till then....

Happy Birthday Evan! You get a mohawk!

Evan turns 15 months today. What's 15 months like? It's 14 teeth, a lot of running, splashing in water, climbing, clapping, and imitating your every move. He puts the phone to his ear when he hears it ring, makes siren noises when he hears an ambulance, knows how use a mouse, dances in front of MTV, and does his "beautiful eyes." He even picks his nose. It's crazy, tiring, and altogether fun.

So like every month on his birthday, we dress up the poor kid and make him pose for pictures. After careful consideration, we gave in decided to give him a mohawk because his hair was so thick. He sweats like a grown man, and this helps a little. We have a little rockstar on our hands... not so innocent looking anymore!

[B E F O R E]



[ A F T E R ]


My brother sent Evan some cute clothes from Crazy 8, and had a special request to photograph him in his favorite one: the Monkey t-shirt =).



His favorite new toy: the car. He got this from his Ninang Joy for his 1st birthday, but just recently started loving it!



And of course, the mamarazzi and paparazzi sticking 2 cameras in his face.



Till the next backyard photo shoot.....