san francisco bay area maternity, child and family photographer

image box: baby keira

alpana — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:00:17 +0000

I have been a terrible blogger for a while due to some health issues and haven’t had a chance to share some of my latest work. This image box (Storybox) is available as a part of a collection or a la carte when all digital files from your portrait photography session are purchased. Your Storybox comes with a cd of high resolution files ready to print and archive for posterity and a collection of session photographs. Each box is custom made for your precious memories.

If you are interested in a family or kids portrait session please email me through the contact page. My earliest openings will be starting mid-April.

wrapped with love | oakland family photographer

alpana — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:59:15 +0000

On Sunday afternoon, I spent a couple of hours with this dad and his two boys around their Montclair home capturing their special bond. In the photo below, I love that I snapped the moment when they were all wrapped around each other as the boys clowned around while getting into a “pose.” Most often, my favorite photos are real moments like these that happen between the posed photos.

an ice cream a day…

alpana — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:34:22 +0000

I had all intentions of sharing images from this session sooner but where did the week go? I have been a busy bee with finishing up with client orders and keeping up with the business end of things. Taxes are due by the month end and I have to get cracking!! Also, I had so many great images from this session that I felt I wouldn’t do them justice until I processed several to post the narrative of our ice-cream store visit. I so love how these adorable siblings were so immersed in their ice-cream that they barely knew I existed! Hope you love the sneak peek, Jennifer!

the wait…

decisions, decisions…

and finally getting to eat…

just one…

alpana — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 06:17:36 +0000

of two little munchkins from another weekend session. I so loved this session and will have to post more when I recover from last weekend’s shooting bonanza of three sessions. Oy! A lot more than what I normally take on. Aren’t they just adorable?

Shyla + Danoosh = Engaged

alpana — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:30:02 +0000

I met this lovely, young couple in San Francisco for their engagement photos. Nope, I haven’t quite forrayed into the world of wedding photography though I will be shooting the wedding of these love birds in the summer. And possibly, after that doing a select few in the future. It was quite the departure from my norm of chasing kids and a nice change. Shyla had this idea of using a big red balloon and sent me a link to these amazing pics taken by Max Wagner. We walked around the city with their big red balloon which sadly had an untimely exit but we managed to get a few good pics before it happened.

mama love

alpana — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 05:46:23 +0000

I am excited to share my first photo session in the New Year. It was with the lovely mama Nicolette and her four year old little guy. Nicolette was one of the winner’s of the Giving is Awesome giveaway and you can read about her story by clicking here. We spent a couple hours in the morning playing, running, laughing, eating candy… what a fun day it was!

Happy 2010!

alpana — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 07:08:54 +0000

ring out the old, ring in the new.

I have been meaning to update the good ole blog for quite a while now. As the new year unfolds, there will be some further exciting changes but for now this will be my work in progress. Happy New Year to my wonderful readers!

ps. I haven’t gotten around to making holiday (err, New Year) cards yet. My attempts to get the boy to model for me haven’t worked quite so well. I haven’t given up entirely and am holding on to hope that I can get some decent pictures soon.

pps. if you stop by please feel free to drop a comment. I’d love to hear from you!

And the winners are…

alpana — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 17:47:27 +0000

When I embarked on the giveaway for Giving is Awesome, I had no idea what to expect. I received so many deserving nominations and they touched my heart in a way I can’t even begin to describe. I went back and forth and even asked close friends for help as I found it hard to make a choice. Each story had its own merits and eventually I couldn’t just pick one winner. I picked two. The first is a strong woman with a beautiful family fighting breast cancer and the second was a pick generated by random number generator.

The first nomination was sent by Rosa for her friend Carolyn. Rosa owns the Level 5 Salon and is an incredible person herself that does a lot in the community.

I would like to nominate a good friend and client of mine. Her name is Carolyn Griffiths, she is a full time Science/Chemistry PHD. teacher at xxx in Alameda. She is a mother of 2 beautiful boys. I’ve known her for 4 years now. She came to me shortly after her knew hair grew back in after discovering breast cancer in her 7th month of pregnancy. She was very determined that she will get through this for her new born child. It was extremely tough going through Chemotherapy pregnant. She got through her what she was supposed to be enjoying bringing a little bundle of joy into the world. She had a healthy little boy and she is fine and healthy too! I was blessed to become her friend. Well 1 year later, in Dec 2007 she sadly announced that there was a chance of 5% of return. It returned and now her family had to through it once again. Unfortunately, this time is was even more aggresive than before. She once again took 10 months off of work and through Chemotherapy again. In between she would come in for me to get small neck trims or shave her hair off just to feel better about herself. It breaks my heart as tears slowly roll down my face. It just not right…. I have soooooooo much respect for strong woman! I’m pampering her tomorrow Tuesday, Dec. 22 and I’m not shaving off her hair, were going to color and play! I strongly suggest she deserves to win this gift from the heart your are offering.

And the second, the story of a young single mom working toward a better future nominated by Marlis B.

I would like to nominate Nicolette for your wonderful gift. I met Nicolette in 2006 when I was looking for a Nanny for my four month old daughter, Phoebe. I lost Phoebe’s twin sister, Wendy, to a heart defect weeks before and was terribly paranoid about finding a fit for phoebe that I could live with so I could return to work (after many months off). She was the first one I interviewed, and I went with her. My instincts could not have served me better.

Nicolette is a single mom, having gotten pregnant right out of high school. When I met her, her son Nick was about 7 months old. I have never heard much about the father. She lived in the converted in-law unit of her dad’s house here in Castro Valley and talked about becoming an neo-natal intensive care nurse one day. Her mother died when she was a young girl, and I think Nicolette carries that scar with her today.

Nicolette, now 23, struggles financially – more than anyone I know. She works to make ends meet, through babysitting jobs, nanny jobs, and a part-time Ebay business where she trolls local thrift store for kids clothing for resale – and bargain hunter she is. She has NEVER turned me down for a job – and I often wonder where the joy in her life is, outside of the love she has for her son. She watched her friends go off to college, while she learned how to raise a child. She babysits every chance she gets – and seems to get her fair share of bad luck. Yet, I have never heard her once complain. She arrives with a smile on her face (always early, too) to delight, care for and love my kids (lucy arrived in 2007 and loved Nicolette as much as Phoebe).

True to her word, she started taking classes last year for nursing school, only to stop because she could not afford the classes or the time not working to attend classes. It breaks my heart, because I think she would make an amazing NICU nurse (and I am a NICU mom, with Phoebe having spent the first five weeks of her life at John Muir).

I realize that while pictures aren’t going to get her through nursing school, or help pay her rent, professional pictures of her son would help to chronicle the center – and the joy – of her world. I know that Nicolette believes that whatever hardships she endures, her son is worth it. I would love her to have a life time memory of Nick now – at this magical age of almost-five – where the world holds wonder and where mom can do anything.

Thanks so much to everyone that took the time to send in nominations for the deserving families. I look forward to working with the two winning families.

Also, wishing my wonderful blog readers a very Happy New Year!

Storybox for your special memories

alpana — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:33:43 +0000

Whenever, I get a new, fun product in the mail it makes my heart sing! I have many products to share and haven’t had a chance to do product photos and am going to try to keep up with it. Check out this lovely “Storybox” from a newborn session with an image on the box cover. This is one of the products that may be included with the high-resolution cd purchases depending on the package purchased. The box houses your lovely photos and the high-res disk cd. Isn’t it lovely?

Detail of box spine and back

Box inside with 5 x 7 bordered prints

Giving in Awesome

alpana — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 04:59:09 +0000

Last year, photographer Kristen Kalp started a wonderful movement called Giving is Awesome encouraging photographer’s all over the country to give back to their communities. In the spirit of the holidays and given the stress the downturn of the economy has had on lives of so many people, Storybox Art would like to donate a custom photography session to a local family.

The rules:
* You cannot nominate yourself, and the person nominated must sincerely be incapable of purchasing my services. (Being unable to make mortgage payments for a two-million-dollar-vacation-home in Paris does not qualify as sincere financial need.)

* The nominee must reside in the San Francisco Bay Area. Tell me who you know, what they’re experiencing, and why they deserve my artwork. Please include a way to contact both your nominee and yourself as well.

* You must e-mail me the full story : info@storyboxart.com by December 31st, 2009

The winner will be announced on January 9th — get nominating! I can’t wait to read all of your entries!

Open your heart to someone this holiday season — and thanks for giving me the opportunity to open mine.

With lots of love,

Alpana Aras-King