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A Venice Beach Family Session

Last fall, I photographed this colorful Venice Beach Family Session. I had sent out my newsletter about being in SoCal for Adventure Always, a photography conference. When mom emailed me to book a session, I was really excited. The last time I saw  the Hernandez family, they were visiting the bay area with their two and half […]

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Nicole Spangler - I love the urban vibe of this session!

Jainé Kershner - just adorable! what a great family session.

Krystle Akin - I am in love with all of these especially the black and whites!

Kristin Sweeting - super cute! I love all the fun colors!

Lindsay Madden - what a playful session this is! i especially love the ones of the girl on the swing. your work always makes me smile & wanting more!

Kelsy McCartney - What a fun, stylish little family!! Great session! I especially love the black & whites on the swing 🙂

Lisa O'Dwyer - Fun! I love your family portraits Alpana!

San Francisco Film Photographer

It is flattering to be hired by another photographer but a bit nerve racking as well. DJ is an awesome photographer and asked me to do a family portrait session. He shoots mostly film and I thought it wouldn’t be right to capture them digitally only. So I decided to challenge myself and photograph their […]

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Sera Petras - What a sweet moment with these two!

Lindsay Madden - What a beautiful moment & that light shining on them makes this image extra special. Stunning!

christina - So gentle. Beautiful Alpana!

Lisa O'Dwyer - A beautiful moment! makes me dream of summer!

Trish Barker - What a sweet moment. Beautiful.

wendy laurel - you should always shoot film. just breathtaking.

Amber Snow - Adorable! The light and color is great too.

Mirelle - Perfect shot!!!!

Carolee Beckham - such pretty light and a tender moment

Rachel May - So beautiful!! the light is amazing!

jody savage - love this tender moment!

Krystle Akin - Love this image!

Kimberly Barnes - Beautiful shot!

suzyb - I’m so glad you went all film on this Alpana, i cannot wait to see more!!! This photo is gorgeous!!

Spring is here | San Francisco Bay Area Photographer

“It’s spring fever. That is what the name of it is. And when you’ve got it, you want—oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!” ― Mark Twain Spring in here in the San Francisco Bay Area! Right now, our […]

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Lindsay Madden - Such a great post. Your son is so handsome!

Kina - Such a sweet session… and those EYES!!

Lauren Guilford - I always enjoy looking at your images of your son! Love the sense of adventure in these.

Christina - Those eyes!! Your son is so handsome!!

kel ward - I love these so much!

Trish Barker - I love your eye! And his eyes!

Jenny Owens - His eyes are amazing! I have a 10 year old too and he’s the same – trouble is he’s even resisting my attempts at bribery!

Kimberly Barnes - So sweet!

suzyb - Sooo jealous, it’s definitely far from here in Chicago 🙁

Love all of these though, the brightness and the pretty flowers.. I love Spring!!

Marcie Lynn - Gotta love the mustard! Beautiful shots!

And Then There Were Three | East bay Children’s Portraits

A portrait session with these gorgeous siblings, their pet chickens in beautiful light. This session was done for my son’s school auction for this family. I may be doing another one in the near future. If you are interested in bidding on it, please email through the contact page and I will send you a […]

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Marcie Lynn - These are all so beautiful! I always love the light in all of your images.

Jainé Kershner - the light is gorgeous!

Lindsay Madden - What an incredible session! You are so great with sun flares too! 🙂

Christina McNeill - Love that light!! 9th one down is my fave!! So good Alpana!!

Kimberly Barnes - Beautiful! I love the baby chicks!

Sera Petras - The second shot is amazing. Gorgeous sun flare and so controlled! Great session with these kids!

Joyce Kang - These are incredible images!! The light is gorgeous!

Kristin Sweeting - Very cool! Love the documentary feel!

Christine Sargologos - I love how natural these are!

suzyb - LOOOOVE! And I love the little chickies (and so perfect there are 3 ;))

shannon harrison - dude Alpana, love your slices of life always. come shoot the Harrisons?

Tutorial on Deleting Photos off your iPhone

Have you ever had it happen before where you suddenly find your iPhone at full capacity? Well, I did recently. Being a chronic over-shooter and all. And, it wasn’t the first time. In the past, I have gone through and painstakingly deleted images one by one to keep the few I wanted. That took so […]

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kel ward - Well, this sure would have been helpful last week when I was deleting 500 photos by hand. LOL.

wendy laurel - i always struggle with this!! thanks

Sandra Coan - I’m forwarding this to my husband ASAP! Great info!

Mirelle - I totally needed this!!!

Kina - This is very helpful Alpana! Totally going to do this.

Jodi - great to know – thanks for the share

jody savage - so good to know! bookmarking for later as this always happens to me!

Kimberly Barnes - Ooooh, so glad you posted this! I really need to go through my phone and clear out some photos!

Jenny Owens - Thanks for this post Alpana. So useful.

Kristin - Perfect timing and great tip! I need to clean up my phone too!

Lindsay Madden - I have an Android 🙂 But this tutorial seems super helpful!!!

Clary - This so helpful!!

Medium Format Film Portrait

My boy at ten years. Contax + XP2

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Sandra Coan - gorgeous!!!

Kimberly Barnes - Beautiful!

Jodi - Very striking but in a calm way. Those eyes……….

Marcie Lynn - As always, stunning! His eyes…so amazing.

wendy laurel - gorgeous per usual. better get those portraits while you can… its get dicey getting cooperation in those teen years .. at least with my son 🙂

Ashley Kelemen - Such a stunning image!!

Kristin - So gorgeous!

Christine Sargologos - Gorgeous boy. This is perfect.

Mirelle - I love this image!!!!

kel ward - Gorgeous!

This one’s for Amber | East bay family photographer

Last year, many of you opened up your hearts and donated to raise funds for Amber’s Cure. Every year, I try to donate a photo session as my pay-it-forward to help someone I can with my art. This one was for Amber. Amber is a brave young mama with two boys that is battling a […]

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Joyce Kang - What a sweet family!! Praying for Amber <3

christina - so sweet alpana!

Kristin Sweeting - So beautiful! What a precious family. The black and whites are stunning!

Sandra Coan - What a fantastic family session! Love them all, but that last image slays me!

wendy laurel - love this and love the thought behind it. Hoping Amber is doing well.

Lindsay Madden - Absolutely beautiful work, as always! Your images always evoke so much emotion. Love it!

Marcie Lynn - I love your style. The B&Ws are my favorite! Beautifully photographed!

Stefanie Kapra - These are so true and real and beautiful. And these big dark eyes from the kids are just gorgeous. Great post. Thanks for sharing!

Krystle Akin - OH MY WORD! Precious!!! Love!

Mirelle - Such a beautiful family session – that last shot is my favorite!!!!

Jodi - Another gorgeous set of images – love your different ‘view’ and angles.

jody savage - this is so so lovely. love your work!! the black and whites are amazing!

Chantal Stoner - I think this batch of photos was even better than the session we did last year. Just love everything about these!

Jaine Kershner - the sweetest little girls ever. such a wonderful family session!

Kelsy McCartney - ohhh those first two and the last one were quick favorites!! beautiful session, very refreshing and full of life 🙂

Rachel May - Goodness, this is so lovely Alpana. I adore the life in them… beautiful movement.

Kina Wicks - Oh my goodness, the first image just look my breath away!

Emily Anderson - Wow! These are so creative and dreamy! Beautiful job, Alpana!

Jenny Owens - What a great thing to do and these are beautiful photographs.

Sera Petras - These are great. That last shot is stunning! What a sweet family session!

Kimberly Barnes - Such a lovely family session!

San Francisco Family Portraits

A walk around the neighborhood to capture a San Francisco family. The last black and white is one of my favorites…a moment of stillness from the little guy. And sitting as he did, it seemed like he was peering right through my soul like a wise man that had just turned four that very day. […]

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jody savage - wow – these are great! love the light and the emotion in the pictures! what cute little guy!!

wendy laurel - im definitely a fan. that last image.. just WOW

christina - love shooting in the city! so lovely!!

Sandra Coan - What an adorable session! Love these!!!

Mirelle - Love this session! The last shot is my fave!

melanie - love these!! i love how you captured his playfulness and joy! so sweet 🙂

Marcie Lynn - These are great! I am in love with that wall and the little boy next to it is so perfect!

Jodi - Awesome session – love that wall the colours are so cool and that little man is adorable.

Blenda Montoro Miller - He is SO adorable! lovely photos but really really love the black and white :)))

Lindsay Madden - What a sweet little kid he is! Beautiful work!

Carolee - What a fun use of location! love them!

Lisa O'Dwyer - I adore these! Such a beautiful happy family! You are so talented!