san francisco bay area maternity, child and family photographer » Bay area kids photographer

two boys, ugly icebat and ox

alpana — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 21:51:14 +0000

If you had asked me a couple years back, I was pretty clueless about Ugly Dolls. They were somewhat of a craze at my son’s school and we ended up getting a few. I wasn’t quite sure about the “Ugly” in the name but found out that it meant unique. Soon, I discovered that the Ugly universe was made up of the adorable plush toys, each with a distinctive personality and a story. The kids loved them and enjoyed having interactions through their dolls. So much better than electronic interactions, don’t you think?

One of the boys is my son’s buddy and I asked his mom to bring their dolls for the shoot. You can see how much fun we had! That’s about it for the sneak peek! But there will be several others without the dolls in your gallery.

away

alpana — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 04:11:11 +0000

I will be away from office from July 7-13th and returning emails/phone calls on my return. Happy summer! If you are interested in the Short Story Summer Mini’s please drop me a line. You can read more about them here.

Since I can’t have a blog post without pictures, here are a couple from a recent session. This was a rather spontaneous shoot for me but I loved the way it turned out. Beautiful light, beautiful baby girl + parents with some water play. What could be better than that? Since it was the couple’s anniversary, it made it an extra special day to capture these memories of their sweet little family.

if wishes were fishes…

alpana — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 15:06:18 +0000

…I could photograph this little guy all day long. Besides being adorable, he is such a happy little guy. I loved every minute of being with him and his gorgeous mama. This is our third photo session together at almost two years old. I met him and his gorgeous family as a wee little newborn and have loved documenting him since. Mommy brought along some fabulous props including the gorgeous vintage high chair that used to hers as a child. Here is a sneak peek for the B family!

seven | san francisco kids photographer

alpana — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 06:40:48 +0000

my birthday boy.

There are lives I can imagine without children but none of them have the same laughter & noise.
- storypeople

three little monkeys

alpana — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 16:59:10 +0000

and well-behaved ones too! A fun afternoon with these three siblings and their mama, the fabulous Rosa of Level 5 salon.

Live, Laugh, Love | SAN FRANCISCO FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHER

alpana — Wed, 26 May 2010 05:46:32 +0000

Carolyn was the recipient of a family session through my Giving is Awesome giveaway back in December 2009. She was nominated by Rosa of Level 5. When I read her story I knew right away that I had to photograph her family. Carolyn is a breast cancer survivor and still undergoing chemo treatments every few weeks.

One of the first things that struck me within minutes of meeting her was how much she laughed and enjoyed her wonderful family. Our session was full of laughs as you may see in the photos. I caught a lot of natural smiles without much effort on my part. Her two handsome boys (specially the four year old) kept me on my toes. Who needs the gym when you can chase four year olds? He was pretty symbolic of his age not being able to stay still for more than a few minutes (oh, wait seconds) and that was pretty much how I captured him on camera.

I had such a wonderful time with Carolyn’s amazing family and couldn’t have been happier to gift this custom photography session to her family. Hope you love the photos, Carolyn as much as I do!

How was your Mother’s Day?

alpana — Wed, 12 May 2010 20:16:53 +0000

Hope you had a wonderful Mother’s day! In celebration of the day, I thought I would share some old pictures of my beautiful mom. The one on the left is a classic studio picture that will stay forever timeless. The one to the right is one of my mom and most likely my sister.

My husband had to work so my son and I spent our day relaxing and hanging out at home. We baked pancakes and ate Chicken Tikka Masala from our favorite Indian take out in the evening. He brought home a lovely card for me from school. For my present, he thought we should make a trip out to Toys R us and pick something for me (um, him). Don’t ya love the simple mind of a six year old?

old and new

alpana — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 15:35:39 +0000

my updated twitter screen with some old and new photos.

someone special

alpana — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 04:13:11 +0000

This K family was visiting San Francisco from the east coast last week so their family portrait session came about rather quickly! Mom and Dad went to law school with a wonderful client that referred them to me. They wanted to craft their story in the city that they love so much and move back to some day. We visited some of their favorite spots and also took some pictures in their family home in Laurel Heights. Amazingly, in the course of the shoot five month old baby Sophie’s great-grandma stopped by. How amazing is that? She is such a sweet heart and I was thrilled to capture some photos of the wee one with great-grandma. Hope you enjoyed the rest of your stay, K family!

road trip mendocino

alpana — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 08:10:14 +0000

Last week, we got away on a last minute road trip to Mendocino for Spring Break. Fresh air and organic food that kept my mind, body and spirit happy.

At the end of our 1/2 mile turned almost 5 mile hike to the Russian Gulch. Amazingly the boy walked most of the way with a short carry on strong shoulders (not mine!).

Winding down Highway 128 at 35-50 miles an hour with an iPhone while snapping these out of the car window (while trying not to get motion sick).

Turns out that the boy could actually hold a pretty good tune on the Marimba. There were some pretty cool instruments in the store.