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The Tea Party with Mr. Sock Monkey | San Francisco Family Photographer

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Once upon a time, not so long ago, I was invited to a tea party by two little princesses and a sock monkey. One was two years old and the other was five. Both the little girls loved pink. Perhaps, the dad not so much. But everyone was invited for the tea party. And that is how we ended up doing a fun family session on a cold, cold Saturday in the bay area.

I watched the weather a good part of the day hoping it would warm up. When I arrived for the session, it was pretty cloudy and overcast. Hmnn…not quite the story I had envisioned initially. But we persevered and ended up with some what I think are some lovely memories for this beautiful family.

Renee Hindman - I love the sock monkey! Great idea. What sweet little subjects!

Oh My Gluestick - Awe! SO cute! I adore sock monkeys. They are just so happy and so much fun! I hope my kids have fond memories of theirs.

Ode to Mr. Bellihomji

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Recently, I have been thinking of what photography has meant to me and my early inspirations that drew me into this world.

To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event.
~ Henri Cartier-Bresson

Back in college studying art and photography, I took an additional photography class with an older Parsi gentleman in Bombay called Mr. Bellihomji. He must have been in his seventies and the only reason he taught was because he loved it so much. He coverd the technical aspects of photography, composition, developing and printing black and white film. Every week we went on some kind of an outing to shoot at least one roll of film and develop and print it.

The interesting thing was that his idol was Ansel Adams and mine was Henri Cartier-Bresson. I discovered fairly early that I was drawn to taking pictures of people which was not what the focus of the class. But what I learned from my dear teacher was to see the various shades of gray in every picture I took and focus on the details. We were an odd enough couple…arguing about what was important to use subject wise but there was no denying that I cultivated my eye under his guidance.

When you make your choice of a professional photographer, be sure to choose carefully. Find someone that fits your style. Someone that has spent the time in cultivating their art and can see those shades of gray 🙂

To photograph is to hold one’s breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It’s at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.
~ Henri Cartier-Bresson

Storybox Art nominated as best family photographer in San Francisco

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Can you see me dancing?? I am excited to share that Storybox Art has been nominated as the best family photographer in the San Francisco bay area by Nickelodeon’s Parents Connect website. The nomination is for the 2009 Parent’s Pick awards. What are parent’s pick awards? You can read all about it here but the short of it is that the nominees are solely based on parent reviews and ratings. This is such a honor as there are so many wonderful photographers in the bay area. For my nomination, I have to thank my most wonderful clients that have written the amazing reviews that you can read on the Nickleodeon site here. Each and every one means so much to me!

Thought I would share one…

What distinguishes Alpana among family/newborn photographers is her AMAZING gift for making photos that are true “art” rather than simply great photos! My husband and I wanted to capture the fleeting and precious moments of our newborn in his first few weeks of life. When we saw Alpana’s work it was love at first sight. Her photos are artistic, passionate, emotionally stirring, and simply magical. We knew we had to work with her and she made working with her so easy. She came to our home and worked around our baby’s schedule, which was very much appreciated as new parents. Alpana made us feel very comfortable and was so gentle and patient with our baby. All of this comes through in her photos. Our photos are amazing and take our breath away each time we look at them. She’s truly a gifted and amazing photographer. We can’t wait to work with her again.
[Submitted by Dana Barton 3/16/09

I need your help to win! Please vote for storyboxart.com by clicking the button below. You can vote once a day, every day from now until July 15th. Please share the link with your friends and have them vote was well! Thanks so much for your support.

For Family Photographer
in San Francisco

Carrie Sandoval - Congratulations, Alpana! What an honor!

smita - A well deserved honor , Alpana. Congratulations!!!

Raji P. - Alpana, I hope you win this contest, but whatever happens, we all know, you *are* the best family photographer not only in SF but in the world!

Our wonderful unplanned Mothers Day

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Hope all you fabulous moms had a wonderful Mother’s Day! For me, the day was an excuse to do something fun that I had been meaning to do with my little guy. We spent a wonderful day hanging out in San Francisco with our friends from the East Bay. Nothing like a spur of the moment plan to head out to the city and let the day unfold. It started with a cable car ride with stops along the way and somehow ending up at a little beach we discovered as we got off the cable car. Rowan and his friend Zachray had fun just digging up sand and tossing it into the ocean. Forever. Is it the simple little things that bring you the most joy?

Smita - Gorgeous pictures!! That lil boy of yours is going to be a ‘show-stopper’. Both the boys look so adorable in this last picture. Your beautiful captures and the way you bring out the best in your subjects never ceases to amaze me. Looks like you had a wonderful mothers day what with such delightful company. Could one ask for more?

Smita

Amber - WOW, your lil’ man have gorgeous eyes! Beautiful pictures, I hope you enjoyed your mothers day!

Katie - I can’t get over those eyes!!! Stunning!

ashley - Happy belated mother’s day;)
Gorgeous – your images of him always take my breath away!

alpana - Thanks for the comments. It was a lovely day…one that unfolded in a beautiful way!

Picture perfect little people | san francisco bay area photographer

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A sneak peek from last weekend’s mini-sessions. It was such a fun time working with these little people in the variety of ages. The 18 m- 2 year age were a bit more challenging in the short time slot for the mini’s but I was up for the challenge. It was great to see repeat clients and the kiddos that I photographed a few months back. And then of courses the new faces!

Amber - Beautiful images! I love the one of the little girl on the bike!

Kimberly Kyle - Precious mini sessions! Those kids are ALL so adorable!

Alyssa Anne - Such cute stuff! You did a great job!

Supriya - Great pics, Alps …all of them!

Karen - Such a great job on these!!!

Debi Gomez - love them! beautifully simple and focused on those gorgeous kids 🙂

Katie - You have the best props! Love them all!

Michelle - Wow. I LOVE them all. But that one on the trike is priceless! 🙂

marie - You did these so well girl

Catherine - beautiful!!!

Alex - Beautifully Light Alpana, just love them all 😉

Paula - Every time I look at your blog, I find reasons to smile. Thanks.

Fundraiser for Mariah Jackson

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Recently, I heard about a brave little three year old called Mariah Jackson fighting a rare kidney cancer. I wanted to share a fundraising event for her at the Icecreamery in Castro Valley. It is a Stuff-n-Fluff fundraiser where you will get to stuff your own bear and wish upon a rainbow star. The cost is $15 which includes the bear and a fabulous ice cream sundae. Please share the info with anyone that might be interested. You can read more about little Mariah on her website.

The Icecreamery
3323 Castro Valley Blvd
(between Rustic Dr & Santa Maria Ave)
Castro Valley, CA 94546

(510) 582-2775

Update: Mariah still needs your support so if you can make it to the Icecreamery tomorrow please do. Storybox Art will be donating a portrait photo session for Mariah in the coming week. Also, I have one last late spot available for the Mini-session tomorrow. Please email me asap if you are interested.

The Texan family in San Francisco | San Francisco bay area photographer

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I first met Mommy R online several years back while on my quest to have a baby. She visited the bay area when I was preggo with R and we got to meet in person. We stayed in touch off and on and then reconnected more recently on Facebook. She emailed me recently to say that she was joining her husband on his work trip to the bay area to have a photo session with me. Heh, I am sure she was kidding!! After all who can resist coming out to the bay area? But it doesn’t hurt to have that kind of compliment. And with that pressure I sure hope they like their sneak peek here and the photos.

I convinced her to book a family session instead of a kids only session and get in on the action. A session in itself is an investment and for a little more you can get to be in pictures which you probably will never take of yourself otherwise.

I wanted this session to be really special for R’s family for having put their faith in me and coming all the way from Texas. I stressed about the location as usual and eventually everything worked out. She even went along with my suggestions of getting some cute outfits for the kids from the Tea Collection. Now, I think she is hooked on their clothes too.

Her adorable twins warmed up to me pretty quickly and we had a lot of fun together mostly with me just hanging out watching them play. The funny thing is that her little guy K could almost be my son’s twin. He has the same twinkle in his eyes and crazy boy energy! It is the twin’s birthday today so I wanted to post the sneak peek for them to enjoy! Happy Birthday K + K!!

amy boring - What a fun happy session. Beautiful kiddos.

Texas Mommy R - The sneak peek teaser is torture – can’t wait to see the rest! You rock, did you know that?! and I already miss your beautiful boy, wish we could have spent more time with him. Any chance you can take him out of school tomorrow to play with us?! LOL!

Amber - Gorgeous family, looks like a fun session!

Alyssa Anne - These are just beautiful…how will they choose?!

Aseel - Great set!!! You can really tell they were having a fun session. Gorgeous kids.

Deanna - what a GREAT session!!!!!!! i can see how much you and your clients had together! Wonderful work!

Suchitra chander - Lovely shots, the family looks so lively. No wonder the kids were wiped when I saw them for dinner that night, I hadn’t seen them for 2-3 years and they were tuckered out with the long shoot, expended lots of energy. Glad the pics captured their energy so nicely.

ashley - Wonderful session! Beautiful family and gorgeous images;)

Alex - Looks like this was a really fun session, love these shots Alpana 😉

Paddy - Hi Alpana,

So good to hear about you again. R and I have kept in touch and we met finally in India. Great pictures!!!

Christine - How funny! Before reading your post–I was just thinking–that little boy MUST be related to your R. Great set! What fun for them!

Malathi - Alpana

those are great pictures of K&K. I haven’t met them. R – they look like real fun kids. Happy 5th b’day to them!

Deepa Ramani - Raji, You’re a major babe! You look fantastic! The photos are awesome. Everyone’s laughing, looks SO natural! Give me the photographer’s contact info and all, and I’d love to book something in september (we go to CA every September). Deepa

catch me if you can | san francisco bay area photographer

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These are a few pictures that I processed quickly from our recent vacation in San Diego. The thing I love about lifestyle pictures is that they don’t have to be perfect…in fact, the less perfect they are the more I like them. That is most of the time 🙂  So here we have my slippery little guy doing his best to get away from the mamarazzi. I am pretty sure he has PCS (Photographers Child Syndrome) where a camera is avoided at all costs unless a bribe is offered. Lucky for me, that day I had the super dad helper to capture him for a few snaps that you see below. And, yes there were a ton of shots in between to get a few good ones that told the story!

Raji P. - Now I know where R. gets his mischievous smile from! Stunning – the blues are breathtaking.

Katie - So fun!

Ginger McCabe - What a fun session! Lve all these pictures! Great job!