So I’ve been slow on blogging this week for two reasons.

1. As you can imagine, there’s a lot of sadness around Warren’s performance on Tuesday, but even more anger and frustration and disappointment around the country’s lack of faith and trust in women getting the job done. We raised you all, right? WE DID THAT. Trust us.

2. I’ve also been sick as a dog. I caught a cold last week that has morphed into a pretty gnarly phlegm situation in my chest. On the upside, I now sound like the absolute sexiest radio host alive.

But besides those events, I’ve been over here slogging through work all week, but not picking up my camera much. I do have some new client work that I want to show you (the newborn sessions this winter have been SO AMAZING!). And that will come next week.

But I thought I should have a more personal post first. You know, just checking in. Plus, I haven’t showcased Magda in a while, and frankly it’s her turn.

I’m not sure I’ve told you all before, but I’m in this amazing international filmmaking network, and we do a few personal challenges a year. The one for February was to make a “love letter” film. Many in the group made them for their kids, but staying 100% on brand, I made one for my dog. I hope you enjoy it — I will forever cherish the footage of Magda and Ezra playing, not to mention the sweet sound of my kiddo’s voice.

Hi there. Is tomorrow your election day? Because it’s mine, and I am all in.

The last time I was this excited for a presidential candidate, it was Obama, and the momentum was there. I had goosebumps and tears and all my emotions on the line. But everyone seemed to feel the same as me, so we were all in it together.

This time, I feel that way about Warren, and her momentum is not quite at Barack levels, shall we say. But you guys, I want this so bad.

I’ve been phone banking for Warren all week long — calling strangers in South Carolina, Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah, Texas and California. Getting yelled at, getting cussed at and absolutely rejoicing when someone answered who was as excited for Warren as I am.

I am not going to lie, it’s much scarier to have this much invested with someone who isn’t a clear front runner. But I feel strongly about her as a candidate. Why? Let me tell you.

She has plans to help pay for health care, college, student loans and daycare — and the plans make so much sense! How will she do this? She’s taxing 2% of every dollar that someone makes after their first $50 million that year.

I mean… do you need more than $50 million in a year? I’m guessing not (sure would like to find out though!). I think this makes so much sense! The level of wealth in this country is staggering, but so is the level of poverty. You shouldn’t go bankrupt trying to care for an illness — that’s something I feel very strongly about.

But at the same time, I think we need someone who can come up with creative solutions to these problems and who has a record of working across political lines — and she has that in spades.

I also value her prioritization of investigating and prosecuting white nationalist crimes, as well as her plan to invest in rural America.

If you are curious where she lands on any issues closet to your heart, I encourage you to check out her multitude of plans and ideas. It is so impressive, as is she.

So that’s why I’ll be casting my vote for her tomorrow. I do hope you’ll join me.

(Also, the photo is a cell phone selfie. Crap quality! But you get the idea.)

This week, I made it out to a concert.

I know. What has even happened to my life??

But hilariously, this was a pretty great show for me to shoot, because it appeared the artists were as weary and old as I am.

Not that I don’t still love a good rock show full of dancing and screaming — I do! But not on a Wednesday night before I have to leave the house at 7 am the next morning. Not on a night when my kid might wet the bed, my dog might wake me up eating my bedspread and I might have caught my kid’s raging cold (which all happened that night, btw).

So a more mellow show was just what I needed.

And have you not heard of Radical Face? Ridiculous name, but wonderful music. Go listen here.

I do have more photos, but they aren’t that great. Because white men sitting down for more than an hour to sing into microphones doesn’t make fantastic photography. But it does heal the soul. Go give it a listen.

Also, the last photo is of the cellist whistling into the cavern of his instrument, and it sounded so haunting and beautiful.

This is Buddy. When his mom told me she was bringing in a blind dog, I didn’t hesitate. I’ve shot many blind dogs for rescues before… but… they usually still have their eyes.

So I was a little surprised to see his had been removed. His owners explained he’d been rescued from Texas, and when he was found he had horrendous, oozing eye infections, so they needed to be removed.

You guys. I swear, you wouldn’t even know they were missing! Be it his sniffer or his amazing hearing, he trotted around the studio exploring like any old regular pup. And he even posed the same! What a champ.

I learned a lot from this session — but mostly I learned that even without those expressive eyes, dogs are still just as magical. I was so lucky to have spent a morning with this handsome guy.

I have been so lucky the past week! I’ve had a bunch of newborn shoots AND some dog shoots! And some, like this one, where I got to photograph both together!

Bringing a newborn home when you have animals is such an adjustment for all creatures involved, and I adore capturing not just the baby, but the entire family in this moment.

I know I say this a lot, but I really am the luckiest to get to call these shoots my profession. Spending the days with these families is such a pleasure.

Right after we got back from our vacation, I jumped into work with this newborn session. I am not gonna lie, I adore this family and could not wait to get this session under my belt. Their dog is THE BEST, and their oldest daughter makes me laugh and laugh and laugh, and I was thrilled to be there. And I haven’t even gotten to the parents! I could sit down and talk with them for hours (but I try not to because after all, they have a newborn and are exhausted!).

Seriously, I sometimes have to pinch myself. I come home from a week away in the warm desert, and I am excited to get back to work. I am begging everyone to find work that is this satisfying — it will change your life.

There are a ton of favorites from this session, and I managed to narrow it down to the few below. I hope you enjoy them.

These are just two shots from our trip that I really liked and didn’t really fit in my posts about the beach or Joshua Tree. When we are staying in Palm Springs, we are mostly by the pool or playing games or just hanging out at home with the family (which I love). Because of this, most of my images from this vacation are more personal family shots, and not so much scenic ones.

But these two are the exceptions.

Up top is Ezra running to his favorite playground at Ruth Hardy Park. We walked there every day, and the view of those mountains never gets old, friends. There are no foothills like Denver, these mountains just shoot straight out of the ground, and it’s amazing.

Below is a shot I took from the car on our way to the beach. I love the California windmills and I thought this image captured the magic of it all.

And before I sign off, I want to say thank you to all of you who took the time to poke around my new site yesterday, and especially to those of you who ordered packages. I was blown away by the support, and it was a very happy Monday for me! So thanks again!

Did you notice my fancy new design? I’ll get to that in a minute. First, the item above.

A few weeks back, I showed you the photos from sweet Ellis’ session, but I wanted to share his film as well. I really adore these newborn films, and I’m hoping to book more and more of them in the future.

And speaking of that! If you’re reading this on the day of publication, you’ll notice that orange bar at the top of your screen! That right there is a discount to ANY family session booked for 2020 — but you have to book before midnight on Feb 17, 2020, because after that it’s gone folks.

But back to this website! Isn’t it lovely? My amazingly wonderful and fabulous friend Margaret designed it for me, and I could not be happier. She is a gem, I tell you.

Why change it, you ask? Well, I wanted to redo my website to focus more on families — but keep the dogs present. As many of you know, these are my very favorite things to photograph, but they don’t make up even half of my annual income (that goes to portraits and commercial gigs). I’m going to be completely transparent here and tell you that I really, really want to do even more of the work I love, so I thought refocusing my website was a great place to start.

A few questions you might have:

1. Are you ONLY doing families and dogs now? What about my head shots? Yes, I will of course still do portraits! But I don’t want that front and center on my site. If you need a new head shot, get at me.

2. I don’t see weddings anywhere? Are you not doing weddings now? Hmm… I will do weddings if the circumstances are right. But at this point in my life, I’m only truly loving weddings of long-time clients or friends or people I already know in real life. So I took them off my site. But if you are getting married and want me to shoot it — reach out!

3. I don’t see Lucy on the site — did you two break up? HELL NO. I still adore Lucy and admire her work so much. But I wanted to change up the site, and she loves doing way more than just families, so I thought it was unfair to pigeon hole her into my dream world. She just redesigned her own amazing site, and we are still working closely together. We still share the studio and still refer jobs back and forth like crazy. She’s the best.

Ok, I think that should cover it! Please take a look around — I’m really proud of all the work on here and how it’s displayed. Plus, it’s Monday (and a bank holiday)! Why not waste a little time!