Orange County's Family Photographer, Tara Whitney

PLEASE CHANGE YOUR BOOKMARKS TO MY NEW BLOG. THIS BLOG WILL ONLY BE UP FOR A FEW MORE DAYS.
(4-24)

this blog will remain up for another week-so change your bookmarks please! :)

i know

i have been neglectful over here.
but you will be happy to know its because i have been working my HINEY off on my new blog!
i am really excited about it. larger photos, tara whitney branding, and lots of cool things ive wanted to do for awhile.

i am hoping hoping i can debut it tomorrow. but i may have to wait until friday. so friday at the latest!

xoxo
tara

polka dot baby + family

cant leave out her adorable brother-something about him reminded me of kevin bacon...

on ivy coming to stay for five sleeps

"mom, can we please please please just play for a (pinching fingers together and squinching up her face) little bit at midnight? please?"

it is a sentence i have heard many times before, the whole pleading begging thing, and i was kind of zoning out on it, until she surprised me with the midnight thing. that kind of threw me off.

we have had five days of little girlie love prancing about our house. little vignettes of pretend-ness in every corner, under every table, and all over the backyard.

my fifth child will be going home late tonight, with her mumma, dad, and my sixth child. and we will all miss her. they have been very, very good, and havent played at midnight even once.

i'm a new soul

yael naim-im a new soul

for all of us new souls who are struggling to find our way in this world.

motley crew

took these classic photos last week outside of ocean burrito in oceanside. i stop here almost every time i finish up a session and grub on my burrito on the drive home.

this time the visit was just about the grub and the friends.

and these shots are just about these incredible kids.

when i downloaded the card and saw all of these pop up, i couldnt delete any of them. in each shot, at least one of the kids was doing something so classic them, and i was literally laughing to myself as i looked at them over and over. i had to call lisa and tell her to get thee to the computer so she could see for herself. we sat talking and laughing at these pics for about fifteen minutes.

how you know you are living with someone who has OCD

"do you know what olivia did today that made me so happy?"

"what?"

"she turned my lamp the other direction."

"so?"

"so now it lines up perfectly with the corner of my night-stand. AND... now i have like three more inches of space on top." with a wave of his hand.

and if his expression wasn't so boyish and earnest, i would have teased him endlessly. instead, i decided to just blog it.

this is where i write my blog

since putting our loft in last summer, i have been slowly getting stuff together in my office space. this weekend, i finished it all up and took some pictures.

this is what you see as you walk up the stairs:

my expedit bookshelf, probably the coolest thing ikea has ever made:

the view if you are sitting at the computer, or standing with your back to the expedit:

"dont put off your happy life" is illustrated by linzie hunter. her website is here. she has done a whole series of illustrations based on spam emails she has received. another favorite of mine is this one.

some pretty little things ive collected:

polka dot suitcase from land of nod
cupcakes from i cant remember-they hold thumbtacks.
camera from ebay

my work station:

printer: HP Photosmart Pro B9180
silver bucket things: ikea
clipboards: melissa francis
wire thing: online purchase from too long ago to remember

a little friend in the window:

birdie from: once upon a design i love him-if he was a real bird that would be a different story. but fake, and vinyl-i can handle that.

my lifeline:

with album covers from my itunes playlist as a screen saver

a favorite shelf:

jars: ikea
people: gemmielou

and another:

jars: home goods and old pickle jar
stamps: decole

and my inspiration door. an old door picked up at an architectural salvage place in LA:

i put anything i want up there-cards from people that love me, thank you notes from clients, magazine ads that inspire me with cool poses or ideas, things to do, things to think.

and now that this room is clean and organized i officially have jeff off my back.
dust off my hands and call 'er done.

blurry

tonight. i had just put lotion on mckenna's legs (where her skin graft scars are) and tucked her into bed. i walked out of her room when i saw anna look at me, leap into the air and run to her bed...leaping onto it like some kind of drunk flying squirrel. so i ran after her and jumped on top of her and she said:

"mom did you see how fast i ran?"

"yes i did, i almost couldn't catch you!"

"was i blurry?"

the goswick girls

these beautiful women live on a working ranch, and on a college tour of california, stopped off in newport beach to meet me.

mothers and daughters are so inspiring for me to work with, probably because of the amazing relationship i have with my own mom. it really does seem like only a week ago that i was 16 years old and she was still trying to cuddle me on her lap...

these girls were super fun to work with, loved my ideas, (or pretended to) and most importantly, loved each other very much. it was plain to see.

as this guy came into my peripheral vision as i was shooting her in this spot, i thought-keep on coming, keep on coming...i LOVE capturing surfers in the background at the beach.

bikini shopping: