Orange County's Family Photographer, Tara Whitney

vacation

tomorrow we are on our way to hawaii.

we are going to be staying with our wonderful friends the ramanlals, you can see their cute fam here. we met last year when they hired me for a session and we became friends immediately. i cant wait to introduce them to the other parts of us-our kids!

after months of agonizing over whether or not we thought mckenna could handle a trip like this, we decided the best thing for her would be to stay home and get spoiled by her uncle shane and aunt rachel. i am so torn in two about this decision-my heart literally hurts thinking of leaving her behind. i cant imagine going somewhere without our little nut-brown hair, doing something as a family, but not with our entire FAMILY. but this is just not the type of vacation for her. she is not a big fan of the beach or "winging it" without a schedule, and we will be doing a lot of both.

anyone who may try to get ahold of me, i probably wont be checking email again until january 9th when we get home.

bon voyage! see you next year!

we will destroy the decepticons

just got this emailed to me. im so glad he doesnt want to grow up. "he" is on the right and our brother in law jason is on the left. this was taken during the madness of opening presents with six grandchildren.

moments before the house imploded upon itself with merriment

click here to see it bigger

i didnt have my wits about me after only having five hours of sleep so my ISO was too low and these are blurry, but i love them anyways. i particularly love jeff the zombie caboose dragging his blankie behind him.

how did he KNOW?!

was my favorite thing that was said christmas morning over and over again, by anna. every time she opened something, or anyone opened something that everyone knew they wanted she would happily proclaim "but mom, how did he KNOW?!"

i never ever want to forget that. such magic. other things i dont want to forget:

mckenna raising her hand impatiently waiting for her turn to open presents.

nathan's surprised happy face when mima, ron, papa jamie, deb, tiffany, summer, and jason gathered everyone to the kitchen at the end of christmas day and asked "whose birthday is it in two days?" and then started singing happy birthday loudly and brought birthday presents and a birthday cake from behind their backs. he was so innocently happy and surprised that i cried.

drew doing his best to hold onto the magic of santa. i think its time that we let him in on the secret.

the annual wrapping of the whitney christmas presents with jon and robyn, saving me at least two hours of wrapping with robyns help.

jeff and i with our stealth sneakiness on christmas eve, dying of laughter over i cant remember what now, and shushing each other so as not to disturb the visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads. i love the secret teamwork on christmas eve. its all so quiet and magical.

the light of the christmas tree with presents huddled underneath. the stockings full to the brim.

making button trees with my aunts and my childrens great aunts, my mom, grandma barbara, and alisha. bowls of buttons and pins on the table and everyone taking turns decorating.

laying on my sister karissas bed after dinner with rachel and karissa and her friends discovering we were in their space and talking and laughing and realizing that one day six or seven or eight years down the road that it will be karissa laying in drews bed and i would not be welcome in his tight circle of teenage secrets and trust. and being okay with that because i have sworn her in as a traitor. she is my spy.

jeff and jason wearing the optimus prime helmets that were meant for our boys during the opening of presents.

sitting outside in the warm sunshine on christmas eve, all of my family sitting in a circle of backyard and kitchen chairs, talking and enjoying the day.

grandma barbara in the shade of an umbrella

the geek squad, caught talking once again about games

aunt hilary, phyllis peeling potatoes

button trees

sweet shane and rachel, my brother and my almost sister

waiting patiently to open presents

tea party for three

our crooked little tree

the rest taken on christmas morning

this morning we slept until 10am. the kids are begging for lunch at dennys. my house is a tornado of wrapping paper, candy, and our new acquisitions. today is going to be my deep cleansing breath. we are going to relax and clean up and organize the new stuff into the old stuff and enjoy being off work and school.

together, as usual.

and so help me, if they tell me once they are bored i will heave the christmas tree out the window.

gonna deck the halls and do things we never have

straight no chaser mens a cappella
make sure to watch to the end!

merry christmas everyone.

the one who made me get paint on my hands

winner is sandi from aus

i will foward your email onto emily!

so awhile back i took some photos for emily for her big picture scrapbooking class. thought they would be fun to share.

i was never one to use paint for my scrapbook pages. im too lazy. i thought it had to be a huge production with lots of brushes and cleaning up of brushes. but after watching em paint it made me want to do it too. and i realized anyone can do it if i can! i love the little bits of paint she adds to her layouts-they make everything so personal, so her, so custom made and artsy looking. she totally got me addicted to paint. its so fun to walk around with paint on my hands, letting me pretend i am an artist. and somehow it makes the whole art of creating more for me.

i told her i was going to share the photos i took for her, and she thought it would be cool if i did a giveaway. so, i get to giveaway one free tuition for her class "got paint", which i think will be so great for anyone who wants to dip their fingers in...i know the lessons i have learned just by watching her have changed what i do. and while her style may not be yours (it isnt mine either, im much more graphic and linear than her) i have always just adapted what she does to fit me.

so, post a comment and ill draw a winner tonight!

she left this little note on my driveway that day, which i love, but im sure my stupid home owners association does not.

and the winner is:

ANDREA BURNS!
you can check out her website here: andrea burns photography
and her blog here embellish

andrea, you got 190 votes out of the 800 something!

second place goes to kathy wolfe!

website
blog

and third place goes to kelly bryan

blog

THANK YOU everyone for playing-i really hope it was as fun for you as for me. something different for the ol' blog. and a way for me to give back to everyone who reads here. i dont know AT ALL how this blog became what it is today. it blows my mind to think that almost three years ago i just started it to share photos with my family and friends and it changed my life.

this blog changed my life.

ive made lifelong friends because of it, had amazing experiences, made connections with people all over the world, and created a successful business out of my passion. i feel incredibly lucky. so thank you. thank you for the feedback, the support, listening to my crap, and just being here. it means a lot. thank you.

"the envelope please, darling..."

"thank you."

"after several hours of tallying and reading, the winner is......"

"number FOUR!"
(clapping and whistling from the audience)
"second place is number ELEVEN, with 95 votes."
(more happy clapping, some YOWs!)
"and third place is number TWELVE, with 71."
(clapping and an ALL RIGHT!)

thank you so much for playing along and voting. this has been really really cool. i had very little idea what photo would win. my guess was #3 (the tattoo). but i guess the green stool and the curly piggies won out. i have to say, that when i saw this and shot it, i could tell i was going to love it. it was one of those moments that my father in law jamie used to say, "that ones a keeper!" after he snapped the shutter. it is definitely one of my favorites from this year. so much came together to make this a favorite. and i did nothing but to see it while it was happening. and be lucky enough to have a camera to shoot it. the light was just incredible (shot in a garage midday), the stool was the perfect pukey shade of green that i love, the lacey dress, those perfect toes. its going to look gorgeous as a canvas!

and thought you might like to see the upper halves of the winners:

four:

eleven:

twelve:

and now onto the second half of the contest-lets do a little rule reminder:

rules:

the photos corresponding number will be ON TOP of the image.

ONLY ONE VOTE PER PERSON. i can check IP addresses...so dont cheat. ill delete your cheating McCheater votes. :)

please vote in the comments of this post.

feel free to campaign for more votes. have friends and family vote for your image!

1

how could i not choose this photo? so original, and makes you feel something. smile. that dog wondering "what are they doing?" and i love the old car and jeans. cool shot.

2

loved the newborn wrinkles on the bottom of the feet. loved the color and pattern of the blanket. loved the processing.

3

cool family shot-the matching converse and the colors. also love the difference between the dad feet and the littlest feet. take note of the hands too-dads hands and the little boy holding onto mom.

4

if you have little girls, you have probably done this for them/with them. love that this mom shot this shot. love the perspective. love the different colored paint, the dress up dress, the tattoo.

5

this is a shot i would hang up huge in my house. i love the crop. and the baby eating big brother or sisters feet! CLASSIC and so funny and cute.

6

a great newborn foot shot again, just loved the contrast of twigs and new skin. the perspective and background make me think this was taken out in some fairyland woodland forest in the snow.

7

the colors! the leaves! she had to have been laying on the ground to get this one-LOVE the perspective.

8

how can you not want to giggle and tickle those toes. another shot i would have in my house HUGE. this would make anyone who looked at it smile. those wrinkly feet and that curled laughing tongue. also the headband. love it.

9

great twist on the contest. i was hoping someone would enter animal feet! this is so cozy and sweet.

10

this is a great image-the colors, lighting, perspective are all spot on. those fat baby knees in comparison with mom made me grin. love the uncluttered background and the slight reflection too.

11

the crop on this one is fresh and cool. the dirty feet, colors, DOF, and light all drew me right in. i feel like ive lived this exact shot many times, and thats why i love it. its so familiar. plus, somebody looks like he is getting sleepy...

12

the gorgeous green background with the perfect pink toes. so good. the DOF is stunning.

13

i want to be in that hammock snuggling with this baby. love the processing and love the idea.

14

i want this photo of my family, like right now. :) its just FUN and COOL and never seen anything like it before.

15

adorable little man, love the toes gripping the trike. the crop, the colors, the processing. all great.

16

a sunday morning in bed perhaps? or playing hookey from work? love the bedspread and the slight view of a laptop in the background.

17

this looks straight out of a magazine. its such a wonderful photojournalistic approach to a newborn in NICU. that foot outstretched is just precious. also love that it was shot wide, i think?

18

this is just such a fun image. i wonder where they walked with those red feet!!!

19

this shot makes me feel like it was taken in hawaii. i want to live on the beach and have that bucket at my front door. a clever foot shot that takes in important details of a day or event.

20

this is so serene, and so beautiful. the skin tones with the light and the gorgeous sleeping babe. how you can just see the quiet smile on mom...

21

loved the gritty feel of this, the dark black and white conversion with some texture.

so here we go again, place your votes!
you guys seriously put my foot images TO SHAME. i was so impressed with everything that came in. and just a bit jealous, if im being honest. hahaa! i want some of these to be my own kiddos. :)

voting will stop wednesday morning at 9am PST.
and the winner will be announced thursday morning at 9am PST.

merry christmas and happy holidays everyone!

contest closed

ive turned comments off, and wont be accepting anymore photo submissions. my inbox needs a trip to the day spa after this week!

this weekend i will be going through 400+ feet photos and counting 780 votes!

winner of my best foot forward will be announced on monday at 9am PST.

YOUR best foot forward submissions will also be posted on monday. i dont know if i will be able to post just 10 though! maybe 21, like i did?

i will leave the voting open for 48 hours and then announce the second winner!

you have been sending in such fun photos. it is going to be murder to choose only 21 of them!

a coupla more foot pics to whet yer whistle

we had the most glorious little day yesterday celebrating ivy's birthday. emily set up a fairy luncheon for the girls and we created a day spa in her living room. complete with candles, soothing music, mini pedi's, massages, and cucumbers on their eyes! such a delight.

it was a magical afternoon, exactly what i always imagined it would be like to have little girls...

dont forget, deadline for your foot photos and votes to be entered is tomorrow morning, 8am PST.