Orange County's Family Photographer, Tara Whitney

and there wasn't even any whining involved. swear it.

i was going through my photo files from 2007 and i was shocked and appalled to find out that i only took 900-ish photos of my family during the entire year. the year before that? 2700-ish. and september 07? yeah, i didnt take even ONE PHOTO OF THEM THE WHOLE ENTIRE MONTH. the only time my camera came out to play in september was for the wonderful people who were paying me to do it.

i was actually pretty devastated to discover this. the reason i take photos is because of THEM. and is part of the reason for the changes this year for me. i want to enjoy my kids and my hobby. taking pictures of them is like bottled happiness for me. i can open the bottle and take a whiff anytime i want. and to not take advantage of that...it kills me.

so changes. i am happy to say, i have started 08 out with a bang. i have lots on top of lots of photos that i have taken around the house and out and about. and now, i even have a session full of shots. of just them. all bottled up and happy just for me.

some of my clients may recognize this alley.

"snuggle up!" i yelled. and i got sweet goodness.

going in for the kill.

totally playing it cool. killed me.

"who has the stinkiest feet?"

that is mckenna not handling all of the shenanigans very well. so we broke it up after that and had some fun.

we stayed firmly on the ground.

make art

you may or may not have seen this. i finally just did on my friend rachels blog after hearing about it all week. if you have heard about it too but havent yet had the chance to watch it, it is worth every single second.

looks like they pulled the video-you can go HERE TO SEE IT!

chills.

and the song that won it for them.

i watched this film on a plane on the way to NYC. i sobbed all over the place. its not sad-just exceptionally moving.

"say goodbye, drew!"

trampoline bungee at the balboa fun zone.

and i just want to say thank you to everybody on their thoughts on my last post. it was very nice to read the thoughtful, peaceful comments. one thing i strive to do in my life is to be kind. of course sometimes the unkind tara shows her face, but that is usually in reaction to someone being mean to me first. self defense!

i had an experience in high school (during desert storm). i had a peace sticker on my car then too. one day our school had a rally, and there was a big fight (who woulda saw that coming?) between the war supporters and the supposed anti-war peace group. its happened ages over, but i was shocked at the time to hear the people that supported the war thought that those of us who didnt want a war were directly unsupportive of the troops that were there. which wasnt, and isnt the case. for me, at least.

and i have always wondered what the people fighting our war feel about me-the person who wants peace. do they feel i dont support them, like the people at home seemed to? or do they understand that i know that the war isnt their doing, that i can support them AND desire peace. i am so glad to know that at least from the people that posted, the soldiers understand my point of view and would not be offended at the tiny statement on the back of my car.

i hesitate, gravely hesitate, to post about any type of political thing here because people have very strong opinions on topics such as this. and opinions are rarely changed. and fights amongst the comments dont do a thing to change them. so please, negative or unkind comments are unnecessary. before you feel any desire to post, know that i believe my opinions are just that, opinions. based on my experience and upbringing. my stating them should not offend anyone. i fully respect that my readers may have a differing opinion, and i am totally okay with that. differences are what make our world the amazing, inspiring thing it is.

i will leave you with this, one of my favorite points to ponder at the moment:

Don't believe everything you think.

i didn't realize until after i had entered the military base that the peace sticker on the back of my car might not go over so well.

since lisa and i have such busy schedules with our kids in school, and other stuff, we always try to meet up on school holidays. so we met up with lisa and her husband matt at the beach on the camp pendleton marine base last week. (matt is a marine.) this time the kids did feel the cold, so no one got in the water-well except for anna-but that wasnt on purpose. mckenna sat in a pop up tent with blankets and snacks while we wandered over to the jetty. (not to self-buy pop up tent for mckenna at the beach-she was totally stoked about that thing.) the tide was extremely low. the water level would normally be over our heads where we were standing. so the tide pools were easily accessible and really cool. while they explored, i stayed on top of the jetty to keep an eye on the mckenna tent.

and then matt went back to our chairs with finn so i went down to expore too.

it was CRAZY how far out we could walk!

not so happy about being wet. thankfully lisa came prepared and we changed her into dry boy clothes.

(lisa just sent me the action shots of the fall)

her face kills me in that one! she is totally like oh crap, what happened?! (thanks mcg)

i am completely in beach mode right now-its all i want to do...

oh, and nothing came of the peace sticker. perhaps they knew that for me, that sticker signifies more than just an anti-war statement. its the theme of my life. i just want us all to be able to feel peace inside.

southern california winters

my absolute favorite time of year. january-march. it is BEAUTIFUL here. cool and crisp. sunny. and sometimes rainy.

i met up with emily and lisa in oceanside a couple weekends back. it was freezing-but the kids did not care, as you can see. i just love spending time with these girls. its so weird to think that these beautiful people in my life have such an impact on my children too.

once, anna and i were playing the "describing game" where you describe something or someone until the other person guesses. and we were doing people.

anna said: i am thinking of a girl.
and she has black hair.
but she doesnt have any daughters.
and she likes me a lot.

and i didnt even have to guess. i knew it was lisa. and speaking of lisa: here is lovely laughing lisa at a different beach on a different day.

photos from that beach day to come.

for jeni

with much love, from em and tara.

(jeni is emily's mom. jeni made this quilt. it took her ten years. jeni gave it to emily. emily wanted to make this photograph for her mom. she asked tara. now tara wants one too. so get cracking jeni. i can wait ten more years.)

ps-you have a copy coming your way very soon. xoxo

emily posted more about the quilt on her blog-you have got to read this too.

little spencer

at six months.

this is SUCH a six month old thing to do-

i found the antique doll buggy on ebay after seeing a photographer named anne post a photo with one on flickr. and anne, by the way, makes me drool.

twelve means almost thirteen, which means almost 18, which means i just cant think about this right now

twelve fun facts about mckenna on her 12th birthday:

1. her favorite color is red
2. she laughs like the guy from the pixar chess game short
3. she would eat top ramen and/or fettucini alfredo for every meal
4. she really loves to rewind the same snippet of a tv show over and over and over and over again until someone tells her to JUST STOP IT ALREADY.
5. she hates waking up in the morning
6. she loves taking showers or baths
7. her favorite person in the whole wide world is murray wiggle (sorry grandma)
8. she sleeps with her covers over head, her noise maker on "waterfall", the ceiling fan on high, and a nightlight.
9. when she walks she has a little swagger that makes me laugh
10. when she eats you know exactly where she sat - she would make hansel and gretel look pathetic
11. she absolutely LOVES to ride the bus and listen to music and birthdays make her crazy happy
12. we love her more than any other little size 7 twelve year old in the whole wide world.

oceanside with a family of seven

(unposed)

(their last name starts with K)

(and her first, with O)

lisa is one of my most enthusiastic and supportive clients. she is like a little pick me up every time i see her. happy, positive, and energetic. and i got to see her a lot last year. she did my one, two, three baby plan and a family session. and she is going to be EXCITED to see her family on here, i bet she will call her neighbor over to see. and i love that! enthusiasm is so contagious. and they all just make me want to smile.

incorporating art

when i walked into the home of our friends brett and billie a little over a year ago to shoot newborn gray, i knew i wanted to do this.

this is a painting given to them by a friend from college-it portrays thom yorke (the lead singer of radiohead) and someone else i cant remember.

billie emailed me around gray's first birthday to get tips on how to shoot him best in front of the painting again. she wants to do it every year. (how cool right?)

so when i shot their christmas card photos in december, i begged them to bring the piece to me, since i wasnt able to go to them.

and they did.

look at this cute mug:

note to my clients-if you'd ever like to incorporate something like this in one of your sessions just let me know! the bigger and crazier the better. haha.