Woodsy | Anna Myers Photography Blog

Category Archives: Woodsy

May 17 2013

Bay Area Baby Photographer : Oh Baby! Did that First Year go by Fast!!!

Oh yes – you would not believe how fast babies grow up! And that is why I created my Oh Baby! Club – to document the milestones of the first year with modern, fun professional baby portraits in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Oh Baby! Club sessions are specifically tailored for babies aged 3 months to 15 months old, featuring 30 minute mini sessions on weekday mornings in my East Bay Alameda photography studio. The Oh Baby! Club comes with three mini baby sessions spread out between three and fifteen months of age. The first two are in studio on weekday mornings – my ideal ages are 4 and 8 months – but I am happy to shoot other ages as well. The last weekday morning session can be on location near the studio for active walkers – ideally at 12 months old for a fabulously fun one year portrait session. Oh Baby! Club membership is $295 with additional weekday morning mini sessions available for $75 each. At the end of our time together, you will receive a 10×20 Oh Baby! Club panel with one image from each session to document the milestones of the ages. ( fyi – the cost of that product is normally $295, so you are kinda getting the sessions for free – or the panel for free – however you want to look at it)

Siblings, parents, pets, grandparents and special loved ones can be added into any of the sessions for no additional charge, but the main focus of the 30 minute mini session will be on the baby. Because we are working together at least three times in the first year, Oh Baby! Club members get special pricing on prints, products and books with the studio – saving an average of 10% to 20%. Newborn sessions can be added on to the Oh Baby! club for a special discounted rate – though newborn sessions will always be longer (90+ minutes). In the case of multiples (twins, triplets…), the other baby sibling(s) can be added on at a special rate to extend the session time accordingly, and they would of course receive their own Oh Baby! Club panel as well. All in all it is a pretty sweet deal – filled with quick, fun sessions that create modern, artistic portraits of your baby so that you will never forget that first year.

Many people choose to turn their first year portraits into a custom design fine art baby album – and for your viewing enjoyment, here are layouts from the albums of Reina & Brandon who I have had the extreme privilege of photographing from newborn through their first year in my Oh Baby! Club program. In fact they have just graduated to my Toddler Adventure Club :)

Brandon and Reina - first year portraits

Newborn, 4 month, 8 month & 13 months old

Tags: first year portraits,Modern Baby Photography,modern baby portraits,studio baby portraits

Feb 28 2013

Northern California Marin Children’s Photographer : Fun Portraits of Three Kids and a Bull Dog in the Woods

Nicholé is a busy mother with two active young girls, one baby boy and a burly bulldog. Besides managing the day to day of her crew, Nicholé has a *great* blog at www.drooloverthis.com that helps parents find the perfect baby products for their lifestyles that are functional, cool and environmentally friendly. And like any astute parent, Nicholé realizes that the time when her children are young is very fleeting – so she came to me wanting some great portraits of her children that were very natural and playful, in a Bay Area location that was more then simply pretty. It had to be dog friendly, kid friendly and safe for a baby to explore and no more then a few minutes away from her Marin home. Game on!

We began our location photo session at a meadowy local Northern California park where I took advantage of the beautiful morning light, and a bulldog who loved to have his belly rubbed. Of course I always come prepared with arm chairs in my van to create sets in what may seem some unlikely places – but if the light is right, even a spot by the side of the road can look like a vast landscape when photographed at the right angles.

To add variety to the images we went to the next wooded location not even 5 minutes away with a completely different feel. This also gave the kids a mini-break and opportunity to switch up outfits. The girls swapped out jeans for bright tutu’s which really popped. The children soon discovered the dramatic redwoods as our photo excursion continued. This natural playground doubled as a storybook backdrop for fine art children’s photography, as they pulled out their horses and dump trucks to get down to some serious play time while the bulldog napped near by. When we found a bridge to play and dance on, the bulldog rejoined our session – just in time for the bubble machine! Though I must say he did not seem too impressed with the bubbles.

Throughout our North Marin portrait location session, I so enjoyed the process of making memorable images of each child’s unique expressions and interactions, while capturing a collection of fun Bay Area children’s photography that included the family bulldog. The resulting images became great material for one of our custom design coffee table books. Below is the album that was designed for their 2012 session in the woods….

Tags: family with dog portraits,modern baby portraits,natural candid kid photographer,natural family portraits,Natural Light Baby Photography,natural light family photos

Nov 01 2012

Northern California Baby Photographer : Natural Light Baby Portraits in Rustic Mendocino

I first photographed Evelyn in my Alameda studio for her mom’s maternity and then her newborn session. But for her eight month portraits I was delighted to photograph her in the town where she was born – Mendocino, California. Because I have family in Mendocino, I spend a good deal of time up in that area. I love the town and the coast and so many things about this area. So when the opportunity came up to photograph sweet Evelyn for her baby portraits in Mendocino, I was all in. You see, Evelyn and her family are going to be moving away from Mendocino at some point, so part of the objective of the session was to document some of the places they spent time in her first year. We started our session at the beautiful gardens of the MacCallum House. Then we made our way through the streets of the town – stopping here and there to shoot scenes that featured classic Mendocino elements like wildflowers, water towers and old wood fences. We ended up at the Old Mendocino Hotel for some window light portraits in the big arm chairs. Here are some of my favs from the session. Interested in your own Mendocino Portraits with me? Contact me and we will see if we can coordinate some time the next time I am up there.

Tags: mendocino baby photographer,mendocino children's photographer,mendocino family portraits

Oct 17 2012

San Franciso Bay Area Holiday Portraits : Fall Mini Sessions Are Here! — UPDATE : SOLD OUT FOR 2012 —-

Ready, Set, Go!

You can now officially book your Fall mini sessions!

They only come once per year, and people ask me about them for months in advance. There are only a select number available, so to keep it fair I do not book any until they are officially announced. So consider it official – and book your mini session now : )

Fall Mini Sessions are from 9am to 4:30pm November 1st through 15th – WEEKDAYS ONLY.

What is it? Fall mini sessions are quick, easy, fun, custom fall portraits that work great for holiday cards and creating unforgettable holiday gifts. The cost of the session is $95 for a 30 minute weekday session either in my Alameda Photography Studio or at one of many great locations near my studio. There is a $300 minimum order requirement, and the $95 session fee is due in full when booking. Included with your session fee is a 30 minute phone consultation with me to plan out the location and the clothing, as well as a 60 minute post-consultation with me one to two weeks after your session to view the images and place your order with my help. My holiday specials product menu will be in effect with great packages and savings to make holiday cards and gift giving easy!

Locations to choose from include my Alameda studio where I have a modern vintage take on holiday backgrounds and props….

Locations near my studio include urban – with or without graffiti – featuring lots of great textures and adventures. Dogs are always welcome at the mini sessions – especially well-behaved dogs with holiday swagger!

Location sessions are best early morning (9am to 10am sessions) or late in the afternoon for best lighting. I strongly recommend morning sessions for babies & children 3 and younger.

Other fun holiday portrait locations include woods, parks and bay beaches near Alameda, CA.

Call or email the studio to for more info and to book your session and we can find a location that will work great for the ages and personalities in your family! Studio phone : 510-748-8959 Studio email: info@annamyersphotography.com

Sep 05 2012

San Francisco Bay Area Modern Family Portraits – Lifestyle Family Portraits in the Woods

On most weekends the place you will find me is up in the Bay Area woods hiking or running the trails with my dog and family. I often see amazing photo locations with beautiful light or trees that I take a mental snapshot of in my head as a place that would be cool for a session. So I was thrilled when Marian came to me and wanted a very natural, lifestyle family portrait session in the East Bay. When she described to me what she wanted I knew just the place. With two children aged 5 and 1, the location could not be too remote – but she still wanted it to feel like it was far away from the city. This is no problem in the woods in the East Bay hills. We met by the entrance to the firetrail – and we walked to our portrait location which had plenty of woods and meadows for our natural light photography session – but was still close to the cars. Well relatively close – we did have to bring a cart to push all of the equipment and chairs up to the location ;) Here are some of my favorites from this modern family session on location in the woods…