I had the pleasure of hosting a fun workshop in Nevada in October-it was a ton of fun & we covered everything from posing to lighting all the way down to interacting with your clients. I am lucky enough to have amazingly beautiful friends who were willing to model for the workshop! Thanks to everyone who came & a special thanks to Derek & KayLynne for being so gosh darn attractive! And thanks to my sweet dad who let us use his prized Corvette for the photos!

Here are my favorites from the workshop…

Holy smokes, KayLynne. You are beautiful!!!

I let out an audible sigh of relief when Sam excitedly told me that he wanted to smoke a turkey this year for Thanksgiving. We have been married for almost eight years & in all of those eight years of marriage, I have cooked a Thanksgiving turkey ONE TIME. It was our first Thanksgiving where we were planning on staying at our home for the holiday so I rushed to the store to buy a turkey. I called my mom to ask for directions on how to cook the darned thing. She explained to me multiple times that it was PERTINENT to reach inside the turkey & find the plastic bag that held the giblets & remove it. So there I was, my hand reached all the way up inside this turkey & for the life of me I could not find that darned plastic bag she was talking about. I figured that the turkey I bought must have been special because I couldn’t find the bag no matter how hard I searched for it. So I threw the turkey in the oven & baked it for what seemed like a million hours (can you tell I don’t cook often!?!). We pulled the turkey out & began carving it. After carving it for a few minutes, we realized the was something shiny inside the turkey. Guess what? My turkey had not one but TWO plastic bags inside of it…and they were melted & still filled with all the giblets.

And that is the reason why for the past few years I’ve opted to cook a Thanksgiving ham instead of a turkey. I.WAS.TRAUMATIZED.

Please tell me that nobody really uses the giblets during their Thanksgiving meal. PLEASE. And please don’t ask about the first time I made Macaroni & Cheese for Sam. It’s simply humiliating.

Let’s be real here: cooking just isn’t my thing. Clearly.

To redeem myself from the humiliation of being a horrible cook, here are some fabulous photos that I am proud to say that I made…without having to worry about burning, undercooking or being traumatized with the sight of a melted plastic bag holding giblets.

I think it goes without saying, but I choose photography over cooking every.single.day.of.the.YEAR.

She has a plaque on her wall that says, “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning how to dance in the rain.” That says it ALL. In February, Kaitlin was diagnosed with stage four Leukemia. And if you know Kaitlin, you know that she is not only dancing in the proverbial rainstorm, but she is jumping in the puddles & wearing the cutest rain boots you’ve ever seen. Kaitlin is by far the most amazing, beautiful & bravest 15 year old you will ever meet. I feel so lucky to have been able to photograph her during her journey. Kaitlin blogged about her experience & it brought me to tears. I am so lucky to have been able to do this photo shoot!

Kaitlin-you are such a beautiful person inside & out. I feel so lucky to have been able to capture your stunning beauty-thank you for being on of my favorite people I’ve ever photographed! I’m praying for you each & every night, girl. XOXO, marielle.

This is by far one of my favorite photographs I’ve ever taken…

Never underestimate how beautiful a field filled with mosquitoes can be!

Kaitlin wanted me to photograph her scarves because they’ve become a big part of her wardrobe…

It is SO hard to believe that it is the time of year when the holidays are literally around the corner! Before you know it, you’ll be singing “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree” and eating obscene amounts of Peppermint Bark (at least that’s what my plans are!) Needless to say, if you want family photos to send out with your Christmas cards, then you need to get your family photos taken!

This year I am only doing family holiday shoots on THREE days so I can spend more time with my family. Two days will be in the Bay Area & one day will be in the Reno, Nevada area. Here is all the information you need to know!

Please book yours soon-the Bay Area sessions are filling up quickly & I have a feeling that the Reno ones will be gone quickly, too!

It’s not too often that I photograph families, but I loved photographing the cute, CUTE Kitchen family on the Cal Berkeley Campus a few weeks ago! Dad had just finished his PHD & they wanted some photos to celebrate. Here are my favorites….

I had a really fun time with Claudia & her sister Sam for their senior photographs. These girls have such style & always look so amazing. I had a super fun time with them-we had some good laughs & they were soooooooooooooo fabulous in front of the camera. I loved their clothes & their spunky personalities! If you are interested in having me shoot your senior photographs, contact me HERE.

Here are my favorites of Claudia…

And my favorites of Sam…

We were driving in the car. I turned down the radio & our conversation went something like this,

“Hadley-guess what? Mommy is going to take some pictures of someone very special today. Can you guess who it is?”
“Grandpa?”
“Nope.”
“Grandma?”
“Nope. It’s someone even more special than Grandma & Grandpa.”
“Brody? Thad? Margaret?”
“Nope.”
In a quiet voice, she said, “Me?”
As I told her yes, she shrieked & said, “I’m going to be SO EXCITING!!!!!!”

Hadley is starting preschool in a couple of days & I thought that it would be a fun reason to get out with her & take some photographs of the way she is NOW. The sweet, innocent, beautiful, creative girl who lives in a dream world filled with rainbows, princesses, cotton candy & unicorns. She owns the hugest chunk of my heart & since she has been in my life I’ve been changed. I can’t believe that God has given her to us-to raise, love & learn from. She is my little angel & I never knew that my capacity to love someone could be so huge until the day she was born.

My amazing mom always made dresses for me & my sisters growing up…I remember it being so special knowing that something had been made for me. So I made this little dress for Hadley’s photo shoot…we went to this gorgeous field of yellow flowers & I photographed her being herself. No posing, no directions. I don’t want to look back at my photographs of Hadley as a little girl & have them be posed photographs- I don’t want to remember her as a posed three year old. I want to look back at these photographs & know that they truly captured the rainbow, princess, cotton candy & unicorn world that Hadley lives in as a three year old.

So here they are-Hadley in all of her beautiful, radiating three-year old glory. And she was right- she WAS so exciting for these photographs! I am 100% positive that I will never photograph a more beautiful, captivating & amazing subject than my little sweetheart.

Love that look on the right! Cracks me up!

I can’t believe that she held a ladybug! When we came home I asked her what she held in her hand on our photo shoot & she said, “A hamster!” No visible difference between a hamster & a ladybug, I guess…

I’m pretty sure she was singing me a song right here…

And the song apparently had a dance that went along with it…I mean LOOK at those jazz hands!!!

The reward for being such a good girl…

I was so ecstatic when my friend Heather contacted me for some fun photographs of her & her boyfriend, Jesse. I’ve known Heather since the third grade (I had some awesome poofy bangs back then) & she is the sweetest person you’ll ever meet. It was fun to see her with someone who makes her soooooo happy! She & Jesse were in town for the weekend & we met up on the beach for some fun photographs. Just because. Because they love being together. Because they love having fun together. Because they make each other happy. I loved the light outside, I loved working with Heather & Jesse & I especially LOVED that the rain held off until I pushed the shutter on the very last photograph.

My favorite…

I‘ve been a busy lady with wedding season right around the corner! I’m so grateful for all the fun couples I get to work with. Here are a few sessions I’ve done in the past little while-I can’t wait to share the entire sessions with you!!!

Emily & Tim’s fabulous bridal session in Chinatown…

Heather & Jesse’s just because photo shoot…

Jared & Marie’s fun San Francisco engagement session…

I know that Paige & David’s fabulous wedding has already been posted but I had forgotten to post their fun bridal session! I met up with Paige & David just a few days before their wedding to shoot bridals. It was freezing (Paige had a blanket wrapped around her in between each shot!) but they had fun keeping each other warm. Bridals are so much fun to shoot-I think it’s a great way to get some relaxed, beautiful shots of the bride & groom either before or after the wedding day. AND it’s an excuse to get dressed up in your wedding clothes more than one time!

Here are a few of my favorites from their bridal shoot…

Paige-you are soooooo gorgeous…

Love this one.