Photographed a family in Highlands in San Mateo over the holiday. The dad was sick, but we had to go ahead with a photo session since their daughters were going back to their work and school in Texas.

I asked them what they did for Christmas and they started telling me about places they went, smiling. They obviously had a lot of fun together. While they were talking and smiling, I kept photographing them.
Since their daughters are in other state, choosing which photos to print was a bit challenging for them. But in the end, each of them chose photos for prints.

After they chose photos, the mom told me a story about her son. He didn’t want photos taken at first. But after the session, he said he was glad he did. What he liked most was that I didn’t make them pose. I love to capture family’s closeness and also want them to relax, so I don’t like to pose them.

In this photo, the sisters were trying to kiss their brother on his cheek and he was trying to block them. I got a series of photos of this. They were all laughing and having fun. What a fun family!

Some other photos from the family photo session I mentioned last week.
As I mentioned, older sister posed wherever we went. She should be a model!

I love capturing closeness of a family. It shows love, which I prefer over posed family portrait.

I got to photograph very fun girls in Menlo Park the other day. 3 and 5 year olds. 3-year-old girl didn’t care I was there. She was just having fun racing with her sister, blowing bubbles or just interacting with her family. On the other hand, 5-year-old girl wanted to pose. It was funny since her mom said she usually runs away from a camera. I love capturing them while they are having fun.

They are having fun!

Happy Easter from C&M Photography!

A friend of mine, Emilie of Tamarind Financial Planning introduced There with Care to me a while back. So I contacted to see if they need a volunteer photographer.

There with Care helps families with seriously ill children. Some of them spend months in hospital. So they help families with their needs, bringing food, relieving moms from hospital for a short break, bringing other needed items… They are always accepting donations and you can also shop on their website, which will help them to continue their amazing work. They also have Wish List, volunteer forms, etc on their website, so please visit www.bayarea.therewithcare.org!

And I went to the first photo session with 3 families at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital. Being the first time, I could not help feeling very sad to see 5 months boy attached to several tubes, waiting for a heart transplant or 6 months old boy who has no kidney and again, attached to several tubes for dialysis. I was also amazed how positive and strong their moms are despite the fact they are also stuck at the hospital for several months to care for their babies. They are just happy to see their baby eat, cry and smile just like any other babies.
Here are 3 babies I photographed this time. So precious!