I’m headed out the door for a family roadtrip. A much needed vacation and quality family time!! Before I left, I had to post at least one shot from yesterday’s session with my little O’Connor twins. I know Mom is anxious to see what we got so I’m making sure to post something to appease her curiosity. And if you check out the twins’ site, you might notice how a lot of images from our last session were put to creative use.

Check ‘em out. You can’t even tell that we were braving 100 degree weather here! These girls are definitely professionals.

I’ll be back to post more next week. But for now, I better run. I think my husband, kid and dad are all sitting in the car, hollering for me to, “Hurry Up!”

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Patience. It’s not just a virtue, it’s a requirement. When it comes to photographing 1.5 year old children — twins, in particular — you need to make sure that in addition to bringing your cameras and lenses, you come stocked with patience. A lot of it. Kids at this age aren’t the easiest to direct, no matter their personality or gender. When you’re trying to capture two of them together, though, the patience requirements are exponentially greater as you work to synchronize temperaments, appetites, locations and the like. It can be a while before you find your groove and start capturing those picture-perfect shots.

Last week, I arrived at Johnny Carson Park, excited to shoot and armed with patience. Good thing as I needed to draw from the reserves right away. Parking was hard to come by and it took rounds and rounds of circling to secure a spot. Once we were settled into our location, we then had to wait for what seemed like every single commercial landscape maintenance worker in Burbank to do his job. There were commercial lawnmowers, leaf blowers, you-name-it in the works. Fortunately, I got to use this downtime to catch up a bit with the beautiful, fit and active mom, Lauren of Nutri-Savvy. As much as I enjoy and value Facebook (we see each other there regularly), there is simply no replacement for face-to-face interaction.

So together, we played with the kids. We chitted and we chatted. And eventually we eased into our photography session.

It was a pleasure reconnecting with these darling baby girls. The last time we got together, they had a lot less hair, teeth and mobility. Maybe you’ll remember them from our photo session in Griffith Park last year? Or perhaps you’ve seen them on HBO’s Big Love (they play baby Nell). And if you’re new to the blog, let me introduce you to these gorgeous, hard-working babes.

Meet Ailish.

Her sister, Julia.

One of my favorite things to capture with my camera is the relationship between siblings. Twins, especially, have an extraordinary and unique connection. Here are a few storyboards of the girls having fun together.

These eyes are just to die for!

Serious about their work, these girls even have their own website. Check it out: The Official Website for Ailish and Julia O’Connor. I love seeing my photos all over the site!

I’m looking forward to watching Ailish and Julia grow and wonder what role we’ll see them in next …

I had intended to start scheduling sessions beginning in February but when one of my sweetest clients asked if there was any way I could get something on the books earlier, I couldn’t refuse. We moved her session from March to January and I couldn’t be happier. What a great way to kick off 2010 sessions!

I’m running out the door but since I had to get this photo up for a deadline, I thought I’d go ahead and blog it as well. These twin girls are just too gorgeous not to share with all of you. I’ll be back today or tomorrow with a “real” post and more from our session. For now … enjoy these beauties.

This image sort of takes your breath away, doesn’t it?

I won’t lie. Yesterday’s shoot was tough!

Holy cow, one year old twins sure do move fast. And as luck would have it, usually in opposite directions!! So the challenge for me, yesterday, wasn’t just in trying to capture one fast-moving baby. The task at hand required getting two babies looking cute. Together. In the same frame. Yep, like I said … tough.

Fortunately, this set of twins was no stranger to a tough work day in front of the cameras. Only thirteen months young and these girls already boast an impressive resume (perhaps you’ve already seen them — or if not, will see them — on Days of Our Lives or Big Love, just to name a few of their gigs). In addition to their good looks, these girls were oozing with energy, sweetness, curiosity, ambition, perseverance and stamina. I wouldn’t be surprised if we were looking at the next set of Olsen Twins in the making.

L, it was an absolute pleasure meeting you and hanging out at Griffith Park yesterday. I enjoyed our conversations (looooooved your comment about the “Z” in the “viviZ” logo reminding you of some fancy, girly high heel shoes!). Can’t wait to finish up your gallery and show you what we got. For now, I’m posting a few photos for you to check out. Enjoy. Hope we get an opportunity to work together again!

Look at A’s awesome little tooth:

Not to be outshined by some little tooth, here is Miss J standing up all by herself!

Just love the connection in this little series:


{Sidenote: As luck would have it, these girls chose to have those cute moments right near that patch of dead, brown, dry grass. Darnit! I don’t proclaim to be an expert photoshopper but if we end up using these photos, I will certainly do my best to fix up that grass.}

And while this one wouldn’t be used for the girls’ proofsheet (unless we were targeting a Playtex bottle ad!), I had to post. As this image was being snapped, L and I dubbed it “Yin and Yang”. Love it!