Hi Friends! Happy Leap Day! Hope you are all having a great weekend! For today's blog post, I'm going to switch it up a little - and share a few (well, 10) things you didn't know about me!
1. I'm a former engineer. Yes, you read that right - before I became an Orange County family and child photographer, I graduated with degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering and then spent 14 years in the tech industry. After having a child of my own, I left to spend time with her - and to pursue my passion of photography. I've had a camera in my hand since my dad gave me his old Pentax manual film (yes, film!) camera when I was 7 and have always loved to take photographs! I am self trained, with my tech background allowing me to understand the technical aspects of light, exposure and the other aspects of photography.
2. I'm a Disney person. Yes, I'll admit it - I LOVE Disneyland and spend as much time there as I can. The funny thing is that I never used to be, until I had a child. Seeing the magic of Disney through her eyes really changed my perspective on Disneyland, to the point where it's our family happy place (and often mine, when I need a day to myself!).
3. I LOVE to dress up. Anytime I can, I like to wear fancy clothes. I've always been a lover of all things girly and sparkly, which is probably why I love my Orange County princess sessions so much- it's so much fun to see the joy little girls get when they get to dress up too!
4. I love to create panoramic images while on vacation. I don't get to travel much, so when I do I love to capture a wide angle of the scenic location I'm in. The image below, for example, I created by hand stitching 8 different images together (and yes that was the actual sunet that day!). They take up a ton of room on my memory cards, but I've found it's the best way to be able to capture the beauty of the location I'm in!
5. I'm a super active person, and have been since I was a kid. Exercise is my stress relief (along with Disney, of course)! I've skied since I was two (yes, I am a two-planker all the way!), played tennis since I was 10 and danced since I was 5. Part of the reason I love to photograph in natural light, aside from it being gorgeous, is that I love to be outdoors! Give me the great outdoors over the indoors any day of the week! I even love being and hiking/walking out in the rain :-).
6. I love to bake. Which works well, because my family loves to eat :-). Cupcakes, cake pops, cookies, brownies, tarts - you name it, I've probably baked it. Which means it's good that I like to exercise because that way I can keep baking (and eating!).
7. I LOVE Star Wars! I can pretty much recite any of the movies by heart. When I was first moving in with my husband, one of his friends grabbed my large "A New Hope" theatrical poster and told my husband how lucky he was that I was allowing him to put up a Star Wars poster in our house. My husband just laughed and told his friend it was mine, not his ;-).
8. I love musical theater. Especially The Phantom of the Opera (which I have seen about 15 times). Give me a good musical and I'll take that pretty much any day! I often sing along to musicals while editing photos (but thankfully no one is around to hear me since I can't sing to save my life).
9. I love road trips. But I hate traffic. Even so, I'd take a road trip over an airplane ride any day. Unfortunately for me, most of the places I want to go to require plane travel, so I just grin and bear it, but I love exploring locations via car. My husband is the complete opposite - he loves to fly and hates to drive!
10. I am an avid reader and gobble up books ultra fast! I am a especially a sucker for romantic suspense and books about love. I am a romantic at heart, after all :-).
Thanks for letting my properly introduce myself! What do we have in common? Reach out to me and let me know! And if you'd like to schedule your own Orange County Photography session, please get in touch!