This beautiful portrait of Vivi is best described by Vivian herself:

Wow! Stefanie is such an amazing, creative, and very talented photographer! “Une artiste par excellence!” Despite the freezing weather on Rodeo beach at the Marin Headlands in Marin county, and the 30 knots wind chill blowing in my face, and an allergic reaction in my right eye, we were not only able to overcome the challenges but succeed in such a beautiful, grandiose and artistic way. The stunning images Stefanie captured of me are eternal and ethereal just as I had dreamt of.

Stefanie was able to catch a glimpse of my soul and the Divine within me. I have worked with many great photographers over the decades, but I must confess Stefanie is the best! I love very much her work, and working with her. I highly recommend her, and will use her services again in the future. She is such a sweetheart and a beautiful soul. And it is also very pleasant working with her. Stefanie listens to you, and she is opened to work with you as a team. The synergy and dynamics between us is just Divine. Kudos for Stefanie! You are passionate, and a master of your work! And that shows.

Vivianne Nantel, artist, mystic, author, writer, poet, and yogini
http://www.VivianneNantel.com

Sabrina - 11 Days

Do you remember Mark and Milena? (You can find both their engagement session as well as their wedding on my FaceBook Fan Page and this Blog.)

Now a year later I had the privilege to photograph their newborn baby: Sabrina. Sabrina was just 11 days old the day of the newborn session at Marks and Milena’s home in San Francisco. Babies this young are very special because they are still used to being in Moms womb and therefore do not mind being handled. They just like it warm and cozy and still sleep most of the time.

I highly encourage  to set up a newborn baby session in the first few days of your babies life. After 2 weeks your baby will start to cry a lot more and also often goes through a phase known as newborn or baby acne. Another reason to do a session this early is that is just so cute to have a little being that you can savely cradle in your palms.

This session was held at the clients home. The other option is to hold a newborn session is at my photography studio in Redwood City.

As a family and baby photographer in the San Francsico Bay Area for more than a decade, I had the privilege to document the family history of many families. Often times it starts with a wedding. Since it has been almost 11 years I got to see babies growing to be teenagers, teenagers growing into young adults and families founded and growing up together. Soon I will be photographing the wedding of one of the teenagers I photographed a few times.

Baby Gianna was the one of first babies that I had the privilege to photograph from when she was a 6 month old baby to currently an amazing teenager. Gianna is the grand daughter of Maureen and Mike Jannini. Mike was the vice president of the Marriott Hotel and since 2010 became the president of the Cheesecake Factory. In the first 2 years we planned 6 sessions. (Please ask about our baby plan that enables you to capture all segments of your babies first year with one awesome package.) Maureen would set up sessions whenever she visited San Francisco with Gianna. After the first 7 sessions the Jannini’s moved to Washington DC. In 2006 I photographed a destination wedding in Washington DC and called Maureen to plan the next session documenting Gianna now a toddler of 4 years. In 2010 Maureen and Mike who now live in Malibu and simply flew me in to photograph Gianna now age 8. Since I migrated to the US 16 years ago from Germany I missed a lot of the growing up of my niece and nephew Kira and Marwin. Perhaps it is because of that that I value the connection to my clients so much. The following portraits are showing the different stages of Gianna growing up.

Session in Malibu, CA

Session in Washington, DC

Session in Santa Clara, CA

The biggest regret that Maureen had, was that she only found me when Gianna was already 6 month old, missing out on the most precious time of a new life. The general suggestion in the professional photography community is to capture the following mile stones:

Maternity (ideally around the 8th month)
Newborn (with the first 10 days)
Baby at 1 month, 3 month, 6 month, (sometime in-between), 1y, 1.5 years, 2 years etc.

Unless you are an awesome photographer yourself, you will never regret involving a professional photographer to capture the life of your child and the history of your family.

Grace Slick, March 2002

Do you want to take the red pill or the blue pill?

The most important message that Grace shared in the interview was: “We were wrong about the drugs!”

Great results at an incredible fast turn-around time while at the same time my most affordable session option.  

I had the privilege to meet Josh Gobran at a WEA reception in 2002, the year when he became truly known. I only had a brief moment to take his portrait.

I love to capture the stories of high school seniors. High school senior photography, to me is one of the most rewarding expiriences. Miranda was totally fun to work with. Like most high school seniors I encounter, she has more than one side to her. The session started out with her in a beautiful fashionable black dress that she designed and created herself. Impressive isn’t it? I also loved her second outfit which brought out more of the rebel in her. I would not be surprised if Miranda became a successful fashion designer. What is your story?