Amaya, Brooke, Holland and Linelle's Portrait Session, Petaluma, California

I photographed Brooke and Holland's wedding waaay back in early 2006 (before I had a blog - ancient days!). They are both Petaluma kids like me and Devon, and I met them because my parents have known Brooke's mom, Linelle, for a long time. A co-worker of Linelle's said, "I know a great wedding photographer, Jessamyn Harris!", and she said, "I know Jessamyn Harris!". There are some wonderful aspects of growing up in a small town :)

(Not to mention that they were married at the old-school country club - now fixed up and modern - that I used to go swimming at as a kid. Back in the early 80s, it was a hangout for old timey Petaluma folks who liked to golf and drink in the clubhouse. All I remember is swimming at the pool way up on the top of the hill - since no one else was interested in the pool then, membership for the summer months was CHEAP!) - and going into the dark, smoky clubhouse to buy Reese's Peanut Butter cups. Ah, the 80s... childhood... good days...)



Okay, sorry for that digression. The point is, I feel connected to this new little family, and was really happy when Linelle took advantage of the Feb. Portrait Special to hire me to photograph Brooke, Holland, and their sweet 15 month old, Amaya!





Those of you with toddler experience know that when your little one wants to walk, they're not really into waiting around or being held... they want to MOVE RIGHT NOW! Amaya is a beautiful, delicate looking girl who has no fear and loves exploring her surroundings. So, rather than trying to force her into holding still (who can force a 15 month old to do anything and look happy?), we focused on capturing her sweet, independent spirit... whether it was playing with her parents or falling in love with things like a ceramic yard decoration (a raccoon!), a lemon, her princess chair, the bamboo, her parents, her grandmother, the windchimes...





I love how this photo illustrates the rapt amazements parents have for everything their baby does. It's great to see how supported she'll be through her life! And I can't get enough of how babies and little kids are new to everything... that whole "childlike wonder" thing definitely helps remind me to be grateful for and in awe of the world around me.



The proud parents:



And proud-and-adoring mom of Brooke/ grandma of Amaya, Linelle:



This one really captures the kind of "soooo-big!" aspects of Amaya's development right now. She's going to be a mountain climber I think!



More favorites on the slideshow!