Victoria | Sneak Peek | Santa Paula | Ventura | California

Good Morning!!

Here are a few photos of a shoot I did yesterday with my GORGEOUS baby cousin, who... is no longer a baby... Victoria is becoming a beautiful young lady graced with poise, manners, kindness and she's related to me, so she's super fun to be around!!!  ;)

THANK YOU, Victoria, for spending the afternoon with your crazy old cousin. We will definitely schedule another photo shoot come winter, that is, if winter ever gets here... Boots, scarves, and hats are calling my name.

More of this fun Santa Paula & Ventura California shoot to come.

Stay tuned. And send out some fall/winter vibes, would ya???

Monday Randomness | Michelle | Studio Shoot

Monday, Monday...

I decided to post a few shots I took of my lovely friend, Michelle.  I'm not really a fan of studio work, personally - (I LOVE the outdoors and natural light too much), but when Michelle invited me to her studio to help out with a shoot, I was happy to oblige; and took advantage of shooting her after her subject was gone.  Did that sound really harsh - referring to as person as a subject??? Anyhow... studio shoots, NOT my thing.  None the less... we had a great time playing with lighting, drinking wine, calming nerves.  Drinking while working in the studio is ALWAYS permitted (maybe studio work isn't so bad).

THANK YOU, Michelle, for being my model for the evening and more importantly, for being an AWESOME FRIEND.

Isaiah & Catherine | Malibu | Impromptu | Couples Shoot

During the Summer I had the privilege to hang with one of the coolest couples I know - ISAIAH & CATHERINE!! They invited me to tag along with them to  quick trip to Neptune's Net in Malibu, California.  The drive down the PCH was AMAZING - I could finlly enjoy the view (I'm usually driving).  The Clam Chowder there is DIVINE, could do without the seagulls trying to eat our food, but overall a great place for some local sea food and an Ocean view. 

Did I mention I went to Isbell Middle School with Isaiah and I've known him for over 20 years?? Yeah. We're totally old. - Catherine, I haven't seen Isaiah this happy in a long time - THANK YOU for being the BEAUTIFUL person that you are and coming into his life!! We all just love you!! And Isaiah, you're awesome.

After our lunch, we ventured across the PCH, (more like ran-for-our-lives), and then headed down a tricky hike through some rocks to the beach. It was another GORGEOUS DAY, the kind we Californians NEVER get tired of...  Of course I had my camera with me, and when we made it down to the shore, I asked if it would be alright for me to shoot some just-for-fun photos of them.  They were happy to oblige. I LOVE relaxed, impromptu shoots like this, just random, spontaneous, FUN!!

HAPPY MONDAY!!

ZANNIE'S ROAD TRIP | SAN FRANCISCO | CALIFORNIA

Hi Everyone!!

Towards the end of June, I took a 3 week long mini vacation road trip up to Northern/Central California.  My first stop was to visit some amazing friends of mine in Concord who showed great hospitality providing sweet room accommodations, fancy food, delicious wine and spicy cocktails. THANK YOU Jj & Mari!! 

I spent a few days in the BEAUTIFUL City of San Francisco, alone, driving, eating, drinking, exploring with my trusty Canon and convenient iPhone.  Over the corse of time I will be posting photos (Canon & iPhone) I took to document my first solo road trip.  I'm in my 30's now, a solo trip was long overdue. 

HAPPY TUESDAY!!



PIER 1 and The Ferry Building Marketplace

Around the City...

What we SoCal peeps refer to as The PCH, NorCal locals call Highway 1, and while in NorCal, SoCal peeps call it The ONE.

No explanation required.

SANTANA ROW | SAN JOSE | CALIFORNIA | ROAD TRIP

(A previous post under an accidentally different domain)

HELLO  all you friendly faces!!!

As some of you MAY know by instastalking me, I recently took a 3 week long CALIFORNIA road trip vacation.  One of my stops was SANTANA ROW in San Jose, California.  Now, please note, the development of these mini road trip blog posts WILL NOT BE IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. Well, mostly because I downloaded my photos at different times and well, I'm just quite RANDOM at times - okay, okay, I'M PRETTY RANDOM MOST OF THE TIME. But that's why you LOVE me!!

Hope you enjoy this sneak peek into what will hopefully develop into a mini series of posts about #ZANNIESROADTRIP -  (go ahead, #instastalk me).

Arismendy Family | Santa Monica | Sneak Peek

Sneak peek of a fun outdoors shoot I did with this lovely family...

More to come on their special 10 year Wedding Anniversary couples shoot!!

Happy Wednesday!!!

Sweet Pea Baby Girl

I had the privilege of meeting this sweet little one last week!!

Hope you enjoy these photos as much as I enjoyed taking them!!

 

Friday Randomness - Street Art Photography

     So... it's friday... a bit late in the day but... just wanted to say hello and share a random photo I shot last week in Downtown Ventura, CA.

     It's so nice to sometimes just walk around a neighborhood friendly feeling area and see what interesting signs, people, dogs, cats, flowers, birds, weirdos you can find.  I LOVE to people watch but taking a random photo of a complete stranger is a bit... strange.  So when I don't have familiar faces to photograph, I see what cool street art is around that catches my eye. I'll have to check out this place one Sunday afternoon for bottomless mimosas, and who doesn't love a good Sunday Brunch??

    Hope everyone has a FUN filled and SAFE weekend!!

Friday Randomness - The Spark

I've recently been spending more time with Shiny Happy People holding hands. 

Not really, but when trying to think of a synonym for *POSITIVE* that song came to mind. Thank you, R.E.M.


I'm cautiously walking down a path of re-INVENTing, re-NEWing, re-BUILDing, re-ESTABLISHing, re-LEARNing, the list goes on. Which makes me think of positive words, leading to positive actions - Invent. New. Build. Establish. Learn, re-peat.  Re-i g n i t i n g a spark of motivation can seem daunting. It is.  Because that small step of motivation implies you will eventually take a GIANT LEAP (Thank you, Neil - Yes, we were on a first name basis). Action. Will. Take. Place. Which is EXCITING and THRILLING and AMAZING and SCARY all at the same time!

What will you do with that SMALL STEP?? I'll tell you what I've told myself before. Many, many times - First comes the spark, the motivation, the inspiration, the I-CAN-DO-IT attitude - and-that's-GREAT - but it's only HALF the battle. That's what I call The Civil War. The war of escaping your negative rut. Your Biggest Fan. Your Worst Enemy. Your psychological and emotional Negative SELF.  Once you win THAT war, the war that seemed impossible to win, the war that felt like the Greatest War of All - you SUCCEED. *Smile* Won that war?? AWESOME. Now get ready to JUMP into The World War Of Your Life - the war to KEEP your positive outlook ALIVE. The war to keep motivation and inspiration THRIVING GROWING MOVING ACHIEVING FAILING LEARNING APPRECIATING in an active constant forward motion. - You need to keep the RIGHT. MENTAL. ATTITUDE. You thought defeating your NEGATIVE SELF was hard? Get ready. The war to STAY POSITIVE is a 
 T R I L L I O N times harder because it's an everyday c o n t i n u o u s BATTLE that never really ends and is never completely won.