I’m finally back to work after a bit of a break. Our dog is doing much better (thanks to all who asked) and I’m fresh off the heels of attending and speaking at Alt Summit in Salt Lake City. I had a lovely time connecting with some of my favorite people. I wish I had seen some snow in Salt Lake City but there’s always next year.

I also wanted to let you know that our website is officially down until the new site launches – we wanted to give the new site a fresh start. Please contact me via the blog or email until the site goes back up. You can keep in touch on facebook or twitter as well.

In the meantime, here are a few images of Miss Eve in Chinatown. I just adore photographing her and her lovely family.

xoxo,

Sarah

A very big thank you for participating in our Heath Ceramics photobooth. We always have so much fun at Heath and hope you did, too!

The gallery is up (LA images start on page six). There are a few images missing from the gallery as of 10AM PDT. We’ll have those up by 5pm today. Here are a few things to remember:

• The 20% off code will work today through this Wednesday, November 30th (at midnight).
• The gallery will remain open until December 7th.
• print orders will arrive well in advance of the holidays and digital files will take 48 hours to be delivered

MODERN KIDS CO. + HEATH CERAMICS GALLERY:
http://modernkidsphoto.nextproof.com/galleries/heath-ceramics-2011

Photographs are an easy and quick gift for the holidays and there’s still time to make holiday cards. We can even upload the files for you if you use Minted (see details below). If you have any specific questions about prints, orders, or holiday cards don’t hesitate to let us know.

Thank you again and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

MINTED Holiday Cards, click here
• choose a holiday card, place your order
• email us your order number
• we’ll upload the image for you (no need to buy the digital file)

A big thank you to Cathy, Robin, Adam and the rest of the Heath Ceramics gang in Sausalito and Los Angeles. We always have so much fun hanging out and doing the annual photobooths. Also, a big thanks to all the kids and families who participated. I’ll have the gallery up tomorrow evening – just in time to share with friends and family over Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had an exciting weekend photographing at a gorgeous ranch in Healdsburg, CA. Thanks to the Warnecke Ranch for hosting the crew. We’ll have more to come from this shoot soon, including a behind-the-scenes video!

In the meantime, come visit us this Sunday, November 20th from 1-3pm at Heath Ceramics in Sausalito and Los Angeles. We have so much fun doing these totally free photo booths with Heath. There’s no need to sign-up. Just come with a little one and a smile. You’ll have a few fun images just in time for the holidays*. More details here.

*Our photobooth is totally free. About a week after the shoot we’ll post all the images to a gallery and you can purchase prints or the digital files at special discounted prices. Thanks!

We’ve been busy doing lots of holiday shoots, some fun lifestyle shoots, and I’m producing a gigantic ranch shoot this Sunday in Healdsburg. I can hardly wait! Oh and did I mention we’ve got a fun event coming up with Heath Ceramics in Sausalito and Los Angeles – don’t miss this!

Also, we brought back mini-sessions for a limited time only. I’ll be posting a few more details but essentially these are 30 minutes sessions, perfect for holiday cards and gifts and we’re doing both on-location (Golden Gate Park and Crissy Field) as well as in-studio at a really great price! Email us to find out more and get on the schedule!

Finally, isn’t this the most lovely and colorful family? I just adore them.

Colorful family // Modern Kids Co. Fall 2011

Happy (almost) Holidays! Stay in touch!

Sarah

It’s been busy over here. I’m so excited for SEEING SMALL coming up in just a few weeks. I’m also moving studios, producing a few quick kids shoots, and working on a redesign – lots of fun stuff.

Enjoy this quick shoot of Lucas and his lovely family at the Oakland Museum. How great are his pants/leggings? Have you been to this Museum? The light in front of the chalkboard wall is amazing…and so are the exhibits. Thanks so much Lisa! It was great to see you guys.

p.s. [All shot on film - thanks Richards!]

Have your kids headed back to school? Are you fully accepting that it’s Fall wherever you may be? San Francisco was rather cold all Summer and now we are headed into our warmest months. This always throws me off.

Enjoy this little triptych. Isn’t Hanna so sweet in her mom’s boots?

More soon!

I hope you’re having a great week. I just saw the Picasso exhibit at the deYoung Museum here in San Francisco. I loved it. I think kids of all ages (especially 5+) would really enjoy the artwork. It’s childlike and bold and the sculptures are particularly awesome. Do you take your kids to museums?

As I was planning my trip to Europe I realized that I’d be within an hour or so of Gabrielle and her family. She is one of my favorite bloggers and is also behind Alt Summit (which I attended this year and just loved). Being so close to such an amazing family was hard to pass up. Also, I’ve been wanting to shoot more film and couldn’t think of a more perfect family or location.

I’ve photographed hundreds of families over the years but I have to say I started getting really nervous a few days before the shoot. Even though I’ve been photographing for the better part of 15 years I started worrying about my decision to shoot film. Would the kids be moving too fast for me? Would I be nervous and load all of the film incorrectly? Would six kids be overwhelming and a group portrait too challenging? Would I set my meter wrong, etc., etc. Sometimes the most confident photographers can be bested by their nerves and shooting on film which is slow, clunky, and takes a bit more brain-power than shooting digitally was a little risky. As I was falling asleep that night and fretting a bit I decided to simply try to memorize all of the kids names so at the very least I wouldn’t mess that up. They have great names so it was easy!

Shooting film with the Blair Family in Normandy

Finally, the day of the shoot arrived and we had rain! It was the first day of rain for me in nearly three weeks of being in Europe.  Thankfully the sun came out and we had perfect weather for the shoot. I packed my huge bag of gear and double-checked it about six times then hopped into my rental car for the drive to La Cressonniére. The trip was an easy one. After an unremarkable ride on a vacant French highway I exited through a few tiny towns and a horizon full of wheat fields. I recognized the house immediately from the blog posts and pulled in. I couldn’t find anyone but the door was wide open so I just peeked through. Then the most amazing thing happened. One by one all of the Blair kids came of out the woodwork and greeted me. They were all perfectly dressed and incredibly warm and welcoming. Within a few seconds Betty wrapped her arms around me and asked if I was her photographer. It was such a lovely experience and immediately put me at ease.

The next four hours was incredibly pleasant. It was one of my favorite shoots in recent memory and I want to thank Gabrielle, Ben and especially all six kids Ralph, Maude, Olive, Oscar, Betty, and June for being such engaged, easy-going, and simply lovely subjects. Don’t you think they did a wonderful job? My favorite part was hearing Oscar profess his love to me as I left. You can read about that here.

Take a look at the slideshow to see some of my favs and be sure to head over to Gabrielle’s blog to see more. Do you think I’m crazy for shooting film?

film wheat Blair141 Blair138 Blair134 Blair131 Blair127 Blair110 Blair106 Blair104 Blair086 Blair076 Blair075 Blair070 Blair068 Blair055 Blair051 Blair049 Blair044 Blair041 Blair039 Blair037 Blair020 Blair009 Blair0007 Blair006 blair0005 Blair004 Blair0004 Blair0003 Blair0010 Blair002 Blair0002

Finally, after the shoot I had an overwhelming feeling of relief that everything had gone so well that I got out of my car and took this image of the wheat fields near La Cressonniére. It was such a pretty sunset. Enjoy!

p.s. I’ll be sharing more from Europe including my shoot with Milk Magazine in Paris!