The L. family was adventurous and willing to try something a little more rugged and edge-of-nature. Believe it or not, those areas do still exist in Orange County! We found one such spot on the border of Yorba Linda and Anaheim Hills. And Tiffany and Jef were smart to schedule their brood’s session a few weeks before the summer heat wave kicked into high gear.

We knew the greenery would make for a great mother/daughter backdrop.

But we didn’t realize the rocks and sand would be great entertainment for the little guys.

We might just add this location to our list of north Orange County options for family portraits. Thanks to the L. family for such a great afternoon!

Megan is beaming, isn’t she? With such good-looking parents, baby William will be a handsome little guy, no doubt!

Love that bump!

Congratulations Megan and Stuart! We hope you enjoy this sneak peek. And we can’t wait to meet the little guy!

And a special tip for all you moms and dads out there…you don’t need fancy backdrops or studio lights to get gorgeous shots of your little ones at home.  Just experiment with a little window light and some cool fabrics.  In the shot above, we had some great afternoon light peeking through one of the bedroom windows.  We stretched out about three yards of this cool swirly fabric (compliments of Jo-Ann Fabrics) on the bed and placed Linley on top.  Landon was awesome and held up some of the fabric in the background while Keith and I photographed.  The result: cute photos!

Again, here’s that great window light.  It made for a great mother-daughter shot.

And don’t forget the details!  Photos of tiny hands, toes, and bellies make for great shots for the baby book.

Congrats to Miko and Landon!  Thanks so much for letting us share in documenting this special time for your family.

We met up with the K. Family at our secret Irvine location.  The lush landscape and golden afternoon sun set the perfect backdrop for this four-generation group.  And while photographing such a big group may seem daunting, we actually had a great system in place—we allotted time to photograph the entire group, as well as smaller family groupings and individual portraits of each family member.  And one of the best parts of working as a photography duo…Keith and I can split up and tag-team the smaller groupings. Yay team!  Thanks so much to the K. Family.  We hope you enjoy your slideshow.

In last year’s contest, the cute O’Connell Family won the grand prize of a 16″x20″ canvas gallery wrap.  This year’s winner will be taking home an equally cool prize: a 4″x4″ leather flush-mount album featuring photos from their 2009 photo session.

And we’ve got a great group of clients—eight fabulous families and three cute couples—who wanted to participate in this year’s contest.  Each photo below was hand-selected by them as one of their favorites from their sessions with us in 2009.  We might be a little biased (they’re all winners in our books), so we need your help to pick the winning shot! Whether you’re a friend of the family or just stopping by our blog, we invite you to cast your official ballot.  And it’s easy to do!  Simply review all the pictures in this post and then select your favorite in the poll box below.

To make things easier we’ve included client names on each image (and listed them in alphabetical order), which correspond to the appropriate line on the poll. Whichever family or couple receives the most votes by 9 a.m. on Saturday, February 27, wins the leather album.

But there’s no winner without your vote! So cast your ballot today, and remind all your friends on Twitter and Facebook to do the same. And we’re sure our families and couples would love to hear your cheers. Feel free to leave comments below. We look forward to seeing the results!

We met the clan at Yorba Regional Park in Yorba Linda, which was a great location with a lake, bridges, and lots of greenery. The four younger girls, all under 5 years old, were adorable in their jewel-toned outfits and took the opportunity to run and play, while their older cousin did a great job of reigning everyone in (she also has fantastic grey-blue eyes). The whole group was super cute and made our job easy!

This was our last session for 2009, and it was great to end the year on such a good note!  Enjoy the slideshow!

Keith and I met up with this fun trio at Santiago Oaks Regional Park in Orange, which is an awesome park with some great features.  But be aware…the orange groves are actually private property and off limits. At least that’s what the nice park ranger told us as he politely kicked us out.

Anyway, we allowed Nate to lead us on a nature hike (there are several trails crisscrossing the park), keeping him close at all times since there are wild animals in the area. And Nate did what all three-year-old boys do: he ran, he squealed, and he collected sticks. He was carefree and cute as always!

It’s always fun playing with Nate, but we don’t know how Greta and Chris keep up with this adorable ball of energy on a daily basis. Keep it up guys, you’re awesome parents!

All three kids (including twin girls!) were easy-going, full of smiles, and absolutely adorable. One of the girls brought her “pet” hamster, a Zhu Zhu pet, a toy which was all the rage this past holiday season. It was fun to see one up close.  And even the family dog, Princess, stayed put for a few shots.

Thank you to the M. Family for a wonderful morning at the park.  We hope you enjoy the slideshow!