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Sunday, November 28, 2010

Manhattan Beach Family Photographer | Manhattan Beach Portraits

If it's Thanksgiving, it's time for holiday cards!
And that's how we spent the weekend, helping families with their holiday cards, with classic Manhattan Beach family portraits.
We began on Friday, with our new friend Bill at Polliwog Park in Manhattan Beach. His family from Michigan called to get photos to distribute to all the family members, and we were happy to oblige.

Then Saturday it was off to Pacific Palisades, to meet Matt, Nancy and their lovely young daughter at the Santa Monica Mountains hiking facility off Temescal Canyon. What an amazing backdrop! This was our third annual holiday card for the gang, and we look forward to many years more.

Finally, we met with our old friends Rich and Lisa, to photograph their family, again for year no. 3, at their home in Manhattan Beach. This was the best shoot ever, and we can't wait to see the new holiday card!

We closed the weekend on the sands of Manhattan Beach with the Stewart family from Long Beach, for classic Manhattan Beach family portraits under the Pier.


Thanks everyone, for the fun weekend by the sea!

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Redondo Beach Bat Mitzvah | Jewish Community Center


We returned recently to the Redondo Beach Jewish Community Center for portraits of Danit, prior to her Redondo Beach Bat Mitzvah, scheduled for this weekend. The JCC is one of the most beautiful temples in town, with loads of natural window light that we love to work with. (Just check out the above portrait of Danit to see what we mean.)
We also enjoyed going outside the temple, right in front, for these natural light portraits of Danit and her joyful younger sister as well.


We look forward to meeting up with the family again this weekend for the big event!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Manhattan Beach Portraits | Manhattan Beach Pier | Manhattan Beach QuinceaƱera


We met the lovely Victoria Monday under the Manhattan Beach Pier for a portrait shoot. The meeting was to get a killer shot for display at her weekend Manhattan Beach QuinceaƱera, which is being held this weekend at Veranadas in Manhattan Beach. And we think we got it--we arrived under the Pier just in time for a big, rich, yellow sunset.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Long Beach B'Nai Mitzvah | Temple Israel

Kyle and Sydney went up to the bima together Saturday for a shared B'nai Mitzvah at Temple Israel of Long Beach.




Brother and sister took turns reading from the torah, marched up the aisles and did an amazing job.
They celebrated with a balloon filled celebration at the Old Ranch Country Club in Seal Beach, with DJ services provided by H2H Entertainment. We will follow up later in the week with pix from the party.

Sunday, November 07, 2010

Bellflower Dance Recital

The great thing about this job, when the phone rings, the requests are extremely varied. Weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, family portraits--indian dance recitals in Bellflower! You just never know where you'll end up.

Meera performed a solo recital this weekend, in 7 amazing dance numbers. We were thrilled to be there to document the performance for the family.


Long Beach Bat Mitzvah Party | Betty Reckas Greek Cultural Center

As promised, here's images from Maddie's Bat Mitzvah party at the Betty Reckas Greek Cultural Center in Long Beach.

What at first seems like a most unlikely venue for a Long Beach Bat Mitzvah party (a church?) is a surprise, with a larger than most banquet room, and plenty of room for socializing and dancing.
Maddie's party was catered by TGIS Catering.
We started the evening by taking Maddie to the back of the church, by the green, for these portraits, and then followed her inside for the action.




Arielle's Manhattan Beach Bat Mitzvah CTJ | Manhattan Beach Country Club

Arielle's family were in a particularly playful mood when we met at Congregation Tikvat Jacob in Manhattan Beach for her Bat Mitzvah and family shoot.

We've been photographing at CTJ since 2003, and thought we knew every inch of the facility. To our surprise, we found somewhere new--and love the results.

Manhattan Beach Bar Mitzvah CTJ | Automobile Driving Museum Party

Peter followed his Manhattan Beach Congregation Tikvat Jacob Bar Mitzvah with a visit to the nearby Automobile Driving Museum in El Segundo, a terrific venue for Bar/Bat Mitzvah parties.

Kids and adults love partying among the old cars.

Congregation Tikvat Jacob Bar Mitzvah | Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific Party

Scott's Manhattan Beach Bar Mitzvah at Congregation Tikvat Jacob had a fun bonus for us--a new venue for the party, Long Beach's Aquarium of the Pacific.

After Scott read the torah at CTJ, guests boarded a big bus in Manhattan Beach for the ride down to Long Beach, where the party was held in the heart of the aquarium. Scott, who volunteers at the aquarium, personally selected the venue for his party, because of his love of fish. Great choice! A fun time was had by all.




Photos by Sam Graham