I’ll start with a few photos from our friends Andrea & Brendan’s wedding. They are a very special couple to us for a plethora of reasons, one of then being that when Juan quit his job in Charlotte and came to NYC to find work last September, Andrea and Brendan welcomed him with open arms, to stay as long as he needed in their studio apartment – yes, the 3 of them in a small studio apartment in NYC. How amazing is that?

Juan and Andrea are life-long friends. They grew up a few houses from each other back in Quito, Ecuador, attended elementary school together and have formed a strong, lasting friendship.

Last week, Andrea and Brendan had their wedding ceremony, festivities and activities in Quito, where close to 80 of their friends flew in from many parts of the world to partake in the week-long celebrations.

These are photos from a beautiful lunch at Andrea’s “finca” (or farm) where in addition to salsa & merengue dance lessons (to bust a Latin move at the wedding reception, of course!) all guests received these beautiful locally-made hats that came in special boxes you can see below.

Coming soon are some portraits I took of these love birds at around 4:00am at the amazing, fun and crazy wedding reception.

Her husband, Don Raul, suffered a debilitating stroke five years ago. Nonetheless, the love that she emanates and gives to Don Raul is the same, if not more, than when they married over 50 years ago. Sra. Alba is a strong, proud, loving, giving, kind and amazing human being.

Having lost my sweet Meme a few months ago, there’s something about Sra. Alba that reminds me of my Meme. I can’t put my finger on whether it’s physical, spiritual or emotional, but there’s a closeness I feel with Sra. Alba that’s very unique.

Five years ago, la enfermera came to be part of the family after Juan’s grandfather suffered a stroke that caused the left side of his body to be completely paralyzed. She is at Juan’s grandparents home several days and nights a week, helping Juan’s grandmother out in a big way.

When it’s time to lift Don Raul out of the bed and take a bath, la enfermera’s son comes over to help.

Sweet. Shy. Humble. Giving. Caring. Loving. Mother and son.

Here’s a slide show, and some photos just below the slide show. Enjoy!

Congrats Luli & David!!!

I took this portrait when we recently celebrated my dad’s birthday in Florida.

No matter how many times I have said it and written it in his birthday cards, it never gets old – it’s because of my dad that my mom and I had the opportunity to leave Venezuela and start a new life in the United States. For that, I am forever grateful – I mean thanks to Alberto, we moved to the USA & I had a chance to attend college in North Carolina. There, I met my husband and I made some of my strongest and most incredible life-long friendships, and now, thanks to my amazing husband, we are now fulfilling our crazy dream of living and pursuing our passions in New York City.

I am blessed.

This past Saturday, I had the honor to spend some time with Cat, Mike and their beautiful 9-month old son, Nicholas Joseph and capture some intimate moments and dynamics between the three of them.

These are the moments I love to capture, these are the moments that make the word “family” mean so much, the moments that fill my heart with joy.

Nicholas is a sweet, beautiful baby boy who has an amazing level of concentration. Whatever task he is doing, he gives it 100% and you tell from the look on his face how focused he is at the task in hand. When he is not concentrating on a task, and looks at mom and dad, he breaks out the MOST BEAUTIFUL smile ever. Ear to ear!

Cat & Mike, thank you for letting me capture such a wonderful day with you. You are beautiful.

Hit “play” and enjoy the slideshow below!

see more of my children’s portraiture at www.catalinaphotography.com/children

some images from our photo session

Here’s my favorite photograph from our session last week, and quite possibly one of my favorite baby portraits EVER.

]]> http://www.catalinaphotography.com/blog/jamisons-1-year-portrait/feed/ 2 http://www.catalinaphotography.com/blog/emilia-family-portraits/ http://www.catalinaphotography.com/blog/emilia-family-portraits/#comments Tue, 10 Nov 2009 04:32:14 +0000 catalina http://www.catalinaphotography.com/blog/?p=482 Meet Emilia, also known as Emi. I recently photographed her and awesome parents, Denise & Marcus.

Emi recently turned 2 years old and let me tell you, she is quite a character! She is incredibly focused and concentrates on a task incredibly well. On this particular Sunday morning, Emi was putting on and off about 7 to 9 bracelets and NOTHING could break her concentration!

Emi loves to read and Denise wanted to capture her daughter doing just that, so with a little help from Curious George, we got this thoughtful image.

Emi loves to run outside, so off we went and did a couple of takes as Emi came running towards me. Of all the running photographs I took, this is my favorite!

and last, but not least a more formal portrait of Emi

Prior to that portrait session, I had been eying some fabric at Modern Fabrics and thought this green and brown leaf pattern would be perfect for Amy & Chris’ pregnancy portraits. I must admit I was *quite* pleased with the results.

There is something so romantic, so beautiful about this couple and how loving they are towards each other and how loving they will be to their baby.

Amy & Chris – I wish you the best of luck, health and joy with the arrival of your baby!!

We traveled to NYC this past weekend to get Juan settled in with some friends while he searches for both graphic design work and musical work, while I hold down the fort in Charlotte until I join him in November.

We are equally excited to finally follow our passions and live with no regrets.

I am ready to take my photography career to the next level and dedicate 500% of my time to the business. I am eager to learn, shoot, assist and be in the photography industry and focus exclusively in becoming a better photographer.

With that said, here are some images from our trip to NYC.

Waiting for the bus to Manhattan, I shot these two images.

After eating some always-amazing arepas at Caracas Arepas Bar, we stopped for a coffee at Mud. We had a chance to sit and chill in the back dining area and spend some nice quality time chatting and talking about our goals in NYC.

here’s a portrait i took of Juan at Mud

and here’s what the roof looked like – different colored glass, which gave views to buildings around Mud

and a detail of the wall decorations near us

Another highlight of this trip was our visit to Coney Island. Ever since I watched Tom Hanks in “Big,” I have always wanted to see Coney Island for myself. It was about an hour-long ride on the metro and a nice, cool breeze along with a bright, sunny day, welcomed us to the home of the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest and place full of history, dating back to the 1800s.

Here’s Juan, eating a Nathan’s Hog Dog on the boardwalk, whilst enjoying some fun people watching

the remains of a hot dog

what’s left of one of the rides on Coney Island

Entrance to some rides on Coney Island

Bar Sign