My friend and former UCSC colleague Stacey works for the Homeless Services Center in Santa Cruz, a place that provides crucial assistance to many families and individuals in this area. You can visit their website by clicking here. Last October she got in touch with me to ask if I’d be willing to take some photos for various purposes. This included getting one photo of a donor and a family to be made into a promotional banner on the side of the Rebele Family Shelter building. I was thrilled to be asked, and happy to volunteer for a cause I believe in very strongly.

If you care about this cause too, and you have time, energy, talent, and/or money to offer in support of homeless individuals and families, there are many ways to help. Here’s a link to the Homeless Services Center “How to Help” page. You can also check out their blog for upcoming events and opportunities.

The next big event: United Way is bringing the highly successful Project Homeless Connect to Santa Cruz. It’s a one day community-wide event that provides housing, support, and quality of life resources to homeless individuals in the community. It happens on March 30, and you can learn more by clicking here.

And now, about the photos. We had to do the shoot twice to get one picture in which everyone was in focus. (This was entirely the fault of the photographer.) Fortunately, the family and the donor were all very patient and easy to work with. The final choice was the last photo below- for the banner, their designer worked some Photoshop magic to erase the background and make the photo look good in a very large size. You’ll also see some photos from a third shoot, meant to be used for newspaper ads encouraging people to give to the Homeless Services Center during the holiday season.

I really enjoyed taking these photos, and having the chance to meet these families, especially the kids. And I was very impressed with the Rebele Family Shelter itself, where staff members and volunteers put an enormous amount of work and love into helping families during important times of transition in their lives. If they ask for photographic assistance again, this Red Bat will definitely say yes.

I hope your heart center is feeling soft and open today, because I’m about to throw some love at you. 19 photographs of it, in fact! But don’t worry, they’re optimized so they should load pretty fast. Just keep reading while that’s happening.

Emily and Matt got hitched at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Joseph in San Jose, a stunning place to launch into married life if ever there was one. That place is gorgeous. We were worried about the light, wondering if there would be enough, since we couldn’t use flashes during the ceremony and wanted to avoid using them anyway (we are big fans of natural light). As it turned out, the light situation was challenging but not impossible. We got plenty of great shots just working with what was there.

The Red Bats had the pleasure of following these two throughout their wedding day, starting at 7 am (yes, we will get up early for our clients!) and ending up at the Capitol Club in the afternoon. It was a small wedding, just the family and some friends, and this made it easy to focus on the bride and groom and their delight in every detail of getting legally wed. They were so happy about the whole thing, so sweet to each other and everybody else, that they made falling in love and getting married seem like the only logical thing for anybody in their right mind to do.

It was easy to see they both felt they’d hit the jackpot in the romance department. Working on their photos later, I kept getting teary-eyed looking at the two of them together. (Have I mentioned yet what a cheeseball I am? Well, now you know for sure.) I’m not including the most touching photos here because some moments are too private for a blog post.

But I will reveal, in words anyway, that the bride’s father cried during his first dance with his newly married daughter, and almost everybody in the room cried too (including me) and I am sure the ones who didn’t were either not paying attention or holding it in. I told you these were some sweet people.

Congratulations, Emily and Matt!

There is little one can say to truly describe the experience of being mere weeks away from giving birth if one has not experienced it as a visceral truth. In many ways, words have very little to do with that sacred moment, just before the world as it was ends and the unimaginable new life begins.

When I see the few photos that I have of my pregnancy, I realize what a unique marker that time period is, and I wish I had documented that state of being with more intention. To look at those photos and see myself in that incredible place of possibility, long before I ever laid eyes on the exquisite little face that would alter me forever, is a priceless gift. I could not have guessed how the world would change with a babe in my arms.

That is why it was such a pleasure to photograph our friends Claire and Garret, less than a week before the birth of their daughter, Deja. It was an appropriate first photographic venture with my sister Rebecca. The shoot took place less than a mile away from the cabin in Bonny Doon where my own son, Jasper, was born. Rebecca was an incredible support to me throughout my pregnancy, and a wonderful help during my labor. It made sense to have her assistance with this shoot. We were both excited to be capturing this moment for Claire to look at and remember in years to come.

This particular shoot was a gradual stroll through the most lovely redwood glens, meadows and garden of the community that Garret and Claire call home. Along the way we stopped in at their good friend Stuart’s yurt, to witness the ritual smoking of a deer hide in the traditional Ecuadorian fashion.

From there we found a sweet meadow that made for some lovely (and might I add, sexy) photos of the expectant couple. It was inspirational to see how playful and loving Garret and Claire were together even as they were about to take the leap into parenthood. I felt glad for this little baby to have parents whose love for each other is so evident.

From the meadow we walked on to the yurt of Emily, Claire’s sister. Though this portion of the shoot was completely unplanned, the final result would have been incomplete without it. Witnessing and documenting the love between these sisters was such a rich experience for a team of sister photographers. The psychic sister aspect of wearing the same color unplanned aside (people with sisters who are also close friends will know what I mean), the connection between Emily and Claire was palpable.

We ended our shoot in neighbor Olivia’s epic garden at the magical golden hour near sunset. Amongst the rows of greens and vines of salvia, we captured Claire alone (well, almost). As we photographed Claire and her magnificent belly, her face began to take on an otherworldly glow. Her features were like those of a person in deep meditation. It was not hard to see that she and baby had already begun that deep conversation that sets birth in motion.

Five days later, Claire gave birth to her daughter, Deja. We have met Deja, but we have not yet photographed her- but when we do, I’ll be sure to share some of those photos with you.

Here are some of our favorites from the shoot:

A few weeks ago, Rachel wanted to know if the Red Bats could take some holiday photos of her daughter, Sadie. (We photographed Rachel’s family a few months ago and posted about it here.) The theme for the holiday portrait session: Christmas at the beach, overwhelming-cuteness-style.

Rachel prepared thoroughly for this shoot. She bought the right outfit, she checked with her photographers to make sure the quick turnaround time was possible, she even planned around Sadie’s naptime to ensure the best possible mood. However, all the planning in the world can’t guarantee a smile from a baby at the right time. We got a few grins out of Sadie, but it was hard work. She was simply too mesmerized by the cameras to show us her biggest, goofiest smile. Fortunately, she smiled just enough to yield at least thirty adorable smiling shots, which was more than enough for Rachel’s top-secret purposes.

Here’s a little movie that tells the story of that shoot (click the photo to play it). As you’ll see, Sadie is ridiculously cute no matter what expression she has on her face.

UPDATE: There’s a new Sadie movie, for December 2009! Click here to see the post.