If you have just now stumbled upon this blog, please come visit the new one.  All of the previous content from this blog has been moved over there as well.

Farrah's brand new BLOG! (http://farrahbraniff.com/blog/)

SF has great coffee shops...

Check out our amazing view!  How can you NOT love this incredible place?

On our first night we walked from Nob Hill through Chinatown and down to North Beach.  We went through the financial district and finally down to Union Square and back up to Nob Hill where we're staying.  Steven got a kick out of the stretch of Columbus Ave. where the strip clubs are.  It's pretty funny- great flashy signs, lots of neon and light bulbs) and hilarious names for the clubs.

We ate at my favorite Chinese food place.  The food is an incredible, creative blend of flavors and a they have a special hot tea with all kinds of stuff in it (flowers, leaves, etc).  It's fantastic!

And finally we made our way back to the hotel to be greeted again by our awesome view.

I have lots of new sessions to blog, a review on a new point-and-shoot that I have been using and new pictures of my kids.  So, make sure and come back to the blog on Monday for sure to get the new link and info!

This morning I came across this amazing work by Phillip Toledano.  It blew me away and I wanted to share it with you.  Tomorrow many of us will gather around the table and share a meal with our families and friends.  Give someone you love a hug, hold a hand and enjoy some fellowship. 

Today I feel exhausted, weary from long hours at work during a very demanding holiday season but I also feel deeply grateful for so many things.  Two of them are sitting across the dinner table from me as I type this eating their chocolate pudding.  Life is beautiful.

Objective: to approach photography with one thing in mind- the hunt for spirit.

There are a lot of reasons why we photograph our children.  You want to document their milestones, the progress and the growth.  You want to remember what they looked like and the places you went to.  You want to capture the birthday parties and the graduations- in essence, the history of it all.  More than that though, I think we are trying to capture their spirit.  We want to remember what they sounded like when they laughed, how they made that one amazing expression, how their eyes looked, what they felt like...THAT is all much harder to capture.

When I was in art school, I remember someone telling me that when you shot a roll of film, you should be happy if there was a single ONE magical shot per roll.  The idea was that photography was a bit of a chase and that every shot was not going to be "the one".  It is still like that today.  I may shoot a hundred images during a session.  I'll cull that down to 30-40 that I really, really like and show that to my client.  Out of that 30-40 there may be 1 or 2 or maybe even 2-3 that I love.  I will like a lot of them and a lot of them will be good but there will be a smaller percentage that I really connect to.

That smaller set of images are the soul and spirit images.  For me that means that I captured what I experienced as the heart of that small moment with my subject.  Who they were to me during that photo session.  I love those images.  It is why I do what I do.

Here's a few from a session last week.  I love these because this was exactly how these two siblings were.

There were about 4 images in front of this one and behind it but this one just caught a certain something in their eyes and their bodies that makes it special.

Mom loved both of these.  That is always a big validation for me too.  And, of course, you have to have one like this...

Forget the "cheese!" and the perfect pose...go try and catch the spirit!  It's the image that you will cherish most of all.

As it always happens, when things are stressful and time is tight, something else happens to just make it all the more tight and stressful.  This week that came in the form of a sick child.  I have been at home with Sayer for 2 days this week and have had to cancel a bunch of appointments and move things around.  I start to get all uptight thinking, I don't have enough time as it is and now I have less!  That is how it begins but as the day goes on and I've gotten to spend all this one-on-one time with one of my favorite people on the planet the stress starts to dissipate.  It's the little things for me that wipe the stress slate clean.  Monday we drew superheroes.  I sat back and watched him work with little legs dangling, his alien socks on, his intent concentrated stare and his very methodical choice of markers and colors.  It hits me like a ton of bricks that one day his feet will touch the floor and, unless he likes weird socks like I do, he will likely not be wearing alien socks.  Today we made a special trip to the video store to buy Wall-E.  We snuggled up on the couch and watched it together.  I love the movie by the way and think everyone should see it.  It is a beautiful film about love and connection so it was perfect for us today.  Anyway, there are a few parts that are so sweet that I literally feel myself tearing up.  It was at one of those parts that my sweet boy leans back, touches my hair and says "this part almost makes me want to cry".   In that moment, I want to pull him out of kindergarten, close my business and just freeze time.  It's then that the sick day becomes this incredible little gift- wrapped up in alien socks and topped off with shaggy brown hair.

It reminds me that it is about about balance and that balance is very hard to find.

and that I do what I do because I love it.  It's about finding little moments and freezing them.  My job is to help parents remember it and celebrate it because it goes by so fast that it just isn't fair.

That family is one of the best things going...

And that, certainly for me, what makes me good at what I do is my family.  So, in the blur of the busy season, I have to remember what I am doing.  I need to be in the moment.  Many thanks to my sick little Sayer for reminding me of that today.

Sabre tooth tiger nest?  Yes, Sayer has this thing where he takes on the character of whatever he is most interested in at the time.  Today, and for about a week now, he has been a sabre tooth tiger.  So, underneath this big black backdrop there is Sayer.  He has a boppy pillow, his leopard blanket, some toys, and a juice cup.  I had to be creative and use two chairs so that there is opening where he can still see the TV.  He's watching Milo and Otis by the way.

 For those of you who have been here, you will recognize this area of my studio as the place where you sit and look at your images.  Betcha didn't know it would make such a great prehistoric nest did you?

Happy Monday everyone, hope you are feeling better than Sayer!