Vacation in Napa Valley and Big Sur!

After Tim and I shot the Mil Valley wedding and the engagement shoot in Livermore, we took our time getting back to Santa Barbara. We stopped off in Napa Valley for a couple days where we bought and tasted a ton of yummy wine, admired the scenery and ate some pretty amazing food!

Here we are at Sterling Vineyards where we bought a tasty '05 pinot gris





























After living like kings in Napa we decided to rough it in Big Sur. Tim and I have always joked about how we like to either be sitting in the lap of luxury or to be completely without. And this trip was exactly that! While we thoroughly enjoyed Napa we also had a blast camping at Big Sur. It is such a beautiful place and there was a ton of stuff to do there!

We enjoyed a short but scenic hike to Pfeifer Falls
















Along the way, evidence of springtime abounded ;)
















After that hike we cruised along Hwy 1 stopping off to take pictures of the coast and other gorgeous places





























One of the locals told us about a fire road that went to an awesome place down near the ocean. So we found that road and hiked down it, at the bottom we discovered a tunnel that was once used for ships to pass their cargo's through; we also spotted a decent sized creek that flowed right to the ocean. We spent a lot of time here with our cameras... so fun!!




























In spite of all the fun we had it is good to be back in Santa Barbara working away on our Wedding and Portrait photography businesses!

Oh, I almost forgot! Tim put up a slide show of our little vaca that you can view here

God Bless you guys!

The day after Megan and Christo's wedding we met up with April and Don for a little engagement shoot. They took us to a beautiful hiking area in Livermore, where we hiked up a huge hill to be rewarded with an amazing view of the lake just on the other side. It was breathtaking! You can check out Tim's blog to see some of those views with his infra red camera.

Here are a few of my shots from that day :)

Mill Valley California Wedding

We just arrived home from shooting Megan and Christo's wedding in Northan California this past weekend... we took our time getting home, stopping off in Napa Valley and Big Sur, more on that to come!

I love being a second shooter for my husband Tim Halberg! :) I get to travel to super beautiful places with him, see his amazing talent at work and meet some wonderful people! But, my favorite part is that all the pressure of the day is off of me! When I shoot my children's portrait sessions, it's me alone and no one else to fall back on. So as I shoot with Tim I try to look for fun angles and detail shots for the bride and groom. Here are a few I grabbed for Megan and Christo:

You can check out there wedding photography slide show here

Santa Barbara Portraits with the Richters!

I had a blast yesterday taking portraits of the Richter family. They were so adorable and each child had such a unique personality. It was so fun to capture each of them on film! Little Addy stole the day hamming it up in front of the camera.

We went to Chase Palm Park in Santa Barbara. I can't tell you how many portrait sessions I have done there, lets just say there have been a ton! And Often as a children's portrait photographer I can find myself getting into a rut sticking to what has worked in the past and producing the same images over and over again. But my heart's desire really is to make every session unique, creative and visually stimulating. So I challenged myself this time to look for new backgrounds in an area that I was so familiar with; and I am so happy with the results!! Check them out below:

































































































You can check out their entire session by clicking here

Mission Viejo Wedding

This weekend my incredibly talented husband, Tim Halberg a Santa Barbara wedding photographer, had a wedding down south in Mission Viejo area. As his fulltime second shooter... or maybe I should say slave ;)... I got to tag along with him. It was such a great wedding to start our season off with, if they all go as smoothly as this one did our season will be a breaze!!

Jaime, the bride, put together such a beautiful day, we had a blast capturing each moment for her! The wedding went by so smoothly thanks to her awesome planning abilities, I was seriously impressed!

Here are a few images I grabbed from that day, you can check out Tim's on his blog.

Family Portraits by Cheryl May!

I'd like to introduce you all to the Goodmans! Bonni, my roommie from college, maid of honor, one of my greatest friends and seriously one of the most amazing people I have met in my life, recently gave me the honor of taking family portraits near Palos Verdes of her extended family.

Although I'm based out of Santa Barbara, it was a blast to travel down to Palos Verdes for family portraits! Not only did I get to hang out with someone who I have shared some incredible memories with, but her family was so funny and really hammed it up in front of the camera. You'll see when you scroll down to check out their pics.

I was also super thrilled to do this, since it was for her parents Bob and Cathy who opened up their home and gave a lot of themselves when I attended Biola University.




































































































































































My hubby Tim came along with me to grab some shots on the side. He is so talented! In fact quite a few of the pictures you see above are his! Thanks babe ;)!

My 25th Birthday!

That's right, I turned 25 this past Friday!! I wish I could say I had a spectacular time, but sadly I came down with a cold! :(. My entire birthday weekend I spent cooped up inside, curled under a blanket on our couch watching anything and everything that came on TV. Thankfully my hubby Tim has been taking good care of me and hopefully we'll get a chance to celebrate soon!

Being a self-employed Children's Portrait Photographer it's tough to force yourself to work when you want so badly to call in sick. But today I forced myself to take care of things around the office in spite of my aching body and clogged sinuses! Once I finish this blog post, I think I'm going to take it easy on the couch and focus on getting healthy!

A little while ago my former roomie Rachel asked me to take some portraits of her adorable 6 week old baby boy Ezekiel. I was so honored and thrilled for this opportunity! She came over to our place and we had a blast catching up with each other's lives and capturing some fun moments of her first child! :)

Here are my favorites from that day:





























































And here is the link to Ezekiel's entire session!