Rainy Saturday Afternoon

I spend quite a bit of time at home working away on photos, emails, etc., and when this past Saturday rolled around I was a little bummed that it was raining in Santa Barbara since I was itching to be outside! (I had a photo session scheduled with Jordan but her mom and I decided to postpone it for brighter weather, seeing as it probably wouldn't be a good idea to take an 8 month old out in the pouring rain! ;) )

Tim and I love shooting in stormy weather though, and we decided not to pass the day away cooped up inside watching movies and sipping a warm drink (which I absolutely love doing from time to time!). Instead, we hopped into our Toyota Tacoma and started driving towards Ojai, for a photo adventure! Along the way we drove by Lake Casitas, detoured on a few roads that looked interesting and pulled off to the side to exercise the creative sides of our brains! We had such a blast!










































Tim's eye for fine art always challenges me to do the same, and rainy days make for a great source of inspiration for just that!













All along our drive there were tons of small rock slides! At times it made me nervous, but we made it through safely :). Here is one rock that made it all the way to the middle of the road, I couldn't resist getting up close to it for an interesting perspective.















Tim steeling the shot I took just seconds ago ;)! Actually it's supper fun to see how he photographs the same subject, we tend to approach them in an entirely different way, perhaps that helps us be such a good team! Hopefully he'll post his shot from this on his blog :).






















Umm... not much to say here ;)... just my husband's funny way of getting sick shots :)






















And the aftermath of him rolling around on the wet pavement! :). My husband's so awesome! I love him to death! :)

Hayden and Ephraim's Portraits!

I thought it would be fun to introduce you guys to my nephews! They are some of the funiest, cutest, craziest boys I have ever met! Seriously, they are so much fun, everytime I visit them they make me laugh so much!

When I was in Palm Springs for Christmas break, my sister asked me to grab my camera and snap off a few shots of them. So we went to a nearby park in Palm Desert to hang out and have some fun. Hayden wasn't quite into it at first, but once we got him on the swings and made him laugh a bit he quickly cheered up :).

Their parent's are both supper talented in drawing. Mike is also talented in the area of web design and graphic arts. Check out his blog, he has a fetish with calling himself batmyke :). Hmm I wonder where his kids get their crazyness from! :)


































































































To see more pics from when I shot Hayden and Ephraim's portraits click here

Murphy Twins!

A recent first for me was photographing two twin boys!! They were so cute! I know, I know, I think I have said this about every single kid I have shot, but honestly, I think they are so adorable! :)

So the Murphy twins were fun little boys, they were just barely learning to crawl and hold themselves up. We took pictures all over their beautiful home. We went in the backyard in their little play pin, their living room and even in one of the bedrooms there!

They have a couple sessions booked with me and I can't wait for our next one! It's going to be a blast to see how they change! Speaking of change, this Saturday I am scheduled to take pictures of Jordan again and I am SOOO excited to see how much she has changed. Check back here in a bit and I'll be sure to post up her new pictures :).









































































To view the twins entire session click here

Kyle's photos!

I wanted to share with you all one of my photo sessions with an adorable and crazy 4 year old boy named Kyle! He was so much fun to photograph. At the start of our session he was so chatty and had so much to say to me, I loved getting to know this kid :)!

Then, part way through, he decided it would be fun to run away from the camera!! I've met many challenges before when photographing kids, but never someone running away from me!! It was so funny at first, and I just played along with him... as though we were playing hide and seek! :) That's how I got the shot of him peeking at me through the bushes.

But after some time of playing this game both him and I were rather tired of it. So I suggested we switch locations and head to the beach. He loved that idea! And when we got there he thoroughly enjoyed throwing sticks into the water and playing tag with me! :). Kyle was such a character to photograph! :) And I had a blast grabbing these images:


















































































To view Kyle's entire session click here

Family Portraits!!

Check out these family portraits I shot recently! It was seriously a blast to capture some images of these guys! To see more from their session follow this link: Renga Family Portraits

Cheryl May....Halberg!!!!

Just a little under a month ago I got married to a wonderful, handsome and talented man named Tim Halberg!! I am so excited to be called his wife! For the first few weeks we kept looking at each other and saying things like "your my husband!! so weird!"... weird in a good way though that is :). So, I am no longer Cheryl Knowlton, but now proudly go by Cheryl Halberg! :) Although it's a bit frustrating that my legal name has yet to change, so whenever I bank I still use my old last name :(. That will all change soon though hopefully! :)

My wedding day was absolutely surreal!! Seriously, it is hard to explain, but it was as though everything just unfolded before my eyes as though I was simply a spectator. And yet, I felt very attunned as to what was supposed to happen when and how, and who was supposed to be where. I tried to soak in every moment, knowing that it would fly by so fast! In the end, I really had such a blast, experienced more emotions than I knew what to do with in one day, and am absolutely blessed to be living with the man of my dreams who I dearly love!

Unfortunately I have no images to show you since I spent my entire day in front of the camera! But here are a few links for you to check out some images that came from that day:

My husband Tim's blog (he also has some images from our honeymoon up!): Tim Halberg Photography

Our incredible wedding photographers!: Michael Costa Photography

Jordan's Photo Session!

Recently I photographed Jordan for her 4 month photo session! I had a blast! She's a beautiful child, I can't wait to take more pictures of her throughout her first year!

Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation

A little while ago I had the privilege of meeting Linda Armstrong-Kelley, Lance Armstrong's mother! Linda is an incredible woman! She has been through so much, raised Lance, has authored her book "No Mountain High Enough: Raising Lance, Raising Me", and now inspires others through public speaking!

The Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation put on a benefit and silent auction with Linda as the guest speaker. I was lucky enough to be able to photograph the event for them and donate my services as a silent auction item. It was truly an honor for me to have the chance to give to an organization with such an awesome dedication to helping families of children who are battling cancer. I can only hope to be able to give more in the future!

Chalk4Peace

This past weekend I had the opportunity to photograph an event put on by Arts Alive! a creativity center dedicated to teaching and inspirting young children and adults through the arts!

It was a fun day filled with face painting, chalk drawings, singing and dancing! Here are a few of my favorite images from that day. To see a slideshow click here

Twin's Photo Shoot

Okay, so it has been a while since my last post! I never realized how much being engaged would consume my life!

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to photograph these two sweet girls and their little cousin. It was so much fun, and such an honor!

I'm Engaged!!!

Last night I was swept off my feet! My incredible boyfriend... now fiancé! :).... Proposed! Aw man, I can't tell you how excited I am! I know you are all probably dieing to hear the story... but I am on my way out of town for my nephew's birthday, so I don't have much time right now :(. But soon Tim and I will put together the whole story, with pictures and everything, for all of you!

For now here is one image just after I said Yes!!

Yosemite!

Yosemite was breathtaking! I never cease to be amazed by God's artistry and handiwork there! Here are a few of my images from that trip.