Lifestyle family portraits!

What a whirlwind June has been for me! I can't believe it is almost gone! And we are practically half way trough 2007!

From being sick for nearly 10 days, to photographing my brother's wedding, visiting with family and managing a ton of children's portrait sessions my blog has definitely suffered! But I am back and here is a recent family portrait session I have done:































































I had such a blast photographing these guys! You can check out all the fun things we did here

Firestone Wedding

This past Memorial Day weekend Tim and I shot two weddings! One on saturday and one on Sunday! By the time Monday came around we were definately ready for a day off!

On Sunday we were at Firestone Vineyards, a gorgious location for a wedding! It really makes our job so simple! It seems like every time we are there it is dificult to get a bad shot! You can check out the slideshow we put together for the weddng here

As a children's portrait photographer I can't help but take pictures of all the little ones at the weddings we go to. At this particular wedding there were three flower girls and quite a few other adorable kids. I had to keep reminding myself to take pictures of other stuff besides the them! :)

Here are my favorite children's pictures from the Firestone wedding:




























































































































And this last picture at the bottom here is my favorite picture of the day! As this little girl began walking down the isle she hesitated, not quite sure what to make of all the guests looking back at her. As soon as she saw her mom standing with the bridal party, she took off running down the isle to be with her! So adorable!!

Jack and Teresa's New Jersey Wedding!

Being a children's portrait photographer, one of my worst fears is losing my ability to see. I can't imagine how difficult life would be, how many obsticals I would have to overcome and just how drastically my life would change.

This past saturday Tim and I shot a wedding in New Jersey, it was so beautiful there!! Everything was a lush green with splashes of color from cherry blossom trees and other spring blossoms. We had a blast photographing Jack and Teresa's wedding. This couple was so in love and so full fo life and faith!

Jack being fully blind, was such a joy to be around and watching him and Teresa interact with each other was truly wonderful. They were such a testimony of what love is... patient, kind, trustworthy, full of grace and much more. During their ceremony they shared about how they came together and how God brought Jack through a challenging and rough road to learn in the end what it means to be redeemed by God and covered in His grace and mercy. It nearly brought me to tears!

I feel so blessed to be a part of their wedding day, here are a few of the moments I captured:













































































































































































For more of Jack and Teresa's wedding pictures check out Tim's blog and their slideshow

Tim and I are flying back into Santa Barbara tomorrow after a fun and amazing trip to New Jersey and New York! Our weekend is crazy booked but I'm hoping I get a chance to share more about our trip soon! :) I can't wait to tell you about all that we did!

New York!!!

Hey guys! I wanted to drop a little note to let you all know that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth! :) Things have been crazy busy around here! Tim and I are heading out Thursday morning at 5:15am to catch a flight to New York!!! We are so excited!

We'll be shooting a few engagement sessions and a wedding in New Jersey. So fun! I'll keep you guys posted on all our adventures there. :) Tim's been rockin' it getting us weddings in some really cool locations.... maybe someday I'll get flown out to New York to shoot a kid's portrait!! That would be awesome. :)

Oh yeah! If you want to see some images, I shot a Senior Portrait session this past monday. I haven't had a chance to tweek out my favorites and post them here, but you can definitely check out the slideshow if you would like! :)

Ok, I must go to bed! At this point we are looking at 4 hours of sleep if we're lucky! :)

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 ;)!