sigma 35mm 1.4
The first grad photos of the season are always a bit nerve-racking, but this group made it a breeze. Their friendship and energy were infectious, and their looks were on point. Each grad glowed in their own way, and the couple and group photos are too sweet!
On a drizzly San Francisco afternoon, Clarissa and Khadijah met me at the top of San Francisco to take these dreamy engagement photos. When the drizzle stopped, the diffusion of sun through the clouds brought these Sophia-Coppola-Marie-Antoinette vibes to life. A wonderful way to celebrate love with dear friends!
Another engagement session with one of my favorites! This is now my third session with Maya; we previously shot photos for the Womxn of Color Collective Portrait Project and her law school graduation. It was such a treat to feel the love the between these two. The only one who loves Maya more than Jason, is the camera!
Will and Haley are my first good friends from high school to get engaged, and I jumped at the chance to take their engagement photos. They worked around my moving schedule, and we were able to find a day to meet at one of my favorite photo locations, Joaquin Miller Park, to celebrate their engagement and new puppy. Juno definitely stole the show!
I met Alegna at the San Jose courthouse Alegna during her 2L summer. I hosted a small gathering for women of color and after learning about her career aspirations, I connected her with partner who worked in the field. When she reached out to me again months later asking me to take her graduation photos, I couldn’t say no. And the cherry on top is that her fiancé, Ray, also graduated from USF the same year with a masters degree in education. Nothing makes me more proud than seeing two Latinxs with DEGREES!! Felicidades!
I do not remember looking this good weeks before taking the California bar exam, but then again, we can’t all be Indi. Indi asked me to take her grad photos with one request: Rebel needed to be in them. Worth it? I’d say so.
Sabrina asked me if she could gift her mom a photo session for Christmas; how could I say no?! I think this was such a sweet, sentimental, life-long gift. In addition to the session itself, Sabrina and her mom spent time together picking coordinating outfits and brainstorming for the session. Hopefully one of these makes it on the wall at the McGraw’s new house!
#WithMoralSupportFromSabrinaMcGraw
Victoria’s back! And this time, she brought Julian. I was so excited to celebrate their engagement. I had a vision of the two of them in front of a wall of plants, so when we realized that the Conservatory of Flowers would be closed, I didn’t realize it was a blessing in disguise. Instead of sticking to the one building, we explored the surrounding park and got this rainbow of backdrops. Between the location and the beautiful golden hour, the photos came out *chef’s kiss*
The dress. The suit. A vibe!
Between editing all of these galleries and work, I don’t have brain power left to write cute little captions, but look at these photos of Ariel!
This one was a little extra special because last year Debbie and I discovered that we both participated in Girls Inc. programming growing up. It is such a full circle moment to see other Girls Inc. girls achieving their dreams. You go girl!
Started grad photo season with a bang! Jenna and I celebrated her upcoming graduation from Berkeley Law and her recent moot court competition wins. Jenna was truly a superstar and the sun blessed her accordingly!
Come to law school for a degree, leave with a sweetheart? Yeah, I know what it’s like. This was primarily Clarissa’s shoot with a few photos of Manny, but I could not help myself and had to go overboard with the couple photos. Clarissa’s pink and seafoam outfits paired with Manny’s brightly colored stole made these photos pop! It was also adorable to see my friends so enamorados. Congratulations y’all!
One of my favorite things about taking graduation portraits is seeing people that I’ve only known in a school context get all snazzy! (At this point, it is also just great to see people after a year, alone, indoors.) Maria cleaned up nice! She was such a joy to photograph and had me cracking up the entire time. The hoops, the red lips, the dress, it was all such a vibe.
Of course she came with the crocs!
I met Katy at Admitted Students Weekend before she even started this law school journey. I also served as Co-President of the La Raza Law Students Association during her first year and she took over the position from me the next year. So special to watch her celebrate this huge accomplishment!
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I get it. Maya’s a model. Look at the angles, look at the face, look at the limb control. Truly an honor to capture these!
“Siri, play Best Friend by Saweetie and Doja Cat.”
That’s it. That’s the whole tweet.
Okay so Maya is one of my top 10 best posers of all time! I would tell her, “can you move you arm like this?” and she would do what I imagined but better. I mean, look at the perfectly pointed toes in the last photos!
But, yeah, golden hour, backlighting, nature, YES.
In classic Anya fashion, my absolute favorite shot from this session was the one where I had to stop Tempestt on the way to our second location because the way the light was filter through the redwoods was gorgeous. She’s gorgeous, the photos are gorgeous, but those ones with the trees… *chef’s kiss*
