Photos of Bonnie and Sam - Amy Perl Oakland Photographer

I was lucky enough to hang with Bonnie on her recent trip to the east bay, and damn, I wish she lived here. One of the most inspirational people I know, and always filled with praise and much needed honest opinions. She makes me question my work, which I love. She pushes me to do what I love and to do it well. I love that. The last night she was here, I stopped by her friends house where she was staying so she could take a few snaps of me and my family...BUT I had just gotten a new camera so I had to pull it out and do a few of my own of her and her beloved (getting sick....we gave it to him...) Sam.
Bonnie, if you see these, hope you like 'em.

Moms Who Click

A couple years ago...has it been that long...a kick ass east bay mom photographer Angela Lang got in touch with a bunch of us. She thought it would be a great idea for us "competitors" to all meet/hang out/drink wine/talk photo talk/and everything in between. It's been one of the best group relationships I've ever been in. It's a place for us photo-moms to talk shop, but also to get advice, share referrals...be OPEN and sharing with our experiences and knowledge. We got (those who could be there) together the other day at Jen Molander's beautiful new house in Montclair to hang and catch up. Here are a few pics...mainly of Mary McHenry's cutie, but also of Angela and her newbie.

My Heart and Mind are ready again....

I have been longing for something and I've been toiling over this...what is it? It came to me in the last few days, after a few conversations with people I care and respect...I NEED FILM. I need the technical, hands on, completely personal feeling it gives me and my work. This is my art. This is how I say what I don't have the words to say....It's time to go there again....here are some that I love...that are from years past...but I still love. Time to make more.

Avi and Friends

Some fun in the studio. They were playing movie stars...yikes.

Egg - www.eggmusic.net

Egg. www.eggmusic.net. I've written about these guys before, my friend Steve is the drummer for them. They are a super fun "kindie rock" band. They are based in Los Angeles, and so they flew me down there this past weekend to do some photos for their upcoming new website look...here is a sneak peek at a few of the photos.... Also, they will playing up in San Francisco on April 25, at Recess Urban Recreation. www.recessurbanrecreation.com

Rachel - The FAB Personal Chef / Caterer

Rachel's cooking is awesome. Let's start there. Last week I went over to her place to do a trade with her. I photograph her amazing dishes for her blog, rjsteiger.blogspot.com, and I get to walk away with food for my family! These photos are all done in her beautiful kitchen in San Francisco. All totally healthy and yummy meals. And to take a quote from her blog, " I can make your life easier by shopping, cooking & delivering meals tailored to meet your needs." Trust me, your life will be made MUCH easier if you have her helping out....just in the few days of my family eating the meals she's prepared, I've actually had time to sit down and help Isaac with his homework, read more than 4 minutes of book time before bedtime, AND actually cram in a show or two on the boob toob.

Anyway, here are a few photos from our day last week, and her yumilicious creations.
Again, here is the link to her blog, and you can find her contact info there too:
http://rjsteiger.blogspot.com/

Isaac Haircut

Need I say more? Before and after.

Avi Dance

Just cute.



She is still working on her "cheese" smile...

A new 'project'?

In December we (husband, kids and I) went out to Walnut Creek somewhere..not sure where now, but there is this little train museum place. It's awesome. There is this whole culture (all men that I saw working there) of mini trains...and the sets that these trains were on were awesome. I had my camera thinking I'd be photographing the kids that day, but instead got sucked into these little sets...I remember years ago seeing a photographers work similar to this. They created these little weird scenes and then photographed them very close up, with shallow depth of field, and they had this surreal creepy dreamy look. THESE ones though, the ones that I took, are like real life situations...I love this. So then, when I went to Mexico in January, we were at this crazy super mall in Nuevo Vallarta (wasn't into it really) and there was this little display there showing off the condos and the condo community that you can get into there.

Something is going on here..and really, I'd love to find more little mini-scenes like these...How cool would these look really really big, like 3x3 feet hanging on a wall...hm...my artsy brain is having a moment.

Fun Mom and Daughter!

These ladies were so much fun. Not a shy bone in either of their bodies.
Enjoy...moms out there..we can do this for you too! ;)

Studio Fun

So it turns out I'm a very slow blogger...I love floating around checking out other people's blogs...seeing their photos, their lives, their thoughts. But for some reason when it comes to my own I'm a bit slow. Ah well, so it is. But alas! I am posting some new pics. My friend graciously lent her two adorable girls to me, Clara and Zoe, last week and we did a little fun afternoon in the studio. Avi is in there too, of course. What would some experimenting be if my kids were not involved somehow? I am printing out (as I type this) large prints of each of these photos, and then I am going to post them all up as a grid like this in my studio/store window! I hope it'll look cute...I love this mini one, so that's good!

This is an idea I have had bouncing around in my head for years. Literally. I definitely want to do some more portraits like this, hopefully some of my client will want to also!