Gloria, Mia, Josh - Family Photos at the Arizona Cactus Garden, Stanford

I call this blog: when your 8 year old becomes the creative director for your family photoshoot 🌵📸

Gloria reached out for a quick 30 minute session, warning that Mia may not be “patient” enough for a full hour photoshoot. But we actually ended up going a full hour, jam packed with a ton of different backgrounds, poses, and prompts.

As soon as I met Mia, I noticed that she was feeling really energetic and had no problem posing in front of the camera and was super playful with Gloria and Josh. So I decided to involve her a lot more and she ended up loving! Throughout the shoot I would show her the pictures and she became super enthusiastic, even suggesting poses of her own! We also showed her poses that Gloria saved on her phone and Mia added her own magic to them ✨We ended the session with Mia saying that she didn’t want to leave the gardens 😂 The best way to end a family photoshoot!

For location, we chose the picturesque Arizona Cactus Gardens - fitting for their annual family photo tradition since moving to the Bay Area a couple of years ago. P.S. Gloria also told me that I had taken maternity photos for Mia’s second grade teacher Ms Reshmie Stephens! What a small world 🤭