I think it became an emotional moment for all of us, and the reality of the situation was really starting to set in, right before the lens. We have to admit that the entire shoot made eager to get home and review all of the photos.

Sometimes things really have a way of working themselves out, this is one of those cases. Ernesto contacted us on the 11th, wondering if we would be able to take some maternity photos of his soon to be expecting wife, Tanya. We gladly agreed and mentioned that we happened to have an opening that very weekend, which was great since they were expecting in November, and wanted to cover her photos before the end of the month. As mentioned in our previous post, as we set out for Santa Maria that Saturday morning, rain clouds covered the sky, but we were not discouraged, hoping the weather up north would be different than in Los Angeles (the weather channel claimed it to be partly cloudy). Unfortunately, as we got there, the skies did not show any change, nor did they appear to be offering to clear any time soon. We discussed our options, and decided that we would head out to Avila beach, the location they had chosen, and simply try to make the best of it. We figured that if things didn’t work out, we could always come back to their home and work something out with the lights we brought up. Fortunately, as we arrived we discovered that we weren’t going to need any plan B’s, since by some wonderful chance, the sun decided to poke through a break in the clouds, giving us some beautiful light. Excited, we wasted no time in making our way down to the beach to start our photo-shoot; we weren’t about to let this chance of light got to waste. Before you knew it, we were splashing our feet into the cold Pacific water having a really wonderful time. Tanya and Ernesto were naturals, not only working effortlessly with us, but their amazing love for each other shone right through. They gave sweet moment after moment, and you could tell how happy they were to be expecting parents.

In less than an hour we had shot through half a card, which seemed inevitable with these two, since they were giving us so much to work with.

We managed to fit a decent amount of shooting before the sun decided to hide behind the dark clouds, so we decided that it was a good time to stop for dinner, and more long awaited catching up. Along the way we stopped by Avila Valley Barn, which was teeming with fall colors and smells. It was sensory overload, and while Tanya and Ernesto were not expecting it, we brought along the camera, which is something we were glad we did. With a now fairly dark sky, we were met by the beautiful ambient lighting of the place that wouldn’t have worked as well in the middle of the day. We quickly snapped some photos, and decided the answer the beckoning of our now growling stomachs. Re-fueling with a very enjoyable and hearty dinner, we drove back to their home, and decided that we were all still up for a few more pictures. We’re glad we did because we managed to capture some very tender moments with Tanya in front of their front window.

I think it became an emotional moment for all of us, and the reality of the situation was really starting to set in, right before the lens. We have to admit that the entire shoot made eager to get home and review all of the photos.

Apparently our story wasn’t done though. In a shoot filled with wonderful surprises, the world decided to provided us one more. The Tuesday following the shoot we received a message, attached was Aidan’s very first photograph(not counting the sonogram ), who had decided to show up about a month early. We had managed to take her maternity pictures three days before the baby arrived. Which makes us love the pictures a little more, reminding us that we were lucky enough to be given the chance to capture memories of Tanya & Ernesto’s maternity before it passed by.