mila | irvine photographer . heather + andrew

heather and andrew are sooooo much fun!  they're genuine, quirky and so full of life.  she loves thrift shopping, his dad is some kind of kool antique collector (like the guys on american pickers) in search of irish reminders of home. btw i love that show!  he's an engineer, she's a nurse and they wanna go back to africa to make a difference.  WOW.  and here's another wow... heather's best friend melissa found me.  heather was busy with nursing school and her best friend went to the dana point yacht club bridal show for her.  can you say 3 stars for the BFF?!?!


hair and makeup by ashley gannon of flawless faces

to view my portfolio just click on these links mila|weddings by michelle or mila|portraits by michelle. to book sessions please send me a message through milaPhotography.com or contact me via michelle@milaphotography.com | 949.734.0604

mila | chino senior portrait . jenna

i cannot believe she's 18 already!  the first time i met jenna she was all of 3 years old.  claudia (her mom) and i were working at the montclair wet seal store together.  jenna came up to me in her little black mary janes and couldn't wait to show off the "magic" velcro straps on her shoes.  i watched her go from believing in santa to shopping with her dad at ross and then up to slumber parties with her lil girl scout friends.  how the hell did time go by so quickly?
inside this gorgeous senior is the lil squirt that used to tug at my leg wanting attention.  blink.

mila | scott robert and me

matt saville is one of my good photog buddies.  the guy is a total camera geek and a tech savvy dude.  he's a wedding photographer with a passion for landscape photography.  he's the kind of guy that takes his time to get that perfect shot.  and when hanssie and i have a lighting question we usually reach out to matt first.  


matt had attended a workshop in spain from this guy named scott robert a few years ago.  and he seriously could not say enough good things about the guy and about the workshop.  before matt i had never even heard of this dude.  odd, coz he's an award winning photographer (shows you how much i know)  and from all of matt's stories i pictured a larger than life white man who was possibly much older (deduced thru the wealth of knowledge this guy seemed to have).  i met scott robert for the first time in a photog convention in pasadena and was confused.  first off his name is scott robert LIM.  he's asian.  he's tiny.  he's young.  he wasn't anything i pictured LOL.  


last week i had the awesome opportunity of attending one of his workshops.  i can now confirm everything that matt ever declared this man to be.  he IS larger than life.  i absolutely love his teaching style and he gave me the pieces i was missing.  sometimes it takes the right person to explain something to you before the light bulb comes on (no pun intended) ... he taught me the basics of flash photography.  now i'm usually a read-a-book-then-apply kinda gal.  for some reason that just didn't work for me whenever i tried to master flash photography.  scott gave me the formula that finally clicked.  hurrah!!!!  after that day i was just infused with happiness and couldn't wait to try out all the things i learned.  that inspired excitement prompted me to sign up for a lifetime mentorship program with him.  i just know he's going to help propel my craft to the next level.


speaking of things that click.  if you or your friend want to learn about the basics of photography... i will be teaching photography 101 at the seed market in costa mesa.  2 separate opportunities for 3 hours each on june 23 and july 14.  it's a 3 hour course that will walk you thru getting past the auto button on your camera.  click here for registration information.


here's some photos i took at the scott robert workshop.

mila | kaya updates

is this crazy?  i actually find it amusing to watch kaya cry.  i think she's so cute!  i can only say that coz i'm neither sleepy nor exhausted right now... oh and coz she's my kid.  (btw... no child was harmed in the writing of this post.  i didn't let kaya cry simply for my amusement she did it on her own and i fed her after a couple of minutes.)  but the key point to this is that i'm NOT exhausted!  kaya has been sleeping 7-8 hours a night for the last 4 night.!  i hope i'm not jinxing myself by sharing this.  


i know she's going to keep changing coz just when i think i've got her figured out she switches up on me and i'm lost again.  but i'm a creature of routine and so i cling on to the little that i know.  as of today this is what i know.


she's a morning person.  when she wakes up in the morning she isn't really crying.  it's more like loudly declaring that she's hungry.  no tears, no blood curdling screams... just loud talk.  once she's fed i get a belch and a huge grin then she's ready to talk some more.  it's the cutest thing.  she stares at me while giving me all these fun sound bites.  we'll have a cranky moment when i give her the multi vitamin drops which i can't blame her for hating.  the stuff is nasty.  i wouldn't even take it myself it's so gross.  she gets over it so quickly though.  before i can get done wiping the drool off her face she's already forgiven me and the cheeky smiles are back.  i wish everyone would forgive and forget that easily. 


she's got a witching hour.  it starts at 6pm.  that's when the swings and the bouncers are on.  we've been going thru batteries in this house and this time it's not for me.  (as in for the camera equipment gutter brains!) once she's over her tantrum moment she's out.  waking her up at midnight for the last feed is like churning molasses in the winter time.  it literally takes about a half hour.  but one cannot give up.  it's because of that last feed that i've been getting the glorious 8 hours of sleep.  i just may get my life back.  now i have to brave the gym again.  my first attempt was a failure.  i'm making a note to try something less strenuous than boot camp.  apparently it's not the best thing to start out with when one hasn't worked out for 2 years and just recently survived a c-section.


here's some pictures from the last 2 weeks.  kaya had the worst case of baby acne and like the overly concerned mom i had to take her to the doctor and bug them about a remedy. i still had to take pictures though.  her skin was so dry it was cracking and bleeding :(  the doctor wasn't really concerned and only gave me a prescription for hydro cortisone to help with the itching.  she suggested applying an unscented moisturizer.  i tried dermalogica (which worked) but i didn't like the idea of using chemicals on her.  my cousin told me to use coconut oil.  that worked really really really well.






kaya 7 weeks

kaya at 8 weeks and with her skin cleared up again.  thank god.  oh and i picke d up a new remote control for my 5D MKII so now i can take pictures of the whole family!