Dear friends,

The time has come for me to make a big big BIG announcement…it is one that makes me very happy and very sad at the same time…the happy part is that I’m starting a project that makes me just deliciously giddy to think about, and the sad part is that my need to give energy to that project necessitates that I step back from this business for the indefinite future (I know!).

Here’s the dealio: my bff, Liz, and I are starting an artisan local food biz we’re calling Little Bee Pops. You can get the whole story on our Kickstarter page (and fund us! you know you want to fund us!! :-), but the elevator pitch is that we’re going to be making some awesome ice pops (aka popsicles) from all local fruits and raw honey, and selling them from a cart at local parks and outside the Mountain View farmers market and any other groovy locations we are inspired to descend upon.

The project combines our passions for localization, sustainable food, and creating joy, in one super-fun, affordable (and compostable) package! :-)  We’ve got 800 commercial pop molds, a sweet little ice cream cart, and superhero capes with pops on them (because, really, who doesn’t love a pop-girl in a superhero cape?!), and a lead on a fully-equipped ice cream kitchen with a blast freezer that will let us freeze our pops in 15 minutes instead of 24 hours,  which is why we’re doing Kickstarter (we need to buy that puppy!).

I’m dreaming of seeing hundreds of kids (and grownups) with sticky faces and big smiles, eating our pops on long summer afternoons….and amazing sustainable farmers and beekeepers being supported by our giant CSA orders for their yummy fruit (and veggies) and honey.

I may return to photography at some point, but I know myself well enough to know that I can’t split my energies and do justice to the needs of both endeavors…and so baybmoon photography is going to take a break.

If you are here because you need an amazing photographer in Silicon Valley or the greater SF bay area, here are (in no particular order) some that I can recommend with my whole heart – they do beautiful, amazing work, and I would have them do *my* family pictures in a heartbeat :

Alpana Aras at Storybox Art

Nancy Nguyen-Wong at Bug and Bean

Calvina Nguyen at Calvina Photography (no relation to Nancy ;-)

and one photographer who is not local (she’s in Portland), but travels to the Bay Area periodically to do sessions and is completely amazing:

Jen Downer at She Saw Things

I am beyond grateful for the gifts and amazing people this business has brought into my life, and will miss witnessing your love and connections through my lens, but this change just feels right.

Blessings and love to you!

xoxo,
Lilia

p.s. Please do check out our Kickstarter page and give us a push if you can – we’ve got some *seriously* funny videos for you to watch.

p.p.s. Did I mention there’s swag?  You know you want a lunchbox with “I Want To Believe,”  felt Mulder and Scully pops, and a tinfoil UFO.  All the cool kids will have one. ;-)

Just a teaser from the session I’m currently editing. Love is awesome. :-)

xoxo,
Lilia

What I loved about this session:

The moment when real smiles broke through the “cheese”
Home-made yogurt pops (for me too! ;-)
The lightbox “play-studio” we made on the porch.
Mama’s mad sewing skills (she made the toddler jumper!)
Nursing pictures (not shared, but ooooh, they were awesome! :-)
Darth Vader.

xoxo
Lilia

p.s. ::::clicking heels together three times:::: I am going to be better about blogging. I am going to be better about blogging. I am going to be better about blogging.

As of January 2011, I have decided to restructure my business to allow me to return to school part-time and expand my focus to fine art. I will be accepting a limited number of portrait commissions each month, and priority will go to existing clients. If you are a new client and would like to be waitlisted, please fill out my contact form and include the month that you would like to book for, and I will send you an email when I open booking to new clients for that month.

Any questions?

xoxo,
Lilia

Hello dear friends who read my much neglected blog! It has been a busy holiday season, and I’m going to have some major catch-up posting to do in the new year (also, I’m getting ready to make some awesome changes in 2011…I’m pretty sure you’re going to love them…I know I’m excited! ;-)

Thank you so much, all of my amazing clients who have made it possible for me to create art this year!

I wish you and your sweeties all the best, and  hope you have a wonderful new year.

xoxo,
Lilia

It is that time again – the time for us to get together and take pictures of you smooching on your sweetlings so that you can get those holiday and new years cards in the mail!! Here is the announcement goodie:

….and the written details, just in case you need to cut and paste to convince the sweetie to make the investment ;-):

WHO: Your ridiculously cute family and photographer Lilia Schwartz

WHAT: Limited edition holiday mini-sessions (up to 25 minutes of shooting time), an online proofing gallery of 10-15 images to choose from, one 11×14 print of your favorite image, AND your choice of one digital file OR twenty five custom holiday cards

WHEN: Saturday 11/6 at 2:30 pm, 3:30 pm, and 4:30 pm  and Saturday 11/13 at 2:30 pm, 3:30 pm, and 4:30 pm

WHERE: Saturday, 11/6 at a lovely garden in Palo Alto and Saturday, 11/13 at the red barn doors in Cupertino

HOW: Email lilia at babymoonphotography dot com to book. Cost is $235 plus tax, payable to hold your spot.

Please  do shoot me an email with your preferred time as soon as you know that you want to book – I have an intuition that the spots are going to go pretty fast!

xoxo,
Lilia

Disclaimer: there are no cute kids in this post. I promise, we’ll get back to the cuteness shortly. :-)

So, I don’t write about myself very much on this blog. I mean, I write a lot about the joy that my work brings, about the inspiration of the love that I get to witness while I create this art, and about some of the causes that I believe in and support through my work…but I’m actually a pretty private person, for all of the publicness of it all. Before I was called to become a photographer, you couldn’t even find me on the public internet. Not as *me*. And I still keep my personal work pretty separate from this site…it just feels a bit more professional, and also, ok, I will cop to the fact that I just feel safer that way.

At the same time, there are some amazingly gifted artists and just generally phenomenal and wonderful goddess - spirits on this great interweb that I really really admire…women who spill their hearts into their blogs, who have created a community of sharing and support and creative inspiration, and I feel SO connected to them…I read their words every day, and have such a yearning to be a part of their circle. But I am not. Because I don’t share that way, not here.

Yesterday, I went to hear one of those women speak….her name is Brené Brown and she is *amazing*. She talked for about two hours about parenting from a place of imperfection, and I have to tell you, I laughed, I cried, and it was oodles better than Cats. But the most amazing part? On her way up to the podium, she recognized me. From the interweb!!! And she gave me a huge hug and sat down next to me and we just babbled for a couple of minutes. And I had this realization…”maybe, just maybe, I *am* a part of that circle of amazing women. Already.” and then I thought…”naaahhhh…”

But that thought kept coming back to me…the thought that, maybe the only thing keeping me from joining in was my thought that I couldn’t join in. And that maybe, just maybe, it might be time to get out of my own way on this one. Because, while Brené had a million billion amazing things to say about parenting and courage and love and wholeheartedness and knowing your truths, I think that maybe the hardest thing for me, personally, to hear was that you can’t love your children more than you are able to love yourself. And that was REALLY flipping hard to hear. Because, while I don’t have a child of my own yet, I do have a daughter of the heart that I help to parent almost every day, and I love her to pieces….and I want her to love herself and believe in herself and be brave…and what Brené said was I can’t give that to her if I can’t do it for myself. And I want her to have that. I really do. So if I don’t have the courage to step into my circle, and share my own truths the way that I feel called to share, if I stifle part of what I have to share with the universe because I don’t think it will fit in with what’s called for in this particular arena, or I worry what clients will think…or I’m just to darn scared…well, what lesson am I giving her?

And so I decided to participate in Brené’s Perfect Protest project…and I made my picture, and I got it all uploaded, and then I wrote this post…and then I sat and stared at my screen for 15 minutes, trying to get myself to click the dang publish button. Because this feels scary. It feels personal. It feels…exposed. But this is where I write, on the web. And this is where I feel called to share Brené’s work, and the connection that I feel to it, and the hope that it has brought to me. Because I know that mamas read this blog…mamas that I know and love, and mamas that I’ve never met. And papas and grandparents and aunties too. And I want you to hear this message, and go forward finding a bit more love in your heart, for YOURSELF. Hard as that is sometimes. And if it feels too hard to do it for yourself…maybe you can do it for your kids. Because I know you love them so much, it makes your heart go pop. And you would do ANYTHING for them. You would lose a limb. Or two. Or even (heavens forbid) never eat chocolate again. If you had to. So loving yourself? Being brave?  That’s on the table now too. Because if you want it for them, you have to do it for you.

So, that’s what I’m sharing. Here. On my blog. My very own thoughts. And a picture of me. Because I am too damn creative to waste any more time trying to be perfect.

That is all.

xoxo,
Lilia

p.s. I managed to get through this post without revealing that I am a perfectionist. Paralytically so. Have been since I was a kid. And I need to be DONE with that.  It’s stopped me from doing so much, and has been a tool for self-sabotage for so much of my life. It’s time to, in the worlds of the immortal Tim Gunn: “Make it work.”

Their house had amazing light and color everywhere:

then we went for a walk to the library and the park (and ate some toddler toes, because I’m all about the cannibalism when babies are this cute and giggly ;-):

…and, of course, we had to do some swing shots (I mean, this is *me* we’re talking about ;-): 

…and then we finished up with some snuggles on the grass (and I made papa pose for a funky ladder shot, because that’s how I roll ;-):

Thank you so so SO much my dears, for such an amazing day, and for making it possible for me to create some art out of your love!!

xoxo,
Lilia

I find this to be simply SHOCKING! What are you people *thinking*?!?

In all seriousness, I know that, as much as my clients would love to have me following their children around every single day to capture every single cute thing they do (I’ve been asked, though, and it’s awfully flattering! ;-), that’s just not feasible. So, for those 364 days out of the year when you *don’t* have a family photographer, here are a few tips to help you get shots that you love…illustrated by my (almost)daily shots of a kid that *I* love.

No. 1. Pay attention to the light.

This could really be called Number Zero, or A-Number-One-Most-Important-I-Am-Seriously-Not-Kidding-Around-Here-People…photography is about light. Seeing the light. Playing with the light. Figuring out where it is, what it’s doing, and how to use it to make better pictures. Find the light in your home, notice when your kids are playing near the windows (one of my favorite spots is just inside our front door):

Experiment with backlight, with side light…once you’ve ditched your flash (see tip #2), you’ll start finding the spots where you get sweet images that just glow…and you’ll probably find that your child gravitates toward those areas to play. When you’re outside, pay attention to where the sun is, and try to avoid taking pictures when there are harsh shadows on your child’s face (you won’t like the result, I promise).

You’ve probably heard of “The Golden Hour”…that hour just before sunset (or just after dawn), when the light gets all buttery and juicy (yes, this I how I think about light…it makes me salivate)…try going for a walk with your kids and your camera after dinner…see how different the light is from the middle of the day High-Noon-Shootout-On-The-Playground:

You’ll be shocked at the difference in the images (which is why I will almost always push client shoots as late in the day as little schedules will allow – the light is just sooooo much better and we have more flexibility in our locations). If you do end up in a situation with harsh overhead sunlight, you can consider using a fill flash (just about the only time I’ll break my no-on-camera-flash rule), or looking for some open shade.

No. 2. Turn off your flash

On camera flash = pretty much evil. And not just because it gives you those oh-so-attractive I-made-a-deal-with-the-devil red-eye shots. Using your on-camera flash is pretty much guaranteed to kill any spontaneity and naturalness that you might have found in the image. “But I don’t have a fancy dancy $2700 DSLR with a super fast lens!” you say? Well, that’s a pointy point…and I will confess that most of my camera upgrades have been a result of my quest to push my usable ISO value (the equivalent of film speed) up…but, honestly, I find that I’m happier with a grainy (aka noisy) high ISO shot (yes, even from a point and shoot), or an aperture priority shot (when you turn off your flash and tell your camera to shoot as wide open as it can go) that has a bit of motion blur because the shutter speed was waaaaay low.

The image above is a case in point – I shot it back before I had much of a clue about photography, before I even owned a DSLR. I love the image. Love it, in all its unedited, un-color corrected, un-noise-reduced, blurred glory….and not just because it contains a baby in a Star Trek uniform….I love it because it’s the moment, and there’s no distraction of a flash, no harsh light….and my muse was a FAST crawler! I’ll take that shot over one where my flash went off and I have a deer-child in my headlights, startled and grimacing and definitely NOT being all cute and natural like she was just a second ago. So, turn off your flash. Practice having a steady hand, bump up your ISO (or put it on auto), and see what you can see…which brings me to:

No. 3. Get down on (or even below!) their level

It’s a wonderful thing to get down on your child’s level…sit on the floor….even lie down across the carpet…get as low as you can, and shoot up at them…see the world the way they see it, and put them in their own context. It will give you a wonderful perspective on how they see the world every day, and how they fit into their universe.

Now, this is a grain of sand piece of advice, and might actually better be titled Pay-Attention-And-Vary-Shooting-Height-And-Perspective (which our editorial board nixed after heated debate because it really doesn’t quite have the same ring to it, and I really can’t blame them).

I say this because some of my favorite pictures of my muse are from directly above, looking down…it’s often a view of her that I see, and it really speaks to me of her intent engagement with her own world…at her own level. Plus, she’s got these flipping AMAZING eyelashes (don’t they all?!)….which is a neat segue into…

No. 4. Love every bitty bit

When it comes to my muse, I love all her little bits….I love her hands, her feet, her wispy hair (especially wispy beach hair), her eyelashes…even her belly button.

As a parent, you love every grubby, sticky, freckly wonderful bit of your child…so document it. Get the chubby hands, grabbing a crayon for the first time. Get the way he curls his toes around one another when he’s eating spaghetti. And, yes, grab the bare tushie shots as he runs shrieking away from changing table.

In addition to being some amazing blackmail fodder for their teen years, these little closeups will be Exhibit A when you go to make the argument that time goes by WAY too flipping fast. “Freeze her in butter sauce,” is what we say in our house. Every bitty bit.

No. 5. NO CHEESE!!!!

Sometimes, at the beginning of a family session, I’ll be hanging out with a 6 year old who will be laughing and giggling…and, as soon as I pull out my camera, I’ll see a huge change in her expression…for a moment, I’ll worry that she’s in pain…and then I realize, no, it’s just the dreaded “cheese smile.” So I put my camera down and we have a conversation wherein I reveal the shocking secret that You Don’t Always Have To Smile In Photos. SHOCKING, I tell you!!

Please please PLEASE don’t ask your child to say “cheese”…the result is never pretty  (see above)….and more importantly, it’s never *real*…and real, authentic emotion is pretty much essential to a meaningful portrait. A real smile? It’s breathtaking…it makes your heart go pop (even when you’re being lazy and letting your camera choose the autofocus points so her hat is more in focus than her eyes ;-):

I would ten million billion times over rather have a real, serious, contemplative look over a fake smile. If you have a serious kid…let him be serious. Capture him just as he is…and if you want a smile, say or do something funny. Talk to him about his latest obsession (right now, with my Muse, it’s Tom & Jerry). Connect, and document the real moments, as they happen…you’ll treasure the result, I promise…even if there’s no cheese in sight.

And when those *real* smiles appear? No substitution will ever do.

And there you have it…my first 5 tips for taking better pictures of your kids when I can’t be there. I hope that this will be helpful, as you attempt to navigate those perilous professional-less waters of your everyday photographic life.

xoxo,
Lilia

p.s. Silicon Valley and SF bay area families: fall is booking up fast – if you’re planning on doing family portraits with me before the holidays, now is the time to call or email!

So I make no secret of the fact that I FLIPPING adore bubbles.

I don’t just like them.

Not even “like” like them.

No.

I L.O.V.E. them!!

So when OoMVFF (that would be the dorkbreviation for “one of my very favorite families” complied with my suggestion that they bring bubbles to the evening portion of our session…well…I was more than a little bit stoked. Thrilled. over the moon…insert additional superlative here…you name it. and here is the awesomeness that ensued:

I am so very very blessed.

xoxo,
Lilia