Shannon Montez Photography Blog » San Jose's Family and Child Photographer, Shannon Montez, captures all aspects of family life: Families, newborns, children, babies, high school seniors, and weddings.

She’s been gone to girl’s camp this week. I’m sure she had the time of her life. Our house hasn’t been the same without her! I’m excited to see her later today and hear all of her stories. I’ll probably hear each story several times, because this girl can talk. I love that she has the opportunity to have such a great time with great friends this summer.

These pics are actually from last fall… they crack me up. She’d been looking at a fashion magazine and laughing at the awkward poses of the models. She grabbed a yoga mat, her big plastic belt (you know, the kind that come free with the jeans but isn’t quality at all) and a pair of my shoes (it kills me that they fit her now… how can she be almost my size already?) and asked me to take pictures of her in her fancy high-fashion ensemble. One result from our 5-minute photoshoot:

Love this girl. Gosh, she’s beautiful. But more importantly, she’s just a really wonderful, delightful person. Lucky me.

I really do love my blog. I love its potential. I really really want it to be a fun place to visit! Which means… I need to get back in the habit.

I made a goal last week to blog every other day (at least weekdays). Didn’t quite make it, but I’m going to be gentle on myself and just keep going rather than beating myself up about it. More important than blogging every other day, I wanted to have every other post be a personal one. About something I like, or something I’ve done, or something I’ve discovered. It will make my blog feel more like me. Because as much as I love my job, there ARE other parts to me, and they sometimes feel like they get swallowed up in all the other things in life (including my job), and I lose motivation to blog because I’m kind of tired of just talking about that one side of me.

So. Unfortunately, since I’ve been either working or at the pool or at the beach with my kids this week (it IS summer after all!), I haven’t spent any time proofing my own photos. But I did proof this one from a recent wedding (to be featured soon!).

My test subject, my dear Davey. My assistant at weddings (I’m always VERY careful to point out that he’s my assistant, because it’s the only time when I’m his boss and I rather enjoy that feeling). My mule, as I call him when he’s got all my gear (or when he’s showing his stubborn streak). My partner in crime, the love of my life.

I like that I wrote love, and he’s MY love. I wasn’t taking this to take a pic of Dave, per se, but  it just happened with our experimenting. I love shooting weddings with him. I sometimes have to shoot with other people, and that’s fine, but he just GETS me more than anyone else. He knows how to make me laugh or calm me down or help me focus. And his work is really good!

He also doesn’t respect me like I’m his boss, which he really needs to work on.  We toy with the idea of bringing him on full-time, but he’s also a really good accountant, and those are really hard to find these days. Besides, I don’t think he likes me to be his boss. He likes being a boss, and neither of us like being an employee, so we’re at an impasse. He’ll be my employee at weddings and my tech-guy and accountant for free, but I can’t afford his fees.

He’s a really good man. I  really love this guy. I’m the luckiest girl alive.

p.s. Here’s a shot of “the mule” in action… full service, carrying cameras AND wedding bouquets! All with a smile…