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.

I’ve been a Christmas grinch. I haven’t really meant to be… I still love it and all, but I’ve been so caught up in trying to get all my work finished and out the door, that things have slipped a bit on the homefront. Shelby was asking daily if we could put the tree up, and finally we did with less than two weeks to go. Not to be discouraged by her parents grinchiness, Shelby took matters into her own hands.

Her room looks lovely with all of the snowflakes hanging from the ceiling! She was pretty excited about it. I pointed out that if she’s going to have a decorated room, it needs to be clean or else it just looks cluttered. So far, not so good. But we’re working on it…

This shot is SO Shelby.

Which reminds me… she gets her braces off next month. Exciting stuff!

I’m almost done with getting all my work out the door for Christmas! I’ve been so busy the last couple months that I’ve barely had time to think. But it’s all good… I’ll have time to rest soon! I’m really looking forward to January. A time to reflect and plan and start over and catch up. I’m excited to update the website, to post sessions I’ve been sitting on for months, to finally plan that open house at the studio, to do a lot of things I’ve been putting off. Like napping.

Well, maybe a half-day. I’m not really sick, either. Sophia is. She’s got a hacking cough so I kept her home today. Good day for a sick day, I think!

I’m feeling the opposite of sick, actually. I’m feeling alive. I’m feeling inspired. Feeling like I want to go do something really amazing and creative and set my life on a new path. I’ve been so busy lately. Toooo busy. It’s a good busy, but still exhausting. And things slip… either with the business or the family, and I feel like I get pulled so many ways and I’m fraying and no one is getting any quality pieces of me. I realized yesterday that I forgot my very good friend’s birthday. LAST MONTH. It took me a month to realize that?! That’s a good sign that something has gone very wrong with me.

But this morning, thinking about things, I suddenly felt like I was looking at one of those weird 3-D picture thingies. You know, those ones that you stare at for a long time seeing nothing, and then suddenly it all pops into focus and there’s this amazing thing hidden in all the previous chaos? Well, I had that this morning. Nothing in particular, but just felt like I knew what changes I need to make and where I want to go. I took some time to sit and write some things down and I feel good. I’m making a list, maybe I’ll share it here sometime.

One of those things included blogging. I miss the good old days. The scrapbooking/blogging/recording things days. I’ve been feeling discombobulated (probably not a real word) and I know it’s because I’m not keeping a record like I should. So I’m going to focus more on doing that, and I’ll just do it here. And in a journal. And hopefully, maybe, in a scrapbook again. As I was telling Dave about some funny things about Franklin yesterday, he said kind of wistfully that I would have scrapbooked that. And I would have. And I should. But for now, it’s going to go here before I forget it.

So. Franklin.

Pictured here jumping from the bunkbed with a “parachute” on his back. His clever parachute was a grocery bag stuck on his shoulders.

Yesterday, he told me that my new haircut makes me look like Willy Wonka. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad, but I’m not going to worry about it. He meant it nicely, I think…

Getting our jackets to head out the door, he told me that “jacket booty” means “jacket” in Spanish. Interesting.

He went under general anesthesia yesterday for an MRI. His EEG came back last month with some abnormalities in the occipital lobe, which means he may have more seizures in the future (60% chance, the doctor said). The doctor expects the MRI to come back normal. But the little guy was a champ! The doctor called the night before and told me it was normal for me to be terrified before the procedure. I wasn’t terrified, but it made me wonder if I should be!

He kept telling us that the doctors shot him. They put an IV in his hand… But “the doctors shot me” sounds pretty serious…

Ok… I’m off on an adventure. The kids and I are going to walk to lunch and find treasures on the way! I’ll leave with one more image of Franklin in his awesome preschool thanksgiving costume. He’s not wearing the paper bag vest, but it’s still cute. On the day I took this, we went to lunch at a local sandwich shop and he wore the getup the whole time and I wanted to burst, he was so cute. I’m really savoring this last year before he goes to school every day…

I know you are probably getting tired of me talking about Kentucky by now… This is the last post, I promise. (from this trip, at least… I can’t promise I won’t visit and talk about it again!)

Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, right? So I’ll just let these pictures do the talking.

I was really intrigued by the trees growing in and on cliffs…

More of their crazy cool backyard…

The image on the left is looking up the hill to their house. I loved the lightbulbs in the trees and the campfire… It all just made me happy.

(this last one isn’t their backyard, just that cool spot on the train trip. also, fyi, the waterfalls are Cumberland Falls and Eagle Falls, I think…)

These images remind me why autumn is my favorite season! Too bad we don’t get such brilliant autumns around here… i guess I’ll have to plan a trip every October.

All of these art images are available for purchase… please contact me for details.

If you’d like to see all the proofed images from the trip, you can do so here.

I’ve been sitting on these images for a month now… This holiday weekend seems the perfect time to share! I had the best time visiting my sister in Kentucky. I know I said this when I was there, but I really do think Kentucky might be one of the most beautiful places in the world! I got spoiled there… I came back wondering what I’m doing trying to be a photographer in boring old San Jose!

I was so lucky to have a built-in-best friend growing up. One of my favorite moments of the entire trip was at dinner the first night, sitting by the fire in her backyard eating our hot dogs and s’mores… Andrea and I were cracking up about something. I don’t even remember what. Bennett, her 3 year old, started asking his dad why mommy was laughing so much. And Keith explained that that just happens when Aunt Shannon and Mommy get together. I guess it’s all the time we’ve spent together, that we formed our senses of humor side-by-side, but we are able to make each other laugh so easily and so often… it’s such a great time.

Ok… enough waxing sentimental… on to the images!

The money shot.

This next shot cracks me up. So Keith. Not only is he ignoring the sign… he’s doing so with a baby strapped to his back. Don’t worry… he was being careful and it wasn’t too dangerous…

This spot was so cool!

I almost didn’t keep this picture, but it grew on me so much that I think it’s my favorite! I love the vintage feel to it and how they were unaware of me… I caught them in their natural habitat.

Same thing with these shots. They were hanging their feet over their Diving Rock (Keith is a podiatrist, so the feet have extra-special meaning!) and another spy-shot, hanging out at the climbing crag.

This spot was so perfect. We found it as we were walking after our little train ride. I could have played there all day, but we only got about 3 minutes.

It was FREEZING the last couple days I was there, (I fully admit to being a wimpy Californian!) so we didn’t take as many pictures as I hoped the last couple days. For this shot, as we were on our way to the airport, we stopped to do some shopping and sat the kids down, stole their jackets for a couple minutes and grabbed a couple more shots.

Look at these eyes! And the two new teeth… (I like to call them the “two teefs”)

I had such a great time. And once again I have to thank Dave who really made this all possible… I am so thankful to have such an awesome and supportive husband!

Coming soon (hopefully tomorrow, but no promises!)… the full slideshow and the landscapes…

I know I said I wouldn’t be doing mini sessions this year, and I meant it. Between the normal Christmas rush and getting the studio ready, I just didn’t think I could handle it. I didn’t want to promise something I couldn’t deliver. But after repeated requests and wanting to accommodate as many people as possible, plus checking some big things off my to-do list, I’m feeling ready to take this on… THIS SATURDAY, November 22. (sorry for the short notice, but I wanted to be sure I could handle it before I put it out there!) If I fill up this Saturday, I may do a couple sessions the next Saturday as well, so let me know if that one works better for you in a back-up situation.

So here’s how it will work… We’ll do slots of 15 minutes each. You’ll get 10-12 images to choose from in an online gallery. Because of the tight holiday deadline, orders will need to be made within 3 days of my posting the gallery (which may take up to 2 weeks).

The cost is $100 and includes one 11×14 print (worth $95). In order to sign up for a session, please email me at shannon [at] shannonmontez [dot] com (I did that so the spam bots won’t get my email address…) with “mini-session” in the subject line. Please indicate what time of day you prefer (morning or afternoon). All sessions will take place in downtown Campbell… we’ll meet for all sessions at my studio (393 E. Campbell Ave, upstairs). You’ll have a choice between colorful walls and a grassy park-like area as locations.

Again… sorry for the short notice. I hope this doesn’t create problems. On the bright side, that’s less time to worry and stress about what to wear!

Other items in the above image will be discussed later…

First, can I just say how much I ***LOVE*** having a studio? Every time I drive over there, every time I walk in, every time I look out the window onto the street and see how stinking adorable downtown Campbell is, I just get so giddy with excitement. After spending over a decade picking up after other people on a daily basis, the fact that I can close the door and come back later and it is STILL CLEAN makes me want to cry with joy.

A word of clarification… the studio really isn’t for sessions. I still plan to do all sessions on location, unless it just won’t work elsewhere (I love when the location has some type of meaning to the family). It’s small, but the light is great… so for the occasional newborn, I’ll make an exception.

Ok… so you saw the maternity session for these guys, now let’s meet their beautiful baby!

These two shots make me happy… that tiny head, that precious yawn…

Check out these perfect lips….

I’ve done this shot before, but I love it… the scale of the tiny foot and tiny bottom and daddy’s big hand just makes me happy.

Some of my shots are to capture some of my favorite memories (that are getting old and dusty as time goes by!). Sleeping with a baby on my chest was the BEST.

See that bay window and beautiful light? {happy giggle!}

Watch the blog tomorrow… I’ve got some big holiday promotions to announce!

I’ve got a huge backlog of sessions that haven’t been posted. And I’m starting to feel bad, because I love each and every one. Honestly. There’s something about hanging out with a family for over an hour, getting to know them, watching them interact, then coming home and re-living it as I proof. It’s amazing to me how the love just shows up in the images. Fascinating. So, this week I’m going to honor that. I have a wedding and a ton of images just waiting for me to get my act together! So no more TV without the laptop on my lap. Not in chronological order, but let’s start with these guys…

GOOORGEOUS family. Check them out!

Those eyes… that quizzitive look. Love her.

She was so awesome. She greeted me by telling me that she has a camera at home. But that she can’t change the lens like mine. And that she can look through the viewfinder. And I was pretty impressed that she knows her camera terminology!

Mr. Man was getting tired, it was his nappy time… his parents were doubting he would smile for me, but boy were they wrong. My acting like an idiot got lots of chuckles of of him!

Fun, playful family.

I turned my camera over to little Miss Budding Photographer. She did a rocking job, don’t you think?

My absolute favorite type of family shot. Just fun and happy and everyday life. I’m always chasing this type of shot, even though I’m aware that people love the ones for grandma where everyone’s looking and smiling… I’m one woman on a mission to change grandma’s opinion of the perfect shot!

These two are (ok, were, as this session is from a while ago and I’ve since done the baby session which can be seen here… eventually) expecting their first child. I love the excitement of soon-to-be first-time parents… They’re on the verge of something huge and while they *think* they have an idea of what they’re in for, they just don’t. In so many various ways.

I don’t often come to a session expecting to get a certain image, but lying in bed the morning before this session, remembering being pregnant, I suddenly wanted to capture this image:

I love the way these two interacted…

She owns a pet grooming business, Canine Concepts. I included their first baby in a bunch of the shots, but I think this one is my favorite…

If you’d like to see the entire session, you can view the slideshow right here.

So, I got back safely. (Last week.) And I had a great time. Tonight I had a dinner to remind me of the good times I had in Kentucky. You know… Kentucky Fried Chicken!!  Complete with “honey sauce” that’s only 11% honey and “buttery spread” that didn’t even bother to include ingredients on the packet. Did I mention that I saw the ORIGINAL Kentucky Fried Chicken while I was there? The actual one that Colonel Sanders himself opened in Corbin, Kentucky. A very interesting and unexpected place… Strangely cool and fascinating.

Sorry, no pics with this post. Just too lazy, and I’m on my laptop, and my computer and my laptop aren’t speaking nicely to each other lately. But soon… I’ll post all of these sessions I have gathering dust on my hard-drive that are dying to be shared!

I’ve finished the books I had on my to-read shelf, and am finding myself without anything to read for my trip home on Tuesday. I’m calling out to you (yes, YOU!) to please suggest a great new read. Pretty please?