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.

So, today, all four of my brothers competed in and finished an Ironman Triathalon. If you’re not familiar with that, imagine swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, and running 26.2 miles ALL IN ONE DAY. They finished in times from 11 and a half hours to over 13 hours.

Today, I took a nap for over 2 hours.

Way to go Caldwell Pain Train!! Maybe tomorrow I’ll think about doing some exercise or something.

Tricia has been waiting patiently for her images… Let’s not waste any more time. On to the images!

Above: the details… all ready and waiting to play their big part.

And- let’s get this show on the road!

Tricia’s best friend couldn’t hold back the tears once she saw Tricia in her dress…

I love how you can see her friend’s supportive approval in the background.

She looked amazing.

I love that little Mona Lisa smile…

Let’s not forget the guys! They were a little less sentimental.

Jason’s daughter was a delight.

The beautiful scenic location at Eagle Ridge in Gilroy.

I LOOOVE this shot that Dave caught. (I love it when I get to bring the hubby to work!) Jason was surprised and delighted when the Star Wars theme was played as they walked out after the ceremony.

More of the gorgeous location.

No fun being the only kid at the adult table…

Yes, there was dancing… but this was only the beginning. Jason brought down the house with his solo number…

Here he is, preparing… The music was “Dancing Queen” and apparently this was an encore presentation from an earlier performance that involved a cruise ship and a lot of booze and many of the people that were there that night… I’m only showing one image, but the whole routine was as good as this.

Tricia, Jason… Thanks so much for inviting us to be a part of your totally fun day!

Just hours into summer vacation-

My mom (a teacher): It’s passing too quickly!

Shelby (a student): It’s only 4 o’clock? What am I going to do with my life?

**I meant to publish this on Saturday! I wrote it Friday, but couldn’t figure out how to set it up to publish later. **

Somehow, eleven years has passed since I first met this soul…

Seriously? HOW!!

Someone trying to sell me something recently asked if I was over 25. I nearly said no, and I really meant it. Then it occurred to me that, no, I’m not under 25, and not barely… I’m seven years past that mark. It was a weird moment. For some reason, Shelby’s birthdays are even weirder to me than my own. At first motherhood was such an uncomfortable suit to wear. But it grew on me and became my skin. I wouldn’t know who I was without the lessons she has taught me. I’m such a different person than I would be without the lessons she taught me as we’ve taken this journey. It took more patience and selflessness than I thought I could ever muster. And more self-restraint. Not because she’s a difficult child… quite the opposite! But parenting is crazy. It’s been an amazing journey at each turn.

The latest turn, one I was really not expecting, is finding out that this girl is really, really funny. She’s always had a great sense of humor and been quite clever, but now her humor is real… not kid humor, but stuff that I find myself laughing at as if she was a peer. What a delightful surprise!

I’m really hoping that the upcoming journey to middle school is full of only delightful surprises…

So, a week and two days before Mothers Day I got a call from a guy who wanted to have pictures of his daughters to give to his wife for Mothers Day. I was already booked for that week, but decided to squeeze them in. I told him I wouldn’t have fit him in if he wasn’t a dad. But the fact that he was thinking even a week ahead, trying to do something nice for his wife… I’m a softie. I squeezed them in on my next day off, and managed to get them proofed late Saturday night so he could show her the images on Sunday morning.

A sweet moment…

She had the best faces! I love this age (under1), where they interact, but aren’t really acting for the camera… Still genuine…

This age (2) is a little different. They are a bit more wary and either get cheesy or avoidant. So to get a real, genuine expression is a treat. Even if it’s not a smile!

Of course, once dads get involved, the smiles become genuine and unavoidable!

I love this shot… it’s happy.

We happened upon this chalk art, just begging to be photographed!

We couldn’t leave Fozzie out! This shot makes me smile.

I loved all the different expressions, so I had to put them all in one place!

This was fun. I’m glad I could help surprise a mom with something I would love to get!

Susan and Greg’s wedding was such a great day. Everyone was just so happy and excited and the whole affair was laid back and fun. We felt like part of the family. And the food at the reception assured that I will keep doing weddings. It was awesome! (You all know the real reason I decided to do weddings is for the food!)

So without further ado… the images!

The church and the golf club were right next door to each other. I got a kick out of the sign.

I loved the detail on her dress, and the cool books in the room we were in for getting ready.

I love this shot. She’s so calm getting ready, her dress awaiting the big moment in the background…

Her necklace was pretty cool…

Adorable flowergirl and her bear.

For some reason, I really adore this shot of Greg’s parents…

I love this shot too… it really speaks to me about how women support each other in the process. This is two of her friends using their talents for her. One doing her makeup, one giving her a blessing/energy work.

A cool overview shot of the entire ceremony.

I love this shot immediately after the ceremony, they’re both glowing.



Greg really enjoyed cutting the cake…

Their first dance… sweet… and fun- they took some lessons and showed us their moves!

Gettin’ jiggy…

And their rings, just on a plate… but I liked how it looked!

Hi… I just feel like being random for a minute. I’ve very busy lately, seeking balance. May was really busy, business-wise. I’ve still got a ton to do to catch up. I’m not complaining, just explaining! The blog is about a month behind with sessions to post, but I’ll get it done.

But in the moments when I wasn’t kind of freaking out about my to-do list, I was making a bigger to-do list. Things I need to do to get balance. The last few weeks, we’ve been all about simplifying. We loaded up two whole truckloads of stuff from our house to give to the Goodwill. That felt so good. The garage can now fit an actual car! Horray!

My closet is color-coordinated and tidy. It makes me happy.

My bookshelves have books standing upright and decorations in them that are not soley made up of soda cans and happy meal toys. (Not that it was that way before… )

All of this cleaning and organizining helped me realize that I’m a neat-freak, deep down under the junk. I get so frustrated with the messes and the feeling that it’s pointless that I kind of freak out and ignore, but then I start to ignore other things in my life and I disconnect. So, it’s time to embrace the neat freak. I work better, I focus more, I’m better all around. So from now on, I’m going to be the most organized person you’ve ever met. Get ready.

So the plan… organize my stuff, then organize my time, organize my life. And then with my new-found time and energy, I’ll take up more hobbies and get more stuff and start all over again.

(btw… the picture is random, too… an illustration of summer, but not a particularly good one! I just grabbed something, and my laptop doesn’t have everything…)