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.

Funny story. While I was bringing my rig in to Eagle Ridge to shoot Tricia and Jason’s wedding in May, Ben approached me in the parking lot, asked me if I was a photographer and asked for my card. They had just booked their wedding there and were beginning the planning process. A funny coincidence that ended up working out for all of us!

I’ll get around to posting their fun engagement session at Gilroy Gardens sometime (sorry… I’ve been so busy!), but for now, I’m going to give them a sneak peek at the wedding pictures! This is a long entry, so get that scrolling finger ready…

Some pics of the beautiful dress:

And some shots of the cool venue… I loved the umbrellas!

One Dave caught of the venue (I love that he caught the sun in it), and for some reason I love this shot… the golden whiskey and the dress in the background…

The dress on, getting ready…

Jen is a twin… I loved this quiet moment between Jen, her sister, and her nieces. Meanwhile, Ben is killing time…

On to the ceremony… I wish someone would quit distracting the flowergirls… they’ve got a job to do…

And Jen’s men… Ben’s smile when he first sees her….

During the ceremony:

The kiss:

The happy first moment, and a stolen moment during the group shots:

I love the simplicity of this one… just grass and sky and the lovely couple:

Ben is a golfer. I just had to capture for future posterity the tension that golf is sure to bring…

a couple more portraits:

And on to the party…Dave caught this one just before they walked in. I love how he looks at her. First dance.

A little truce before the cake… and then the truce was quickly broken.

And one last image

We had so much fun that night! Jen, Ben, thanks for sharing your day with us.

Wait… one more thing…I know this post is already long enough, but I can’t help be throw in a couple of my favorite outtakes. I’m really not sure WHAT was going on during the money dance. And this one of Dave just cracks me up.

I’ll get back to the iPhone Wednesdays next week… but I felt like using a decent picture for this post. This picture was taken a few weeks ago during those crazy fires… the sky was totally orange and the light was really trippy.

Matthew. My no-nonsense kid. He means well, but sometimes his honesty is too much.

So, a couple weeks ago, he’s grabbing my upper arm. I thought he was just being nice, kind of a snuggly thing we do… but then he says,

“Mom? Is this your muscle? Isn’t it supposed to be hard? Yours is really soft.”

Dave overheard, and of course, busted up… It’s become another one of our inside jokes, a great way to dig each other about being wimpy. Thanks, bud. I feel pretty awesome now. Time to get back to the gym, I guess!

If you’ve been following the blog for a while, you may remember seeing Michael before. Michael has a genetic condition called Epidermolysis Bullosa. It’s a condition where his body doesn’t produce collagen 7, and therefore lacks the strength and elasticity of normal skin. His skin is extremely fragile, and the simplest contacts can cause blistering and tears.

He has to wear bandages on his hands and feet, not just for protection, but also to prevent the skin from scarring together and causing his fingers and toes to become lost in the scars. She has to check his skin for blisters and pop them, otherwise fluid builds up and the blisters just keep growing and damaging his skin. And infection is always a risk, with all of these open sores.

The bandaging has improved the condition of hands and feet amazingly, but it is a lot of work. Michael’s mom, Heather, asked me to take pictures of their nightly bandage change so they could use the images to teach other people more about this condition. It was rough… Michael wasn’t happy. Heather said that while not all days were bad, this was a typical bad day.

I haven’t figured out how to embed the video straight into the blog like I have before, so there’s a link: A Nightly Bandage Change

Here are some of the images from the slideshow….

The pleading look in his eyes just breaks my heart.

The tears…

A sweet moment…

And it wasn’t all bad! He was so happy when it was done and got some play time with mom…

There is some promising research going on, things that may really improve or possibly even cure this condition. Wouldn’t that be awesome? Heather said she would be happy to have me put this session here, because awareness is what they need… they need people to care, they need people to help, they need research and they need a cure.

iPhone Wednesday again! I think I’m already getting bored with it. But I’ll keep going for a bit…

This one is a very special one for me.

One day while eating lunch with Sophia and Franklin, I was overcome with happiness and gratitude for a really wonderful thing in my life, and I had to pause and snap a picture of it with my phone.

The best burrito in the world. A carne asada super burrito. A really lovely thing. I felt especially happy that day because the Burrito Factory had some new competition open up, right in the same shopping center.

The much-celebrated and widely popular Chipotle.

I’d tried Chipotle. It was good. But their chips come in a bag, not a basket, for one. And for two, it just doesn’t feel as authentic. And for three, the guy that runs the Burrito Factory seems really nice and smiles a lot and feels like the uncle you’d love to have in your family because you could have really great fiestas.

And on the day that I took this photo, despite the fact that there was a Chipotle just a hundred yards or so away… the line at the Burrito Factory went out the door. I love to cheer for the little guy, the small business, the underdog… and I love to eat the burritos. Que Bueno. Muy, muy bueno.

(btw… if you haven’t noticed, something funky is going on with my blog. I’m not sure why the word “description” is popping up above all my titles. It bugs. Sorry. I’m trying to figure that out, but I’m not the most tech-savvy person in the world! And also, I got my first root canal yesterday. That was not the best day of my life. Not the worst, either, but not my favorite. Not sure why I felt the need to add that part… but feel free to donate burritos to the “poor widdle Shannon” fund.)

Ok… time to share some more of my favorite bad photos!

I don’t know about BAD, per se, but definitely not portfolio-worthy. But I love them… Today’s edition of iPhone Wednesday features Matthew being Matthew. These demonstrate the essence of my boy. Total goofball, trying not to crack a smile.

What’s that on his face, you ask? I’m not quite sure. Some kind of goo… I think he got it in an easter egg or something… I’m not sure what happened to it, either. Scary thought. It’s probably stuck under the cushion of my couch. The couch that, remember back in the day, got eaten by the dog? Good times. We only have the one couch, it gets a lot of “love”.

Whoa… got off-topic there for a bit! Back to the matter at hand… the goo-faced Mr. Miyagi…

It got better as time went on. He kept improving his crazy facial decoration…

Good times.

Something about Tuesdays this summer… I must be in a coma between the hours of  2pm and 7pm.  Every single Tuesday for the past month, I’ve forgotten all about our busy Tuesday afternoon and stayed home all day. Which is nice, most days, except that Sophia has gymnastics at 3:15, and Matthew has karate at 5:30. I didn’t seem to even think of that fact until about 6:30 on Tuesday evening.

Well, I’m patting myself on the back right now, because I’ve broken my shameful streak. I remembered the activities! Hooray! Pathetic, I know, but I’m happy with myself anyway. Things are much better when school is in, schedule-wise. I so much more schedule-oriented during the school year. I love the lazy aimlessness of summer, but I think we’re all ready for a little more productivity.

Speaking of productivity, want to see my latest twin session? This one was a little different for me, I processed it with a little more vintage or moody feel. But it fit. I like it.

The binky, the hand, I’m not sure, but for some reason I love this one.

Cheek to cheek. You KNOW those cheeks are soft and kissable…

This one cracks me up. With two babies, there is always plenty of crying going on! Their parents were pros, totally relaxed and taking everything in stride.

A sleepy smile!! They make me so happy…

A fun, relaxed family portrait… the first of many to come!

So, while I was in Utah, I did a family session at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City.

It was a HOT day, and I wither quickly… but despite the heat, we got some really fun shots! I always LOVE going to a location I haven’t used before. Everything is fresh and fun.

I was just looking through my pictures and noticed that some of my favorite pictures are ones that I’ve taken with my iPhone. Technically, they’re really not up to standard. I doubt I’ll ever even print one of them… they’re really not wall-worthy.

But blog-worthy? Totally!

Thing is, I don’t carry my great camera everywhere I go. In order to muster the strength to carry that thing around, I have to be pretty sure I’m going to get some great shots. But my phone is always with me. So something funny happens, I grab that phone and capture it, regardless of how artistic it may or may not turn out. I’ve got a bunch of treasures just gathering dust in my pictures folder. What a waste.

So for the next several weeks, maybe months… I’m dusting off those treasures and putting them here. So… for the inaugural edition of iPhone Wednesdays, a moment that has already become a family classic line:

“Do you like my big face?”

Backstory… enjoying a delicious meatball lunch at Ikea one day a couple months ago… Franklin stuck an entire meatball in his cheek and asked us several times (because we couldn’t understand him very well!) “Do you like my big face?” He knew he was funny, but barely cracked a smile. I love it when funny kids deadpan!