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.

Vanessa and Jason are so sweet. They attended the same church for several years, but didn’t actually meet or speak until bumping into each other one day in college. They started a conversation that lasted several hours… actually, it’s going to continue for the rest of their lives! We met at their church and played around on the amazing grounds surrounding it.

We had the most beautiful cloudy skies! (kind of a rarity in sunny California)… I had fun playing with my flash off-camera to make sure they were captured properly.

Love them!! Can’t wait for their wedding next month.

These guys are SO sweet together! I loooved their adorable little doggies and the way they treated them. And each other. And me. Totally golden people. Can’t wait until their wedding. It’s going to be so fun!

Kathy was actually one of my earliest clients, several years ago. It’s been so much fun to see her girls grow! And now, Kathy has found Rob and they’re in the process of blending their families. This session was a combined family and engagement session. I love this location, it was an accidental find,  next to the park where we were supposed to have our session. Love it. Love them.

What is it about a daddy/daughter pic that makes me melt?

HOT.

Salene and Dave.  We went to their ranch up in the mountains for this session. I *loved* it. We had so much fun! This session was a combined engagement and family session, because we incorporated Salene’s two sweet  children into some of the shots. I love how even the dog (who was one of the coolest dogs ever, by the way!) is in this shot:

I think I shared this one before:

When we first drove past this tree, there were a ton of cows sitting under it, so we didn’t go there right away (plus, the sun was a bit too high). I thought it was great having to work around the residents! The wedding was also held up at the ranch. I loved it! But that’s a story for another time…

20 minutes until I lose my Panera card on the first day of the challenge!! Internet, you pulled a quick one, disabling my computer from saving to the folder I was working on. Sneaky move, Internet. Luckily I had my tech guy sitting right next to me watching Season 3 of Veronica Mars with me, so he fixed it promptly! I’ll save the chatter and post the images.

Still in catch-up mode… Carol and Eric are already married! Watch for their wedding images soon.

I absolutely love these guys. I love how they are their own little team, totally connected. They met in downtown Campbell, just 3 doors down from my studio. It was only fitting that we hold the session in Campbell!

ok… one more. (this narrowing it to 1-3 images is really hard!)

This shot was taken inside the restaurant/pub where they met. I *love* when the location is really meaningful to the couple!

I love trees. And people. Especially people in love.

I know I say this every time, but I love these guys! I think it might be impossible to not love someone I photograph. Somehow, looking through the viewfinder at them makes me love them. But these guys made it easy! I love the way they interact. I think you can get a feel of that from these images.

Finger kiss!

I love these both… so I’ll show them both…

Making whistles out of grass…

yum yummy flare…

And I think this might be my favorite shot of the day… the simple contrast of their footwear…

If you’d like to see the slideshow, you can do so here.

Fun stuff… I can’t wait for the wedding! It’s going to be so wonderful and unique and I loved listening to Katie tell me what they’re planning! Looking forward seeing it all…

I know I’m supposed to be talking about the open house and posting pics of the studio. But I don’t have the pics on this computer, so that will have to wait. But the Open House was awesome. So much fun! I’ll give a full report in the next few days. In the meantime, let’s play with Alyssa and Albert.

This session was so much fun! I picked the location for this session… most people wouldn’t think of hanging out under an overpass next to train tracks for an engagement session, but I drive past this spot weekly and have been dying to play there. Nearby is a lake, so in a really small area we had a big contrast of locations. That kind of stuff makes me so happy.

My favorite shot of the day…

In case you haven’t noticed, I’m such a sucker for the big epic shots with tiny people. It’s a good way to have a huge artsy image in your home without feeling weird about having huge pics of yourself.

This spot… just some weeds next to the railroad track. I thought it was super cool. Until we stood up to leave and realized we had thorns all over our pants! But, worth it, I think.

This one… we’re going have to come back on their 50th anniversary to do the “after” shot.

A and A… thanks so much for trusting me with this one!
If you’d like to see the full session slideshow, click here.

I’ve been sorting through all my images to get ready for a special project I’m working on and hoping to finish before the open house. I realized I never shared Jen and Ben’s engagement session!

So here it is. I really love these two people. So real and open and beautiful.

Noooo…. that’s not Jen! Jen is gorgeous! But that picture cracks me up.

I loved the way Ben looked at Jen. Total love.

See what I mean? Beautiful.

Every minute with the two of them was great, and their wedding was amazing. So much love, and they made me feel like one of the family. Thanks, guys! You’re the best.