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.

Isabel and Chris. I SO love these guys. I SO love this session. We had SO much fun cruising around the city getting cool shots. I’ve been meaning to post this session forever. Seriously, for months. They’re getting married tomorrow, and to get ourselves all excited for more pics, I’m going to post some of my faves from the engagement session!

My artsy favorite shot of the day: (check out the perfect circle flare!)

My sentimental favorite shot of the day:

Can’t wait for the wedding tomorrow! It’s going to be SO much fun and so so special.

p.s. I apologize for all the randomness regarding the watermarks/logo… Obviously I had set up to blog this several times the last few months and never finished the job. Rather than redoing it, I just went ahead and posted my mismatched ones. Letting go of the perfectionism will hopefully allow me to blog in a more timely manner, ha ha.

Martina and Ara met during the infamous Bay to Breakers race in San Francisco. It was only fitting that we have their engagement session there! We spent the whole session at Golden Gate Park. We had amazing, gorgeous light, and they are a wonderful, happy couple. We had the best time. Seriously? How cool is my job!!

Here are some favorites.

I really love this “grandma shot”. They look so relaxed and happy here. [I call the looking and smiling shots "grandma shots" because these are what makes grandma happy. She might be disappointed if all we had were artsy fartsy shots!]

This light… I was dying. They were laughing at how giddy I was while I was taking this.

This is at the beach… I love their bare feet.

I love the feel of this shot.

I’m SO looking forward to their wedding. Rosie was telling me about finding her perfect dress, and their wedding plans in the vineyard… I think it’s going to be an amazing day and I can’t wait!

In the meantime… we had so much fun hanging out at their engagement session. It was a fairly cold morning (for them… not for me in my down jacket!) but they kept each other toasty warm.

We had the most beautiful light! I was all giddy the entire time.

I just love the way they interact. They are so connected and sweet. They are so comfortable and natural and warm together.

The sky made the perfect backdrop. Nothing else needed.

Gorgeous. Seriously!

Love the location. I’m so going back. My favorite shot of the day.

I can’t help it. I just love people laying in the grass. It makes them so comfortable and relaxed… I just love what happens.

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.