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.

This isn’t my first time capturing these two. It is so fun to watch them grow each year!

Don’t they have the most amazing eyes?

This is their new best friend. Love the head tilt. Dogs are so funny.

The session was held at their beautiful home. Last year, we were mostly inside. This year, we played outside for the most part.

Love!

A totally beautiful family in one of my favorite places…

I know I’ve said this before, but I really love my job! There is nothing more beautiful than people who love each other. And I’ve had the good fortunate of coming across some of the most amazing, loving people in the world.

This images speaks childhood. Happiness on the playground. Love.

Check out this sweet face!

Love this shot. I think it illustrates life so well. Each kid doing their own thing. Parents holding hands, in this crazy ride called life together…

Father and son. Totally acting like a father and son.

I had SO much fun with these guys! They made me so comfortable from the first moment I met them and they just have an amazing little family. They were in the process of moving from San Jose, so we met at their home and shot around their neighborhood. I love that I gave them a fun souvenir for their time here in San Jose!

Just the kids…

Or the whole family… I can’t decide which one I love more.

The bubble. I love it! This sweetie made me so baby hungry it hurt! This age just melts me… so so happy and sweet and squishy.

The lashes… (I die…)

His brothers are just as cute, though!

I got the opportunity to swap sessions with my delightful friend and fellow photographer, Alison Beachem of Photography by Alison.

SO FUN!! Not only did I have a great time shooting her family, I got the huge benefit of finally having amazing images of my own family! It made me realize what a COOL job I have, if my clients feel the way I did after viewing the images she took.

Alison has a terrific family. I think you can tell, just by viewing the images!

A quiet moment with the baby of the family…

I don’t even have to tell you they are from San Diego. Can’t you just see it in the blonde surfer perfection…

I think this might be the order of who runs the family…

My favorite shot of the day:

Thanks Alison, for letting me play and for the incredible gift you gave me!

A moment of silence for Courtney and Toby. Toddler twins and a newborn.

They are amazing parents with a lot on their plate right now!

You know these girls are trouble. That’s the beauty of twins! (when you’re not the parent, ha ha)

A trouble-making team that makes trouble really cutely. (I know… cutely isn’t a word, but I’m using it anyway… adorably would also work, but where’s the creativity in that?)

What… you don’t believe me?

And their sweet, sweet baby sister.

I love this moment as a mother… sweet passed-out baby with the back of their neck all waiting to be kissed… good stuff.

This family is special to me because the mom, Kari, just so happens to be one of my best friends in the whole wide world. A completely amazing person, a completely amazing family. Kari moved several hours away over a year ago, and we’ve been missing them a lot. I’m so glad I got a chance to capture their beautiful family! As I was proofing these images, I teared up a couple times, just feeling fortunate to have them as friends.

aaannnddd…. the “grandma shots”…. (you know, because Grandma loves the shots with everyone looking at the camera and smiling…)

I need to get another vacation/visit planned!

This family… love them. The mom was one of my early customers, so she’s a sentimental favorite! I took pictures of their sweet daughter when she was about a year and a half old. Look how much she’s grown!

That shot just speaks “little girly-hood” to me, with the curls, the ring on her finger, the dollhouse in the background… love it.

And an illustration of a toddlerhood…

All his favorite things. Mommy, blanket, thumb… awwww…..

Cuuute family! And loving parents. Seriously, does it get better than that? I just love family love.

And an illustration of mommy-hood:

I have a picture of me that Shelby took several years ago of me loving on Franklin kind of like that, and it’s still one of my most treasured photos. I look at it and warm my sad heart when I think of my baby starting kindergarten in a matter of days! It’s true what they say, that photos become even more precious as time passes…

Summer! How is yours going? Mine has been good. BUSY, but great. My awesome mom came out last week and helped me organize nearly my entire house. It was SO nice. So needed, too. I was drowning in to-do’s, the house was getting farther beyond my control, and the kids needed my attention as much as the house did. So mom came to the rescue! I’m feeling a ton better about life.

I know I promised Hearst Castle, but it’s going to have to wait a little bit. The blog looks like I never work, which is absolutely not true! So I’m going to catch up. I plan post a session every other day for as long as I can. (which could end up being just today,  ha ha)

So, anyway, I *love* this family. Shot mid-day on a sunny afternoon. We had lots of fun, I wanted to adopt these kids, but their parents really wanted to keep them…

That shot of him just cracks me up. It’s the “cheese” face he gave me when they first showed up. And this next shot warms my heart. It was a total spontaneous moment during a family shot.

I’ve been such a slacker in the blog department! So many sessions I haven’t shared. I’ll do better. I think. I hope. But no promises, because these last few weeks of school are always nuts. I love it, but I’m looking forward to the relaxed, schedule-less, do-what-we-want summer hours.

In the meantime… check out this session.

Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous kids. GORGEOUS kids. I’ve always been such a sucker for big brown eyes. I was in brown-eye heaven!

I love this shot. Three year old girl. A little apprehensive. The comfort of mom nearby. Mom is such a big part of life, it just seems classic at this age to me.

A hug. Or a headlock. Not quite sure…

First loose tooth. Big milestone.

A shy smile…

A relaxed, geniune moment (which, with a 7-year old boy and a lot of crazy fun, is kind of hard to catch!)

aaaaannnddd… it’s gone….

So… today, my baby turned FIVE. I think that means he’s not a baby anymore.

Here he is rocking the fauxhawk. It’s his favorite hairdo. The other day, he was refusing to come to the gym with me, but when I told him he could wear a fauxhawk to the gym, he suddenly was excited to go. He usually plays with his hair, but when it’s all gelled and fancy, he leaves it alone. So prissy.

The kid looooves cold cereal. In his ideal day, he would have first breakfast upon waking up, second breakfast about an hour later, early lunch around 11, lunch around noon, snack at 3, and dinner at 5:30. Cold cereal at all meals, of course. Occasionally I can talk him into choosing a peanut butter sandwich or some macaroni and cheese, but those are definitely second-choice meals for him.

Yesterday, at second-breakfast, I pulled out the camera and took a bunch of pics of his last day as a four-year old.

This kid is not the typical photographer’s child (who is so sick of having his picture taken and runs when I pull out the camera). Maybe because in the last few years I’ve filled that creative need by working in my business, so I don’t pull out the camera daily anymore. When I do start taking pictures, he doesn’t want me to stop. Take this one, mom…

And this one!

One thing that bums me out is in addition to all his firsts, I’m kind of tracking all of his lasts… because as my youngest, he’s the last one to hit all the milestones. Last baby. Last one to walk. Last diaper. Last preschooler. Last one home with me before they’re all in school and I’m left to fend for myself. It makes me all sentimental. This month, I’m thinking, it’s my last month to have one kid with me all day. I’ve started calling him my “assistant.” He comes with me everywhere. It’s much easier than having four of them with me all the time, easier than having a toddler destroying everything in his wake… it’s like the dessert at the end of a big meal.

He starts kindergarten next fall. So glad I’ll still have a lunch buddy, and hopefully it will ease me into this school thing, and I won’t fall apart when he starts going to school all day (although, really, all day is only until 2:15, I imagine I’ll probably really enjoy that stage a lot, and I need to stop being a baby!) On the other hand, it feels SO good to be on this final stretch! Being a stay-at-home mom has been the most difficult and rewarding job in the world. Some days, I was dying for someplace to go, something else to do. I had my first baby almost 12 years ago and it was a big change… we had no money, Dave and I were both students, but somehow we made it work. I always knew I wanted to be here, be a part of their lives, to be the one they were attached to and needed. Sometimes their need was overwhelming and suffocating. But I sure love these little buggers, so it was worth it. I know this is not an option for so many people (and that staying home with kids is not necessarily the best for everyone) so I feel lucky that I have been around so much for the first five years for each of my kids. And now, in the home stretch (yes, I know they’re not out of the house and off to college, but still, it’s a big step), I feel kind of victorious. Like I’ve accomplished something huge that I’m super proud of.

Wow. Ok. I made that all about me.