Do you ever feel like you just want to sit down and cry? I do. These last couple of weeks have been particularly hard, for some reason everything seemed to fall apart at once. One of the biggest problems: my external hard drive. When I returned from holiday I discovered that my external hard drive was not powering up. What? This can not be happening. I contacted Western Digital to see what I needed to do to get the thing fixed. After all, the hard drive is less than a year into it's five year warranty.

As it turns out, if something happens to your hard drive, all they do is send you a new hard drive. They do not cover repairs. WHAT?!?!?!?! Awesome. What good does that do me? How do I get my images back?

I contacted a company called Drive Savers, they are the best at what they do and I knew that they could help me. I sent my hard drive to them and they were able to get all of my files back. Luckily I am a part of the Professional Photographers of America and had the indemnification trust to help me pay for the recovery. They paid $1500 and I paid almost $3000. Oh, that hurt.

So, that was a hard lesson to learn. But, I certainly did learn it. So here is what I got out of this experience.

1. A RAID system is no good. Having two drives in one casing that supposedly gives you a double back up does not matter if the hard drive looses power. Have your second copy in a separate system.

2. Keep an off-site copy of everything

3. Do not get lazy. Back everything up NOW.

My new system for backing up files is as follows:

1. Everything gets immediately dumped onto two separate hard drives. The backup drive is only plugged in when I am putting new files onto it. The working drive is where I store the second copy and it stays on so I can always access my files.

2.After I edit the images I create jpeg files and burn everything to disc. These discs get stored at an off-site location.

So, there you have it. Please learn from me, if your files mean anything to you be sure to BACK THEM UP!

Sally, well she is basically a knock-out. Steven is nothing but heart. Together they make a beautiful, fun and completely sweet couple. I was thrilled to be apart of their day, thanks to Jay Kelly. Jay asked if I could come along and help him out, this was my first time shooting with him but I am always up for working with new photographers. As it turns out, not only is Jay an amazing photographer, but he is a blast to shoot with. Thanks for having me along Jay!

Steven doing his happy dance. Sally laughing in the back ground. I could hardly keep my face straight long enough to snap this one. It just proves that people will do just about anything if they think a good photo will come out of it.

The reception was at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in San Francisco. It was my first time at this venue, I didn't anticipate the fantastic party that would be happening in this room.


One of my favorite parts of the evening, the belly dance. I had never seen a belly dancer before. Oh man was that fun. Now if only I can figure out how to make my body move like that. If you have ever seen me dance (if you are a wedding client you probably have) you know that my moves are somewhat limited to two signature moves. If you haven't seen me dance, well, you should ask =)

Sally and Steven, thank you for letting me be part of your day. I wish you the best and...keep dancing!

Saturday is off to a good start. Shelly and her husband Jamison arrived at my place at around 9:00am and we headed to breakfast before going to Jack London Square to walk around the Eat Real Festival. In their words:

'Eat Real's mission is to make real food as accessible and as affordable as fast food at events held in strategic communities across the United States. Eat Real's success will be measured by increased public awareness of and respect for the craft of making good food and by the growth of green collar jobs in America's growing regional food economies. Eat Real's vision is of an America where food's crucial importance to the health of our bodies, communities and economy is universally recognized, and where access to healthy and affordable real foods is a right, not a privilege. Also, in our ideal America, food tastes a whole lot better.'

I can dig that.

One of the booths that I stopped at was the SFBA booth, you can find their website: HERE. Charlie recently mentioned an interest in beekeeping and I thought I should learn more. Membership to the association is $15 for an individual, $20 for a household. Many of the classes through SFBA are free, but there are several other perks to having a membership.

I am still a bit jumpy from my recent wasp sting, so this may have to be a one man show in our household. But I have no problem reaping the benefits of having all the honey I can handle.

Tonight... heading to the Sonoma Premiere of The Wine Guy at Jacuzzi Family Vineyard. If you have nothing else to do, or even if you do, you should come out. Reception starts at 6:15pm.

It has been a while since I have had a kitchen. After moving out of our flat, Charlie and I were constantly moving around for about 6 months. So now, I am getting settled again. Everything is in it's place, I have officially been bitten by the cooking bug. It just so happened that said cooking bug bit me on a day that reached a high of 95 degrees! So, the natural result was ice cream. I am a touch sensitive to gluten, so I had to find a recipe that would satisfy my need for creamy goodness without the side effect of heartburn. The result: Coconut Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. Just saying those words makes my mouth water. It was delicious.

Ingredients:

A 14oz can of full fat coconut milk
2 eggs, whisked
1 vanilla bean
3 Tb raw honey

Make the custard:

~Set up a double boiler, when the water is simmering add the coconut milk. Split the vanilla bean and add the seeds to the milk and throw in the pod as well. Whisk fairly regularly until the milk and vanilla are hot but not boiling.
~When the coconut milk is hot add one ladle full at a time to the whisked eggs whisking all the time until the temp of the eggs is approximately equal to the temp of the coconut milk. Then add the egg mixture to the coconut milk on the double broiler.
~Whisk until thickened to a custard.
~Remove from heat and remove the vanilla pod.
~let the custard cool until you can hold your finger in it without burning. Add in the honey and mix well.
~Put the custard into the fridge or freezer to cool.

Make the Ice Cream:

~When the custard is cool take it out of the fridge and make it into ice cream according the the directions for your ice cream machine.

This is delicious served with fresh berries. I think I will also try it with other add-ins. Lavender or maybe chocolate chips? Any other ideas?

Enjoy!

I am always honored to be asked to do a littlest hero's photo session. This one was particularly fun, I got to photograph two little ones. Oliver and his big cousin Mila.

Oliver's parents found out that he had Down Syndrome when Mari was just four months pregnant. "We felt very anxious throughout the rest of the pregnancy but as soon as he arrived  we fell in love and the fears dissipated. Oliver had to spend a few weeks in the NICU because he had pulmonary hypertension and wasn't able to keep his oxygen levels high enough. He has a heart defect that will hopefully resolve on its own without surgery. He is a delightful baby. He just started smiling and cooing and we are enjoying every moment with him."

This is about the time that I was paid one of the best compliments EVER. I am not sure where it came from, maybe her mom was trying to bribe her into the kitchen so I could get some images of Oliver by himself. But Mila said that I was better than Pancakes. That's right, Pancakes are no match for me. I am better than Pancakes. It was nice to hear, I have a new mantra.

I can't get enough of those freckles. Mila is such a cute little munchkin!

Sweet little Oliver. He was such a good sport. He seemed to be perfectly happy to let me photograph him. No fussing, a totally happy baby. It is no wonder his parents fell in love.

Oliver and family, thank you for an amazing session! Mila and Oliver, you two are just beautiful. A delight to be around and of course, I think you are better than pancakes too!

After a great meal of fresh clams and fish and whatever else was pulled out of the sea that day we decided to walk up the clock tower.

The street was full of people devouring the treats from the sea. And it is all for charity, not that I need an excuse to eat great food.

Chioggia, you sure were good to me.

Just before I left on my trip to Italy I was contacted by Dandelion Magazine, a local magazine for parents with children that have special needs. I was asked to do a photo session for the cover story on a very special family. It was basically the last session that I shot before leaving, and the magazine was going to come out while I was away. The editor promised to send me a copy and when I finally got home I rushed to my pile of mail to find it. The images came out great, but it is the story behind the images that really touched my heart.  You can read their story HERE.

We met in Golden Gate Park, it was a beautiful afternoon. We walked and chatted, I got to know them and enjoyed capturing the love that they felt as a family. It is amazing the mountains that they have had to climb together, and that is just it. They did it together and they seemed to be pretty strong because of it. You see, when Lily as just two years old she was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. This is a chronic disease that causes joint swelling, stiffness and bouts of severe pain. The family overcame the heartache and devastation of this painful disease, they learned how to cope.  When Lily was four years old Miriam and Ronan welcomed a second child into their family, Frankie. By the time Frankie was born Ronan and Miriam had learned how to cope through writing and letting themselves accept help. Something they struggled with in the beginning. Miriam even became a life coach to teach other parents how to manage when dealing with crisis. She has a website called Cope and Thrive and has taken everything she has learned to try to help others in similar situations.

The family was strong. They each played an important role and while life was still difficult, they were happy. In May of 2009 any resemblance of normalcy faded. Frankie was diagnosed with Lymphoma. The family was tested once again and had to be strong and help their little boy through painful treatments while continuing to give their little girl all of the help she needed to deal with her disease.

Frankie did well in his treatments, he was in the 'maintenance phase' which had him taking several pills everyday. But his hair had grown back and he was in school and thriving. Frankie was supposed to complete his last round of treatment in June. I was in Italy at the time and although he wasn't quite in remission yet, he seemed like a healthy, normal boy. I was pretty sure that he was going to be just fine. I couldn't imagine anything but good things for this family. They had been through enough. It was time for them to breathe.

When I got back from Italy I contacted Ronan to set up their viewing session. It had been a few days since I had heard from them but I assumed that life had just gotten busy. When Ronan finally contacted me my heart about sank with the words that I read in his email. Frankie had relapsed. This poor family had been through so much and now, after everything they were back in the hospital. It is hard to make sense of it, it just does not seem fare.

Nothing in this life is more important than the people around you. Love them as hard as you can. Don't let life pass you by without showing your family and friends how much you care about them. Be present in your life. Do not let the mundane business of everyday let you get lazy. Be thankful for what you have been blessed with. These are the words I said to myself as I fell asleep that evening. These are the words that I hope to never forget.

Congratulations Kate and Russell, I am so happy for you! I hope you had a wonderful honeymoon and are enjoying married life!


Be sure to watch the slide show HERE

If you haven't seen enough or you would like to place an order, there are even more pictures HERE. Click on the Access Gallery link on the top right hand side of the page and use the Access code 'Dutra'. Enjoy!

While trying to find a place to eat we heard a ruckus and decided to see what it was all about. We stumbled upon the national pesto making championship complete with pesto tasting free food and wine. Oh Italy, I love you.

After the pesto championship we wondered down to the lookout at the end of town. We found a charming young man playing some rather enchanting music creating a perfect atmosphere to was the sun dip below the mountains.

I love this shot of Jess. She is claims to hate to be photographed. I told her it is too bad that her biggest fan is a photographer. I think she is learning to live with me.

Cinque Terre, Thank you for a lovely time. You are a gem.