Santa Clarita Kids | Portrait Shoot

Photographing kids is always an adventure.  It can be fun and its always great to see an adorable face. We recently went up to Santa Clarita for a very special kids portrait shoot.  We have been photographing Ms. Littles for three years now and this time we were photographing her 1 week before her third birthday which by the way was a ton of fun.  Her first session was the sweetest session full of cup cakes and smiles.  Her two year session was her first modeling gig with some of the most adorable clothing ever.  But this time things were different.  This time she is all grown up and ready to show her soft side and her tough side, because after all there is nothing tougher than a toddler going on 20.  Today we share the sweet and tender side but soon enough part 2 will follow.

Los Angeles Baseball | Urban Youth Academy

In 1991 at a very hot point in Los Angeles gang violence my mother made a decision that would forever change my life.  She decided that the only thing she could do to try to save me from the gang culture in LA was to move me to a smaller city that bordered LA.  Though we were still close to LA it was a different world with different opportunities.  Yes I missed my friends and yes I missed my soccer team, but here I discovered a new passion, a passion that would live with me from that point on.  In Glendale I was able to take my first photography class.  This was something that was unheard of at my old school.  Here I learned the basics and I was able to see my first images come to life in the darkroom.  From here I continued to grow as a photographer and in high school I would specialize in photographing sports.  With sports there was just something about anticipating that moment and making that split second decision to capture it.  I think this is why I love wedding photography as much as I do.  By the start of the digital era sports photography was a part of my long gone past.  Last week a friend from church asked if I would come photograph a baseball game of the High School he coaches at.  I said yes not only because he was a friend, or because this would be something that was at the root of why I love being behind a camera, but because this was a moment in these kids lives that they will never forget.  What these pictures don't tell you is that these kids live in one of the highest crime areas in Los Angeles, and the fact that they are on the field is a testament to theirs, and their parents drive and determination to NOT be a statistic.  These are students from Locke High in the Watts area of Los Angeles.  This is a school with an interesting past and was the scene of a battle between the LAUSD and citizens that said enough was enough.  Thursday took me for the first time to The Urban Youth Academy in Compton that is sponsored by the MLB and more importantly the two local LA teams the Dodgers and the Angels.  This academy gives kids a chance to dream and grow.  It allows them to have that drive and that thing to shoot for that will keep them away from the streets.  It was an amazing experience for me to shoot and to see these kids push to achieve greatness in life.


Enjoy
Edwin.

Los Angeles Nigerian Wedding | Two Love Birds Unite

He who finds a wife finds a good thing, And obtains favor from the Lord. Proverbs 18:22

Nor Distance, nor time can separate two love birds who have decided to come together in love through marriage.  When I first met Temitayo we were kayaking in Long Beach.  He shared with me about his upcoming wedding and how he had been tasked with planning it here in Los Angeles since his fiance lived in Trinidad.  A few months later we were privileged to meet his beautiful bride to be and they chose us to capture their wedding.  The day of the wedding came on the last weekend of the year and thankfully we were blessed with great weather for a winter wedding.  The wedding ceremony and reception took place at the beautiful Los Coyotes Country Club in Orange County, and the nights MC was James Loram of Last Dance Entertainment a true professional that kept everything moving smoothly.   As the night went on we new we were in for a special treat as the celebrations of their wedding began.  Their families have been great friends for a long time and it was more than evident that their love is rooted on an amazing foundation.  For us this wedding was another first.  As with our Greek, Egyptian, and Middle Eastern weddings this would be a first.  We enjoyed every moment of our first Nigerian Christian Wedding.  A celebration of love, culture, and family.  The love shared by not only the couple, but their family and friends was soo amazing and authentic that it is something we will never forget.  The clothing and the traditions were something that we were truly blessed to experience, and the closeness of everyone was beautiful  These were two families that are normally separated by many miles but united by their love.

Temitayo and Adetutu congratulations on your wedding, and may the Lord bless you with a long and loving relationship.