Babies, Frappuccinos & New Moon!

Surprisingly enough, the weather report was correct. I woke up this morning to discover grey clouds & rain drops outside my window. Baby Joey was awake and being his cute self as always. I gathered myself together to get ready for my appointment I had this morning, ate breakfast & jetted out the door. 

Baby Joey joined me and what a experience for him. He positioned himself near me at the doctor's office and to his surprise, he was going to "see" his baby brother. An brief ultrasound displayed the little guy in perfect position and if I were ready, he'd be ready too! The greatest moment about my appointment today was to see the look on Joey's face; to feel how he felt like a million bucks to be "helping" the doctor in his mind; to see his expression when the little guy popped up on the screen; and most importantly, to see him smile!

The day has been a beautiful one. I had my Starbucks coffee fix, a decaf, carmel light, extra whip & extra carmel sauce frap. Joey just went down for his nap and I'm ready to gear up for a evening filled with vampires, werewolves & great friends!!

An evening with J*

I was sitting at my computer editing photos as usual. Baby Joey was running around, making his infamous truck sounds and at times, pretending to be an airplane. Big Joe was training client after client, so time was going by pretty slow. I decided to break and check out Jasmine Star's photography blog, a blog I've been following for nearly a year now, to discover she was going to be guest speaking here in Northern California.

At first, I thought, "yeah right, there is no way I'll have the opportunity to listen, nor meet her in person." But then the more I thought about it, the more I considered making the one hour journey with absolutely no regrets.

Since I wanted to arrive before traffic hit, I was the first one to arrive. For a moment, I thought "what if its not tonight?" The room was completely empty and only one another individual, the bartender, was present. I politely asked him if I was at the right place and luckily, I was. I just so happened to doubt myself due to my "baby brain."

Within minutes, several aspiring and professional photographers began to arrive and the room filled quickly; thankfully I reserved a seat right in the front row. I met some wonderful people and had a chance to chat with others about their experiences as photographers. 

 Jasmine appeared at the front of the room, prepping her laptop for her presentation, situating herself with the hands-free mic, then quietly waited next to her wonderful husband, JD, for the presentation to begin.

The president of the PPSV approach the "stage," introduced himself, talked a little about their organization and finally made his way to introduce who we've all been waiting for.

She approaches the "stage" and she took off from there. She shared her past as an aspiring lawyer, her mom's battle with cancer, her beautiful marriage and her dream as a photographer to be where she is today.

Jasmine Star. A beautiful, talented, amazing individual with a unique passion for wedding photography. An inspiration to many photographers worldwide. A heart of gold. And a fabulous personality!

Thank you, Jasmine (& JD), for a wonderful, memorable evening! And of course, for the awesome photo op!

-Jihan Cerda

Fashion & Beauty Queen

Desiree is a beautiful girl with a mass array of talent. From beauty to fashion, she knows it all! Here's a sneak peak at her High School Senior portraits and make sure to check back for more photos at 

www.seniors.jihancerda.com.

New Website!

Hello, hello and yes it has been quite sometime since I've blogged. With a second baby boy on the way and chasing around a 1 1/2 year old, time flies pretty quick. The last couple of months have been extremely busy and yes I am proud to say I've created a new website for High School Seniors. For more details and photos, please visit the site at www.seniors.jihancerda.com

Hope everyone had a wonderful summer and I will definitely work on blogging more often!

=) Jihan

I ♥ Faces contest

My favorite photographer, Jasmine Star (www.jasmine-star.com) is this week's guest judge on I ♥ Faces (www.iheartfaces.com), "a photography site focused on the art of capturing faces and their various emotions." So for this reason alone, I've decided to enter a photo from a wedding I shot two weeks ago.

The category for the week is "Wedding Bells." Yes, I did indeed, capture moments of happiness between the bride & groom, family & friends and children & adults. But my reason for entering this photo is because this guy was getting "doooown." And the best part was his dancing and interactions with the kids. One thing I know is Jasmine loves to dance and loves to sing, and I thought this would be the perfect moment captured at a wedding that she would truly appreciate!

Wish me luck!

-Jihan

Maternity: The Ward Family

Joe, Joey's best friend, & his wife, Jordan, have a little girl named Rowan. In approximately three weeks, this adorable, blond-haired, blue-eyed, full of personality, about-to-be-two-years old, is going to be a big sister to a little brother. I photographed the trio and I was ecstatic with how the photos turned out......the three of them were so much fun to work with and what a fun experience they made it for me. Big thank you's sent their way and I can't wait for the arrival of their new baby bundle.

-Jihan

Family: Buchanan

I had the pleasure of photographing a family of five in Ptown yesterday.......boy oh boy, where they fun! I can't even begin to express the feeling I had while photographing them. Two wonderful people who brought three beautiful children into the world; the joy of capturing the little smiles and curiosity they have in this big, gigantic world we live in. Dressed in blue jeans and white button up tops, they glowed with smiles & laughter, but most importantly, made me realize the reason I began photographing.

Easter, Weddings, Sessions, Oh my!

Things have picked up quite a bit for me, getting a new job and managing my photography at the same time....thankfully it is something I'm pretty good at handling; The best part right now is our son, Joey, starting walking, so I'm definitely capturing those moments.

Easter was a blast with family and we had a good one this year! You can see a few photos to the right from it.

As far as my photography goes, I have a great line-up of clients over the next couple of weeks.....keeping me busy, so stay posted on some new photos. Also, wedding season is just around the corner and I'm getting extremely excited! I will be working with Ron & Chris with Art & Soul Photography shooting weddings and I'm truly looking forward to it.

Thanks for checking in!

-Jihan

Photographer Jasmine Star

So recently I discovered this amazing wedding photographer in Photography magazine. She is rated one of the top 10 wedding photographers in the US and I was quite impressed.....definitely an added inspiration. Check it out!

www.jasmine-star.com

I love Farmer's Market!!!

Thankfully I had a beautiful day off with family, so we decided to take a quick visit to the local farmer's market. Not that you wouldn't be familiar, but I've never seen such variety than this one....fresh fruits and veggies, flowers, great food (thai is the best), catchy music.....what a great way to start the day. Great friends, great food & Awesome times!

-Jihan

Busy, Busy, Busy!!

It's been a busy couple of weeks and it just keeps getting better & better. The Wedding Expo, which takes place twice a year at the Wells Fargo center in Santa Rosa, was a hit; I was hired to photograph the event. I was also brought on board by a wedding photographer to be their assistant and I'm so excited!! Plus, we had Valentine's Day this past weekend, which I hope everyone had a good one, and I had a couple lovely ladies book a boudoir shoot to take place as a gift for their handsome men. And of course, my ultimate favorite, I photographed a beautiful couple in Marin this past Monday, who is pregnant with twin boys. Stay tuned for some of those photos.....they turned out amazing!! 

I hope everyone is having a great week and enjoy!

- Jihan

San Francisco

It amazes me how lucky I am to live so close to the city. San Francisco...... Beautiful. I took a few of these while testing out some new toys I received for Christmas. Thought I'd share. Enjoy!

Jihan

Jihan Cerda Launched!

Please visit my website at www.jihancerda.com with up-to-date information of my current explorations, creativity and simple wonders. 

I'm truly excited I am able to explore life through my camera and bring it to the next level. I have many people to thank for their love and support to help reach my goal. Most importantly, I thank my husband, Joe, for believing in me and pushing me in the direction of success.

I will do my best to keep my blog updated with all the exciting opportunities that arise. In the meantime, I wish everyone a happy & healthy New Year and I look forward to sharing my upcoming pieces of work with you.

xo

Jihan