"I was hesitant about getting maternity photos taken because of how I felt about my changing body. I'm so glad that I did because they had such a profound impact on me and I feel more powerful and grateful after seeing these images through Carmen's eyes." -Rachel P.
location
San Francisco Bay Area
Carmen is first and foremost a true artist. Her eye for composition and color, her ability to anticipate a moment, and her technical prowess with the camera come both from years of practice and her natural creative ability. She's also such a pleasant person to be around. My kids l-o-v-e photo sessions with Carmen and that's exactly what you want from a family photographer. She captures a real range of emotions from joy to maniacal laughter to toddler meltdowns, never putting the camera down. I love that about her style - she photographs your family in a really honest way, while also noticing the beautiful and unusual that might slip past you while you're busy cleaning dirty faces and cutting grapes.
Allison
DAY IN THE LIFE session
Stefanie
Warm, fun, professional, and awesome are the words I'd describe Carmen. She has done all our family photos since our first son was born! I can't say enough about how wonderful and patient Carmen is. She finds a way to make everyone comfortable and always manages to capture the magic happening in between all the chaos. What I love about her style is that my family gets to be who we are and she just comes along and documents our special moments. She is amazing with the kids, goes at or pace, and we thoroughly enjoy our time together. The images she captures are memories that we will cherish forever.
newborn & family sessions
Naomi
Carmen has been taking our family photos for going on four years, and I feel so lucky that we found her. Her approach is all about capturing the real moments that unfold during the day. They are artistic, thoughtful, so full of heart and tell a beautiful story. No posing, no artificial smiles. Be it her maternal instincts or her experience as a photographer, Carmen has a rare gift of foreseeing and capturing moments as they naturally come together. It is just so refreshing to see this honest approach to photography and it really differentiates her from the rest. Her positive, nurturing attitude also put us, sleep deprived parents at ease...even when my kids are cranky and fighting. We have her work framed all over our house and constantly get comments on how gorgeous they are. Of course, it's not so much the compliments that matter, but how genuine and meaningful the photographs are to us. We are so thankful to have met Carmen and we will always cherish the beauty that she captured in these moments that would otherwise have been forgotten.
DAY IN THE LIFE session
We spent a wonderful "day in the life" with Carmen and could not be happier, with both photos and the experience itself! I think family portraits can often look cheesy or staged but Carmen captured our family in the most authentic, beautiful way. We look like "us" in every picture and I believe that's because we felt so at home with Carmen. She's fun and easy going and allowed each of us to be ourselves, flaws and all. One of my children is really aware of the camera and tends to ham it up, but Carmen captured many sweet and unguarded shots which are really precious to me. By contrast, my younger child shies away from the camera and can sometimes get lost behind his more dominant older sibling but Carmen did not let that happen at all. There are many wonderful shots of him too! We will treasure these photos like no others and look forward to spending another day with Carmen sometime soon. I cannot recommend her highly enough!
Aly
DAY IN THE LIFE session
Bay Area Family Photographer & Filmmaker