This face may be familiar- or maybe not since she has changed so much over the past 11 months. Mia celebrated her first birthday earlier this month and I had the pleasure of joining the family again to capture this very special milestone. Mia is one of the happiest little girls I know. I had such a blast photographing her portraits and her carnival themed party that was held at the Griffith Park Merry-Go-Round.

Do I even need to write anything about this handsome little guy? If my readers are anything like me, they are going to get one glimpse of Adrien and skip right over the text portion of this post. I’m not offended one bit. Like I said, I do it myself. So I’m going to save my wittiness for a later post… one that doesn’t have such a charmer stealing the spotlight.

Check out the premier fusion video for Celebration Portraits by SM! Which means we’re one step closer to launching the site…!

Untitled from Stephanie Miller on Vimeo.

Its been a while friends, I know. But I would only put my blog on the back burner for really important stuff… like being overwhelmingly busy in the best of ways. First of all I have to share that last month was my first WPPI experience. WPPI is the international photography conference.  When I say the international photography conference I mean the mecca of all things photography. My very own piece of heaven on earth… but ironically its held in Vegas. I took advantage of being a first timer and ran myself into the ground. I saw 14 speakers in 4 days, joined a few “tweet ups” (thats twitter language for hanging out), and even hit a party. Oh yes, it was a full Vegas experience- minus the hangover. But in all seriousness, it was a phenomenal experience and I took away so much.  Since I’ve been home I’ve been spending time restructuring my business and photographing of course. In the next couple of months S. Miller Photos will become a whole new animal. With a whole new name, a brand spanking new website, the most luxurious products and a complete experience that will knock your socks off. I can’t wait for the big launch!

In the mean time, check out a little sneak peak of the first session I photographed for my new site… and a glimpse at the new branding!

I’ve been preparing for this post for a while now. Just after Thanksgiving it hit me, its been almost a year. Almost a year since I picked up my first DSLR. Almost a year since I decided to take a leap of faith. Almost a year since I’ve been living my dreams. When I started on this journey it seemed like there was infinite space ahead of me, almost like a black hole. I wasn’t sure what was going to amount from this experiment. I didn’t really know if I could be “good enough” to keep up with the billions of other photographers in LA. I didn’t know if I could survive in a business by myself. But as December comes to a close, I can’t deny that I’ve come a long way. In my opinion success is measured by happiness, which means I’m doing pretty darn good! I am beyond excited for 2011. Cheers to the new year!

Here’s a stroll down memory lane…

Chiara’s 3rd Birthday. My very first shoot. I was excited, and nervous, and completely exhausted by the end. I have never seen so many children running around in circles. And these were children from the school I where I was teaching at the time. Definitely felt like being thrown in the lion’s den.

Monique. I told Monique I wanted to practice shooting techniques. I didn’t let her put on makeup, we ended up shooting for 2 hours, then I put the images on my blog. She wasn’t happy, but can you blame me!? Some people just don’t know how naturally beautiful they are.

Jeff’s 40th Birthday. Julie discovered I was a photographer at Chiara’s party and enlisted me for her husband’s surprise party on the spot. The details of this party were absolutely fabulous and I’m still planning to do my own version of the shindig for my hubby in a couple of years.

The Photog Shootout. My first crack at weddings in the most appropriate setting- a workshop. I loved this experience and got some great images from it as well!

Laura & Billy’s wedding. Many of you remember the creativeLive Jasmine Star webcast I attended in Seattle. This was a surreal experience which really helped to launch my career. This image was so special to me, because of the 7 photographers shooting this wedding, I was the only one with this image.

Cerina is an aspiring entertainer. She’s a magnet to the lights, camera and action. We decided to do portrait style head shots to highlight her true personality, youth and beauty.

Yvette wanted portraits to commemorate her last year in her 20′s. She and her husband were planning to start a family around this time and Yvette actually found out she was pregnant a week after we took these photos! I still get chills!

Madden’s christening was the beginning of my sweet tooth. My sweet tooth for photographing baby cheeks, and lips, and fingers and toes…

Sonny and Maggie’s wedding was my first wedding I booked for myself and shot by myself. It turned out great, but I will never try to be Superwoman again.

Tracy and Cameron are my photo BFFs. But that only happened after we had a fun and fabulous engagement session at our alma mater CSUN. I’m so grateful to know wonderful people.

Mia Natalia was just 3 weeks old when we did her newborn session. Just after this shot Mia was introduced to the pacifier for the first time and we had a calm quiet baby. But I’m so glad I got this shot first!

Karly’s 6 month photos were definitely of the experimental nature, but she was very patient throughout the entire process. I love how pure this image feels.

Aneesah’s portrait session was a party! For real. There was music, drinks, fabulous shoes and accessories all over the place. It was like a small glimpse into my future studio space.

The Hill’s Family session was a last minute, just before Thanksgiving dinner race to find good light. It was difficult, but we got a few keepers.

Nina and AJ’s wedding. I was the second shooter for this wedding, but I stylized a few shots for my own portfolio. I like using chairs and sofas as props, but by far this is my favorite sofa ever!

The last event of the year was the Shootsac holiday party. I might try to make it a tradition to shoot a holiday party at the end of every year.

Thank you for joining me on this journey and I wish everyone a happy, healthy, prosperous 2011!

At first I was nervous about volunteering to photograph the Shootsac holiday party because everyone who was going to be there was a photographer. What if I did something wrong? Were people going to critique me on the spot? What if everyone’s camera phone images turned out better than mine?? See the pressure I was under? But then I thought about it, I know what I’m doing and what could really happen that could possibly ruin my career? Nothing. I started to think of it as my big Grammy performance moment. The moment I dreamed of since I was a little girl. Except with a camera instead of a microphone. I still had doubts on the way, like at about the 2 hour mark of my commute down to the OC on a Friday afternoon… and the tree hour mark when I was really regretting the large lemonade from Hot Dog on a Stick that I downed just before hitting the road.

Jessica Claire hosted this year’s party at her home. Besides being a fabulous photographer and the inventor of the Shootsac, she also gives Martha Stuart a run for her money. I want to be Jessica when I grow up. Seriously, I don’t know how she has time to make her home took like a page out of Elle Decor on top of everything else. But I’m not complaining, there were lots of yummy details for me to capture! My fav! Even if it does take me 3 hours to get down to the OC, I’ll probably make the Shootsac party an annual tradition. Especially if SoCal Santa comes back to visit! Click here to see who was on Santa’s naughty and nice list!

****UPDATE: I’m officially calling it a VACATION! I will be away from the computer for the next few days so if you’d like a copy of your image please visit my online gallery. Merry Christmas to all and HAPPY SUNSHINE!!

****UPDATE: I’m officially calling it a VACATION! I will be away from the computer for the next few days so if you’d like a copy of your image please visit my online gallery. Merry Christmas to all and HAPPY SUNSHINE!!

This job seriously gets better and better every single day. This past weekend I had the pleasure of celebrating life with a few ladies in Downtown LA… and when I say celebrating I mean having a good ole time just because. Aneesah contacted me to do a special portrait session for a special someone. Now I’m not one to spoil surprises, so I’m going to leave it at that. But honestly, I don’t think I need to say much more after you see these images.  With a few friends along as the style/hype crew and an iPod full of jams, the time flew by. At the end of the day we ended up with some stunning shots and a plan to do it all over again with a few more friends in the near future.

Let the celebrating begin with the saucy shoes!

This color looked amazing on Aneesah!

Now this is a girl who loves life!

The sun began to set between the buildings and I nearly died over this lighting situation. GORGEOUS.

Aneesah has an old school, slow-jams-in-the-car kind of vibe to her, so I thought I’d end with a little grain and her beautiful smile.

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Wait, what? Its Friday? Already!? Last weekend I shot two events. Solo. And I’m pretty sure that one-two punch had me out for a good minute because I have no idea where the week is gone! So now here I am scrambling to get 2 events finished before this weekend’s shenanigans, uh, I mean shoot. In all seriousness, I am happy to be busy and blessed to have wonderful clients and family who keep me busy! Last week we celebrated the birthday of the youngest looking 50 year old I have ever known. Debbie is a dear friend to our family, and in my clan good friends are pretty much family. Despite the fact that I cried through her wedding when I was a year old, she still took care of me though college and somehow always has good things to say about me. Debbie is a wonderful person with a gigantic heart of gold. For her big 50th celebration Debbie’s family and friends collaborated to surprise her with a dinner and dancing soiree at The Reef in Long Beach.

The Reef has the most beautiful scenic views of the Long Beach harbor. I actually thought about getting married here.

Waiting… and waiting for the guest of honor to arrive.

SURPRISE!

A special musical performance by Debbie’s goddaughter Felishia.

Debbie, I hope this was the best birthday yet!

I made it out alive. I don’t know what I was thinking when I agreed to doing two events in the same weekend without any help, but somehow I pulled it off. Fortunately the florists and the pastry chefs were amazing people who do amazing work and made my job a whole lot easier. The only problem is now I want to be a florist and a pastry chef so I can make beautiful and tasty decorations! Can’t you just see it, S. Miller | photographer | florist | pastry chef | and I can wash your car too. Here is a peek at some of Saturday and Sunday…

Saturday: 50th Birthday at the Reef, Long Beach, CA

Sunday: 10.10.10. Wedding {Maggie & Sonny}, Westridge Golf Club, La Habra, CA

More images are on the way!

As Yvette puts it, this is her last year in her twenties and she wants to go out with a bang. I think she’s accomplished that. In her 29th year, Yvette plans to complete graduate school and begin planning a family, so she wanted to make sure she remembered who she was at this point in her life- before she moves on to the next chapters. I didn’t have to do much to coach Yvette on her shoot. She knew what to do and how to do it. I was basically there to push the shutter button and tell her how gorgeous she looked. I’m not complaining. Gotta love a girl who can work it regardless of how many randoms from the street are starring and snapping camera phone pictures from moving vehicles. Happy birthday Yvette. You are fabulous in every way!

Yvette had three incredible looks going. First up natural/boho…

Phantom of the fashionista…

I can’t handle how stunning this shot is…

and this one…

and finally the edgy golden grunge shots…

love your smile Yvette!

If you have a hard time believing Yvette is in the last years of her twenties, don’t worry you’re not alone! You are beautiful Yvette!