My newly remodeled Studio!

 

I’ve been super busy for the past 2 months remodeling my home studio.  While I liked the space before, the floors and walls were both in need of some work and I was ready for a change.  So, we decided to change pretty much everything.  We started with having a flooring company come in and take out the old floors and install the new light gray laminate floors, they are called “Beachfront” and look and feel like wood.  Then we painted the walls a nice neutral gray as I wanted something that would show off all the beautiful frames and photo samples that I display.  I also ended up priming and painting my old beechwood laminate Ikea pieces white to give them a fresh modern look.  For the large wall in the studio, I wanted something that would also look great with frames and something that I could use as another backdrop in the studio.  We used plywood from Home Depot which was cut into 8 inch strips.  I then stained and whitewashed them and my husband rented a tall ladder and nail gun and installed them on the wall.  Once that was all done, I added lots of fun finishing touches and pops of color including new curtains, a small chaise and a gumball machine which I painted to match the room.  I love the way everything turned out especially how light and bright it is and love my work-space even more now!  If you are in the neighborhood, stop by and visit!

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Senior sessions

Are you getting ready for your Senior year in high school?  If so, and you live in San Diego, this video is for you!

My home studio – a few more details

Here are some more photos of my home photography studio. I like to use different areas of my home that are visible to all visitors to showcase my photography as well as some of the really awesome products that I offer. I also think it is really important to make people feel welcome and give them the reassurance that they are at the right house when they show up!

Our living room is a shooting area as well as a place to do client viewing sessions on the projection screen.

Color and trim samples from Organic Bloom and Wild Sorbet who offer some amazing custom frames!

My boys! My sons and my husband all at around the age of 6 months. In a beautiful triple frame by Organic Bloom.

A great way to display many of the local magazines that I photograph for.

One of my many antique cameras – just for fun!

Photo cubes by Artsy Couture.

Beautiful girls!

Yesterday, my daughter and I headed out to the canyon to play around with a few ideas we had seen recently. She got dressed up, invited a friend and her sisters and I had some gorgeous models to photograph! Check out the beautiful eyes on these girls!

My Home Studio – A peek inside

I thought you might want a peek inside my home studio space. We added a room to our home about 11 years ago to use as a home office. For many years that was it’s primary function complete with a HUGE desk and space for the kids to color and do art projects. Once I started my business I began taking over the room bit by bit until it became a space just for me to work and shoot in. I am very fortunate to have really high ceilings and lots of great natural light. The room is pretty small, about 158 square feet, and is perfect for shooting newborns, kids, individuals and small families. As you can see, I use every square inch of it for storage or display! I also use the space to work, edit and meet with clients. When I need more space or options, I can use my Backyard Studio, which we put in about 2 years ago. You can see some pics by checking out this blog post – https://zeenagregg.wordpress.com/2011/08/30/my-new-backyard-photography-studio/.

New Music

If you had a chance to check out my website recently, you may have noticed the new music. The songs are from a young local artist, James Morris, who is only 18! James has already recorded 3 CDs, written a couple of books and he gives back to several organizations including The GINA FOUNDation for Missing Persons and the Alicia Project, among others. He is what my kids would call an “Overachiever” in an effort to not make themselves look so bad!!! I had the opportunity to photograph James for a recent issue of 92130 Magazine and got some great shots of him doing what he loves to do. Seriously though, every time he was waiting for me to set up the next shot or decide what angle I was going to use he would start playing the guitar and singing.

New Look!

Every year when I get back from WPPI (Wedding and Portrait Photographers International which holds their huge conference in Las Vegas every year), I come back energized and full of new ideas for my business. This year, I’ve been busy updating a few things including the look of my website, blog and some marketing materials. I love it when everything comes together like that! I’d love it if you could check out my new and improved website and tell me what you think!

Newborn Baby Sessions – Baby Isabella

A few weeks ago I was able to travel to San Francisco to visit my cousin and his wife and their beautiful new baby! Baby Isabella was just about 4 weeks old when I went to visit and we had lots of fun doing her photo shoot over a couple of days as I was staying with them. They live in a gorgeous old home in San Francisco which served as the perfect backdrop for our newborn session. Since she was a little older than many of the newborns I photograph, we were able to get a lot of shots with her big beautiful eyes open and alert! She is an amazingly good baby who rarely cries and was very content to let us pose her in lots of fun shots.

Photos of Back to School Party

Here are a few photos from my Backyard Studio Back to School party and open house. We had fun decorating with a vintage “back to school” theme complete with school signs, lots of candy and kid friendly food from the “cafeteria”! The playhouse became our school house with homework on the chalkboard, desks and chairs to sit in and lots of fun facts on the walls. We decorated with backpacks, notebooks, pencils, a colorful banner and painted signs that my kids helped to make. There were lots of activities for the kids including hopscotch, bowling, Twister, Connect4, carrom, checkers, a ring toss, jump ropes and coloring pages for the little ones.

Hot Air Balloon Ride in Del Mar

Yesterday, my husband and I got to do something I’ve been wanting to do for a really long time!  What a wonderful anniversary gift from my parents!

Here’s the balloon basket on the trailer at our meeting spot in Del Mar.  This basket holds 18 passengers and is the largest one in Southern CA!

Our pilot filling up the balloon for takeoff?  I’m getting a little worried, I thought the balloon would be a little bigger!

This is how they determine the direction of the winds!  This was the second of 2 balloons let go so our pilot could decide on our launching location.

Here we are at our launching area – somewhere in Encinitas.  The basket weights 750 pounds – these guys are about to get a good workout!

Getting ready to spread out the balloon on the tarp.

The basket has to be tipped over while the balloon is filling with air.

We are inside the balloon!

And finally in the air!

Lots of beautiful aerial views of San Diego. Checkout the shadow of our balloon in this photo!

Awesome shot of the inside of the balloon while up in the air.

The center of the balloon being pulled in right before they start to deflate it.

We had a slightly bumpy but safe landing and are now on the ground watching the ground crew deflate the balloon and put everything back together! What a fun experience!