Goodbye 2008!

As I sit here reflecting on 2008, the good, the bad and the sad. I resolve to not get comfortable with my accomplishments and raise the bar while reaching higher, to learn from my mistakes, and to never forget the words of wisdom spoken, & lived by my dad.
I also hope to post more often. I will definitely be posting more personal work in 2009.

I would like to thank everyone who gave me the opportunity to get to know them through my viewfinder and let me invade their personal space. I know sometimes my images are a bit Up close & personal. ;-)

Happy New Year!!!!

and remember if you plan on partying like a Rockstar...



Don't Drink & Drive!! Call a friend or take public transportation.

End of holiday special AKA Ring in the New Year special

Hello all!
Hope everyone survived the mad holiday shopping frenzy. As my gift to you I would like to give you the following:

From now until January 30th receive:
- 10% discount on any wedding or lifestyle portrait package* booked & paid for in full.
or
-If I have already shot your wedding or lifestyle portrait session and you would like to purchase additional products not included in your package, you will receive 10% off your order if placed and paid for by January 30th. This applies to family & friends who also may be interested in purchasing prints. They can do so by going to your gallery and entering the coupon code: newyear2009 during checkout

As a reminder I do many types of lifestyle portrait sessions: maternity, senior, family, femme fatale ( aka boudoir/intimate) and the much sought after Spunky Bridal sessions (aka trash the dress).

If you or someone you know is interested in a session please shoot me an email! info@marianamaya.com

*The fine print- some restrictions apply:
-date must be available
-excludes February 14th
-wedding and/or portrait session must take place between now and March 15th
-cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer
-package must be paid for with cash or check

And of course this post wouldn't be complete without a picture.

here we bid Santa farewell until Christmas 2009.

Merry Christmas!

Look Up!

Hello Everyone! It's a busy week! Some of you are at work rushing to finish everything before having (hopefully) a few days off to spend with family. Some of you are already off doing last minute shopping dealing with the crowds, full parking lots & long lines. Others of you are already at home busy with kids, baking, prepping, & cleaning. There's even a few who don't celebrate this season, however are still caught up in everyone's madness.
So what is your week like? I would love to hear how you plan on spending the second to the last week of 2008. Leave me a comment below!!!

Whatever your week is like... Don't forget to stop and look up, down and around you. You only live once!!

Don't forget to leave a comment on "Cans for Comments" below.

Check back soon.... Santa might arrive to my blog. ;-)

Here are a few images taken with my Holga on my recent trip. For those of us in cold weather let's enjoy a moment of summer images.







And of course, What would the beach be without anyone on it:

What is your first? Winner announcement!

I had originally posted the below in the comments area and then realized, maybe not everyone sees the comments so here it is:

thank you everyone for commenting.

Alonzo: the Hawaiian wedding dance is gorgeous. I have seen it many times and each time I get chills!!! Maybe you guys will share more public dances now..

Ro: Funny story! I think it takes a Whole lot more to make a church crumble. ;-)

Sonia: I think one of the most important things at weddings is having all your loved ones close to celebrate with you. I'm glad to hear everyone was able to join you and your hubby.

Tina: What can I say- I love mariachis!!!


Thanks you to www.random.org for helping generate a random number.
The winner is the 5th comment down!

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

5

Timestamp: 2008-12-17 00:57:17 UTC

Ro congrats!! please email me (info@mairnamaya.com) your mailing address to receive your Starbucks card!!

December 16, 2008 5:06 PM

Cans for Comments!!

Hi everyone! It's the last week of Christmas shopping! Yikes!! Has everyone made their list and checked it twice?? Well here's one item you might have forgotten... Give to those less fortunate than us. I know in this economy many of you are thinking things are pretty bad and you have little to spare. So I will make it easy for you to "give". For every comment on this post I will donate one can of food to Second Harvest of Santa Clara . All you have to do is click on "Comment" below this post and leave me a comment. The comment be about anything, a Christmas memory, a story about your childhood favorite toy, your favorite movie, or maybe a fund raiser/charity you have helped out/participated in the past. I will be counting up the comments and dropping of cans to Second Harvest on Monday December 29th, so be sure to comment by Sunday the 28th and tell everyone you know. Remember 1 comment = 1 can!!!

Many other photographers worldwide are also participating in "Cans for Comments". Vancouver photographer Kristel Wyman has a list posted here , be sure to comment on other photographer's pages as well!

What is your First... from your wedding day?

I am curious. When you think back to your wedding day. What is the first memory/image that pops into your mind?

Is it the moment you saw your future to be walking down the aisle or standing at the alter? Is it your first kiss as husband & wife? Is it the cake cutting? Or is it how drunky-monkey your grandma/grandpa got?

Or do you think back on your wedding day and instantly think of that one picture ..your favorite picture. IF so Post your picture I want to see. You can post a link to your picture in the comment area.

As an incentive for you to leave a comment, I will be giving away a $20 giftcard to Starbucks to one random commenter. Don't forget to leave yur name and email address so I can get hold of you if you win!

I will be announcing a winner Dec 15th.

I LOVE to travel! But I hate being en route for over 24 hours.

I walked in to my house Friday November 28th at approximately 12:30am. As I walked through the threshold of my house I sighed.. a BIG DEEP "glad to be home" sigh. Don't get me wrong I LOVE to travel! I am one of those people that will go anywhere in the world with or without planning.

However I hate long travel times and by long travel times I mean : I left my hotel on Wednesday November 26th at approximately 10:20am Punta Del Este, Uruguay time. We then drove to Montevideo ( about 1.5 hours away) caught a flight to Sao Paolo, Brazil hung out for about 7 hours in the airport waiting for a flight to Houston, Texas. A LOONG 10 hour flight later we landed in Houston, Texas where I had my first Egg Nog Latte of the Season. a few hours later we boarded our flight to San Francisco, California. as I stepped off the plane in SFO about noon I thought I'm almost home! But alas it's Thanksgiving day and I went straight to my family's house. A few servings of MEAT later (as if I haven't ate enough meat in the past two weeks to practically be on an Atkin's diet, if only it wasn't for the bread, potatoes and delicious sangria) and the usual round the dinner table conversation, where at least 3 different conversations are going on simultaneously, I finally headed home!

It's now Friday, November 28th 3:19am and I am thankful for the fabulous life I have had so far, however at the moment I am really thankful for my pillow top mattress and big fluffy comforter.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!!

How did you spend your Thanksgiving? I would love to hear all about it in the comments.


Here are two images from my trip.. more to come over the next few weeks.

I love these trees! they were all over Buenos Aires. Someone said they were called Paradise Trees.



La Casa Rosada (the Pink House) Palacio de Gobierno, Buenos Aires

Greetings from Buenos Aires, Argentina

Hello Everyone!! I am here in Buenos Aires. This is my first time visiting and I absolutely LOVE it!! Everything is amazing starting with the steaks!! I have had a steak both nights for dinner. I am sure I will come home 20 pounds heavier!! But hey you only live once right.

I don´t have any pictures uploaded SORRY, however once I get home I will come back and fill in pictures. I promise I have taken a ton already and I´m shooting both digital and FILM!!

Anyways, I will be checking email on and off this week. I know, I know. However good thing for all of you. ;-) I have received a 15% discount on canvases from my vendor and would like to pass it along to you.

Here are the details:

-Choose any size canvas. If you would like a square canvas of a certain image, email me your image number and I will create a square image. Please note not all images look good as a square format. I am happy to work with you to choose the perfect one!
-Email me your canvas size and image number.
-Your order must be received by me no later than Friday November 28th by 7:00pm to recieve your discount.

Bonus: If you order two or more canvases you will receive a 20% discount.

Talk to you soon!!

Emilio & Nanette: the Wedding {Second installement in the Trilogy}

hi Everyone!!
I am heading out of town in a few hours and still have yet to pack. Therefore this post will be kept short and sweet. Unlike a certain groom's speech, no names mentioned. ;-) But seriously his speech was beautiful and heartfelt!!
So without my usual ramblings.. Below are 3 slideshows. Enjoy!!

The Anticipation.

The Ceremony.

The Party!

Before I present you with the slideshow.

I just want to say EVERYONE sure knew how to party from Old to young!!

A little Angel has arrived!

My favorite thing about babies are their tiny little feet!! These little ones are so new they are still shedding a little bit!!

How cute are babies when they sleep?!!


This is one of my favorite shots, because it shows why this tiny bundle of joy is here.
Because of his parents love!

Website is back up!!

It truly has a mind of it's own ;-)

Website is broken.

Sorry everyone I am working on the problem. Hopefully it will be up soon. 

If you are looking for your gallery please follow the link below: 

Take me to the Client Galleries

Sorry for any inconvenience

-Mariana

NY

Was in New York last weekend!! I flew over to attend the Lucie awards. It was the best! Also to visit a really good friend, go to Doze Green's art show opening and EAT LOTS OF PIZZA!!

I'll be posting images on my adventures in the upcoming days.

For now just one image, this was taken with a Holga camera. It's my favorite camera. If I had to take only one camera with me on any given trip, hands down this is the one. My Canon 5D would stay home. Sorry Canon, nothing beats the Holga!

PS- if you would like to purchase a copy of this image. I now have an online storefront on Etsy with my fine art prints, or contact me directly!

Sneak Peek! Emilio & Nanette: the Wedding {Second Installement in the Trilogy}

CONGRATULATIONS MR & MRS LOPEZ!!!!!!!!!!!

(and the crowd goes wild)



I have to start by saying this was a SUPER fun wedding and HUGE. The church was packed. When I ran up to the balcony to take pictures I almost didn't fit!!

I did a sneak peek at the reception, so the following sneak peek is a few different images. I don't want to bore you ;-)

I have so much to say, Not as much as Emilio, the groom, but yes alot. So I think I will save it for the next posting.

For now I will leave you with this really LONG teaser.



Emilio wanted to start his new life right:
Clean shaven, good thing the Barber knew what she was doing- that blade sure was sharp.



My favorite brides are the ones who LOVE their shoes!! Hello, My name is Mariana and I am a shoe addict. I had seen these shoes way before the wedding date and I was looking forward to the wedding day to shoot them!! Here you can see that even the heavens were loving them!!



The dress was just as Heavenly!!



Nanette didn't need as much work as Emilio - she's beautiful, and has a smile to light up a whole city!!



Here comes the bride....Well sorta



Hanging out, guys have it so easy Shave, Shower and ... Wait around:
;-P
(image shot by my awesome second shooter Micaela)


The moment everyone's been waiting for:




Let's fast forward!!

This couple likes to party!! and i mean PAR-TAY!!

they sure did tear up the dance floor Right form the first dance:


and the apples don't fall too far from the tree:
the two boys are the cutest ring bearers ever... What is the age for "So you think you can dance?" because these two could definitely take FIRST PLACE



slowing it down:



No Mexican wedding is complete without the mariachis. And I do LOOOOOOVE Mariachis!!!



see it was a LONG sneak peek.

I leave you with 2 more...





Oh and yes there were more people than just the bride and groom.. the family is pretty big stay tuned for images of them.

Introducing K. Hobbes

I met Yan at my old day job in High tech. He had the (mis) fortune to be assigned a desk within a 6 desk radius of mine. Typically it's far enough to not hear the person sitting that "far away", however not with me- my voice carries. We quickly became friends and he was part of our morning mash up of random current event chats.
A year or so later he tells us his wife and him will be having a baby. My reaction was : "You're going to be a dad? That baby is in trouble??" Now I said this with all the love in the world - remember I mentioned he's a software engineer- they tend to get so focused they forget about the world around them.
I got an instant message from him late one night asking if I would do some newborn portraits. I was sooo excited, also it would be my first time meeting this little guy in person.

K. Hobbes is just a few weeks old. It was so great he still has baby fuzz on his long tiny body!



K.Hobbes is already King of the house!


















I saw Yan change his tiny little diaper and it was soo amazing. He didn't even make a face at the nasty poo. SO I take it all back. He is such a GREAT dad!





And Yuhi is just as awesome of a mom!!



This little one is lucky! He has been given great parents.



Thanks Yan & Yurhi for trusting me with your precious little one.