Gayla Elizabeth Photography - Los Angeles | Honolulu Portrait and Wedding Photography » family

The travelling family… Julianne, Doug and Donovan

gayla — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 19:52:28 +0000

He’s a financial planner…she’s a doctor and together…they made baby Donovan; this cute big blue-eyed adorable baby boy. This family / baby photo session took months in the making. Literally. Julianne and Doug (and baby Donovan) do a lot of traveling, so getting this photo session locked in on a date that worked for all of us was a bit challenging.A After many calls,emails, voicemails and text messages, we finally locked in a date this past Sunday. The Solorzano family was actually vacationing in Las Vegas this past weekend, and returned early this past Sunday specifically for this photo shoot. Yup, a weekend in Vegas…followed by a family photography session in Century City! Needless to say, little Donovan was a little tired; but we did manage to capture his personality and great smile. We started on his bed in his nursery and then headed out to the front yard. See the adorable family below…

Steffani + Alfredo | Street Maternity | Honolulu, Hawaii

gayla — Tue, 17 May 2011 15:08:17 +0000

When Steffani inquired about a maternity photography shoot in Hawaii, we talked about a few ideas that would be best suited for both her and Alfredo. I realized a street urban feel would be best suited for these two, since they are not your traditional photography kinda couple

. We decided to do the maternity/couple photography downtown and it was awesome! Steffani was almost 37 weeks pregnant when we did this photoshoot, so I wasn’t sure how far we I could “push” her without pushing out that baby! LOL. Luckily, she is pretty athletic and was in great shape even at 37 weeks pregnant. She was a total sport for getting up trucks, laying down, climbing stairs and walking for a bit, which made for some awesome and fun photographs. My style is pretty non-traditional, so I opt for some crazy things and locations

This couple came stylin’ to the photo shoot, sporting the GUCCI sunglasses and JIMMY CHOO bag, I came with my camera and snapped these two together!

We walked around for a bit and by the end, Steffani’s feet were uh……super swollen. YIKES. They both were super cool and a fun couple to shoot. While her baby was officially due next Tuesday ( 5/24/11), she gave birth exactly one week after this photo shoot to a beautiful baby girl, so a little over 2 weeks early. Congrats Steffani and Alfredo on your new baby!

Lilly + Tony expecting another | Maternity Photography

gayla — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 02:10:01 +0000

It’s all smiles for these two who are expecting another child. This maternity photography session took place a few weeks ago and while the baby isn’t officially due until late December, it looked like he was ready to come out when we were shooting. Lilly and Tony have a daughter, Isabelle and will be welcoming a son, Michael into their family. This maternity photography session started off at the home for some intimate pregnant shots of Lilly. We then made our way to the park which overlooked the Santa Clarita mountains just in time for sunset. You gotta love those late afternoon sunset shots. Not only was the sun glowing, but so was mom and dad. Both had smiles and joy oozing out of them.

This will be a little project where you can see the my BABY’S FIRST collection, which includes:

maternity session
newborn session
3 months, 6months
9 months
1 year portraits.

Children change so fast, especially the first year, which is why Im offering BABY’S FIRST to expecting mothers. Be sure to follow along and see how Michael progresses in his first year. Right now, you can see him in his mama’s tummy!

Lisa Vidal & the fam… | Santa Monica, CA | Family Photography

gayla — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 16:36:01 +0000

Be prepared to see one gorgeous family. Total GORGE. Actress Lisa Vidal and husband Jay Cohen came to this family photography session at Santa Monica pier with their 3 incredibly beautiful children; Scott, Max and Olivia. Oh, this is one cool bunch. Some of you might recognize Lisa’s son Scott Cohen from a couple posts I did a few months back; although, he has changed quite a bit over the past few months. He recently cut his hair, put some hours in the gym and is well…. even hotter and bigger. You can see Scott’s older posts by clicking here and here.

Lisa has been acting for years and currently stars as The First Lady on the new hit series THE EVENT, shown on NBC every Monday. While she plays the TV wife of the President of the United States, starring Blair Underwood, she is actually the real wife of Jay Cohen…and has been for the last 20 years! You’d think Lisa and Jay are still newlyweds….they laugh, they cuddle, they joke and they love. It’s awesome.

We started the photography session on the pier…made our way to the games and rides…and eventually to the beach. When you have 3 kids, it’s only evident they are gonna wanna challenge one another. So, when we passed by the “water-gun game”… (you know the one where you aim at the bulls-eye to get water to fill up the balloon and the first balloon to pop wins) they all sat down to play. Well, little Olivia beat the entire fam and won the prize, which happened to be a soccer ball. Haha. FYI, all three kids are amazing soccer players, so it was rather ironic. So what happens when your little sister beats you? You have a rematch…so they did, while mom and dad watched from behind. And… little Olivia won AGAIN! LOL. I just love it. It actually reminds me of myself, since I always beat my 2 older brothers.

Yes, always! Two soccer balls later, we were strolling along the pier, grabbing some dippin dots and then heading to the beach just in time for the amazing sunset. It was a fun family photography session, one that captures the personalities of the entire Cohen fam, right down to their sneakers, including Converse, Nike and Vans.. Okay, enough talking about how awesome and cool this family is… look at the pics below and see for yourself!

Don’t forget the slideshow for more at the end! xoxo

Hanging with the Cohens | Family Photography | Santa Monica Pier from Gayla Elizabeth on Vimeo.

Child Photography |Isabella and Julien

gayla — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 16:57:21 +0000

Beaches always make for great backdrops for children and family photography sessions, since beaches tend to bring some of the best smiles in everyone. I grew up around the most beautiful beaches in Hawaii and enjoy everything that a beach has to offer. From the clear blue water, to the white sand and the salt air that blows through the islands….Ahhh, take me home! Ok, so maybe the beaches here in California are nothing like those in Hawaii, maybe they are just “alright”, but they still are a fun place to take some children and family portraits. I mean there is something about a wave that makes a kid light up as they run for their life.

. Besides, most kids just love a wave, any wave that will chase them. They could care less if that wave is coming from the Hawaiian Islands!

Isabella and Julien actually live in Oregon, so this So Cal beach is pretty darn awesome for them! Little Julien has some serious locks and a smile that is gonna melt many hearts. Take a peek…

Oscar Winner Bill Conti and family….

gayla — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:31:14 +0000

Bill Conti, also winner of several Emmy Awards is a film music composer, most recognized for his original film score Gonna Fly Now, for the blockbuster movie Rocky, starring Sylvester Stallone. Yes, that famous song when Rocky is training for his big fight and conquers those stairs in Philly and jumps up and down with his arms high in the air, that one! You can listen to it by clicking here. This Oscar Award Winner and multi Emmy Award Winner has been composing music for decades to movies and TVshows that we all are familiar with including: Rocky, For Your Eyes Only, The Academy Awards, The Karate Kid, Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, Dyasty and much, much more. You can check out his full resume by clicking here.

This family photo session was done in Hancock Park,CA and even though it was a very “formal” setting (I mean check out his awesome suit!), it still had my little fun flare to the session. This was just a mini-session to get a few shots for them to send out with himself, his wife and grandchildren. Short…but sweet. His grandchildren are adorable. 3 boys from one daughter and 2 girls from the other daughter. 2 grandparents and their 5 cute grandchildren. Take a peek.

Family Photography – The Katz

gayla — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:29:40 +0000

Here are some photos from an absolute adorable family session taken in Brentwood, CA a few months ago. When I first arrived at the KATZ residence, little 2 year old Ryder was still asleep, so we started with his 2 month old baby brother Maguire. Upon Ryder’s waking, he was a little shy and decided to hide under his blankie for a while. The whole family hung out on the bed as Ryder “woke” up, and once he did, it was ON. The room was filled with love, then pillows were thrown and there was some laughing which produced the best smiles EVER. Some of you may recognize the KATZ family, since I’ve posted their family shot on the top of my blog when I did the redesign. I love that family shot since it says everything love.laugh.smile.

Soon after our little pillow fight, little Maguire went down for a nap, so it was playtime for Ryder and parents. Baseball, swings, motorcylces, tools. Even their retriever Cody had a blast. Here are some pics of this cute, cute, family. I’m going to start it off with one of my favorites, Dori and her baby son Maguire. Pure love…….Enjoy!

Sunday session – all day

gayla — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 06:42:33 +0000

I just got back from today’s session which started at 10:30am and finished around 7ish at the beach with a wonderful family. Yes, a full day session! Here are some quick facts: it consisted of 4 generations, 16 people (including the little ones), good times and lots of laughs. I will post more details later, but I just wanted to share what a great day it was. I had so much fun and was so happy to be amongst such warm and loving people… although it makes me miss my family even more. [aloha to all my loved ones back on the islands...muah].

I will be posting images of the session soon, but as I was backing up the images, this shot caught my eye and I just had to post it as the teaser. Just look at her face… it says it all. Simply adorable.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and here is to a great Halloween week!

The Treen’s aka TREENCO – Family Session

gayla — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:16:36 +0000

Here’s the story with the Treen’s. Lisa and Dave just celebrated their 26th wedding anniversary last week. [applause]. Their oldest son Andrew is a personal trainer at LA’s finest fitness gym EQUINOX , the middle son Alex is going to Culinary school to become a chef and their youngest, Katie just went off to college at San Jose State University. That is the Treen’s; then there is Haylee, Andrew’s girlfriend of 4 years. While Haylee may not be an official TREEN, she is definitely part of the family.

Katie happened to be in town for the weekend, so we snapped some photos of the family and had a great time.

The Johnson Family

gayla — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 19:30:56 +0000

Meet Jamie, Jesse, Lilly and Violet. This family of four decided to go with a home/park session, which means fun, fun, fun! We started out shooting at the house, where the girls got to relax and have some fun and get used to the whole camera thing!

After playing… and shooting for a little, we headed up to the park, where we had the best weather with a warm summer breeze. As the sun began to set over the Hollywood Hills, we were blessed with an incredible sunset and amazing clouds that filled the sky on this warm July afternoon. Baby sister Violet was the highlight of the shoot, as she kept me on the ball running after her! It was fun. Enjoy!