Jack - Baby Portrait Session

So this handsome little devil is Jack. I shot his parents wedding in San Diego last year which now seems like a life time ago. I just love this job. I get to document the natural progression of life.
Isn't Jack the cutest? He's like a modern day Gerber baby..

Chloe & Chris - Married

Chloe and Chris got married in a church that I used to ice skate in when I was a little kid. The church used to be an ice skating rink years ago and as you can image ice skating in San Diego wasn't all that popular so it closed down. Southern Californian's like to to be outdoors as much as possible and we hate being cold.

Anyway, the wedding was lovely and I could tell they put in a lot of time and effort to make it unique. I loved that the groom wore traditional Indian wedding attire even though he is not of Indian decent. The bridesmaids carried lanterns with lit candles as they walked down the aisle, and the bride and groom put together a funny home made movie about Adam and Eve, staring themselves. All these personal touches made for a fun and vibrant wedding that I was really excited to document.

Slide show included!

I just got a cool slide show program to offer in my wedding packages and I thought I'd bring back one my first weddings of last year to show off. Jennifer and Joe got married in beautiful sunny San Diego at the Thursday Club. I just loved everything about this wedding, cool location, cool people, and very intimate. It also reminds me of how far I've come in such a short amount of time. I could have showcased one of my more recent weddings like the one in Germany or the one in NY, but one of my goals for 2009 is to be more grateful for what I have. I am definitely grateful to Jennifer and Joe for letting me document their wedding when I was just starting out.
So if you're looking to book a wedding soon this is one of the many cool things you will get from a Michelle Hayes Photography wedding package. That and a pony! No seriously, this is a great and easy way to show off your fab wedding to your friends and family. Who lugs around a photo album anymore? That's so 2004. Enjoy!

Jennifer & Joe - San Diego, Ca.

Yet another beautiful San Diego wedding. Can you stand it? I am so thankful that I am able to do this for a living and in such beautiful places!

Jennifer and Joe had a beautiful wedding at The Thursday Club in Point Loma. I didn't even know this place existed and I grew up in San Diego. It's tucked away in a quiet residential neighborhood with views of the ocean. It's a perfect venue for a garden ceremony.

Thank you again Jennifer and Joe for letting me document a very special day.

Jaime & Bojan - San Diego, Ca.

I don't think weddings can get any better than this one. Gorgeous beach location in La Jolla California, perfect weather, and a bride and groom who are full of life and deeply in love with each other. All these ingredients made my job of taking pictures pretty easy and enjoyable. Fingers crossed for more of these in the future.

Technicolor Dream World

So I've been out of commission this past month because my fancy lens on my fancy digital camera was not working. Fear not, the kind people at Nikon repaired it for me and it was under warranty so it all worked out.

I really missed being behind the camera though. I love the perspective it gives me when I'm out and about looking for something to shoot. It's like my mind goes into this automatic mode of positioning and re-positioning shots until I like what I see. But sometimes when you think your done shooting and you're about to walk away something tells you to stop and just shoot, no adjustments needed, and often that's when you get amazingly pure captured moments. I think this is also how most of us live our lives, positioning and re-positioning until things look or seam right. But sometimes we just need to BE, no adjustments needed.


These past few months have been a great opportunity for me to just BE and I have to admit it's been a dream...

A little obsessed with San Diego Missions

I previously posted about my arrival here in SD and how I love being a native San Diegan, yadda yadda.... So I went to the other mission (yes there are two) and took more pictures. I'm not religious but I find old school mission style architecture so beautiful. The crisp white walls contrasted with warm Spanish tiles set against luscious gardens of palm trees and exotic flowers makes you feel a world away.
Here is the last of my series on the San Diego Missions. That's all for the history segment.






I took this picture of the cross on the top of the bell tower and my brother informed me an upside down cross is sacreligious. I tried to turn the photo upside down so as not to offend anyone but it didn't look right and then I realized that would be altering how I saw this picture go down in my mind, you know like art. So the upside down cross in the puddle stays as is.

I heart San Diego (sorry New York)

I'm back home in San Diego where it's almost 70 degrees and crystal clear most days. Were else would it be this nice in January? (no I did not touch up the sky it was really that blue today... ok maybe a little tweaking, but not one cloud!).

I'm back home because I'm taking time off from NY and the fashion industry. I am no longer going to pursue my fashion career but instead follow my heart to what really makes it sing. I have no regrets about leaving the fashion world and so far I haven't had that panic stricken "what in the hell are you doing Michelle" voice fill my head. Maybe because I've been through a massive change already (by moving to NY and pursuing fashion with a vengeance) or maybe because this is what I really should be doing with my life and therefore it FEELS natural. Feeling is the operative word her folks. We shouldn't go through life without feeling or knowing what makes our hearts sing. It just leads to numbness and then we will never be able to recognize what's not working in our lives and be able to do something about it.

Today I visited Old Town, a historic state park in San Diego. This is the birthplace of not only San Diego but of California. San Diego is the first permanent settlement in California, where father Juniper Serra decided to set up shop with the first of 21 Missions. What a claim to fame! I really do love being a native San Diegan. No matter how exciting and intoxicating I find NY, or adore SF, I heart San Diego. Hmmm, is it no coincidence I have come back to my roots to start my photography career? Maybe it has to do with finding that authentic FEELING that has been missing. It's about damn time.

Some beautiful wood carvings for sale in the plaza shops.

Some colorful Spanish influences and a scary metal dude...

...and of course some Lucha Libre wrestling masks just as the first settlers wore while they built their beautiful buildings.