MEF Photography Blog! bio picture
  • Hello, friend! :D

    Welcome, welcome! That's me over there. < -- I'm Molly, a San Francisco Bay Area-based photographer. I adore weddings, families and portraits, but my cat, food and house get a lot of my attention, too! I'm married to my very best friend, and we sing to each other a lot. I'm a mid-century modern home dweller. I'm always working, working, working to be better at life (a never-ending battle!). I get a kick out of simplicity, tea, bright colors, ice cream, cooking, sarcasm and books -- among other things. I love me some good, authentic, giggly love. And I love making people feel lovely in the midst of their good, authentic, giggly love. And if that's your thing, too, I'd love nothing more than to give you some good, authentic, giggly love photos. :)

                   

General Sherman

What do you do when you’re a young couple, about to get married, saving to buy a house in an unbelievably expensive market, and nowhere near ready to have kids?  You adopt a pet!

Glen and I have been talking for a long time about wanting to add another being to our home.  For awhile, we’ve had our hearts set on a dog, but our current city-sized and city-situated apartment wouldn’t make for much of a home for a growing puppy.  Honestly though, this didn’t break my heart, because — and if you know me, you already know this — I’ve been gunning for a cat, which would fit perfectly in our little one-bedroom abode.

So together Glen and I spent the last couple of months combing local shelters, and meeting foster cats around the bay.  I didn’t think finding the right cat would be a terribly involved process, but then again every other cat I’ve ever owned has simply fallen into my life unexpectedly and worked out great.  But you know what?  There are a lot of not great cats out there (although I admit I cooed at ALL OF THEM).  And even worse, there are a LOT of WACKO shelters (one of which wanted us to sign a document saying that if they broke into our house to retrieve our animal, it couldn’t be considered trespassing — WAIT. WHAT?! Um, no thanks.). Consequently, many man hours went in to the selection of  our new pet.  He’s been around for about a month now, and frankly he’s pretty dang awesome.

Of course, as I typed that he bit my forearm.  Right.

I have this thing where I feel compelled to name my pets after ex Presidents and Vice Presidents, and this guy was no exception. So, without further ado, allow me to introduce you to our new cat: General James S. Sherman Tiburón De La Cama Von Wamsley.  Sherman for short.  (Or, when he’s going particularly crazy as we’re trying to fall asleep, the name of a certain German dictator. Ahem.)  In this case, he’s (loosely) named after James S. Sherman, the 27th Vice President of the United States under Howard Taft.  “General” because he attacks toy mice with military precision, and because he’s already getting fat. “Von Wamsley” as a nod to a hilarious billboard we saw in Indianapolis last month, which just led me to discover this. And one day I might try to get a video of the reason why we added “Tiburón De La Cama” (Spanish for “Bed Shark”), but until then, just use your imagination. :)

I felt it my duty to share our growing family with you.  And now, he’s napping on my chest.  I think I might join him. :)

May 2011 Goals

Sometimes, you spend so much time imagining something — scheming, designing, planning out every last detail — that when it actually comes to fruition, it’s almost impossible to believe it’s real.  And more, that it’s even better than you thought it could be.  That’s how I felt as I was standing in a field on a beautiful wine country hilltop about two weeks ago, staring in awe at the lovely details that we’d put together for our styled shoot.  The four of us, Amanda, LaurelLeigh and myself, put together a day that I am extraordinarily proud of — and that shot above is just a small peek at the awesomeness to come.  I can’t share any of it just yet (which, by the bye, is killing me), but I have to say, sometimes really great things come from just a little imagination. :)

The success of this shoot has got me all kinds of fired up to make some changes in the way I do business.  One of which is not putting stuff off (a terrible habit!).  Hence me posting my May goals tonight, the night of May 16th, instead of saying I’ll do it tomorrow, which I’ve been doing all month.  :)  May always starts off with a bang, as my birthday is the 2nd, plus Mother’s Day, plus Glen’s birthday, plus we flew to Indianapolis to have our engagement photos taken, plus, plus, plus.  At any rate, there’s no time like the present, so here’s what’s on my plate for the greatest month of the year. :)

May Goals (April holdovers in italics):

  • Start with a personal trainer — Yeah, time to stop being a lazy slug :)
  • Get our engagement photos taken
  • Celebrate Mother’s Day and both Glen’s and my birthdays
  • Surprise Glen with his AWESOME birthday present and put it to good use — more on this coming soon!
  • Hopefully unveil the rest of our style shoot
  • Buy my return ticket for my trip to Connecticut next month
  • Adopt a pet :)
  • Finish my best friends’ wedding album — Their photog (not me!) totally botched their wedding, so I’m piecing together a nice album from guest photos
  • Repaint our coffee table — Turns out old paint is kind of gross.  Must get new paint!
  • Blog one back session per week TWICE this month — I’m a terrible blogger
  • Shoot a little film — Gotta hunt out a new battery

Completed April Goals:

  • Don’t eat out once in April — Okay, we ate out a couple of times, but only when we weren’t paying so… we still win?
  • Execute our beautiful inspiration shoot — Done and so freaking done :)
  • Reorganize all of our personal paperwork
  • Smog our cars so they’re officially California vehicles
  • Choose our wedding invitations
  • Plant my herb garden — My little sprouts are well on their way to harvest!

Don’t you just love springtime?  What are you doing this month?

Jake | Child Photographer | New Haven, CT

I’m going back through my archives, looking for sessions that for one reason or another never were blogged.  And this is the gem I found.  Check out Jake, potentially the most energetic kid ever.  Like, ever.  But I mean, come on, these photos are great.  Enjoy!

My FAVORITE.

April 2011 Goals

I’ve been meaning to share this for awhile now. :)  This is the view from our new(ish) apartment.  This is the reason the tiny kitchen and the leaky windows and that missing second bedroom don’t matter.  Frustrated with the lack of counter space?  Just look out the window!  Nowhere to put that extra set of towels?  But check out this view!

Yesterday I saw the sunrise from this apartment from the first time and oh. my. good gravy.  Who needs a home office?

P.S. Until now, I’ve avoided putting wedding planning tasks on my monthly lists.  But the wedding is now six months away, and I think I can’t keep ignoring all the details.

April Goals (March holdovers in italics):

  • Don’t eat out once in April — We used to be so good about this, but not since we moved
  • Finish my best friends’ wedding album — Their photog (not me!) totally botched their wedding, so I’m piecing together a nice album from guest photos
  • Execute our beautiful inspiration shoot (with tremendous amounts of help from Amanda at One True Love Vintage Rentals and Laurel with Esla Events)
  • Reorganize all of our personal paperwork — Everything got shuffled in the move
  • Smog our cars so they’re officially California vehicles
  • Choose our wedding invitations
  • Repaint our coffee table
  • Blog one back session per week — I’m a terrible blogger
  • Plant my herb garden — It’s an unbelievably beautiful day; I’m doing it this afternoon
  • Shoot a little film this month — Gotta hunt out a new battery

Completed March Goals:

  • Hang a shelf — Actually, this is getting crossed off because apparently the hardware for hanging is… MIA.
  • Attend my first local photographers’ meeting– Loved it!  Going back next week!
  • Start and finish the planning / execution for a styled shoot to happen in the beginning of April — Soon!
  • Taxes!  — I cried doing my taxes, and I’m getting a refund.  Ah, the perils of owning a business.
  • Do something touristy and fun in San Francisco with Glen
  • End o’ the year accounting
  • Take new photos of Glen and myself

Glen | Marin Headlands Portrait Session | San Francisco, CA

One of the best things about moving my photography business to San Francisco has been exploring the area for new and lovely photo session locations.  And the Bay Area does not disappoint by any means.  A couple of weeks ago, Glen (aka my soon-to-be husband, aka El Husbando, aka Honey) and I drove up north of the city through the Marin Headlands.  The trick, we discovered, is to keep going past the initial crowds cooing over the view of the Golden Gate, the mouth of the bay, and the expanse of San Francisco beyond — just drive.  About five minutes in, the crowds thin, the view is just as beautiful, and you find these textured, colorful and thoroughly creepy old military forts that you force your fiancé to pose in front of.  Y’know.  For fun.

We are pitifully terrible at taking personal photographs.  Embarrassingly bad.  And we have no photos that reflect that Glen has become a Man With A Beard (and this beard is like, a year old at this point).  So, here’s my remedy for at least half of this problem.  Pictures of me?  Yeah, maybe after I manage a haircut. :)


This right here?  This is Glen in a nutshell.  This is also a perfect example of why I love him, in photo-form.

Well, that, and because he’s so dang cute. :)  (And this new B+W process I’m trying out seems to agree with him.)





Thanks as always for putting up with me, Honey. :)