Rachel McNamara Photography

Jenny + Russ {engagement session in Yosemite national park}

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:59:32 +0000

Here’s Jenny and Russ’s engagement session from last fall. We started the day at the Ahwahnee Lodge, then we proceeded to explore just behind the hotel, and then a little further into the Yosemite valley. I really enjoyed spending the day with these two. They seem relaxed and fun, easy-going, and just plain nice. I can’t wait till their wedding in June at the Wawona Hotel. Here’s a few of my favorite images from the day:

Jason & Sher {engaged}

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 01:30:57 +0000

Here is the full post of Sher & Jason’s engagement session from last fall. I figured I actually better getting around to posting their engagement session before their wedding next month! I absolutely loved this session. Sher is a bubbly, crazy, energetic gal that I have known for quite a few years now. And Jason seems to be able to handle her, so that’s saying something ;) Together, they make a good-looking pair. Here’s a few of my favorites from their session, although it was really hard to choose. I wanted to post just about every image from their session, but I’ll save you a very lengthy post and stick to just these :

Karen & Dennis {married in Yosemite, CA}

admin — Wed, 09 May 2012 21:18:35 +0000

Karen and Dennis are very active outdoorsy people, so it was a natural fit for them to get married in Yosemite. The ceremony was held at the Yosemite chapel, and the reception a little later at the Wawona Hotel. This was my first opportunity to shoot a wedding in Yosemite, and I absolutely fell in love with the Wawona Hotel. It’s very Victorian, and has all kinds of character and history to the building. I loved the ivy on the outside and the vintage decor on the inside. I hope to be able to capture many more weddings there in the future. Thanks to Crystal Preciado of Preciado Photography for taking me along with her as a second shooter.

Here are some of my favorite images from the day.

Jason & Veronica {married at Sierra Meadows in Ahwahnee, CA}

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 21:24:15 +0000

This was a wedding I had the privilege of shooting with Crystal Preciado, of Preciado Photography last summer. Earlier in the year, was Veronica’s sister’s wedding at the same locations, so it was a bit of a deja vu to do it all over again. There was a traditional catholic mass ceremony, followed by a quaint reception at Sierra Meadows Country Club. Congrats to Jason & Veronica, hope your first married year is going amazingly. Here’s a few of my favorite images:

John + Cara {Married at Fort Washington Country Club, in Fresno CA}

admin — Tue, 08 May 2012 03:51:30 +0000

I’m excited to share with you FINALLY the day that John and Cara got hitched. They were actually married back in October of last year, but it’s taken me a long time to get around to actually posting this :)

I first met Cara for a consultation at Teazers, because I love tea, and I knew instantly that I wanted to do her wedding. She’s gorgeous, obviously, but also super sweet and genuine, and just a nice person to be around. Together, her and John photographed amazingly, and I’m sure they’ll make some pretty cute babies some day too! Here’s just a sampling from the day of my favorite images. Enjoy:

Brannon {Family portrait session in Clovis, CA}

admin — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:32:49 +0000

This family shoot is actually of some of my family! Meet Brittany, she is my sister, and this is her wonderful husband and family. We did this session in an Orchard in Clovis, where the kids got to run around and have fun, and we managed to get some good images as well. Here’s my favorites:

The boys had a fun time being boys, as you can see :)

Jason + Sher {engagement sneak peek} Plus one of the most embarrassing oopsies ever!!!

admin — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 04:04:13 +0000

I had one of the most fan-tabulous engagement sessions ever this evening. It turned out to be so much fun and I’m absolutely loving the images at first glance. But it didn’t start off so well. I’m incredibly embarrassed to share my super stupid rookie mistake that I made earlier today, and so you would think maybe I would keep it to myself, but for some reason I’m telling the world anyways!

The day started off well, I charged my camera batteries, made sure I had my notes prepared of poses and ideas, I had directions to where we were going, so I thought I was set. I met Jason + Sher for their shoot, we all piled in one car and headed off to the chosen location, which was about a 45 min drive. We arrived, I got my gear out and headed away from the car to set up my shot, while the couple got out and got their things together. I opened my bag, took out my camera, set my file size and white balance, checked my ISO and shutter speed, and then went to take a test shot. NO CF CARD! No big, I just forgot to put one in the camera right? So I open my bag again and look for my card holder . . . . and then I look, and look, and look some more . . . . . followed my some profanity! I HAD NO FREAKIN CARDS WITH ME! I still don’t know how that happened exactly, but I’m going to blame my 3-year-old, who very much likes to play with mommies big camera stuff, and who has been told many times not to touch any of it. But blaming her at that point didn’t help, we were stuck, I was stuck! And horrified! So we had to head back to the nearest town, where we found a CVS that had 4GB CF cards in stock, and then we headed back to the chosen location, once again, to start our shoot, 40 min later!

Ugh, I better never ever do that again.

Good thing the shoot turned out so well after that :)

Here’s a sneak peek:

Edwards {family photo session in fresno, CA}

admin — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 05:01:58 +0000

Meet the Edwards family. I had the pleasure of meeting them this past weekend for this family photo session. We met off of Old Friant road. The sun was golden, their 2 busy boys had fun running around, and oh ya we shot a few pictures too.

Here’s my favorites:

Kurt & Mellissa {married at Sierra Meadows in Ahwahnee, CA}

admin — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 03:39:52 +0000

The awesome wedding of Mellissa & Kurt was another event that I got to photograph with Preciado Photography. The colors were Lime green, with white and black damask, and they spared no detail. Even the bathrooms were decorated! I’m glad I got to share in this special event. Congratulations you two, you are very blessed to have each other.

Here’s my favorites:

Welcome Johnathan {A baby story}

admin — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 19:04:09 +0000

It was 2:45 am, when I got the word, she was at 4cm! So I got up, got in the car, and made the journey to Bakersfield where my new nephew was going to be born soon.

Not only was I so excited to see my oldest brother have his first baby, but it was extra special because I actually got to be in the room during delivery to document it for the excited new parents.

This was my first time in a delivery room, since delivery my own kids, and it’s a much more pleasant experience when you’re not the one in labor :)

Here’s a few images of the birth (don’t worry, nothing icky or sticky):

What an awesome experience for me to get to share in. Thanks Daniel and Armie for letting share in such an intimate moment.

Now, onto the newborn pictures that were a week later.

It took quite some time to get him to go to sleep, but once he finally did, he was quite the little model for me.

Here’s my favorites: