Welcome to my blog, aka, some kind of personal diary I write to record my heart's musings and maybe entertain a reader or two and perhaps share some useful advice from my life as the tour director of a bustling Carnival Cruise, otherwise known as life with four children. By day (and often by night) I am a children's photographer. For nearly a decade I lived with my then rapidly expanding house full of stinky, messy, beautiful and nearly-perfect (tee-hee) off-spring in the San Francisco Bay area. Read the rest

Cuteness Overload

I’ve been shooting these twin girls for 5 years, and I swear they just keep getting cuter! … and a bit more sassy This photo shoot in the golden grass of McClellan Ranch Park in Cupertino was the perfect setting for this family photo session. Cuteness Overload from Anna Mayer on Vimeo.

Gallery of awesomeness. San Jose family photographer.

I posted about a session I had with some adorable boys whom I’ve been capturing for years now. Click here to see that post of cuteness. I was so excited to see what their very stylish mommy and I came up with (oh, Ryan, you get credit, too. :0) for using their latest session image. Of course,…

We’re partnering with GAP Kids in Los Gatos to benefit LLS!

This weekend we are partnering with the GapKids store in Los Gatos for their Friends and Family event.  Be sure to stop by between today and Sunday and use this coupon with your purchase.  You’ll save 30% off your purchase and 5% will go to benefit the blood cancer research at the Leukemia and Lymphoma…

More babies & more tats. San Jose newborn photography.

Remember my newborn with the beautiful parents with awesome ink? They’ve had their second baby! Lucky me I get to photograph them again and lucky you, you get to see. Here is the latest edition with his lovely parents: And here’s a flashback to baby no. 1 . . . And the latest again. He’s…

A pretty little flower. Portland Rose Garden.

Every (rare) once in awhile I photograph something other than kids or yummy soups. This photo I took to show my friend Theresa how to “see” light and to find the beautiful photo, even at high-noon. She and I spent a couple hours exploring Portland on my visit there last week and we stopped at…

From crazy-fun Milwaukee family session to awesome Collage Gallery.

Some photo shoots are easy. Some shoots are tough.  Some shoots are both.  This was one of those “both” sessions. When you’ve been a children’s photographer for over 7 years, you get to experience it all.  First of all, it was like 800 degrees. It was one of Milwaukee’s hottest days of the summer! Even…

A NEW Short & Sweet Session!

Thought you missed out on a Short & Sweet for this fall? Now you’ve got one more chance! We’ve just added a new Short & Sweet with Christmas delivery. Our Bay Area Short & Sweet Sessions have been booked up for quite some time now, but we just decided to open up one more session!…

Beautiful gallery of a beautiful boy.

When clients commission us for portraits they are not just hiring a photographer to capture some images of their kids and family, they are taking the first step toward beautiful art for their home. This lovely wall gallery was exactly what she was looking for when we began the process. Isn’t it sweet?

Pretty little ladies. Bay Area kid’s photography.

These sweet sisters sure made me smile. There was plenty of joy to capture! I think I have a photo somewhere of my sister and I playing piano; so classic. When I travel from Milwaukee to San Jose for photo sessions, I never know what kind of joy I am going to find, but I…

A beautiful union. My little sister’s wedding.

So, I’ve been saying, for some time now, that all of the “lucky” people who get free photos from me should start a “waiting forever” support group. No doubt, it’s a great deal to get photos from me without paying the full prices, but the price that gets paid is in waiting . . ….