I have a long list of wishes when it comes to being a mommy. I wish I was a better planner, I wish I was better at following through, I wish I had more time with my kids. But one thing I do get right is reading with my children. I love snuggling up with a good stack of storybooks. Every one of my children is a reader, yay! Doing a least one thing right. 
No, there wasn’t a wedding, and I’m not running from the FBI.
When we moved our family to Milwaukee a little over a year ago, we thought a lot about how we wanted to approach running a high-end custom photography business here as we have in the Bay Area. Should we extend our California-based business, Images by Anna? Should we start anew? After a brief attempt as a single business, we decided to go the “separate” route. We took many of the things we had learned over the years, came up with some awesome branding with the little red balloon, and launched Anna Grace. We had visions of an established local brand that would define a market. We thought we were on to something really fun and cool. And we still do.
However, there are many facets to running a small business and reality was that trying to mange two distinct identities, especially on the ubiquitous internet, proved to be a much more daunting task than we had anticipated. I ended up feeling like a schizophrenic, with so many identities and “voices” that I almost stopped communicating at all. After much consideration of our personal well-being and the best interests of our clients in both locations, we have decided to merge our two companies, Anna Grace (thelittleredballoon.com) and Images by Anna (annamayer.com), into Anna Mayer (annamayer.com). We are taking the best of our ideas for Milwaukee and bringing them to our clients in California (you are gonna’ love the new tweaks); we are bringing the best of our methods and systems from California to our clients in Milwaukee and Chicago (lucky ducks); and we are bringing together a vast group of fans from around the country (we love you, too).
Now, if we were a big company, we would get all of the various elements in place, stage a big event, and “flip the switch”. However, that’s not really our style (or our reality). We’re laid back people trying to be the best for our clients and our family. Instead, you’ll see changes happen in bits and pieces, but other than the obvious name and logo change, nothing will change as far as the great service and awesome products you know and love.
A few things to note: due to Facebooks’s limitations, our page there will remain facebook.com/imagesbyanna , which works, anyway, since the ARE “images” by “Anna”. You’ll see our new logo showing up (just look for the balloon ) around town & around the internet. You’ll see some changes on twitter (@imagesbyanna will be retired in favor of @annamayerphoto). What you won’t see? Two crazy chickens trying to juggle two companies, 5 email addresses, 3 twitters, and 5 facebooks; not to mention 4 kids, a house and a new puppy named Oscar. Yes that’s right; we have a dog named Oscar Mayer and no, he’s not a wiener dog. (No promises that we won’t still be two crazy headless chickens, though, cuz those kids, that house and that puppy are not getting a rebrand; at least not this time around.)
-Anna & Brian Mayer
I love this project! Just so silly and sooo fun! This little man has been in front of my lens since he was just days old. Had fun capturing him and his big-sister in their goggle-get-ups. I will share her’s soon. If you haven’t sent me goggle-goodness, its not too late! Check it out.
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I missed you all last year and I am sooo excited to re-connect with all of my favorite Minnesota clients. I will be in Fergus Falls area July 18-20th and up in the Duluth/Iron Range area between July 28th and July 31st. Contact Rachel right away to learn about our mid-west special and we can get you all plugged into your sessions! I can’t wait!
July 28th- 8:00, 10:30 & 7:00
July 29th- 8:00, 10:30 & 7:00
July 30th- 8:00, 10:30 & 7:00
July 31st- 8:00, 10:30 & 7:00
*Note that the 8:00 am and the 7:00 pm are perfect for outdoor sessions. 10:30 am will be for sessions in your home.
*** If any of you have a darling with Goggles for my project, let me know! I can even do underwater sessions. Cool, eh?
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Love this family. Been photographing this little man since he was six months old. Now he’s a big brother and his little family is just bursting with activity. We had a great time; made some pizza, played guitar, listened to music, got tickled and then had a little snack (of yummy pizza a la Little Man). Ah . . . love my job. 
Click to continue reading “Life. Captured. Los Gatos family photography.”
Andy Z is a gifted children’s musician who has been featured on NBC’s Today show and delights the hearts of children and adults alike.He will be performing at 11:00. See you there!
Our son Isaiah is quite the little skater. He spends most of his time out on the sidewalks and the cul-du-sac riding his ramps and practicing his ollies. He plays baseball, too, but skateboarding is his true love. We are in the process of buying a house right now and in that house we promised him his own room. His wheels started turning and he told me he wants a skatepark room. LOL He picked out this wall mural in the Pottery Barn Kids catalog. It was pretty cool, but I looked at him and said, “Dude, wouldn’t it be even better if it was YOU?” So we struck out for the new, very cool skate park in San Jose to capture this “mural”.
Thank goodness we went when we did, because it was just two weeks later that he was back at that skatepark and came home with a crooked arm. He was at a birthday party and I think he might have ruined the fun! 
We went through quite an ordeal getting that poor arm back where it belonged. After many hours and almost three days he finally went under a general anesthesia to have it put back in place. He was pretty out of it for a couple of days after.
He is feeling much better now and can’t wait to get his real cast tomorrow. BUT, there will be no more baseball and no skating for six weeks . . . at least.
This little lady is a soon-to-be big sister. She had such fun jumping in puddles the day of her mommy’s maternity shoot. Still waiting for the newest little one’s big debut, so I thought I’d share one to give mom a little smile. 
