Here's Joe and Marcia, they started the weekend off with me last Friday afternoon.

(One of the hats I wear outside of my photography business is as an afterschool tutor for middle school kids in Mill Valley.) I have been driving past this particular spot on my way there for the last few months and love the unique angle of the Golden Gate Bridge. I tested it out on this couple and it turned out cute.

Joe is a naval officer based in Monterey and Marcia is his fiancee who had just flown into San Francisco from Georgia for the weekend. They are getting married in Pensacola Florida later this summer and I'm going to convince them to fly me out there.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SLIDESHOW

I have a cousin who is a Naval pilot as well and I feel especially grateful for Joe and Marcia's service and sacrifice for our country. Thanks guys!

This is Diana, she is a fellow "Big" for Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Bay Area, so automatically she is A-OK in my book. :)

She totally used my offer the way I had meant it and brought along her whole family for the session. It was a cute scene leading their three SUV's through the city with my little Honda Insight. . .

Originally we were meant to focus just on Baker Beach, but boy last Saturday the waves were kickin up a storm (Maverick's Surf Contest-style), and because I knew we had little ones I decided to go the extra mile and take them first to a calmer location. Good thing too, and I'll explain in a bit.

Hi there cuties!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SLIDESHOW

Woulden't you know it, the first thing that happened once we got to Baker was a big wave hit all 10 of us unexpectedly and freaked the little girl out. You cannot tell in the picture, but at this moment she was in full-on melt-down mode. (And this is yet another reason why you go with experienced, calm and cool photographers.) We got great photos at the unplanned Legion of Honor session, and so these parents still came away with great images of their family.

Your mission: Get two crying babies and 8 adults to pose nicely while waves are stalking our every move. Easy, right? :) You cannot tell here, but I was able to fix an imperfect picture by replacing the kids faces with better versions from previous moments. Also, the wind had Diana's bangs all over the place and that got photoshopped as well. I'm a miracle worker, and my prices are reasonable to boot!

Ah, Valentine's Day. It started off with a great Boudoir session that I'm not going to show you, and you'll just have to trust me that it was hot and the husband is going to be very happy. :)

That afternoon though, I got to finish the weekend off right with Alison and Chris. Again, Alison happens to be a Big Brother Big Sister volunteer as well, and her and her husband are weeks away from becoming parents.

Hey there little one!

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SLIDESHOW

My favorite moment. Lookin good you three! Some women can just pull off that 8 and and half month pregnant look like no problem, huh?

Here I asked all 100 people in the background if they would be so kind as to leave the area while we did our portrait session.

yea right. :) I was however, able to photoshop-out everyone but my couple, and the result looks great.

I get requests every now and then from women interested in classy boudoir images, sometimes for their husbands, but sometimes just for posterity's sake.

I take requests like these as compliments (one of my best skills is the ability to make people comfortable, thus allowing me to capture them at their best).

A fellow photographer asked me to recreate this type of picture as an anniversary gift for her husband. To prove I was up to task I needed a test subject.

"Hey love, can I take some artistic/hot and sexy pictures of you?"

"Um, o.k."

And this is what developed. . .

I guess this type of session was something Erika always thought she may want. . .

I just never asked, go figure. :)

The best part of this whole project is that it gave my fiancee images that she is super proud of. "They make me feel so pretty!"

I could not have asked for anything more.

I hope you see these images as I do: beautiful images of a beautiful woman.

Happy New Year!!!

(I know I know it's February already, sorry. . .)

Five years ago I started James Mueller Photography, and it has been the hardest, best thing I have ever put myself through. :)

Thank you to everyone who ever hired, referred, or supported my business in any way. All I want is to be of service, and I have been blessed with the gift of capturing your families and the people you care about.

Here's to another five years of sweat, tears, and photography.

Cheers!

During these long winter months, photographers get cozy in their dark rooms and hibernate. . . j/k, we catch up on all of the work we couldent finish during the wedding season. January was definietly about album designs and I wanted to share one of my favorites. Here is the album we created for Mercy and Noah, my super cool, super cute rock-a-billy-style couple.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALBUM SLIDESHOW

Erika and I love Bend Yoga studio in San Francisco. The owner, Heather, saw some of my architechtural/estate photography and asked if I would capture some images for her studio.

Anything to get my baby some free yoga class passes! :)

And by the way, check out Erika doing an awesome handstand in this shot.

Bend Yoga Studio

I'm so happy the Seidensticker family found me through Yelp. They hired me to take pictures of their 6 week old baby girl.

cuuuteee. . .

cuter. . .

I think every new family should have a picture that feels like this. Yes?

CLICK HERE TO VIEW SLIDESHOW

Sweetie, you are a star.

Megan said that this picture makes her so happy.

Anything to please the mom!

I was impressed with Megan and Chris' commitment to going to the beach. It was sprinkling rain while we were driving there but we stuck with it, and got some great images.

A true San Francisco baby and family. Thanks Megan and Chris!

Does anyone remember back to September 2008?

My good clients Jill and Tom got married in Palm Desert SoCal, and we finally got their album designed!

I almost fainted from heat stroke after their ceremony, but everything else was awesome. :)

CLICK HERE FOR ALBUM SLIDESHOW

Well hey, who's this cute couple?

That's Alison and Nate, they are going to get married at Poppy Ridge Country Club next October. (Two weeks before I get married!)

They introduced me to Sharon Pond in Menlo Park. What a cute little duck pond and walkway.

We originally just went to the Thornton Beach lookout for pictures of the view. But I convinced our crew that we needed to get down to the beach. It may look all honky dory in this picture, but that was steep. There were parts where we had to use ropes that were tied around rocks. :)

CLICK HERE FOR THE SLIDESHOW

That's their dog Riley. He was in heaven running around like a tasmanian devil. . .

Even though the climb back was exhausting and freezing, it was all totally worth it.

"These Look GREAT! thanks so much James.

Thanks again and have a great Thanksgiving!

Alison and Nate"

This is the custom designed holiday card we created for the Novi family. Cute, yes?

The mom here is Natasha and she works with my fiancee at Gap. I met her family in Moraga and took pictures at a local park and on the campus of St. Mary's.

Nice moment between Raj and Joshua.

cute. . .

These moments are great to me and symbolize so much.

CLICK HERE FOR THE SLIDESHOW

This is Miriam and Danny. They are good friends with Betsy and Glenn from last year's Ainsley House wedding. We met at that wedding and they just so happened to have been planning their wedding at Garre Winery, one of my favorites.

A special date place for them was the San Jose Rose Garden, so we went there. . .

CLICK HERE FOR THE SLIDESHOW

I convinced them that Santana Row would be a great second location. Apparantly they are all strict there about taking pictures. Walking around with my camera, we got stopped by a security guard saying we could not go. What?!

I'm sorry, but pretty public places have no place being restricted. A little quick thinking, some white lies and cajones gave us the opportunity to capture these shots anyway. :)

Worth the risk, no?

This was nice change of pace assignment. Steven Askari (I just shot his son's Bat Mitzvah) is a real estate developer. Here is his latest home, it's awesome. . .

Which staircase should I take today? :)

If you happen to be in the market for a multi-million dollar estate:

CLICK HERE FOR THE LISTING INFO

There is a movie theatre room, wine closet, 4 fireplaces, this kitchen, and blah, blah-blah, blah-blah. . . :)

This shot I'm extra proud of. It took a lot of patience and then hustle to get this one.

Nicole and Brooks got married at Clos LaChance back in 2007.

(Doesnt that seem like like a decade ago?)

I was so excited when Nicole contacting me saying she was interested in my Autumn Portrait Session Special. A total of two families took me up on the offer: we have to work on that number for next year everyone. . . :)

Well they had a super-cutie daughter 10 months ago named Olivia.

Here is a great father daughter moment.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SLIDESHOW

At this point Olivia was not having anything to do with her pink hat, and I think the fact that Brooks has it in his back pocket was cute. Congratulations Nicole and Brooks! I had a great time with your family last Sunday!

This is Christa and Jeremy. They live in San Diego, but love San Francisco, and so wanted to do engagement portraits here. After an extensive Yelp search, Christa contacted me (cause I'm awesome), and we made it happen. :)

She loved the images of the Palace of Fina Arts I sent her and so we planned on meeting there.

It was funny because they showed up without a car, and all I had was my 2-seater Honda Insight. Instead of having them cab it to diffferent locations, we decided to clown-car it in my little hybrid. Talk about getting to know people quick! :)

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SLIDESHOW FROM THIS SESSION

Awwww man, the restoration of the dome is complete and looks great! When I took this image there were probably 10 other people in the picture, but with a little photoshop magic, I was able to make it look like it was all their's.

They had emailed me this picture as an idea of what they wanted. . .

. . .and this is what we came up with. We ditched the cable car option but still got a super cute view of the Bay.

yes, they lucked out with the weather. Almost looks unreal, no?

It was such an adventure guys! So great to meet you two. Now let's talk about your wedding photographer plans!

Ginger and Rodel had a genius idea about us taking pictures at the Yerba Buena Carousel in downtown S.F.

Here they are, they are getting hitched in April at Garre Winery in Pleasanton.

This was the shot I thought of the second they said "carousel". :)

We spent half our time there with me on the ride with them, and then half with me shooting them as they whizzed by. . .

It was fun yelling intructions during each rotation.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE SLIDESHOW

They've been together since 6th grade. 6th Grade?!? Awesome. :)

It was a great and long (2 and a half hours and four locations!) session. What a sweet couple! I look forward to your wedding guys.

"Hi James!

We saw your blog and we wanted to correct some thing! LOL!! We've actually been together since we were juniors in high school. We just wanted you to know. You can correct it or not... whatever you want. =)

Thanks.

- Rodel and Ginger

P.S.

We LOVE the pictures.. so do our friends and families!! We had a blast during our photo session. We can't wait to work with you again on our wedding day."

James Mueller Photography is running a family portrait special for the month of October.

(note: the session does not have to be in a pumpkin patch, but it's a cute idea, yes?)

Have the best ChristmaHanuKwanza-cards in your family! :)

Danielle and Tim's wedding day started in the Sunset district of San Francisco at Danielle's parent's home. The Pacific Athletic Club in Redwood City was our destination, but along the way we stopped by Twin Pines Park, The Oracle buildings in Redwood Shores, and then also the Hotel Sofitel.

Thank you Hotel Sofitel for letting us wedding crash and just use you for pictures. :)

To view the slideshow from this wedding:

CLICK HERE TO VIEW SLIDESHOW

To view all 500 images from this wedding:

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE WEDDING IMAGES AND ACCESS THE ONLINE ORDERING SITE

All day Tim was reminding me that he wanted a lot of panoramic pictures in his album. This one will look great. . .

Tim has a very calm and cool demeaner. I wish you could have been there when he got all emotional and teared up while Danielle spoke her vows.

I dont think I will cry at my wedding.

Much.

:)

Congratulations Danielle and Tim!

Back to school time, and I'm so glad to get the chance to work with iClickSmiles again taking pictures of little ones.

The schools and the parents love the photojournalistic style coverage, but this time we also incorporated some natural light backdrop options. I still think we provide something next level compared with most school photography.

This guy was the loud laughing nothing-but-trouble type, but man he was good at posing. . .

In spring I shot this school by myself and I was super stoked to see a hallway full of 16x20 prints of the images I had captured. It always is a treat to see my work out in the real world.

"Hey James, take our picture now!"

How funny, when your being bossed around by a group of three sassy 4-year-olds. . .

It's probably more fun than most jobs though,

so i totally count my blessings. . . :)

My Novemeber 2008 bride Rachelle Hepburn shared her wedding story and experience with Offbeat Bride along with some of the images I captured.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE POSTING

Thanks Rachelle for the positive online shout out!

This is my future cousin in law two times removed. :)

Jessica and Brian Miller got married in Columbus Ohio last weekend at North Park Pavilion.

Brian is my Erika's cousin. Here is Jessica and her cousin Mandy striking a pose. . .

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE WEDDING SLIDESHOW

There was definitely a little Captain in everybody by the end of the night. Arrrrrg!!!

How pretty is Columbus' skyline?

It rained before the wedding, and it stormed during the reception. But it also gave us views like these. . .

nice legs guys. :p

CLICK HERE TO VIEW ALL 440 IMAGES

Congrats Brian and Jessica! Next time you are in S.F. we'll hit up Calistoga Wineries together. . . I loved visiting Ohio, thank you for getting us out there!