HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I wanted to wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving! I hope your day is
filled with copius amounts of joy. :) It's a great day to
reflect...what are you truly grateful for?

God Bless!

WEEK 13!

Okay, so as y'all know, my gorgeous bride is pregnant with our second child, and is thankfully just about out of the first trimester! When we were pregnant with Judah I did not have a blog, but made a chintzy website (which is now gone) to keep our family and friends updated. But the times are a changin, and I'll be posting the updates here! So, to kick things off, here's a little status update (courtesy of AmericanBaby.com). We don't know if it's a boy or girl yet, but I'll refer to him as a boy...for now. :)

• Our little baby now weighs about 1/2 ounce and is between 2.5 and 3 inches in length. His digestive tract continues to develop as tiny villi (hairs) form inside the intestines. These villi will help move food through it's digestive tract. The pancreas has begun producing insulin, and all 20 teeth buds have formed inside his mouth. But of course, the teeth aren't visible yet.
• At the end of this week, our baby officially enters the second trimester of development. His eyes have moved from the sides of his head (Weird!) to the front, and his ears are in their normal position. He's also got reflexes--if you prod him, he'll squirm (although Gina still won't feel it), and his hands and feet respond to stimuli by closing or clenching.
• The ultrasound pics...coming as soon as my scanner is fixed. :)
  

A Toast to the Wedding Season...

This Sunday we'll be having a mini get-together for all local wedding
professionals at Scheid Vineyards' new tasting room on Cannery Row at
5pm. I haven't personally been there yet as they've just opened, but I
hear great things! If you're interested, please email me or better
yet, join the "Mike Steelman Photographers Group" on Facebook for the
evite link! See you there!

Stevan & Jennifer!

Hiya folks, I'd like to share a slideshow we put together of Stevan & Jennifer. They recently got married locally at a church in Pebble Beach. These two have been through a lot together, and it was a pure joy getting to know them on a personal level. With a persevering and joyous attitude, both Stevan and Jenni have a love that is such a treat to photograph. It's one of those loves that everyone around them can not only see, but can feel as well. They were so cute: on the first look they couldn't wait for the ceremony and couldn't help but kiss each other! Congratulations you two! I'm looking forward to a movie sometime soon. :) You can view it by clicking here!

Jenni & Stevan, Continued...

Here are some images (also in the slideshow above) from Stevan & Jenni's wedding. Please enjoy!




Classic!
An image that is timeless...Imagine 50 years from now still holding your spouse. Man I love what I do!










A beautiful carriage from the Monterey Bay Equestrian Center (montereybayequestrian.com)





And some favorite moments along 17 mile drive in Pebble Beach.

Thanks again Stevan & Jenni! May God bless your marriage with many many years of happiness. :)

Habits...hmm. What comes to mind is trying to break bad ones, though
trying to establish good ones is the other half of the battle. Take
for example blog posting. (Sigh). I am constantly thinking of a great
blog post and then, when I actually could post, I get sidetracked with
work or family. I know that your time is valuable, and I want to make
the best of it for sure. To you who follow me, I sincerely thank you
and am super eager to share a whole bunch of stuff with you. I have
pictures from several weddings now released, a cd cover shoot, senior
portraits, and more! Thanks so much for hanging with me and I'm
excited for some new changes happening...and new blog posting habits! :)

A beautiful Carmel sunset!

Enjoy!

happy monday

Happy Monday to you! Wishing your day is great. We have lots on the books today, and look forward to a busy week. Thanks to all of you who commented on the blog and emails regarding our new baby in the oven...I'm excited about another chapter in our lives!

Stay tuned for more blog entries this week with images... God bless!

SO VERY STOKED!

Alrighty folks, here it is. The good news that's been keeping us a little busier than usual and percolating for a while now will continue to percolate. What I mean is this: The Steelman Family of 3 will soon be the "Steelman Four"! Can you believe it? Yes, we are pregnant!! (Well, Gina has to do the hard part, but still). She's about 2 months along, and we're uber excited to welcome a new addition to our lives next May. I don't think that Jk has fully realized that he's going to be a big brother, but dang can he act! Check out the picture I put together of him below, and be sure to click on it to make it bigger. He's such a rad kid. I can't imagine how cool things are gonna be with another. Wheee! :-)When Gina was pregnant with Judah Kai, we made a website to keep our friends and family posted, and I actually got really involved with knowing the latest developments like fingernails growing, heart beating, lungs developing, etc. How exciting! This time around, we're gonna post it all here on the Tangents Blog, so please keep coming back and watch how obsessed I become with the progress. It truly is an amazing thing, this thing called LIFE. Thanks for letting me share my joy with you!

The Great Outdoors

Hiya folks! I took the weekend off two weekends ago for a family camping trip with dear friends of ours at Henry Cowell State Park in the Santa Cruz mountains. We figured we'd better go before it gets too cold this year. Gina, Jk, and I showed up last as the last minute to-do's pushed us way back into the evening, but we managed to get the tent up in the dark after some struggles. :-) But there's a very important fact I feel you must know: If we go camping, we go CAMPING. Nathan & Dawn and Sam & Ashleigh had some very cute little tents to keep snuggled in, but a couple of years ago we purchased the Steelman Family Tent, aka "The Ritz in the Woods". Man, did I forget the size of this baby! Our tent sleeps like a zillion people, has a ping pong table, pool, and an espresso machine! Hahaha, okay, so it's just big. I didn't really get a picture of the whole thing, but you can see that Jk found the doggy door, or whatever it was. He loved his own little entrance! Isn't he so freaking cute??We had a blast, despite the campground being under a red flag warning which means NO CAMPFIRE! (Can you believe that? Camping with no fire? augh.) My friends decided to do a very small fire for the girls and smores, because really, what is camping without any smores? Come to find out, if we would have been caught, the fine would have been around $600! (Can you see me smiling right now?)

After packin' up camp, we went down to the Roaring Railroads and snapped a few fun pictures. NOTE: THERE WAS NO IMMINENT DANGER WHEN CHILD WAS ON TRACKS! Just thought I'd let you know, just in case. Haha. Next time we're going on the train ride for sure. They had some type of harvest festival going on, where the kids could make scarecrows, fun silly hats, and what not. We ended this fun excursion with a tailgate party - Yes, we tailgated in the public parking lot with chairs and all, and devoured some mean delicious sandwiches and beverages made from grain, wheat, water etc...
It's a good thing to balance family time for sure, because at the end of the day, what is it that really matters? Who are you going to impress the most? Get out there and go camping. Or something else...and have fun!!

Happy Monday!

Yes folks, it's true...I am blogging! I seem to be in a cat and mouse game with the time monster, but I am on top of it today. I kid around saying that I need a personal assistant, but there is so much truth in it. Please don't get me wrong, my wife is one heck of a supermom, superwife, amazing, wonderous spectacular woman indeed, and a fantastic assistant in life, but I don't want to overload her or anything. :) haha. 

Anyway, back on track, in the attempt to post recent photographs, here is a senior portrait session I did for Jessica. She's the daughter of one of my early-on wedding clients and now dear friends. I love it when it comes full circle. To be the family's photographer is such a title that I do not take for granted. I've said it before and I'll say it again, what an honor. Go ahead, check 'em out.