My little guy is getting big.  While I love taking pictures, I’ve got to make sure I take some time to watch this guy grow up.  It seems like it’s happening so fast.  I’m still going to try and take pictures of him every month.  Even though he’s definitely a mama’s boy, he’s always going to be my little dork.  Until he becomes a big dork that is, haha.  Thanks to Andy Suh for holding Orion in one of the shots.  And no, he isn’t the guy with the small hands from the Burger King commercial.  Just playin Andy, haha.

Here’s Lea again, another month cuter.  I told you you’d be seeing a lot of her.  Remember her last shoot. It was Lea’s Great Grandma’s last day in town, so we were able to get a couple shots with her as well. I was a little bit more fortunate this time around capturing the ever elusive smile. I found out that Lea loves compliments. I talked her up about her eyes and she was putty in my hands, haha. Not really, but luckily Dad was there to coax a couple twinkles my way. Anyways, enough jibber jabber, on to the photos. Enjoy.

Here’s a quick video of our trip to Oahu. We had a great time, but I wish it wasn’t raining so much when we were there. Luckily the rain stopped long enough for our friends Jane and Jason to get married.  Congratulations once again.  Anyways, enjoy the video. The song is “Never forget where I’m from” by our buddy Justin Young.

Oahu 2010 from Oliver Bentley on Vimeo.

So it’s been a crazy year, but probably one of the best years of my life.  There were tons of pictures and video that didn’t make the cut but I figured you guys didn’t need to watch a video for an hour, haha.  While I was putting this together I was having trouble picking a soundtrack.  My wife suggested “Eye of the Tiger” as a joke.  But then I started thinking it could be a fun little challenge.  I think it ended up pretty funny. So here is his first year in a nutshell. Enjoy.

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Orion Bentley Year One from Oliver Bentley on Vimeo.

You might recognize this this cute little guy from the first shoot I did with him and his parents.  If you did, then you’re pretty good, and a little weird haha.  But this was my first shoot with Royce, a.k.a. Rambo and he didn’t disappoint.  He was a little discombobulated by the studio lights but he was smiling in no time.  I was able to get some great shots and I’m sure I’ll see him again.  Anyways, here’s a few of my fav’s:

Happy Birthday Orion!  My little nerd has turned 1 and his mom went all out planning 2 parties for him.  One at Gymboree with all his friends and one at my parents house for the family.  Gymboree turned out great!  Everybody seemed to have a blast, even some of the grown ups, haha.  The best part was seeing him sitting at a table with all of his cute little friends eating pizza and cake.  As for the family party at my parents house, it was also a success.  Rienne tried her hand at balloon arches and there was tons of great food, couldn’t have been better.  Orion was a little moody but that’s how he gets when everyone wants to pick him up, haha.  Thanks again to everyone who helped make Orion’s birthday an awesome one.  And an especially big thank you to my wife for planning everything, you’re super mom.  Anyways, I put together a little highlight reel from his Gymboree party and I’ve included some photos from both parties.  Take a look.

Orion’s Gymboree Bday from Oliver Bentley on Vimeo.

This cute little baby is the newest addition to the Pearson family.  You’ll be seeing a lot her as we’re planning on taking pictures of her every month.  She’s not too big on studio lights so the shots we got in there were just so so.  When we went inside, where it was warmer, she loosened up and we got some cute shots.  The weather’s a little too cold to be taking the baby out for a location shoot, but soon as it’s warmer its on.  I like shooting on location more than in the studio.  I just feel that everybody is more relaxed and everyone’s personalities come out.  Anyways, we still got some good shots, here’s my favs.

You may remember this zany couple from their engagement session at Disneyland I took a while back.  Well they invited us to their wedding in Hawaii and if you know my wife, she really doesn’t need an excuse to go to Hawaii.  So the fact that our friends were getting married there pretty much booked the plane tickets.  Unlike our previous Hawaiian adventures though, we had an 11 month year old with us.  By the way, I’ve got to give it up to the parents out there who travel with their kids.  Let’s just say it might be a while before Orion gets to visit his relatives in the Philippines 14 hours away.  Don’t get me wrong, we still had an awesome vacation.  But instead of hiking and snorkeling, it was more of a culinary scavenger hunt.  Yea, I probably gained about 10lbs while I was there.  Giovanni’s shrimp truck, Matsumoto’s Shave Ice, Leonard’s Malasadas…..drroooool.

Anyways, Jane and Jason had their wedding at the Turtle Bay Resort.  The ceremony was right on the beach and it couldn’t have been more picturesque.  It had been a rainy week in Oahu.  It was even raining that morning, but the sun decided to come out and bless this couple’s wedding.  They already had another photographer shooting the event as I was supposed to be a guest but what can I say, I can’t help it.  Although, I did do my best to keep out of the way so the photographers could do their job.  I still managed to grab some good shots though.

Congratulations Jane and Jason, I wish you all the best.  Thanks for inviting us.  I hope these photos tide you over until you get the other photos from your photographer.  I’m sure they’ll look great, it was a beautiful wedding.

Went snowboarding for the first time in almost 5 years.  Oh how I’ve missed it so.  We couldn’t have picked a better time to go out there either.  Fresh pow as far as the eye can see.  Anyways, I decided to risk taking the 5D Mark II out to the slopes and I’m glad I did.  I came back with funny video footage and a few great shots of the scenery.  I’ve gotta remember to pack a set of thinner gloves to wear under my snow gloves.  My hands were freezing at the top of the slopes.   I tried using iMovie for the first time to edit the video and it’s actually a really cool program.  In the end, I think I came out of it with a cool video to remember an awesome weekend.

Mammoth 2010 from Oliver Bentley on Vimeo.

So although we loved his Orion’s unusual hairstyle, we wanted to get his haircut before his first birthday.  And we couldn’t just go to any barber, we had to go to one that looked good in photos, haha.  My wife did some research and found a place called First Cut for Kids.  Awesome place, tv’s playing kids shows, bright colors, and rocket ship chairs.  We got there early so Orion was able to watch another kid get his haircut first.  He seemed a little unsure but after he got into the cockpit of the rocket ship, all was forgotten.