Manhattan Beach Portraits | Meet a Dietz Mother

This is why we love working locally. We got a call this week from Susan Dietz, she of the Manhattan Beach institution Dietz Brothers, seeking a new headshot. Just hearing the "Dietz" name brought instant smiles to our face. The legendary Dietz Brothers music store on Sepulveda is where the younger Graham took mandolin lessons for several years during high school, where teacher Pat Dietz always greeted him with a big smile and wealth of knowledge. He was more than happy to share music and books with Sam as well, and compare notes on the great mandolin pickers, like Chris Thile and Ricky Skaggs.
Susan is married to John, one of the two Dietz Brothers, who runs the music store with Pat. John and Pat also have a band that performs often.
Susan, a singer, needed a new headshot for career purposes, and we were thrilled to help out, and in our own way, try and return some of the kindness shown by the Dietz gang to our family.
And we think she looks fabulous in the above photo.

Manhattan Beach Family Portraits by Graham & Graham

It was our pleasure to meet with the Gross family on a beautiful Manhattan Beach afternoon, for a family portrait of the extended members of the family. We did the shot on their deck, which overlooks the beautiful Pacific Ocean, and used our Alien Bees lights, to illuminate the family, and be able to pick up the amazing blue sky. Thanks for having us over!

Manhattan Beach Engagement Portraits | Carrie & Tommy

On a balmy Sunday night in Manhattan Beach, on a day when the sun finally returned for a classic summer afternoon, we met Carrie and Tommy at the Manhattan Beach Pier for their sunset engagement portraits.


Carrie flew all the way out from Iowa for the photo session--she and Tommy are getting hitched in January in Las Vegas (on lucky 7/11 day) at the Mandalay Bay resort. Tommy lives and works in Valencia, where the pair will eventually live.

Manhattan Beach Photographer | Beach Portraits

How do you spell cute? Try A-L-E-X-A-N-D-R-A.

We brought Alexandra to some of our favorite Manhattan Beach locations for a portrait that will be used on her sign-in board for her upcoming Beverly Hills Bat Mitzvah at Temple Emanuel. The "mermaid" shot under the Manhattan Beach Pier is one of our favorites at this iconic location. We showed to a potential client Saturday, and she called "A once in a lifetime picture."
We don't know about that, but we sure love it! For the image, we used one of our favorite new accessories, the Orbis Ringflash, which is an attachment that goes over the flash and brings amazing studio like quality to location work. We used the Orbis on the other two shots here as well.

Manhattan Beach Family Portraits @ the Manhattan Beach PIer

A few weeks we happily donated our services to Manhattan Beach temple Congregation Tikvat Jacob for the annual silent auction, with a Manhattan Beach family portrait session.
There's nothing better than giving back, and then getting so much in return, as we did when the lively Davidson/Kushner family arrived to meet us at the beach recently for sunset shots, full of vigor, enthusiasm and willing to do just about anything. Well, the above picture says it all. We've known Tamah for years, and she's always been consistent--"Don't take my picture! I hate to be photographed."
Something about the beach when the sun is about to set....changes everyone's disposition. The next thing you know, they're jumping up in the air and waving their arms for the camera!

Redondo Beach Senior Portraits | Manhattan Beach

This was something new--and fun--for us!



We met Margaret and her sisters in Manhattan Beach at the Manhattan Beach Pier for a senior portrait session. Margaret is about to graduate from Redondo Union High School in June, and wanted to have some sunset beach shots to hand out to the family. We were thrilled to be there for her.




Congratulations, Margaret!