I didn't set out to be a photographer. I set out to be a mom — and somewhere in there, watching three kids change faster than I could stand it, I picked up a real camera and never put it down. First it was my own kids, every season and phase. Then the neighbors' kids. Then, by 2010, it was my life's work — more than 2,000 families since, newborns through graduations, some of them both. I came to this the way you probably found this page: as a mother trying to hold on to something that refuses to hold still.
Before any of that, I taught elementary school — the most useful line on my résumé. Wiggly toddlers, teenagers under protest, the father-in-law who planned to wait in the car: I've photographed them all, and gotten a real laugh out of every one.
Here's how a session goes: first, the picture grandma wants — everyone smiling at the camera at the same time. We get it early and get it right. Then all bets are off. You'll play, you'll pile on, somebody will tell a fart joke — fine, probably me — and that's when it gets real, and crazy, and joyful. That's the part I'm here for.
Hi — I'm Gayle. The one making the weird noises behind the camera.
We raised our three in Orange County. Then the twins arrived, and my husband and I did the only sensible thing: we moved. We're rooted in San Diego now, minutes from our daughter and those grandbabies, with more family down the street — three generations in one neighborhood, which is exactly how I like it. When I say San Diego is home now, I mean the fullest possible version of that word.
And here's the thing I know now that took me thirty years to learn — the reason I do this job the way I do it. I can tell you exactly which photographs I'm glad I have. And I can tell you about the ones I never took: whole eras of my own kids, beloved and undocumented, that live only in our memories now. My job, as I see it, is to make sure you end up with more of the first kind. So come as you are. Bring the wiggly one, the shy one, the protester. The good stuff is happening right now — let's go get some of yours.
These were never posted anywhere. There was nowhere to post them. They went in an envelope, then a shoebox, then a frame — and thirty years later, they're the most valuable things in the house.
The kids in the shoebox grew up...
But every stage of them is still in there — and watching them unfold, year by year, is the best thing we own.
Missy B.
Gayle is amazing! She is loving, professional, a little bit silly (which the kids LOVE), reachable, and just a great woman to have in your rolodex! I have referred many clients to her and will continue to do so! You won't be sorry when you book Gayle.... and she'll easily become an addiction!
"I use her as often as I can to capture all the milestones in my childrens' lives!"
