All the way from Manila, we want to wish you a joyful and meaningful day. Thank you to everyone who has helped make 2009 a great year by sitting, crouching, laughing, frowning and otherwise posing on the other side of our cameras. Merry Christmas!

We are a husband and a wife who take pictures. When we are not shooting, one of us is a journalist, the other a piano teacher. This is the second incarnation of our photo blog, and we hope you enjoy the visual tour of our work. If you are interested in booking, please visit our formal web site.
Brooktown Photography loves good food, traveling, making new friends and going for long walks on the beach.
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Thanks for visiting!
All the way from Manila, we want to wish you a joyful and meaningful day. Thank you to everyone who has helped make 2009 a great year by sitting, crouching, laughing, frowning and otherwise posing on the other side of our cameras. Merry Christmas!

A couple weeks ago, Brittnee called us to ask if we still had time for a quick pre-Christmas session, and quick was all we had time for–we were leaving for the Philippines in a matter of days. But we set a time, the rain let up long enough for the sun to shine on us for an hour, and we captured some really cute moments between Jon, Brittnee and their daughter.
I’ve known about Los Jilgueros Preserve in Fallbrook for many years. It’s always been a nice place for a quiet walk, but this was the first time we’d done pictures there. Jon and Brittnee actually chose the location, and we’re so glad they did! We’ll definitely be going back for more!








OK, so this is something completely new and exciting for us. In the course of my (Tom’s) journalism studies at USC, I have learned how to record and edit audio, and have dabbled with video. Up at school, we were taught how to make audio slide shows to tell a story, and last week I received my first high-quality recorder in the mail. I have used it several times so far, including last Thursday, when Dori and I sat down with our 19-month-old niece, Lorelai (who has been featured here plenty of times before).
Lulu, as she is known, has been pulling new words out of thin air for the past couple of months, and her lexicon has at least 100 clearly identifiable words in it as of this week. In another six months, much of the baby talk will be gone. So we decided to record it, now, at the height of its cuteness. We missed a few words, to be sure, but we captured most of the sounds that make us smile whenever we’re around Lorelai, and we’ve set them against a backdrop of her most recent pictures, taken at Buddy Todd Park on Thursday.
Enjoy.
We have a TON of stuff to do before we fly to Manila on Thursday. A literal ton.
But we had the good fortune of spending an hour with our niece, Lorelai, at a park in Oceanside this week. We have an amazing project waiting in the wings; let’s just say it’s the cutest thing we’ve heard/seen in a long time. Stay tuned; it will be unveiled tomorrow.
Meanwhile, here is a glimpse of how we’re feeling this weekend.

It’s so rare to see rain here in Fallbrook that we almost didn’t recognize the sound of it on the roof, or the sight of puddles, or…

First of all, sleeping all day long seems like a distinct possibility in this weather. Secondly, a cup of strong coffee is just bliss. Having lived in Portland for five years, and learning a love of blustery weather, I spend most of my time in the winter sunshine of Southern California intermittently jealous of those of you who get to enjoy rainfall more often.

But then, when sunshine returns later this week (perhaps even tomorrow morning), I will be glad that I live in Southern California. Because–another lesson I learned in Portland–rain is best in small doses.
