My name is Annie Tao. I am a photographer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. I specialize in lifestyle photography where you get to play, hang out, and be yourself. I capture the moments, real emotions and stories that occur during our time together. Check here often or subscribe to my blog (RSS feed) to see what I am up to or get creative inspiration. Thanks for visiting! 
I scoured through thousands of my client photos and pondered my philosophy on photographing people. What I realized was that my philosophy was incredibly simple.
Looking at all these gorgeous faces and families, my heart melts a little. I hope you’ll enjoy it. ~annie
Want to see more? Yippeee… here’s a video on why you should choose Lifestyle Photography.
The morning was so quiet that we could hear our own footsteps, soft voices, and pebbles splashing as they hit the water. The air was crisp, a nice break from the recent humidity. We were in awe of the serenity at the lake and watched the fog roll across the surface of the water. Ducks scattered from the long grass when we approached.
This scenery set the tone of our lake shoot.
There was a certain radiance in how natural the smiles and interactions happened. Holding hands, hugging, climbing trees and rocks, running along windy dirt paths, laughing about hot dogs on a stick… ❤️
I try my best to shoot in good light. After considering the location, time of the day, time of year, and weather forecast, the rest is left up to chance. It’s like rolling the dice. You get what you get, and you see it when you arrive!
This weekend at the beach, we started the morning with dense fog that covered the skyline. Later, we had golden sunshine and even pink haze. Looking at the images altogether feels like I’m looking at a rainbow of lights, and I love it!
Along with the carefree fun that is inevitable when you are barefoot at the beach, it was a wonderful morning with Olivia, Emma and their parents, Bau and Kristin.
Her name is so cool that my youngest decided when she is older (much MUCH older, thank you very much), she wants to have twins named Luna and Moon. After I gasped and grabbed at my chest from hearing my kid bring up the topic of pregnancy at age 7 (*shudder*), I realized she was just saying how much she liked the name, which is understandable. Phew.
Sorry I digress. I’m just blog-chatting while sipping my coffee. 
Luna is ONE this month, so we did a special shoot where we captured her stuffed animal-loving, music-playing, face plant-diving fearless personality at home first. Then we headed outdoors after her older brother Bennett woke up from his nap to capture Luna with her entire family. It was so much fun!
[If you want to see Bennett’s 1 year old shoot, click here. Both kids like to dive off furniture apparently! haha.]
