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.
Donning Mediterranean colors, Priti and Rachad with their little ones had vibrant personalities to match. They played, laughed, hugged each other, and gave themselves bunny ears. You’d think they’ve done this before! 
(SQUEEE! This is actually their 9th shoot!)
It was obvious being on the water is their happy place.
So we climbed aboard their new boat, Sama, which they named after their children/their heart — Samir and Maya — and means “sky” in Arabic. *swoon*
Though we’ve had photoshoots on the San Francisco Bay before, this time was different. I climbed into another boat in the middle of the Bay, so I could capture images of the family from outside their boat. With nothing to hold onto, except an assuring hand and Rachad’s shoulder, and my cameras dangling to my sides, I jumped.
I love a good challenge. Shooting subjects on a moving boat while on a boat that is zipping around and flying over waves is a challenge indeed. And loads of fun! Check out Sama on the Bay…
While editing last weekend’s photos of Jeff, Louisa, and their adorable, playful munchkins, I can hear upbeat music… wait for it… even when I’m not playing music!
I know, I know how this sounds, and it’s not good. However, that’s what Joy is like to me. I can hear happy music. I can feel joy in my heart. And it makes me want to go out and hug someone or volunteer in a soup kitchen or rescue another puppy. (In case my husband is reading this…. honey, it’ll only be 5 more puppies. heh heh)
Check out my visual story of Joy…
This two-day Commercial Photography project was ACTION-PACKED! I toured all around the San Francisco Bay Area to meet managers and senior executives who hired City College of San Francisco (CCSF) students and graduates. It was a diverse set of businesses in terms of industry, company size and job type.
Some businesses I photographed were: Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, BMW of San Francisco, McCalls Catering and Events, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Michael Raifsnider Law Office, and United Airlines.
Photographing real people in their actual workplace during work hours in a lifestyle way is exciting. There was constant movement all around us, limited time, and distracting elements at each location. Yet, very quickly, I had to decide how and where to shoot that will tell the visual story I wanted.
See what I mean? Exciting, right?!! 
