So, who’s this guy?
Meet Daniel Wesley.
I’m a family photographer in Anaheim Hills, a film nerd, and a former punk-rock skateboard kid.
I grew up in Mesa, Arizona, climbing trees and digging holes in the backyard, and the backyard was never just a backyard. Movies like E.T., The Goonies, and Back to the Future had convinced me that ordinary places were secretly whole worlds, so a dirt pile was a planet and a bike was a time machine. Then I found skateboarding and punk rock, and the whole town became the backyard.
Photography got me on day one of my first high school photo class, and that was that. Later I shot for the yearbook, back when they just handed you rolls of film and hoped for the best. No screen, no delete button. You learned to pay attention.
My high school job was at a movie theater, which is a dangerous place to put a kid who has already fallen deeply in love with movies, and it sent me to San Diego State to study film. Then came a stint in Los Angeles, where I figured out two things: I was a visual storyteller, and that industry was not for me.
So I went back to what had hooked me in the first place: those early movies, the worlds I built in the backyard, and the single frame, which had quietly stolen my heart the whole time. Film runs at 24 frames a second, but you never get to look at just one. A photograph freezes one moment and lets you stay there. You aren’t whisked away to the next scene. You can stand in it as long as you want and really imagine what that moment was like.
That’s still the job, as far as I’m concerned. Your kid’s backyard adventure might involve one stick and absolutely no plot, but I’m interested.
Field notes, in no particular order.
- Reading
- I, Robot by Isaac Asimov. It seemed like a good time to brush up before the AI apocalypse.
- Watching
- What We Do in the Shadows, For All Mankind, Silo, Severance, and Seinfeld, which I may or may not quote during your session.
- Listening
- MJ Lenderman, Modern Baseball, Drive-By Truckers, Tim Barry, Kevin Morby, The Mountain Goats, and so many more.
- Writing
- A science fiction novel of my own, one of these years. Until then, reading a lot of them counts as research.
- Surfing
- Longboard, mellow waves, Doheny or Blackies. Nobody out there is in a hurry, which is the whole point.
How that becomes your photographs.
What actually happens at a session.
Years in restaurants and coffee shops taught me how to get strangers talking and laughing. That comes in handy when someone arrives feeling awkward about having their picture taken.
I’ll find the good light, give you some direction, and bring everyone together for a few classic portraits. Then we can wander and play. Shy kids get time to warm up. Busy kids get something to do. You get to be in the pictures with them.
My film brain is watching the whole scene and the small details: a hand reaching for yours, a kid hanging off Dad’s arm, the joke that cracks everyone up.
Together, those photographs tell you what this little chapter of family life felt like.
Off the clock.
Hike, surf, read, repeat.
I hike whenever I can, and I have a lifelong thing for the Pacific Northwest, especially its old-growth forests. The trees up there are older than most countries, and not one of them needs anything from you. It’s a nice break from a job where everyone needs something from you, usually a snack.
At home it’s Katie, our cats Samantha and Noodles, and an increasingly crowded vegetable garden. Apparently I’m still the kid digging around in the dirt. I just have an HOA now.
Katie and I are in the middle of IVF right now, and we are very much looking forward to adding a new human to the mix. The cats have not been consulted.
The people (and cats) behind the scenes.
Supporting cast.
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Katie
My partner
Creative project manager. Cooks from scratch, sings show tunes in the car, heart of our little crew.
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Samantha
from Accounting
Gentle, shy, devoted lap cat. Lives for a sunbeam. Easily startled.
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Noodles
Editor in Chief
Follows me everywhere. Has reviewed this page. Has notes.
Tell me a little about your family.
We’ll take it from there.