I love Photography

There are so many reasons I love photography. Probably the one I love the most is making memories. How many times have you seen a photograph & been able to remember a moment of your life with great clarity? Our own brains are fantastic, but a picture can help us to recall so many details that would probably otherwise remain buried. Ah, photography is cool.

I have been impressed with this particular senior since meeting her at church a few years ago. She is always upbeat & obviously adores her family. She had a lot of fun picking out her senior shoot outfits & did not forget the shoes!


She even brought along two traditional outfits. Loved it!


What girl doesn't love shopping? The background on the right really looks like she could be in the Peruvian mountains.


We have a huge beach umbrella I almost brought along to the session. It turns out great minds think alike since she used the session as an excuse to buy this cool umbrella.





The birthday girls arrived for their session again this year. Last year it was a newborn and 2nd birthday session.


Getting two kiddos this age to be in a picture together is generally a fleeting moment. It's so rewarding when we get both the cuteness and the real essence of who each of them is.


The tongue indicates pure joy! The classic look down smile is so adorable.




What I wouldn't give to have a photo like this of me and my mother. The girls were totally digging their balloons.


My cousin, Steve, and his amazing family. We definitely copy some of the cool parenting styling of these two amazing people.


I think an idea similar to this came to me about 15 years ago. lol It's the first time I've tried it. I think it would be cool with a family of teens & parents linking arms completely trusting each other as they fan out.


Guy teases me a lot, because I often make my most favorite shots B&W. He says it's a dead giveaway which are my favorite.


I'd used this spot in Scottsdale, AZ many years ago. It surprised me how many photographers I saw there for the two photo sessions we did there on our trip. It's a cool spot, but really there were soooo many there. Back in the day I never saw another photographer there.


All three girls are really athletic. The little one just broke a limb this last week falling off their trampoline {with a sewed on net!}. Hopefully she heals quickly.


Their blue eyes are amazing!


Did I mention athletic? It only took two attempts to get all three with synchronized hand stands.


For the middle girl I asked her to tell me she loved dad while he was standing next to me. We got the most amazing soft smile, and I guarantee he will think of that moment every time he sees the photo. Love is an amazing thing. The love for ones children especially as we have moments with them is especially humbling & gratifying.

King sneak peek

Saturday was a great time at the park! These two cute girls had us all hopping to keep up with them. Mum and dad are bursting to see their photos so here's a sneak peek! It's so nice to have time to post a sneak peek again.

Fine Art Friday - Purple beauty

Yesterday I mentioned the part trip with the family last October. One of my very favorite all time photos came from their session last year. Maybe it's because it reminds me of a travel photographer capturing a kid jostling around him/her in a foreign land. Here is Mr. Funnyshypants




Last month I had a lot of time to take shots interesting to me while waiting for my sessions to arrive on location. The fascination with flowers continues. Oh really, it will never end. Just don't give me real ones. The photos are way cooler. I'm sure one of these days I'll convince all the other women in the world how cool it would be to get a fine art print from their honey of a flower instead of the actual flowers. It will last longer!


Thank you for stopping by! I'd love to hear your suggestions for prints you would like to see offered on special in future weeks. Check out our other fine art products here. This print is now available there too!

Families & bugs

Lately I've seen cool, interesting and HUGE bugs on photo shoots. This one below is the most colorful of the lot. The biggest one was an enormous brown spider by my foot, followed by an equally enormous brown spider by Blake's foot the other day. Yikes. For some reason having a camera in my hand makes me way more adventurous and comfortable in any situation then I'm naturally inclined to be.


Couples friendship. It's an interesting concept. Have you ever noticed how incredibly hard it is as a couple to make friends with another couple? I mean real friends where everyone really likes and enjoys both of the other couple, and they feel exactly the same way about both of you. These guys have been one of the rare couple friendships we have found. Love it! Can't wait for our double movie date Monday afternoon. Grandma & grandpa were visiting so they got to be in a few shots. After four boys along came baby Manon.


They all piled in the play set for this last family shot. Kim absolutely loves the happy faces of her parents here.


Do you think this cute little girl is dotted upon by her brothers?


I first met these guys when I invited myself and the kids over to their house last Thanksgiving {another story}. We had a great time with them. The funny thing was when I asked who the extra boy was since they had three boys. Nope. They had four!


This little cutie looks just like her big brother. They are both adorable.


Ah, the mirror was so much fun!


This is the second October these guys have been in front of my lens. Last year we tooled around the park & this year we picked a cool field to use for our mini session.






Such adorable kiddos! Love em.

More October sitting goodness

First off just let me say how cool it was to have some of my stuff featured on the Savvy Photographer blog!!! Like, how stinkin cool is that?!?!

I had to upload the images prepared for this post again as I missed a crucial step {sharpening} needed for web presentation!

After a long drought in maternity sessions I've done two in the last two months. Yay, me! Both of them are people dear to me, and we are all waiting anxiously to meet these sweet babes. Melissa is a my friend because of photography. She was one of the three wonderful girls who earned mass credits towards their wedding photography back in my 'pretty much wedding photographer only' stage. It was at her wedding that we started to really become friends. Her and her husband were a little unsure of Guy as many people often are at first. One day he really got them giggling like school girls as he is more then capable of. That was it. Our friendship has been rock solid ever since. It isn't often you find friends as a couple where all four poeple totally dig each other.

Her Maddie is very excited about the baby. It was a bit weird having two kids called Maddy in the same house the two nights we stayed with them.

Don't you just love the dog kissing her belly?

Ahhh, B&W is a great thing.


Though I held out for a long time on the aged photo look, but both my clients and I love it. I still want to thank the two girls on the 4-wheeler who provided the great dust for the shot on the right! Lovely. Should an 8 month pregnant woman run just to catch the cool dust shot?


My favorite. This perfectly shows Melissa's personality. Perfectly!





Her husband, Andy, thought the cotton field looked superimposed.


These guys always get the coolest perfect cloud days for their shoots. All the moody clouds and peek a boo sun were fun to work with. They loved having their city as the background.


I love incorporating things that are important to a family in their shoot. The journal writing and the stuffed dog are really important right now. Oh, he is all boy. If it's a typical boy thing he does it. Talk about adventuresome. Baby Paige is so sweet. Her mama calls her Sweet Baby Paige all the time. I love the nickname. The last shot of the four definitely captures her girly girl self that is very curious and does tomboy things.





This spot was so cool. I'd caught a glimpse of this bridge a few months ago. It was definitely a cool find.


I think they like each other. I like photographing them.


These last two are the images used to make a pocket accordion album. I love how this one came out.




Another of my wedding couples from years ago. The last time we saw them was just before Braxton was born. He is now a super cute and big three year old with loads of energy.


The family shot here is perfect of them! Love it. We went out to dinner after the shoot. Tina was telling me about their main picture wall at home after I asked if they still used bold colors on the walls. They have a big picture of all of them making silly faces with a smaller picture of each of them around it sticking their tongue out. Love it! That is so something I would do. Nah, more likely it would be portraits of our feet. Oh wait, we already have that.


Tina's favorite shot from the shoot.


Again, B&W {especially a warm B&W} are especially yummy.



I stood in the fountain to get this reaction from Brooklyn. I was doing my, "Wait, one more" repeated about 20 times towards the end. There just kept being cool stuff on the way back to the cars.


I think this would make a great big gallery wrapped canvas.


Adorable kids. The side of the big love sign was the cool red background.


Ha ha! What are the odds some random display would have Slavery written on it? We had to do it, and they gave me the perfect faces!