I met Brittaney and Jesse just after they had gotten engaged and was honored when they hired me to take their wedding photos.  We did a chilly engagement session at the beginning of last year (2011) and got to know each other a little more before their wedding in June.  They had a really fun wedding day and then found out shortly after they got hitched that they were expecting their first child!  Mea arrived on June 21st and has been a huge blessing to both of her parents!  I was honored yet again to take some photos for this family and capture Mea at 3-months-old.  I love keeping in touch with families and capturing images of their lives together at all different stages.  I love my job!

It is a fun challenge for me when I arrive to a newborn session and the parents have special requests for me.  In the instance with Rainey, her mommy asked me to pose her on one of her old antique chairs that she had in her room growing up as a child.  We covered it with one of my prop blankets (she didn’t like the original chair fabric) and posed little Rainey in it for a few shots.  What a fun memory they will always have with this chair!

Meet Jadon, the cutest little 3-year-old cowboy you ever did see!  He told me he liked dressing up as a cowboy and wanted to look just like Matt Dillon.  He gave me a pretty good stare down with his big bad rifle, too.  We jumped around in the grass and playing big and mean cowboys together.  I absolutely loved this part of his family session because it reminded me of something I’d do with my little boys!

We did an urban shoot for Jack’s senior photos and ran across this brightly colored wall that wasn’t too “manly” for senior pictures, but a fun background for some quick shots with him and his mom, Janet.  It started me thinking that someday I will be taking my boys’ senior photos.  Sniff. Sniff!  Got me feeling all sentimental!  I loved these outtakes of Janet and Jack to show their playful side and the fun relationship these two have with each other.  I don’t think you can look at the last photo of them and not crack up a little.  Funny stuff!  Not sure what they were laughing about, but you can tell they have genuine affection for each other.  Here’s to hoping that someday my boys look at me the same way Jack looks at his mom!

I met Hayley about four years ago just before her Freshman year in high school when she was only 14.  She has been the best babysitter for our kids and we have loved getting to know her over the years! She is super energetic, respectful and a talented soccer player.  She is just one of the most easy-going and nicest people you will ever meet!  I was honored to shoot her senior photos and cannot wait to see where life will take her over the next few years!  Congrats, Hayley, hope your Senior year is special and fun!  I picked these photos of her because they show of her really cute personality.

On my last trip home to Oregon, I got to take photos of my niece, Kate, in honor of her second birthday.  She is just the sweetest little girl so full of smiles and spunk!  My mom, sister, Kate and I walked around downtown Salem for an  hour snapping photos and hanging out for this particular shoot.  I was scouting out locations for an upcoming session so it worked out great to have Kate come along and help me test the locations and lighting.  She was so natural and did exactly what I asked her to do the entire time.  I’m glad we’ll have these images to keep for years to come and feel blessed that I was the one that got to capture them!

Kristin and I have a big thing in common.  We LOVE our Starbucks!  One of her favorite things to do with her daughter is to go to Starbucks and get a treat and hang out in the mornings.  They have been doing this together since Siena was a toddler and I think it’s a really special tradition they’ll always share together.  As part of our photo session together in Salem, Oregon, we stopped at, you guessed it, Starbucks, and got some drinks and treats before moving on to take more photos.  I love that these photos will always remind them of these special times together!

I am a mommy of two boys and I so enjoy being rough and getting dirty with them.  They are “all boy” in every way and I love it!   But on the flip side, I also miss out on playing dress-up with princess gowns and paining finger and toe nails and all the other things that come with having a little girl.  A few weeks ago, my boys and I were invited to celebrate Emma Grace’s 3rd birthday with her and her friends.  I was really touched by all the time and effort her mommy, Sabrina, put into every little detail of her party to make her birthday extra special.  Sabrina is starting her own event company, “Events by Sabrina”, so some of these photos below will make it up on her website soon to advertise her services.  Please go check out her site: www.eventsbysabrina.com.

It was so fun for me to watch all Emma’s little friends dance around and pretend all dolled up in their princess dresses and glittery shoes.  For a few moments, it made me remember what it was like to be a little girl, innocent, and free, and beautiful in every way.

My business has really grown over the past year and I am so thankful to all my great clients for giving me the ability to do what I love each and every week!  I recently announced a new referral program on my Facebook business page as a way to say thank you for the business you have and will continue to give me.  Please take advantage of this special deal!  Anyone who refers a *new* client to me will receive a $50 print credit or $25 off your next session with me. This offer will be good through the rest of this year. Again, thank you so much everyone for all your great referrals!

Also, I decided recently as a way protect my precious time with my kids and family, I had to put some boundaries around the amount of time I am spending on sessions each week.  I am currently only taking one newborn session a week and 1-2 family or other standard-type sessions each week.  I also changed my pricing structure a bit to help better compensate me for my time and the cost of the equipment I need to buy to make my business profitable.  I am now offering packages with edited images on a disc for every session. Here is my new pricing structure (more information is on the pricing section on my website: Pricing):

Newborns
Newborn #1: $300
Includes a 2-hour photo session (focus on the baby), 10 edited photos on a disc, $25 print credit and a use of my unique newborn props and equipment

Newborn #2: $500
Includes a 3-hour photo session (may include additional photos with siblings and parents), 20 edited photos on a disc, $50 print credit and use of my unique newborn props and equipment

Standard Sessions (family, maternity, engagement and sessions with children)

Standard #1: $250
Includes a 1-hour session at location of your choice, $25 print credit and 10 edited photos on a disc

Standard #2: $400
Includes a 2-hour session at up to 2 locations of your choice, $50 print credit and 20 edited photos on a disc

Weddings
Silver Package: $1500
Includes 5 hours of wedding day coverage, a disc with 600 – 800 edited image files, second photographer

Gold Package: $2250
Includes 6 hours of wedding day coverage, an engagement session or 1 extra hour of coverage, an $800 album credit, a disc with edited 600 – 800 image files, a second photographer

Platinum Package: $3000
Includes 7 hours of wedding day coverage, an engagement session or 1 extra hour of coverage, a $1600 album credit, a disc with edited 600- 800 image files, a second photographer

Album Pricing:
Large (12×12): $50 per page
Medium (10×10): $40 per page
Small (8×8): $30 per page

All my albums are custom designed and two pages make up one full page spread. I can do photo covers or leather covers.  All pages are hinged and lay flat.

This past year I’ve been really been trying focusing on newborns and grow as much as I can in this area of photography.  Traditionally, portrait photographers really don’t need macro lenses very often unless they are photographing newborns or weddings (ring photos!), but I love doing both, so I took the plunge and bought one a few weeks ago.  I have shot five newborn sessions with it and I really love the details it can capture!  Here are a few of the photos I have taken with it recently.  Beautiful lips, fingers, ears and toes!