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!

It was 20 degrees outside and the little guys were cold, cold, cold!  What to do to get those smiles back?  How about look for buried treasure?  Thankfully, I live close to the location we did our photo shoot for the Odom family and know all the hiding spots of the geo caches.  We snooped around and found one in an old old tree that had been uncovered thanks to the recent warmer weather.  Rhys and Kennah opened it up and decided to keep the little frog they found inside.  Smiling problem solved!

On a cold, wintry day in February, the Stromquist family and I took a venture out into the snow for a family photo shoot.  I asked them to wear boots and gloves to stay warm and to also bring a sled so we could have some fun with the kids during the session.  At one point while mommy and daddy were pulling their little cutie pies, the little ones toppled over into the cold snow.  Pretty funny!  Okay, funny for the adults, maybe not so comical for the kids, but they shook it off and we got some great smiles from them even after their little “oops!”

There is nothing better than spending time with brand new babies!  I love all parts of newborn sessions: cozy, crunched up small miniature bodies; wide, alert eyes, looking around at their new world and even the foibles of awkward first-time parents trying to figure out how to hold their new bundle of joy.  Thought I’d share a few recent photos from my newborn session with 10-day-old Adelyn in late February.  She was so sleepy the entire time we were shooting and then woke up right at the end of our session so we could get a few photos of her with her eyes wide open.  Notice, too, that her toes are a little purple in the first shot?  I always have a heater on and she was plenty warm, but for some reason we could not warm up those little toesies!  Sweet innocence.  Sweet eyes.  Sweet pumpkin pie.

One of the new trend with newborn photographers is to hang babies or suspend them in the air all wrapped up.  While *most* do this very safely, it was never something I was interested in doing without mentoring another newborn photographer that has experience with it.  However, recently, I had a client that insisted we try it, so I did some research on how to do this shot safely and decided to go forward with the shot.  In the end, we did not “hang” the baby or suspend her in air at all.  In this photo, she is resting snuggly on a bean bag chair and her daddy is holding the top part above her to give the allusion that she is hanging.  Mommy was right next to me ensuring that she was safe at all times.  So, here is my first stab at a “suspended” shot.

I can tell you that when I was 30+ weeks pregnant, all I wanted to do was eat, sleep, be lazy, and wear comfy clothes!  I met Heather and Greg a few weeks ago in their home for their maternity session and asked them at the beginning of the shoot to get comfortable on the couch and relax together.  So, they lounged and cuddled while I worked.  Don’t they look natural and cozy?  Greg’s even wearing some super sweet brown man slippers! Love that Heather is barefoot, too!  Okay, all this talk about being cozy makes me want to go take a nap!

Over Christmas, I was back home in Oregon visiting family and had the opportunity to meet up with the Reding crew!  The whole gang was there!  Mom, dad, four siblings and their families.  We had all sorts of laughs while taking different shots of all the groupings.  I think my favorite was the grandkid shot!  We were so lucky to get a break in the rainy weather to capture these moments.  Priceless!

I wrapped up Hudson’s newborn shoot right around noon and then it was time to take family photos before I left for the day.  We had had some snow fall in Colorado right before I did this shoot in late December and it had been pretty cold outside, but on this particular Sunday afternoon, the sun was warm and inviting.  So, we decided to just “go for it” and got bundled up and went outside for the shoot.  Hmmm….now where to go with a little infant nearby their home that would also give me all the things I needed to shoot in the noonday sun?  Well, how about the front yard?  At first the thought scared me a little since the street was so close (and I didn’t want shots of cars or houses in the background), but we found a great little shady spot by some pine trees and the shots came out great.  I love when the least expected turns out to be something wonderful.

We do life together with this family: we share all the fun stuff and walk through all the hard stuff together, too.  I have watched their two little twin girls grow over the past year and a half and it’s been so much fun to share in all the special “beginning” stages with their family.  From the maternity shoot with their mommy almost two years ago, to their newborn photos last April and now, family photos with two one-year-olds!  Piper and Lily are really sweet girls but as toddlers, they both also have their little sassy/spunky sides as well.  I enjoy their smiles as much as their frowns.  Hey, it’s life and life brings all types of emotions and faces with it.  Each fun for me to capture.  Life as it is, unscripted, and beautiful in every way!  I think these black and whites capture each emotion from this day so perfectly!