Daddy's Little Girl {Queen Creek, AZ Family Photographer}

There is just something about dad's & babies that always brings a smile to my face!

Beautiful Sisters {Gilbert, AZ Child Photographer}

The best thing about having a sister was that I always had a friend.  ~Cali Rae Turner
 Remember these sweet little ones from this post and this post? Well...they are just 2 of the most adorable little girls that you have ever seen. And, I'm lucky to also call their mom one of my best friends. This past summer we did a photo shoot on the sly as a father's day gift for their dad and we had so much fun doing it! The afternoon was perfect, the lighting perfect and their outfits were just to die for. Here are a few of my favorites from the afternoon...

  

Welcome to the World {Gilbert, AZ Newborn Photographer}

 "I’ll love you forever
I’ll like you for always
As long as I’m living
My baby you’ll be.”

- robert n munsch

  Have I mentioned before how much I love babies? Especially how much I love to photograph newborns? Well this adorable little one was no exception! Welcome to the world little Cason!

Little Monkey {Gilbert, AZ Child Photographer}

Little Boy Smiles {Queen Creek, AZ Child Photographer}

"God created boys,
Full of spirit and fun.
To explore and conquer,
To romp and run." ~ Unknown

 

 

 

Friends {Gilbert, AZ Family Photographer}

Every summer I am lucky enough to have one of my oldest and very best friends and her family come to visit and stay with my family for at least a week. We travel around the state, we talk, we laugh and we have just the BEST time together. We are lucky because our husbands are also friends and our kids get along great...so it is something that we all look forward to each year! This year was no different. We traveled down to southern Arizona, visited Tombstone, took a tour of an old copper mine and stayed in a haunted hotel. We swam in our pool. We drank and just had a fabulous time.  But during the time that they spent here we also took some time to squeeze in a family photo shoot. And it turned out GREAT! Here are some of my favorite shots from that day...

 

 Thank you Campbell family for being such great friends to us and for always being such great houseguests! We love you all!

Mini-Session Giveaway!

Snuggles {Gilbert, AZ Family Photographer}

Snuggling.

Giggles.

Pure happiness.

 

Why Choose Custom Photography?

One of the most frequent questions that professional photographers get asked is why it costs so much more than going to a mass retailer like Sears or Kiddie Kandids...and my answer is always that you get what you pay for! The following article was written by Marianne Drenthe of Marmalade Photography and it states what Custom Photography is, why costs what it does and what you get out of it.

"Custom photography is more of a luxury than your entry level cookie cutter chain experience. Custom photography truly is not for everyone, it requires a level of commitment, investment in time and money, forethought and planning on the part of the subject/client and requires a larger time commitment for the photographer as well.

Clients who enjoy taking a more active role in the creation of their families’ memories have the desire to have portrait art that is truly personalized.  These more discerning clients have been known to budget and allot time for a custom photography session.  Many clients opt for it to be a once a year special experience, some opt to have custom photography sessions done to record their child's stages in life.  Having said this, it is clear that custom photography is not in everyone’s budget,  it is something that most families save for to splurge on from time to time to memorialize their children as they really are (not posed and primped in the cookie cutter studio setting).  

There is a great deal of time involved in creating high end custom photography sessions for a client.  The luxury of great service, better choices and a superb end product.  The result of all this are heirloom quality images.  The time invested at the session is only a small portion of time involved in this process.

The customized service level you are sure to experience will be amazing.  The knowledge that your final images are the result of someone caring about those moments so much that they take extra time ensuring that the artwork you receive is good enough to stand by with their name on it.  That level of quality and commitment is all but lost in the age of "mass produced," "mass marketed," corporate "everyone is a number".  Custom photography is based on being unique to you...creating images that you will most likely cherish for a lifetime.

Custom photography is about finding someone who will photograph your family, give you devoted one on one attention without the worry of the next ‘in line’ or the feeling of a crowded portrait studio. A custom photographer will typically show you a fairly extensive gallery culled to only show the good images that meet the photographers’ creative sensibilities. Often the images are fully edited images--color corrected with blemishes and undereye circles removed. Custom photographers are also known as boutique studios, offering a range of products and unparalleled service. Think Lexus vs. Hyundai, think Nordstrom vs. WalMart."

Hopefully this answers some questions that you may have about custom photography! Also remember that you are paying for much more than just the 1-3 hours of actual shoot time. Your investment also covers the hours behind the scenes which includes consultations and emails, travel time, session time, file handling, organizing of images, post processing (the most lengthy part of the service), saving and uploading onto a viewing site, preparing the preview, burning the photos to a disk, runs to the post office, etc! Professional grade equipment doesn't come cheap either. Cameras, lenses, accessories, computers, computer hardware and software, etc. are also required. And often times, these are things that need to be replaced and upgraded quite frequently.

So as you can see, there is so very much more work involved than most clients realize. Many long hours are spent on your session to get it just right and get you the best possible images...unique to you and your family!

One LUCKY man!! {Queen Creek, AZ Family Photographer}

This past June I was asked for a special request...to photograph a mother/daughter pair as a surprise for their husband/dad for Father's Day. It ended up being a lovely day...not too hot for June in Arizona and the location was just amazing: A rustic door, beautiful green grass & climbing vines on a rock wall. And my subjects...oh my, were they beautiful and wonderful to work with! 

  And from what I heard, dad was VERY happy to get his gift on Father's Day!Thank you Becky & Shannon for choosing me to take your photos!