Sneak Peek for the Pearson ladies! | Snohomish Family Photographer

Thanks to the beautiful sunny weekend we just had, I was at last able to meet up with this gorgeous mom and daughter for some morning photos on the beach.  The light was as beautiful as they were, and the morning air was exhilarating - this was a super fun session.  I'm sharing a few early favorites for now, check them out! 



Caught a few BFF photos at the end of the session, had to share this cute one too...

I'm booking into May and June right now, so contact me soon for some portraits in the spring sun!

Miller-Eagan Family | Kirkland Family Photographer

This family session was a fun one, especially since the weather gave us a break when we needed it.  It's not always easy to schedule 3 busy families together, so there was no rescheduling this one for rain - which was in the forecast.  We ended up with a beautiful sunny day, if a bit windy. 

This session had been given as a Christmas gift to Mom/Grandma, so I made sure she got some great ones not only with the whole family, but with each of the grandkids one on one, and I hope they are treasured! 

Here are just a few from our Kirkland waterfront session:

S Family Sneak Peek! | Edmonds Family Photographer

I was so glad to be able to do this session for this family over the holidays.  It was one of those "seize the moment" kind of things, with family visiting for the holidays - including from England! 

I'm sharing just a few for now, but there will be more to come!

My favorite thing about this photo is remembering the dad saying "well that felt good!"

Happy New Year!

First Post of 2012! | Seattle Portrait Photographer

So, I may not be ready to post my resolutions for the new year, but I didn't want that to keep me from posting a few holiday highlights to start the year off.  I promise, the resolutions are percolating, and I will shout them out soon.  I need the accountabiltity, I'm sure everyone can relate!

I had a number of mini sessions for the holidays that were so fun - family sessions, and some studio mini sessions with some of my mom's daycare babes!

After a whole month of no blog posts (shameful gasp!), I have several lined up in the days to come, but for now, here is a smattering of my favorites from the holiday season.





Happy New Year to you all! 

PS - just a reminder that my 2012 print prices will take effect next week, so this is your last chance to order prints at my current prices!

Holiday Mini Sessions are here! | Snohomish Family Photographer

Announcing my second annual holiday mini-session package!  Like last year, I decided not to confine these mini sessions to one day or weekend.  I will offer these sessions with limited availability through December 11th.  (Keep in mind, the later your session date, the trickier it will be to order those holiday photo cards with your images in time to mail them before Christmas.) 

Get your spot reserved soon!  Just say no to the self-timer on your camera this year!

H Family Sneak Peek - A Northwest Vacation | Edmonds Family Photographer

I had the honor of photographing this lovely family when they travelled to Seattle from the midwest, for a family vacation earlier this month.  The trip was in honor of the grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary. 

We tried our hardest to get those mountains to cooperate (ie, go away clouds), but hopefully when they look at these photos it will remind them of our beautiful temperate Northwest weather, and they will smile and remember what a great time was had by all.

Here are a few of my favorites:

Happy anniversary, you two!  And safe travels to the whole family.

H Family Sneak Peek! | Kirkland Family Photographer

I have to start off by saying this was one of my favorite sessions ever.  Not surprising, since this is the family of one of my dearest friends, but large family groups can be challenging.  This family was in the zone, that's all I can say.  Lots of love, willingness to smile, and in general just being happy they were all together.  Thank you so much, all of you, for a lovely afternoon.  I hope you continued that celebration of family for the rest of the day! 

Sharing a few favorites:



F Family Sneak Peek! | Mill Creek Family Photographer

I had the great pleasure to meet up with this family while they were in town visiting relatives.  Renn and I had gotten to know each other before they moved to Montana when our babies were babies, so it was wonderful to get our now 6 year old boys together for a day!

We started at a beautiful local park with a boardwalk through the wetlands - just right for this outdoors loving family.  Afterwards - a trip to Starbucks to recreate our long ago photos with our babies....  Awww!

Just a sneak peek for now, guys, more to come soon! 

Sunshine at Seward Park | Seattle Children's Photographer

After weeks of rain, I was finally able to schedule an afternoon session with the H family, on the ONE sunny day of practically the whole month.  I picked a nice little grassy spot under a tree and we had some great toddler-wrangling fun for an hour!  I'm now thinking perhaps the issue has more to do with the number of children being wrangled at once, vs the age, truly.  Haha!  (I sense a new kind of casting call in the future...)

But you can't go wrong laying on a quilt in the grass in the park, on a sunny Seattle afternoon, and a fun time was had by all. 

Some favorites!:



Family portrait season is heating up, folks!  How long has it been since YOUR family was photographed together?  I'm scheduling through the summer right now, and weeknight evenings are a great time to fit in a session!  Contact me for availability/prices.  

May Day Baby Shower! | Snohomish Family Photographer

Well, this is a bit of a sneak peek for hostess Lauren and beautiful mommy-to-be Selina.  I wanted to try out my new collage template, what do you think?  Haha....  More to come soon, ladies!  It was a beautiful afternoon, filled with love from family and friends.  I loved being part of it!

Casting Call - Toddler Wrangling!! | Snohomish Children's Photography

Parents of toddlers aged 1 - 3 years, this is for you!!

I would like to hone my skillz while providing you with some updated portraits of your little one!  Think Easter outfits, or just some fun outdoor shots for spring.  Here are the details:

• Complimentary 60-minute session in the Snohomish/Mill Creek/Bothell area, at an outdoor venue of your choice. (I can help with ideas for locations)
• Complimentary disc of edited images sized for web-sharing (ie Facebook)
• 10% off my regular print prices

Please contact me if you are interested, there will be a very limited number of these sessions available. 

Lessons Learned from Toddlers | Snohomish Children's Photographer

I say lessons learned, but trust me, I remain in ongoing "toddler training" mode, when it comes to knowing enough tricks to have consistant success at photographing this adorable-but-challenging age group. 

I wanted to share one such lesson from a recent session at a client's home.  Of their 3 sweet daughters, their youngest was not feeling the moment, and I struggled to engage her.  We took our time, and took photos in a few different areas, including the girls' fun playroom.  But it wasn't until I let said youngest daughter have some quiet time to herself that I learned the toddler wrangling lesson of the day....  If You Let Them Go, Portraits Will Happen...

The result?  Ending up with this beautiful image:

Instead of:

(Thanks to C's mommy for letting me share! )

Now, to put this lesson into practice, and to gain new lessons learned - I will be announcing my Toddler Wrangling Casting Call!  Stay tuned for more details on that tomorrow.

Fellow photographers, I welcome you to comment with your most valuable "lesson learned" regarding photographing these fast moving little ones, too!


P.S.  Only 75 fans to go until my mini-session and prop giveaway takes place!  Have you told your friends to become a fan of my Facebook Page?  Do that, then go comment on this blog post to enter to win my giveaway!!

Inspired and Renewed | WPPI Convention 2011

I feel like I am very tardy getting back to my blog, and recapping my fabulous first experience at the WPPI convention.  It's not easy getting back into the swing of things at home after being away from my family for 4 days - an exhausting 4 days at that!

But I came away from this amazing convention with so much - new goals and resources, new friends and mentors, new knowledge to put into practice!  Not to mention lessons learned for next year (I will definitely be staying at the MGM Signature next time.  Not that I didn't love the weight loss potential that the walk to and from the NYNY gave me, but my poor feet would have been happier.....)

I went to many of the platform classes offered, mostly in the area of business & marketing, and motivation.  The first of which was the talk given by the amazing Bobbi & Mike.  They were SO inspirational, and passionate about what they do, and offered a lot of really solid advice.  I am a huge fan. 

I also went to Jasmine Star's talk, and came away with a TON of useable advice - made my most concrete goals in this class, I must say.  Jasmine is a rockstar in the world of wedding photography, 'nuff said.

Kevin Kubota, Beth Forrester and Jules & Joy Bianchi all gave really good talks as well, and I have a wealth of ideas for marketing as a result.  Jared Bauman was probably the dryest of the presentations I attended, but talking about pricing isn't super fun, so he rocked it out as much as he could, haha... 

I also ended up being lucky enough to sit down with Justin & Mary Marantz, another husband and wife team, and the folks behind the Spread The Love workshops, which I attended last year.  I wasn't able to attend their platform class, as it was the day after I left Vegas, but I ran into them at lunch one day, and they were SO nice, and invited me to sit down with them!  We probably chatted for 15 minutes or so, and it was great - they are so good at making people feel worthy of going for what they want.  Thanks guys!

My last day in Vegas was without a doubt the most worthwhile.  If you've followed my blog since the beginning, you've heard me talk about Me Ra Koh.  She gave me the push I needed to actually START, and not just dream about being a photographer eventually.  When she launched her SOAR scholarship, I was an applicant that first year, in December 2009.  Although I didn't win the actual scholarship, I won by launching this blog, the day after the SOAR winners were announced.

Suffice to say, I've heard MeRa speak several times, so I know she is inspirational, and a great motivator.  But even having said that - her platform talk at WPPI was OUT OF THIS WORLD!  That afternoon, she also hosted a private Garden Party for former SOAR applicants, workshop attendees, and readers of her blog.  More amazingness!  We not only had a lovely luncheon, but received more inspiration, and some wonderful gifts to help us on our journey of being pro photographers.  We ended the afternoon with some photo coaching with models, so we were all able to get some hands on learning as well. 

Here are a few photos from the day!

The inspirational MeRa

Mike Larson and his beautiful family came by to be models for us!  Mike was a platform speaker as well, the first day we arrived at WPPI.

So done!

Some of the other luncheon ladies, working with bride and groom models.

MeRa - thanks again for the fantastic day!

Whew!  Now that's a marathon blog post, if you're still here - thanks for making it through!