This was one of those sessions where everything just clicked — personalities, sense of humor, location, weather, timing, etc. There was a lot of laughing and giggling going on, and they turned out beautifully. When I look at these, it’s obvious to me that it was a fun morning.

Plus who’s more gorgeous than this a month before their due date? I sure wasn’t, I can tell you that! I’ve been warned that I might not be able to handle the cuteness I’ll encounter at their newborn shoot, and you know what? I believe it.

(Side note to local photogs: if you know this location, please do not impose on the owners’ kindness by requesting shoots. I worked closely with them, and they were generous to allow me to shoot there but I would be sad if they started getting taken advantage of or bombarded.)

It has been quite a while since I’ve done a product post of any kind so I thought I’d give you guys a glimpse into some fun changes I’ve made recently with packaging. Ain’t it pretty? My clients often tell me they feel like they’re getting a gift when they get their products, which is exactly how I want them to feel! Now they get even prettier and better protected gifts!

I’ll try to squeeze in some more product posts for you in the future!

I love this family, and I love that I get to see them every year — first the wedding, then Christmas last year, and now Christmas again. I just wuv them so much, and this year was just as fun as I expected, in fact maybe more so because I got to photograph the whole fam this time (last year we just did the girls). I love their interactions. You’ll see what I mean…

Just a few faves from their holiday mini-session. We spent most of the time working on an epic, humorous shot of them with their four cats (which turned out incredible), but I think I might save that for later and let them surprise their friends and family with it on their Christmas card.

Oh man, I’m posting so many of these because, one, it’s rare I get to shoot somewhere so unbelievably gorgeous, and two, I just couldn’t narrow it down any more. They have even more in their gallery. My brother lives in Utah, so I made a trip up there in October to take their engagement and bridal photos. It’s always so fun having a session with family. Doesn’t get to happen as often as we’d like, so we had a blast. I’m pretty sure this series has some of my favorite portraits I’ve ever taken, partly due to the subjects of course, but I just love these.

We timed the trip perfectly. These trees were so bright yellow, they were glowing! It was unbelievable. Even better, her wedding colors are yellow and gray, and our session location happened to revolve around those colors which is just awesome. Enjoy!

This is where I got to shoot last week — American Fork Canyon in Utah. Yeah. Not quite Temple, Texas. And those people in the photos? My awesome brother and his beautiful fiancee. I was SO excited to shoot their engagement and bridal photos. I would’ve been so jealous if anyone else got to, and it meant so much to be able to do them. I can’t wait to show you (and them) more. We got a great mix of fun and sweet and romantic, but here’s a quick preview of a couple of my initial favorites.

Typically I don’t post this many photos from a single session (for time and brevity’s sake), but I just couldn’t restrain myself this time. Everything about this session was incredible — the people, the mood, the locations, the people, the people, the people. I love them. And I absolutely love these images of them because they are so them. Since the first email I received from them I was dying to meet them and photograph them, and they were just as awesome as they sounded.

We were doing some three generational photos, and this was one of the first shots of the day. As you can tell, we had a lot of fun from the very beginning. You gotta love when your clients are so naturally natural.

This couple is amazing. They were fun and affectionate and romantic, and I felt like I was shooting for an engagement. Young love is beautiful and exciting, but photographing such a happy couple after they’ve raised their kids and been together for decades adds so much more to the romance.

I asked them to walk to the bottom of the ramp, and completely unprovoked they started dancing together. Swoon. I love these shots.

The reason the family was all together for this occasion was to celebrate the 50 years this couple has been married. Their son scheduled the session with me, and I loved his descriptions of his family members in his emails to me. After I read this line from his email, I knew I’d be asking them to make their own music to dance to: “Now-days, they’re master-gardeners and I can still see some of the old magic between them when they dance, assuming the band is to their liking.” How perfect that they’re dancing in their very own garden as well!

I LOVE this family shot. I think one of my favorite things about it is that no one is looking at me at all. It’s like I’m not even there.

Meet my new favorite family ever. I want to move in…and let them teach me Christopher Walken impressions. I can’t wait — can’t wait — to show you more, but most importantly I can’t wait to show them the rest of their photos because I know they will mean so much more to them than anyone else.

I feel so honored to have been invited to peek into the relationships in this family. They are so full of life and humor.