We did their session at the Washington State Capitol campus area and caught just the tail end of the cherry blossom blooms there. As everyone in Western Washington already knows, this spring weather has been absolutely miserable, but somehow I lucked out and grabbed a super nice afternoon. All I did was have them play around in the grass for about an hour and just snapped away!

And here is something that is new….
Steve and I spent a good majority of the winter putting together new product lines to offer this year, not just to wedding clients, but also our portrait clients. These wall art mock ups are a perfect way to see how your pictures can be displayed on the wall of any home and how powerful groupings of photos can possibly be.

What is nice about this is we can offer these groupings in traditional print or canvas offerings, but what I’m super excited about are our metal prints (yes… printed and ready to hang right on metal!), our ready-to-mount acrylics and our very stylish (not to mention very Northwest) bamboo mounts!

Like most 16 year old girls, Anuhea is just starting to grow into her beauty; and the interesting thing is that she doesn’t even get the concept of exactly how stunning she truly is to the eye (and the camera)! She braved a really cold and early morning (in a swimsuit no less!!) to do this session. I really felt like this photo, in particular, really captured something special. Believe it or not, this was a ‘test’ shot. I just had her in position and was doing my thing during the test runs. It really captures her, totally natural, and totally at ease.

So this is Jenisee. I got a call in late June from Jenisee’s mom, Suzie. See, Jenisee had gone to an open audition casting call she heard about on the radio, and was tagged as a person of interest. A few auditions, a few more pictures, and a few more meetings, and all of a sudden she was flown to Orlando to audition for Disney. And she needed 100 8×10 immediately for that audition!

We quickly scheduled their session, shot it, and got her product days before she left for the audition. I know for a fact that there are some really awesome things happening to this gorgeous 14 year old here in the near future. Super good things. She is the sweetest girl and I only hope for the best. I’m totally in her corner!

But it’s worth the struggle for the times she is happy! Smiles only come around once in while, but when they do, they light up her entire face.

While my photography doesn’t require photoshop to look good or fix mistakes, it does require photoshop to produce a final finished product that is worth blowing up to a 20×40 size or to lay into a gorgeous album. Additionally, photoshop gives our images this certain amount of flare that stylistically sets us apart from the rest.

I’ve made mention of it before, but I’ll say it again, I don’t like photoshopping myself. In fact, I don’t do it. Steve has spent his entire career learning and perfecting his skills in photoshop. I remember him asking Dad at around 12 years old for the first generation of photoshop (which was an insane request at that age!!). He has always been driven and known exactly what he wanted to do and knew the steps he needed to make to get there. But he has spent years perfecting his skills and techniques. And this is what he does. I couldn’t be more proud to have him be a driving force behind our company.

Most photographers don’t have the luxury of a full-time graphic artist. This is something unique and different that we are able to give to our clients. And because of this, we are able to create a distinct product that gives clients the utmost in service, skill and quality.

As you can see from the example below, the straight out of camera file offers a great product. It’s clean and a great image for any photographer to grab. But look at the final edits done in photoshop. There is a style and flare that distinguishes that marks this photo as a Whimsical branded image.

And here is another family photo. While the original file is great, the photoshopped version just polishes up an already clean file.

When you are out looking for a photographer to fulfill your needs, ask yourself about the product that photographer is producing. Is it clean? Are they using photoshop to cover mistakes? Or are they using it to stylistically enhance an already nice image?

Investment in custom photography is expensive. No bones about it. For every wedding client that hires us, we put in approximately 100 hours of back-end work on their account. For every family client that hires us, we put in approximately 25-30 hours of back-end work on their account. Lots of hours go into making our product the best it possibly can be! But we also know that our customers are receiving the best quality in terms of a final product out there.

The Perry Family invited me out to do some of their holiday portraits about a week ago. We had an awesome time playing in the leaves and taking pictures!

This weeks fashion picks are selected by Kristina Young Photography out in Boston. Not only is Kristina a great friend of mine, but she is also wicked cool (I had to add the wicked part just for her), totally styling and an incredible lifestyle photographer. Her black and white portraits are some of the best you’ll ever find.

Click here for outfits selected from Boden and J. Crew. Purchase the outfits and then let me know; I’ll get your family scheduled right away!

Now, I have a hard enough time getting myself dressed in some sort of semblence of clothing in the morning… much less creating a wardrobe for people I have yet to meet. But I try to tell them, pick a color palette, choose funky textures, layer, don’t get too boxy with your choices… Yadda. Yadda. Yadda.

Well, a great collegue of mine, Jennifer Sparaco of Chasing Fireflies Photography right outside Santa Fe, New Mexico, put together this awesome little grouping of clothing. This kind of grouping puts together an awesome idea of how layers, textures, colors and patterns all work together to make a really cool, fun, and beautiful portrait!

I know a lot of my photographer friends around the nation use Friday’s on their blog to put together these little fashion tips… and I’m going to try to feature their clothing creations a little more often here on this blog. Why? Because I want to offer a free session to the family that buys the clothing collection. So if you want a session…. and you want some new clothes… buy these and contact me. You’ll get a free session (no session fee!). It’s not going to happen every Friday. But I’m going to try and make it available a little more often.

This offer is only one-per-family, every week. So time to jump on it if you want it.

Thanks to Jennifer for sharing this with me!!

All these outfits are available at The Gap, Old Navy, and Gymboree.

Seattle Children's Photographer

The kids were so much fun, even though it was super early in the morning, and had a great time cracking each other up. Megan is big into riding horses, while Connor LOVES playing football, so I got to hear all their special stories about their activities. Barb and Eric are lucky to both work in the public school system, so they have the majority of the summer off to spend with their kids. A perfect opportunity for mega-family bonding.

I caught the family in between vacations, and they all are so relaxed, happy, and fun! Thank you Barb for inviting me to spend the morning with the family!!

When Steve showed me this family portrait, I just about died! It’s the quintessential family portrait – the one everyone wants, but no one gets!! They are just the most adorable family – I love them!

Barb wanted a photo that highlighted the beautiful water in the background. I think we did really well!

The beautiful Megan…

And the handsome Connor….

Thank you so much for such a wonderful morning on the water!

Let’s talk families and kids first…
First off… you get an hour long session with me (this includes an option to wear both regular attire and then also do a clothing change into something more ‘holiday’ like). After your session, I’ll upload all the soft proofs online and then we can start sorting through them together. Each holiday session comes with: (4) 8×10 prints, (4) 5×7 prints, (2) Digital files of those 8×10 prints and 50 custom designed 5×7 holiday cards printed on beautiful linen paper. Individually, these items retail for $660.00, but this special package is $425.00.

If you book your session before September 15th (the actual session can happen anytime in September or October)… I’m throwing in something super cool and super awesome. FOR FREE!

In 2010, I’m offering these new Gallery Float Wraps. They are beautiful displays that actually float off the wall – no framing required. Shown here is an example of a little gift I did for one of my wedding clients, sized 11×14. These will retail for $150.00 next year. And I’m throwing in a free 11×14 with the Holiday Package booking by September 15th. Pretty sweet, huh? Keep it, or give it to grandma and grandpa for Christmas – either way, these are amazing displays to treasure for a lifetime! (click on each picture to see a larger version!)

Now let’s talk something a little more naughty than nice…
Ah… the holidays are one of the most popular times to book that boudoir session in order to provide that special someone that really special gift! Since my hubby is a firefighter, I thought I’d extend a little holiday ‘cheer’ to some of the other firefighters out there in the world, so the firefighter wives better listen up!

If you are a firefighter wife, and this is something you’ve been wanting to do, find a friend, call me up to book. If your friend books the boudoir session at full price, you get yours for $100.00. Yup. That is a $175.00 savings just for those firefighter wives out there. You can even share the cost of the hotel room with your friend and we can do your sessions simultaneously! It’s an awesome value!

Each of the booked sessions receives a 5×7 silk lined and custom matted image portfolio with (2) 5×7′s to share with a loved one. Or, trade that out for a $50 credit towards an album. Your choice.

Check out The Tease: A Boudoir Studio for information about pricing and products.

Lovely huh? Lots of stuff to choose from!

So give me an e-mail or a phone call… I’ve got very limited dates left available in September and October is booking fast. All session must be completed before November 15th.