Orava Family Portraits

Yesterday I shot family portraits for Scott, Ginni and their little girl Jadyn. They are a cute family and we had fun walking around Freestone Park on an absolutely beautiful Fall day. It was the perfect day for a portrait shoot!

Here's a few more of my favorites:




Jadyn is just getting the hang of walking and she looked so cute in her pink coat:


Thanks Scott & Ginni! It was fun spending time with you yesterday!

Scott & Melissa's Engagement Shoot

Yesterday I shot Scott & Melissa's Engagement photos near their home in Scottsdale. Their wedding is in two short weeks and I'm really looking forward to it! They are really down-to-earth and genuine people-- and a lot of fun to be around.

Like many of my clients, Scott & Melissa are dog lovers. Their lab, Guinness, got into the photo taking fun as well:


Here are some more of my favorite shots:










Scott & Melissa--I really enjoyed last night and look forward to seeing you guys again in two weeks!

Nathan & Elizabeth

Nathan & Elizabeth got married at The Secret Garden on Saturday. It was a beautiful wedding. Elizabeth and her family and friends are all super high-energy and the whole day felt like one big party. The day was also special for me because I got to work with my favorite pastor--Scott Swanson-- and my favorite DJ--Ken Moskowitz of Desert Audio. I also got to work with my friend Sarah Duckworth, who is the event coordinator at The Secret Garden. So it was the dream team for me--lots of fun; everyone working together to make the wedding day amazing.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the day:

Click here if you'd like to view the slideshow.



All the bridesmaids had cute shirts with their last names on the back:


What a cute couple:


A sweet moment between Elizabeth and her dad:


There were some amazing details at this wedding. Every touch was beautiful:


The Secret Garden has a great staircase that Elizabeth walked down escorted by her father:


The ceremony was emotion-filled:



More beautiful details:



And the first dance:


Elizabeth & Nathan--thanks so much for allowing me to document your amazing day!

Thanks for the Encouragement

This week has been a tough week for me. I've been in the process of getting a new website designed for months now and the whole thing has been a tough experience. This week it's come to a head so I've been a bit stressed out.

But God is good. He's also sent some encouragement my way in the form of emails from past clients who received my newsletter this week. I always love to hear from each of you even years after the wedding. You each have a special place in my memory and heart. Here's part of an email from Miranda whose wedding I shot in North Carolina in February 2005:


Thanks for brightening my day Miranda!

The Hammond Family

The other day I got to shoot family portraits for my assistant, Jamie. She has two of the cutest kids ever. Blake is 3 and Tyler is 18 months. Blake was such a trooper with the portraits, trying his best and being very patient. Tyler was a little tougher but that's to be expected at her age. But I'm excited because we got some super-cute ones!

Blake is such a good big brother and loves Tyler so much. Check out the love:


And a few more of my favorites:






Thanks for everything you do for me Jamie! I love you and your cute family!

The Arthur Family

Last weekend I got the chance to shoot family portraits for the Arthur family. I had my hands full with 9 adults and 5 children all under the age of 5! It's always tough to get a shot with everyone looking at the camera, eyes open and smiling all at the same time. But we had fun with it and the Arthur family was great to work with. After we did a group shot and a few individual family photos, we all just hung out at the park, the adults interacting with the kids, and I got some great candid shots of the kids being themselves that are just precious.

Here's a few more of my favorites. Greg and Tracy have their hands full literally with twin girls and a little boy. They are such a cute family:




Thanks guys--you were a lot of fun to work with!

up and running

Ok, the smart engineers got it all figured out and my emails are slowly trickling in. I will work hard to get back to you all soon!

email down

I haven't received any emails since 3pm yesterday which is very odd since I usually get like 50 emails a day. So I'm going to do some investigative work to get things fixed but just wanted to let you know in case you've sent me an email since then. Feel free to call me if you need something!

Jason & Dani

Jason & Dani were SO excited to get married and had a beautiful ceremony yesterday morning at The Westin Kierland Resort. They had a lot of family come in from the east coast and it was a very special day. Dani picked bright fun colors for the flowers and bridesmaid dresses and the reception in the Deseo restaurant at The Westin fit the bright happy theme. Here are a few more of my favorites from the day. Click here to see the slideshow.







Thanks to Jason and Dani for allowing me to shoot your beautiful amazing day!

Tom & Katie

Yesterday I shot the wedding of two fun and very sweet people--Tom & Katie. It was a beautiful day and Katie was an absolutely stunning bride. I must say I took about a zillion good pictures of her. But I can't take a lot of the credit. I don't think she takes a bad picture. And Tom is a big guy with a soft heart--I think he cried through the whole ceremony :).

The day started at Orange Salon, a very cool new salon in Gilbert.



One of the many gorgeous shots of Katie:


The dress:


My friend and fellow wedding photographer, Jared Platt, blessed me by shooting with me for the day. Thanks Jared! He got some great shots. I LOVE this one of Katie right before the ceremony--she looks like an angel:


The ceremony was at The Wright House in Mesa. It was a beautiful setting. Here comes the bride:


Here's a fun shot of the couple just after the ceremony:


And another favorite of Katie:


And finally, I couldn't resist throwing this one in--the father/daughter dance was such a sweet moment. Katie and her dad were singing to each other and I got a little emotional :).


There are so many more fun shots from the day including Tom singing to Katie at the end of the reception. Click here to see the slideshow.

Thanks Tom & Katie--you guys are a great couple!!

Today I shot another wedding and a portrait shoot. They were both great and stay tuned--I'll post some photos from today's shoots in the next couple days after I get some sleep... :)

The Hoe Down

Last night was my 30th birthday party! It was so much fun. Most of my favorite people were there. It was extremely special to have so many people I love together in one place. That doesn't happen too many times in a lifetime. And on top of having many beloved people there, we got to do one of my favorite things--dance! Some country line dance instructors came in and taught us all a thing or too and it was quite comical.


I know many of you had fun with it but some of you were just good sports--thanks especially to my dad and Josh for trying so hard :). You guys are cute.

My friends Jamie and JT blessed me by taking pictures all night. Thanks guys! So all these fun shots and the ones on the slideshow are theirs. After taking a look at the photos, you'd think we were all a bunch of drunkards instead of church-going folks. This, for instance, is not only my friend Scott, but also my pastor:


Hard to believe, I know.

You'll definitely want to click here to see the slideshow from the night and many more shocking and comical photos.

I want to send out a special THANK YOU to my friend Julie who is so extremely thoughtful and sweet and started planning this party for me back in July! Can you believe how I luck out in the friend department? On top of that, it's her 31st birthday TODAY! HAPPY BIRTHDAY JULIE! I love you!

Congrats Rebecca & David Jay!

I want to give a shout out to Phoenix photographer and friend, Rebecca Bouck, for this interview on BluBlog and for her photos of last season's Biggest Losers that were published in People Magazine!

Rebecca is a part of the Phoenix PUG, a network of photographers that I lead who meet monthly to share ideas and help each other succeed. I'm really excited for her!



Also interviewed by Bludomain, David Jay--my long-time friend and photography mentor. He's amazing and gives a stellar interview. Check it out by clicking here. Way to go David!

Thanks for the love

Yesterday was my 30th birthday and I wanted to thank so many of you for making me feel so blessed. Saturday my friend Jessica took me out to lunch to one of my favorite spots and then to a movie.


Then yesterday I went to lunch with Scott, Julie and the boys. I also got to talk long distance with my friend Michelle from North Carolina. And my friend Shannon from New Hampshire sang to me on my voicemail :). Thanks to so many of you also for the emails, cards and calls. It was kind of an emotional day for me just thinking about how thankful I am for my friendships. I am truly blessed with life-long friends who are so faithful and true.

Today I got to hang out with my mom, sis and nephews in the afternoon. I took some cute photos of my youngest nephew, Elijah who is 4. Both of my nephews have autism and are so special. Elijah's favorite thing to do is throw rocks. He can sit in the backyard for hours.





And then tonight my parent's took me to dinner at Shabu Fondue. It is one of my favorites. You get to cook your food in front of you and then for dessert dip things in chocolate! It's entertaining and yummy. Here's me with my birthday dessert:


Amazingly the birthday fun isn't over. It's more like a birthday week this year. Julie, my sister and mom are throwing me a party Friday night that I'm really looking forward to! I feel so spoiled. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to all of you for pouring on the love and for being such amazing people who I feel honored to call friends.