Miya & Devin (Superstition Mountain)

Last weekend we had the great pleasure of doing some engagement photos for two of our favorite people. Miya and Devin have been dating for a while and everyone knew they were getting married, we were just waiting for them to make it official. It finally happened and I was absolutely delighted that Miya asked me to do her engagement and wedding photography.

We went to a new location for this shoot. They wanted to have the Superstition mountains in the background, so we first went over to the Superstition Museum, a quaint little "old west" location on the road to Lost Dutchman State Park, and tried a few things. We discovered that location would be MUCH better during sunrise but still managed a good photo or two. We then went on to Lost Dutchman State Park. That is a location that I visit quite frequently, but normally just for hiking, it was quite fun for me to do portraits at a place that I love so much and know so well. Sunset was definitely the best time to be there.

Miya and Devin were very patient and we had a fun time. I don't think Devin really enjoyed being photographed (very few guys do), but we still managed to get some excellent portraits. Here are some of our favorites:

 First of all - their kids are definitely going to have gorgeous eyes. Can you believe how well the color of their eyes match and how beautiful that color is? That is NOT an enhanced color. They really are that bright.

Both Miya and Devin have a difficult time being serious, so, why not embrace the goofiness? It doesn't make for great engagement photos, but it did allow us to have some fun in between trying to get other less-goofy shots.

Devin had an especially hard time not being weird. As I said, he didn't really seem to like being photographed, but he did his best to have fun and he certainly loves Miya, so it was pretty easy to get good pictures of them.

This is Marci's favorite shot of the day. The look on Miya's face as she is embracing Devin is pretty dang priceless. Plus, Miya is just a beautiful woman, so it's kind of impossible to take a bad photograph of her.

The photos seemed to really pop whenever we were trying to have more fun. I would have liked to be in a location that allowed for more "play" - but when you're surrounded by cholla cactus, you kind of need to be more careful.

This is one of my favorites, I just love the combination of Devin in a "stupid happy, but not too goofy" look and Miya with her beautiful smile - it just works for me.

Here is another shot that emphasizes both of their incredible eyes and their infectious smiles. I also threw in a slightly different edit of the photo just below this one that I moved significantly toward the blue (which is easy to tell in comparison) which really highlights their eyes without making them look creepy.

This is my absolute favorite shot of the day. It was also, oddly enough, the LAST shot of the day. We had a bunch more pictures of them being back-lit by the sunset, but this one just had that perfect combination of happy looks, great color, perfect position....it just all came together for this one shot. I'm very happy with it.

Thanks Miya and Devin for a fun evening, and thank you both for being such good friends.

Bri's Senior Pictures (October 2012)

Bri asked us to do her senior/graduation pictures.  We chose to do them at the Red Mountain Campus of MCC.  They have great walls with fun textures and colors and they have some desert landscape that is really nice as well.  Bri is gorgeous and is so easy to do a photo shoot with.  She loves to pose for the camera and is a natural.  I mean, these pictures tell it all:

 Looking to her future...

Beautiful...

Love this one in the street. Luckily, we were there on a Friday night and almost no one was around. As a side note, I wish I had my own camera to take a picture of Jared laying on the street on his stomach to capture this picture. The lengths he will go to get a perfect shot.

When Bri and her mom came over to view the pictures, they really loved this picture - although it was just black and white. They asked Jared if he could make the green glass still green with everything else black and white. It was a little bit of a challenge, but he figured it out and it looks amazing.  I love the little pop of color it gives the picture.

We ended up in the right spot at just the right time.  The sun was setting and it was perfect to capture this photo.

Bri, we wish you luck in where ever your life takes you. Thank you for allowing us to be part of your senior pictures. You are a wonderful young woman with a bright future ahead of you. We hope you will allow us to be a part of many other great accomplishments in your future.

Beyer Family (October 2012)

Jared and I had so much fun with the Beyer family. They asked for a sunrise shoot at the Mesa Arts Center.  We are not morning people so I knew it would be hard for me to get up and be happy at that time of the morning - but this family made it so worth getting up before the sun. They were all so happy and cheerful and just a pleasure to work with.

They came with the idea for this first picture. I love it. It really shows what is important to them.

The Mesa Arts Center is a wonderful place to take pictures. There are so many textures and colors there.  Sunrise was the perfect time to capture some amazing light and make these color walls pop.

Mom and Dad are the rock of this family and I love when we can capture these moments that are not staged.

 Dad and his daughters. They all adore him.

This was another idea  that they had for us. It was wonderful that they had done some of their own research of what they wanted. This shot was not as easy as it looks - but was totally worth the time and effort.

This one just makes me laugh every time I look at it. The 2 girls and looking at this sister and wondering what is going on with her. I understand this is a typical reaction to each other.

 They had a lot of fun with these frames.

 I don't need to say anything special about these next 3 - just beautiful...

 Dad's and daughters have a special bond.

I love this picture. Here you have a dad who is front and center - the rock of the family and the only male in a houseful of women. I love their attitudes behind him and the fact that his expression never changes in any of the pictures we took.  

Thank you to the Beyer family for the wonderful photo shoot. It really has been our pleasure to work with you and be with your wonderful family. You all make me smile all the time.

Gavin's Baptism (September 2012)

Gavin was baptized this past month, so, of course, we have to get baptism pictures! Gavin actually came up with a few of the poses. I was going to do them as well, but I though it was very fun to let him think he had control over what was going on.

Hancock Kids (June 2012)

A friend of ours wanted to have pictures of her kids, not the parents, just the kids. So, we went right out into their front yard and took care of it. She liked the idea of the "close up" picture, so that's what we tried for most of the time.

Quaranta Family (May 2012)

This was probably the most fun I've had at a photo session. The girls were are terribly fun, and Marci was with me to help keep things moving along. We went to the Mesa Arts Center for this session as well. With a lot of really good late afternoon shade you can have a longer session.

Fowkes family (December 2011)

 This was my first and, so far, only large family photo shoot. The family really wanted to go to Freestone Park in Gilbert, but we had to go at sunrise. We didn't get started soon enough for the very best light, but we managed okay. I think the group shots turned out pretty good, and there were one or two individual family shots that turned out okay.

Carmen Elicio (March 2011)

This was my first baby photo session. I learned a lot, mostly that shooting new-born babies is really hard. You have to have a LOT of patience and take a lot of pictures and hope that the baby cooperates. But, if you can manage all that, you can get some excellent results. 

I included a few B&W conversions of pictures just because I think they work really well for baby pictures.