Dunford Family

  What's more fun that taking family photos with awesome hats and a GINORMOUS dog?  Taking them in a snowstorm that combines the last bit of fall colors with the blustery weather of Christmas!

The Dunford family was awesome to work with, and one of their dogs is seriously about as big as I am.  It was great!

And look how adorable little Caroline was!  Between the hat, the boots, and the little bit of 'tude she's showing, she is one of the cutest little girls I have ever seen!

 

 

I loved how colorful this shoot turned out, and how it didn't matter how cold it was or if it was snowing; this family was up for it!

 

Plus, a return to extreme adorableness.

Amber & Shane- Wedding Highlights at The Point Restaurant

  A couple months ago I did some quick wedding highlight shots of Amber and Shane after their ceremony and before their reception at The Point at the Huntsman Institute in downtown Salt Lake City.  I was going through my galleries, and realized I completely forgot to share them!  I was only there a short time, but managed to get a couple of shots to show off how happy and awesome these two looked.

Ellwood Family

  As I am soaking up as much sun as my pale winter skin can take, I wanted to share this winter family shoot we did recently at Wheeler Farm.  There isn't any snow on the ground, but we sure felt like there could have been!

  

Alex is a financial planner with a local firm here in Utah, and he needed a new photo for the company website, so we did a few quick headshots for him as well.

  

If you're thinking about doing winter family photos, a good solid red is almost always a great choice for a color.  These ladies look beautiful, and really pop out in front of the background with the vibrant shade of red they went with.

  

After the more outdoorsy nature setting, we also got a couple of more formal portraits at the Capitol Building in SLC.  We got there just in time to catch the last bit of the light.  The night skyline was gorgeous!

Time for some sun!

  So long snow and ice!!  For the next week, I will be out of the country.  I'm currently down in the Caribbean doing a couple of photoshoots, a few workshops, and generally enjoying the sunshine and water.

Don't worry, I have some blog posts scheduled so we'll still get to share some more highlights from past shoots, but if you try emailing me or reaching me on Facebook you will have to wait until next week.  Merry Christmas and happy holidays!  I have to go swim with some dolphins now.  :D

Noteworthy 2011

  A couple of months ago, we did a promotional photoshoot for Noteworthy.  I had a blast shooting them last year, and so I was excited to be able to do it again this year.  We headed on up to Vivian Park in Provo Canyon while we still had Fall colors on the trees.

Soon after we started, we heard this rumble from the highway, and this long line of VW bugs and vans rolled into the parking lot next to the picnic tables.  It turned out the Wasatch Vintage VW's club had run through the Alpine Loop and was stopping for lunch.  It turned out one of the members had this awesome green bug that went perfectly with Noteworthy's green ties.  :D

  

Yay for fall leaves!!!

    

    

    

Group shots done, headshots done, now it's time for fun and silliness!

  

  

Check out the full galleries here.

Carlin Family- Downtown Salt Lake

  It's so fun to have more family living in Utah now.  Sandy is my sister-in-law, and she moved here with her family when her husband Kevin got a new job in Provo.  She has always been really supportive of my work, and so I was delighted when we came up with an arrangement for some trade work.  I would take family portraits of them, and she would come over several times to clean the house.  Given I would MUCH rather be taking photos than doing housework, I think this might be the best trade deal I've had to date!

It reminds me of the movie Julie and Julia, when Julie tells her boyfriend she knows why she's so bad at housework- she has ADD.  And he says "OH!  Is thaaat it?"  Yes.  I must have ADD.

  

I may be biased, but my niece and nephew are adorable.  You can't deny it!

Nicole & Blake: Park City Engagement Photos

  Nicole and Blake drove down from Rexburg, ID where they both attend BYU for our engagement photo session.  We managed to get a beautiful and sunny day- even if it was a little windy and only about 20 degrees outside. :D  These two were awesome to work with!

 

Weren't Nicole's shoes cute?

 

I love shooting the historic old white barn in Park City.  It's such a landmark, and has some fantastic advantages if you are looking for different "nature" shots.  There's a great field, stream, some nice fence lines and this awesome historic farmhouse all in the same location.

 

Check out their full gallery here!  There are a lot more awesome photos of these two....

Happy Thanksgiving

  It's a little bit late, but I wanted to share some photos from Thanksgiving and say how grateful I am to have had the time to spend with my family.  At the end of the day, I know that what I am most grateful for are a supportive family, a loving husband, and the time I get to spend with them.  But I'm also grateful for good food.  It's a close second :)  And nothing is better than Mom's cooking.

Amazing vegetables - Green beans sauteed with garlic (and butter of course!) and Asparagus lightly sprinkled with salt and sugar.  Unusual, but it's fantastic!

 

Roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, and yams.

Fruit salad,                                                                                                                            Cucumbers and tomatoes with vinegar.

 

And not your traditional Thanksgiving meat, but since my Dad's from New Zealand, we grew up eating lamb with mint sauce for our fancy dinners and he was happy to cook it for us while everyone was in town.  It took a few hours to drive around and actually find a store selling it, but definitely worth it.

Happy (Belated) Thanksgiving, and Merry Christmas!

And the winner is....

  It is 10 a.m. Thursday morning and the suspense has been killing me!  Really, I woke up 3 hours before my alarm was going to go off and I couldn't get back to sleep.

Thanks for participating and doing such a great job rallying your friends to vote on your ideas!

2nd place is: Karin with 200 votes.  Pale pink and peach formal ballet session - with a long white romantic era tutu at Sleepy Ridge with beautiful hard wood floors with the big window of light streaming though.

and 1st place, with 216 votes, is Kristian.  Rock climbing trash the dress session.

There was a little bit of confusion about whether to comment or like and a few people had trouble finding the post, so I'd like to give a free session to both of you!  Congratulations.  Both great ideas and we look forward to an exciting session!

And as a walk down memory lane, Kristian was my little sister's roommate several years ago.  We did a session of all the roommates so they could send Christmas cards.  Wow, that was a long time ago.

 

And when Karin got married last year, we did a bridal session at Thanksgiving point.  But no ballet!  I'm sure the dance photos will be beautiful.

Congratulations, and thanks again!