Sugar and spice | Queen Creek Family Photographer

Need I explain this title?  Can’t you just look at that little adorable girl and know?  She kept us laughing and chasing and waiting and smiling!  Brooke and her family are not strangers to me!  Do you remember my post about Design Stash?  That little girl has grown up and so have her brothers.  The parents… its amazing how only the kids get older!  : )  What a pleasure it was to photograph this family and their spunk, smiles, laughter and love.

An unusual occasion | Phoenix Band Photographer

I have an aunt who happens to be a talented trumpist (is that the formal word for one who plays the trumpet?  I should go look it up…  I’ll be back).

I have an aunt who happens to be a talented trumpeter and she connected me with her band, Arizona Winds Concert Band.  They were looking to update their website and Facebook page, among other materials, and hired me to take their pictures.  Now, this isn’t a typical shoot for me since the families I photograph usually leave their tuxedos at home.  It was truly a most perfect morning in Phoenix, AZ and we headed out to a mountain preserve where I met up with the group all dressed in their fancy concert attire.  The clouds scarcely covered the sun, providing some beautiful diffused light.  The band was facing the east and prior to the morning, I was worried that the 60+ members would be squinting at the sun.   You can imagine how pleased I was with an slightly overcast morning (something I am used to up here in the Pacific Northwest).  I loved their location it was so appropriate for an AZ band!   With a little hill to climb to get started, I enjoyed seeing them come one by one with their instruments in hand, ready to shoot!   Each group of instruments took some formal pictures and then had fun with some unusual and unexpected pictures (just my type). The morning went smoothly and I’m anxious to see what they do with their site!  Here are a few from our perfect Phoenix morning together…

Green, yellow, and purple | Kirkland Family Photographer

It’s almost as if they studied the color wheel and learned that purple goes great with yellow…  The sun was shining through the fields and trees providing a golden warm day in Kirkland.  I am starting to think that all the talk about raining in Washington may not be true after all (but ask me again in February).  Jenna was the first girl I knew here in Kirkland. She introduced me to doctors and swimming lessons, friends and delicious places to eat!  I love this family!  I did family portraits for them last year at Kerry Park in Seattle and captured the Seattle skyline in the background.  This time, we are doing the class green/yellow scene of the pacific northwest!

Deadlines and rain | Kirkland Senior Photographer

Even though it seems as though school JUST started, the seniors are already meeting deadlines, ordering caps and gowns, graduation announcements and modeling for their senior portraits.  The instructions come to the photographer and say things like, “the head size will be approximately 5/8 inch from chin to eyebrow…,”  or how about this one, “neutral background color-traditional mottled gray, blue or brown,” WHAT?  Seriously.  Well, we followed the directions, set up a session and with a gray (ish) background but had no other choice since it was raining.  : )  We shot as creatively as we good given our restrictions and parameters.  She is beautiful with such a sweet personality.  She rallies those around her and brightens the mood wherever she goes.

Rainboots in the sun | Kirkland Senior Photographer

It was an expectedly sunshine-y day and very busy at the Bellevue Botanical Gardens.  I suppose it offered some audience for this senior and her afternoon of modeling?  : )  She brought these rainboots-RED.  Red goes with everything and she sported them better than anybody I have seen.  We had fun dodging people and waiting for others to pass.  The day was wonderful (and I was even sweating… yes, here in the pacific northwest) and she was adorable.  Her mother was every bit as adorable and I can’t wait to do her “senior” photos someday.  :)

Discovery Park senior session | Kirkland Senior Photographer

We were the lucky winners of a special pass to DRIVE down to the water at Discovery Park in Seattle.  There were rules… like you need to be a senior citizen or have young children-none of which fit our circumstance.  Then, she asked about driving because of her knee.  YES!  A special circumstance that may get us down to the water to avoid the 1 mile+ walk.  She had just had surgery on her knee and wasn’t able to walk long distances and short distances weren’t easy.  We asked and we received.  We proudly displayed our disability pass in our window, drove down to the “special parking lot” near the lighthouse and water’s edge and did our session, or much of it, there.  It was another gorgeous day in Seattle as the clouds gently diffused the sun providing some beautiful light.  I was doing quite the acrobatic tricks holding my reflector while the sun was strong without an assistant.  A kind man walked by and asked if he could help but he was about ten minutes too late.  The air was crisp and chilly, the sun was warm and the beach was beautiful.  It made a perfect day for a senior session At Discovery Park!