{Queen Creek Family Photographer} Robles Family Photoshoot

Remember this photoshoot in which I explained that my favorite field got plowed? Well this was the sweet family that went to the AMAZING location, only for us to realize that it had been plowed and was not so pretty anymore. Luckily I always have a backup location so we went around the block to my second favorite field in Queen Creek for this beautiful family's portrait photoshoot. Maybe its because I, as a mother of two wild boys, am used to having to do everything short of wrestling a kid to get them to sit still for a photo, but this beautiful girl seemed unusually well behaved. I mean, between her crazy gorgeous face and sweet little personality I couldn't help but wonder, "Does this girl ever get in trouble? How do I get one of these?" As if I wasn't desperate enough to have a little girl next, sweet Miah made it official. So B. Welty if you're reading this: I want one just like her^. Thanks.

I really need to start explaining to all my clients that there are certain locations that look much better in pictures. At the end as I was showing them some shots that we had taken, Joyce said, "Wow you really made this location look much better in pictures!" Oops! Guess I should have explained that the random field on the side of the road actually has perfect overgrown grass. Or that the trees have the perfect hue of yellow. Or that the weird patches will make for great bokeh. So I guess I should warn future clients: If you're nervous that I've lost my mind taking you to a weird location, I promise there's a purpose and it'll look amazing in your pictures :) (By the way, Joyce was amazing about it, I don't know if she had many doubts but I hope she loves these photos as much as I do!)

{Queen Creek Engagement Photographer} Steven + Elisa

 

Okay, so its not TECHNICALLY an engagement session but I'm labeling it as such because honestly, I want to market these two as an engaged couple. Who wouldn't see these two and not want an engagement session exactly like them? I mean, sure, they're technically already married but these beautiful faces are just dying to be on the Engagement page on my website :) When I asked their permission to put them on there they said, "Well it must mean that the pictures will turn out good if you want to put them on your website, right?" 

Uhhhhhh, yes! With a gorgeous couple, beautiful field, and a perfect sunset, these two will be all over my website! Okay, time for the back story.

These two were married 9 months ago, and wanted some additional photos of just the two of them. Even though we weren't able to get together for their actual wedding day *sigh* I'm SO happy to have met them and had so much fun capturing their love. 

This field was my absolute favorite location in Queen Creek. You might recognize it from this photoshoot or this one, and I had been getting a lot of requests to go to it. I even told Steven and Elisa during our shoot, "I don't know whats going to happen if the grass ever gets plowed!" Just take a guess at what happened next. The next Saturday morning I met a cute family (blog post coming soon) who requested it and lo and behold: It had been plowed. Oh well, I guess it'll keep my photos fresh by forcing me to find a new location, right? So if you've been ogling over the location in the last few shoots like I have (not to mention planning my OWN family session here) we'll have to wait till next year when the grass has (hopefully) grown back in. Until then, enjoy the beauty of this adorable couple's love.

{Queen Creek Family Photographer} Lifestyle Session with the Cooks

This Queen Creek family photo session was about as "Lifestyle" as it gets! Although Billie didn't let us get many standard, posed, sitting and smiling pictures, we got a whole heck of a lot of candid, lifestyle shots. I sometimes think these are the best ones. Sure, I was a hot, sweaty mess while shooting this, but capturing the Cooks in all their fun, candid glory was so worth it.

The Cooks were actually my very first clients here in Arizona! It was because of them that I learned there are snakes here, and that the beautiful, overgrown field that I've had my eye on is probably infested with them (one reason why I always have a backup location, yikes!) So because I had worked with them before, I fully expected to be running around and having fun with this little boy, and oh boy did we run around. Even though he was hesitant to warm up to me, we became best buds by the end of it. We hid in the grass and climbed trees and he even used a huge DSLR for the first time (my way of bribing him to say "CHEESE!") Lis kindly let me know that after our session Billie said he wanted to come home with me. I can only imagine the havoc he could wreak with my own little 3 year old ;)

I get a lot of comments from people who are hesitant to get their photos taken because of their "crazy kids". I'll let you know that for me, the crazier the better! Billie was far from crazy but he definitely had some spunk and fire and let me just say, I had SUCH a great time with him! Since my style is more relaxed and candid, I try not to sweat the small stuff and try to always get the perfect shot, but instead I love to embrace the fire and just capture a family for all it is: Beautiful and fun!

Queen Creek Engagement Photographer {Katie + Chad Part 2}

Every night my husband goes to sleep and tells me, "Don't stay up too late tonight!"
"I won't," I respond, "I'm only going to edit a few more."
And I really do mean it at the time, but yet again I usually find myself shutting things down around 1:00 am. I mean, can you blame me? As someone who really loves beauty, tearing myself away from these two lovely people is just so hard.
Here's another look at Katie and Chad's engagement photos.

Queen Creek Engagement Photographer {Katie+Chad}

"We like to dance," she said. 

Laughing the whole time, he spun her around and bent her into a low dip. The sun was perfectly peeking through the trees, its last debut before leaving our view. He brought her up and spun her again before bringing her into his arms. He bent in to give her a light peck on the lips.

And as I stood there snapping photos to capture every perfect, beautiful, blissful moment all I could think was:

"Holy crap there's a bug biting me."

And while I may have had several bug bites later that night the size of dimes (something my husband will attest that, for once, I'm not exaggerating) I couldn't have looked away or stopped snapping pictures for a second. This fun loving couple who loves sports and dancing, I couldn't help but be drawn to them and think to myself that these were the kind of people I want to be like. We did this beautiful engagement session in a grove of trees in Queen creek, and this sunset session just oozed love and affection. While I always love doing engagement sessions, this one seemed extra perfect. Sunset, a beautiful couple, bugs eating away at me, I wouldn't have changed anything about it. Both of them school are teachers, and I can only imagine all the young students starting their first day of school probably expecting this, and instead getting this bombshell as their teacher.

Good luck concentrating on math this year, boys.

 More to come tomorrow! Head on over to my Facebook for more updates!

You can see more of the beautiful Katie and Chad's engagement session here. Trust me when I say, you don't want to  miss it. More sunset lighting, more cute outfits, more dancing, and more beauty from one of the cutest couples I know.

{J. Welty} First Day of Pre-school

 

Whenever I see those things that say "You might be a photographer if..." I secretly kind of roll my eyes. I mean, is there any way to read any of those without hearing it in Jeff Foxworthy's voice and thinking of cheesy redneck jokes? Anyways, that being said, I totally couldn't help but think of that as I was taking these pictures. You might be a photographer if your three year old gives you 

^THIS^ 

look during his first day of pre-school photoshoot. Anybody else flash back to 2001 to this movie when you see it?

But in all seriousness I really barely made it to the car before almost bursting into tears at leaving my boy for pre-school. Luckily his darling teacher held his hand the whole way to class. 

Not that its creepy at all that I took out my stalker lens to snap this picture, right?