S family

I'll get right to the point, I love these people a whole bunch! The mom of this bunch is one of my closest friends and we have been family friends for over 15 years. Our kids have grown up together and it's been such a joy to do life with them over the years. We took their photos at their home in downtown Mesa, they have some gorgeous property and it made for some great pictures! I had such a great time taking their photos and we shared lots of laughs when the family dog joined in some pictures and then we decided to get a little silly and gather all the animals for one last photo. The benefits of doing a photo shoot at your home is you have props just waiting to be used!

 This one (below) makes me laugh. Sometimes things don't go as you planned but then it gives you a great idea! See next picture.

G family @ MAC

I have had the pleasure of photographing this family several times over the years. We did their photo session at the same location as last year because loved it so much. The wonderful thing about Mesa Arts Center is that there are so many places to take pictures there that we were able to use totally different spots this year even though we were at the same location. Here are a few that stood out to me from their photo shoot. One of these will look great on their Christmas card!

G family

This was a photo shoot that almost got cancelled because of rain which means I almost broke my streak of never having to cancel a photo shoot because of rain. It was still down pouring at 3 p.m. and we planned to start photos around 3:30 and finally at a little past 3, the rain stopped, the clouds parted and it was crisp and gorgeous outside. The lighting was perfect and the trees glistened with vibrant fall colors. It was fabulous. You would never guess by these photos that we were still in Arizona. I have known this wonderful family for about four years. We go to church together and are in a life group with them, our kids are friends, and we love spending time with them! They are super fun and chill which made for a great time on this photo shoot. Their location was in downtown Mesa. The more photos I take downtown, the more I fall in love with this place. It is just so pretty, especially after a rainstorm. You will notice that one of these pics is not like the other, we had a random man join in for a photo. He may have been slightly drunk, but was super friendly and gave us all a good laugh. There was a music festival going on while we were there so it was quite the happening place!

A family

I have had the pleasure of photographing this family on a few occasions and it's always a treat to work with them. Not only do they have some of the cutest kids on the planet, but they are pure sweetness and are so easy to work with. Our paths crossed with this family when we were adopting our daughter from Korea and they were in the process of adopting their son. In fact, our daughter and their son were on the same flight coming home from Korea. A friendship was formed from there and this mom and I have stayed in touch ever since. She is such a great resource for me on all things adoption and Korea and I value the friendship I have with her. It was hard to narrow down their photo shoot to just a few photos because all of them are so darling. Here are a few that stood out to me. We did their photos at Riparian Preserve in Gilbert.

Birthday photos #13

This photo shoot was so much fun! These sweet girls were celebrating the 13th birthday of one of these gals and the mom surprised her and her friends with a photo shoot! Talk about fun and what 13 year old girl doesn't like some time in front of the camera. We met at downtown Mesa and spent some time in the heart of downtown and then headed over to the Mesa Arts Center for a few more pics. These girls are darling! What a fun photo shoot!

F family

I finally got to take family photos at one of my new locations, Coon Bluff. It is just so beautiful there and I can't get enough of the filtered light as the sun is setting and it makes its way through the trees. It is absolutely breathtaking. It is however quite dusty and when you have super active kids and the family dog, you will deal with dirty pants and the temptation to play (or dig) in the dirt; but we still managed to pull off a successful photo shoot and the family loves their photos!