If you haven’t had an opportunity to check out the cool shops on NE Mississippi Ave., it’s a definite must! My two faves on my frequently traveled list are Gravy (a sweet, downright home style rib sticking biscuits and gravy joint) and  of course, Black Wagon, an awesome children’s clothing boutique that’s carries both kid-friendly and eco-friendly products that you and your little ones will be proud to wear! That said, this awesome family found me through Black Wagon as I am a regular with the photo booth for their anniversary parties and had the pleasure of meeting them with they were just a family of 3! With the full family of 4 on board, we set out to get some cool family portraits for Mother’s Day. Yes, I am late with posting even though we did get the session done in time for Mother’s Day. The kids were awesome! Riding on the heels of nap time, 11 month old ‘B’ rocked the studio and outdoor session in as did her bro. Both of them are cuties with their big blue eyes and witty smiles! I had a blast! Enjoy your sneak peek!

If you missed out on last weekend’s event, you have another opportunity to participate this Sunday, April 10th at Bethany Athletic Club in NW Portland – click here for details! Hope to see you there! Big kids, little kids, ALL are welcome!

Meet Kevin…his brother Marcus had his high school senior portraits done earlier this year and their mom wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to have the boys’ photos taken together before Marcus heads off to college next year. You’d be surprised to know that it was surprisingly, sunny in early December for these portraits…but also incredibly COLD!!! The boys were great sports about putting up with the cold for a few hours; especially Marcus, as you will see him sporting shorts in December! And, much to her chagrin, I just had to include mom in some of the photos, as after all, part of this was for family portraits too…right??? (lol!) Enjoy your sneak peek!

Somewhere in the depths of my hard drives…and my brain, this Portland family portrait session somehow got lost on the radar for blog post-dome. But…alas, it has made it to the top of the list and we’re back on track with getting some air time for this sweet family. I was told on the morning of our shoot, just as we were getting started that mom almost cancelled the session but I’m really glad she didn’t. Our sunny days this year have been few and far between and we hit the perfect day, at the perfect time with a party of 6 and a barrel full of laughs! Enjoy your sneak peek!

Well, it’s been hit or miss with weather here in Portland this year, but fortunately, for my clients (and me!) we’ve been graced with some really beautiful days for portraits. Jack turned “one” in August and we postponed his commemorative photo shoot by a few weeks but I’m really glad we did. He’s such a happy baby and I can’t believe he’s already a year old now. Take a look at Jack’s photos when he was just  a wee newborn. Happy Birthday Jack (belated)! Enjoy your sneak peek!

Did you miss out on our best $10.10 deal of the year? No worries! Would you LOVE to have the opportunity WIN a FREE photo session (value $175) and $200 credit towards your print/product order? We’re feeling awfully generous and have been creating some October Madness this year. You can earn points to be entered in a drawing to win a complimentary photo session and $100 credit towards your print in product order. Session good for any weekday session between Jan 4, 2011-April 30, 2011.

To enter, just leave a comment on this blog post (not on Facebook), and let us know what kind of photo session you want.

One winner will be drawn at random on Sunday, October 31st. So check back then.

*** And if you want more chances to win, get bonus entries: ***:

1. Join the Facebook Fan Page & let us know you did by adding another comment to this blog post
2. Buy a drink @ the Bethany Village Starbuck’s where we have a display this month, take a picture of yourself w/your drink in front of our display & post it to the Facebook Fan Page
3. Have you been to us before or are looking forward to? Write a review for us on Yelp and/or Google Places – and get 3 additional entries for each review (pssst….here’s a tip – you can write one review and copy/paste the same one)

Wow! Where has the time gone? We’re already well in to October & I’m finally getting a chance to post some new sneak peeks from sessions in September! It’s been great to have a break in between senior shoots to have some fun with babies & pups! This little guy celebrated his 1st birthday in early September! Happy (belated) Birthday Orion! He was so much fun right off the bat…and his pup was the most well behaved lab I’ve ever seen! I had blast with you guys (no pun intended– there are a ton of great images from your session. I can’t wait for you to see the rest! Enjoy your sneak peek!

One of the biggest challenges that plagues moms prior to photo shoots is “what should we wear?” My common answer is – “I like color” and…”look at the front of a J.Crew catalog. Nobody ‘matches’ but they are all wearing something that complements each other.” No, you don’t have to ‘buy’ the clothes from J. Crew but at least that will help you get started on the road to inspiration. The other thing I also suggest is pick one person/child’s outfit that will stand out and then pull colors from that outfit that will complement it. So…easy, right?

Well, not exactly. My friend Angie and I have been talking about doing a photo shoot with her kids for well over a year now. And no…it hasn’t taken her a year to get the kids’ wardrobe together. But I was excited when we finally worked this all out. She did an awesome job with picking out the kids clothes and we found a killer location to shoot at too! On top of all that, the kids did a great job and I had a blast! Enjoy your sneak peek!

It’s great to have past high school senior clients come back….and this time with an extended family! It’s quite a change to continue to have somewhat ‘grown-up’ families that I don’t have to chase around and sing the themes songs to current cartoons to the kids. I think I might have come close to singing some songs from The Hills but I refrained. Congratulations on your 50th Anniversary. I hope you all had a great time during our family reunion! Enjoy!