Shelby's Bridals

Ok, every now and then things just really work out exactly the way we need them to. As I mentioned in their engagement post both Shelby and Steve are very outdoorsy people, and so Shelby wanted some nice shots for her bridals outdoors as well. When we took the engagements we got some beautiful snow-covered landscapes, and even got a great shot of them kissing in the snow. However, it has been super warm, with no snow to be found, and most outdoor locations have been a little drab to say the least. So when we scheduled Shelby's bridal photography for last Saturday we really just crossed our fingers and hoped for the best. There were some projected intermittent flurries of snow, but the probabilities weren't especially high.
We decided to start the session up in Salt Lake in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and then head down to Provo for a couple outdoor locations she wanted to shoot at. The JSMB went swimmingly, and as we headed down to Provo for the first location we started to see a couple of flakes of snow. Then we started to see some more. Then there was a LOT more. It was coming down heavily, but unfortunately still wasn't sticking to the ground very well. At this moment I started to get a little nervous. I worried we might get lots of snow coming down on us, making it difficult to shoot, and still not get any pretty ground cover. I commented to Thomas that what we really needed was for it just to snow like crazy for about ten minutes, dump an inch or two on the ground, and then just stop snowing altogether. He laughed and agreed that it would be nice, but I shouldn't get my hopes up. So we got down to the orchard and started waiting for Shelby and her mother to get there. Once they did we chatted for a few minutes hoping the snow would start to stick/start lightening up. We finally decided to just start anyways, as we were losing light, and brought out the umbrellas.
I guess Shelby's been living right, or somebody in charge must just like us, because about 10 minutes after we started shooting, the snow just stopped, leaving about 1 or 2 inches of snow everywhere- just enough to turn the orchard this gorgeous pristine white. I kept giggling uncontrollably as I was shooting, because it was just so perfect. Sometimes I just love this job.
To top it off, we decided to head over to Utah Lake to see what kind of colors we might get with the sunset. We ended up with this just incredible blue sky, and the snow just covering the ice on the lake. The only word I can think to describe it is magical.










To see more of this shoot click here for the full gallery.

Southwick Kids

Here's another quick studio shoot.








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Jasmine Palmer

I'm finally wrapping up the last few sessions that I did for family while we were up in Spokane for Christmas. Free shoots coming after paid ones in the editing priority and all.... so here's Jasmine. We headed across the Idaho border to this pretty lake for the photoshoot. I didn't really know what to expect, but I was pleased with the scenery. It's always fun to take photos in new and beautiful locations.






To see the full gallery, click here.

Tullis Kids

This time we got to do a bit of studio photography, as Leah wanted some photos of her little girl in her baby blessing dress, as well as a few photos of her two boys for Christmas cards. Even though we shot this back in December, I'm only finally getting around to posting the photos. I'm very efficient.
We switched up the subject every few minutes, depending on who was feeling cooperative at the moment. There were many bribes involved.







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Beauchamp Family

Here's a shoot I did for Christmas for my sister Chelsea and her family while we were up in Spokane. Their son Elijah is super adorable; I love getting a chance to shoot him! :)




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Amanda and George

It's interesting how things seem to go in cycles. Oftentimes I will have several clients in a row that for whatever reason all choose the same location or type of setting, which can be challenging to continue to find variety in the type of shots that we get. This engagement shoot was at what is turning out to be an extremely popular winter setting: our always-favorite Wheeler Farm. :)
A little ways into the session Amanda mentioned that while they decided to go for an outside setting, we probably could have gone to the library as well for their shoot- evidently a large majority of their dates occur there. They are both finishing up graduate school, and spend most of their "free" time studying together. In retrospect, the library might have been a safer choice for at least two reasons: the conspicuous absence of the marvelous aroma of outdoor pig pens, and walking conditions suitable for high heels. Amanda was awesome traversing the slightly treacherous and muddy walkways to get to the different spots at the farm we were shooting at, but it was touch and go a couple of different times. While warmish winter days are nicer to shoot in, ground that is defrosting can be problematic. Makes for some fun stories though...





To see more from the shoot, click here.

Tyler and Emily

I truly am addicted to color. My addiction becomes even more pronounced when it's winter, everything's dead, and it hasn't snowed for a while to at least make everything that beautiful, pristine white. When it's like this, I like to take my clients and head to places where I know I can get my color fix, winter or not. :D







To see more of Emily and Tyler's photos, click here.

Shelby and Steve

I love shooting outdoors. The light is gorgeous, you can get some breathtaking views, and there's plenty of fresh air. It's awesome. It can, however, present some challenges when the weather decides to change. When scheduling Shelby and Steve's engagement shoot it was a no-brainer that it would be outside. They both love to be out of doors. They hike, they camp, all that good stuff. So it was decided we'd meet in Highland and go to a couple of different spots that I had scouted out previously. There was one field in particular that I was extremely excited about. I figured it would be the ideal place to finish up and get some spectacular sunset shots. Then we showed up for the session and looked up at the sky.
Rolling in from the east was one solid mass of clouds, a precursor to what promised to be a really wicked snowstorm. We had checked the weather report and it promised us a lack of snow until sunset, so we crossed our fingers and started shooting. As the time passed, more and more of the nice blue sky became this blank, grey canvas. And then it started to snow.
At the end of our time together, we ended up with a lot of images that I could not have planned for, but were every bit as good as what I originally envisioned. As I said, I love shooting outside. It's always different than you imagine, but that's what makes it fun! :)



As an additional surprise from the day, I should mention that before the shoot Shelby and her fiancee had stated unequivocally that they didn't like kissing pictures, so we were to avoid taking any. They said maybe one or two on the wedding day. However, when the snow really started coming down and we had the big umbrella out I managed to convince them to try just one or two kissing shots. Guess which photo is Shelby's profile picture on Facebook. :)



Check out more photos of our winter adventure here.

Farmer Wedding- Newlyweds

Justin and Jeanine Farmer had a beautiful wedding day... the weather was just perfect (well, perfect enough considering it was January). I love it when couples ask me to be there all day, because it gives us the time to get a lot of variety in the photos. We started at the Bountiful temple after their sealing, they had a nice luncheon at a sushi place in Murray, and then we were able to skip on over to Wheeler farm for an hour or so before the reception. It's not often that we have a chance to shoot the wedding couple on the wedding day during the last hours of sunlight (my favorite time to shoot)- more often than not the schedule of the wedding day doesn't allow for it. So I was very pleased we were able to go to Wheeler Farm for the extended newlywed session. The location and the fact that they are "Farmers" did make me giggle a bit though. :D
Here are a few favorites from the photos outside the temple and at Wheeler Farm. I'll get some reception photos in a later post.






See they're "farmers". Get it? Eh? Eh? ;)



To see more of Justin and Jeanine's photos, click here.