You all are FAST!!!

Ok, I sent out emails at what, 10:35am for the "Where's Morgan" contest? Almost instantaneously I was bombarded with where Morgan is on the new site! GOOD JOB EVERYONE!!!! Here's the first 5 to correctly tell me where she was:

Lisa North (mommy to the cutie I won the award for!!)
Jayna Danforth
Renee Schaberg
Becky Sandwith
and
Beth Dann

Yay!! Congrats to you all, there'll be a $50 gift certificate in the mail to you soon!

And runner-ups because there were so many of you that were quick quick quick!

Lisa Glover
Nancy Perry
Dionne Miller
Jeanie Shields
and
Robyn Yoder

All of our runner-ups get a $25 gift certificate!

Don't forget there's still some openings for those free sessions for the Back to Basics sessions!

Grand Opening for the New Website!

That's right, I'm having a grand opening for my new website! And for the first FIVE people to email me and tell me where a picture of my daughter is on the new site will receive a $50 gift certificate towards a future session! It's not quite Where's Waldo since there's at least 5 spots where she's on the site that I can think of.

And for everyone who's thinking that they have no idea what the Squirt looks like, here's a picture of her!
Let me know what you think of the new site! I'm pretty excited by it! :) Happy Hunting!!

It's Back to Basics for the Month of May!

For a Grand Opening celebration of the new website, I'm offering a special Limited Edition of Back to Basics for the month of May and FREE sessions for it if you book fast!

Photographed on an all white background with minimal props, these images are timeless yet modern. White shirts, blue jeans, crazy colors, cute dresses, or skin; any of these options can create beautiful portraits!

The first TEN people to sign up for it receive a free session (worth $45). These sessions have to be booked and photographed in the month of May to qualify for the Limited Edition pricing (which is less than regular portrait pricing and has smaller Collections that start at $100) and are only available Mondays thru Fridays.

This is a great session to have the baby photographed, those last minute seniors that need some pictures, update the kids' old portraits or to plan early for the family portrait for the holidays! (Wow, did I just type the "H" word? Yikes!!)

Vancouver BC

Well, it's been at least 15 years since I had been north of the border (somehow it's always the heat of south of the border that calls me!) so Adam and I went away for the weekend and drove up to Vancouver BC. We stayed in a B&B in West Vancouver and had a great time wandering the city. We visited Granville Island (picked up some GREAT Serrano ham and wine there) and found our way to the Vandusen Gardens. Very pretty garden, with some great possibilities for a future location for a Portrait Safari.

On our way home we took the roundabout way which included a 90 minute detour out east to visit another garden. Stopped along the way for lunch and ended up finding a tulip field out in the middle of nowhere with absolutely no one around so of course we had to go take pictures! :)

The Grandparents came!

How sweet are these? Grandma and Grandpa came with to this family portrait session last week to have portraits done with their adorable grandkids.

Mr. "N" and I always have a great time playing peek and he loves to make me work for one of his adorable grins. And look at Miss "M", she's hanging on every word from Grandpa! So sweet!

I love photographing the grandparents with their grandkids, we have so much fun with their special activities. I really think it's very important to catch those moments before the kids grow up or life takes away the opportunity that we have right now. Don't have any ideas for portraits? That's what I'm for!! :) Paper airplanes, cookie-baking, ice cream cones on a hot summer day, playing guitars, fishing, reading stories, anything that says this is Grandparents time with the grandkids.

Snoqualmie Falls & Downtown

Just a quick share from an engagement session done this past weekend. Aren't they adorable together? "J" & "W" are getting married soon at the Snoqualmie Falls Lodge and thought that the Falls would be the perfect spot for some portraits. And sure enough, a stunning backdrop as always! :) We also stopped over at the trains in downtown Snoqualmie for some wandering. Such a fun place to photograph at! Perfect for not just couples, but families and kids and seniors as well!

Enjoy!!

I can add "Award-Winning" to my resume!

There was a PPW (Professional Photographers of Washington) convention down in Ocean Shores over the weekend and guess what! Yours truly walked off with an award for the Best Portrait of a Child! And there wasn't just photographers from Washington to beat...there were folks from Oregon and California as well!

I also merited with two portraits. One was the Best Portrait and the other was a cute little ballerina that was rather attached to some pearls (don't worry, they get washed after every baby!). What does meriting mean? It means I know what I'm doing!! Lol. It's a ranking system designed by Professional Photographers of America to judge on twelve criteria of a portrait. Things like lighting, composition, impact and story-telling are just a couple of things the judges consider.

The next opportunity for judging isn't until the national convention in January in Tampa. I can't wait to go!!

Best Portrait of a Child & Merited Print: Playing Footsie


My other Merited Print: Bella Ballerina