A Day of Fun :: The Lizana Family

Man it has been a good season for photos! I have been so stoked to take photos and have done a few families in the past month! I always appreciate those who are willing to hire me because it is an honor to capture memories for them. I know that sounds cheesy but I mean it!

I first met the Lizana family when I taught Emma in 4th grade. Nancy was always helping out in our classroom and I just loved little Emma. It was an awesome surprise when Nancy got a hold of me at the beginning of this month, in quite the conundrum, however. Her husband Mauricio is from Chile and they wanted to send some family pictures to his mother for Christmas. The only problem is that they needed them before the 29th. Luckily we were able to meet up and schedule a time. This month has been so ridiculous for weather. It's been 60 degrees every day! Every day, that is, until we hit the Saturday we were supposed to shoot. It snowed, and rained, and was just horribly miserable. We were able to reschedule for the next day, but it was a lot colder than we had anticipated. Everyone was so amazing though, despite the cold.

I know that their parents might disagree (I hear it all the time at Parent Teacher Conferences), but these four kids were awesome together. They definitely enjoy each other's company and we were all always laughing. Mauricio and Nancy are so comfortable together, and their love shines through in their photos. I love shoots like this where everything just seems to come so naturally and this family is absolutely beautiful inside and out!

Olivia took a while to warm up, but then she was the funniest little girl!

Abby is beautiful, she is in 9th grade, but you'd never guess! She was so easy to talk to and get that real smile out of.

Emma has grown so much in the 3 years since I've taught her. Out of the four, she was the hardest to get to really smile, it took a while, but we finally got a few :)

Ethan has probably got the hardest job, being the only boy, but he is so good around his sisters! 

Needless to say, I was in love with Olivia's hair! She was such a sweet little girl once we were able to get her in our photos! She also has the most awesome expressions, I  can't tell you how many photos I had of her with these "Oh, really?" looks, I loved it!

This is how a lot of this shoot went, but I looooved it!

These two just seem to be meant for each other, they were always together when we weren't shooting them and everything came so naturally to them!

Thank you Lizana Family for allowing me in to your lives and trusting in me!

A Family Session :: The Beaster Family

I know that I promised this blog 2 days ago, and I feel awful that I didn't get it out! I pride myself on my punctuality and apologize to Kiersten for the delay.

Kiersten and I go quite a way back! Her family moved to my hometown when we were in high school and we had a lot of shenanigans during that time! Most notedly a late night car push :) she left before we graduated and I didn't see her again until right after our graduation. After that she joined the Army and did an amazing job serving our country! She met her husband there and they have a beautiful little boy. It has been almost 7 years since we had last seen each other in person, but she very appreciatively let me take her darling family's photos in the quick time they were visiting. It was the first time I have ever taken photos of a toddler and it was quite the challenge I must say! Jenner was sooo energetic and very easily swayed by the least of things! He is simply adorable though :) the key to this session was to capture Kiersten in photos! She is always taking photos, but tends to be like me and behind the lens instead of in it! :)

Thank you Kiersten for letting me capture your family's memories :)

This stick was definitely being added to the family after this session!

Brandon & Kiersten, you are a beautiful couple! 

A Family Session :: The Bench Family

Oh where to begin? It's been a while since I've had a blog post (meaning it's been a while since I've had a photo session), but I'm so glad that the Bench Family entrusted me again to do their family photos!

Toni and I worked together for 2 years and that was the first time I did their photos. I remember how young the kids seemed at that time, and to look and speak to them now, it surprises me that only 3 years have passed! Seriously!

Collin has always been such a stud, and he's only gotten more handsome - especially with the glasses! He was a little more skeptical of me this time, however, and it was hard to get a smile out of him or for him to even look at me! He eventually warmed up (at the end of the session, of course) and his photos are awesome!

Alli was a little easier to crack a smile out of, but it was finding that REAL smile that was hard. Alli is such a free spirit and has a huge personality! We finally found out that if we teased her about her love of OneDirection we could get this super real smile, but I went for finding that personality in her photos and I think she needs to start a modeling portfolio ;) just saying, that girl has legs for days!

Toni and Rob are such a great couple! Whenever we would take their photos, just the two of them, they couldn't stop cracking jokes and laughing - which I think speaks volumes of their relationship. It's nice to see how laid back they can be with each other, as their love completely shone through!

When I was talking with Toni about what we wanted out of this session, she wanted relaxed, not so posed photos and described her family as "mixed". Alli and Collin are both adopted, Toni is from Hispanic descent, and Rob is, well, Rob. The thing is, this family is GORGEOUS! They don't let race or ethnicity or anything come in the way of them being a family, they are all very comfortable in their own skin and I LOVE it!! So without further ado, here are the Bench Family photos :)

I'm going to start with some before and afters, I think it is amazing how much I've personally grown as a photographer and appreciate families like the Bench's who have been repeat clients!

Here is Collin, like I said, he's just a super handsome little boy! He just looks so grown up, it's killing me!

Miss Alli, she has definitely grown in to her body and doesn't look like the little girl I used to know, but she has such a personality and is always willing to say something that'll make you laugh!

Toni and Rob are just one of those couples you are like, WOAH! They're amazing together and while a few things have changed (no facial hair for Rob - didn't even realize till I went back to these older pictures), their easy-going natures have not!

It amazes me how much this family has grown, I had so much fun at this shoot, not a single one of us was ever not laughing (except maybe Collin at the start). Thank you so much for letting me be a part of your family for so long!

 

I loved the idea of incorporating Real Salt Lake outfits, it's something they all connect with as a family :)

Those are the real smiles I was after!

This photo does Alli's height no justice! I can't believe how tall she's gotten!

Last time we didn't get any photos with the kids and their parents separately, I love these two photos!

Thank you again to the Bench Family, I loved hanging out with you guys and hope you love these photos as much as I do!