I was so excited to be able to capture fellow photographer, Diane Peer of Luminance Photography and her adorable little family in Eagle River this past summer! I loved how easy going and fun they were! Isn’t their little guy just stinking adorable?!
Viewing entries in
Anchorage Alaska
Another one of my absolute favorite families and my first time capturing their newest addition for some first birthday shots! Folks, wrangling your family together for a family session isn’t always easy, and not every image is going to be pure perfection of everyone smiling and looking directly into the camera- but life isn’t perfect, and I don’t want to capture perfect…I want to capture real! Tara and Jake, I adore your little family!!
The Davis Family are my most loyal family, Ive been photographing them for YEARS! I love that I’ve been able to see the kids grow up, along with being able to see their little fur baby too! (I may have a soft spot for pugs) :) We had so much fun walking around beautiful Reflections Lake in the prime of Autumn!
This family was one of the most adventurous families I have had the pleasure of photographing! We hiked up a steep Alaskan mountain trail to get these views!!
The love you see in these images is about as genuine as it gets- cutest family ever!
I wil say it over and over again, now that I have a son- I have such a soft spot for little boys, they are just SO precious and snuggly and love their mamas!! :) You can tell these brothers are going to be best buds!
This fun and laid back family joined me up at Flattop Mountain, and their adorable dog tagged along!
If you are every hesitant about brining your dog, don’t be… they add so much to a session and I realize that even though it sometimes makes the chaos of a session even more chaotic, they are part of the family too… so I am totally up for families bringing their fur babies too!
This awesome family flew up from Reno to go on an Alaskan adventure and celebrate their parents 40th anniversary! They lived here in the 90's and thought it would be a perfect time to capture their family in the great State of Alaska! You could just sense the love and connection this family had, I loved being able to capture that for them!
How to capture your summer
Every year, I try to do a 100 days of summer project. Summer’s are crazy hectic, can sometimes feel stressful and always go by waaaay too quickly - but these personal projects are always a gift to be able to look back upon at the end of summer.
It never fails to make me realize all of the amazing memories we make, even on the most mundane of days! AND bonus...sometimes creating fun actives for the kids to do for the sake of a good shot, ends up being some of the most fun memories they will have throughout the summer!
My top rules on how to document your summer:
- Bring your camera everywhere, commit to it...
- Find activities that your kids enjoy doing, and they will be more willing to want their picture to be taken
sprinkler time = fun
- Don’t wait for the weather to be good to capture memories, fun can be had in all of the elements!
- Bring props, but make sure they are props that can flow well into the story of your day. If you are going to the beach, bring a fun hat, beach towel or blanket…if it is raining, have them use an umbrella… you get the picture!
summer hats create fun shadows
- Try to make a list of things you want to remember about them and capture that! i.e.: My daughter loves to bring me flower and/or weed bouquets and I know she won’t be doing that for much longer, so I made a point to capture it!
weed bouqet
- Which brings me to next point, WRITE things down-make lists, it is the Only way I get anything accomplished in my life! :)
- Create a scavenger hunt of things you want to find or things for your kiddos to find and check them off as you go- you can make the list as small or as big as you want, but I can guarantee that fun will be had by all in trying to accomplish checking items off of your list!
- Create a grid or an album of all the pictures you took! Your kids will love to look back upon all of the amazing memories you made throughout summer as much as you! This app make it super easy! https://thelenslab.com/collect
- If you feel like taking it to another level, print your favorites! I am a huge advocate of printing your images… my favorite consumer lab is: https://www.mpix.com
enjoy documenting your family! it is one of the most important things you can do! Be your families storyteller!
Being able to photograph newborns in the comfort of their now home is such a zen session, everyone is so relaxed and there is just a peacefulness in the air! They are some of my favorite sessions to capture!
This family was up for a family vacation from the lower 48 and contacted me to capture some family pictures of them that had gorgeous Alaskan views... I feel pretty lucky that this spot is literally in the middle of suburbia, we didn't have to go far at all for this beauty!! I am so excited I was able to photograph them, they are as adorable in person as they look in their pictures, and can you tell I like to have fun during my photoshoots?! Laughter is a MUST!
This family just welcomed a new precious member to their family, and I think it's safe to say they are all smitten!
Greenhouse Sessions bring me life!!
This family was seriously the sweetest, we had so much fun wandering around the Mann Leiser Memorial Greenhouse, where it was warm!! :)
I could feel the love between the three of them, it radiated!
This gorgeous couple just moved up here from Texas, and are absolutely loving their new adventure(s) in Alaska. I absolutely loved capturing their love, they are truly each other's biggest fans and you could feel that immediately. We had a a blast tromping around the freshly fallen snow at Flattop Mountain! It has been so fun getting to know them!
Alaskan winters are LONG and HARSH and it is around this time of the year when we are all just done, well I will speak for myself- I am DONE! The Mann Leiser Memorial Greenhouse is just gorgeous and WARM and it reinvigorated my inspiration for creativity when everything is pretty dull outside right now! Don't get me wrong, winter shoots can be and are gorgeous in there own way but if you are looking for a little warmth, I would LOVE to do a shoot with you at the Greenhouse!
This was one of the last shoots I had before the snow fell, and I couldn't have been happier with the colors that were still lingering around the mountains up at Flattop. I loved photographing this family, they are a hockey family-both the boys play and the dad a former Pro, not to mention Slade, the older brother is a budding videographer, so we had lots to chat about! :) It was so lovely to see how much these boys still adored their mama, even being older...it was way too sweet, not to mention the way their dad looked at her. I mean, well look at her, it's not hard!! Congrats to Slade, who will be graduating this year from Service High!
I have known Ashlee for a long time... we used to work together way back in the day, so I was very excited when she asked me to capture one of the most important days of her life! To say she was the coolest bride is an understatement, the exact type of bride that I love to capture-fun easy going and down for anything! There were so many people around her loving her, supporting her and making her feel like the most beautiful bride in the world, which I how it should be.
Congrats Ashley and Shane!
Getting ready for the big day!
The groom and his men
Heading down for the first look
Getting ready to walk down the isle
Family
bridal party & reception fun
The dances
old friends and family
the beautiful bride
cutting of the cake
It's hard to tell, but it was raining hard before this shoot. Luckily, this family was adventurous and literally right after we decided to tough out the weather and go for it, the rain stopped and the sun came out. It was the most beautiful night, no wind, no rain, gorgeous light and a lovely family!
"Family is...
The people in your life who want you in theirs; the ones who accept you for who you are, love you no matter what and would do anything to see you smile"
My April video was to document a day in the life of and I chose to document a lazy Sunday at the our household! I know I will appreciate these days when it was just the four of us in a a couple months when baby boy arrives, but it'll be so much fun to see how the dynamic changes as well!!!
Go check out the super talented Celeste Pavlik