Edits vs Natural Part 1

Please... Forgive the badly edited pictures. Part 1 of this post is to refresh my memory about where I came from, where I am now, and where I want to be. 

Many moons ago, I picked up a 35 mm SLR and decided to take pictures, waste film on random items, and get others mad about wasting the film. Years later, I used a very expensive point and shoot  and captured the most gorgeous (unedited) picture of a future ballerina and realized I had an eagerness to grow. No, I was not educated, and I used the same editing software that about 1,247 from my hometown used for their celly pictures, and yes.. I was weird to think it was AWESOME. In those years since, I have changed.. I found the style I love! And overly edited pictures are not them! If someone charges $250, $400, even $750 for plain Jane pictures.. You better love their style! While I can count the times on two hands that I've actually made money from my sessions, it doesn't change how I feel. I don't charge for edited pictures. I charge for natural light portraits that you will love or you get your money back!

In conclusion, if the picture doesn't look natural or real.. It probably isn't. A fellow photographer who is seriously THE best and has been doing this for well over 10 years once answered this question.. "What editing software do you use?" With this response... "YOU EDIT? EW."

I now know why!!! I see fake over or under exposed clouds. Those aren't natural. I see flawless skin. It's nice, but I see where the brush strokes are. I see a funny tint to the overall color. Those can be great, and sometimes they are annoying. You see crazy scary brown, green, blue and hazel eyes that sparkle. Wow. I even had to laugh at an actual feature you can add to pictures for fake sun flares. They are nice! But it's easy to find! Whether you like edited pictures or not is not what this is about either, it's about photography styles costing more money when it's not what you want. Please, oh please! Whatever you do! Do not ever book for a photographer who charges per hour, who has a style you don't like, and who charges because they have a fancy point and shoot. Know the difference. Google it!! 

Now... For your pleasure... Enjoy my first first edited pictures for part 1. I did laugh at these... And I will be removing them in the coming weeks..

 

Miss Jade

Meet miss J.. I fell in love with her deep brown eyes and shy smile! I had tons of fun learning the wheels on the bus and watching her do the actions. Two is such a fun age! :) I look forward to seeing her grow up and am so happy to have met this lovely little girl!

My sweet baby girl

She is SO grown up. I'm in shock.. she's learning to walk (and can take some awesome steps on her own!!), she's talking a little, does so much signing, loves swimming, loves animals of any shape and size, she is just a riot! This was taken back at Easter... I know.. delayed. Lazy momma! But we were blessed to find a wonderful family who breeds bunnies and fell in love with these mini siamese lion heads. They also had these adorable baby ducklings that jumped in for a few minutes and at first my angel just loved them, but somehow developed a fear? It was too cute.. The owner just let us borrow the bunnies for a few minutes and we decided to make arrangements for next year! SO... stay tuned in march we will be running an easter bunny special! Mini sessions (10 minute sessions), back to back, edits in an ONLINE gallery (fancy.. I know ;) ), and rights to print!

Puhlmann Family

I have LOVED getting to know so many people! I met this awesome couple, who are really wonderful people. I met them at a church oriented meeting a year ago and really have so much fun with them. They are so lively, spunky, down to earth spiritual, loving, and kind.. I could go on and on about the amazing people they are! I have learned so much just by their examples, and meeting their family just proved how much I believed them to be. They have 1 daughter and 3 boys.. The daughter was about to give birth to a sweetie little girl, one son was about to get married *THE NEXT DAY*, another son is dating a very lovely woman, and the other has grown up so much from the pictures I saw in their home! The grandkids were really fun, dinosaurs, winking eyes, running super fast, and helping me take pictures.. what a blast (no joke, I had so much fun)!! The son who was about to get married the next day was marrying the cousin of my neighbor growing up. Small world right? Boy.. it was still a blast. This is their session.. families are the best :)

Hannah+Tanner

Its been SO long since I've posted ANY pictures. I've been swamped with school, being a mommy, taking pictures, and getting sick. A LOT. I'm thankful for the sessions I have been able to do, take some time out from my busy schedule and relax a bit. This one was done quite a while ago.. in fact, it was nippy that morning and I wore a thin jacket and remember carrying T's jacket (a heavy one) around! BOY do I wish it were still that chilly. And this was around 9 am... ha! I love pre-spring and fall pictures.. but I love summer and winter too! ;)

H was seriously my favorite person growing up.. she has two older sisters who are close to my age, and then there was this spunky little sister of theirs that made life FUN! I'm so thankful we kept in touch.. this gorgeous lady is going to be a wonderful & loving momma to a sweet sweet little boy and I can't wait to see her growing belly turn into a precious gift from heaven! Love ya girl!

Lambson Family & Maternity

Meet my friends, T, M & miss B! They're such great people and so so fun to photograph! They let me do my thing, and I love their requests (because they always tend to be my better pictures) so it always turns out the best! Miss B is expecting a baby brother in March & I could not be any happier for this little family! So precious. So beautiful. Can't wait!

 

 Is this not the cutest little girl ever?? I love this pose!! She gets to giddy, its amazing!

 Love is magical. Right?

 Adore her!!!

 Its like snow.. in arizona! Only we call is frost...