With beautiful Arizona weather on the horizon and the fall wedding photography bookings in full swing, we have found the two dates on our calendar that we hope will have the most appeal to those of you out there seeking holiday portraits for the kids, family, pet – whoever you want to include!

We are fortunate enough to be having our family portrait taken this coming Saturday by the uber talented Mikael Tripke-Hughes. Keith has the engagement session in the afternoon, so we will be meeting bright and early at the Desert Botanical Gardens, stay tuned!  I am in disbelief that I am ahead of things on this end!  Lesson to be learned, if I can do it – you can do it – I am the eternal procrastinator, so much so that most years we don’t even have a family picture!  Hard to imagine, I know.

In truth, we have never had our family picture taken by a professional – I’m talking about the four of us. We have had the two of us (before kids), the three of us (when there was only Isabella) and the three of us plus Miss Gabs in my belly, but never the four of us.  I know last year’s holiday card gave the impression we had our photo taken by someone, but it was really Keith.  He set up the shot and asked his nephew to keep pushing the shutter. I probably shouldn’t reveal what’s behind Oz’s curtain – but the pic came out great any way.  Our only other family shot was taken by the one and only Victoria Canada last year at South Mountain, she is of course a professional, but a professional wedding and event planner (and a decent photographer)!  Wow, I’m embarrassed to admit this – I guess better late than never!  We are really looking forward to it!

Well the time has arrived for us to change our wedding photography website.  I think we used the site (and it’s updated versions) going on four years.  It is hard to let go, but the time has come.  We decided to merge both the wedding photography site with the children’s (and pet) portrait site.  While were were at it, we figured we would include The Live Photo Booth – a trifecta.  So as to not completely overwhelm our audience, we will keep our commercial photography and event photography sites independent!

Check out our  website – and please let us know what you think! Comments are greatly encouraged and appreciated.

Here are screen captures from the wedding, children’s portraits and the live photo booth gallery pages:

NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized or removed for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

We just had a cancellation!  One spot available!  NO SESSION FEE.  NO MINIMUM PURCHASE, just a fun, cool portrait experience! Email me right now to grab the spot!  Thanks!

Here is our last installment from our visit to the east coast last month.  Keith photographed the wedding of the parents of these two adorable sisters almost 6 years ago.  (I believe their anniversary is approaching in early October)    Their family has reached 5, a little baby brother was born recently! These two little girls were great – such a joy for Keith to photograph.  I know I’m probably bordering on repetitive, but it is just so satisfying for Keith to see two people in love get married, share that special day with them, then years later, photograph them with their children.  It is just so lovely! Thanks for staying in touch with us!

OK – I just realized the common thread with the 3 sessions in NY – all 3 couples are celebrating their 6th wedding anniversary this year!  Wow, what a coincidence!  Maybe next year we’ll have a different theme.  :)

Our trip to New York last month allowed us to go down memory lane.  So happy to see one half of a lovely couple that was married in New York (and yes, Keith was lucky enough to be their wedding photographer) – just shy of 6 years ago!  We are sorry that her other half was busy working that day, but none the less, great to catch up after all these years!  Cold Spring, NY was such a great suggestion, such a lovely town right on the Hudson, so picturesque, so quaint, so full of character.

Keith has photographed many weddings over the years, but their wedding (8.21.04) holds a special place in my heart!  I wasn’t even in attendance that day, but the photos tell such an amazing, beautiful, lovely story – they still touch my heart every time I see them.

I just wish our schedule afforded us the opportunity to see Natalie perform!  Anyone visiting the New York area that wants to hear some gorgeous singing – check out Natalie Amendola’s website for her latest shows.

As you may have noticed from previous blog posts, we were recently in New York.  We had the very good fortune of photographing little baby Chloe while there.  What is so special to us about little Chloe is that we photographed her parent’s wedding 6 years ago.  We find it so rewarding to have our wedding images become part of a family’s history but it becomes even more sweet when we are able to photograph their precious little offspring.  Thank you for the opportunity!

Wow!  It is hard to imagine that the years have passed so quickly!  How is it that my little baby is turning 6?  As she and Gabby keep asking me, “Why do you want us to stay small?”  I don’t really want them to stay small, but they are growing way too fast!! Happy Birthday Bella!

Here’s a pic from last week’s trip back East.  Isabella and O’Lydia (how Gabs pronounces her name!)

Ok…I was just on the blog coolmompicks – I was looking for backpacks for the kids for back to school…and low and behold I came across this featured book:  Awkward Family Photos. This is the funniest thing I have seen in awhile!  I can remember back to some similar pictures in my family – yikes!  the plaid!  my doll had a matching yellow/red plaid dress to match mine!

This could be a book we leave out when meeting with clients about to hire us for their family portraits – would they like the modern version of these lovelies or would you like us to photograph your family?

If you need a laugh today – please click through this book!

Awkward Family Photos by Mike Bender