Earlier this week I met up with this cute family again for some 1 year portraits of this little guy. Remember him?

Hard to believe it has already been a year. We also did some family shots as well, and a few dapper shots of his charming (and very willing to pose for me) older brother.

We met up at the Pittock Mansion in NW Portland, and lucked out with an absolutely gorgeous afternoon for photos! L & D, great seeing you guys again, as always!

And handsome big brother:

>/p>

Are they not the cutest little family or what?

Do you remember this gorgeous baby bump? I am finally getting the rest of these finished up to go with that one!

This is my glowing baby sister, who is due shortly with a baby girl. She lives down in Arizona, and while I was there for a visit we did a marathon maternity session. I got so many great images I had a hard time narrowing them down to what would fit in one post! So I resorted to a really long post with a ton of pictures! As you can see, we had a blast finding fun spots with some desert/southwestern flair. C & T, I hope you like them as much as I do!

(If anyone from Tucson is interested in booking a session, please contact me as I have plans to be back down there a few times in the next few months!)

These few were taken at the Sahuaro National Monument. We encountered all kinds of critters and even heard a swarm of bees, so our time to get the shots was limited. We moved on to another (safer) location pretty quickly!

Then we did some indoor studio type stuff (all natural light):

This one I couldn’t decide whether I liked it better in color or black & white. With a pink feathered boa, you would think color was the clear choice, but I love the texture of the feathers in the black and white. So I’m showing both!

And we did a little Lifestyle Photography incorporating her pregnancy craving! I thought these turned out super fun, and I’m really starting to love lifestyle maternity photography.

Lastly, we headed over to the Tanque Verde Guest Ranch, a local ranch/hotel where you can stay and relax and experience the Southwest up close and personal. I hadn’t ever shot on the grounds before, but there were so many great locations, all with fantastic Southwest flavor.

This is one of my favorites, I’m loving the wagon wheel with the soft, muted colors!

And lastly, my favorite image of the whole shoot:

The question “What should we wear for our pictures” is probably my most asked question. I’ve been meaning to share some outfit ideas for a while, as this is a very important question that will ultimately determine the look and feel of your entire portrait session.

Especially when dressing an entire family, it can be difficult to coordinate everyone well. My advice for families is to go for coordinating but not matching. Try to think of the entire family’s clothing as one outfit where the pieces all coordinate. And of course, everyone that knows me knows that I always recommend color!

Here are a few ideas for summer family portraits:

I met this cute couple last week for some maternity portraits in Cathedral Park in N. Portland. We had a fun time at this shoot, trying to shoot around the Shakespeare festival cast that was rehearsing in the park that day. We weren’t sure what to do when they brought out their swords…as we didn’t yet realize what was going on. We had a fun time trying to pose without getting in their way!

This first photo I just love, love, love. Just something about it that I keep coming back to.

This next shot was with the King Lear actors in the background, can you tell? They were right there under the bridge supports..had to do some creative cropping (aka squatting)!

It was fun meeting you guys, and can’t wait to meet your little one in July.

Here is sweet 6 day old Stella

I love her little feet up there by her elbow in this next one.

So wide-eyed for only 6 days old!

A little wink in her daddy’s arms

I’m loving the dramatic lighting on this one…

Meet pretty little Stella, all of 6 days old. She was a teeny, tiny little thing, and this picture doesn’t show just how tiny she was in person. Mom & Dad, there are many more where this came from! I will be posting a bigger sneak peak for you very soon, so keep checking back. I’ll have them up soon!