A New Summer Addition

I’ve had the pleasure of photographing these adorable, yet very serious twins since they were in their Momma’s belly shortly after moving to Alaska. So it’s pretty bittersweet that I had the chance to squeeze their sister’s maternity photo session right before leaving Alaska. Unfortunately their dad couldn’t be there for this session, but he definitely played a part in picking the final images for their Photo Collection from afar. How exciting that they are expecting a new summer addition to their cute family! She’ll be coming any day now, and I know that she will be just precious! I’m extremely sad to leave such amazing clients, like this beautiful momma. BUT so grateful that I was able to capture so many beautiful moments for them. The biggest compliment for a photographer is for someone to book them to capture other special times in their life. Multiply that compliment times TEN when that someone REbooks you many times after that. You may remember seeing this cute family in this past Winter’s Mini Session Blog. It’s pretty special that I’ve had the opportunity to build such great relationships, especially when loyalty is SO hard to come by these days. I’m not going to lie, it’s hard to walk away from that, but I look forward to seeing their families grow and blossom from afar. The world is a pretty small place, so there’s a huge possibility that our path’s could eventually cross again one day!? And the exciting news, is that now I have the chance to continue and build even more great relationships with fun folks down in Texas! If you’re interested in receiving information about Savvy Images photography once we get resettled down south, please scroll down and shoot me a quick message! I plan on offering a pretty amazing photo session special once that happens, so you DON’T want to miss that memo. ;-P

Heck YEAH, I’d love to hear more about Savvy Images in Texas!!

Another Surprise in Alaska

Engagements

A few weekends ago, I had the opportunity to participate in and photograph another surprise in Alaska. This time, it was our friends, Blake and Sarah’s surprise engagement!! If you’re familiar with Alaska, or had the chance to see our maternity photo session recently, you probably recognize this beautiful spot. It may be a bit touristy, but it’s the first place they hung out together, so there couldn’t be a more perfect location for their proposal. And come on, I could take photos there every day of the week and never tire of the incredible 360 views. To keep Sarah preoccupied for the day, Blake sent us for a much needed day at the spa. *AHmazing may I add* When I dropped her back off at home, there was a note for her to get ready because a limo would be picking her up soon. They were going to swing by and pick up Blake from a friend’s house, so they could head to Girdwood, Alaska for a late lunch. Sarah had no idea what was going on, but just thought Blake was being sweet after she’d surprised him with a quick birthday getaway to Vancouver the weekend before. Little did she know that he was nervously waiting up atop a mountain for her. She started to get a bit suspicious when the limo driver handed her an iPad with a video montage from all her friends and family. Once she arrived, the driver directed her up the walkway to find Blake. I was tucked inconspicuously behind several tourists and a wall of large rocks with my long camera lens. The weather could not have been more perfect, and luckily there wasn’t too many folks up there at that time. He grabbed her hand and led her over towards the mountains. You’re seeing these photos, so you can imagine her answer. ;-) If not, then you can see her shock and excitement in the photos below. Even though his back was to me when he went down on one knee, I pulled out some photog ninja skills to discretely make my way across the open area on top of the mountain without drawing any attention to myself. What an amazing backdrop to capture such a special moment!! In the photos below, you can see when Sarah finally notices that I was there. Haha. She didn’t expect a proposal anytime soon, and she certainly didn’t expect that I would be in on it, since we were just together. Everything worked out perfectly for them, and then of course we had to take some proper engagement photos! Beautiful, Stunning, Picturesque. I was so excited to be a part of “Project Blindside” and couldn’t be more excited for them. What an exciting way to start a new adventure together!

Oops…. BUSTED. Haha!!

Savvy Images - Surprise Proposal - Destination Photographer

Alaska to Texas Sendoff Session

Families, Pets

This family photo session was supposed to be the last I did in Alaska before moving back to Texas. Given each of the drastically different perceptions about Alaska and Texas (igloos and penguins vs tractors and horses), I thought that this was the perfect send off session. Horses in Alaska!! If you read my last blog about the BIG surprise following our maternity photo session, then you know it didn’t exactly work out that way. And that’s okay. Everything worked out just as is should. Then, and for their session also. We were down to the wire scheduling their family photo session, and it happened to be the coldest day of Anchorage’s mild Alaskan winter. ;-) Thank goodness they had a rustic barn for us to utilize for their session! Don’t get me wrong, it was still really cold, as the barn isn’t heated and it was NEGATIVE two degrees outside. You may be able to see the little miss below rocking some hand warmers in the photos, and that was just fine with all of us. She was able to warm her fingers to make the session a little more bearable, and it’s a sneaky little reminder of just how flippin’ cold it was that day. Those and her cute, red little nose! After all, it is Alaska. In their charming Alaskan barn, they had several beautiful horses trying to stay warm, so we just had to include one in their photos. With all the furbabies you may have seen in my photos, I’m sure you can tell that I’m a huge fan of including family pets in your photo session! Even if they have hooves instead of paws. But of course we had to include the newest fur baby additions also. Major cuteness overload with three pretty ladies, a stunning horse and all those cuddly puppies! I’m so excited to finally share their beautiful photos with all of you.

Anchorage Alaska Reindeer Run Savvy Images

Travel Tuesday • Running of the Reindeer

Travel

Like last week’s Travel Tuesday, this week is about an experience, as opposed to an actual place. It’s about the annual Running of the Reindeer that takes place in Anchorage! Haha… Yes, such a thing actually exists! This annual event is part of the Fur Rondy Festival, and is clearly a wacky spin off of the much more dangerous event that takes place annually in Pamplona, Spain. After participating in the running of the bulls a couple years ago, my husband couldn’t resist the opportunity to also run with the REINDEER, while living here in Alaska. Thousands of people (including me) lined the streets to watch the chaos. I can’t say that I’ve ever witnessed anything quiet like it..lol. They started the run off with some fun live Music by Alaska’s infamous Hobo Jim. At one end of the street downtown, they gather all the runners and several male reindeers, and they get them to run by having one hot-momma of a female reindeer at the other end of the street. Not sure about that, but I guess it works!? Haha. You can tell from the photos below, that the street conditions aren’t exactly ideal for running, but they made the most of all the many truckloads of snow that they brought in for the day. This event makes for some GREAT people watching because some people really go ALL out with the crazy costumes. Most of them made no sense at all, but hey, neither does running with reindeer! There are four different ‘herds’ that run: guys, girl, groups, non-AK residents. I was really surprised how many people we came across that actually came to Alaska just to run with the Reindeer. Good for them for having and conquering super fun bucket list items! What’s life anyway, if you can’t have some random fun every once in a while?!

Anchorage Alaska Iditarod Featured - Savvy Images

Travel Tuesday • The Iditarod

Travel

This month I had the opportunity to take photos behind the scenes at the ceremonial start of the 2015 Iditarod Sled Dog Race. Know as ‘The Last Great Race on Earth’, and most popular sporting event in Alaska, it’s an annual long distance sled dog race that takes place here in Alaska in early March. Originating in the 70’s and linked to the early traditions of the state, normally it would start in Willow and end in Nome, around two weeks and almost a thousand miles later. But (shocking) this year they actually had to move the start about 300 miles north, to Fairbanks. The race actually started on March 7th at 10am, but the Ceremonial Start took place on the 5th. Thousands of people line the streets of downtown Anchorage to see the mushing teams parade by, as they prepare for the big race. The city actually had to bring in over 500 truck loads of snow to fill the streets, so they could even have this event this year! SO, for all my readers down in the Lower 48 who don’t know much about any of this (I didn’t before moving to Alaska), right now there are almost SEVENTY mushers (people guiding sleds) completely powered by up to 16 small sled dogs, mushing their way north thru whatever conditions they come across. Encountering possible blizzards white-outs, frozen water, rough mountain passes, and even subzero temperatures/windchill are all common. Can we say INTENSE!? Every year, my husbands company sponsors the (in my opinion) best possible Musher candidate out there! DeeDee Jonrowe (Yes, a WOMAN). A sixty one year old breast cancer survivor AND sixteen time top ten Iditarod finisher (who has 33 races under her belt)!! I have no words for that. Being behind the scenes to see the dogs and DeeDee getting geared up was such an incredible experience. As you can tell in the photos, it was pure organized chaos. She works so closely and thoroughly with all the dogs on her team, that she knows them all by name, as well as ALL the little intricate details about EACH of their personalities. They may be smaller than I would have thought, but they have huge personalities! That’s A LOT of love to give to all those cute dogs, and it was clear to me that she definitely had more than enough to go around. Plus, each dog on the team has a handler that takes great care of them. These dogs are incredibly high energy working dogs, born and bred to pull sleds. It was crazy to see how chill they were, UNTIL they were connected to the sled towline. Their excitement was BEYOND me. They were SO eager to get to racing. Barking and jumping up and down with crazy intense looks on their faces. The energy is unexplainable, and not easy to put into words. Traveling almost a thousand miles by sled dog, sounds unrealistic, but there are check points located along the route, where the mushers and their dogs stop to eat and sleep. DeeDee is currently in 32nd place, but has crazy determination, and MANY folks all over Alaska routing for her! The current leader is Dallas Seavey, last year’s Iditarod winner, a third generation Musher, and the youngest person to ever compete in and win the Iditarod (at 25!). He also holds the record for fastest time, of 8 days, 13 hours, 4 minutes, and 19 seconds. Unbelievable! I can’t wait to see how The Last Great Race turns out this year!

Mrs. Alaska 2014

Events

Back in May Gwynnedolynne James passed her crown down to the lovely April Wallen at the 2014 Mrs Alaska America Pageant. Just as both of these young ladies are, Alaska is GORGEOUS. Therefore, I insisted on incorporated the great outdoors into Gwynnedolynne’s farewell photo session, and absolutely had similar big ideas to do the same for April’s Queen Photo Session. Of course we had to get the traditional head shots and studio portraits for the coming Mrs America Nationals, but I was most excited about the photos that would follow those. After brainstorming about her session, we were on the same page that we needed an incredibly dramatic Alaskan backdrop in our future. Ohhhhh the amazinges that came was such a pleasant blessing! We discovered JUST that. Adding blue sparkly sequins and the gorgeous Mrs to the stunning scene was just an overload of all things amazing!! Thank goodness April was just as passionate as I was about her photos, because she was a trooperrrr. Seriously, you should see how many mosquitos that I had to photoshop off her FACE and out of the photos. Then there was the fact that she had to awkwardly balance on a log to get several of the images that we did. That limited the variety of our poses a bit, but I think everything turned out just smashing! At one point, you’d never even know that she was wearing sneakers with her lovely gown. ;-) We also had to be super careful that she didn’t move around too much and snag it on something. It was definitely an interesting session, and I’m SO glad that no wild animals decided to join us by the riverside! One man did happened to hike by during the shoot, and was thoroughly confused. LOL, it’s not everyday that you see a beauty queen hanging out dressed to the nines deep in the forest. I’m certainly glad that she did! As snazzy as April was, she was even more so down to earth. We had such a great time, and I’m so glad that I got a chance to know her a little better. This weekend she will be heading to Tuscon, Arizona to represent Alaska in the annual Mrs America Pageant. Everyone please be sure to keep our beautiful Mrs Alaska America in your thoughts as she does! I have no doubt that she will make us VERY proud!!

Savvy Images Fun Children Photos Featured

A Super Fun Photo Walk…

Kids

These two cuties were due for updated photos, and I was beyond pumped when their sweet momma wanted to schedule a photo session… I mean, photo WALK for them. Because they’re such a cute and energetic age, I knew their session needed to be fun filled to keep their attention, and hopefully get lots of great photos! Therefore, we decided that instead of doing a regular old photo session, that we would just go on a “photo walk”. (wink, wink) Let me just tell you how FUN it was, and how entertaining these two tiny bits are!! We walked, ran, hopped, picked flowers, explored the trees, played games, had story time in a cool teepee made of branches (yes, the same one from my Indian inspired winter Maternity Session), and even finished up with playtime at an awesome playground!! It’s one thing to take a beautiful photo, but at this age, capturing their large and in charge little personalities is most important in my eyes. To have the opportunity to capture them playing together was just priceless, and it was a huge added bonus that the location was just gorgeous. If I were a mom, those are the moments that I would want to locked up in my memory bank until the end of time. Seeing how they look at each other just melts my heart. SO flippin’ sweet!! When they get a little older and start doing that super fun brother/sister fighting thing, mom will have to break out the album from this session to remind them how much they really do love each other. ;-)

Savvy Images One Year Cake Smash Photos Featured

A Colorful Cake Smash

Babies

According to his mom, this cute little ham woke up from his nap with his grumpy-pants on, the day we did his colorful cake smash session. We know…being a one year old is tough stuff, but someone has to do it! He really made us work for the precious photos, it was absolutely worth it. We were able to capture his long little eyelashes, baby blue eyes, two munchkin teeth, and even his cute little chubster rolls! Between the cake and lots of silliness (thanks to mom and dad), we were able to pry some precious smiles out of him. It actually worked out perfectly, because all his dramatic little personalities came out in a matter of no time. The emotional progression in his photos is the best!! Curious, mesmerized, thrilled, content, over it, then finally PISSED. All the while, capturing his cute little details and expressions! He was a baby on a mission… after sampling the cake, he went for the candle, and after he’d had enough, he knocked the whole cake over. Such a dramatic little mister. He showed us! ;-) “Mom.. Dad.. No more of this cake smash madness. Puleaseee.” After seeing his big little crocodile tears, we decided it was time to clean up! Mom came to the rescue, and all was good with the world. These photos will be the perfect addition to the decor at his graduation party several years down the road.

Savvy Images Family Vacation Photos Featured

Alaska Vacation Photos!!

Families, Travel

Are you visiting Anchorage in the near future? And would you love beautiful vacation photos while in Alaska!? That’s what happened with these lovely ladies, and how that ended up happening is a pretty cool story! This past February when I went to Vegas for WPPI (a HUGE annual photography convention), I sat next to Allison in one of the morning classes. It was bright and early after being in Vegas for a couple days, and as perky as ever, she immediately said hello and we started chatting! Allison is a wedding photographer in Dallas, and I was so excited to meet another Texan photographer. After the standard “networking” introduction, we got to talking, and quickly figured out that we had something (besides photography and being from Texas) in common… Anchorage, ALASKA. Every year, Allison and her mother go on a big vacation together. How random and fun is that!? But that’s not it… by the end of the week in Vegas, we also realized that Allison’s sister-in-law is actually one of my old girl friends from college! This is such a crazy, random, and small world that we live in! SO this summer she and her mom came to Anchorage for a few days before exploring more of Alaska by car, ATV, plane, train, boat, raft, kayak, AND cruise ship. THAT is an adventurous vacation!! As a photographer who often vacations, I absolutely understand the value of getting a really GOOD vacation photo. You could ask the random passing stranger, and hope they get you in focus and actually capture the scenery of whatever cool place your visiting. Or there is the infamous self timer photo, which may or may not be straight, composed well, or (again) in focus. And now there is even a “selfie pole” that you can use to TRY and capture everything! However possible, if you take enough, surely one of your vacation photos may come out great. But when you’re trying to enjoy a once in a lifetime vacation, do you really want to cross your fingers and HOPE for a few good photos?! If we get more than ONE really good “framer” while on vacation, I’d say that’s a success…lol. So you can imagine that I was BEYOND ecstatic when I realized that Allison was dead set on scheduling an actual photo session in Anchorage with Savvy Images as soon as she got to Alaska! We had a little lunch with a view, we took a long drive south, we explored several areas along my favorite Alaskan coastal drive (The Seward Highway), we had a little dinner, then finished up with a gorgeous portrait session at Beluga Point. Allison even got to put her toes in the ocean! It was one heck of a day to kick off their Alaskan Adventure. I’m SO glad that I had the opportunity to make sure they started their trip out with LOTS of great vacation photos! Taking photos for another photographer is pretty darn cool, because they understand all the fun things that need to be considered for a great photo session. Though the wind was a bit crazy (as it tends to be in Alaska), we captured some beautiful images of the two of them. I had to share a handful of them below. Seriously, it’s amazing to me that they get to make so many great memories together! What a duo… They’re fun, they’re gorgeous, and they were a blast to photograph. Even though they’d strongly disagree, they really do know how to work the wind AND the camera!

If you’re planning to visit Anchorage, contact Savvy Images about coordinating a once in a life time session to capture some amazing vacation photos of you and your family while you there!

Savvy Images Pregnancy Announcement Photos Featured

These cute twins have EXCITING news!

Babies, Families

I’ve had the pleasure of photographing these cute twins when they were in their momma’s belly a little over two years ago back in Austin, and again for their newborn photo session shortly after that. And I’m BEYOND grateful that I am able to occasionally travel back to Texas to continue photographing old & faithful clients, because I had the opportunity to photo their cute little family AGAIN in The Woodlands last month for their second birthdays! Their photo session followed a nice Texas downpour, and was appropriately filled with lots of chaos. We took some traditional family photos, some cute two year milestone photos, and even finished up with a super cute Micky & Minnie Mouse themed cake smash! They were not a fan of walking on the wet ground, but quickly changed their focus to the important stuff…CAKE. They were so sweet to even feed each other! They didn’t get too messy, but just in case, both sets of grandparents were there on hand to help out. What THEY didn’t know, was that they were actually there to get some REALLY exciting news from Dylan and Drake! You can tell from the photos below, that the twins are clearly not excited about the big news! >>insert temper tantrum here<< LOL, their surprised grandparents certainly were, and I have no doubt the twins warm up to the idea eventually. Mom was a tad bit frustrated that they didn’t cooperate and sharing the exciting news as she had planned (just as I would have been also), but it’s clear that everything worked out great!! Their change of plans included MAJOR cuteness!! They definitely did a great job communicated the news AND exactly how they felt about having to share mom and dad’s attention with a new little addition soon. ;-P I can’t wait to photograph them again once their growing family becomes a cute fam of FIVE. Can you imagine how funny it will be to pull out their beautiful session album to show these photos to them in twenty years!? Absolutely.Pricesless.Perfection.

Are you currently holding on to a big secret, and looking for a creative and fun way to make your big announcement?! Contact Savvy Images right away!!

Miss Alaska America Pageant

Events

In January, I had the honor of photographing the Miss Alaska America Junior High, High School, and Collegiate Pageant here in Anchorage. It’s definitely something a little different from my cute bellies, and little newborn booties, but I embraced the opportunity! I think it’s great to challenge yourself with something different every once in a while, so you don’t grow the least bit complacent. It keeps you on your toes! Not only did I meet lots of amazing new people by doing so, but I learned quiet a few new things (mostly about pageant life). ;-) Seeing the girls strut their thing up on that stage was so much fun! Let me tell you all about some SASS!! lol. This pageant has been hosted by Rita Corwin for YEARS, but this year she passed her duties over to Sarah Smith. After intermission, the team even put an emotional slide show together for her of photos taken while Director. Rita and Sarah (with lots of great help) put on a fantastic show that even included dancers from Studio 49, AND a DJ during the runway portion of the show. It was very up beat and entertaining. Last year’s Queens had the opportunity to say goodbye, and then the new Queens were announced! Definitely suspenseful stuff. I’ve waited until now to post this blog, because these beautiful Queens are heading to Florida today for Miss America NATIONALS. The pageant will take place on July 5th and 6th, and you can even watch it live at www.pageantvision.com. Please keep the three lovely ladies below in your thoughts as they represent Alaska!!

Daddy’s Little Girl

Kids

This beautiful little girl got an incredibly cool birthday present from her awesome dad not too long ago… he scheduled a professional photo session for her with Savvy Images right before her birthday party! It was ALL about her, and I cannot even begin to explain what a handful she was! SO MUCH cute tomboy sass, all bundled into one pretty little lady (cute Disney Princess bandaid’s and all)…lol. She was so excited about her photo shoot, and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to capture so much personality! We had wardrobe changes, accessory swaps, countless giggles, and SO many great daddy-daughter moments during her session. It was a little colder than we expected it would be out, but she was a trooper, and dad did a great job warming her up between photos. My favorite part about her session (in addition to all the cute sass) was that it was BEYOND clear how much her dad loved his little girl. It was seriously precious, and she adored him just a much! He also confessed that he knew exactly how full his hands were going to be in a few short years! How great is it going to be to look back on their sweet moments when she is all grown up!? We captured so much cuteness, that dad had an incredibly hard time deciding what photos he wanted to order. He definitely got some great ones! I’d venture to say these photos will be a birthday present that she’ll be grateful to have for the rest of her life! Their photos kinda serve a dual Father’s Day gift for himself also! With Father’s Day coming up, this blog post couldn’t come at a better time. I am thrilled to share a handful of their beautiful photos with you guys!

Savvy Images • Austin Professional Photographer

Austin Newborn & Family Photographer

anchorage

A New Summer Addition

Another Surprise in Alaska

Alaska to Texas Sendoff Session

Travel Tuesday • Running of the Reindeer

Travel Tuesday • The Iditarod

Mrs. Alaska 2014

A Super Fun Photo Walk…

A Colorful Cake Smash

Alaska Vacation Photos!!

If you’re planning to visit Anchorage, contact Savvy Images about coordinating a once in a life time session to capture some amazing vacation photos of you and your family while you there!

These cute twins have EXCITING news!

Are you currently holding on to a big secret, and looking for a creative and fun way to make your big announcement?! Contact Savvy Images right away!!

Miss Alaska America Pageant

Daddy’s Little Girl

If you’d like to purchase a photo session gift certificate with Savvy Images for the awesome Father in your life, please contact us right away!