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Macyn’s First Birthday | Irvine, California | Event Photographer

On October 3 I had the pleasure of taking pictures of little Macyn and her beautiful family. Macyn is one of the sweetest little one year olds I’ve ever had the pleasure of taking pictures of. Her Daddies were also beyond nice! My daughter had been in the hospital the day before their party and when I arrived they were so welcoming and kind. Many of the guests asked how Rory was and when I left they packed me up a box of food to take and gave me balloons for Rory and goodie pails for the kids! I must say I felt odd taking something from where I’m working lol. Seriously though this is such a kind family and Macyn is one lucky little girl 🙂

Passed out by the end of the day! How sweet is she!

The whole family! Birth mommy, and her two daddies 🙂

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Chain Portrait Studio vs Professional Photographer ~ Redlands, California ~ Family Photographer

HI! Call me Jessica. That was my ‘under-cover’ name today when I called every chain portrait studio I could think of.

Wal-mart
Olan Mills
Sears
Jc Penney
Kiddie Kandids
Picture People

Now why did I call all of these studios you may wonder. Well I wanted to find out a few bits of information from them, and seeing as I couldn’t find out everything to my hearts content via the internet I resorted to calling them. Wal-mart was the ONLY place I could not get a hold of.

The information I was looking for was:
Length of session
Amount of pictures taken
Sitting fees
Cost of a Disc WITH copyright release

The information I gave them was that I had 3 children I wanted photographed

ALL of these studios offer UP TO 15 minutes per session. That’s right ONLY 15 minutes.

*Olan Mills*
-No sitting fee however, they do charge a $5.95 shipping fee for prints/discs
-They give up to 15 images/pictures/poses (whatever you want to call it)
-Disc of images is $150

*Sears*
– up to 9 poses
– $119.00 for a CD

*JC Penney*
– 9.99 per person sitting fee
– up to 30 pictures
– $100.00 CD

*Kiddie Kandids (babies-r-us)*
-No Sitting
– up to 9 poses
– $199 for a CD

*Picture People*
– No Sitting
-up to 40 pictures total
– $250 for a CD, however, they will only give you 12 full size images on the disc. After 12 images, they start resizing the images and if you try to print from them they will be grainier. (NICE)

So what is my Beef with ‘chain portrait studios’?

1- They hire people regardless of knowledge of cameras/taking pictures & they instruct their employees to shoot in ‘program/auto’ which is the same thing as using a point and shoot aka (anyone can take the pics)

2- They only give you 15 minutes! (anyone with a shy child knows it can take a lot longer than that for the kid to warm up to a stranger)

3- They don’t care about the end result. You get between 6-40 clicks of the camera and regardless of the pics that’s what you get. They don’t meticulously go through the pics and find the best ones and edit them to make your pictures a work of art & perhaps remove that unwanted scratch or pimple 😉

4- Overall poor quality.

So what do I recommend for people who want REAL professional pictures? Simple, Hire a professional. I understand that in these times of economic crisis that it isn’t easy to hire a ‘professional’ photographer, as usually they charge quite a bit more than any of these ‘chain’ stores.

So here is food for thought; most people only get professional photographs once a year or less, but they look at those pictures for the rest of their lives & their children & grandchildren look back and look at them as well.  Really what else holds its emotional value more than a photograph? What can take you back to a certain time in your life like seeing the clothes you were wearing and the style of your hair and everything else that goes into that picture?  If you save $25-30 a month for a year then you can get pictures that will be wonderful to pass down from generation to generation. Really it is only the cost of eating out once a month and is not that much in the long run.

~Jenilee

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Ashlynn Gracie is 4 months old! | Highland, California | Infant Photographer

My sweet little baby turned 4 months old on the 24th! I can’t believe it’s been 4 months with this sweet little girl! She has learned so much in the past few months. She smiles like crazy, she can roll over from her tummy to her back, she can grab at things and put them in her mouth, and she can sit up for a few seconds at a time completely unassisted. She is such an amazing & sweet girl. She fits into our family so well. I love her to pieces!

I think it is amazing that she looks like this:

When she used to look like this:

She has gotten so big!

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Friday Night Special | Redlands, California | Family Photography

I will be running various specials on Friday’s now. TGIF baby!!! Tonight’s session is for the first 3 people who contact me! A session & a high resolution disc, within 20 miles of Highland, California. This session can be any type of session you want: Family (immediate family only -mom/dad/kids), Engagement, Boudoir, Maternity, etc. It, can take place anytime & anywhere within 20 miles of Highland, CA. This special is only for the first 3 people to contact me or until 10-2-09 (which ever comes first).

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Jennifer & Jeremy | San Bernardino, California | Wedding Photographer

I had the pleasure of photographing Jennifer and Jeremy’s wedding on September 12. I have know Jennifer for about 6 1/2 years so it was awesome to watch her walk down the isle and say ‘I do’. Although I will say that it isn’t nice to make your photographer cry during the wedding!!! Congrats you two I know you will have a wonderful life together and will be great parents to little Brock!








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Dove Chocolate Party! Busy Busy | Highland, California | Event Photographer

I had a chocolate party last night. Come on CHOCOLATE PARTY?! A party to celebrate chocolate. yep yep MY kind of party 😀 TRACEY was our lovely chocolatier for the evening, and of course we had fun! Everything from chocolate fondue & trifles to Chocolate Martinis (which I totally forgot to take a picture of- I guess I was too busy ENJOYING it)

Of course everyone was enjoying droolin over all the yummies

Then Logan thought he wanted to try EVERYTHING. . . of course once we let him he didn’t want to try ANYTHING hahaha BOYS!