Why… It Must Be a Christmas Miracle!

In the spirit of the holiday season, I’m offering limited time discount on Utah portrait photography up until the New Year (Jan. 1st, 2010). Crazy right? Well, not really. Instead of 75 dollars for the first hour and 50 for each subsequent hour, I’m offering a portrait session for up to an hour and a half for $50. That includes a high res disc of photos (all edited). No travel fees for those in Davis and Salt Lake Counties.

What could make this any better? Giving these portrait sessions as gifts! Buy a gift certificate for one hour and a half portrait session for $50 and give it to a loved one for Christmas. Gift certificates will be valid for up to 4 months after purchase and the the receiver of the gift certificate can call me and we’ll schedule a time and place to do the shoot. I have a great list of places, or if the receiver has a place in mind, that’s great too.

If you have any doubts about just how good of  deal this is, the $50 pretty much covers gas/maintenance for my car and the cost of the DVD. I will spend at least 2 hours editing each shoot, plus the hour and a half shoot itself (not to mention driving time).  That said, these prices will not last long (less than a month), so better hurry and snap them up!

Winter Wedding Discount!

If anyone is like me, they are a bargain shopper. Well, all your bargain shopping brides out there, listen up!

I could bore you with chatter about the economy and whatnot, but I won’t. I’ll get straight to the point. If you look at my packages, I currently have two. Right now both of those packages are 20% off. That’s right 20%. That means that the “Sweet Lily” package that’s normally 1000 smackaroos is now only $800. Elegant Orchid, usually $1500, is now $1200. That’s a pretty sweet deal, so if you’re interested or know of any couples getting married, direct them to Shea Daisy Photo, the home of awesome Utah Wedding Photography.

Mem’s Studio Shoot

This here is Memerice (Mem-er-iss), my teenage niece, and one of the coolest, if not THE coolest, teenagers I know. She pretty much made the perfect model for an assignment I had at SLCC’s studio, not to mention that she has wanted to do a shoot for quite some time now. She wasn’t afraid to have fun or look a little goofy, and I pretty much love her for that. Not only was she willing to be crazy, but she was very patient with me since the modeling lights on my strobes went out so we were working in the dark. We got some fantastic shots, and were even able to do some light painting at the end too (thanks to my husband Jordan for running around with lights and gels with me).  Hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

Some studio shots

As you may or may not know, I’m taking a studio class right now. I do not have any studio strobes yet, but I’m able to practice and learn about them now before I do buy them. I’m learning a ton, and having a bit of fun on the way playing around with different subjects/obejects. My favorite so far has been photographing liquids

Think Jones Soda will hire me?

Michelle’s Bridals

I did this nearly two months ago, but haven’t posted them until now. Michelle is from the Layton area so we went over to Jensen Nature Park for her bridals. She said it’s one of her favorite places. My husband is from that area as well, and we had several dates at the park, it’s truly beautiful, especially at sunset. There’s a lovely pond for people to fish at, a waterfall, and tons of bridges and trails.

Ashley and Dallin, the Wedding Day

I wanted to wait to show off more of Ashley and Dallin’s photos until they had gotten their dvd of photos. It’s just a little quirk of mine that I want the couple to see all of their photos before I let the world see a bunch of them. Eccentric much? Maybe a little. But that’s just how I feel and how I do things.

Enough with my ramblings, I will let the photos speak for themselves!

Love the Rain!

Can I just say that autumn is my favorite season? Well it is. The colors, the cooler temperatures, the rain… I love it. Sure spring is similar, but let’s face it, fall beats out spring. Fall has Halloween, Thanksgiving, and awesome sales just before Christmas. Spring has… Easter. And Mardi Gras. And even though Mardi Gras is awesome, it just doesn’t beat Thanksgiving and Halloween (in my humble opinion).

I also love the rain. It sucks to drive in, but it’s awesome in other ways. It’s fun to snuggle up in a blanket and sit outside on a porch and listen to it and watch the lightning strike.

It’s fun to dance in. Sure, you get soaked, but nothing beats that carefree moment where you throw caution over your shoulder and let your inner child play. And… once you’re done soaking yourself silly, you can go get hot cocoa. Personally I love 7-11’s cocoa, I put shots of vanilla and creamer in it. Is that weird? Maybe, but don’t knock it til you try it! I’ve gotten several friends addicted to it.

You get to wear hoodies. Enough said.

I’d post pictures… buuuut, I haven’t really taken any yet. Now that I think of it, it’d be awesome to do an engagement or portrait session in the rain….

Looking for a Wedding Photographer? Here’s Some Tips

Having gone through the stress of planning a wedding, I thought I’d give some advice to other brides. The glory of this is that if you like the advice, use it. If not, then just ignore it . This time around I’ll focus on finding and researching wedding photographers. I will try to be unbiased here as well (no guarantees though .

First you should decide how important photography is to you. For some people, they couldn’t care less. For others, it’s as important (or more than so) than anything else. If you don’t really care, by all means, leave it in the hands of a friend or Uncle Bob and save yourself some money. I must issue a warning with this though: friends/family photographers aren’t always well equipped to handle your big day (card failure, camera failure, not sure what to do in certain situations, etc). But like I said, if photography is not high on your list, then that might be the thing for you. Plus there are definitely exceptions, sometimes the friend or family member is amazing. In that case, more power to ya I say.

For those who have photography up there next to the dress, cake, and reception… what you need to do is look through various photographers’ work and decide what style you like. Do you like formal smiling shots or photojournalistic (by photojournalistic I mean candid, not posing for the camera at all), or a bit of both? I would also suggest setting up a meeting with the photographer, or at least calling them if you can. You may like the style but may not gel with the photographer as a person, so meeting with them or calling them is a way to sort of interview them. You may think that it won’t matter, but something I’ve noticed is that when couples are feeling awkward, unsure, or even unhappy, it shows in the photos. If a couple hasn’t met with me, but want an engagement shoot, they usually are a bit rigid at the beginning, but I talk to them, and as they relax, the photos become more real, more fun, and more beautiful.

Another thing, don’t be afraid to talk to your photographer. We really do want your photos to be awesome. If you have an idea, or want to shoot somewhere special, or have a certain thing or idea in mind, let us know. We may not always be able to recreate another image you’ve seen somewhere else (that’s just not always possible), but we may be able to give you something even better too.

One other thing to keep in mind is contracts. Contracts should be had to protect both you and the photographer.

Recap! Kayla and Lance 8-14-09

Kayla is a friend of mine, and let’s just say that her wedding was totally rad. The reception was at The Old Meeting House, and there were beautiful gold origami cranes everywhere! She was married in the Bountiful Temple, and even though we only had about half an hour to do photos afterward, we totally rocked it! That was also the day I inherited the title of “The Fastest Photographer in Utah”. Thank ya, thank ya very much!

Mikael’s Portraits!

So if you’ve ever met Mikael, she’s not only beautiful, but she’s smart, happy, and a very gifted singer. We’ve been trying to get together for quite a while now to get some photos done, and at last, this past Saturday we got to go on a shoot. I gave Mikael a list of my favorite spots, and she picked out Memory Grove in downtown Salt Lake. It’s absolutely gorgeous, there are still roses in bloom and everything!

Mikael was great, she put up with some of my crazier ideas and wasn’t afraid to voice her own ideas too. Overall the shoot went fantastic. We even decided to get lunch afterward at the Greek Souvlaki (amaaazing lemon rice!). While we were talking we spotted some very cool apartments across the street, and decided to go shoot some more. It was a blast! I’m still going through a lot, but here’s a sneak peek of sorts…