Wheeler Farm

Yesterday we did a bridal portrait session at Wheeler Farm. While I have photographed family and kids there several times, I had never photographed a bride there. I must say that by approaching the shoot differently because I was photographing a bride, many more amazing scenes presented themselves to us and we really pulled off a very beautiful collection of images. We lugged around the gold chair and some pretty fabric which also helped transform the farm. Marie, the bride, was beautiful and a great sport and didn't hesitate to pose with chickens, sheep, geese and even on a tractor and in an old hay loft. Here are a few of my favorites from the session.

Updates

Well these past few weeks have been a blast. The weather has held out fairly nice and we were able to get more location shooting in than I originally thought. I've been busy at the studio as well, with 5 family sessions in our newly updated studio. I hope to take some photos of the new studio soon and post them on the blog. One of my most recent location shoots was at Saltair. We photographed Amy and Garett and had a blast out there. The train we photographed in had been badly burnt and while it was a little dangerous to be walking around in, it sure made for some great scenery. Here are some of the photos from that session.

Fall-ing

Thankfully the weather has been pretty warm and allowed me to get a few more outdoor shoots in with the beautiful fall leaves around. Last week I photographed Gabby at Wheeler Farm. She is so cute and made for a perfect model (Cute little girl pictured below). 

Also, I was able to photograph one of my best friends, Kjori. Every once in a while I make time to just do some shooting for myself and Kjori is always kind to volunteer. We were inspired once again by our favorite musician, Tori Amos. This time there wasn't anything in particular that we were aspiring to. I was just trying to capture the beautiful scenery and crete some unique imagery. I have just begun to go through the shoot, but here are some of my favorites so far. I will be making a slideshow in the coming weeks that will feature more of the images. 

So we will be starting to build a new set any day now that will feature some pretty wall moulding, a chandelier, hardwood flooring, and hopefully a cool antique couch. I've been searching for just the right couch for some time now so hopefully I'll find one soon. The nice thing about this set is it will give us some variety in the studio from our standard backdrops. I was originally thinking of painting it 2 shades of bright blue, but I think I may actually go with some different shades of white and cream to ensure that it can go with anything. We hope to have this done in 2-3 weeks time to accommodate all of our winter studio shoots. 

Malessa & Ivan Downtown

This week we had the pleasure of meeting and photographing Malessa and Ivan for their engagement portraits. We explored a few locations in downtown Salt Lake and had a great time. They were a fun couple to work with. We also got a chance to try out our new Radiopoppers. These are special units that we can attach to multiple flashes to make them all "pop" at the same time. Thus giving me excellent control over my lighting in any situation. This new system will be invaluable for indoor weddings and events, but are also great to use outdoors when just a pop of sun is needed to highlight hair or larger groups. Below are a few of my favorite portraits from the session.

Busy Week

Last Thursday we had the honor of photographing the wedding of Aubri and Kyle. They held their ring ceremony and reception at Le Jardin. I had never photographed there before so it was a nice change of scenery. It featured two large greenhouses full of beautiful fountains, arches and of course tons of flowers and foliage. I'll include some photos on my next post. This week we will be working for one of my favorite corporate clients, Sorenson Communications. Each year we have the privilege of photographing all of their management during their National Retreat in SLC. Leane, Adam and Mandy will all be helping me out on this job (thank goodness). On Wed. we will be photographing Brandy & Brandon at Thanksgiving point for their bridals/groomals. It should be a fun and busy week. I'll include photos once I catch my breath. Also, we will be releasing our new website in just 2 weeks!!! After it is up, I'd love to hear your comments about it. 

Portrait Exclusive

We had our first Portrait Exclusive session since we announced our new sets last week. Our first Portrait Exclusive session included Julia, a native of the Ukraine and Eugene of Russia. They were great to work with and we had a wonderful time creating some timeless art pieces for them. Below are some of my favorite portraits from the session. This Portrait Exclusive was our studio All B+W {pretty obvious}

{E•Link}

Soon, our clients will be receiving our new electronic newsletter called {E•Link}. It will feature details on our seasonal Portrait Exclusives, as well as news and special deals! If you wish to subscribe to {E•Link} please send us an email monica@photoumbra.com and put "subscribe to E.Link" in the subject line. Our first Edition should be emailed in just a few days.

A Portrait Exclusive is a new program that Photoumbra Studios is now launching. Every 3-4 months we will offer a new set of Portrait Exclusive locations and/or set designs. These specific designs will only last for a few months, so if you like one of our Portrait Exclusive ideas, you must book your session during its "running time". This fall we are offering 3 Portrait Exclusive Sessions. Each of these sessions will run until December 31, 2008. 

Our first Portrait Exclusive is called Urban Chic. This session will take place on the old main street of Midvale City. Backgrounds will include antique brick walls and alley ways. We will bring our vintage gold velvet chair as a fun prop. Below are sample images from the Urban Chic Session.

On the Island

Once again, we had a lot of fun photographing on Antelope Island. We did Brandy & Brandon's engagement portraits as the sun set. They were great sports considering that they were often swarmed by bugs and had to hike down a cliff with gigantic spider webs strung all over the place. My assistant, Mandy, helped as my lighting assistant and she did a great job. Here are just a few of our favorite images from the session.







Also, we will be launching our new business cards and some new literature and promos early next month. Each of our portrait clients will receive a Pocket Portrait Guide which will show off in a later entry. Here is a sneak peak at our new business cards.

Summer Time

It seems that I only get around to updating my blog every 2-3 months. I hope to make more time in the coming months to write more. This spring and summer have been really busy and really great. I've had the opportunity to be apart of some really amazing shoots and I'm really excited about some new work that I have done. Some highlights include a bridal shoot out on Antelope Island that I did in mid-June. Our weather had not yet gotten too hot so the heat and bugs were manageable (with a lot of bug spray on). We set out in the late afternoon and stayed till sunset. We explored 3 different locations on the island and had a great time. Another recent shoot was a bridal that I did in my studio. This time of year, I don't get into the studio much, so I must admit I was feeling a little rusty creatively. But due to some inspiration found in my killer photography book collection as well as some help from friend and fellow photographer, Leane Jensen, we embarked on creating a more dark and grungy bridal session for this client. We had fun during the shoot and I was pleased with the images we created. One of the images are pictured above.

In other news, I'm happy to announce that Photoumbra Studios is taking on a part time staff person. I look forward to formally introducing her in another post.

Spring Time

Feels like spring is finally upon us. This weekend was a lot of fun. I photographed a graduating senior as well as a bride from Montana. Below are some of my favorite photographs from the sessions.