Michelle & Clayton

Today we photographed Michelle & Clayton's engagement portraits. We had to cancel our first session due to weather so we had to squeeze this one in before Clayton had to go to work. We photographed this session at their apartment complex that was landscaped beautifully. I had a good time getting to know this couple better and look forward to photographing their wedding in June. Here are some of my favorites from the session.

Oh so pretty...

Yesterday we had Sweet Plume in the studio again. I can't believe how many new and adorable designs Brittany comes up with every time we meet. This time we added June as a model and as always it was a fun shoot. Here are some of my favs from each of the models.

Becky and Chris

Yesterday we photographed Becky and Chris's engagement portraits. We were a little disappointed that the sun wasn't out, but I actually really liked the lighting and loved that we could shoot just about anywhere with no restrictions based upon sun hitting them in the face, etc.They were fun to work with and just acted really natural in front of the camera. Yesterday was also my sister's first day on the job. She did a really great job and helped with the reflector and carrying  around some props. I was feeling like a lame duck because my foot (I broke it 4 weeks ago) was really hurting yesterday, but thanks to the big black boot, I got around okay! Here are a few of my favs from the session. 

Pretty in Pink

Here are some shots we did last week in the studio. This little girl has come to the studio for the last 3 years on her birthday and each year I am amazed at how much she has grown. These shots were for her 5th birthday and she has definitely transformed from a super cute toddler to a beautiful young girl. We had a lot of fun with her and laughed as I brought out the "fan". The great thing about the fan is that it always makes people laugh because they feel a little silly with their hair blowing like crazy. I think most people are really surprised at how much they like the fan pictures because it does seem a little cheesy when we are taking the portraits. I actually really love the fan because it almost always add something totally unpredictable to the shot.

2009 Rebrand

One of the best things about owning your own company is getting to play with your branding from time to time. I like to do this every year or two, just to keep up on the latest trends and adjust my branding to the look and feel of our current imagery. When I set out to play with our logo, I really wanted it to match 2 things (1. the design of our new website. 2. something that could work well with our new couture wedding photography marketing campaign.) I was actually surprised at what I ended up designing. I first started playing with some branches and cute birds in the design, but somehow I ended up with something much more elegant that I set out to achieve.  So I came up with a new logo and a monogram symbol that I will use as well. If you look really hard, you'll notice that our new design incorporates the letters P and S for Photoumbra Studios. The dot, well the dot you will notice is prevalent in our new site and has always been incorporated in our various logos so I had to add that in for a touch of the past. So let me know what you think of our new look and leave me a comment! 

New Site

Just wanted to let everyone know that we have got our new site(s) up so go check it our here. The new features include a splash page where you can select one of our specialities (Weddings, Portraits, or Senior Portraits) Now, each our our specialities has its very own site. 

We also want to announce that we are in the middle of creating a new feature called The UmbraBoutique. In the Boutique you can purchase specialty products like super cool jewelry and bags that are custom designed to feature your favorite photos. I am really excited about the jewelry and think they will make great mother's day and father's day gifts. YES, there is even a bracelet for men, and if your man is as sappy as mine when it comes to our daughter, he'll wear it with pride. 

In addition to getting our new site up, we've been busy getting ready for our slew of senior portraits that we will be doing towards the end of April and early May. If your high school senior hasn't had their portraits done, please contact us. We have some fresh new ideas including some grunge texture overlays that we will be using this season with our graduates and we'd love to have you a part of it.