Last Saturday, I had my first Easter mini sessions with live baby bunnies! It was incredible! We got to snuggle and play with 10 precious baby bunnies here in the studio. All the sessions booked out like hot cakes, for a total of 12 kids that day! The kids loved it. I had such a great time coming up with unique poses for the kiddos and the bunnies. Be warned, this post is crammed full of photos! Too many good ones, so hard to pick :) Can't wait for next year!!

Happy Easter 2012!

One weekend in mid-March, I went on a photo shoot at an outdoor location with a fun-loving family. Alaskan winters are long, so it felt wonderful to get out of the studio and into the fresh air. We were lucky and it was a beautiful day to be out in nature. This family is moving to the lower 48 soon and wanted some pictures of them enjoying Alaska before they left. They are a beautiful family and I will miss them dearly!

Outdoor shoots are so fun but they can also be exciting due to the unforeseen elements such as lighting changes, wind, weather, and in several cases that day...  deep snow. This winter is just 3 inches shy so far of breaking the snowiest winter on record in Alaska. There was snow, and plenty of it for this shoot and it proved to be a little humorous at times. I would line up my shot while standing on the trodden down path and lose myself in the creative process and back up or step sideways and immediately sink about 4 feet into the snow! This was very funny and frustrating as I would find myself up to my ribs in fluffy white stuff, desperately holding my camera above my head as I tried to wade out of it. My clients definitely got some good laughs out of it and even snapped a photo of me. Make sure you make it to the end of the post for the blooper reel :)

Such a fun day! Thanks Boggs' Family and safe travels to your new home! We will miss you!!

In mid-March I had the joy of spending time with baby Aiden and his parents. As soon as they walked in the door I was in love with Aiden. He was such a smiley, happy baby! A photographer's dream :) We had a great time letting Aiden play and snapping portraits. Like most almost one-year-olds, he is a busy, busy, bee but we would direct his play and use fun toys to get his attention. He adores his parents, so if I ever needed him to smile I just had to have his mom or dad say something to him and he would flash us a grin. We were able to get some fun family shots in there too, as well as a few of mom and dad! Such a fun day!

On Saturday I had so much fun shooting a glamour and boudoir birthday party for a dear friend. This is an absolutely gorgeous set of gals and we had a fantastic time! We had a hair and makeup artist glam the gals up while we sipped sangria, and sorted through tons and TONS of fun clothes, lingerie, and jewelry! I was so proud of these ladies for stepping outside their comfort zone and going all out in the shoot. Each and every one of them did something that surprised me, be it an edgy pose, sexy outfit, or fun theme. We had plenty of glamour shots, but the ladies took it a step further with the likes of a sexy snowmachiner, naughty teacher, hollywood glam, and alaskan furrier. By the end of the five hour party, I was so exhausted! I had been climbing dressers, hanging off the canopy bed, and backing myself into corners getting the perfect shot all day. Even after all that, I can't wait for my next boudoir session! It was so much fun and so rewarding to give these wonderful women images that showcase how truly beautiful they are.

Friday I had a 3 month baby session for baby Caleb. I did Caleb's newborn session a couple months ago. I can hardly believe it was already time for his 3 month shoot! This type of shoot is part of the Belly to Birthday package, so we have a session every 3 months to document all the big changes and growth in a child's first year of life. And boy, has Caleb changed in the last couple months. From a premie to a very alert 3 month old, Caleb is always such a joy to be around and this time his big brothers got to join us in some of the poses! These boys are so much fun! I can't imagine how much Caleb is going to change by his 6 month session!

This weekend I had the pleasure of photographing three beautiful siblings. We had so much fun! This week I was focusing on sibling shots and the family session is next weekend. I am really looking forward to the next session because we are going to take the whole family outside for a fun outdoorsy Alaskan theme! This weekend's shoot was here in my studio, so I thought you might like to see what it's like behind the scenes. Here's a snapshot I took while I was setting up for the shoot and waiting for the kids to arrive.

This Thursday night we were in for a real treat! A giant solar storm hit our atmosphere and caused the second best auroral activity we have seen in a decade! It was intense! I have been hunting the Aurora for a year now, and it was seriously one of the most amazing things I have ever witnessed. We were out waiting for it, standing on a frozen lake. I checked my resources and saw that the Kp index was at STORM level, 7!! We get a great show at 3. I set up the tripod and the camera and waited. Then the entire sky blew up in swirly greens, reds, and purples! Incredible! Here are some of my best shots from the night.

The moon rose over the Chugach mountains a little later in the show. I love how it lit up the landscape! This photo has the full moon and the Aurora dancing over the Chugach mountains with a sled dog trail across the frozen lake. Epitome of an Alaskan night's winterscape!

On Sunday we drove about an hour north up to Willow, AK for the official restart of the Iditarod. We go every year, and it is always such a fantastic experience! We had beautiful weather for it too. We spent some time visiting with the teams of dogs and their mushers before moving on to find a spot at the start line.

This is an incredible 1049 mile race through some of the toughest terrain and fiercest weather. For those of you that may not be familiar with the history and traditions of the race, I'll give a bit of background. In 1925 there was a diphtheria outbreak that threatened a majority of the population of the small isolated town of Nome. The only antitoxin was in Anchorage. What happened next is called "The Great Race of Mercy." A team of 20 mushers and over 100 dogs relayed the serum all the way to Nome through horrible arctic conditions. They made the journey in an astounding 5 days and saved the people of Nome. A truly incredible tale! In 1973 the Iditarod  became a race to honor the history and the sport of dog sledding. The Iditarod is very popular and time-honored tradition in Alaska.  Besides ever increasing media coverage, there are few more ways Alaskans show support for the mushers and their teams. Every year, Alaskans leave their white Christmas lights on and the white star lit on the foothills overlooking Anchorage until the very last musher crosses the finish line in Nome. This is a ceremonial tradition is adapted from the history of the Red Lantern. The Red Lantern hangs above finish line on the burl arch in Nome and is not extinguished until the last musher arrives. You could think of it kind of like the Iditarod's Olympic Torch. The red lantern symbolizes the lanterns that illuminated the trail from roadhouse to roadhouse back in the day of sled dog freighting. When lit it meant a team was on the trail and was not extinguished until they safely arrived at their destination. Kinda cool huh!? 

Well here are some of my shots from the day. Enjoy!

TOP RIGHT: Tom Thurston of Oak Creek, Colorado. BOTTOM LEFT: Four time Iditarod champion, Jeff King of Denali, Alaska. BOTTOM RIGHT: Lance Mackey, four time consecutive Iditarod champion from Fairbanks, Alaska.

ABOVE: Lance Mackey, four time consecutive Iditarod champion, 4 time yukon Quest champion, a cancer survivor, and the son of Dick Mackey- one of the founders of the race and winner by ONE second in 1978! Lance's older brother Rick has also won an Iditarod. Dogs run in the family! ha-sorry excuse the pun ;o) Lance looked right into my camera and gave us the thumbs up! So cool I almost fell into the chute! Thanks Lance, good luck to you and your pups!!

Fur Rondy is a two week winter festival in Anchorage that features all kinds of events and activities like Ice Bowling, the Running of the Reindeer, the ceremonial start of the Iditarod, Yukigassen (a Japanese game with a blend of a good ol' snowball fight, paintball, and capture the flag), big air snowboard demos, and SO much more. All right in the streets of downtown Anchorage! On Saturday we went downtown and took my mother-in-law who is visiting us from Colorado. It was a lot of fun checking out the events and trying some out for ourselves.

ABOVE: The Running of the Reindeer is just that. Running on an icy street in downtown while wearing some ridiculous costumes all while being chased by reindeer with very pointy antlers :) Another one of the activities to witness are the incredible ice sculptures in the town square. This year there was a fantastic child sized train and these cool ice "tea cups" that you can sit and spin on!!

ABOVE: We also got to peruse these awesome vintage snow machines before they paraded the streets. They were really cool! You can see the ice train I was talking about above as well.

Portrait time with Grandma! It was Grandma's first visit to Alaska so we took sometime showing her the sights. 

Welcome to the new blog! I just finished making a new set of darling little newborn headbands to use in my newborn sessions! It was so fun to put this together! I can't wait to see them on a darling newborn baby girl. These are going in my stock of stylings for use in my shoots.

On Saturday, after watching the Aurora forecast closely, we grabbed our gear and hopped in the car at 9:30pm in search of the Northern Lights. We were all in our jammies, but we cranked up the heat in my husband's truck and started hunting for the Lights like tornado chasers. We live in the town of Eagle River, which is about 13 miles north of Anchorage and shielded from the city lights for the most part. We can typically get a good show from our bedroom balcony, but tonight we drove up to a common spot halfway up a mountain to get a better view. Our little adventure paid off with a beautiful show...