Kjori confessed to Jake and I that she really didn’t believe in ghosts and lets just say, I think after our visit to this town, she is a believer. We had our first encounter in the old hotel. We were setting up for our first shot and Kjori was hanging out on this amazing staircase and when I looked up her face was in total shock. She said she saw a woman out of the corner of her eye on top of the stair case, the woman then came right down next to her and starred her right in the face. She could distinctly feel this, but couldn’t see a thing.

A little later we all went upstairs and we all stopped “dead” in our tracks. All of us began having a little shortness of breath and all of our hearts were beating like crazy. We all felt that there was a man present, a young man probably in his 30′s with dark hair. It took us all a few seconds to speak to each other, but when the sensation passed we all emerged with the same feeling/vision of the entity. It took us all by surprise.

Our final encounter came a couple of hours later when we entered a small house towards the edge of town. We walked in and something didn’t feel right. Kjori and Jake thought they heard footsteps upstairs and the whole house was moving. Now the moving part was due to the heavy winds and the fact that it was really really old, but still there was a horrible feeling there are we opted not to shoot there. The really creepy part is that later that night we read up on the town’s history and there was one home that is said to be very haunted. People have reported the sounds of crying children in this home because it was designated for the quarantined members of the town who were dying from various contagious diseases. We wondered if this could possibly be the house that we felt so uncomfortable in so when we returned the next morning, we went to investigate. Sure enough, the home that we got the bad feeling in and scurried out of, was in in fact the home that is said to be haunted and that housed all those sick and dying people.

Aside from our few run ins with the paranormal, we had a great time visiting the town and creating some beautiful portraits that I hope Kjori will love. Here are just a few of my favorites, it was so hard to choose.
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Bridal with horse

We started the session near the Albion Basin in a beautiful field full of wildflowers. Marcie’s elegant dress and cute vail looked stunning against the lush mountainside. We had fun with a few props from our studio. I particularly liked how well the umbrella went with her wedding dress.

After about an hour in the mountains, we ventured to a great “country” location to meet up with Cuddles! While the weather was a bit hot, the sunset was amazing and I love the coppery tones the sun casted while setting. Cuddles was great around the flash, which most horses completely freak out about. That was a relief because we wanted Marcie on her for some of the shots. Marcie purchased an extra wedding dress that we could trash a bit for this part of her session which was nice since Cuddles did like to whip her mouth on Marcie from time to time. Towards the end of the session we had Marcie take her hair down and gallop with Cuddles a bit with the sunset at their backs. It was a beautiful end to a very fun and memorable bridal session.

I look forward to her upcoming wedding in August at The Point in Salt Lake City. We’ll be doing some urban shots of the wedding party prior to the reception that should be really fun! Here are some of my favs from the session…believe me it was HARD to choose! Enjoy and please feel free to leave a comment and check out our wedding website if you get a chance.
]]> http://photoumbra.com/blog/http:/photoumbra.com/blog/wedding-photography/bridal-portraits-in-salt-lake-with-marcie-and-cuddles/feed/ 0 http://photoumbra.com/blog/http:/photoumbra.com/blog/senior-portraits/high-school-senior-pictures/ http://photoumbra.com/blog/http:/photoumbra.com/blog/senior-portraits/high-school-senior-pictures/#comments Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:37:14 +0000 Photoumbra Blog http://photoumbra.com/blog/?p=881 We recently had Megan from Ogden High in for her High School Senior Portraits. Megan selected our Organic session style and and was totally game for trying out a new location I had been eyeing for a while. This new location had some beautiful tall grasses, trees, a cute bridge and amazing roses. We then traveled to another location close to our studio that offers amazing backgrounds with plenty of flowers, grasses, rocks, sand, and water!

Many of our high school senior clients ask us how important is the portrait location? Well, it is both very important and not important at all. It is very important because a location should compliment the style of your portraits. That is the reason that we have each of our portrait clients select a session style when they call to book their appointment. Knowing what session style(s) they are wanting, helps us determine which locations would be most appropriate for them. We then offer advice on what type of clothing and props may be best suited for a particular location. It will also help us determine when we should schedule the session. Some locations photograph better in the morning, while others in the evening. Lighting at a particular location is extremely important to us creating the best possible portrait for you!

When is a location not important at all? We have been in situations when a client has requested a location that we have never been too. We aren’t worried in the least, as we always come prepared to make the best out of any situation/location. I absolutely love the challenge of arriving at a location that I’ve never been to and examining its potential. With our over 15 years of shooting experience, we can create amazing portraits for you nearly anywhere!

So when you call to schedule your senior portraits, just think about what session style {Organic, Urban, Couture, or Passion} you would like and we’ll take care of the rest, unless of course you have an idea for a location, in which case we’ll hop aboard! Please visit our Senior Portrait website to view samples of our session styles!

Engaged Couple at Beach

We visited three locations for Kendra and Clint’s session. We started out in an Urban location near our studio in West Jordan, Utah were we photographed them against some aging brick walls and in an alleyway for a little grunge. We then ventured to a beautiful location with tons of trees, tall grasses, and a gorgeous iron bridge that we love to photograph in Sandy. Finally, we ended up at one of our most popular locations near the studio where we photographed them on the beach, dock, and rock/water feature that is always nice at sunset.

Each of their outfits worked perfectly with the different locations and I loved their last outfit {Kendra in a cool green dress and Clint in a green tie}. The green popped against the muted beach colors and coordinated perfectly with the portraits we did near the rock/water garden.

Below you will find some thumbnails of our favorite portraits from the session. Simply click on each image to view larger and feel free to leave a comment. Thank you Kendra and Clint, for letting us create some engagement portraits for you!
]]> http://photoumbra.com/blog/http:/photoumbra.com/blog/wedding-photography/engagement-portraits-near-salt-lake-city/feed/ 0 http://photoumbra.com/blog/http:/photoumbra.com/blog/senior-portraits/rockstar-senior-portraits-in-salt-lake-city/ http://photoumbra.com/blog/http:/photoumbra.com/blog/senior-portraits/rockstar-senior-portraits-in-salt-lake-city/#comments Tue, 29 Jun 2010 03:49:41 +0000 Photoumbra Blog http://photoumbra.com/blog/?p=903
Last week we had the opportunity to do another ROCKSTAR Session for a truly awesome high school senior, Ambry! Ambry goes to Orem High School and is one of the best models I’ve ever worked with. What made Ambry such a great model? Well, she was totally fearless and just let loose and had fun! If you are preparing for your upcoming session, here are a few modeling tips that will make your senior portrait session fun and unique.

ROCK your Session! {Modeling Tips}
1. Think of us as Friends! We LOVE photographing High Schools Seniors. We love your energy and uniqueness! We think every person we photograph is beautiful and you don’t need to feel self conscious or awkward with us. We are young (well relatively), we are experienced (we know lighting, angles, and colors that will compliment your most beautiful features), and we are friendly!!!
2. Be You! Yup, it’s that simple. We want to capture you not that fake/stiff smile. Just be you! Let us see your personality, tell us about your interests and passions! It doesn’t matter if your goofy or grumpy, we’ll take you however you are and truly capture you!
3. Mix it UP! We are more than happy to help you into a cool pose, but feel free to mix it up a little after each shot. Move your hand, pull a different face, crouch down, heck…stick out your tongue at us for all I care! Feel free!
4. Interact! Wether studio or location we will put you in different environments that will compliment your clothes, personality, etc. Feel free to interact with that environment to make your portraits more dynamic.
5. Trust Us! We figure that since you chose us out of all the other photographers out there, that you like what we do. We promise that your session and portraits will not be ordinary or boring. We are hear to capture you uniquely!

Make sure you check out our website to learn more about our ROCKSTAR Session!

***Scroll down to view cart and check out once an item is added.***

The Portrait Design Guide {Hard-copy} $39
Includes: The Guide, Tape Measure, and Pen in a gift wrapped box. -Shipping in U.S. included in price.

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The Portrait Design Guide {PSD Digital Version} $49 Only $29 till July 30th, 2010
Includes: PSD Layered files of the Portrait Design Guide including cover, intro, wall measurement card, note card, also included are PSD files of our Thank You, Copyright Info, Spreading Love, and Portrait Care tip cards. Change colors and ad your logo to make it your own. A download link will be emailed to you within 24 hours. ***Actual Wall Display arrangements not included in PSD files, you may purchase these from Grady Bug Designs on Etsy. If you purchase the template from Grady Bug, email me a copy of your receipt and I’ll send your our complete PDF’s so you don’t have to go to the work of reformatting them into our card design!***

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Portrait Design Guide {Hard-copy and PSD Version} $69
Includes: The two products above at a discounted rate! PSD files will be available for download {a link will be emailed to you within 24 hours}, other items will be shipped.

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Client Care Cards {PSD Version} $10

Includes: PSD Layered files of the following, Thank You Card, Portrait Care Tips Card, Copyright Info Card, Spreading Love Referral Program Card. A download link will be emailed to you within 24 hours.

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Our next senior was Spencer Pond, he wanted to go with our urban style session so we also photographed him in Salt Lake City. Spencer is totally easy going and was really fun to work with. I like the ones we did by the pillars and the red door the best.

1. You will save 1/2 off your session if you take advantage our our Summer Sale (must call or book online June 6th-12th). Sessions must be scheduled before August 31st.
2. The weather is nice. Do you know that this spring we had snow in the valley well into May? While the spring can be a great time for portraits, the weather is very unpredictable and with our Spring-time schedule being packed with late comers, we usually don’t have any time to reschedule appointments so you may have to do yours in the rain or snow and might make wearing that cute sun dress or high heals a real challenge.
3. Beat the rush.With many seniors waiting till fall or spring to do their senior portraits, we encourage you to beat the rush and get yours done early! Pre-order your Designer Announcements and get a discount!
4. Sport that summer tan.We all know how long and cold our winters are in Utah and lets face it, unless you are visiting the tanning booth (please don’t!) or vacationing frequently (please do!) you may be a little pale from your winter hibernation. Why not show off that awesome summer glow in your photos and get them done before school starts? (I hope I haven’t offended any goths, I love your look too and I have some great ideas for your portraits…give us call!)
5. Did I mention that you will save 1/2 off your session? What more reason do you need?

For those of you who are not familiar with Photoumbra Studios please take a moment to visit our website and check out samples of our work and read about our Senior Portrait Team and how we specialize in creating fun + creative portraits specifically designed around you!

To learn more about our Sessions you may refer to our sessions menus below. If you would like to book your senior portrait summer session and save 50% off these prices, please call us at 801-566-0829 or BOOK ONLINE between June 6-12th!

We are also considering a big move for the studio. We would like to move to a place where we could build a larger studio and have room to build some outdoor sets as well. Thinking of selling our current home/studio is heart wrenching since we have put so much blood, sweat, and tears into the building of this house. It will be hard to let it go but we do feel that making a move is the right decision so we are crossing our fingers that we can find something that will better suit the growing needs of Photoumbra.

Here’s to an awesome summer beginning!!!