Facebook used to have an awesome “Reviews” feature which they have since removed (not sure why). In just the 30 days we had it installed on our Facebook page we got some great reviews from some of our High School Senior clients. We hated the idea of these kind words going the way of the digital grave, so we snapped some screenshots of them before the feature was removed site wide and thought we’d share them here!

We’d also like to add a big THANK YOU for all who took the time to give us a review. We really do LOVE you and we know we couldn’t be living our dream if it weren’t for you!

***SCROLL DOWN TO APPLY***

WOW, we really can’t believe it’s already time to conduct our annual Photoumbra Model Team search! This will be our 4th year doing this and each year our Model program gets bigger and better. Last year we had almost 100 Class of 2012 teens apply from all over Utah!

What do members of the Model Team get? Benefits vary depending on which level you choose to invest in, but all models will receive the following:

#1) FREE model shoot at our studio including professional hair and makeup styling

#2) FREE set of Model cards to share with friends and classmates

#3) Your portraits on Facebook to show off

#4) FREE Model Team t-shirt

#5) A Photoumbra Blog post just about you

#6) Your portraits all over our website, blog, facebook, etc. You’ll be famous,,,well maybe just feel famous!

#7) A sweet discount on your Senior Portrait Session

#8) Fame…so much fame everyone will want to be you!!!

#9) Up to $50 CASH for every referral you send our way

If you think you would make an awesome member of the Model Team, fill out the application below. If you are selected, you will be invited to attend our Class of 2013 Model Meetup where you can meet other model hopefuls and learn about the team and sign up if you are interested. A parent or guardian is very strongly encouraged to attend with you. Click HERE to see what other teens are saying about us?

View this VIDEO for more info about the Model Team.  If you have any questions please feel free to call or text us at 801-413-3434 or visit our website.

***You must please “like us” below before applying!***

Ahhh, the holiday season is upon us! Family, friends, food, shopping, parties, and we must not forget the SALES. Which means,it’s time again for Photoumbra Studios’ Annual Gift Certificate SALE where you get a $50 View postGift Certificate for every $100 Gift Certificate you purchase! We only offer this sale once a year and I’ve had many clients comment on how much they love it, because portraits make excellent gifts for friend, family or even for themselves, so don’t pass up this chance! {ORDER YOURS HERE!}

Why would a Gift Certificate to Photoumbra would make a rockin gift? So many of the things we spend our money on is disposable or wear out in just a couple of months or years. Portraits capture that which is fleeting, your newborn’s wrinkly feet, your 1 year old’s first bite of cake, your 1st grader’s missing tooth, your high school senior in their football uniform. The quality portraiture that we create is timeless and produced with great care to ensure that those moments in time are beautifully preserved for a lifetime of enjoyment!

What can my friends, family or I get with their Gift Certificates to Photoumbra Studios? Gift Certificates can be used towards anything you would like. A portrait session, gift prints, wall portraits, our beautiful gallery canvas wraps, our popular designer cards, albums, jewelry, etc!

CLICK HERE TO ORDER!

We have been so lucky to work with such fun seniors this year. That is one of the highlights of this job! Cameron Sanchez, from Copper Hills High School in West Jordan, is no exception.  Our time with Cameron was a blast mostly because Cameron was such a great sport!  In addition to climbing on our assistant, Miranda, in order to hop a six foot fence, he was also willing to do Air Jordan layups to get some amazing portraits.   If you’re looking for great senior portraits, an adventurous spirit goes a long way.  Not to mention, we get a bit of your personality to shine through in the photographs!

Cameron was born in South Jordan, but currently attends Copper Hills.  He loves to play basketball, and wanted to highlight that passion in our portrait session, hence the Air Jordan lay ups!  He is also an aspiring graphic designer. In fact, his dream job would be as a shoe designer for Nike.  That graphic design experience would go a long way with Nike!  He also loves the color red.  He is really looking forward to graduating, mostly for the chance to go to college!

We had a great experience working with Cameron, and he assures us the he felt the same.  We love working with seniors like Cameron who bring their personality to the shoot.  Those are always the best.  Not because of the camera, or the setting, but because those are the portraits that show everyone what that person is really like.  So, if you have a fun personality and want portraits to match, give us a call.  We would love to find your personality in a set of portraits for you!  To see more of our work, be sure to check out our Senior Facebook page.  We can’t wait to meet you!

The successful event pays tribute to the culinary excellence of local chefs from our community, while raising significant revenue for the March of Dimes. Renowned local chefs will present their signature dishes in tasting-size portions during a cocktail reception. Live and silent auctions feature exciting items and packages put together by the chefs – including unique dining experiences, hotel stays and weekend getaways, and fun items from local businesses.

This evening is one not to forget or miss and hope that you can help participate! The event will be held on Saturday, November 5th at the Hilton Salt Lake City Center. You may click HERE for more information. We hope to see you at this wonderful event!

We were thrilled to work with the Van Wagoner family recently.  Liz contacted us to do their family portraits just in time for Christmas Cards! We were lucky to get some beautiful weather in some beautiful locations.     Liz chose an organic session, and an amazing color scheme for the pictures.  The bright fuchsia stood out beautifully against the bright green grass. The Van Wagoner family were a great family to spend an afternoon with.  We started with some group shots of the whole family and then went on to individual shots. It was great to give each person a chance to let their personality shine. We were able to get some fun and really creative portraits.

Liz and Jonathan were obviously so in love!  It was so fun to take pictures of them together.  Conner is the oldest and is 12 years old and is a big skateboarding fan.  He was also a big fan of the band aid on his elbow!  Anna is nine and is all girl.  But maybe not in such an obvious way:  She is very into fashion, and, as you can see, is a big fan of girl rock!  Luckily, Anna and Conner really like being together, despite the brother vs. sister sibling rivalry myth.

After our portrait session we were able to meet with the Van Wagoner family and they ordered some gorgeous portraits for their home  They also fell in love with some really adorable Christmas cards to go along with your pictures.  Check out our previous post to see some of our Christmas card selection for this year.   And don’t forget about our upcoming Holiday Vignette Sessions.  They will fill up fast, so be sure to book yours soon!  Make sure you follow our Facebook page for updates on events like the Holiday Vignettes.

This year we are offering a fun, easy and affordable way to check off some of your holiday to-do’s and invite you and your family to come have a special holiday portrait session with us! We have two beautifully designed sets for you to choose from in our studio.

On these select dates in November, we will be offering a limited number of our special “Holiday Vignette Sessions”.

Friday and Saturday, November 18 & 19th

Our Vignette Sessions will include the following for just $99!!!

•A 20 minute session on our Baroque Hall or White Posy Studio Set•
•A pack of 25 Double-Sided Press Printed Holiday Cards with Envelopes•
•1-8×10 and 2-5×7 prints•
*View and order your cards and portraits immediately after your session while your children enjoy some hot chocolate, cookies, and a holiday movie*

Details:

The Holiday Vignette Session includes 2 poses. You may add additional poses to your order for just $15/pose.

Holiday Cards included are 4.5×5 Double-Sided Press Printed. You may upgrade your cards to larger sizes, folded cards, or die cut cards. You may also add on more cards so you don’t leave anyone on your list out!

The session fee includes up to 6 people from the immediate family. You may add more people from your immediate family for $10/person. We kindly ask that extended family not share sessions with you. We are more than happy to schedule you and your extended family back to back and create some larger group portraits together, however each separate family will have to purchase a session time.

Your order will be shipped or available for pickup approximately 2 weeks after.

BOOK YOUR SESSION ONLINE NOW or call us at 801-413-3434

We were so excited when Bo contacted us for his senior portraits!  We take lots and lots of girl senior portraits, which means it is even more fun to do portraits for a guy!   This Herriman High School senior was so much fun to work with!  He has a great personality.  We spent some time doing an organic/passion session and had a great time.

Bo loves playing basketball and wanted to incorporate that passion into his photographs.  We had a great time trying to find the best place to get some great shots to highlight that passion. But basketball isn’t all that he is passionate about.  He also loves lacrosse, eating, and, well, girls.  He is a high school senior!  In addition to all that, when he does have a free minute or two to himself he enjoys FIFA 12.

He is more than just an athlete, Bo is most proud of his academic accomplishments.   Which is particularly great because he has ambitions to become a doctor someday.  Those academic accomplishments will really come in handy during the middle of med school!

He is really looking forward to graduating, mostly so that he can go on his senior trip!  If it was the trip of his dreams, he would be headed to Australia.  That would be one amazing senior trip!

We really enjoyed our experience with him, and we hope that he did too!  He said, “My mom loved it! Monica and Jacob were fun and made it painless. Monica is very artistic and has an eye for what makes a great picture. ”  Thanks, Bo!  If you are interested in having your senior portraits feature one of your passions, be sure to contact us.  You can also check us out on our Seniors Facebook Page. We would love to work with you!

Every year on her birthday we do a portrait session of Chiara wearing and doing things she loves. The last couple of years I’ve turned some of the creative reigns over to her and had her plan out her own birthday pictures. (She loves fashion and definitely has a flair for the dramatic…so she is a natural at this!) We planned a weekend trip to one of my favorite locations, a ghost town about 6 hours from where we live in West Jordan, Utah right around my daughters birthday and figured it would be the perfect place to create some beautiful portraits for her 7th birthday!

One of the funnest parts of coordinating a photo shoot is figuring out what to wear. So with that goal in mind, we set out to the mall and Chiara picked out an adorable outfit that would be perfect for our ghost town adventure. (I was especially in love with the shoes she chose.)

Next, we needed to figure out some fun props to bring. We opted for an old lace umbrella and found a grungy suitcase at a local 2nd had store. I panted the suitcase cream, then antiqued it with brown tinted wax to make it look aged. I then added a pretty cameo applique on the front and back in Chiara’s favorite color pink to “girly” it up a bit. The two simple props proved to be the perfect accents to the rusty metals, peeling wallpaper, and rotting exteriors of the old town.

We were lucky that we had the entire town almost entirely to ourselves. We could be as creative as we wanted and explore freely. These portraits have a totally different “feel” than her 6 year old portraits which focused on her love of rock music and fairies! These portraits are pensive, dramatic, and a little somber as she connected with the vibe of the old town. I didn’t tell her how to pose in any of the shots. I let her have complete artistic freedom with her expression and choice of backgrounds. I find that most of the time children at this age already have their own ideas of how they see themselves and I like to capture that in our portraiture!

If you are interested in more information about our children’s portrait sessions please contact us at 801-413-3434 or check us out online!

We had a nice little change from all of our senior portraits lately, with portraits of little Drake and Cole.  Not that we don’t love you seniors!  But it was so fun to spend some time with these adorable little boys.  We have been priviledged to be taking portraits of these cuties for pretty much their whole lives!  We love the family and a photo shoot with them is more fun than it is work!

These boys have grown up so fast. It seems like yesterday that we were doing Drake’s newborn portraits, and he was only ten days old.  It wasn’t quite as easy this time to get them to sit still, but the pictures still turned out wonderfully.  We were lucky enough to work on a bright sunny day.  We were able to find a great field with lots of tall grass to work with.  The highlight of the day, however was our trip to a local beach.  The sand and the water were a hit!

And we couldn’t have taken pictures of Drake and Cole without including their best friend, Dexter.   They adore that little dog.  And he adores them right back.  So, we had to make sure that Dexter had his chance in the sun, literally.  He got to romp around in the sun and grass, as long as he sat still for a picture or two.

We had so much fun doing their portraits again, and hope to be able to continue to do so as they grow up. If you are looking for portraits of your precious ones, you can check out our portraits page or contact us through email or twitter with any questions that you might have. We love to work with little ones, just as much as we love our seniors!