PS Photography

Our Blog has Moved!

2011-03-15T09:29:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much for visiting us! Our blog has moved so please click the link to be redirected. Don’t forget to update your bookmarks!

Sincerely,
Rachelle & Tracy

https://psphotographyalaska.wordpress.com

The Evanson Family and Baby Anna

2011-02-07T10:27:00.000-08:00

Meet the Evanson Family

This is their brand new baby girl, Anna. She was two weeks old when we took these photos at their home. She was so sweet and so beautiful. Such a privilege to meet her. And so exciting to meet new families!

Anna’s grandma MADE her this nursery set. She pieced together this elaborate rabbit quilt and I was trying to think of a way to sneak it into my camera bag. A work of art!

It was a pleasure to meet you, Evanson Family! Thank you for allowing us into your home for a bit.

Anchorage Alaska Newborn Baby Photographer

The New Vavoom Salon

2011-02-02T14:38:00.000-08:00

My sweet friend Jennifer recently opened her very own styling salon called Vavoom. Located in mid-town Anchorage, Vavoom offers a variety of services by a variety of talented stylists! Check our the website at www.vavoomhairstudio.com

Owner: Jen Barth

Jen asked me to come in and snap a few photos for her new website. She and her friends and family have been working so hard designing and setting up the salon.

The stylists. I wish I knew their names!

Maternity with the Slaugenhoups!

2011-01-18T20:15:00.000-08:00

This is our friend Mary.

Mary has been referring us and singing our general praises forever. But she never managed to get her own photo shoot done.

Until now.

Baby boy is due any minute so it was time to get these maternity photos taken before it was too late. Who cares that it’s only 4 degrees outside? We have a job to do!

Hubby, Garrett has a complicated work schedule but he happened to be home this week and was pressed into service for our photo shoot. I think he had fun. We are pretty hilarious.

Big sister, Lily was kind of cold. She’s generally a pretty tough Alaska girl, but we all have our limits.

After our outdoor photos, we headed back to the Slaugenhoup homestead for some indoor shots. We thought Lily would be a little more agreeable if she were warm. She was definitely smilier. But still not feeling the cozy family photo!

Thanks for playing Slaugenhoups! We’ve been dying to get you guys in front of the camera for a long time!

Anchorage Alaska Maternity Photographer

The Blanton/Jones Wedding

2011-01-16T23:10:00.000-08:00

Their’s is a story that is so incredible, it gives me goose bumps. Two lives, yet unknown to each other, emerging from terrible tragedies, collided, guided by the hand of God to become one life, and with their combined four small children, one family.

Rene is a survivor.

Not only has she survived cancer, but she survived the destruction of a relationship that couldn’t survive the battle with cancer. With two small children to care for, Rene trusted the Lord and continued living.

Jeremy is a firefighter who lost his wife to cancer. He was left with two small children as well.

The two met through their children, who all happen to go to school together. They saw each other at school functions and birthday parties and it wasn’t long before a friendship formed, and from that, love. At Halloween, Jeremy popped, er, carved the question.

She said yes.

They were married in a small ceremony at home with close friends and family looking on.

Lighting the unity candle as a family.

As a fireman, its not surprising that Jeremy had several fireman friends in attendance at his wedding. Which is why it was SO HILARIOUS when Tracy caught her hair on fire by dipping it in a candle at the wedding.

Crispy.

Anchorage Alaska Wedding Photographer

All In A Day’s Work

2011-01-10T16:56:00.000-08:00

This is how I got this shot. And yes I’m holding a random baby like an arm full of firewood.

Baby Jameson Lane

2011-01-10T10:09:00.000-08:00

I took this photo of Jameson’s Mommy back in November. That’s Jameson inside that purple bump (ain’t he cute in there?) Because of Daddy’s crazy work schedule, he couldn’t be a part of that session. But he was able to be with us this past week at Jameson newborn photo shoot.

I can’t explain what a thrill it is when a client COMES BACK FOR MORE. Sometimes as photographers and artists, we go through moments of insecurity about our work. “Did they love their images? Did they hate them? Do they think we are weird? Did we talk about poop too much?” But then we get that call and someone is asking to work with us again and we jump up and down and scream “POOP!” at the top of our lungs.

We don’t have a studio. We consider ourselves “natural light” and “on-location” photographers and generally do most of our work outside (even when it’s -10 degrees). Obviously that is not an option with a newborn so when we do baby shoots and the client’s home is not an option (either it’s too small, or there’s no light) we do them at my house, on my dining room table in front of a black sheet. Yep, you can’t get more professional than that.

This is one of my very favorite poses to do with a newborn. I love the contrast of a tiny baby head and Daddy’s big, strong hands. Also, it doesn’t matter if the baby is screaming, ‘cause you can’t see his face. BONUS. For the record, Jameson was crying at this moment.

But Daddy calmed him down with a cuddle and begged him not to pee. He didn’t.

Then, big brother Jackson gave him a BIG SQUEEZE and got the crying started up again. Get used to it Jameson, big brothers love that kind of thing. I should know, I have a couple myself.

Thank you Lane family, for a wonderful afternoon and for letting us capture your life for a short while. Hope to see you again soon!

New Years Resolution & The Grant Family

2011-01-07T20:46:00.000-08:00

Okay, seriously. I’m a horrible person. I actually sort of, kind of...maybe...forgot this blog existed.

Not really, but saying so made me feel better for a minute. I have this dream where I blog every single photo session we do. It’s a beautiful dream. A reality? Not so much.

UNTIL NOW (yeah, right).

The PS Photography New Year’s Resolution is to blog everything. By everything, I mean every photo shoot and every random photo-y thing that pops into our heads.

I’d like to kick this year off by blogging the very LAST PHOTO SHOOT OF 2010.

A couple of months ago, I received a Facebook message from my long lost bestie who currently wreaks havoc somewhere along the border of California and Mexico. She carries a gun and I’m pretty sure she knows how to use it. She also wears a tiara. Most of the time.

Kelly’s older sister recently had a baby, a sweet little munchkin named Gracen. They live in Washington State, the land of perpetual rain and traffic, the place where I was born and raised. When Kelly heard that I was going to be spending Christmas with my family in Washington, she thought it would be an awesome Christmas present for her sister if I could take some family photos of them.

Sweet, right? Absolutely.

It was especially sweet because Gracen’s daddy is deployed and was coming home for a short visit at Christmas, where he would be meet his baby girl for the VERY FIRST TIME.

GAH! I wish I could have been at the airport to see it! But I was really just honored and privileged that they spent some of the short time they had together with me and my camera. As I write this, Daddy is already back on the other side of the world for another several months.

I hope seeing these photos helps make the separation a little easier.

Even though it was raining (pouring buckets, actually) and windy and cold (not Alaska cold, but a good effort), baby Gracen could not stop being smiley. I think she liked me.

One thing that happens when you shoot alone in the rain is the baby can’t be set down in a puddle. So, the photographer holds the baby during ma and pa’s photos. These are the final photos of the day, taken by baby Gracen and me.

Smooch.

Jeromy and Karly, thank you so much for coming out in the weather and letting me take some pictures of you. I know your time together was short and seriously, I was so happy to be there with you. I hope you enjoy your photos.

And Jeromy, thank you for all that you do for our country. Stay safe and come home quickly!

R

The Plummer Family

2010-09-03T11:20:00.000-07:00

Can I just tell you how much I love the purple? So many families show up in all white, which is seriously hard to photograph well, especially outside, that when someone shows up in color it always looks especially wonderful to me.

It is never easy to get a genuine smile out of a teenager that has been dragged to a family photoshoot against his will. That's when we tell them to tackle their dads.

A shot in the sunset.

Because this family only lived a couple of blocks away from our shoot site, we sent them home to grab Chase's guitar. The guitar turned his day around and he enjoyed sitting around and strumming while we acted like the paparazzi.

The Gogain Twins

2010-08-28T22:10:00.000-07:00

Guess who just turned one!?

Ethan and Ember where fun and exhausting to photograph! They were completely happy and smiley the entire time. HOWEVER, every single time one of them would smile at the camera, the other one would look away. EVERY SINGLE TIME! For over an hour we watched it happen continually and all we could do was laugh because it never ever failed! For example...

Also, Ethan? That little guy loved the camera. So much so that he attacked it every time I got on the floor to snap a photo. That's how we got this shot...

Ember was perfectly content to sit and smile pretty while we all admired her funky little tutu!

I really loved the tutu.

Ethan finally sat still long enough for a photo with his sister when we stuck him in the middle of the street. He didn't want to touch the concrete with his hands. Gotcha!

He also sat still when we used the fascinating bubble machine. Even when he was shot directly in the face with bubbles.

Another way to keep him still? His favorite chair and some toes to snack on.

Things I learned from this shoot:

1. Twins have an unspoken agreement where they only engage with a photographer one at a time.

2. Babies eat toes and cameras.

3. Babies don't like to touch grass or concrete (noted for future reference!)

The Clay Family

2010-08-28T21:56:00.000-07:00

This summer has been a horrifying mess of weather. We have scheduled and rescheduled so many photoshoots due to rain that I don't even know what is going on half the time. Fortunately, Tracy has our scheduling under control or I would be lost. Literally. Where am I and where am I supposed to be?

Well, on this particular day we took advantage of some rare but glorious weather and headed out with the Clay Family. We were dealing with some glaring sunlight so we had to be creative with our site choices. We were at the park with the bridge but the bridge was in direct sunlight and let's face it, shooting little kids is hard enough without having to worry about lighting issues. We decided to find some shade and rapid fire while making them laugh with our usual antics.

And what antics are those you ask? Well, if you really want to know, you have to book a session with us! We don't just give out our baby whispering tricks over the internet! I could probably be convinced for a pack of fruit snacks...

This little punkin' was old enough to hang out for a little longer while I messed with camera settings and angles in order to achieve this backlit shot in the sun. Her golden hair was a challenge and wanted to disappear completely into the light source. So I sacrificed facial exposure to keep the hair from blowing out and brought her face back in post processing. Pretty little thing, isn't she?

At the very end of our session, the girls dolled up their little tutus and had a dance party in the sun. Because this was just a fun way to wind down the session, we didn't worry about shadows or squinty eyes and just let them twirl and whirl.

The Trevino Family

2010-08-19T21:53:00.000-07:00

We met the Trevino family at our favorite bridge on a Saturday afternoon. The sun was shining and a young moose was hanging out. A very Alaskan photoshoot to say the least. Especially for big brother who was visiting Alaska for the first time all the way from Germany!

This family was so much fun. I knew I say that about all of our clients and I mean it for all of them but the Trevino Family had us laughing so hard we had tears in our eyes. When they left to go have lunch at Red Robin we almost asked to tag along just to hang out with them longer.

The Barth Family

2010-08-14T19:49:00.000-07:00

We met up with the Barth family on a Saturday morning at our favorite bridge. The weather was sunny, and the family, picture perfect! Back in January we had the opportunity to photograph mom and the two little blonde cuties as they were in their aunt's wedding party. The were a hit then and they brought it again this day during a fun family session.

It actually took this little man a few minutes to warm up to the idea of photo day. He didn't want to look at us, let alone smile. We finally tricked him into looking at us a few times and in the end we managed to coax a smile or two with the help of Skittles!

Big brother had no problem smiling for us. He had obviously practiced his cheese before the big day.

Who won't smile for Skittles?

Daddy had a tattoo of big brother's name on his wrist.

After the "official" photo session, we followed the boys around the park while they played and nabbed a few candid shots, which always turn out to be our favorites.

We love that our job brings us together with fun families. We especially love it when we can run around and be crazy at the park with them. Thanks Barth family, for a fun morning.

Newborn Baby "M"

2010-07-31T20:50:00.000-07:00

This is baby "M"

This little punkin' was almost a month old when we took her photos but because she was a premie, she was still SO teeny tiny. She was very patient with us considering all the outfits and poses we inflicted on her.

This is big sister. She was such a trooper while we positioned and repositioned her and the baby for these shots. I adore that red hair.

The "K" Family

2010-07-29T21:52:00.000-07:00

This is the "K" family.

We took this family to our favorite spot, affectionaly known as "the bridge" because of, well, the bridge. The weather was perfection and the family was obviously perfection as well. The girls were loving their time in front of the camera (we dubbed them the Palin Sisters) and the little one was sweet and happy the entire time. This was a very special shoot for us because we've gotten to know several members of their extended family over this past year. Our very first wedding shoot was for "K" mom's sister and her husband at Christmas time. This family shoot was actually a Christmas gift to the "K" family from her sister and another client of ours that is a close friend of this family. What an awesme gift idea! HINT HINT!

Piper, Willow and Bristol?

Darn mosquitos!

2010-06-22T21:08:00.000-07:00

The TWINS!

Remember our belly shoot from a few weeks ago? These little dudes were in that belly! We visited them at their home after they came home from the hospital. Even though they were 21 days old, they were both under five pounds and they were SO TEENY! We were thrilled to be able to take pictures of these sweet little guys.

All images (c) PS Photography

"C" Family Fun

2010-06-22T21:04:00.000-07:00

This sweet family invited us to their home a couple of weeks ago. It was an incredible day of getting to know them and snapping fun photos of their family. Their beautiful home had a view of the water and the mountains and we couldn't have asked for a better backdrop. They've already invited us back in September!

All images (c) PS Photography

Autumn's 9 Month Photoshoot

2010-06-13T22:15:00.000-07:00

This is little Autumn. Nobody cracks me up like this girl.

We've been photographing Autumn since she was a tiny little newborn. Now she is nine months old. We have just adored watching her grow through the lens.

A Belly Full of TWINS!

2010-05-30T01:36:00.000-07:00

This is Megan. She is pregnant with twins.

The amazing thing about this is, Megan's water broke right before our photoshoot. She didn't tell us until after we were done though. Fortunately, our location was only a few blocks away from the hospital so as soon as we wrapped up, she and her husband and little son headed over there and checked in. After 39 hours of labor and 3 epidurals, Rylan Brody and Chance Brecklan were born. Both babies are currently doing great but must stay in the hospital for a couple of weeks. As soon as they get home, we will be paying them a visit, cameras in hand!

Mrs. Alaska 2010 Pageant

2010-05-05T23:05:00.000-07:00

The winner of last year's pageant, Mrs. Alaska 2009, is a friend who hooked us up with this year's gig. So, minutes after finishing up our photoshoot with Baby Liam, we did the Wendy's drive-thru thing and headed down the street to the Mrs. Alaska 2010 pageant. Two and a half hours and hundreds of pictures later, Lindsey Wheeler (above) was crowned Mrs. Alaska 2010. Congratulations!

Mrs. Alaska 2009 Taking her final walk.

What an experience! Neither of us have ever been a part of something like this before and it was exhausting! We loved hanging out with some cool chicks though. We were equating it to a wedding, except that, instead of just one bride, we had multiple!

Sweet Baby Liam

2010-05-03T22:18:00.000-07:00

Loving this little biscuit! Little Liam was the answer to our long-time desire for another newborn shoot. We traveled to his house where mom and dad honored our request for the heat up. Boy did they do good. It was over 80 degrees in that house but baby was nice and comfortable (and drowsy!)

Thanks to Liam's mommy and daddy for letting us spend some time with the family!

Baby "A" @ 3 Months

2010-02-26T12:57:00.000-08:00

This is our baby club baby. We've been taking pics of her since she was born this past fall. We are getting ready to do another photo shoot for her in March to document her 6 month-ness. In these photos she is 3 months. She is so incredibly cute. Her family calls her monkey. So now we do too.

Christmas Mini Sessions

2010-02-26T12:26:00.000-08:00

Back at the end of November we hosted a mini session day where people could come and get family pictures done for their Christmas cards. We spent about 20 minutes with each family and spent the minutes in between sessions snuggled up in our RV to keep warm. It was only 5 degrees on the lake that day! We got some great shots of some precious families and we even designed their cards for them!

Catching up

2010-02-26T11:05:00.000-08:00

It has definitely been awhile since I last bloggedied and now I have some major catching up to do! I want to start with our very first wedding. You might remember Courtney and Charlie from their Christmas mini session photo shoot below. They got engaged during that shoot and we captured the whole thing! They asked us to be their official wedding photographers as well, which was incredibly exciting for us because it was our very first wedding! Here are some of our shots.

We're in the Paper!

2010-01-27T12:57:00.000-08:00

Sort of...

We did some promo photos for the annual Crafters Smackdown here in town and one of our photos is in the Juneau paper along with an article.

http://www.capitalcityweekly.com/stories/012710/ae_555568845.shtml

A side note here, Tracy and I compete in this smackdown with two other of our crafty friends every year!

SURPRISE!!!

2009-11-16T17:09:00.000-08:00

Several weeks ago, a little gal scheduled a Christmas mini shoot with us for her, her daughter and her boyfriend. A few days before the shoot, the boyfriend contacted us as well. Have a look at what we cooked up!

A photo shoot in the snow, so Christmas-y!

Cute little Munchkin!

She was such a good sport! It was only 5 degrees out and she never complained!

And THEN...(we had set up a little "cue" for our big moment) One last pose please. Hey Charlie, could you get a little lower?

AAHHH! So exciting to be a part of this!

She said yes!

She was so surprised. We were so giddy.

Trinity's turn! He asked her if he could be her Charlie forever. SHUT UP! How sweet is that?

She said yes too!

Thanks Charlie, Courtney and Trinity for letting us be a part of this very special moment. Congratulations!

The Blanton Family

2009-11-11T16:06:00.001-08:00

Tracy and I just returned home from the our annual trek to the Seattle Creating Keepsakes Convention. We shopped, we scrapped, we drank a lot of coffee. Before we left we did a photo shoot with the Blanton kids and their sweet mama. It was FREEZING cold that day and the kids were pretty much done with us after about 45 minutes. While we were packing up, a gaggle of hundreds of geese flew in and landed on the frozen pond nearby. So we tossed some bread crumbs and watched them fight and fall through the ice. Very interesting. Anyway, here are some peeks from that shoot.

Christmas Mini Sessions

2009-10-28T11:01:00.000-07:00

For all you local Alaskans out there, we are offering a day of mini-sessions on November 21st. We will be set up at Cheney Lake.

Schedule a mini session with us for November 21st to get that perfect family photo and your Christmas cards!

Each session is 30 minutes long and is designed for families to come and take some fun family photos. We have three packages to suit your needs. Schedule your session today! They are going fast!

Packages

"Merry & Bright" $100
Includes:
30 minute photo session
5 to 10 images to choose from in our online gallery
50 photo Christmas cards with envelopes (several designs available)
1 5x7 print
10% discount on all other product orders from this session

"Jingle Bells" $125
Includes:
30 minute photo session
5 to 10 images to choose from in our online gallery
50 photo Christmas cards with envelopes (several designs available)
1 8x10 print
2 5x7 prints
10% discount on all other product orders from this session

"Reason for the Season" $150
Includes:
30 minute photo session
5 to 10 images to choose from in our online gallery
50 photo Christmas cards with envelopes (several designs available)
2 8x10s
4 5x7s
10% discount on all other product orders from this session

***All morning slots are now full! We have a couple left in the afternoon if you are interested.

CONTACT US at psphotographyalaska@gmail.com

Welcome!

2009-10-19T11:15:00.000-07:00

Hello! Welcome to our brand new photo journal. This is the place to follow us on our many exciting photo shoots, see new sneak peeks, behind the scenes candid shots and all of our profound thoughs and feelings! Check back often!

Here are a couple shots from some of our most recent photo shoots this Fall.