The Tri-Cities is a hub of beautiful locally owned shops that are perfect for finding just the right gift for any holiday. Including Mother’s Day, which is quickly approaching. To encourage you to shop small and support local instead of buying off Amazon again 😉, I’ve compiled a list of categories and the local places where you can find the types of gifts you’re looking for.

If you’re a restaurant owner in Washington and need updated pictures of your food or your restaurant’s vibe, click here. Food photography is so much fun and I always love incorporating your restaurant décor into the pictures to help potential customers understand the full experience of dining in your space.

My first group branding session of 2024 is officially on the calendar and open for registrations!

These are great for you if you:

• Have never had professional photos for your business

• Are a new business owner with a small marketing budget

• Want to find out what it’s like to work with me because you’re considering a full branding session

• Have branding photos already but need a quick and easy refresh

One of the best things about senior pictures is that I get to help these young women step into their best selves and blossom in front of the camera. They each bring their own unique style, sass, and power to the photoshoots and I am here. For. It.

Connection, community, and the willingness to be vulnerable are invaluable pieces of the self-love journey. Human beings are pack animals. We need each other to be whole.

So here is your chance to have all of that.

My 4th annual self-love women’s retreat is officially scheduled.

If you’re in the Tri-Cities, WA area, you want to check this place out.

It’s called the Selfie Studio and it’s located in Downtown Kennewick. This space is so cool, it’s basically a dozen or so little areas that are totally decked out with different backdrops and props. Not only is it a great space to spend an afternoon of wholesome fun creating pictures and videos with friends, they’re also a great spot to get team photos with your staff.

Let’s be real: most people are a little self-conscious in front of the camera. It’s just a fact, especially for women, especially for women who aren’t used to being the center of attention.

Here are some posing tips and tricks to use in your next branding photography session.

Last year I totally fell in love with product photography, and I had the chance to work with this amazing artist who makes the coolest stickers ever. She was about to announce a complete brand makeover and a new sticker release, and she wanted some really great images to showcase it all. So, of course, I was more than happy to help her out!

It’s officially 2024, and we’re kicking this year off with some insight on creating a brand that brings you joy and resonates with your followers.

As I’ve mentioned before, a brand is more than the fonts and colors you use. Those aspects play a part in bringing it all together, but the more important piece of branding is how you make people feel. What do followers feel when they see your social media posts? What do clients feel when they interact with you? And what does your service or product do to support and transform your clients' lives?

So let’s talk about it.

Thank you. For a beautiful year of growth with the most clients I’ve ever worked with in 1 year.

This is all you.

See you in 2024.

I’ve mentioned before that I approach senior portrait sessions the same way I approach my self-love portraits. The reason I do that is because the 2 types of sessions have the same purpose. They’re designed to lift up the person in front of my camera, help them feel gorgeous in their own skin, and show off what makes them uniquely beautiful.

My senior session with Lola did not disappoint.

So this is for the humans who are struggling. The ones who are pouring into everyone around them. The ones who are just trying to keep their head above water. The overwhelmed, the burned out, the empty cups. The moms or dads doing it alone. Those with unsupportive family members. Those with no family members. Those who have lost loved ones. Those who have almost lost themselves.

This year I’ve had the opportunity to work with an amazing woman who’s doing big things and making huge moves in her business. She’s a badass, compassionate, gorgeous lady who entered the world of permanent jewelry with a purpose.

One of the biggest reasons for a branding photography session (outside of making your life easier with made-for-you marketing images) is showcasing what makes you uniquely wonderful. This helps draw in your ideal clients, the people you want to serve the most. To do this, I highly encourage my clients (and you!) to embrace their weird. Lean into it. Get as weird – or as unweird – as you truly want to be.

But how do you do this?

Let’s talk about it.

Senior pictures have become a celebration of the young person and all of the hopes and dreams they have for themselves. They’re on the precipice of adulthood and they’re thrilled to be entering this long-awaited step toward independence and the “real world”. In other words, it’s a really big deal and they’re ready to celebrate.

These pictures are marking a shift in a young life and showing the world just who the teen is. Which is why it’s so important that their personal style and individuality is taken into consideration. Not just to get a great picture, but to celebrate all the things that make them uniquely wonderful.

Being in front of the camera comes naturally to a lot of people who grew up with smartphones and selfies, but for many of us it still feels weird and uncomfortable. My clients often say that one of the things that has stopped them thus far from getting updated images of themselves is that they feel awkward having their pictures taken. They’re not necessarily self-conscious – although that’s nothing to be ashamed of – but they just don’t know how to be themselves when there’s a camera being shoved in their face.

So today, I’m here to help.

Here are some helpful tips to being more authentic in front of the camera:

I think my favorite part of the group branding sessions I had this year was the connection I watched happen between the women who attended. They all got to know each other in a way that otherwise wouldn’t have happened, which is a huge deal to me. My goal with these was to give small business owners a chance to get gorgeous pictures at a lower cost than a full session while also providing some connections with other entrepreneurs.

Normally I wouldn’t even THINK about talking winter holidays until like November 20th.

They’re just not my thing.

But you know what is my thing?

Pictures. Lifting up other businesses. Making business owners’ lives easier. Creating gorgeous images for you to use in your marketing.

Fall holidays are my favorite, and they all have beautiful meanings that go beyond getting candy or playing dress up. Over the next week we’ll see Halloween, Dia De Los Muertos, and Samhain. All of which are celebrated around the same few days, and are so important to me personally. We’ve already passed all of the fall holidays that the Jewish religion celebrates (of which there are several), and the Hindu celebration Diwali is coming up next month. And those are just a few of the myriad fall holidays people celebrate.

If you’ve never looked into the history of whatever fall celebrations your family has, I urge you to do so. You’re guaranteed to learn something new, and it might help you find some new traditions you can weave into your celebrations to help them be extra special.

On November 7th, 8th, and 9th I will be traveling around the Tri-Cities capturing gorgeous branding images for up to 12 businesses.

These are designed to help you kickstart your holiday marketing, get fabulous images to entice shoppers to spend their valuable time and money with you, and make you feel confident and ready for the holiday rush.