Jenny Spires Photography

Our Family Photos // Stephanie Fay Photography

Words are not enough to express how much I adore the photos that my friend Stephanie took of my family last week. I am in complete awe and beyond grateful. I also can't tell you how many times I've looked through them already and she just posted them a few hours ago ;). Ridiculous, I know. 

I met Steph a little over six years ago, not long after I moved to Arizona through a small group that we both attended. I liked this girl from the start. She was a creative soul, much like my own, and someone that I grew comfortable with instantly.

When we met, Derrick and I had just got engaged a few months before and since Stephanie had just started her photography business, she offered to take our engagement photos. So, we have a little bit of Steph's work all over our house! It's been fun going back and forth making photos with one another over the years (we were blessed to be able to do their proposal and rehearsal dinner photos a few years ago). 

Fast forward almost six years of marriage later with a baby in tow. Maya is a year and a half and other than the photos I've taken of her, we have not had any professional photos of our little family done. Yeah, I know. It's high time, huh? Thank God for my friends that just so happen to be photographers that help push me a little to get it done. 

I have to say, I was a little nervous to be on the other side of the camera. And once we started, all of the nerves washed away and Stephanie and Stephen (her hubs and partner in photography crime) made it feel so easy. It almost felt like any other day hanging out with them and I secretly liked not being in control :). 

I could eat her up all day long. Oh wait, I do :). 

Maya was most interested in the rocks and dirt. Of course :). 

I still have a crush on this boy. I think I might keep him forever and ever. 

///]';l/*** (That was actually Maya typing that last little bit, which translates into she likes this one tons). 

Yep, we love. 

This little girl cracks me up! I love this picture!

Definitely a Daddy's girl. Through and through. 

I really like this family one too. Even with our little tired-I'm-pretty-done-with-pictures girl :). It's still her and I love it. 

This last one is my favorite of the three of us. I'm so glad to have that very moment right then and there captured. 

Thank you Stephanie and Stephen so very much. We love you!

A just breath moment.

I've been working A LOT lately and am living on to do lists these days so that I won't forget anything (if you've been waiting for an email or anything else, thank you! You ARE on my list and I will get back to you soon!). Every now and then, however, I just need to stop, take a deep breath and think positively. I'm at Starbucks right now listening to good music (Nora Jones is on right now and it makes me remember when I first started dating Derrick :)), drinking a Hot Carmel Apple Cider and trucking down my list.

So I thought I would share a photo of my sweet baby girl over here instead of on my family blog for once. I found myself in my "just breath" moment staring at photos of my almost nine month old ! Can you believe it?? This is from our vacation in Indiana in July (she's only six months here) and the sunshine and her sweet face made me smile.
 

I love my friends.

Especially when they let me take pictures of their kids.

I had a gig shooting some cheerleaders at a local high school football game the other night. After we wrapped up, a bunch of our friends showed up and we stayed for the game. It's been so long since I've gone to a football game and it was so much fun! Football games = fall...usually. Back home, about now,we'd be wrapping ourselves in big, over sized sweatshirts (I mean, it was the 90's the last time I went to a high school game), grab our fleece blankets and snuggle up on the cold aluminum bleachers. We'd pile in with friends or next to the current crush of the week. We'd sip our steaming hot chocolate while warming our frigid fingers and would take in the smell of fireplaces coming from the nearby neighborhoods. In between whistles from first downs and the brassy marching bands you could hear the rustling of the leaves falling from the trees.

I officially miss fall.

Can you tell? I got a little off track. But I love it so much!! Don't worry though, I try to take in as much fall as I can in Arizona and I suppose it hasbegun to cool off comparatively.

I did find my little model ever and decided I couldn't not take her photo. Isn't Sophia growing so much?! Still as beautiful as ever! Note the outfit she is wearing in mid-October!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Spiced Latte is my BFF.

 

Here's a little straight outta the camera lovin' for you today. You know it's fall when Starbucks puts all of the holiday drinks back on the menu. Maybe it's the combination of the nutty-pumpkin-all spice liquid mixed with my addiction of coffee that does it. Or perhaps the earthy toned advertising with smooth fonts and subtle lines. I don't know, but I pair it with fall every year.

My clients and I mixed up the location last Saturday morning and I sat waiting outside drinking my pumpkin brew. I'm not gonna lie when I say I wasn't too sad to have 20 extra minutes to enjoy our unusual 60 degree weather. People watching is pretty fun in Old Town Scottsdale as well.

So...there will be some fun shots from that shoot coming soon.

Also, be watching for my new Christmas cards and prices! I can't wait to show them to you!

All right...so maybe I'm a huge big cheesy sap.

This is a big shout out to my friend Megan who loves You-tube with all her heart. She has a super-power of sorts to find the funniest You-tube videos ever. I can never find good videos on my own like she does.

Well, Megan, this video isn't very funny at all, but it made me cry like a huge big baby. I'll have to admit that part of it is that we just put down our family dog this week and I've been a big cry-face all week. So grab your tissues folks or you can just find the humor in my extreme cheesiness. Enjoy.

So, this little video hardly does a justice to the storm we had last night. It started fast and hard, with winds blowing wildly in every direction. If I were living back in Indiana with a storm like this, I would have been looking for tornados! With the storm came our power outage..and intense heat in our condo. Our roommate, Luke, Derrick & I decided to go do dinner with some light, so we headed to Cheesecake Factory for some good food. An hour later we arrived back at home and still no power. We all went to bed and within the hour were dripping sweat because it was so hot! We should have left to get a hotel, but instead Luke slept on the porch (I kid you not) and Derrick and I headed to the car for some air conditioning. It wasn't until early this morning until the power came back on. Crazy! Any other state in the country would have been fine to deal with it, but the Phoenix sun and 115 degree temperatures made it horrible!

Anyway, today is 08-08-08! My friends Leslieanne and Richard are getting married today and I have the honor of second shooting with the amazing and wonderful Stephanie Fay! I shot with her the last wedding I did and had a blast, so I'm looking forward to tonight! Hopefully I won't be too tired from not sleeping much last night!

Both Worlds

I want to introduce you to the amazing ladies that I get to see everyday. If you haven't figured out that photography isn't my only forte in life, here's a glimpse at the other half. I also work as a clinical interventionist with children with autism. That's my full time job. I'm beyond blessed to also work with 9 other awesome ladies that have fast become friends.

This morning I got to mix the best of both of my worlds. I don't really post things from work, as there are major photo release issues/liability and so forth, but I will share with you these photos we took this morning. Our kids are coming back to school on Monday, so we decided to do our new bios up in style! We met for breakfast at Tammie Coe's, a super, chic, yummy bakery located near downtown. I highly recommend it! After a quick bite, we all got posey and had some fun taking pictures!

Aren't these girls beautiful?

 

Even me ^! Thanks Megs for taking my picture! You rock!

Guess what we're doing tomorrow..

Yep, we're camping and I'm SO excited. Just me, Derrick & the wilderness for a week.

*Clients I will be unavailable until July 27th. Please send emails if you need anything, I just won't be able to respond until then. If you are waiting on your photos, they will be finished at that same time. Thanks for being patient!

I will also be revealing the winner of the Summer Special when I get back!

transparancy + light

 equals these.

I wanted to take some photos and experiment with a few properties I've been working on lately. Not for a client, not for commission, but for art. I haven't done that in a while. I went to school for art and studied a lot of painting and wanted to take some of those concepts and incorporate them into a photograph. I tried to put them together as I would an oil painting; finding shape & form, composition, layering and textures, color, light. Each photograph has layers of textures and color that are harmoniously pulled together.

I want to get one printed on a 20x30 canvas wrap for my bedroom and I can't decide which one! Which is your favorite?

Enjoy!

 

 

Happy Father's Day

Well all you fathers that read this, Happy Fathers Day! And to my Dad, Happy Fathers Day to you. I hope you enjoyed your movie tickets and date with Mom. I very much wish that Derrick and I could have joined you!

I actually woke up this morning early. I get so mad when I do that on days that I don't have to. The days I that I have to be at work at 7:30, I can barely peel my eyes open. And days I don't have to be anywhere, I wake at 6 or 7. I'm so mental. :)  When I couldn't make myself go back to sleep this morning, I woke up and grabbed my book that I have not been able to put down and made myself breakfast.

About half way through eating, I realized that I reminded myself of my Grandma. Ever since I can remember, she has been a very early riser. As soon as she wakes she brews a pot of coffee, prepares it black and sits down with her book. When I was little I always wondered how she got up so early and I would will myself to try her coffee because I wanted like it just like she did. I never liked it and could never wake that early. As I get older, however, my mornings are earlier and I do like coffee now (only with a lot of cream and a pinch of sugar...which you can see in the photo below). I strive to be like her; she is the woman I can only dream of becoming; filled to the rim with patience, humility and Godliness. She is my true hero and the one person I look up to the most in life. So when I wake early, instead of being mad, I'll remind myself that I am just becoming the woman that I strive to be.

So on this Father's Day, I thank you Grandma for my Dad, who is also amazing. Thank you for raising him well so that he can now be the wonderful Father that he is.