I'm a Rochester Woman, how 'bout you?

Watch for the next issue of Rochester Women Magazine (the Jan-Feb issue). Q Photography has a full-page ad, baby!! I'm excited to be advertising this way and can't wait to see it in print!


I'll be posting more often now that things have cooled off a bit! I'll be working on some new ideas and announcing a baby year discount after the first of the year - stay tuned!

Aack! What happened to 2007?!

There's a reason I haven't posted in so long! I have been swamped with all of the fall and holiday shoots and cranking out Christmas card designs! I love designing Christmas cards, so this time of year is always fun for me... frantic at times, but fun! I'm relieved to have the big rush mostly over now and am looking forward to a relaxing Christmas - all of my recent clients should be receiving their Christmas card from me in the mail any day now, hope you enjoy it! My girls are pretty cute, don't you think?


Here's a sampling of some of my 2007 holiday cards, all custom designed of course!


for this card I photographed their scarves and used that as the background for the card - doesn't get much more custom than that! One of my favorite families to photograph, I love you guys - Kari, Kenzie & Nick! :)





This last one is my parents, aren't they cute??

I love fall pictures!

Here's just a couple shots from the Price shoot! The fall shoots I've been doing in the studio yard have been fantastic this year, the color is to die for! I'm guessing the color will stick around maybe another week or so (I can take two more sessions next week, by the way, so come and get it while the gettin's good!)

What clients are saying...

Here's an email from an awesome family that I had the pleasure of photographing recently: (Such great clients I have!!!)

Hi Natalie,

We just wanted to thank you for the wonderful pictures that you took of Kate. And you were just so great with her, it makes all the difference.

And we LOVE the little book of photos you included for us. What a fun surprise. It will be a very treasured momento. She means the world to us and we love that you captured a time in her life for us.

We hung a few of the photos and I had to share it with you. (I have attached a photo) It is the first wall we see when we walk in the house and we both just love how it looks.

Thank you again, you're the best!
Faith and Steve

Jumping into their new life together...

Meet Sara and Mike! Sara was one of my first high school senior clients, and her picture still graces my website's homepage, she's the knockout in the red dress. It's still one of my all-time favorite shots, as are many from her senior session two years ago. She even had a few of her senior pics done with her boyfriend, Mike. Well, now Mike and Sara are engaged, and getting married in June '08, and I'm thrilled to be shooting their wedding. I shot their engagement pics this past weekend, and of course we had to do something wild and different... when they arrived at the studio, I suggested jumping off a dock into a lake holding hands as something both symbolic and way cool, and they gave me a crazy look, then looked at each other, smiled huge, and said "let's do it!!!"

I only had one shot at it, and luckilly I clicked that shutter just at the right second! Enjoy your sneak preview, Sara & Mike! Many more images to follow when I get all of them proofed and your gallery up!!

Props like you've never seen...

Cortney is adorably quirky and totally fun, as well as her best bud and mom who came along. We had a blast at her session, and what an event it was! I just uploaded her finished proofs... I counted, and there were TWELVE different outfits! And we didn't even use everything she brought! Talk about coming well-prepared to her session.. we love having options! Cortney was pretty in love with my studio decor, so much so that she wanted to pose on it. She wanted to swing from the chandelier, but I told her she's not allowed to even touch it for thinking such a thing. (my prized multicolored chandelier all the way from London!) So I put her to work and we carried some of the stuff from my waiting room into the shooting room and 'Voila!' we had props with SPUNK! She also wanted to pose in the dressing room against the bright blue wall. I talked her out of posing against the wall that is dotted with round mirrors, since I didn't feel like having my reflection show up in her senior portraits.
Cortney, thanks for a fabulous session - hope you love your shots!

Why stash it when you can TRASH it??

Nikki wanted something unique at her session, so I asked if she had an old prom dress. She loved my idea, (yay!) and it's something I've been wanting to try for a while now! It's inspired by this website. I'd love to start doing some post-wedding shoots with a "trash the dress" theme, so if anyone's interested, call me, I'd love to discuss it further!
Click here to see the rest of Nikki's amazing session!

What on earth?!

Can you guess what on earth we did during a recent senior shoot to cause this beautiful prom dress to end up in the trash?!
I'd love to hear your guesses... stay tuned for the answer, and to see a wildly different end to this senior shoot!

another aspiring model!

So many gorgeous children come through my doors, and little Chloe is certainly no exception! Her mom and dad are planning to try their luck with a little bit of modeling in the twin cities, just for fun. This is just one random shot from her shoot with me last week, both to start Chloe's portfolio as well as document her for her family at this fun, carefree age. Chloe is 18 months old and is already a natural "poser", and clearly a girly-girl already. Even at this age when children can sometimes quickly grow tired of having their picture taken, Chloe loved every minute of it. Of course the giant lollipop I gave her near the end of the session helped stretch her patience with me! :) I had the pleasure of first photographing Chloe when she was just 3 months old, and again with her parents and big brothers for a family portrait last year. One of my favorite returning families - love you guys!

meet Spot...

This is our puppy, Spot. She's an 8 month old Jack Russell Terrier, we got her back in March and she's Q Photography's official mascot :) Oddly enough, she doesn't like having her picture taken; the only time I can get her to sit still enough is when she's sleepy... which is rare because she's a ball of energy 99% of the time.

the nicest thing EVER!!!

I just have to share this, it completely made my YEAR!! A client made me a CAKE!! As if making me a cake wasn't cool enough, it has my COLORS and my LOGO on it!!

A wonderful client of mine, Kim, had ordered a canvas wall collection. Any canvas or artmount wall collections I sell, I always offer the expert hanging services of my husband Jared... he really is great at hanging and measuring and aligning things perfectly, and he is glad to help me hang those luscious, gorgeous canvases. So we were over at Kim's house yesterday, hanging her gallery wraps as she looked on... (this woman is probably one of the bravest I've met; she has three children ages 3 and under, AND she is a stay at home mom, AND she still manages to look great through it all! I just want to hug her or offer to babysit or something whenever I see her... such sweet kids too.) Anyway, when we were finished and ready to leave, she said she had something for me to thank us for coming over to hang her prints, and gives me this CAKE that she made herself... I just about died, seriously. MY LOGO in ICING!!!!! I am still in disbelief. I am so very touched by her gesture, it is honestly one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me. I am so lucky to have such awesome clients as I do - cakes or not, I love you all :)

the perfect age for "formal" portraits...

Many of us don't get our older kids' portraits done as often as we should once they reach school age, myself included! These are my girls, Alyssa just turned 8 and Rachel is almost 10. I actually don't get to photograph them as often as I'd like to, I've been meaning to do some outdoor stuff with them but I've been waiting for perfect weather and a clear schedule - both rare things! These were taken in the studio during the rainy week when lots of sessions were getting postponed due to the weather. They were in such a great mood when we did this, and I got more sweet, loving shots of them together than I have in any other shoot I've done with them. These have a very traditional, formal feeling to them I think. I usually prefer more modern, candid, funky stuff, but it's nice to have a mix of both traditional and creative stuff on the walls. (Gotta love their glasses, eh? They unfortunately both inherited my bad vision, but they look adorable in their specs!)

a cute outtake..

1 year olds don't like sitting still. no matter how many dumptruck sounds I can make! This is Zachary, he's adorable!! :)

a sneak peek of Stevie

Check it out, what a smokin babe! ;)

ok, here's the dressing room, too.

ok so here's another exciting corner of the studio... the dressing room/bathroom... two of the walls have that funky damask wallpaper on them, the other two are painted blue. One blue wall is covered with mirrors. I get dizzy in there sometimes.

studio pics (not finished yet though!)

Here's a peek at my studio waiting room. more pics of the rest of the place will come later, I promise. We're STILL not done, hubby seems to not be too interested in finishing up the last of it, I think he's burnt out (more white trimwork will be added to the orange part of the walls, otherwise the waiting room is done.) Oh, AND I need to get the darn PICTURES HUNG on the walls!!!!!! lol~!! I love when people come in for the first time, their eyes just get huge and they go "WOW!". I wanted a happy-looking studio so people are in the mood to smile when they walk through my doors. It's working so far... ;)

a stunning beauty!

This is Maddie, in town visiting from CA. This is my favorite shot of her so far, we took sooo many pictures at this session. I love sessions like this - she's the same age as my oldest daughter, I really need to get some portraits taken of my girls again. This is one for the website for sure!

Also, an update for those who are waiting; photos of the studio are coming very soon... the studio decor is a feast for the eyes, to be sure!

Her dress matched the wall!

Check this out! This is Megan, a very cool senior with a very cool dress... and it matches the wall in my studio dressing room! I never thought I'd be shooting in the dressing room... but this totally works! Fun fun!

A Lovely Family!!!

Here's a sneak peek... okay, a couple of sneak peeks before I finish proofing all of them... Amanda's extended family. Amanda, Neil, and little Addison are among my VERY FAVORITE clients. (see, Amanda, I TOLD you I meant it!!) What a fun group this was. Amanda's parents look too young to be grandparents. What a hottie grannie and gramps they are! And 'Sis and her BF were super fun too.

My little "Loo"

Here's just a snapshot I took with my 9 year old's point and shoot... I came out the back door this afternoon and Alyssa (My "Little Lissy Loo") was standing in the pool waving up at the sky. I looked up and there was an airplane waaay overhead. How cute is that?? She didn't see me until I came back with the camera 2 seconds later; and asked her to wave at me this time. Of course the harsh sun and blown highlights bother the photographer side of me, but the mommy goggles are on for sure... and that's Norman the Gnome, too... I didn't realize he snuck into my shot until I uploaded. I love pointy-hat gnomes... very Travelocity, no??

Today is my hubby's 30th birthday; poor guy has to work til 9, but tomorrow is the party, yay! I was in charge of buying food and stuff today, and cleaning house. Do you know how NOT fun it is to clean a house you hate?! (our house is "wicked 70s"... for now)

ETA: the itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini is from Mini Boden; I LOVE that catalog/website!!!

Happy 4th of July!

Just a quick post - it's 1:11am on the 4th of July, happy birthday America!

I've been soooo busy lately, lots and lots of sessions to edit, if only I could somehow buy more time... my darling hubby is turning 30, we're having a party here at the house on Saturday night... feel free to drop in, all you fabulous people, we're providing food and drinks! (no creepy internet stalkers allowed though! lol) it'll be mostly Jared's co-workers, god help me... blue collar guys who talk smart, watch out... I'll most likely have to sneak away to edit and do computer work every now and again; Jared says I'm a work-a-holic, I say I'm an "enthusiast"...

We went up to the lake this past weekend, had a fabulous time... our puppy Spot is offically a "water dog"... will post pics tomorrow...

"Violet, sit still!"

Well as many of us know, 1-2 year olds are interesting creatures... I absolutely adore their personalities. I love their joyful enthusiasm and their budding independence. As many grown-ups even can attest, it's not always fun to fully cooperate with someone else's idea for you for over an hour. I myself am not always a fully cooperative type of person at times... ask my parents how fun it was to raise me during my teen years ;) I like to do my own thing, pave my own way, much like your average two year old.... of course, we all eventually learn how and when to control ourselves ;)

Anyway, with that in mind, meet Violet, an adorable little sweetheart who simply wasn't into sitting still. (and can you blame her? she could either run around in a fun big yard and a fun bright-colored studio, or sit and smile like a princess... I know which option I'd choose if I were Violet!) As with most of my rambunctious little subjects, I'm always able to snap those sweet (albeit brief) moments when they're sitting still just long enough for my shutter to catch them. As I am editing this session from last week, I've been pleasantly surprised at how many great shots we snuck in, between the chaos, of course ;) The above shot is one that I love from this session so far..

Hey Bro...

I love these boys. I love their mom too (and grandma, who came along to help!)... Mom & Gma were so considerate during our session, always making sure to not be in the way, but helping when it came to breaks, snacks, etc. :) I think this session captured a great variety of looks from these boys; and I showed a lot of the proofs in black and white; I love that they were shirtless in many of them, I think that gave the shots a classic look, very pure and sweet. This is one of my favorite shots from the session. We actually got several shots of the two of them together, (more than most boys will give me at this age!) some interacting--just being brothers, others nice shots of them looking straight at the camera.

The latest from my fav comic strip...

Hahaha, this made me laugh...

I think I have some competition...

Last week I was fortunate enough to photograph another of my favorite returning families, the Polikowskys. As some of you know, I've been known to let little ones look at themselves on the LCD on the back of the camera after I snap a pic... and I even let them push buttons sometimes... I'm pretty easy-going! Oliver is almost a year old, and he was very interested in my camera, so of course I encourage it (hey, you never know who might be my future business partner)... this little guy was so enthralled with the camera and with all the neato buttons, that he ended up taking this picture! (my blurry knee has never looked better). Notice big sis Grace getting dressed in the background! I have taken the liberty of giving him a copyright notice on the shot. (we wouldn't want anyone taking it and claiming it as their own work, now, would we!)

Just thought I'd share... good work, Ollie!! (we'll just have to work on that depth of field issue of yours..)

two pigtails, two years old, TOO cute!

here's a sneak peek of little Cailin... isn't she adorable?! I am in love with this dress she has on! Mom says G'ma picked out the dress, kudos to G'ma!! Cailin is one of the sweetest little 2 year olds, and like all two year olds, had loads (and loads) of energy. I think we did pretty well harnessing it for some great portraits. Her previews are nearly finished and will all be uploaded soon!

I first had the pleasure of photographing Cailin last fall... brr, I remember that day was COLD!! I also remember her sweet rosy cheeks peeking out from her stocking cap; loved that!

I love this shot!

Isn't this a great one? I don't know what it is, the color, the awesome eye contact, I don't know... maybe all of it! I just love it though... Kian's a sweetie :)

This one might make it onto the studio wall...

Father and Son

Here's a session I did last week; just one teaser image until the whole session is done... this wasn't necessarily a father's day shoot, but for little Kian's 2 year portraits. Dad decided to jump in for a few, and I think he'll be glad he did, this shot is a gem! I love the interaction here.

This is one of my all-time favorite families, they have been with me from the beginning and given me some great referrals. That aside, just the nicest family you'll ever meet. I've even become friends with Mom's parents, all such terrific peeps.. :)

They have a little girl, too, Nina, and she is one of my best little models. Always happy to ham it up for the camera. She's the closest thing to a "real" princess that I've met, I think. ;)