NEW BLOG

Without further ado, here is the link to my NEW BLOG. Click here.

Please update your bookmarks to www.jenniferbowen.net

This blog will no longer be used.

Happy Labor Day Weekend

I hope everyone has a safe and relaxing Labor Day weekend! We will be in Pinetop escaping this insane Phoenix heat for a short respite.

I will be back on Tuesday with MY NEW BLOG and several new posts, including the Janssens, the Hayes, baby Gabriel and more.

If you need to reach me, I'll still be on email and phone all weekend.

Happy Labor Day!

Caveman's Crib

I have so much to post, but I think my new blog is coming any day now, so do I dare wait to make some new posts....?

Well, in the meantime, here is a little time-suck diversion for you. One of my husbands clients sent this to him. What a genius marketing campaign for Geico .... for that Caveman show coming this fall ... for future marketing efforts in general. Its completely interactive for the voyeurs in us.

Check this out: http://www.cavemanscrib.com/

Part Time Studio Assistant Needed

I am currently looking for a part time Studio Manager for approx. 10-15 hours per week. If you know anyone interested, please forward them this post or have them contact me. I work from my home based studio and the hours are somewhat flexible. The position may increase up to 20 hours per week in the fall.

Candidate does not need to be a photographer but must have a strong work ethic, be a quick learner, and have a good eye for color and design.

Duties & Responsibilites Include:

• Color correction & photo editing
• Photo order fulfillment
• Packaging & mailings
• Research & Data Entry
• Some Album Design
• Scheduling appointments and interfacing with clients
• Other assignments as needed

Strong communication & client service skills are a must.

Interested candidates can email me to request more info or send their resume.

Lammot Family Beach Shoot

I mentioned a few posts ago that I had some fun beach shoots while out in CA a couple weeks ago. Here are some of my favorites from my first one with the Lammot family. I have met them a few times before through mutual friends, so we really had a blast. They were completely willing to get all sandy and wet, in fact preferred it that way, so we were able to get some fun images. Tom is a surfer and grew up in southern CA like his wife Stacey, though they all live in AZ now, and so he was anxious to head out in the water with their 3 year old daughter Taylor (the "water baby") and go swimming, which I loved for photos! They are a beautiful family in every way you can imagine.






Tom and Taylor after their swim and adorable 9-month-old Luke












Two of my favorites above...








I absolutely love this picture. To me this sums up the childhood experience at the beach, the magic and fun of playing in the ocean and on the sand. I also dig the way the sun was hitting the beach to silhouette Taylor.

Thank you Lammot Family for such a fun afternoon! Janssen and Hayes Families, yours are coming next.... :)

Jennifer & Nathan's Engagement Shoot

I met up with Jennifer and Nathan a few weeks ago in Old Town Scottsdale to shoot their engagement pictures. They are getting married next month at Troon, so it was fun to see them getting excited for their big day. It was definitely hot and humid, but we still had a lot of fun and they are both so nice and easygoing. Here are a few shots from our shoot:

Eight Levels of Narcissism

So there is this little game going around in the wedding industry amongst several (and by now, I mean several) bloggers. Melissa Jill tagged me a few weeks ago after she answered her "eight," so after a little thought, I've finally come up with mine. Basically you share 8 tidbits about yourself that others probably dont know and then pick 8 more people who need to do the same thing. This is probably more than you would want to know, but here goes...


1. Unbeknownst to me, I photographed my own marriage proposal. (The back story: My husband proposed to me in Florence, Italy and set it up by suggesting I take a photo of us standing in this incredibly beautiful garden overlooking Florence – which by the way is the most romantic city on the planet. This was not an unusual request because we had been taking self portraits by setting up the camera timer all week, and on this day, I happened to bring a super lightweight tripod with me. So I set the timer, bounded over to jump in the shot and as I turned, he proposed. The camera snapped. He is a big romantic at heart.)

2. My daughter weighed 9 lbs, 11 ounces at birth. And I did not have a C-section. (She was 9 days late.)

3. I have met and had my picture taken with two Presidents of the United States, two current Presidential hopefuls for this next election and Robert Kiosayki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad. (A great read for anyone.)

4. I am a LOST fanatic. I cannot miss the show. (It is imperative to watch from the very beginning though, otherwise you’ll just be lost.) Sorry for the pun.

5. I have a big crush on Steve Carrel from The Office. It must be his sense of humor. I absolutely love that show.

6. I am distantly related to Abraham Lincoln. My uncle is a genealogist and traced our family back years ago.

7. One of my closest girlfriends made out with Vince Vaughn, prior to his Jennifer Aniston days and prior to her (my friend) being married. (This isn’t really about me, but can’t this count for something?)

8. My favorite thing in the entire world is when my daughter wakes in the morning and snuggles up on me, still half asleep, with her arms wrapped tightly around me. Nothing compares to the smell of her skin and weight in my arms.


And for the next 8... some of you may have already done this, so I apologize if I haven’t done my research well enough, but here goes:

1. Kim Jarman of http://www.michelleallenphotography.com/
2. Shannon Rice with www.risostudio.com
3. Ryan Brannen with www.willbewed.com
4. Victoria Canada with www.abrightevent.com
5. Megan Resch with www.meganresch.com
6. Erin Kenly with www.erinkenly.com
7. Jen Thye with www.imonievents.com
8. JT with www.jeffersontodd.com

Ryan Brannen is a rockstar

I love Ryan Brannen.

Not love in the romantic sort of way. Love in the, he-has-designed-me-a-competely-kickin'-awesome-new-custom-blog sort of way.

We ran through the new look today and are working to get it live in the next couple weeks. I absolutely love what he created and cannot wait to launch it so that I can retire this current one with the small pictures and rigid design limitations. (Google Blogger has been good to me thus far, but it's time for bigger and better things.)

Ryan is the owner of his own web design firm in Phoenix and is the force behind the creative concept, Will Be Wed, which provides brides & grooms with custom websites to announce and showcase their upcoming nuptials.

Couples can use their personal sites to share Save the Date information, showcase engagement and wedding photos, provide travel or other event information to incoming guests, share registry info, or anything else they would like friends and family to know.

They are absolutely beautiful websites and best of all, couples don't need to spend their valuable time creating or updating the info themselves.

One of my couples getting married this fall will have their own in the near future, so I'll share that when it is ready too.

Thanks Ryan. You rock!

The Shot List

Melissa Jill (photographer and blogger extranordinare) recently articulated a thoughtful post on her blog about "Killing The Shot List” that wedding planning sites seem so keen on putting out there these days. They are providing couples with a list of 'must have shots' and insist that the photographer the couple selects should stick to this list. It prompted me to think about this aspect of wedding photography (I guess I did a little work on my vacation) and how I typically work in relation to a list, as well as articulate my own thoughts on the matter. Where does the need for capturing certain shots and the artist in photojournalistic or documentary style photographers begin and end?

For a non-traditional photographer, I believe that list kind of becomes a non-issue. Documentary photographers like myself are constantly shooting, constantly watching and making sure they do not miss any moments, big or small. And the good photographers, the ones whose images make you feel something, whose images evoke emotion or give you a sense of place and time, are doing more than just watching. They are listening. They are anticipating. They are feeling and shooting with their heart, their eyes, their ears, and all of their senses.

Their goal – my goal – is to freeze all of these little moments in time for you. So that you can look back and remember the fleeting moments that may have gotten lost in the surrealness of the day. Did you see the way your mother was looking at you when you were putting your dress on? The look of pride on her face? And then there is you, the bride… do you know how beautiful you look when your friends or family are helping you put on your veil? The feeling of anticipation running through you, the butterflies, the quiet introspection… it is all radiating out of you and is beautiful. You look in the mirror and see yourself in your gown, the one that you dreamed about for the past 20 or 30 years (or that you spent months searching for) and you feel beautiful. But did you see the way the light falls across your face when you are looking? I did. And it just made for a stunning close up portrait of you without you even knowing.

The problem with the shot list, as I see it, is that it is so confining. The first kiss, the first dance, dad (or mom or brother) walking you down the aisle. Those are certainly all moments not to be missed, and with me, they won’t be. But what about everything before and after that? What about the way you two laughed together right after the kiss when they announce you as husband and wife to your guests? The look of joy on your faces. If my only concern is your first kiss, then I’ll miss those other fleeting moments that transpired seconds later.

When a couple books me, and even before when they are in the evaluating process, I often ask what is the most important aspect to them regarding their photography? What I am really asking is: What are you most looking forward to on your wedding day? Which relationships are extremely important to you? What moments do you anticipate will bring about a great deal of emotion for you? In this process, I am striving to get to know my couples so that I know the things to pay extra special attention to, and the moments they will especially cherish when they see the final images. The images beyond the standard shots.

I always take traditional posed family portraits when requested, because the majority of brides and grooms do want some posted shots with their families… and parents want them nearly 100% of the time. I encourage and ask for a list of grouped family formals that are important to the bride and groom and I am sensitive to diverse family situations. If the groom and his buddies have been friends for 20 years and all love to joke around with each other, I make sure to know that and capture those relationships too.

I take well over 1000 images at every wedding -- sometimes we end up with close to 2000. I am constantly watching, listening, anticipating, sensing and feeling. I have shed a tear or outright cried at every single wedding I have photographed. There is not one couple for whom I did not feel some sense of emotion for at some point in the day, and many for whom I felt a strong connection too.

I am extremely, extremely blessed. I absolutely love what I do and feel such an intense passion for photography. (Okay, I'm kind of obsessed with it.) Making images that have an intimate feel or tell a story or capture the essence of individuals is what I live to do. I cannot imagine doing anything but this.

Hopefully couples can focus less on making sure their prospective photographer will follow a set shot list, and find one with whom they connect and trust will capture all of the moments of their big day.

Coming Attractions

We have been super busy over here at Jennifer Bowen Photography and have some exciting things in the works. There are several sessions & other tidbits that will be posted in the coming week or two:

Jennifer & Nathan's engagement session
The Lamont Family beach session
The Janssen Family beach session
The Hayes Family beach session
Eight Levels of Narcissum
The Princess Project Recap
Lindsay and Eric's Wedding Album
Our all new custom blog. Yippee!

And a SUPER EXCITING contest ... stay tuned for more details soon!!

R&R and #18 Accomplished!

Well I am sad to say that our vacation week has to come to an end. We had such a relaxing time in our little rented beach house (#18 on the 101 list, check!) and simply could not get enough of the perfect weather there in Manhattan Beach. I thought that I would blog during our stay, but I found after arriving, I just didn't feel like cracking open the laptop. We slept, we read, we drank wine (lots of wine), we beached, we saw dear friends, and Jordan made a whole bunch of new buddies. And we stayed outside in the cool beach breeze as much as possible.

I've lived in southern CA and have been to the Manhattan Beach area cities a dozen or so times, but I have never rented a beach house for a full week, so this was great. I highly recommend doing this if you need a little getaway.

Here was our happy little home for the week on the most idyllic walk street.



This was one morning before the haze and clouds burned off. It was during this time that I loved to walk the short walk into town to get my Peet's Coffee. We literally walked everywhere or rode bikes.



Our short walk to the beach.


It is such a great place to vacation with kids, because Jordan could play in the no-cars-allowed street with all the kids all week. She made lots of new friends and cried when we had to leave because she insisted this was her new home.

Somehow I understood.




This is my dear friend Shauna, pregnant with her first child, due in early December. We met in Redlands, CA in the fourth grade, hit it off quickly after we discovered we had the same backback and the same crush on a certain boy that wore a pink Izod shirt (as well as a million other things in common) and have been friends ever since. Our family was transferred away a few years later, but we stayed in touch over the years, visited each other often and have been there to watch each other grow up.



Beach time! Chris taught Jordan how to fly a kite.


The view from Hermosa Beach Pier up to Manhattan Beach.



Me and Jordan on the pier.



A little family self potrait with the point and shoot.


The Manhattan Beach pier at Sunset.



We took a little drive down the coast through Redondo Beach and Palos Verdes.
The lighthouse park was closed since its owned by the Coast Guard and is only open on the second Saturday of the month.





Our last evening there before a great dinner at Rockin Fish.
The blackened Halibut was muy bueno.


A little direct sun shot.


Dad and Jordan under the pier. She hated the waves in CA! I think because they are bigger than the ones off the Gulf of Mexico in Florida where she loved the water.

Shauna's husband Steve and Chris golfed at the Trump National golf course in Palos Verdes one afternoon so we girls just beached it and then shopped and tooled around town.

Later in the week I ventured over to the Canon facility in Irvine. Fear not, I'm not that much of a photo geek that I wanted a tour, I just needed to get my sensor cleaned and since they do it for free there, I thought I may as well make the trek over. For all you Canon shooters, they turned it around in about 2 hours and it's good as new again. Good stuff!

I also had two (well basically 3) great beach photo shoots while there and I will post some pictures from those soon. We all got very wet and sandy and it was fun fun!

Bye 4th Street. We had a great time!

P.S. We never made it to Disneyland. We decided to wait another year or two so she can really appreciate it and actually go on many of the rides. I guess the kid in me will have to wait a little longer as well.

Countdown to Relaxation

Move over Clark Griswold, here we come.

We are officially leaving for our beach house vacation in sunny-but-not-too-hot-Manhattan Beach, California in about 20 hours! I can't wait. My husband and I desperately need some down time (and Jordan probably needs a big break from the stresses of being 2) and we are so looking forward to some R&R with our precious little family.

I'll be taking lots-o-pictures of course and still blogging, because, well ... that isn't really work to me. I can't wait to see one of my lifelong best friends Shauna, especially now that she is pregnant with baby #1 and we'll also be taking Jordan to Disneyland. I get to don my Mickey Ears and be a kid again! We'll top it all off with a cold beer or tasty glass of vino and life might not be able to get any better.

Sloane Part Duex

Here are a few more pictures from a seperate modeling shoot with Sloane, my girlfriends' daughter. She is just gorgeous. Part 1 is just a couple of posts below....

Amy and Jeremy's Engagement Session

Amy and Jeremy are getting married this fall at Troon Golf Club, and the coolest story is that I know them because I photographed her Mom's (Barbara) wedding to Barry last fall. They called me after Amy got engaged and said they couldn't imagine anyone else photographing their familys' wedding, so I was so flattered and excited, since their entire family was so fun -- and Amy and Jeremy are just so cute!

They met at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, so we decided to do their engagement session up there, which was fantastic. I love photographing couples in that town! We had a great time, spent a couple hours walking around town and campus and all enjoyed the much cooler weather. There was a monsoon storm that rolled out as I arrived in Flag so the weather was wonderful. It was 110 degrees when I left Phoenix and 67 degrees when I arrived! You have to love that difference for only being two hours north.

Here are a few pictures from our shoot this past Sunday.

I'll start with my new favorite image!

I love everything about this image. First, its pure serendipity that two trains passed each other as we were standing there waiting to cross, and second, I love how Jeremy has his hand in her back pocket like this, and how she is laughing and hanging on to him. I'm sure you can imagine the noise and wind effect from two trains like this.

Jerry Ghionis/Bambi Cantrell Seminar

Today I attended a wonderful seminar put on by two of the worlds Top 10 Wedding Photographers, Jerry Ghionis and Bambi Cantrell. It was a really, really great workshop that touched on almost all issues that affect wedding photographers, including:

• Photographers are business people first, and have to have business skills to survive this industry. It's wonderful to wear your artistic hat and take great photos, but if you cannot effectively run a business, you will not survive. The both pointed out how photography is one of those rare industries where the business owner feels the need to wear and manage all hats, including: photographer, designer, marketer, color editor, sales person, accountant, receptionist, cleaner, personal assistant and more -- and how this eventually burns us out completely. Isn't this relatable photographers?? We don't like giving up creative control at all, but we must if we are to achieve any sense of balance whatsoever.

• Establish an impressive brand if you want to stand out and rise above the competition - and they shared tips on how they have both accomplished this.

• Jerry spoke in great length about training your eye to make the absolute ordinary extraordinary. It was pretty impressive to witness his abilities of walking into a very mundane, or even overly messy house, and see the portraits that he creates out of nothingness. Its wonderful to see this type of work, because I have always felt the backdrop matters very little compared to subject you are capturing, and he raises this concept to a whole new level for me. His work is so inspiring.

They also both spoke in great length about advertising, marketing, creating assignments for your self at every wedding, posing techniques, album design, outsourcing, lighting techniques and so much more.

All in all, I walked away inspired and with some very tangible techniques that I think will help me to continue to evolve in my craft. Plus I got to spend time with my photog buds Kim and Melissa, who are both always wonderful to hang with. Since I didnt bring a camera with me today, they will have pictures from our day on their blogs.

Beautiful Rainbow Tonight

Tonight Jordan and I were out front after dinner playing with the wide angle lens and looking at the storm clouds when all of a sudden this beauty appeared out of nowhere. And beauty it was since I havent seen one this bright in a long time. Jordan's first "real life" rainbow and I've never been so excited to share it with her!

Princess Project Update

You may remember I posted awhile back about this great organization called The Princess Project (part of a larger org called AZHOPE.) Well, today is the big ball for these girls (The Princess Event) and I'm leaving for Payson in about an hour to spend the day helping to document the occassion. I'm not sure what to expect, but I'm looking forward to being a part of this. I'll share more this week about my time up there.

Beautiful Girls

So one of my 101 goals has been to go to Colorado to see my friend Veronica and take pictures of her three beautiful daughters while out there. She used to live here in Arizona before moving a couple years ago, and we worked together about 10 years ago and have been friends ever since. While I havent yet made it to Denver to visit her (I think I'll coordinate this with ski season...), she and her family came back to AZ this past week for a long visit, so we were finally able to take some pictures.

Yesterday was a full fledged "girls day" with her three, Marie's 2 girls, and my daughter, not to mention more friends who popped in and out all day at Marie's. It was great, because it was such a relaxed day and we didnt really prep the girls for any sort of "photo shoot" - we just let them play and be them. The timing was great as they discovered all the dress up clothes and had a blast, while we Mom's all caught up over glasses of wine.

So down they came all dressed up, so I grabbed the camera and out we went...

Veronica's oldest Sloane is about 8 and absolutely beautiful and I think may pursue modeling -- which she absolutely should!





Here is Gabrielle, V's also beautiful middle daughter, 6 going on 16

And Chloe, her beautiful baby.... though she is no longer a baby at 4 (almost 4).

...And let's not forget beautiful Bianca, Marie's neighbor friends' daughter

And finally beautiful Sydney (Marie's daughter) with her out of this world blue eyes.

Little Delaney and Jordan eluded us while we were taking these outside.... hmmm, no Mom's in the house, so time to play!

I should also say that while these girls are all beautiful on the outside, they are equally as beautiful on the inside.

Lucky 7

Julie and Dave were married this past Saturday, 7-7-7, reportedly the most popular wedding date ever. They had a small, intimate ceremony and reception that was very sincere, warm, and a lot of fun. I met them though Julie's brother Clint, because I am photographing his wedding to Lisa this fall. Julie and Dave are just a very cool couple, down to earth and very real with one another and their families, so it was really a pleasure to spend the day with them. Thank you Julie and Dave! I look forward to seeing you again this fall - if not sooner.

They were so much fun during our bride and groom time and loved being silly with each other so we got some fun images of them.

I still have about 400+ reception images to process, but I did want to post this one as it kind of sums up the latter part of the night, where the dancing and festivities got VERY fun. Their friend Nick was hilarious -- he and his girlfriend were awesome dancers. He at first did not realize the significance of the drink he ordered all night 7 & 7's, so we documented his 7th of the night :)

Diana's Headshots

Diana is a friend of mine who owns Skin, Body and Spirit in Old Town Scottsdale where she gives great facials, waxing, etc. She is also a model and was in need of some new headshots, so we headed out one evening around town to capture some fun images of her!

Little Tyler

I photographed adorable little Tyler a couple weeks ago and wanted to share a few shots from our session. He was so sweet and good natured and loved eating his hands!

His Dad is a big Phoenix Suns fan, so we were lucky enough to quickly grab this shot before he started to teeter over.

Moving Sale

Brides! I hear Mariee Gallery in Old Town Scottsdale is moving so they are selling many of their bridal gowns at sample prices. If you are currently shopping for your gown, you may want to check out this store!

Erika and Andy

Erika and Andy were married a couple weeks ago in Nogales, Arizona where Erika grew up. Their ceremony was in a beautiful old Catholic church directly in the downtown area and their reception followed at Kino Springs Country Club in Rio Rico, a town just north of Nogales. Their reception was probably one of the most fun I have been too, simply because the band they hired from Mexico was so much fun. Towards the end of the night, they came into the crowd wearing Mardi Gras masks and 70's garb and gave everyone hats, balloons, spray cans of shaving cream, blowers and more, and it honestly felt like a New Years Eve party. Everyone was on the dance floor and having an absolute blast!

Thanks so much Erika and Andy for sharing your day with me. Here are a few pictures, with more to come soon...

The beautiful bride

The presentation of the coins is an important part of the Mexican Catholic ceremony

The cute couple!

The beautiful church Sacred Heart Parish

These two boys were sitting up at the bar like a couple of guys just hanging out and talking. I thought it was pretty cute. Of course they were not drinking... just curious about the bar action.

This little beauty (Erika's niece) reminds me so much of the Gerber Baby.

Some fun reception moments...

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day!

I wanted to share a few personal pix from the recent week. We enjoyed a mini break up in Pinetop this past weekend both to see my husband's family who lives there and to escape the insane Phoenix heat that has been hovering around 115 the past few days. Our friends' Kim and Mark were also there staying in a friends' cabin with their two kids Kate and Abby, so while the guys golfed one day, Kim, my sister-in-law Megan and I took the kids into Greer to play with the ducks.

Greer is such a beautiful place and I occassionaly have inquiries about family photos up there, so in case you are interested, we will be back up in the Pinetop area over Labor Day weekend. If you will be in the area then and would like to schedule a shoot then, just shoot me an email.

The girls feeding the ducks

These ducks are not afraid of toddlers!

Is it just me, or do I detect a hint of attitude from this one?



Step back ducks! Step back!

My niece Sierra




The Greer Lodge - a good place for lunch, a bit of peace and quite, and duck feeding!



Later that evening (and back in Pinetop), Chris, my in-laws and I and headed out to the golf course to take a few pictures of the girls.





Jordan peeking through the tree, and my brother-in-law, sister in law and niece.

My brother in law Trent captured a few of us as well...












The morning before we left, Jordan came out in her own concoction of what I considered to be a truly outstanding summer outfit. Complete with snow boots, snow hat and mismatched articles of clothing, not only was it an explosion of color in every which way, but also completely inappropriate for this hellish heat. However, the photographer in me thought the colors might make for an exciting impromptu photo shoot!

This all followed her new discovery of drinking cereal milk directly from the bowl.

How I Covet Thee....

So like half of the world, I am lusting after the new Apple iPhone that is being release today at 6 PM. Not lusting enough to camp out for it (I'm not sure how would I do that with a 2 year old anyway), but defintely keeping my eyes on aquiring one in the coming months. The biggest problem is I'm locked in one those stinkin' contracts with another carrier for at least another year. Since AT&T Wireless is the only carrier for the phone right now, I guess I'll have to wait until my contract is up (or nearly up.) If you get one, let us know how much you love it! It does look pretty awesome.

Arizona Bride Magazine

Happy Friday! Yesterday was a "red letter day" as my Grandmother used to say. I opened my mail to find the latest edition of Arizona Bride Magazine and was super excited to see that not one, but two of my photographs were published in there! (Though they did spell my name wrong on one of the credits - oh well).

But, I think I was even more excited to see that my client from three weeks ago (Michelle) was featured in a spread about her beautiful letterpress printed invitations, designed by The Paper Place. They were absolutely beautiful. (You can see a close up in the slideshow by clicking her name above.)

I just love fine papers and printing. I could spend hours in invitation stores. My two favorites are The Paper Place and Celebrations in Paper, both in Scottsdale. Check them out if you would like custom designed invites for any occassion.