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.