This darling girl lives in my neighborhood. I was so excited to do her maternity photos. Haley looks stunning. I only hope I look this good someday when I am pregnant. I can’t wait to meet her little boy in a few weeks.

Last week I was able to go to the opening of this year’s Heart Gallery. For those of you who don’t know the Heart Gallery is a traveling exhibit of photographs of Utah foster children. Participating photographers donate a portrait session and a framed portrait. The photos end up going in their adoption profiles and a large framed print goes in the gallery. Having a photo in the Heart Gallery greatly increases the kids’ chance of being adopted. It was great to see all the photographers come together to donate their time and talents to photograph these great kids who are looking for a good home. I had the pleasure of photographing Brittani this summer. She is a great girl and I wish her all the best. I was so happy to see that she is in the process of being adopted by a really nice family. She and her new parents were at the event and I got to present them with her photos.

One of the local television stations was there and interviewed Brittani and her new mom. You can even see Dan and I in one of the shots in the story. You can view that interview here.

You can get more information about the Heart Gallery here.

I had such a fun time at Cheyenne’s senior portrait session. Cheyenne is a senior at Clearfield High School. She has an awesome style and was up for anything. Thanks Cheyenne for a fun morning.

Last week I had the great opportunity to attend a night shooting workshop with Dustin Izatt. Since I mainly shoot with natural light it was great to get more familiar with off-camera lighting and work on some of those skills. I am really excited to add more night shooting to what I do. Thanks to Dustin for being a great teacher and Shannon and Jess for coming and being such great models.

Dustin is a great photographer and a great friend. If you are interested in attending any of his upcoming workshops click here.

Dan and I were asked to be photographers on a Pioneer Trek with our church a couple of weeks ago. It was fun to go back to my photojournalism roots and cover something like this. What hard work though! I have a better appreciation of what our ancestors did when they came to Utah. I thought four days was rough, I can’t image three months — and we had it easy. We had a great experience though. Of the 2000 images we took here are just a few of my favorites.

There was a lot of pushing and pulling especially on the women’s pull. All the girls had to push the carts themselves for one full mile. All the carts had between four and six girls. It made for a more authentic experience. These girls are tired.

There was some fun and games too.

Spiritual times too.