You've seen Baby Elise here on the blog before (back in November) when I shared images from her adorable Newborn Session. Her 9-month milestone session took place at Empire Mine State Historic Park in Grass Valley. It is always a gorgeous location with many nooks in which to explore. Mom and dad brought the Radio Flyer wagon...an ingenious way to transport the kids and kid supplies from the parking lot through the gardens. I, of course, found a way to incorporate it into the session as a great prop for this sweet growing girl. Enjoy!

Baby Ella just turned one and she is as cute as ever! If you are curious to see her transition throughout this year, you can click here to view her 6 month portraits at Christmas time, or my post chronicling her very beginnings. Ella's one year session took place on a piece of family property in the Sacramento Valley. It was a hot, yet gorgeously cloudy afternoon as we set forth to commemorate Ella's 1st birthday in pictures. The outfits, the props, and the location came together wonderfully! Planning for, organizing and executing multiple portrait sessions per year with a toddler and a baby is certainly hard work, and yet Erica was dedicated to the process, and is grateful to have made this happen for her and her family. Now she is able to look back at her baby's first years of life with joy. She said to me that so many parents she talks to say that not having professional portraits of their children as babies is one of their biggest regrets.  I hope you enjoyed these images of Ella and her beautiful family!

I am pleased to announce that on Thursday, July 16, 2015, I achieved the designation of Certified Professional Photographer (CPP) from Professional Photographers of America. I am elated to be joining the ranks of less than 2500 photographers nationwide who have achieved this designation! While this designation is not required for one to run a photography business, it was important to me to do the work to attain certification to ensure that I was providing the highest level of skills and product to my clients. With this recognition I feel I have truly earned the title of professional photographer! The certification process consists of a technical 100 question exam that tests one's knowledge of composition, lighting, posing, equipment, color balance, and all the other aspects of photography. Once I passed the written test, I submitted my portfolio to be meticulously reviewed by a panel of 5 judges. For the portfolio to pass the images must adhere to specific requirements. The judges are looking not only for consistency of artistic style, but excellent technical execution of all the elements of photography must be met in each image (lighting, posing, color balance and harmony, etc...).  The entire process took me about 2 1/2 years to complete. It was a period of intense growth as an artist and professional with buckets of blood, sweat and tears. Ok, well not that much blood, ...

"Sheri relaxes me when she’s behind the camera, working with her is completely stress-free and fun.  When I asked Sheri about taking pictures for the blog, she went above and beyond by researching others in my field and becoming familiar with the world of “food blogging”. Before we had our session, Sheri asked me very specific questions about what I was looking for, what I liked or didn’t like - there was so much thought into it prior I think it took all the stress away the day we took the pictures. Plus and most importantly….It was super fun!  Love working with Sheri!" ~ Debra ClarkIt was a beautiful Tuesday afternoon when I walked into Debra Clark’s kitchen. Debra is the foodie behind the “Bowl Me Over” food blog. www.bowl-me-over.comMy Goal: to take beautiful images for her to use in spicing up her blog’s visual presence. My Plan: to photograph her cooking a meal from scratch from start to finish. Debra specializes in making hearty and heartwarming soups and stews. She does feature other types of cooking on her blog (salads, BBQ, sandwiches, etc…), but her main passion is for soups/stews and the nutritious comfort they impart. For that reason, the meal she would be making while I hovered around her with my camera would be a tri-peppered chicken stew. My first set of shots: The Ingredients. This ...