White House Photography

{nelson fam}

  
What a happy thing it is for me to be able to post a few sneak peeks from a photo shoot I did of this adorable family that I Iove so much....my little sister Kristin, her husband Jordan and their two little ones. While we were up at Dad's cabin for Thanksgiving, we decided to do a little mini shoot of their family and in just 15 minutes, we ended up with some pretty awesome shots. How could I not, with a family as beautiful as this one?! ;-)
  
  
 
Kristin & Jordan are such a cute couple. They are so positive and happy and uplifting to be around. Two of the happiest people I know..and I love that they found each other. And I must say...have you EVER seen a more gorgeous red head. Kristin is so beautiful. And get this...are you sitting down? Guess who did her hair for pictures? ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, the same "Me" who was a tom-boy for the majority of her life and went years and years without doing her own hair or make-up. Times have changed the past few years...and how seriously fun it was for me to be the one to help her get ready and to now be considered "cool and fashionable" - even by my cool young nieces. LOL! Love that. What a happy thing! And if I do say so myself, her hair looks gorgeous....to enhance how beautiful she already is. How seriously breathtaking, my little sis is!!

 
At one point of the shoot, their adorable little girl (who has seriously the most crazy awesome personality) had had ENOUGH of pictures and completely "zoned out." I absolutely love the picture of her below...LOL...CLASSIC!
  
With the birth of every new little one in our fam, we have come to find that the "Dahlquist gene" just doesn't seem to be as dominant. LOL! As our little ones grow up, they starting looking more and more like Dahlquists as well, but in the beginning, they all tend to look like "the other side" of the fam. :-) But HALLELUJAH!! With the arrival of little Spencer this past year, we finally got a baby that is ALL Dahlquist. And really not necessarily all "Dahlquist," but ALL KRISTIN! My goodness...little Spencer is th spitting image of his Mama...especially of when she was a baby. LOVE THAT and love these sweet pics of Mama with her baby boy...that looks SO much like her!
  
Kristin & Jordan, thanks so much for giving me the opportunity to do a little mini shoot of your cute-as-heck fam!!! I have a proofing CD ready for you and will bring it to Gingerbread Day at Mom & Dad's today! Love you SO MUCH!!

{wheatley fam}

 
What a fun opportunity it was to shoot this cute family a few weeks ago. It was especially great(and slightly intimidating..LOL!) because this gorgeous gal is also a photographer. The cool thing about shooting pics with another photographer, is that you have a fresh "eye" during the shoot. She was able to pick out some spots at Gardner Village that stood out to her that I hadn't considered until then. Love that. She also had some fun new posing ideas, etc. So not only was it a pleasure just to meet them and interact with their adorable kids, but I found some great new spots and learned a few new poses, etc. from this gal! Good times!
 
  
 
I could not believe how well-behaved and seriously photogenic these four kids were. It was very likely one of the easiest "4 kid shoots" I have ever done. They were so cute and so full of personality!
 
  
 
Until the Wheatley fam is able to review their proofing CD and choose the shots that they would like me to edit, I thought it would be fun to post a little sneak peek of some of MY favorite shots from this shoot. And this one below of mom and dad is a CLASSIC!!!! It is SO one of my all-time faves!!! LOVE IT!

  

And, as with every shoot, there is ALWAYS that classic shot that instantly becomes my fave. Along with that shot above of mom and dad, this next one HAS to be one of my very favorite classic family shots! LOL! LOVE IT!!!! Wouldn't it be fun to see this shot enlarged and framed where everyone could see it? LOL! I love it!!!! So fun...what a great and fun family! It was so awesome to have the opportunity to do their family portraits this year. 
 
Thanks so much to the Wheatley fam and I look forward to hearing what YOUR favorite shots are. Thanks again for giving me the opportunity to be your photographer this year!! Hope you are as happy with these shots as I am! 

{johnson fam}

 
This past week, I had the great opportunity to do a photo shoot of one of my dear friends and her absolutely STUNNING family. Brittany is, hands down, one of the most beautiful women I have ever met and her family is so adorable. We had such a great time! While the Johnson fam is reviewing their proofing CD and deciding which pics THEY would like me to edit, I thought it would be fun to post a few of my favorites from this shoot as a little sneak peek!
  
 
  
A huge thank you to Britt and her fam for being so understanding. I actually had them scheduled 3 days before this day, which was the first day of daylight savings. Without thinking, I scheduled them for the last slot of my usual photo shoot day...5:30 PM. Needless to say, due to the time change, when their cute family rolled up, it was PITCH DARK! Oops. I felt horrible. Fortunately, we were able to reschedule and it worked out great. And pics DEFINITELY turn out better when it's light. LOL!
  
 
 
As you can probably tell from these proofs, I could not get enough Brittany's little girl (and I'm not even posting all of the ones I edited....there were far too many fabulous ones!!! LOL!). Is she seriously not THE cutest little thing you have ever seen? And then her adorable Mama dresses her up to the HILT...my gosh. I could have spent hours photographing just this gorgeous little angel! She is beautiful. Something Brittany said really stood out to me when I was raving about how cute she is. She said, "And...she's NICE." Love that. Nothing better than a beautiful little girl who is nice. Love that. What an absolute doll!!!
  
We were hoping to be able to get a shot of Mama with her baby girls, but as you can see from this cute-as-heck picture, little baby girl just was not feelin' it! LOL! Still love this shot though....love how posed and ready her big sister is..and Brittany's smile is a classic. These girls are so gorgeous, I can't stand it. And the cool thing is....Brittany is just like her little girl....outrageously beautiful....and nice. Love her. Needless to say, our "Mama & Baby Girls" shot ended up being "Mama & Baby GirL." LOL! So cute! Priceless.
  
It seems like in ever shoot I do, there is a CLASSIC "accidental" shot. LOL......this is that shot classic accidental shot from this shoot....
 
Love this sweet picture of beautiful Britt with her little baby girl...
 
Thanks so much to the adorable Johnson fam for being flexible with their schedules and patient with me while I've been trying to get caught up on editing. I hope you guys are as happy with these as I am. Brittany..I will get your proofing CD to you this weekend.
 
I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to be your photographer, but even more grateful to have the friendship of such a beautiful....and INCREDIBLY nice....family. Love you guys!

{rick handel}

  
Last week, I had the great opportunity to spend the day with my dear friend and Chief Product Officer for FreeLife International, Mr. Rick Handel, during his brief visit here to Salt Lake City, for what turned out to be an INCREDIBLE Business Opportunity/Product Overview Meeting at Salt Lake Community College. In between meetings, meals & sight-seeing (awesome tour of the LDS Conference Center, etc.), I thought it would be fun to do a little mini photo shoot to give Rick a few fun casual profile pics. Most of his pictures are very formal...as well they should be, as the Chief Product Officer for FreeLife International. Here are a few shots of my FRIEND, Rick Handel.
 
Whether he is sporting his suit or comfortably casual, Rick is one of the most intriguing, genuine and intelligent people I have ever met and an inspiring businessman. What a great blessing to not only be able to learn from him and work closely with him in a business that I firmly believe in, but to also call him my dear friend. Rick, hope you are as happy with these shots as I am! Thanks for a fun day in SLC and an awesome, awesome, awesome meeting...pretty sure one of your best presentations I've been to so far!

For More Information About FreeLife, Visit www.heatherdwhite.freelife.com or Feel Free To E-mail Me Through My Blog. :-)

{mama's boys}

 
What fun to be able to do a photo shoot of my gorgeous friend Meghann and her two little boys this afternoon! Nothin' sweeter than a Mama and her little boys...love these pics!
 
 
 
Boys are so fun and you could tell that these two crazy little guys sure loved their Mama! Meghann is the cutest gal and such a good mom.
  
 
 
In addition to shots of her with her boys and of the brothers together, we also decided to do a few portraits just of Meghann. Goodness..she is gorgeous! Love how her portraits turned out!
  
  
Such a cute little fam. Until Meghann has a chance to look through her proofing CD and choose the images that SHE would like me to edit, I thought I would pick a few of MY faves and post them here as a little sneak peek!
   
Meghann, thanks so much for giving me the opportunity to take pics of you and your cute little guys today. I hope that you are as happy with these as I am. And this is just a start....you will have a good time looking through the 315 images from this entire shoot and choosing your 10 faves for me to edit! There were so many great ones, I even had a hard time choosing! Hope you love them. Love you bunches and can't wait to see what YOUR faves are!!!!
 

{muse fam}

 
It's very rare that I get intimidated or nervous about a shoot or about ANYTHING really. But every now and again, it does happen. This was one of those times. Why? Because this beautiful gal is MY photographer who does IN-CREDIBLE work. It would be like cutting your hair stylist's hair or doing your nail technician's nails or giving your massage therapist a massage. LOL...TONS of pressure. Lori Muse is ridiculously talented and I love that she has become my personal and favorite photographer.....and the one who very recently did the fantastic shoot of me and my baby girl. But I admit...taking her family pictures, though I enjoy it immensely, gives me mild anxiety. LOL!
  
 
Lori chose a fun location in Heber..and I was thrilled to death to shoot in a new spot. And I fell absolutely HEAD OVER HEELS with this location IMMEDIATELY! This fun little old town is definitely worth the drive! Some of these backdrops are pure perfection! LOVE EM!
  
 
  
Lori's kids were such champs..you can tell they get their pictures taken often. Her youngest little one is the cutest little poser. They are all such cute kids. I could NOT get enough of all of these buildings. Such crazy awesome textures and the colors....RIDICULOUS! Loved it!!
  
 
  
 
It's seems like more often than not, it's the moms and dads trying to get their little ones to behave during a shoot. But what do you do if the daddy won't behave?? LOL.....
 
Yet another FUN FUN photo shoot with an adorable family. And YAY YAY YAY for shooting at a new and fabulous location!!!! 
 
Lori, thanks so much for giving me the very fun and intimidating (LOL!) opportunity to shoot your family portraits this year! I hope you love them as much as I do! Thanks so much for your friendship!!!  
And to end this entry....one of my favorite shots...when a little one just does NOT want her picture taken! LOL! Love it!!! Classic shot! SO love the cute Muse family!!!

{crosman fam}

 
What a great opportunity for me to do a photo shoot for this adorable family, just before their family of 4 becomes a family of 5. My friend Tracy is due in just over two months and really wanted to have some family pictures taken of the four of them before their THIRD BOY arrives in December. I can't believe she is 7 months pregnant. She looks absolutely breathtaking.
  
My goodness. This family....so so cute. Where my friend Paige's little dude was NOT a fan of the camera, these two boys ATE..IT...UP! Oh, they were cute. As soon as I held up my camera, they had picture perfect smiles....ADORABLE!
  
  
Since Tracy is expecting, we decided to do a few prenatal shots...a few by herself and a few with her boys. My gosh...she is GORGEOUS! Seriously....it just doesn't seem fair for her to be 7 months pregnant and look this phenomenal! LOL! Love how these shots turned out!
  
 
 
Until the Crosman family is able to review their proofing CD and choose the images that they would like me to edit, I thought it would be fun to choose a few of my favorites to edit and post as a little sneak peek for them.
  
Sincere thanks to the Crosman family for allowing me the opportunity to shoot their family portraits this year. I hope that you are as pleased with these few sneak peeks as I am. I will have a proofing CD out to you within the week and then look forward to seeing which ones are YOUR favorites. 
 
Tracy..I just love ya and your family is SO ADORABLE! So fun to meet your hubby and your boys. Can't wait to meet the newest Crosman little man in just a few months!! Congratulations!!

{fotheringham fam}

 
I can't tell you how many times I hear parents apologize profusely for their little ones during their family portrait sessions with me....their kids are either (in their words, not mine) "too wiggly" or "too cranky" or "too incooperative" or "too tired," or "too hungry," etc. The funny thing is, all of these apologies are completely unnecessary for a number of reasons. First, I am a mother....I know how it is. Kids are kids and their moods can often ressemble that of an expectant mother. LOL! But truth be told, some kids, no matter how great a mood they are in just DON'T like pictures. And those little ones probably end up being the big adult ones that STILL don't like their picture taken. Ha ha! And if I was being forced to smile perfectly through something that wasn't at all enjoyable for me, I'd probably cry too. :-)
 
  
Second, little do these parents realize, but very often, having a less-than-perfect situation (the moods their children are in, etc.) very often creates some of THE most priceless candid shots. This photo shoot up Little Cottonwood Canyon yesterday of my very dear friend Paige and her cute little fam was no exception. Their cute little man is one of those little ones that does NOT like pictures. It was so funny...he would be completely fine until I raised my camera...which would promptly make him scream. And not just a little scream...a really really big scream. LOL! There was no hiding how he felt about that camera...or about me. Ha ha. I zoomed in a bit on his face in the picture above...check out the way he is looking at me. He was NOT happy. LOL! However, I feel that a good photographer is not one who is only good when everyone cooperates and everyone is in a good mood. And although I haven't always been good at this, I feel like I am finally reaching a level where I can create quality images that will be priceless keepsakes...no matter what mood my subjects are in. Somehow, it always works out beautifully. And as you can see from the beautiful sepia shot above of Paige with her little guy, sometimes the emotion shown in pictures creates a priceless memory and evoke very powerful emotions...more so than a shot where everyone has pasted on smiles and is looking directly at the camera. I actually became a little emotional when I edited that shot. What a tender moment.
 
 
   
And sometimes, even crazy moments can be captured as joyous ones, and no one is the wiser....as you can see from the shots below. He was actually throwing a major tantrum...but look at the faces of everyone in the picture. LOL! So perfect...like professional models! Just by THEIR faces, you would think he was throwing his head back in pure happiness. Love it!
 
 
As I mentioned in my last post from my last photo shoot, I get such a kick out of watching PARENTS just to see how far they go to get their little ones to stay happy and smiling. Where the daddy of my last shoot would hang his little one upside down, THIS daddy tossed his kids so high up in the air that my heart literally skipped a few beats out of complete anxiety. The first shot I took, I literally thought I had allowed WAY enough space in my frame to catch the little guy as he was at the TOP most point of the toss. Um yeah....not the case...he flew so high, he flew right out of my frame. LOL! SUCH fun pics...LOVE THESE!!!
  
 
The killer thing about having a camera that can shoot a bajillion pics a second, is the ability to catch moments you normally wouldn't be able to catch. This comes in handy in many ways. Oftentimes, when you have little ones that are really busy or cry throughout the shoot, by shooting quickly and in large quantities, you can actually CATCH those "in between sob" moments that often look like a smile. Ha ha! I have to admit, sometimes I even surprise myself after a more "challenging" shoot, to see how many TONS of crazy killer pics I ended up with. But in the case below, it was actually the Mama who I caught in action. Oh and Paige...she is MY kind of Mama. Look very closely at the entire series of four pictures below (you absolutely have to click on each of these individually to see them enlarged to get the full effect). A little preface....little guy's binky had just fallen in the dirt....
  
  
Oh my gosh...everything from Paige sucking off the binky (and her "oh that was really gross" face) to her cute little angel posed the entire time, to daddy and little buddy having their own little happy moment all the while....perfection. PRICELESS, classic photos!! And Paige..I so love you. That is SO something I would have done. LOL! LOVE IT! And the binky saved us many a time. Love the picture below as you can actually SEE the binky (I labeled it "binky" so that you can find it easily) flying through the air as Paige non-chalently snatched it from his mouth and chucked it in the rocks, all the while, smiling beautifully into the camera. LOL! Oh Paige..you are my favorite. Love you.
 
  
 
I have to admit, I am very proud of this shoot. Both Paige and Lorin were so worried because their little guy was so upset for the majority of the time....and look how many beautiful shots we ended up with. I must say, that their candids are likely some of my favorite that I have captured to date. So what does this teach my future customers? Don't worry...relax...enjoy the experience...as it is. 20 years from now, when Paige and Lorin look back through these pictures, I know they will be so grateful for the very vivid and wonderful memories they will bring back. You can actually FEEL the emotion in each shot. Do you think you get that same feeling from perfectly posed shots where everyone is uniform and smiling on cue? So my point is...come as you are....and we will capture these priceless memories together...whether everyone is happy to be there or not. LOL!
 
Paige & Lorin's little angel is THE cutest, most photogenic little stink I have ever met. I couldn't resist her cute yawn above. LOVE IT! But my gosh...she is a HAM!!! She is very literally EVERY photographer's DREAM (I feel like I've been saying that a lot lately...I am so fortunate to have so many crazy fun subjects to photograph)! 
  
By the end of the shoot, she was getting very silly and was giving her Mama the tightest snuggles EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now TELL ME HONESTLY...would you NOT absolutely take these shots below over a side-by-side posed shot ANY DAY OF THE WEEK?! OH MY GOSH...CLASSIC!!! And so so love that my camera actually caught Paige's EYE ROLL on the last shot after her little girl just would NOT let her go. Ahh...I seriously screamed out loud when I saw that!! Hilarious! Priceless! Classic!!!! AWESOME! 
 
 
Oh my heart...as you can see by how many TONS of pics I edited, I just could not get enough of this shoot. This shoot, where the parents were so exhausted by the end and were likely convinced it may have been a waste of time and that we wouldn't end up with many pics we could work with. WORK WITH? My gosh.....this shoot...amazing! Priceless shots with emotion that you can just about TASTE! LOVE IT!
   
  
Lorin & Paige, thank you SO SO MUCH for allowing me this great opportunity to shoot your family portraits this year. Seriously...this was such an incredible shoot for me. Your family is DARLING and I sincerely hope that you are as pleased with these as I am. Until you get a chance to review your proofing CD and choose the shots that you would like me to edit, I thought I would post what was MEANT to be a "little" sneak peek and ended up being kinda humongous. But I couldn't help it!!!! There were simply too many shots that tugged at my heart and BEGGED to be edited! LOL!
 
The cool thing is, I know I won't have to wait long to find out what you think, Paige, since I know you have been on the computer all day long, refreshing my blog over and over again to see if I had updated it with your pics yet. LOL! Funny..I so love you! Thanks again and you will be receiving your proofing CD by the end of this week!! LOVE YOU GUYS!

{rammell fam}

 
What a crazy busy and fabulous weekend of photo shoots I have had!! The holidays are just around the corner and I am so impressed with how many families are thinking AHEAD this year instead of waiting until the very last minute to get their family pictures done! Love that!
  
Today I had the wonderful opportunity to meet this absolutely adorable family and they are just one of those families that you can know for about 30 seconds and already be sure that they are likely "one of THE nicest families you have ever met." They were so much fun to photograph and needed very little posing. They were simply "naturally cute on cue!"
 
 
The Rammell family is seriously so cute. They are so sweet with each other naturally, so it was so easy for me to catch some fun candid shots of them as they were simply interacting with each other.
 
   
   
By far, one of my most favorite things about being a photographer is actually seeing just how far parents will go to get their little kiddies to smile for the camera. I've seen parents making faces, doing jumping jacks, showing off their crazy dance moves, making full on animal noises, "fake falling," and today I added a new one....hanging their kids upside down for a second to get them to giggle. LOL! Hilarious! This sweet little angel was all smiles after daddy let her hang upside down for a little bit! Good times!
 
A HUGE thank you to the fun Rammell family for giving me the great opportunity to shoot your family portraits this year. It was so fun meeting you and your cute family today. You will receive a proofing CD in the mail this week so that you can decide which photos you would like me to edit from your shoot. However, until then, I thought it would be fun to choose a few of MY faves to edit and post as a little sneak peek! I hope you love them as much as I do! Thanks again!

{hemingway fam}

 
What a great way to start a beautiful fall Saturday morning...by doing a photo shoot of some very good friends of ours, the Hemingways. And let me tell you...I have yet to meet 3 HAPPIER little boys!! These three little ones were instant smiles...all the time. My gosh...what cuties! Definitely a photographer's dream. I couldn't believe how fast this shoot went. As soon as I looked through my lens, all three were attentive and smiling. Love that!
 
  
 
Can't get enough of these little boys. They have THE cutest personalities. Love these shots of them laughing...and then showing off MUSCLES! LOL..classic!
  
 
  
We have known the Hemingways for a long time and are so grateful for their friendship. It has beeen fun to watch their family grow through the years. What a great privilege to be asked to be their photographer this year. And these little ones sure made my job EEEEASY! Up until the very end, even the littlest Hemingway was all smiles. But even the happiest little guy has his limits...as you can see. LOL!
  
Until the Hemingways are able to sit down and review their proofing CD and choose the pics that they would like me to edit, I thought I would kick out a few as a sneak peek for them today. Can't wait to see which ones they choose. Justin and Angela, I will have a proofing CD out to you by the first of next week!
 
Thanks again, so much, for giving me the opportunity to be your photographer today. We are so grateful for your friendship...what a blessing you have been in our lives. To finish up, I want to share my FAVORITE pic from this shoot.....so festive...and the happiness in their faces...LOVE IT!!!! Love you guys!