Best of 2008 : Portraits

What a wonderful year 2008 was for us.  We feel very blessed to do what we love and to have amazing clients.  Here are my favorite 2008 Portraits.

 

I will be posting my favorite Engagements and Weddings in he next few days.

Giving is Awesome Extended!

The Holiday Giveaway has been extended until March 1st!  Please send in your entries!

You know someone.

You know someone who’s experienced a tragedy, is struggling to stay afloat, is raising kids while holding down more than one job, or is volunteering selflessly despite extenuating personal circumstances. You know someone who can’t afford custom photography, but who would cherish it this holiday season. You know someone who deserves a year-round reminder of their family’s spirit, love, and beauty.

You know someone. I guarantee it.

I want to know who they are, and I want to give them the chance to experience complimentary custom photography — $1000 worth, to be exact. Whether it’s canvas or albums, prints for Grandma, or a slideshow to watch over and over, it’s in your power to give them the artwork they deserve this holiday season.

Oh, and the best part? The person who nominates the winner receives a $250 print credit. What better reason to show some love could there possibly be, people?

The rules:

* You cannot nominate yourself, and the person nominated must sincerely be incapable of purchasing my services. (Being unable to make mortgage payments for a two-million-dollar-vacation-home in Paris does not qualify as sincere financial need.)

* The nominee must reside in Utah. Tell me who you know, what they’re experiencing, and why they deserve my artwork. Please include a way to contact both your nominee and yourself as well.  If you would like to nominate someone who does not live in Utah please visit www.givingisawesome.com and find a photographer in the state your loved ones live in.

* You must e-mail me the full story : tonyapetersonphoto (at) gmail (dot) com.

The winner will be announced on Christmas Eve March 1st– get nominating! I can’t wait to read all of your entries!

Open your heart to someone this holiday season — and thanks for giving me the opportunity to open mine.

 

With love,

Tonya Peterson

Shayla’s Winter Portraits

Shayla works at Alltel with Alex, and she really wanted me to take some pictures of her.  She is very sweet and it was really fun hanging out with her.

 

I love this one.  The colors are awesome.  Gotta love storage containers.

Love this blue!

We had about 5 minutes of this beautiful light.  So worth it!

Magic light!  Yummy!

 

Thanks Shayla!  You rock!

Shad, Jaz and Dax

Jazlyn was one of my first friends I had when I moved to Roosevelt in 8th grade.  Even though I still talk to my other friends from high school occasionally, Jazlyn is the only one I actually see all the time.  I guess it helps that we both live in Roosevelt!  I love when she hires me to take family portraits for her.  She is very chic and fashionable and always wants very modern/artsy/trendy pictures.  I just love clients that let me do whatever I want!  It is also a bonus that Shad, Jazlyn and Daxtyn are the cutest family in the world!  Makes my job easy!!!

Oh and just incase any photographers are wondering, all of the images were processed with totally rad actions 2: the revenge

If you don’t have them, GET THEM!  They rock!

 

Dax is so GQ!

So cute and fashionable.

My favorite shot of the day!

Family Portraits Somewhere New

I had the awesome opportunity last week to shoot with my friend Sandy again for a family portrait session.  Taking outdoor portraits in the winter in Utah has its challenges since everything is pretty brown.  So we decided to take the portraits in Vernal at an awesome location Sandy had found that looks good all year long.  Thanks for shooting with me Sandy!  This was a great session.  The kids were adorable!

 

Cali O’Malley

Ok, first off let me say that her real name is not in fact Cali O’Malley.  But it sounds so cute that is her nickname forever.  The Ballou’s tend to give crazy nicknames from the get go.  Here are some examples.

Me – Tonya Tulip or Tonya Toodles or Sonja Blade (This last one is all my brothers doing)

Hayley-  Hayley Bug

Emily- Yemmy Yoo (well that is what I call her ayways!)

Garrett- Gerheart

Holly- Holly Dolly or Worm

Dave- Snorkie (I am so sorry Dave!  I couldn’t resist!!!)

Brenda- Bernadette

Grammy- June Bug

Megan- Meggie Joy

The list could really go on forever!  So I hope Cali will like her new nick name, because even if she hates it, she is pretty much stuck with it forever!  I love my family!

Anyways . . . Here are the pictures I took of the adorable Cali.  BTW I took these the same day as I took Clarkes pictures.  

I think this is my favorite.  Her eyes are so open for a newborn!

Clarke

I love all of my Ballou girl cousins so much!  I still can’t believe that we have kids sometimes!  This little bundle of joy is my cousin Emily’s.  Apparently  she is the only one of us who knows how to make little boys!  He is a little sweetie too!  

If you follow the blog you know that babies are rarely seen here.  Since I am primarily a wedding and senior portrait photographer I refer any calls for babies to my awesome friend Sandy.  She is so talented with babies.  But I made a special exception for one of my favorite cousins, just because I love her!  I think they turned out awesome!  It almost made me want to do babies more.  ALMOST!  Check it out!!!

 

 

P.S.  Thanks Sandy for letting me snag a few props!!!

Mark & Ri’Leigh : The Wedding Part 2

Here is the second part of Mark and Ri’Leigh’s wedding.  I just think this couple is the cutest!

 

I just love her!

I have been waiting forever for a couple to do this!!!

There is a story behind this I am sure!

 

Thanks Ri’Leigh and Mark!  I had a blast!

Mark & Ri’Leigh : The Wedding Part 1

I feel so blessed to have some of the best clients on the planet.  Taking pictures of this wedding made me think I have the best job in the whole world.  There is just one word to describe Mark and Ri’Leigh . . . Cool.  Nothing that went wrong that day phased either one of them.  Did Ri’Leigh run out of gas on her way to our getting ready pics?  Yes she did, but that didn’t stop her and her bridesmaids from jumping out of the truck and pushing in to the gas station, laughing the whole time!  Did Mark and Ri’Leigh freak out when the florist didn’t have their flowers ready?  No they did not!  

I can’t say I stayed as calm and collected!  Ri’Leigh and Mark had decided to see each other before the ceremony since it would be dark when the ceremony was finished.  Since the flowers were not done until about an hour before the ceremony I only had about 45 minutes to take the pictures.   I was pretty worried, but since the couple was so awesome it was easier that I thought it would be!!!

 

This first picture pretty much sums the wedding party up!  The funniest part was Ri’Leigh was the first one over the fence!  It was pure awesomeness! 

I didn’t stop laughing the whole time!

I can’t believe they went inside this filthy house!  I am telling you, they are awesome!  What is even more awesome, is the Ri’Leigh chose the location!!!

Magic light is pure money!

The light is too pretty.  This is straight out of the camera.  Crazy huh!!!

I love this little intimate shot Alex caught!

I am actually really glad we got delayed.  The light was perfect!!!

***Edited to add this last pic.  Yep pure awesomeness when it comes to clients!***

Come back in the next few day for more awesome images from Mark and Ri’Leigh’s wedding!

Grammy Ballou

I know that I am terribly far behind on blogging, but I couldn’t wait a day longer to post these photos.  This has been a very hard post for me to get together and I fell bed it has taken me this long to update my blog.  

One of the things that I cherish most about my Dad’s family is their ability to laugh and make anyone happy when you are feeling down.  On the way up to Idaho to bury my Grammy Alex and I were talking about her funeral service.  He said that he had never been to a funeral that people laughed more than cried.  In his words “the Ballou’s sure do put the ‘fun’ in funeral.”  The graveside service however had a slightly different feel.  My Grammy served in the U.S. Army as a 1st lieutenant in WWII so the American Legion and Army were there to do a military salute.  The whole process was too beautiful to describe with words so here are the pictures.

 

 

 

If you are one of the awesome family members that follow the blog, please feel free to re-post these on your blog.  

If you are a client waiting for pictures come back asap…they will be up soon!

Lots of love!

Tonya