Shanna Chess Photography

As a professional photographer I love all my clients—but I have to admit, I have a soft spot for these two! I first started photographing for this sweet family when Annalise was born —and that’s been six years ago now! It’s been a delight to record Annalise and Thea’s growing up, from birth (or before—I did mom’s maternity session when she was pregnant with Thea) and all the important milestones of their growing up . It’s become an annual tradition to get together and do portraits of these two, and I look forward to spending time with these sweet and silly sisters every year! This year mom really wanted to do their child photography session in a field. I love this look, but it can actually be pretty hard to accomplish around here in July and August, which is when we did our portraits. Most fields have been mowed by this time to reduce the risk of wildfires. But we found a couple of locations that still had some tall grass, and we did a lot of our session at Mount Pisgah, which has al...

Denise and Troy brought adorable Sophia in for a newborn photoshoot at my Eugene, Oregon photography studio . What a cutie! This was a mini session, which is slightly different than my full newborn photography sessions, and can be a great option depending on what you’re looking for. Mini sessions are shorter (only an hour instead of closer to three). And since they’re short, they’re very simple and streamlined. I usually do some beanbag poses and one setup with backdrop, and also focus exclusively on baby rather than getting parent and sibling photos too. The mini sessions also include five high-resolution digital images, so if you want more of an all-inclusive package deal, a mini can be a good option. Of course, you’re always welcome to purchase more images if you can’t narrow it down to just five! (Not uncommon, trust me. Even with the shorter session time and fewer setups/outfits, you’ll still end up with lots of beautiful pictures to choose from, as you can see from this selectio...

Happy October! Anyone else excited for changing colors on the trees, cozy sweaters, and pumpkin spice everything? I’m also excited to share the photos of this adorable baby girl! Little Remy came to my Eugene Oregon newborn photography studio back at the beginning of June for her baby pictures, and they turned out so beautifully! Mom (Holly) brought Remy in for a full newborn photography session, which includes parent and sibling images if desired, but she wanted to just focus exclusively on baby pics, so that’s what we did. (You can learn more about the difference between full and mini newborn sessions here , and decide what’s right for you.) Remy was an absolutely beautiful baby, so I was perfectly happy to keep my shutter clicking as I captured each expression on her sweet little face. Mom wanted mostly neutral colors for Remy’s newborn photos, so we stuck to a very muted color scheme. Turned out so pretty! You really can’t go wrong with neutrals, and they’re very easy to incorpor...