Shanna Chess Photography

Happy first birthday, Olive! It was so fun to have this little sweetheart and her family back in my Eugene, Oregon photo studio again. I have been photographing this group ever since big sister Violet was a newborn. It’s been such a pleasure getting to know them and helping them capture the big milestones in their family’s life! This time we were celebrating their youngest daughter’s first birthday with a cake smash photography session. It was extra fun to have Jacoby and Violet with us too! For some reason, although I do a lot of cake smash sessions, it’s almost always just baby and parents who come to the studio. Maybe because they want the focus to be on the birthday boy or girl—but I think it’s a great idea to get family photos at the same time. After all, if you’ve got one kiddo being photographed already, what better time to get some adorable sibling photos, right? We even took a little time out to get individual portraits of all three kiddos plus some family shots. Olive was the...

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...

Is this year flying by for anybody else? I cannot believe we’re halfway through September already—and that Gianna’s one year cake smash photography session was three and a half months ago. Crazy! Here are the photos from her milestone photo session—you’re going to love them! Adriana and Oscar brought in cutie Gianna for a one year baby photoshoot plus cake smash. It’s a great combination! This type of session is really popular for that one-year milestone, as it allows us to get some classic portraits along with photos that are more birthday party themed. (Adding a cake smash setup to your little one’s baby and child milestone session is only an additional $50, so it’s a super affordable way to have the best of both worlds. You can check out more about session options here . ) Gianna was absolutely adorable and such a happy kiddo! She smiled almost the entire session, so I know I wasn’t the only one having a great time! (I loved the double top knot thing she had going with her hair—...

 It was so fun to see one of my favorite families again back at the beginning of April. Samantha and Christopher brought both of their boys, Ozzy and Zeplin, for some baby and child photography , since they were both celebrating milestones! Zeplin was turning two years old and Ozzy had just hit his 6-month milestone. Seriously, where does the time go? I first met this family when they brought Zeplin to see me for his 6-month baby pictures, and I’ve been photographing them ever since! Once you find a photographer you love, it’s a great idea to stick with them for all of your portraits, if possible. It gives your photos consistency in style, so they’ll always look wonderful displayed together in frames or an album. And it can also make kiddos more comfortable going to a photographer they’re familiar with and have gotten to know. I love seeing my repeat clients year after year—or even more frequently! These boys are always so happy and smiley—I loved working with them again. And it ...

 Does anybody else feel like they’re going to melt in this heat wave we’re having in Eugene, Oregon? Feels like summer already. If you want to melt in a good way though, just take a look at the photos from this cutie’s six-month milestone photography session! The weather was still pretty gray when we did this shoot back at the beginning of April, but Maverick brought the sunshine right in to my Eugene, Oregon photo studio ! I know Maverick’s mom, Kelly, through Junior League of Eugene, where we both serve on the board. But with COVID, we’ve only been meeting virtually since last year. So it was great to see her in person and finally meet her little guy! Sometimes when I first meet these little ones it seems like the pleasure’s all mine—at least until they warm up—but not so with Maverick! He seemed happy to see me right from the get-go and was super smiley and adorable. Made me feel awesome, and we had a great time together! We kept things pretty simple as far as props—just want...

 Oh my goodness, you are going to love the photos of this sweet baby girl! What an angel face! Audrey and Daniel brought Lily to my Eugene, Oregon photography studio at the end of March for her 6-month milestone photography session. Most of the 6-month-olds I photograph are little ones I took pictures of as newborns, but Lily and her parents were first-time clients. It was wonderful to meet them. And we had so much fun together! I usually set aside an hour for milestone sessions, but I very rarely use the whole time with 6-month-olds because they tend to get tired by about the 40 minute mark. Not Lily! She was sweet-faced and smiley the entire hour. I didn’t even want to stop at that point because we were having such a good time. And honestly, she was probably one of the most gorgeous, photogenic babies I’ve ever photographed. She seriously has the most perfect little face! She loved the camera, and the camera definitely loved her! Because Lily was so happy and cooperative, we go...

 I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know the holidays are looking different for a lot of folks this year, but every time I do a photoshoot I’m reminded that family is the most important thing and as long as we have each other we have a lot to celebrate! Of course, as a baby photographer I also believe that nothing spreads good cheer quite like pictures of adorable little ones. 😊 Although I did this milestone photography session a couple of months back, sharing these pictures seems like the perfect way to usher in December. Cutest baby girl ever! Zoe and Andrew had to wait a long time to bring little Zya to my Eugene, Oregon photography studio . She was born in March, just a week or so after I had to close the studio due to COVID. Since things were so uncertain and up in the air at the time, mom and dad decided to just hold off until Zya was six months old instead of doing a delayed newborn session. Sometimes if you’ve missed the newborn window, waiting until 6-9 mon...

 I can’t believe how long our beautiful fall weather has lasted! I am loving the sunshine and the crisp, cool mornings and evenings. Usually Oregon autumns get soggy too quickly to really be able to enjoy the crunching leaves and pretty colors—but we have gotten super lucky this year! Of course, regardless of what the weather is doing, I am lucky enough to have a ray of sunshine in my Eugene, Oregon photography studio whenever I’m working. These little ones are so much fun and always a highlight! About a month ago I had Adeline and her parents (Lili and Jordan) in the studio for Adeline’s one-year baby photography session. We had a blast together! Adeline was super smiley and happy the entire session, which was great. Sometimes kiddos this age have developed a little bit of stranger danger and it can take them a while to warm up to me. But Adeline had no problem working the camera! She had the most adorable little head tilt and liked sticking her tongue out. So cute! Those eye...

  Tiffany and Andrew brought cute little Evelyn came back to the studio at the end of July for her one-year photos. Isn’t she adorable? I first met this little sweetie when she was six months old, and she is just as cute as the last time I saw her. Don’t believe me? Check out her six-month session here . I guarantee it will make your day! I remember Evelyn being a super smiley baby at six months, and she was a super smiley toddler at one year old. During this baby and child photography session she gave me these huge, toothy grins that I just loved. Although she hadn’t turned off the smiles at our last session, I wasn’t sure if it would be the same this time. Sometimes babies have developed a bit of stranger danger by the time they’ve hit that one-year mark. Not the case with Evelyn though! She wasn’t shy at all and had an absolute blast working the camera. As a baby and child photographer , I guess I should be used to how much these little ones change in a short space of time, but...

 Had such a fun milestone and cake smash photography session with this family last month. This was kind of a bittersweet session for me because it wraps up my baby package for baby number two. Ace is one year old now and I’ve been photographing him and his big brother Knox every few months since they were newborns, as well as doing Brittany’s maternity sessions. They are the sweetest family and I have loved being able to document their babies growing! We wanted to get the full experience in this session, so we started off with milestone baby pictures of Ace and his parents and brother before getting out the cake. Although mini sessions focus just on baby, full sessions always give you the opportunity to include other members of the family, so it’s a great time to a couple of updated family pictures or sibling shots. Ace is such a smiley baby—but he was also happy to show off the full range of his facial expressions for me. He liked making grumpy faces at me and holding it for as l...

 I always look forward to my annual photo sessions with these girls! I’ve been photographing them at least once a year since big sister Annalise was just a newborn and it’s always a delight to see them again. We had just as much fun with this milestone photography session as we always do—these girls are a hoot! (If you’d like to check out their previous sessions, I’ve linked them here so you can take a look at these two little cuties over the years. So fun to see them change and grow. I did Annalise by herself as a newborn , and at the one-year and two-year marks, then I did mom’s maternity session when was she pregnant with Thea. Of course we did newborn and one-year sessions starring Thea, and since then we’ve had an annual “sisters session” with the two girls each year in 2018 , 2019 , and now 2020!) I was so glad parents Josh and Annabelle contacted me again this year about doing another child photography session for their girls. As a Eugene, Oregon photographer I lo...

I was so glad to finally get this family in for baby pictures! They had originally scheduled this as a newborn photography session, but I wasn’t able to get them into the studio right after Owen was born because I closed my Eugene, Oregon photography studio for a while due to COVID. Closing was definitely the right thing to do—I really wanted to ensure that I could keep little ones safe and comply with all the recommended health guidelines—but it was one of those tough decisions! I missed seeing these little guys so much, and I knew that for some of them, we would miss that window of opportunity for newborn pictures. Still, the safety of these sweet babies is my top priority—even if it means I have to delay seeing them. So glad to be open again! Even though we couldn’t get Owen in right away, we got him on the schedule as soon as we could and adjusted his session to a baby and child photography session instead of a newborn shoot. As you can see, it still went great! Mom (Kim), Dad (E...

My spring minis were the last photo sessions I did before I closed my studio temporarily due to COVID-19. It feels like such a long time ago now with everything that’s happened since then. I’m so grateful to be able to have my studio open to clients again.

Happy Fourth of July! I hope everyone is enjoying their holiday weekend and that you all get to spend some time with friends and family.