Shanna Chess Photography

Tiphanie made the trip up to my Eugene, Oregon photography studio from Grants Pass (which is also my home town!) for these maternity pictures. (I also did her newborn photos a little later, so keep an eye out for those in the next few weeks). It was great to spend some time with her as she was getting ready to welcome her new little one! Tiphanie had a ton of great ideas for her maternity photography session and knew exactly what she wanted. Almost all of the clothing we used in the session was her own, including a beautiful gold sari. While I love stylizing client sessions for them, it’s also fun when clients have so much vision for their own photos and I just put my own spin on it. It makes for some pictures that are totally unique to that person, and fully incorporates their sense of style. (That being said, don’t worry if you’re more the type of person who prefers to just leave it to the expert. As a professional photographer, I’m happy to give as much or as little input as you l...

Happy December, everyone! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and that you got to spend it with the people you love. The holidays can be such a busy time, but they’re also a good reminder of what’s really important in life—like family relationships! I loved capturing this family’s love with a newborn photography session for their new baby girl! Heather and Dan brought their little cutie Freda in for newborn pictures at my Eugene, Oregon photography studio. I love her name! It’s old-fashioned (which is coming more into style the last couple of years, especially for girls) and quirky at the same time. Heather and Dan picked out a great mix of colors for Freda’s newborn photoshoot. Lots of neutrals, which were perfect for the family and newborn shots. And then all the colors of the rainbow! It’s kind of fun to go with a couple different themes like that (especially if you’re doing a full newborn photography session and have a bit more wiggle room with the number of outfits and setups yo...

 This little guy was wonderful for this newborn photography mini session. What a cutie! It was so great to have this little sweetheart in my Eugene, Oregon photography studio . He was such a good baby and it was a pleasure to create these images for him and his parents. Enjoy the photos! Mom and Dad brought Simon in for pictures back in October. He needed some extra time under the lights at the hospital so we had to delay his session for a few days, but it was no problem. I’m just glad I got to see him! Simon had some jaundice going on, but you’d never know it to look at our finished baby pictures. Parents sometimes worry that they won’t be able to get good photos if baby is jaundiced, but it’s not actually something I shy away from at all. It’s not difficult to edit that yellow tone to a very natural, warm skin tone, so I just take care of it on the computer after our session. By the time you see your finished gallery, you’ll never be able to tell! One of the advantages to ja...

Samantha and Paul brought in their new little cutie for a newborn photography session about a month ago. Coen is such a sweetheart! He was super sleepy for his pictures and so easy to pose. It was no problem getting all the shots we wanted with this cooperative little guy.

Shannon made the drive over the pass from Redmond (about two and a half hours from my photography studio in Eugene, Oregon ) to do a newborn photography session for her adorable son Thomas. The pass isn’t always the smoothest driving, but with the beautiful weather we’ve been having it was nice and clear for her trip. Shannon also has family here in town, so she was able to drive over the day before and spend the night with them before bringing the little guy into the studio the next day.

My demand for Christmas minis is so high, that I decided to add a day of in-studio mini sessions.  This way I didn't have to worry about weather and was able to find a weekend that gave me enough time to edit the images so clients had them back in time to order Christmas cards.  I absolutely loved by backdrops and props for these sessions!  I think they turned out so adorable :)  Enjoy!

I opened my studio at the end of March and am just now getting it to where I like it and pictures taken.  I've moved things around at least 3 times and change little things up after every shoot.  I'm getting to where I'm pretty happy with my setup and wanted to share. We didn't have a large budget for the studio and used our tax return this year to fund the construction and furnishings.  I already had almost all my current props, backdrops, blankets, lighting and equipment.  But my house was running out of space to hold it all!  And it wasn't my favorite thing to pack up my car for sessions and setup makeshift studios in clients homes.  It worked, but it wasn't easy and I was limited to the number of backdrops and props I could bring.  And with being in Oregon, chances of wet weather are pretty good 9 months out of the year, so it is not always an option to have outdoor sessions.  We felt this project would be a good investment and should get me...

Please bare with me.  I am trying to figure out Google+ and I noticed there were pictures that I uploaded to this blog on there.  I only saw really old images and things like my logo or the background design that I uploaded when I first opened my business.  So I deleted them from Google+.  Apparently, that deletes them, and ALL OF MY PHOTOS EVER UPLOADED from this blog as well :(  Yes, I am yelling. This will take a very long time and some images are off my computers and on my external hard drive by now. I need to decide how far back I am wanting to fix the posts. So I am slowly re-uploading and editing blog posts from the past almost 2 years.  Ugh.  It may take a while.  All the pictures can be seen in my portfolio here .  Sorry and thanks for your understanding!

I had 3 beautiful families sign up for my Easter Mini Sessions this past weekend.  They were my first photo shoots in my NEW STUDIO!  Ahh!  I'm so excited to have my own space.  And my husband is so excited that my plethora of props is out of our house :)  Stay tuned for a blog post with pretty pictures of my new cozy space. The kiddos loved the rocking chair--I use it with almost every session that has little ones.  They all love it!  And my bunny and chicks and plastic eggs were a hit too :)  I love how the set-up turned out and am really happy with how all the sessions went. Enjoy!

There are still some spots left for my Easter Mini Sessions on Saturday, March 29, 2014!  It will be my first day of official sessions in my new studio!!! I did an unofficial session the other day because I wanted to test the set-up for the Easter minis.  My beautiful daughter, Raelee was my model and I think she did wonderful, if I do say so myself :) Contact me today at shannachess@hotmail.com to book your spot!