Taylor Family Portraits

These guys are close to my heart (and many. many others' too, for sure!). I didn't know this at the time I took these, but they had not had professional family portraits done ever! Ever! But now they have beautiful, love-filled portraits for their home (and family!).

This was a super quick, slightly freezing photo sesh in their cute back yard. There was a lot of laughing, and beautiful smiles. Family portraits don't have to be a pain to plan for; they can be spontaneous and quickly thrown together.

Creative Portraits {fog inspired}

My boys aren't always so great at listening and not bugging each other... but they are good at modeling for me (and they're ridiculously photogenic). It's a fair trade off, I guess. ;)

Let's go to Kaua'i {SNUBA!}

(That's me! The blondie that was in hula and didn't even know -or care- that she was so different.)

You may or may not already know that I grew up on the Island of Kaua’i. More specifically, my parents moved there in 1988 with three kids (I was 4) and are still living there.  I’m sure you’ve heard of Kaua’i. If you haven’t, google it – right now. Kaua'i is my childhood home and holds a very special place in my heart! Why am I talking about Kaua’i on my photography blog? Why NOT?

Marsing Family, Winter Family Photos

I adore this family. I've been taking pictures of these kiddos for about 7 years now! We've done train tracks, gardens, and canyon parks (to name a few places) so this time we tried something different! SNOW! I guess it was meant to be because that morning we got a LOT of snow! 

How Professional Images Actually Help Your Memory

Professional portraits are considered an investment because while we are told our brains save everything we hear, see, read, feel, smell, taste… we have not yet mastered the skill to recall those things at will and with utmost clarity. Try remembering the details of a face you haven’t seen in years… can you do it?

Without high quality images, I wouldn’t remember the details in the baby blue eyes of my now 9 year old - whose eyes have incredibly turned a shade of gold and green. I just couldn’t! Without high quality images, I would hardly remember the mischievous grin,and twinkling eyes of my younger brother who passed away over 10 years ago at age 20.

Images keep long distant relationships alive, and connect us to people we may never see again in this life (or may have never even met). Images keep stories real and memories closer to our mind’s reach. I despair to think how many priceless, precious moments have been lost to oblivion because no one bothered to record anything referencing them. How much more do we cherish the images of our babies - once they’re grown? How much do we cherish images of the best times of our lives - when those times have long since passed?

It is far too easy to let time slip away thinking there is nothing significant about that birthday, that family get together, that random road trip, that whole year, or that Halloween costume. Or have you already experienced the pang of regret that you didn’t get pictures while she was still around or when you went to that one place that ended up meaning a lot to you…

“I wish someone had gotten a picture…” Have you ever thought that?

Now let’s get your pictures taken!

Hello, Old Friend!

Apparently the last time I posted anything was in 2014. THAT'S embarassing! With all the different social media platforms available I've been rotating through them... and my blog was sorely sorely neglected. I'm sorry.

But not to worry, I have been taking pictures! To see some of my recent work, you can visit my website aliciastates.smugmug.com, facebook or instagram (@photosbyaliciastates).

Here's a little something recent to brighten your day!

Little Boy Blue {A 3 Year Old Photo Session}

This kid is so dang cute.

And he's mine.

I've been trying to do better at at least getting birthday pictures of my (four) boys! It's harder work than it should be. I have been a slacker with my older boys, and I need to get pictures because they are both in their jack-o-lantern phase... and boy is it awesome. (Hey! Everyone goes through it!)

Anyway, here's my darling boy. I'm super pleased with these as I didn't intentionally over-expose them. I usually avoid mid-day like the plague, but it's the time we had to work with so there you go! We survived, and got a few gems that I will cherish for always!

Prom 2014

My first time doing Prom pictures! It was an adventure to say the least and it was pretty dang cold... and obviously we were lacking some sleeves. Kindly, the gentlemen offered their jackets to their dates. :) I do have more images, and I'll try to remember to resize them, throw a watermark on them and share them! I have a few other photo sessions I need to get caught up with!! 

(If you want to see more images, "like" Alicia States Photography on Facebook!)

Winter Pearls

We had a fun mini session up in the mountains - where we found some snow! It may not seem like it since you don't really notice it in these images, but the snow really created the feel of this session. And do you like the pearls? I love 'em! :) These are my favorite images of each of them. It was a really mini session since it was so dang cold! But obviously a success!

Family Fun

I'm still behind on sessions! This is from a session in November just before the winter really set in! It was dang cold but these kids were exceptionally well behaved and we got some great images during this mini session!

This one is my favorite since it is so spontaneous and fun! It makes me smile :)

I'm back... and ready to rock and roll!

I have a few shoots to preview here, but for now I'm just going to put this beautiful family up. This winter has been rough for me... creatively and mentally/emotionally. It's like this every year. I just can't seem to find a way to enjoy being out in the cold! I think (hope!) that for the most part, we're past the ridiculously cold temperatures... I can work with 30 ish degrees (still ew, but that's my compromise!). 

My point is, I'm back! My creative side is unleashed and ready to rock and roll!

Portrait Party... aka Photo Partay!!

I am super behind on posting images from the past few sessions, but these girls are dying to see their pictures, so I'm "throwing" them up here! 

We laughed a lot as these girls worked the camera. :) Really, they're just naturally beautiful girls and getting incredible shots of them was easy peasy. 

My sister (the first one pictured) will be going back to Hawaii at the end of the month and wanted some fallish pictures before she leaves (haha pun not intended)! The colors weren't as brilliant as we had hoped, but obviously we got some good shots even if they don't scream Autumn! 

Honestly, so much fun!

Tough Guy.

Anyone out there a third child?

So is this guy. He's the third of our four boys, and sadly, this was the first time I took him out to get pictures of him. I mean, sure I have head shots of him, like I do all the boys, but I really don't have images that capture his personality... and we've never gone out just for him.

Of course, my first son has a plethora of images and one-on-one photo sessions... but for some reason this little bugger has gotten caught up in the mix and has been slightly over looked and photographically neglected. Well, his two big brothers are in school now... so we get more one-on-one time. I love it.

I am biased, but what a gorgeous kid! And his smile! Oh, I'm a sucker. I'll tell you what though, (if you'll let me brag for a sec) when he is sweet, he is the sweetest thing in existence! He is generous with his pleases and thank yous, (I wish I could take full credit for that, but they just come like that, you know?!) and that little voice is just angelic.

But don't let him fool you. Like any two year old he has his moments. And when he doesn't like what's going on... watch out because this kid is loud! And when he's in a mood, attitude seeps out of his pores. You can see it, can't you? Brrrrraah! Those are some tough learning moments for both of us.

I'll confess... it was hard to get images of him. He didn't hold still for two seconds unless he was being cautious with that board (he is my cautious one), and he did not want to look at the camera (believe it or not...) and he definitely wan't going to make this easy for me and just smile for it!  But obviously, I got a few keepers.

I love these images of him because 1) he's mine. and as his momma I am allowed to gush over him no matter how awful the lighting might be ;)  and 2) It's been a little while since I've done portraits for a little boy, and I remember how fun they are, even if they never stop moving!

It's been fun to "get to know" him better and spend time with him when his older brothers aren't trying to dominate every conversation and situation. He's got big personality in that little body. It makes me wonder what incredible things are in store for him!

If you're a third born, what tips do you have for me as a parent? What should I be aware of to help my third born? 

*side note, if you're interested in birth order: I'm a first born (of 6) and my husband is a second born (of 8).

The Cook Sisters {Pt. 2}

What beautiful little girls!! It was an absolute joy to take their pictures! You may remember when I took first year pictures of their baby sister... well, we got together again and this time we had the balloon! Each girl had pictures with a yellow balloon for their one year birthday sessions, and last time we got together all the balloon places had closed! 

The lighting was beautiful. Obviously, I have a thing for morning and evening lighting. The backlighting and highlights are gorgeous. 

These girls were natural posers, but even when they weren't actually "posing" they were stunning. It was darling to see the older two interact. I could tell without even guessing that they are the best of friends. 

It's always fun for me to take pictures of girls since I only have boys. It's fun to be around their girly energy and I get to be silly in ways my boys would think were just weird. :) I could never ask my boys to flip their hair or twirl or pop their hip... lol... (I'm chuckling just imaging it!)