Jennifer Bowen Photography » Engagement, Wedding, Portrait & Family Photographer // Scottsdale, Phoenix Arizona

Boy did it fly by. 2009 can go down on record as the fastest year I’ve lived yet.

But Jennifer, it’s now OVER, you say. I know it’s officially 2010, but the fact that I’m just now able to do my yearly review kind of sums up my life in a nutshell this past year: playing catch up! 2009 was both wonderful and interesting, and busy. Busy with the kids and our family, busy in business, and with me personally.

In ‘09, the biggest blessing of course was the birth of our second child, Alex in January. I cannot believe he is almost one! Holy moly. I wasn’t sure what to expect with two children and was honestly a tad nervous to have a boy (since I come from all girls and its all I’ve known), but I can look back on it now, almost a year later and say it has truly been one of the greatest blessings of my life. Two children has certainly been busier, of course, but also so FUN! I guess the biggest thing I was not prepared for was what having two would do to my heart. Before Alex, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to love the second child the same as I loved my first. How could my heart love another human as much as it loved Jordan? Now I understand why people desire to have 3, 4 or 5 kids. Your heart literally doubles with each new addition, and it’s just as amazing and powerful and passionate as it is with the first. And the added bonus for us is that the whole experience has been so much more relaxed and calm. I think we have been able to enjoy all the stages more the second time around because we know all to well how fast they go by and we just don’t stress about as much. While we won’t be having any more children (2 works great for us!), I can understand why others would want more for those heart/love/added person and soul reasons.

This REALLY feels like it was yesterday. It was, right?

Aside from that big deal for us, some other exciting things happened for my business as well:

In February ‘09, I announced a new partnership with The Royal Palms by serving as their official photographer for the Babymoon Bliss Package. I was so incredibly honored to be approached by Erin Stremcha, marketing coordinator in late 2008 about this exciting opportunity and have had a lot of fun photographing beautiful pregnant mamas and dads-to-be at The Royal Palms this year. Erin just had her own first baby (Baby Parker) recently, so it was so fun to photograph his complete adorableness as well. Since I haven’t shared too many of these on the blog this year, here are a few of the sessions we did in ‘09, and I have another full post coming soon featuring another super cute recent Babymoon couple.

It was also a very humbling, and exciting year of publishings and industry recognitions for me. First Ginny & Dave’s wedding was featured in Ceremony Magazine, a popular Southern California annual bridal magazine, then Arizona Bride Magazine featured some more of my images and included several of them in their Annual Resource Guide given free to all newly engaged couples registering at area department stores, and then the special 10th Anniversary issue of Phoenix Bride & Groom Magazine featured two of my weddings! Aimee & Matt’s and Christy & Josh’s fall weddings were included and each had a nice page feature.  The Wedding Chronicle featured Laura & AJ’s wedding in their Best of Weddings 2009 issue and earlier in the year Allison and Chris’s wedding was featured.

Much to my surprise, I was selected as a Winner of the Brides Choice Awards on www.weddingwire.com, Nominated for Best Photographer 2009through Arizona Bride Magazine readers, and most recently was selected as a Winner of Best of Weddings 2010 from the readers of The Knot. These last 3 are especially meaningful to me since I had no part in soliciting any votes for those – the readers nominated me and all 3 have been a big surprise. Thank you, thank you!!

I was also so thrilled to be featured on some popular wedding blogs in 2009: Southern Weddings Magazine Blog featured Aimee and Matt’s wedding, as well as Sheryl and Dane’s wedding, and The Bride’s Cafe featured some bridal party images of cute gowns that can be found at Twirl Boutique.

I had the chance to really get to know and work closely with some amazing vendors in town this past year, which has been especially wonderful. We are really lucky in Phoenix to have so many fantastic people to choose from, and I feel like I’ve had the chance to form some new friendships, which was been so great. I really want to thank the Sanctuary Resort & Spa for choosing one of my images for their wedding ad (wow – honored!), the Emmy award winning Serendipty Videography chose one of my images for their front page of their website (again, very honored!), and Twirl Boutique for hanging some of my work inside their two awesome stores (in Scottsdale and Chandler – thank you Keri and Jeni!), and finally to FlyJetbird, a corporate aviation company out of Ireland, who found me online and purchased one of my personal family images for their website.

In ‘09, I also expanded the business by bringing on an associate photographer. In May we announced that Jenny Bishop came on board to help shoot portrait sessions. I’ll be doing a feature shortly on some of the great work she has done for me this past year and we’ll actually be expanding her role in 2010 to include wedding coverage as well, and will be adding one more associate photographer to also shoot weddings — details to be announced soon. I’m so excited to expand this part of the business!

Speaking of growing, I also hired Kelly Gill to come on as a studio coordinator and she has been fantastic. I’m soooo happy to have her on the team and love working with her. (Jenny is on the left and Kelly is on the right.)

In September, I launched a new logo and blog design (by the very talented and kind Ryan Brannen of One Red Key) as well as updated my current website with the new look. I also updated my packaging, ordered new business cards that I love, redid some of my branding materials (more are on the way) and implemented a new backend proofing site for clients (PickPic for you photographers.) I received so much positive feedback on the new blog and look, and for that I am thankful. It was a long time coming! While the new gallery website is still in the works because it’s proven to be SUCH a huge undertaking and I keep pushing the project back due to client driven projects that take a higher priority, I can say it will definitely happen in 2010! :-)

After coming back to my shooting schedule in March (post maternity leave) I shot 15 amazing weddings in ‘09. Between my associate Jenny and I, we shot close to 70 portrait sessions this year and met so many new families this year – as well as saw many familiar and favorite faces.

My workshop partner Kim Jarman and I held another round of Create Better Images beginner and intermediate workshops in June and they sold out in record time for us – we were truly amazed! We plan to do these at least twice a year, if not 3 times a year, from here on out because we have just been getting great feedback from you guys who attend them and each have so many clients who ask us about when we plan to do more. So they are coming :-) Also very exciting, in June, Jeff Bills of Serendipity Videography came out and filmed our Intermediate Class and put together this fantastic video for us. Thank you again Serendipity for making us look so good!

The next two classes are scheduled for next week and while they are sold out, we are announcing the dates for the next set here very shortly. Hint: Mother’s Day Gift for all those Mom’s who want to take better pictures of their kids. Stay tuned!

Finally, it wasn’t all happiness – I did have a few sad family moments this year as well. In early May, my grandfather passed away after a long and happy life. I think one of the harder aspects to losing a grandparent is watching your parents deal with the profound loss of their own parent. Both of my paternal grandparents passed on years ago. In fact, my Dad’s dad died when I was just 4, and I vividly remember it being the first time I ever saw him cry. One of the few times later when we lost my grandma, his Mom, 10 years ago this March. Sadly, my Uncle Bob in Vermont also passed away this past summer. He too lived a long and full life, which was celebrated by much of my extended family at a family reunion of sorts shortly thereafter. Sadly I couldn’t go due to my schedule, but felt like I was there with all the pictures my family sent along.

As for 2010, I am SO excited and ready to go! Last year was a bit transformative for me as I had to find my footing again after adjusting to 2 kids. It has not always been easy, but we have settled into a groove again and the kids are doing great, I have found a good balance (on most days) and plan to kick things up a notch this year. I have some really fun products coming for more clients, a few surprises in store, some amazing weddings on the books and so much more. Stay tuned! It’s going to be a great year, isn’t it?

I recently learned I was selected as one of The Knot’s 2010 “Best of Weddings” by brides and grooms who vote for their favorite photographers or weddings on the site. Thank you so much for the honor for anyone and everyone who voted for me. This was a such a surprise and I’m honored to be selected!

I must admit I am anxiously awaiting the release of the new website and image sharing service called Two Bright Lights. It is the brainchild of Rosalind Bordo and Siri Eklund, and promises to transform the way that wedding professionals market their business. I have a feeling it actually will. As a photographer, I always want to be able to quickly share images with vendors so they can in turn share them with their clients, but it can be a time consuming process. I think this site is going to make that process much quicker and more efficient, allowing vendors to quickly create storyboards of their favorite event images. I also love submitting my images to magazines and industry blogs, so I know this will make that process even easier! Im very excited about that aspect.

Industry professionals will want to be sure to check out the features behind this new site! And if you want to read more about Rosalind and Siri, and how this site came to be, hop on over to social media guru Liene Steven’s blog Splendid Communications for her in-depth interview with them.

We have just a couple spots left – see below for available dates and times::

This year I’m doing something a little different. Since my October and November are pretty jam packed, and I have very limited spaces open, I’m offering two date options for mini sessions for all of you who just want some updated family (or personal) photographs for your holiday cards, newsletters or even Facebook profile shots.

Date and Location #1: **Sunday, November 1, 2009 (this is a change of date from newsletter announcement)
Location – Heritage Square in downtown Phoenix AZ (next to Phoenix Art Museum)
Fun, colorful, urban images for those that like things on the more modern side.** (Click here to see a session shot there.)

Date and Location #2: **Saturday, November 28, 2009 (Thanksgiving weekend)
Location – Scottsdale Civic Plaza Park, Old Town
Park mixed with some fun architecture providing a good mix of “backgrounds”. (Click here or here to see examples.)

These mini sessions are 25-30 minutes each, cost $250 and include all of the following:

• A mix of classic posed shots & interactive, natural family or kiddo shots – as much as we can muster in 30 minutes!
• One (1) high resolution JPEG file of choice (This will be emailed to you for your personal use/holiday card)
• 10 images uploaded to Facebook, if requested
• $25 credit that can be used towards one of the following: JBP holiday cards (start at $100), final prints/enlargements, or the CD of high res image files ($325 for these sessions) (Please note there is no obligation to purchase any of these, you can simply apply the credit towards one of these if you wish.)

Here is the skinny for booking:: There will only be 6 sessions available per day, so please reserve your spot early. All sessions are available on a first come, first serve basis, so please contact me as soon as possible to reserve your spot!

Times slots available for each day (Nov 1 and Nov 28):
2:00-2:30 PM (Nov 1 and 28th – booked)
2:30-3:00 PM
3:10-3:40 PM (Nov 28th – booked)
3:45-4:15 PM (Nov 1 and 28th – booked)
4:20-4:50 PM (Nov 1 and Nov 28- booked)
4:50-5:20 PM (Nov 1 – booked)

Once they are booked, I will mark them as such here on the blog. Please email me to book your session slot.

FINE PRINT DETAILS: Please read before booking.

*All sessions will require a $150 non-refundable deposit to hold your spot. Sessions will be considered booked upon receipt of this deposit. Unfortunately we cannot issue any refunds for missed appointments or cancellations made within 3 days of your scheduled shoot. We accept all major credit cards for convenience.

*It is imperative that you arrive at least 10 minutes prior to your session start time so that we can process your final payment and have you ready to go when your session starts. Unfortunately, we will not be able to add time to the end of the session if you are late. Kelly, my studio assistant, will be on hand to help get families situated. Details on exactly where to park and meet will be provided after your booking.

*Sessions will move quickly, so please ensure kids are ‘prepped’ and fed prior to shoot as much as possible. Don’t forget the goldfish/gummy bears/your happy treat that can often make a grumpy face happy again. I don’t advocate bribing kids, unless it’s for a photo shoot!

*Final images will be processed and available to view within 4 business days following your session. All proofs will be accessible online in a password protected gallery. You can opt to purchase the disc, prints or holiday cards via the online ordering system.

2009 holiday card styles and pricing will be available to view next week and will be posted here on the blog. If you order holiday cards, they will be finalized within 48 hours and sent to you for approval. Final printed orders will arrive to you within 3-4 days.

We will send out an information sheet regarding your shoot, options for cards or the disc, and prepping for it to those who book sessions.

Need help figuring out what to wear? Maybe you will get inspired here.

Nope, I didn’t give birth to a third baby (nor am I pregnant for the record!), but I am happy to announce the third incarnation of this baby. My blog-baby. Who just keeps growing up on me.

And this time, as you can see, we’ve got a whole new branding look. I guess I got a little bored with the old brand, even though she was very kind to me through the years. My old logo was the beginning of where I’m at today. She saw me from that hobbyist-turned-freelancer stage where I worked on nights and weekends on top of the corporate day job, learning and absorbing and shooting anything I could. Through the growth spurts and learning curves. Through the busy spells and late nights and that discussion in late ‘05 with my husband: “Do I take the leap and go full time?” (I did leap in ‘06 and never looked back). The old brand saw me through my first child, my now 4-1/2 year old daughter Jordan and more late nights. Just when I had figured out the work/family balancing act, or so I thought, our sweet baby Alex, now 7 months, arrived and threw a monkey wrench (a good wrench I might add) into my balancing act. And there she was all the while –my trusty old brand — ushering me through all that as well. (Oh, and more late nights.)

So here we are getting into a new groove again as a family, and me a business-owning Mom. Most days I feel like it’s falling into place again; the balance thing. Although if I’m being honest, some days don’t feel very balanced at all. It’s a new chapter in my life in many respects and I’ve been ready for a change; a new look, a new logo.

And here she is. Slightly refreshed. Maybe a little wiser. Green for my favorite color, for the way it makes me feel. To liven things up a little bit. And in addition to the new blog design and overhaul of backend functionality (for me), you will also see several new features to this blog. More categories, featured vendors, more resources and easier commenting functionality. We love to hear from you readers (and lurkers!) out there, so please do say hi, ask a question or leave a comment. Now it’s even easier for me to respond.

Want to know what else is in store?

** The all new website design is coming very soon. It turned out to be rather difficult to coordinate the synchronous launch of both web and bog, so I decided to allow myself to sleep at night by rolling it out in 2 stages. Blog first. All new website next. (Note: the ‘current’ website looks pretty darn good re-skinned in the new branding if I must say so myself.)

** We have an updated newsletter with some fun tips and promotions for current clients. Look for it soon!

**We will have new packaging (some of it earth-friendly ‘green’), an all new backend proofing system where weddings and portraits will be in one place and I think much easier for clients to use, all new marketing materials, new contests and so much more.

**And did I mention that I hired a fantastic new studio assistant? Kelly Gill (many industry peeps already know how awesome she is) is helping get things organized, processed and in place for our busy fall season ahead. I’m so excited to have her on my team!

**We also have several weddings and shoots on the books this fall that I am really looking forward to, in addition to some new fun contests, so please stay tuned. I can’t wait to keep sharing all the goodness with you!

{Because this post wouldn’t be complete without some personal pictures, here are some fairly recent ones of the kids.}

In case you know anyone looking for a place to rent, I wanted to share with you guys that I have a great condo in Old Town Scottsdale available September 1, 2009.

2 Bedroom / 2 Bath condo, 1000 sq ft.
6 or 12 month lease available.

*Upstairs unit in charming, small community with pool and covered parking.
*ALL NEW carpet, paint & fixtures.
*All appliances provided, including washer/dryer in unit.
*Water and trash services are included in rent.
*10 minutes to Arizona State University and 5 minutes to Scottsdale Community College, Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall and all the shops and nightlife in downtown Scottsdale!

Rent & Deposits:

$850/month
Does not include electricity, cable or phone.
$200 deposit required for cleaning & application fee. ($100 refundable at move out if unit is clean and in great condition still.)

Pets:

One potty trained dog okay, but with additional non-refundable pet deposit of $150.
No cats please. (Nothing against cats, but their kitty urine is unfortunately hard/impossible to get out of carpets.)

If you know anyone looking, please forward along, or email me for more info.