These girls have my heart. I always fall in love with my people, but when I get to work with people multiple times I fall hard. This group of Senior Models (the new group is the Street Team) is so amazing! I love each of them for different reasons. They are all so unique and have such different strengths that make them pretty fantastic. I know they will go far where ever their life journey takes them. We thought it would be fun to cap off the year with a cap and gown shoot as well as their college tees. We had to reschedule (which I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve had to do from being sick 🙁 ) so we are missing one of our amazing girls, Olivia. To tell you the truth it was really weird not to have one of our girls there but it was getting so down to the wire. Graduation is coming so fast!!! It seems like yesterday I was photographing them for the first time during our spring model shoot to announce them as my JGP team now they are all pros and we had a blast!! I love them like my own and am so excited for them!! Congrats girls!! xoxo

I was so thrilled to do this session, I love doing in home sessions. There is something about photographing people in their home that is so special. They just instantly relax, especially the kiddos. We get right into it, they show me all of their favorite cuddle spots, what they like to play with Mom, their favorite toy. It really is the best! – and how fantastic will it be to have these images years later, to look at all of the details and remember those little things that made a house your home. Things you wouldn’t even notice now, but looking later will bring back other childhood memories. I love looking through my old childhood photos albums and laughing about everything that was normal then, record players, huge box tvs, strawberry shortcake dolls. This Mama and her kiddos were nothing short of fantastic, so much love and laughter, and lots of cuddles. Thanks for letting me in. xoxo

I’m so in love with this baby and his fabulous Mom and Dad. I loved getting to know them throughout their engagement and wedding and then fell head over heels when I met Graham for the first time photographing him as a newborn and then a six month old. I can’t believe he’s one already! I get so attached to my baby’s first year babes watching him grow and his amazing personality has been so fun. He is so happy and so full of life. He loves people and is such a ham, anyone who meets him is instantly in love. He is a pretty amazing person I’m excited to see what a fabulous little human he grows into.

We had such an amazing time last night at the first all inclusive BE event! We had fab music thanks to Austin a great DJ, yummy ice cream treats from Bailey’s frozen novelties and played fun games, including bumper balls, tug o’war and gross food eating contest (sardines, crickets, and meal worms anyone?) – it was basically a big dance party and best of all we laughed the entire time. I loved getting to know the girls and meeting their friends. The rain stayed away so we lived it up. We talked for a couple minutes about “BE” and what true service is and what being positive can do for us and others. I left with all the good feels. I am so excited for this year and what it will bring. xoxo
Be sure to schedule ASAP – summer spots fill up fast!

BE unique BE empowering BE genuine BE tenacious BE inspiring BE yourself BE kind BE extraordinary BE strong BE confident These are just a few samples of the BE words the girls chose after our first 2018 JGP Street Team shoot together. It made me so happy when they sent their one word answers back to me and they power that was in them. It was exactly what I wanted and had envisioned. The girls feeling comfortable and confident being their unique selves. We’ve talked a lot about this BE campaign and what it means – I want it to be a force for good. A way to spread positive good feels throughout the community and schools and for them to focus on being forces for good. We are all bombarded with such negativity and it is especially rough being a teenager right now, I am seeing it in my own young girls and when talking to so many more. We can be an amazing source of comfort and strength for one another by being positive and strong. Will everything always be insta perfect? NO and that is ok too! It’s ok and normal to have a bad day but let’s BE kind and support each other through it. Don’t be afraid to BE yourself – in fact embrace it, that’s what makes this world such a fabulous place to be.

My favorite thing about photographing seniors is showing them the way that other people really see them through the lens, amazing individuals with unique beauty and gifts. I love showing them this and then watching them walk away with a pep in their step and new found confidence. We are wayyyy too hard on ourselves. If we can see ourselves the way our friends and family see us, as our true selves, stop trying to be the like others, mimicking and just embrace our individual genuine BE – then we will find the most happiness.

Our shoot that afternoon and night was amazing! I got to know the Street Team girls and they got to know each other. Watching them come together and get comfortable, relax and enjoy the people that they will be having fun with and serving in the community with over the next year was awesome! We have a great group of Street Team leaders. I had a blast getting to know all of the girls. We had fabulous makeup artists, Cristina, Bobbi, Mallory and India get them camera ready, they wore clothes from Apricot Lane and Scout and Molly’s as well as received their new #JGPSTREETTEAM BE shirts. We had fantastic food and laughed forever, it was a great night. It’s going to be an awesome year. We have upcoming BE events that we are super excited for! Our senior sessions are booking up quickly! Please call the studio asap to get on the schedule, we would love to get to know you and give you the JGP experience.

This miss is 6 months old already!! Can you believe it? Seems like yesterday we were taking her newborn pics. I love watching these babies grow their first year!! She is adorable! Those baby blues are killers! She was smiling the whole time and such a little ham! I couldn’t get enough of her, I wanted to take her home!! So sweet!!

I shot Mom and Dad’s wedding and loved them, so I had a feeling I would fall head over heels for this little miss and she might be the cutest ever! She is so gorgeous, totally stunning. But my favorite thing about her is her darling personality, she is so sweet! She was totally polite, but playful and funny at the same time. The perfect combo. She showed me some of her favorite outfits, read stories and cuddled with her fabulous Mom, jumped on her bed and showed me around her room, her favorite toys including her doll she just got and named after her Mom. How cute is she?!? Her Mom told me she had tons of pics of her older two but with this little gal being her baby she didn’t have as many pics of her, things just get crazy, so she wanted to be sure and capture her. I am so glad she did. I wish I had pictures like this of mine when they were little in their environment doing their favorite things, snuggled reading books with me. Time goes so fast, it flies by and these moments are gone before you know it. It was so great spending time with these two! Thank you for letting me in. I adore you guys!!

I’ve been dying to share the cutest family and their adorable baby boys!! How amazing and lucky these babies are to be blessed to come to such a wonderful family and how blessed is this family to be able to adopt these sweet twin boys? I got to meet them quite awhile ago but was waiting for the go from Mom to share the news, we wanted to make sure everything was good to go before the word was out. These boys are incredible, they are so precious, Mom, Dad and the older sibs were over the moon excited. They were able to be there at the hospital right away and have been with them every moment every since. These babies are so loved and adored, everyone was clamoring to get their hands on them including me. They were little snuggle bugs. They have such different personalities already, which sounds crazy but it was so funny to watch them. One little guy was awake almost the entire time, ready to go and take on the world. The other cutie was super chill and good just to hang out and be held. I am so excited to watch them grow over the next year! They are so incredible, babies are always such a gift, but times two! Wow! Mom was totally on top of it, she knew exactly what they needed at every moment. She’s a rockstar! Congrats on your new arrivals!!!!

I adore this little family! I met them when I photographed their first’s newborn pics and have had the honor of watching each of these babes grow through their first year. I can’t believe Harper just turned one! She is hilarious! She is so stinking cute, and knows what she wants she has the best little personality. I can’t wait to watch her grow. Her big brother goes with the flow and helps her any way he can. They are adorable together. And those eyes!! Really who gets baby blues like that?!? It’s crazy!! I’m totally in love!!! Happy birthday Harper!!

We had such a great time at the launch party for the Class of 2018! We had great food, lots of giveaways including a camera and gift cards plus Sephora swag! Our current senior models were there and a fabulous group of new girls to hear all about what we are rolling out for the upcoming class. We started it off by helping the community right away, everyone brought socks to donate, and we took them to the Women’s Shelter this morning. They were so appreciative. They were so needed and it was perfect timing for this crazy cold wintery weather. It warmed my heart to take an overflowing box of love to people that really needed them all brought by fabulous girls that cared. This year no doubt will be amazing. It was killing me holding the news in for so long. We have had a wonderful senior model program for so many years but after having long, deep conversations with wonderful photographers Ike and Tash, in the Washington area they inspired me and I realized it was time to mix things up a bit. They have found success for the community and their girls running a model program a little differently, they are pretty brilliant and their girls love it. They thought Billings would love it too. I couldn’t have agreed more, so we are changing it up a bit – we are including more amazing people and sharing with and serving the community. We will have more events -an end of the summer day road trip JGP promo shoot. We will still have our styled spring Apricot Lane shoot in the spring announcing our Street Team and at least 2 events a quarter – 1 fun – like a photo shoot or get together (think pumpkin patch photoshoot) and 1 community service event (soup kitchen) when you serve together you bond. I find on my crappiest days when I get outside of myself and do something nice for someone else I instantly feel better and if I serve with a friend we feel closer. Besides the perks from referrals like free Session Fees and banners in the Apricot Lane window etc this JGP Street Team will be a sisterhood, where you will have a group of girls from different schools that have your back, you will have a blast learning, growing and going through your senior year together. I wanted to include more fabulous girls than in the past, we are taking applications, it is a commitment, you must be able to attend 80% of the events as a Street Team member, the more you put into it the more you will get out of it. You can find a request for the application here We are accepting applications until Feb 3rd.
One of my biggest things was I wanted it to feel like a JGP senior family so if you shoot your senior pictures with us you will be included in great events not only Street Team leaders. If you book before May 10th for the summer season you will be invited to the JR/SR games and BBQ in May with all of the past JGP seniors. It’s going to be crazy fun. We will also be having a backyard movie night for all of the JGP seniors that shot with us in the summer! It’s going to be an amazing experience for everyone that shoots with JGP.
What is BE all about? You may have seen your friends with buttons or pins and wondered what it meant. “BE” is what we are all about. I’m sure you have heard people say “be the good” We think you guys are amazing. You deal with so much stuff, you are constantly being bombarded with negative junk and we wanted you to have something positive to represent and think about. “BE” BE – unique, strong, beautiful, wise, funny, kind, brave, powerful, peaceful, thankful, tender, you get the idea. Basically BE your best self. That is what I want you to feel when you are around others, when you interact with others, and when I photograph you. I can’t wait to meet you and for you to be part of this experience. BE xoxo