Best Portrait Photographers in Mesa, AZ | Professional Senior Pictures

Aug 30, 2019 | Senior Girls, Senior Guys

This week I was awarded as one of the 10 Best Portrait Photographers in Mesa by Expertise.com! Expertise.com connects people with the best local photographers. Portrait photographers are rated on more than 25 variables across five categories, and resulting in a hand-picked list of the best portrait photographers in Mesa, AZ. Over 150 photographers were nominated, and then Expterise.com narrows it down using the following criteria.

Reputation: A history of delighted customers and outstanding service.

Since 2009, Magical Memories by Michelle has had the honor of photographing clients from all over Arizona! High end portraits are my number one priority! If people didn’t love my portraits, I wouldn’t be in business. By treating each client with respect and collaborating together to create their dream portraits, then finalizing with top notch quality prints, wall displays, albums, and custom artwork, I’ve earned a perfect 5 star rating across every review site! I want every single client to be thrilled with the process and the final images! Feel free to check out all of my online reviews!

Website | Google | Facebook | Yelp

Credibility: Building customer confidence with licensing, accreditations, and awards.

While I didn’t necessarily start out strong, I did start out right! Magical Memories by Michelle has been licensed with the State of Arizona since 2009 and became an LLC is 2012. I am also an active member of PPA, Professional Photographers of America and my membership allows me to be insured and provides numerous resources and classes. Feel free to visit my profile there too! In just the first half of 2019 I had 8 images published in 3 different magazines, and had many teen and senior images featured over the years!

Experience: Masters of their craft, based on years of practical experience and education.

As an artist, it isn’t easy to hear about your mistakes and flaws, but it is necessary. I’ve spent years having my work reviewed by my peers, because let’s face it…my family and friends always think I’m amazing! Annual classes and workshops keep me at the top of the field for senior pictures and ensure that I am able to offer the best experience to graduating high school students.With a wide variety of skills, my sessions take place during the day or at night for a completely different look.

Availability: Consistently approachable and responsive, so customers never feel ignored.

The key to my success has been staying low volume. I always thought I’d need to shoot hundreds of clients annually, but it didn’t take long for me to realize that’s not what works best for me or my clients. You’re not just a number to me, I want you to feel valued. By never having back-to-back sessions you’ll never be rushed out to get the next session started. I only schedule a maximum of 8 sessions per month, so there is flexibility to reschedule due to illness or weather.

Professionalism: Providing service with honesty, reliability, and respect.

I can honestly say that I’ve had very few client issues throughout my years as a photographer. By using only professional print labs and having a relationship with each one, I’m immediately notified of any problems. They call if I mess up…and I have. I’m not perfect, but I am a perfectionist which means I will require a lab to reprint artwork with even the smallest flaw. I’ve only had one product that was damaged over time, and that was replaced within three days.

Don’t take my word for it. Go check out the complete list of the 10 Best Portrait Photographers!

Phoenix Photographer Featured Product: Custom Heirloom Portrait Albums

Aug 24, 2019 | Fine Art

Phoenix Photographer: Luxury Portrait Albums

I’ve been a Phoenix photographer for over 10 years now and I’ve never offered albums. Why? Because I never really fell in love with any of them! I’ve been offering custom artwork since I opened Magical Memories by Michelle, and printed products are very important to me. If you’ve seen my products, you know that the majority of them are printed on high quality silk photographic paper. Since then, well, I guess I’m spoiled. I want everything printed in silk! While I did find some beautiful albums, none of them offered silk pages. Until now!

Photographic Silk Paper

Ok, so why the fuss over silk paper? One reason I love these prints is that they have very deep color tones and are just so vibrant! The texture is unlike anything other photographic papers available. In fact, many professional labs don’t even offer silk prints. One of the biggest reasons I love silk is that it is fingerprint resistant. Our product line is meant to be enjoyed for years to come so it’s extremely important to me that they hold up well. An album isn’t meant to just sit on a shelf. I want it displayed in your home and so will you! I want your family to sit around and look through the album together. I want you to have that quality downtime remembering your family at this age…without the worry of damaging your album. With silk pages, the fingerprints simply wipe off with a clean cloth. Notice I said clean, NOT wet! Just a dry cloth will remove those pesky fingerprints. That way, as your teenager leaves the nest and heads to college, you’ll have this gorgeous keepsake to look through when the reality hits. Just don’t get tears on it!

Photographic Cover

With so many designs and a beautiful black binding, these albums will match nearly any decor. Simply choose your favorite image for the cover and we’ll add any text, name, graduation year, or quote to personalize your luxury album. This will be a treasure for in your family for years. The album will be custom designed with your favorite images and is easily displayed on a decorative easel instead of being packed away.

Your Favorite Portraits

How often do you pull the USB out and look through images from your photo shoots? How much have you really printed? For most of my clients, the USB’s sit in a drawer and go nearly untouched. After the first 100 likes on social media, the images are forgotten in a desk drawer. With an album, or any of our other unique products, your album will hold at least 20 of your favorite pictures. It makes it much easier to have a beautiful, simple way to showcase your entire session! And here’s an added bonus. If you have digital images from any photo shoot, we can create an album with those too, as long as you have a print release.

High End Phoenix Photographer

High End, Heirloom Quality

With the layflat pages, you can spread a single image across both pages with no visible seam. Yes, these albums do have a lifetime guarantee. The pages are thick, similar to our mounted prints, and won’t easily bend or tear. I’ve heard of cheap albums falling apart after being opened only once or twice. All our products are guaranteed, including our albums. These are your memories and I want you to feel confident that your beloved portraits can be passed down for generations.

Beautiful Senior Photos | Gilbert High School | East Valley Photographer

Aug 19, 2019 | Senior Girls

Gilbert High School Senior Photos

As a portrait photographer for Gilbert High School, I want your senior photos to exceed your expectations! One of the biggest compliments I get is receiving a message from a mom who you haven’t seen in years! I hadn’t seen Alynna since she was probably 10 years old. She was on the same gymnastics team as our daughter, Alex. Back then, I’m not even sure how many senior photo shoots I had done, but what a great surprise to see them again. Now that I specialize in high school seniors, I was able to take her out for an afternoon and make sure she had the best senior portrait experience she could imagine!

Waterfalls: Choosing the Right Outfit

I think this is one of my favorite outdoor locations. I love having the girls sit on the rocks and splash! However, this is one of those settings where wardrobe can make or break the photo. In order to have these lovely images in the water, I prefer to have my seniors wear a white or light colored flowing dress. If you don’t have one, we have them in our Style Closet. In fact, Alynna was planning on using one of ours, but found this one in the back of her closet. Really?!?! You FOUND this just hanging there, unused, with the tags attached? But it’s perfect!!! The sheer skirt and sleeves are so feminine and the white really shows off her beautiful skin!

Beautiful Gilbert Senior Photos

Birthday Photos for Teens

Wait, who says balloons are for kids? Certainly not me! Bring those balloons and let’s celebrate! Celebrate your birthday or graduation by including some huge oversized balloons! It was just our luck that Alynna’s birthday was the same week as her senior photo shoot.

Cap & Gown Graduation Photos

Planning ahead can make all the difference for your senior photos. Most local schools don’t give you your cap & gown until just a few weeks before graduation, but Alynna already had her tassle (yay!!!) and was able to use her older sister’s cap & gown for the afternoon! They both had the same honors from Gilbert High School, so we were all set! Keep in mind, you don’t have to wear the cap & gown for every shoot, we mix and match! Sometimes we leave the gown open to show off another outfit. Sometimes we focus on just the tassel and those gorgeous eyelashes!

Both the had and the dress are from our Style Closet. Did you know we have dozens of outfits that are available for your senior photos? We even do have a cap & gown!

Graduation!

This was one of Alynna’s top requests for senior photos. It’s not easy, and it took quite a few shots, but the result is fabulous! One of Gilbert High School’s graduation traditions is for the seniors to toss all their homework in the hallways. So Alynna had saved up allllllll her homework, notes, and papers just for this! The final image is actually a composite of 9 images and is definitely our favorite! We used it on her custom graduation announcements so all of her friends and family will have this as a 5×7 print!

Gilbert Family Photographer | Gorgeous East Valley Family Pictures

Aug 15, 2019 | Family Pictures

Gilbert Family Photographer

As a Gilbert family photographer, I’ve chosen to be low volume so that I can really focus on each family, each client, and get to know them. When that happens, these “clients” become more like friends, which is definitely the case with Kim and her family. Kim was a referral from another client and originally she wanted to schedule an engagement session. Let’s just say that was one of my favorite sessions ever!! Knowing that I don’t take many families, Kim asked anyway. She stressed the importance of this since she is a self-proclaimed picture person and has put it off for long enough. Too long unfortunately, and in that time her mother-in-law had passed away. I don’t want to guilt anyone into doing this, but think about how many good pictures you have of your family. I mean really beautiful pictures. Of your family. Together. Enjoying each other. It doesn’t happen much so I wanted to be sure we get it right and make the process as easy as possible.

In Person Consultation

When I first started out as a professional photographer, I made some mistakes. Don’t we all? Part of the problem was just taking as many sessions as possible, doing the photo shoot, and handing over the images. That meant that I often talked with people only via phone or email, and met them for the first time right before their family pictures. People are already uncomfortable in front of the camera, so I want to do everything possible to ease your stress. By meeting in person, we get to know each other. In fact, I don’t ever book a session without meeting in person. I want you to be 100% comfortable with me, the process, the ideas, and the investment.

So the goal for the session was to get all the extended family and grandparents together for a photo shoot. While I do get all of the basic “perfect” poses, I also use various lenses and mix in candid shots to be sure to tell the complete story.

Family Pictures with Grandparents

Please, please, please…if the grandparents live close by, bring them to your family portrait session! If they’re visiting, try to squeeze in a photo shoot while they’re here. These are the images that will be passed down through generations, cherished by the whole family. Do it now, while everyone is alive and healthy. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, so schedule it. Figure it out, find the money, bribe dad. It will be worth it, I promise!

“It’s OK, I have plenty of pictures of the parents and grandparents.” – No One Ever

A Quick Reminder

Yes mom, the pictures are your dream so please enjoy this time. Your children don’t care what you look like, if you’ve gained a few pounds or a few wrinkles. They love you and will be so glad to have these pictures as the years go by. It’s important for them to see the love and be reminded of it with beautiful family pictures in your home.

Amazing Gilbert Family Photographer Parents

Bring The Dog

Meet Bindy. She’s the important one and she knows it. Much like parents and grandparents, our dogs do not live nearly long enough. So bring them along! Everyone always warns me about their dog not listening. Seriously? Got this shot in less than 5 seconds. I have my ways…and she’s even smiling!

The Perfect Family Portrait

It may not be what you think. When clients come to me, many think they want that “perfect” picture of everyone smiling at the camera. But is that really your family? We have fun together when we’re out shooting, so you can bet there will be some goofiness, perhaps including dad trying to hind behind a branch. Nice try, Mark! This was about 5 minutes into their session and he was already giving me a hard time! From then on, I knew these were my type of people! I don’t want a whole bunch of “sit and stare at me with a fake smile” pictures. I want the kind real smiles, authentic emotion, and the kind of laughs you can hear in the picture! The expressions that mom looks at and says “yep, those are my girls!”

Gilbert Family Photographer Laughing

Sisters

This is Kaylynne and Ally, two of the sweetest young ladies you’ll ever meet. A sister is worth a thousand friends, and that is certainly true with them! They played along with all my goofy requests and probably thought I was a little crazy. And for my Big Bang Theory fans out there, I’m not crazy. My mother had me tested!

Perry High School | Ocotillo Golf Club | Chandler Senior Pictures

Aug 10, 2019 | Senior Guys

Perry High School Senior Pictures

Connor is a recent graduate from Perry High School in Chandler, AZ. You may have seen his baseball photos in a recent post and I wanted to share more from his session!

Ocotillo Golf Club

We started the afternoon at Ocotillo Golf Club, which offered us this gorgeous indoor location. It’s a great spot for guys when they choose to include a suit and tie for their senior pictures. Which, by the way, is one of my favorite looks! I used to tell the guys to just be casual because I wanted them to be comfortable. But seriously, when you dress up you just look and feel more confident! Plus, mom will love these!

Outdoor Senior Pictures

Next, we headed outside to use some of the beautiful scenery. Take note, Connor is dressed from head to toe in every image. Always remember to bring the right shoes and socks for every look! Oh yes, the socks. Please make sure you don’t have white socks that show under your jeans! Connor completed this look with his Vans.

I like my seniors to look natural, and what is more authentic than a teenager with his phone? Ocotillo Golf Course has been very generous allowing us to use the location as long as we plan ahead and ask first. And of course, we don’t interfere with the golfers. Please do not just assume you can use this location, or any location, without asking. Part of being a professional photographer is knowing how to handle photo shoots in public locations.

With eyes like these, you bet I’m gonna get some close up pictures to show them off! How can you resist those amazing blue eyes?!

Perry High School Senior Pictures Chandler

Published!

Senior Year Magazine Top Photographer AZ

Certain times of the year I enter images to be published in various magazines. That is why it is so important to have your model release signed prior to your senior photo shoot. This is the perfect example of a simple senior portrait. No special outfit or location, just a simple image of Connor looking out the window. But with the perfect lighting, it takes an image from average to amazing!

This spring I entered this image of Connor for publication in Senior Year Magazine. They had an issue just for guys, and if you know my business, you know I shoot just as many senior portraits for guys as I do for girls. Sometimes even more! This image was published in Senior Year Magazine’s Spring Edition: Guys. So if you want your image in a magazine, let’s get you scheduled and maybe your image will be selected for publication!

Please be sure to check out Connor’s baseball senior pictures here! Just for fun, if you want to see some pictures of Connor when he was younger, check out this session. We can’t forget his sister, Kelci! I did her senior pictures as a 2015 Perry High School graduate. I love working with families through the years and watching their children grow!

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