This month marks the end of Utah Governor Gary Herbert’s position as our Governor. Just before he left office, I had the pleasure of creating one last family portrait for him. We updated his family portrait for Christmas and to mark the momentous occasion of his last few weeks in office.

Governor Herbert has been Utah’s Governor since 2009. Over that time his grandkids have grown quite a bit, plus there’s more new grandkids too.

This particular photograph with all the grandkids on the stairs was specifically important for them to get. For their Christmas card, they wanted to contrast this with an image they had done their first year in office. The card featured the Governor and First Lady on the front, the entire family on the back, and opened to show the difference in grandkids over the years.

With every extended family portrait I create, I love to also create smaller family portraits while we’ve got everyone together and dressed up. With studio lighting on site, these look beautiful and are created quick while everyone’s energy is high.

During this individual family’s portrait, this little girl was full of energy. I have so many images of her jumping, pulling faces, or otherwise just being silly. She certainly kept me laughing.

As you can see, every family and every individual looks beautiful. Expressions are warm and inviting, and the groupings are relaxed but timeless too. Because I don’t have any preset packages, individual families are free to order whatever they’d like.

I especially love photographing families. It’s a challenge to get kids to stand where they should, relax, and give real expressions, and I absolutely love that challenge. I love being silly with the kids and connecting with them in order to create these works of art quickly and (hopefully for the families) painlessly.

If you’d like to get some new and updated family portraits, give me a call at 801-728-3317. I’d love to create something wonderful for you.

And until next time, America.