Morgan Trinker

I know this is my second blog post OF THE DAY (crazy!), but I’ve been on a roll being really productive, and once I finished editing this session, there was no way I could just sit on it and wait a couple of days to post it. So ta-da!

A couple of weeks ago, I had just finished doing a shoot for Red Butte Garden, where Jamie works, and I was riding the train home, when I looked at my phone and saw I had a missed call from a Salt Lake City phone number I didn’t recognize. So I listened to my voicemails, and I heard one from someone named Emily, who was interested in having me do some family photography for her. I just figured there had to be some way she had heard of me, through someone I knew here or something. Well, I called her back, and it turns out her husband Sean had randomly stumbled on my blog back in the summer. When they recently had talked about getting some family pictures done, they remembered my website, and one thing led to another, and I found myself booking my very first session with a Salt Lake City family I had never met before and who had found me on the Internet. I was so excited when I got off the phone, I started texting Jamie immediately. I was all, you are NOT going to believe this! Of course he was excited too…. maybe not as much as me, but then, I tend to take geeking out to a whole new level sometimes.

Even though I didn’t meet the Petteys until Halloween morning, when we did our shoot, I knew we’d hit it off. I mean, for one, if they liked my style over other photographers in the area, I knew we were bound to have some things in common. And boy, did we! I nearly died when they told me one of the things that drew them to me was my Jenny Lewis blog post (and then later when, on Facebook, Emily said she was listening to Rilo Kiley). That pretty much put them in my Book of Awesome right off the bat. Then, Jamie and I got so wrapped up in their family dynamic. Their girls, Megan, Anna, and Eloise, are absolutely precious. Seriously some of the most beautiful children I’ve seen (however, when you see where their genes came from, it’s pretty understandable). And they were just so sweet. At one point, Anna came up next to me and pointed at one of the memorial buildings in Memory Grove park, which is where we were shooting, and said, “I think you’d really like to take a picture of that.” And I smiled and told her I’d really like to take a picture of her in front of it, and she said, “Okay, sure!” and ran right up there. They were all just so at ease in front of the camera, which of course makes our job a piece of cake.

Thank you Sean, Emily, Megan, Anna, and Eloise for allowing us to photograph you. It was an honor and a joy, and we couldn’t have asked for a better “first family” to come our way!

And now for the goods…. Don’t you just love this willow tree?

I was so nervous that all the leaves would fall off the trees by the time the shoot came, so on my walk with Gretchen every day, I would cross my fingers before we got to the park, praying it was still gorgeous. And despite a snowstorm earlier that week, everything was still so colorful, and the weather was perfect. Oh, I do love fall shoots!

This one feels very Central Park-esque. I know, I know, Salt Lake is a pretty far cry from New York City, but what I love so much about where we live is that you can go one way and be 5 minutes away from this gorgeous park, and go 5 minutes the other way and be right in the middle of downtown. It’s a perfect balance. So I definitely love the combination of nature with the buildings in the background.

Are you kidding me with how beautiful these children are?! When Jamie and I were telling them all how good-looking they were, Sean was like, I bet you say that to everyone you photograph. And I was thinking, oh, you just wait til these get on the blog. Sean, are you convinced now? ‘Cause I’m sure all my other readers are. :)

Jamie thinks Megan looks like a young Julia Roberts. I have to agree.

This one, I think, is my absolute favorite. With all siblings in this age group, especially sisters, there’s always going to be fighting and bickering, but then moments like this, when you can see so clearly that they do love each other…. oh, it just melts my heart.

Another favorite.

This shot is one of Jamie’s. I love how he captured not only the girls, but also Sean and Emily watching on in the background. Such a sweet moment.

Did I mention how much I love fall shoots?!

And another favorite. I love the energy and the expressions and just how happy the whole scene is.

Hope you guys enjoy your photographs!

Now for the slideshow. So based on our mutual love for Jenny Lewis, I really wanted to use one of her songs. Unfortunately, about 95% of them are not family-friendly or even very optimistic, so imagine my sheer joy when I stumbled on a song called “Barking at the Moon” that she wrote for the movie Bolt (which involved Miley Cyrus and a talking dog- enough said). It was perfect! And also fitting because during the session, we came to a consensus that dogs are definitely way better than cats.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE SLIDESHOW WITH ALL THE IMAGES!

I’m still steamrolling through all my Tennessee sessions, and next up on the list are my cousins Caity and Will. LOVE them. Love, love, love them. Caity emailed me when she found out I would be in TN to set up an “anytime” session for her and Will. Even though she loves her wedding photographs, she wishes that not every nice photo of the two of them that they have in their house involved tuxedos and a veil. (As a side note: Don’t stop investing in good photography after your wedding! Sometimes the small and simple parts of life are the most beautiful and memorable.) So, we worked out a trade. She works for a graphic design company, which works with artists and businesses to create products and protect copyrights and things like that. I think. Hmm. I do know that Caity won a paper plate design contest for Target- how cool is that?! You can go see her portfolio here. So anyway, in exchange, she’s going to design some sweet thank you notes for me. It pays to have talented family members. :)

Growing up, my brother and I loved spending time with Will and his sister Ellen. Ellen is 4 years older than I am, and Will is my age but 3 years older than Seth, so we always looked up to them so much. When we went to Nashville for Christmas, we would beg our parents to let us stay at their house for a few days. We felt so grownup, especially once Ellen could drive, shopping and going to movies and playing games and everything else. I wanted to dress like Ellen, and Seth wanted to listen to Will’s music and learn to play guitar. I miss those days.

But what I love is that now that we’re all grown up, some things may have changed, but my love and admiration for the Shinnick family has not. And just when I didn’t think it could be better, Caity joined our family. Before I ever met her, Aunt Paula and Ellen would go on and on about how much she reminded them of me. How we had such similar interests and style and personalities. And they were right! I knew we were meant to be cousins when we bonded over Harry Potter. When we met them for the shoot, Caity and I both showed up wearing yellow and gray striped sweaters from Target, jeans, and gray Converse. Because great minds think alike. Duh. I do wish we lived closer to Caity and Will. Jamie and I love hanging out with them so much. They’re just so fun and laid back and genuine. And it’s so evident how much they love each other. Between that and the fact that they’re ridiculously good-looking, photographing them was easy breezy. Because they both grew up in Franklin, we decided to shoot mostly in the historic downtown area, which is where Caity works and where the Shinnicks’ church is and…. well, it’s pretty much the place to be. :)

We love you guys…. and enjoy your photographs!

First we stopped in Caity’s favorite bakery, Meridee’s. So cozy and cute.

Connected to the bakery was this amazing Mexican restaurant, Sol. The colors were delicious. Thanks, bartender, for letting us use your space!

Love, love, LOVE.

Caity, you’re killing me. Stop being so beautiful.

p.s. To all future clients: Don’t forget to drink your coffee before your session! :)

And, as always, don’t forget to CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE SLIDESHOW!

featuring one of my favorite Iron & Wine songs, “Love and Some Verses”