Megan Squires Photography » greater sacramento area photographer

senior season | folsom senior portrait photographer

Megan Squires — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 07:35:09 +0000

Four locations in two hours is my kind of session! And it’s even better when two of the locations are within walking distance of my studio. I had such a great time when Jared came by the studio last week for his senior portrait session. He was so laid back, has a great sense of style, and humored me and all of my ideas. He was an even better sport when we may have accidently set off an alarm at a nearby location when we bumped the door that I was hoping to use as our backdrop. Luckily the cops didn’t show up and we were able to get some great images during our session.

Thanks Jared! I had a great time at your shoot–I’ve got so many more images for your gallery. In the meantime, enjoy your sneak peek!

And 2011 graduating seniors, if you haven’t booked your session yet, be sure to contact me soon. It’s the beginning of senior portrait season and my calendar fills up quickly!

Introducing the BFF session | high school senior portraits

Megan Squires — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 04:27:08 +0000

Everything is better when shared with your best friend, so why should your senior portraits be any different? That’s why Megan Squires Photography is offering the “BFF Session” for a limited time. Why would it be a good idea to do a session with your best friend? Here are a few awesome reasons.

You have your biggest fan cheering you on. It’s just more comfortable to have your BFF around. Let’s face it, the first ten to fifteen minutes of any photography session can be awkward. It’s hard to totally relax and get in modeling mode, but with your best friend around to help calm your nerves, crack a joke, or remind you how beautiful you truly are, things just feel more natural.
You have your personal stylist at hand. Not sure what to wear? Having your BFF there to help advise in your wardrobe selection is a huge plus. She can give you that extra confidence you need to rock those red heels or wear that amazing dress.
She’ll actually save you money. Since you’re taking your senior portraits during the same two hour session, you’ll be saving big on your session fee. Instead of paying the $150 fee on your own, you’ll split it, so you’ll both be saving $75! (The BFF session has one session fee, but the digital packages will be ordered separately. Each girl or guy will have their own individual gallery of 20-25 images to select their pictures from).
It will be an experience you both will remember for years to come. Taking your senior portraits is a big deal. They represent who you are your final year in high school before you embark on one of the biggest journeys of your life. Sharing it with your best friend just makes it that more memorable.

The BFF session will only be offered for a limited time, so be sure to contact the studio to get your date on the calendar! And because a blog post just isn’t complete without a picture, here are a few recent ones from the amazing lighting workshop I attended this past weekend with Ali Hohn.

a night at the fair | folsom senior portait photography

Megan Squires — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 06:14:36 +0000

Another dream realized. A few weeks ago it was sunflowers and last week it was the California State Fair. I have wanted to do a photoshoot at the fair for a couple years now, but you definitely have to have the personality to rock a session in the middle of hundreds of bystanders. Luckily Katelyn, my senior spokesmodel for Oak Ridge High School was totally up for it.

I love the fair–it really has a little bit of everything. Gorgeous gardens. Yep, they’ve got that. Bright, bold colors. Oh yeah, in abundance. Crazy carnies? Of course. Adorable vendors who supply you with teeny, tiny guitars (are those ukuleles?) as props? Yeah, he was there. I felt like a kid in the candy store during this session. There was a brand new backdrop at every corner, so many pockets of gorgeous light. Oh yeah, and thousands of people. Literally…thousands.

But I’m loving the way these images turned out. You really would have no idea how crazy chaotic it was (Note to self: don’t schedule sessions on dollar ride night at the fair). Katelyn was gorgeous and up for anything and was so much fun to hang out with. And my mom even joined us as my assistant and schlepped my gear around all evening–thanks Mom! All in all it was a perfect night at the fair.

fields of sunflowers | folsom senior portrait photographer

Megan Squires — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 07:15:08 +0000

I have been dreaming of sunflower filled fields for two years now, and last week my dream became a reality. As many of you that are local know, Sacramento is home to acres and acres of golden fields during the summer months. However, these past years I’ve acted too late and always seemed to schedule a session right at the end of the short season. Not so this year. When I talked to Allie, my gorgeous senior spokemodel for Oakmont High School, I knew these fields would be a perfect fit for our session.

Allie and I drove down to Davis for her senior portraits and since we have similar outgoing personalities, I don’t think there was a single moment that one of us wasn’t talking. And I loved that she was up for anything. After driving around the sunflower field several times, we found the perfect spot and began shooting away, trying to avoid the hundreds of bees buzzing around us. In fact, I’m fairly certain that this first image was taken just after I told her that they were “more afraid of her than she was of them.” I just love how her personality shines through along with the cute little sunburst in the corner. This picture just makes me happy.

Allie–I have several more to edit–you are just gorgeous and see, I told you that you could rock the serious look. Fierce! I’m so glad to have you as a spokesmodel. I hope you had as much fun as I did at our shoot and that you love your images!

lists vs. bullet points | folsom portrait photographer

Megan Squires — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:21:04 +0000

I hate lists. I know, I know. All you Type-A personalities want to throw something at the computer screen right now. I do understand the sense of accomplishment that one feels after crossing things off of their “to-do” list, but I don’t get super excited about it. Maybe it’s because I overdid the whole list thing a few months back when I bought this cute little, bright colored set from Target that had four different notepads all for various types of list making. Grocery list. To Do List. Reminder List. To Buy List. (Which, if you ask me, could have been combined into two lists–aren’t grocery lists and “to buy” lists essentially the same thing? And “to do” and reminder? Is there really any difference between them?)

Anyways, the lists were in full force at the Squires household and you know what I found? Lists stress me out. They just remind me of how behind I am and how it seems like I may never catch up. So I just don’t enjoy lists.

But I do like bullet points. I like bullets because they usually announce something exciting instead of reminding me of all the things I need to get done. So, in an effort to keep this blog post full of sit on the edge of your seat excitement…

My brand spankin’ new boutique photography studio will be completed the last week of July and will be open for portraits late August (insert Megan doing a happy dance here). Stay tuned for my big Grand Opening announcement! It’s going to be amazing and I would love for everyone to come out for it!
I have selected the winner(s) for the Deserving Dad Contest. I felt so humbled as I read (through blurry eyes filled with tears) all of the nominations and wanted to thank everyone for sharing a little bit of their lives with me. I have emailed the winners, so check your email if you participated in the contest.
If you’re a mom who has a camera keep an eye on the blog over the next month. I’ll be conducting a class this fall at my studio that will teach you how to take fabulous pictures of your kiddos. Email me if you’d like to get on the interest list ahead of time.
A huge thank you to everyone who voted for me in the KCRA A-List contest back in May. I came in a close second and couldn’t be more thrilled! Thank you all for spreading the word and making me feel so loved.
And this doesn’t really need to be a bullet, but since I’m on a role, here are some images that never made it to the blog. A few months ago my extended family took a weekend trip to Napa and I was able to snap some images of my cousin and his beautiful girlfriend, Danielle.

firsts | sacramento newborn photography

Megan Squires — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 04:38:35 +0000

This weekend was a first for me. Little {J} was officially the first newborn to stay awake throughout his entire session. For three and a half hours we pulled out every trick in the book–the space heater, the noise machine, multiple feedings, snuggling, and cuddling, but he was just too excited for his first photoshoot. But there was also another first during our session. {J} has to be the first baby to not make so much as a peep. And with the fact that he was awake the whole time just goes to show what a happy, content baby he is. He was such an absolute doll throughout the whole thing and once we realized that he just really wanted to be awake, we went with it.

And I’m glad we did because we got lots of adorable, wide-eyed awake images. It’s usually really difficult to get eye contact with a newborn, but {J} was amazing and kept looking directly at the camera, which made my job so easy. And I just love how expressive his eyes are in these pictures.

reconnecting | folsom family photographer

Megan Squires — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 04:59:49 +0000

Not much will get me out of bed at 6:30 am. I am so lucky that both of my kids sleep in, because I tend to be quite a night owl and not much of a morning person. But I nearly jumped out of bed the morning of this shoot because I was so excited to photograph this beautiful family. Corinne is an old high school friend of mine and we reconnected through Facebook (don’t you just love Facebook for that?) this past year. Everything about this session was so much fun–the only thing I’m upset about is the fact that they live so far away because I know that {A} and my Jacob would be best buddies. Seriously, their personalities are so similar–it was like spending the morning with my own little guy. He was such a crack up!

And seriously–what a gorgeous family!

my style | folsom children’s photographer

Megan Squires — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 05:53:18 +0000

When I went to a workshop for professional photographers back in March, many of us got into a discussion about defining our style. How does a photographer discover their style? Is it the way they take their photos? Is it how they edit them? Is it how they pose their clients? Is it how they interact with their clients? Is it all of the above?

I know it’s a struggle for a lot of photographers to define their style, and once they find it, they often feel limited by it. I, for one, pretty easily define my style as bright, clean, and classic. I know that I want my pictures to be timeless, that’s why I don’t do a lot of textures or use lots of actions on my images. That’s just my personal preference. Don’t get me wrong–I love a good image with a grungy, texturized feel. I’ve just found that every time I try this style on my own, I end up preferring my original edit.

But lately I’ve been stretching myself–trying new things. I’m really loving distortion, especially when photographing children (glance up at the image of my sweet Abby in the orchard at the top of this blog and you’ll see what I mean). And I’ve enjoyed playing around with sunflare, too. And black and white images? I never used to like them. My style is all about bold, bright color, right? Well, done correctly, you can really achieve a bold and bright feel in a black and white image.

So when I was going through the images from this session of adorable Miss {A}, I knew that I wanted to try a few new things. I loved the haze that I was getting from the evening sun coming through the grasses and thought that these pictures would look great edited with a vintage feel. To me, they look like they could be pulled out of a Crewcuts ad with her adorable jumper and accessories. And I just love the black and white edits. Her dark hair and eyes contrast so beautifully against her creamy skin.

This session is one of my favorites not only because I had such a great time hanging out with {A}–who, by the way, came up to me out of the blue and hugged me–love that! But it’s also a favorite because of the emotion that the images convey. I love how they aren’t all just of {A} looking at the camera, posing, and smiling. I love the strands of hair on her face, I love her profile defined by the setting sun behind her, I love that they make you feel something when you look at them. And I love that I’ve given myself the creative freedom to try something new. Something to enhance my style. Something to help me grow as a photographer and as an artist.

dancer | folsom senior portrait photographer

Megan Squires — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 05:57:48 +0000

This session was so much fun! Think So You Think You Can Dance meets high school senior photoshoot. Although I honestly do enjoy every shoot, this one was just over the top, pure fun! When {L} and her mom contacted me to do {L’s} senior portraits and mentioned that she was a dancer I knew we would have a great time. {L} is so incredibly talented and it showed with every click of my camera. She was such a great sport–repeatedly jumping, twirling, and posing so I could capture all of her dance moves. And aside from being a beautiful dancer, she’s just gorgeous. Love those brown eyes!

{L}, I hope you love your sneak peek. Enjoy your final days as a high school senior and have a great graduation!

graduation | folsom senior photography

Megan Squires — Wed, 26 May 2010 05:01:19 +0000

I vividly remember all the craziness that was the last few weeks of senior year of high school. {M} is smack dab in the middle of it all right now–finishing up one journey and about to embark on another. I feel so privileged every time I am asked to document this time of life. And I couldn’t have asked for a more gorgeous model if I had hand picked her myself! {M} is just stunning and equally as fun to hang out with. I had a great time at our shoot at the capitol–I just love the blooming rose garden this time of year and think it complimented {M} and her style perfectly.

{M}, I hope you enjoy every minute left in your senior year! I’ll let you know as soon as your full gallery is up!