Pre-Prom Portraits in the Park 2008

The Charles Finney school, where I teach, recently held its prom. Some of my students wanted portraits beforehand, something that was different than the typical pictures you get at the prom. We decided the Maplewood Rose Garden was an ideal location, because of its variety.

Here are some of my favorites:


Will and Amelia:







Quentin and Dontrell:






Ethan and Crystal:






JD and Alex:






If you would like to see more prom portraits, please go to our Flickr page.


If you would like us to shoot portraits for you, please email us at perezsisters@gmail.com

Brad and Katie's Temple Sealing

We recently had the very distinct pleasure of doing a unique assignment for a lovely couple named Brad and Katie. Brad and Katie belong to the Church of the Latter Day Saints, and they were united in a Temple Sealing. Photographers are not allowed in the temple, but they wanted portraits of them and their family after the sealing, and of their reception afterwards.

I am a big fan of unique experiences, and I love doing things I have not done before. I had never been to the temple in Palmyra before, so I was in for a treat. The grounds are just beautiful, and we were lucky enough to have the rain hold out just long enough for us to get some great portraits of everyone.

Here is a small sampling of what we shot:


Brad and Katie walking out of the temple right after their ceremony:



I was very excited when I saw Katie's shoes - she got married in the exact same shoes I got married in!



Katie not only has fabulous taste in shoes, she has good taste in jewelry, too! She bought both a left and a right hand ring:



Brad and Katie had a lot of family and friends to share in their special day. We made sure to get a picture of all of them:





As with most wedding portraits, we took portraits of Brad and Katie's family and friends based on "sides" - all of the people on Brad's "side" were in the same pictures, and all of the people on Katie's "side" were in the same pictures. However, they had one friend who refused to pick a side - we was equally friends with both the bride and the groom. So he got his own special set of portraits:



Because of the amount of people in the formal portraits, it took quite some time to get through. Brad and Katie were very patient and gracious, and had a good time through the whole thing:



Both Brad and Katie looked happy and fantastic in their portraits:









The rain started to pour just as we hopped into our cars to make our way to the reception. Safely inside, everyone had a great time wishing Brad and Katie well on their new life together:









If you would like to see more from Brad and Katie's big day, please go to our Flickr page.

If you have a wedding, temple sealing, or other event you would like us to shoot, please email us at perezsisters@gmail.com

Tobias Encina Birth Announcement

In March, I blogged about a baby shower we shot for Rodney and Jami Encina. Well, I had the honor this week of doing announcements for the birth of Tobias Alejandro, their baby boy.

Since their theme has been Spring, growth and rebirth, I decided to go with a seed packet design. I created a Tobias Seed Packet, packaged the announcement like a small packet envelope, and actually put seeds inside.

Here is the front design:



And here is the back:




If you would like to use this design for your own birth announcements, or would like use to custom create a one-of-a-kind design for you, please email us email at perezsisters@gmail.com

Welcome Arayah and Caleb

A while ago I made mention of a very special adoption announcement. Gary and Lisa Passaro's adoption of Arayah and Caleb went through in February, and in March Gary went to Liberia to bring them home.

I was with Lisa at the airport at midnight to welcome them home. We had decided not to use any flash, figuring having grainy pictures was better than frightening or startling these after their long journey. Here is my favorite picture of their homecoming:



The Passaro family is overjoyed to announce their adoption of these two beautiful children, and we are honored that they chose use to design their announcement. Lisa had brought her camera with her one day when she took the kids to the park. She loved how happy they looked playing in the sun, and wanted to use them in the announcement.




If you would like Perez Sisters Photography to custom create a one-of-a-kind graphic design for you, please email us at perezsisters@gmail.com

PHOTO FLASHBACK**: the day the heavens poured open

The other day I was organizing some old photographs to archive, and I came across this photo. The day I took this photo, I had been wandering around with my camera, just wasting time shooting anything of interest I came across.

Suddenly and without any build-up whatsoever, these angry clouds came rolling in at an alarming rate, blocking out the sun in all but the small lines around each cloud. It literally looked like the sky was on fire. Rather than running for shelter from what was surely going to be a torrential rain storm, I took this picture. Such a shame I had black and white film.



**Photo Flashback Bonus: the first person who can tell me WHERE in Rochester this picture was taken wins a gift certificate worth 25% off any photo package. You can post a comment, or email us at perezsisters@gmail.com

**UPDATE** Congratulations to Jimmy, our Photo Flashback winner! He has won a gift certificate for 25% off a portrait sitting for his two daughters.

Thanks to everyone who emailed their guesses to us. Check our blog regularly for our next contest!

Rodney and Jami's Shower

Last weekend we shot a couple's baby shower for Rodney and Jami, a terrific couple who we have done quite a bit of graphic design for in the past. They have been trying for a baby for some time, so we were excited to finally be able to shoot their baby shower!

The shower had a spring theme, as spring is a time of growth and rebirth. The favors (that we designed the labels for) were little grow kits - strawberry seeds, a soil pellet (just add water!), and a tiny terra cotta pot to grow them in:





The most fun part of this shower was the onesie painting station. Each guest was invited to paint an original design on a onesie. Everyone really got into it and had a really fun time. And some of the designs were really good! Each onesie was hung up to dry and be admired:







All of Rodney and Jami's friends have been waiting for this baby along with them, so the gift table was piled high and everyone enjoyed opening all the great gifts:







Someone obviously was buying from experience:



Here Rodney is modeling the latest baby fashions:



It was a very special event, and we were honored to be a part of it. And in a couple of months, we'll be posting some very special baby portraits!


If you have an event you would like us to shoot, please email us at perezsisters@gmail.com

Que Bonita Bandera

We've had an exciting week, between baby showers and adoption announcements. But despite all the happy occasions we've shot this week, we got some mail that made us even happier.

This week we received our invitation to this summer's Rochester Puerto Rican Festival! Last year was our first year, and we had a blast. We met a lot of great people, took great pictures, ate great food, and listened to great music. We generally had an awesome weekend. We're looking forward to this year being even better!

Here are some of our favorite pictures with people wearing la bandera Puertorriqueña:

















If you would to see all of our photos from last year's festival, or if you would like to order additional prints of your photo, please go to our Flickr page.

SENIORS: Raised in a Barn?

One of my favorite times of year is senior portrait time. I really enjoy senior portraits because it allows us to be so expressive with our photos. We sit down and talk, and get to collaborate with our clients to come up with photos that tell a story about who the person is. That is a lot of fun for me. And we offer unlimited outfits and locations, which makes our senior portrait sessions even more personal.

Lately, we have had a lot of requests to shoot in, near, and around barns. Now we do not live in a rural area by any means. But we have had a long string of seniors who have wanted to shoot with a barn as their backdrop.

I like barns as much as the next urban person. But this was too many people showing an interest in barns for it just to be a coincidence. It seems like a conspiracy!

The truth is out there, and here are some cool barn senior portraits we've done lately. Enjoy!


Our senior model Mattie found a cool abandoned barn to shoot outside of:






Sara wanted to shoot all over her very impressive backyard, which included inside and outside her two barns:






Megan also had a great barn on her own property to shoot both exterior and interior shots:





Angela likes barns so much she decided to use two different barns on two different days for her senior portraits:









If you would like to see more of our senior portraits, please go to our Flickr page.

If you would like us to shoot your (or your child's) senior portraits, at a barn or any other location, please email us at perezsisters@gmail.com