Ali Girl Photography » Scottsdale Wedding and Portrait Photography

As my business has grown leaps and bounds in the last year I have decided to change the business name to be more in-line with my branding and who I am as a photographer.

Ali Girl Photography is now Suzanne Melissa Photography.

Same photographer…just a new name and website.  Please check out the new site for current work and pricing information.

Thank you!!

Meet Nate and Kelly!

For most engagement sessions it is my first time meeting the groom, but in Nate and Kelly’s case this was my first time meeting the bride and groom! Both live out-of-state and Kelly’s mom was actually the one that met with and hired me! After meeting Kelly’s mom and send e-mails back and forth with Kelly is was great to actually meet my clients!

We met a few days before Christmas while they were briefly in-town. For a couple that are planning a wedding out-of-state and throw in the holidays just a few days away they both were amazingly calm. Here are a few of my favorite images from the day.

I love the variety of pictures from the corn fields above to the row of trees below with their beautiful fall/winter colors.

Nate and Kelly it was great to finally meet you and I am looking forward to your wedding in May!

Meet Philip and Danelle!

I met Philip and Danelle several months ago at a Starbucks.  They were very nice and very thorough in their questions about hiring a wedding photographer.  At the end of the meeting they thanked me and said they had other photographers to interview and would be in touch. I assumed that I didn’t get the job.  To my happy surprise, several weeks later they e-mailed to say that they picked me!  Meeting perspective clients to document the most important day of their life is like hoping to be asked out for prom when you have already bought the dress!!

Philip and Danelle picked Papago Park for their engagement session.  This was the first time I shot here and I love the all of the images that we were able to capture.

We had lots of desert photo opportunities, but some of my favorite images were these few that we took in the parking lot.

After thoroughly exploring the parking lot we ventured over to the nearby fishing lake.

When I asked Danelle to sit on Philip’s lap they both almost ended up in the water!  Thankful they stayed dry and I kept shooting to capture these images.

It was getting close to sunset, so we were on the move to get  into position.  As we were walking along the park’s inner streets I snapped these shots.

A few more favorites before sunset.

If you follow my blog at all you might notice a pattern.   I LOVE sunset shots.   I am fascinated with the challenge of capturing the perfect sunset picture and all of the different options.  Sometimes the lighting and location is just perfect for silhouettes and sometimes it’s perfect for bright vivid shots like these.

Philip and Danelle I had a blast getting to know you and shooting your engagement session. You both are two of the nicest people I have had the pleasure of working with and I am so excited to photograph your wedding!

Meet Chris and Becky!

The end of the year has been a VERY busy time.  Not only professionally, but also on a personal level.  We have recently moved into a new house AND hosted Christmas dinner for our entire family.  Until two days ago, I had NEVER cooked a turkey! CRAZY!!

To say that I am behind on blogging is the understatement of the year! I have three engagement sessions and a new born session (with twins!) to share.   I will be blogging a lot this week, so be sure to stop by!

With all of that said-let’s get back to Chris and Becky! We met for their engagement session and Chris informed me right away that there would be no kissing. “It would just look fake” (per Chris).

Hmmm…any other rules you want to tell me about? Because I will just break them!

All kidding aside, Chris kept me and Becky laughing through their entire session. We had a lot of fun and captured some great pictures.

LOVE this picture!

The lighting and sunset during their session was amazing! Perfect for silhouette pictures…which I LOVE!

Note to other photographers: You can get great silhouette shots like those above and this one below.  Expose/meter for the sunset and your subjects (in this case Chris and Becky) will be dark.

Keep your expose the same and turn your flash on to manual mode.   Lower the flash power to about 1/4 or 1/3 and you will get your subjects exposed AND the sunset like these next two.

Chris and Becky I had a great time getting to know you at your engagement session and I am looking forward to your wedding. Note to Chris-there WILL be kissing! (Becky of course).

Meet Brad and April.

April contacted me a few months ago and asked me to take engagement pictures for them. They are getting married in South Dakota, but really wanted to take their engagement pictures here in Arizona. We met in Scottsdale on a cold overcast day, but Brad and April seriously couldn’t have been any nicer of a couple to work with! To top it off they were so sweet and cute with each other!

LOVE this image!!

Although I have done several engagement sessions at this location, we found this new little spot that I LOVE!!

April really wanted a few pictures in front of the LOVE statue, so these next two are for you April!

What I really enjoyed about photographing Brad and April is how at ease they were with each other. There were several times during the session that I could hear Brad whisper, “I love you” to April. So sweet…doesn’t that just melt your heart!

I think these might be my two favorite images from the day!

Meet Demar and Sarah!

These are two of the nicest and sweetest people I have met this year! Demar and Sarah are so down to earth and clearly enjoy each other’s company so much it made my job so easy to photograph them.  After spending the afternoon with them I am so excited to be apart of their wedding in March.

We started their engagement session at Glendale Westgate and as soon I saw these escalators I knew we had to start here.

I snapped these pictures as we walked around to find our next location.

I LOVE this yummy, glowee (is this a word??) yellow background!

With a quick change of clothes we headed over to our second location.  We took these next few images in a parking lot! This is the back wall of a building, but this goes to show you we can make great images anywhere! A totally awesome couple helps too!

If you haven’t noticed already, Sarah knows how to work the camera.  I am going to tag this post for “Tips for Clients”.  These next few pictures are great examples of how to work the camera with your eyes and your smile.  Tyra Banks talks about this all of the time and Sarah has it nailed!

This next image captures how every girl dreams that their guy will look at them. Sarah you have a great guy!

A few more of my favorite images from the day as the sun was fading.

Demar and Sarah you are an amazing couple and I am looking forward to photographing your wedding!

Seriously…how cute are these two!

I guess that I should mention that this is Cory and Shannon and they will be getting married in March 2010.  I got all wrapped up in their cuteness I forgot to introduce them!  We shot their engagement session at ASU last week.  Here are a few of my favorites.

This is a little spot that Cory and Shannon picked out.  They both used to work at the ASU bookstore and graduated from ASU so they knew the campus quite well.  This was like a tropical forest in the middle of ASU!

Cory LOVED this blue pot as soon as he spotted it.  So, this one is for you Cory.

I liked how the sun was hitting Shannon’s hair in this picture.

More cuteness.

The lighting that day was perfect for a few sun flare images.

The lighting was also perfect for black and white images.

Sun flare plus black and white…LOVE!

Cory and Shannon you were a blast to photograph and I can’t wait for your wedding!

I usually don’t do sneak peeks for engagement sessions, but these two are just too cute!  We shot their engagement session tonight at ASU!

This picture is nearly SOC (straight out of the camera). No, I’m not that good…they are just that cute!

Tomorrow’s Friday FAQ is going to be a long one, so be sure to check it out!

Meet Kandice and Nate!

We met at Sahuaro Ranch Park to shoot their engagement session and I think I might have a new favorite location!  There were so many places to shoot and the lighting was sweet!

I love this picture.  The red barn doors and the their sweet and sassy kiss…love it!

For some reason I just thought this picture was sweet.

A little trick of mine to help couples relax is to have them whisper into each others ear. It works like charm because inevitable someone always starts laughing.

And finally my absolute favorite from the day. You will notice that this one is also featured in my rotating slide show at the top of the blog.

Kandice and Nate I had a great time shooting your engagement session and I am looking forward to your wedding!

Friday FAQ a little early!

Today I shot Kandice and Nate’s engagement session and I thought this would be a perfect topic for Friday’s FAQ! So, today’s FAQ is, “Where to have your engagement session”.

The short answer is anywhere you want!

The long answer is that I can give you lots of ideas or you can choose a location that is special to you. If you like to golf, play tennis or have a special place that you always go for date night it’s great to incorporate these activities/places into your engagement sessions. Kara and Chris busted out their football jerseys for their session and I absolutely love these pictures!

If you need a little help with coming up with ideas here are a few favorites!

Yesterday we shot at Sahuaro Ranch Park in Glendale. There were lots of little spots to take pictures!

Downtown Scottsdale. The infamous LOVE statue is here, but that’s not all. Below are a few favorites from this location and you can see more here, here and here!

Tempe Town Lake offers lots of variety and is perfect for getting those sunset pictures. This is where Kristin and Ben had their pictures.

Since I graduated from ASU how could I not love shooting there! Love this cute little cottage on campus. Check out more pictures from ASU here and here.

An engagement sessions can really be anywhere! Your imagination is the limit, but if you need a little help hopefully this FAQ will help!

Also check out this post for “How to make the most of your engagement session”.