Maricopa Sunflowers

My dear sweet little nephew Jonathan and I took off on an adventure to find sunflowers. I had seen people on Facebook post that there were sunflowers in Maricopa. So I did some internet searching and figured out where they might be.

First Jon and I went to In N Out, because this growing boy is always a little hungry. Usually the In N Out near us doesn’t take too long, but oh boy was it a long wait this time, so we got on the road to Maricopa a little later than I wanted to.

We made it to Maricopa and then I just had to guess which direction to drive on Ralston Road, which is where I thought maybe the sunflower fields were located. I drove south and drove all the way to where Ralston Road ends, but we didn’t find any fields of sunflowers. We did however find orchards of pecan trees, and a super overgrown abandoned plant nursery with huge palm trees in rows (the place looked haunted in the waning light of the day - I wish badly that I could wander through it -all the coolest places have No Trespassing signs, those signs are the bane of photographers everywhere.) We came across the Maha Ganapati Temple and fields of corn surrounded by wild sunflowers - those smaller sunflowers that grow more like bushes. The wild sunflowers were a good find, and I could see going back to use them as a photography backdrop.

When we couldn’t find the sunflowers, I turned around and went north on Ralston Road and just a few minutes before the sun disappeared behind the Palo Verde Mountains, we found the thick jungle of sunflowers. There were a few other people there taking photos. Jonathan and I got out of the car and started exploring. He was so curious and I think he looks so cute wandering around the rows. I’m so glad it was a long summer day and the sun sets so late and that we found the flowers just in time! Jon really did not want to go back to the car after it was too dark to see very well. I’d love to go back and see the sunflowers before they are harvested.

When these sunflowers are in bloom again, I am thinking of taking photos here. If you would like a sunflower portrait session here with me, fill out this form and I will email you to let you know of session times.

Sparklers Portraits

Wendi and Rai came over to my house in Tempe, and I took photos of them with sparklers. I had hung up a seamless paper backdrop from Savage Universal against my garage. And over that I hung up rainbow streamers from Party City.

It felt like such a fun and festive thing to do just a few days before the 4th of July. It was so much fun to see Wendi and to meet her husband. Wendi is a midwife and Rai creates custom shoes, amongst other things. They frequently have music nights at their home in Tempe. I keep wanting to go, I have to really try to go next time a music night happens!

I feel like everyone should have photos of themselves with sparklers for the 4th of July.

Contact me if you want sparklers portraits!

Salt River Portraits

My sister and I photographed Nancy and Kevin and their daughter at the Salt River before they welcome their brand new baby. Nancy and her family live in our neighborhood, just a 5-10 minute walk away. I’m so glad we are neighbors!

The Salt River has always been one of my favorite places to go for all sorts of recreation - I love going stand up paddle boarding, getting to see the wild Salt River horses, going out there for picnics and just to sit by the water, I love tubing down the Salt River and I’ve been biking out there. My absolute favorite thing to do is to go out there and watch meteor showers. Darker skies = seeing more falling stars!

But something I’d never done, and been wanting to do for quite a while, was do a photo shoot at the Salt River. I’d love to do another one. Something we learned is that it’s pretty busy at the river, week days might be less crowded than a Sunday afternoon. I photoshopped a lot of people out of their images. I’d rather make it so that clients have a more peaceful experience and find a quieter time to go.

We met up at Phon D Sutton and then just before the sun set, we headed to Granite Reef. Phon D Sutton was beautiful, but I’d really like to go back to Granite Reef. I feel like it has a lot of potential.

Are you looking for a Salt River photographer? Let’s chat! Here’s where to find more info and message me!

Big sister to be!

To a little brother!

Justine's Family

Here are some of the family portraits I took for Justine and her family at Veterans Oasis Park in Chandler, Arizona. Veterans Oasis Park is a gorgeous location and a pretty perfect place for family photos - there’s a little of everything: meadow areas, cottonwood trees, lakes, picnic pavilions, a flowing spring with gorgeous desert trees, citrus and fruit trees, lots of paths to meander down, little cottontail rabbits all over the place. I highly recommend visiting this absolute gem of a park!

Justine is part of the group Desert Bloom Multiples - which describes itself as “an inclusive support group for parents and caregivers of multiples (twins, triplets, and higher order multiples). We accept and embrace members of every age, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and nationality.” The group is in the East Valley and welcomes anyone in the Valley/Phoenix metro area. They seem like an extremely fun group; they get together and do lots of activities! If I had twins, I would definitely join them so I could be a part of all their social activities!

I created mini sessions portraits for ten Desert Bloom Multiples families in one weekend in March. Justine and her family were my last family to photograph, so I had a little extra time with them at sunset and we were able to get a variety of photos in different locations.

I loved how these family portraits turned out!

Are you looking for a family photographer? Click here: Brenda Eden Photography for more info!

Or send me a message here:

Now I am going to add a carousel gallery of the photos, some from above, and some extra, just so that if you are reading this, you can see more of my work!