Annie Edson Taylor became the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel in 1901 — not out of a burning desire for fame, but because she couldn’t resist the photo opportunity. Good thing there’s an easier way for you to get breathtaking photos with our Fall Mini-Sessions. For only $75, just half the price of our on-location sessions, bring your family to serene Greenbelt Park, our historic State Capitol, or the peaceful pond at Greenwood Park for a 20-minute sitting with our talented owner/photographers. Use your Mini-Session for fall family portraits, children’s photography or even maternity and senior pictures. Enjoy big savings on special packages that include gift-sized prints, wall decor, holiday cards and digital images to share with family and friends on Facebook. The only risky thing about our Mini-Sessions are the probability of falling in love with your photos. Sessions are limited so call the studio to schedule today: 888.482.5735.

Mini-Session Dates and Locations

Dates and locations are subject to change*

We have had quite the busy summer traveling and creating senior pictures for next year’s graduating class so please forgive us for the long siesta our blog has taken. We’re excited about the upcoming Fall, cooler weather and a very exciting season we are planning for family portraits. In the mean time, we want to share some of our favorite senior pictures from this summer. We hope you like them.

In recognition of Central Iowa’s most caring women, Photojeania is donating professional portraits for all members of the United Way’s Women’s Leadership Connection.  All Women’s Leadership Connection members are cordially invited to a business portrait open house each morning between  December 13th and 15th.  Guests will receive a complimentary business photo shoot in our studio and a digital copy of your favorite image to use on your website, blog, business cards, e-mail or other media where having a strong professional image is essential.

Women’s Leadership Connection members at the Lead Woman giving level can take advantage of this opportunity to create or update their portraits to be published by the United Way next year in the Business Record and the Des Moines Register.

Directions to our Studio

See some of the business portraits from our last open house

Last week we did a photo shoot for My Vintage Baby in Des Moines in the East Village.  Little models (and even a Mom) dressed up in the coolest clothes you’ve ever seen and gave us their best urban attitudes.  We pumped up the color on these art prints to show off how cool these outfits are.  If you are looking for very hip and trendy kids clothing in Des Moines, look up local My Vintage Baby reps Heather Kooken and Mandy Ives. 

http://www.myvintagebaby.net/HeatherKooken/
http://www.myvintagebaby.net/MandyIves/

Curious what 7 year olds want for Christmas these days?  Ours wrote the book this week and it looks like she had a little help from Paris Hilton.  The good news is at least one little girl is still entertained by a classic game like Twister and something as simple as a yo-yo.  But it appears our Christmas Fund isn’t quite fat enough for the other 67 (yes 67) things on her list.  We can’t wait until she starts planning her wedding.  BTW – my favorite thing on her list is the “Rainbow with a Pot of Gold at the end”. What’s yours?

Our Open House for Business Professionals last week was a tremendous hit with our guests.  Over 40 business professionals from all over the Des Moines area came in for complimentary business portraits, coffee and treats. We enjoyed meeting so many new faces and re-connecting with our clients and friends.  Here are some of the business portraits we created.  We will definately be doing this again. 

We are excited to announce our open house for business professionals each morning November 8-12 from 9:00 AM to Noon at our studio in Urbandale.  Our guests will receive a complimentary professional headshot for use on your website, blog, business cards, LinkedIn, Facebook, or wherever having a strong professional image is essential.  We’ll be serving coffee and special treats each day so come and relax, enjoy some good company among friends and associates and take care of that professional headshot that has been eluding you all this time.  See you there.

We’re looking for young models ages 2-10 for this event.  My Vintage Baby is relatively new to our area and their clothes for kids are out of this world.  Great opportunity to see what they have to offer and get very nice pictures of your kiddos in the latest fashions all at a great savings.  Sessions are limited to call and schedule today at 888-482-5735.

Had a great time catching up with friends at a fundraiser for Governor Branstad on Wednesday.  The event was hosted by Bob and Jane Sturgeoon at their home in Urbandale and co-hosted by our friends Scott & Julie Cirksena and Dan & Toni Clute.   We’re grateful to Governor Branstad for offering his vast experience to lead Iowa through these challenging times and it was good to hear him speak with the guests.  He plans to restore fiscal discipline to our state in a thoughtful way with a five-year strategic plan for spending, create jobs and improve wages for all Iowans.  Election day is only a couple months away and we wish him the best of luck.  Our thanks go out to the hosts and especially the Sturgeons for having the event in their beautiful home.

While we were away this summer, our very creative and talented friends Victoria and Vince Gobel painted, decorated, organized and completely transformed our pretty boring play room into the coolest art room you’ve ever seen.  Victoria and Vince painted every inch of the room including the ceiling, murals on the walls, tables, chairs and a bookcase.  Every little detail was given a great deal of thought.  There is a custom designed cork board for hanging artwork, a hand-painted mat under the art table pre-dripped with paint, designs that the girls shouldn’t outgrow any time soon and a nicely organized worktable for the girls to make their polymer clay creations.  Victoria organized and consolidated the girls’ art supplies into nicely decorated baskets.  One basket must contain about ten pounds of crayons.  She even left room for us to place some of our artwork of the girls to finish off the room.  It is incredible and we couldn’t be happier.  We can’t thank you enough Victoria and Vince.

My first and favorite model is officially out of retirement.  Fearing overexposure she shunned the spotlight (dad’s camera) for several years.  On a good day I could get a snapshot of her sticking her toung out at me or hiding behind her hair.  Reverse psychology lured her into the studio from time to time, but she quickly became uncomfortable letting her guard down.  Now she’s back and better than ever – poised, confident and working it.  Her weakness, as it turns out, is she can be easily bribed with Webkinz and bubble gum.  Maddie had more Webkins animals than Lanie and that really stuck in her craw.  Now she actually seems to enjoy modeling and wants to do more.  And even better, Maddie is motivated to reclaim her top spot in the Webkinz pet race and is anxious to have her own photo shoots.  It’s looking like we might have a great holiday card with the girls this year after all.

Isabel certainly had herself a top-shelf birthday party at Glen Oaks Country Club in West Des Moines. Her Fancy Nancy party came complete with games, wonderful, food, pretty pink cup cakes, lots of fun and a limo ride to the water park for even more fun. We captured the fun at Glen Oaks and created a special birthday party album to remember the event.

click on corners to turn pages 

See more designer albums by Photojeania

Last week we photographed the Mancero family of West Des Moines for the Glen Oaks quarterly magazine “The Link”.  West End Architectural Salvage (http://www.westendarchsalvage.com/) was kind enough to provide us with an inspired location for their photo shoot.  Look for the Manceros member spotlight in the next edition of The Link.

OK, this next picture of Bella was created at Glen Oaks last year and then digitally hand painted. 
Yes, the ones and zeros actually fly out of our finger tips onto the canvas .  It’s one of our favorite paintings and definately worth re-posting.

We recently had the pleasure of co-hosting an open house with Liddy Loo and Mommy Too at our studio. Liddy Loo and Mommy Too is a unique, one of a kind clothing and accessory site for girls and their moms. They create outfits unique to each girl and have headbands, bows, flowers, hats, and handbags. They also make matching outfits for girls and their dolls as well as outfits for boys. Mandy Ives is Liddy Loo’s super-talented owner and designer and mom to my favorite little model Lydia. You’ve probably seen Lydia’s little red pig tails in previous posts.

The open house featured Liddy Loo’s new line of spring fashions. Mandy’s mom, Judy catered the affair with some really sweet treats and we photographed our young guests in the new fashions for Liddy Loo’s catalog.

Liddy Loo Too Owner and Designer Mandy Ives

Cheesekake Lollipops by Judy Allen.  What can I say other than Mandy gets more than her red hair from her mom.

Victoria makes matching buttons and accessories for Liddy Loo’s clothing.  She’s been making her own clothing since she learned to sew as a child. Now she’s teaching our daughter how to make clothing, including ceramic accessories the way she learned.  Needless to say Lanie is very excited and fortunate to have the opportunity.

Isaiah, Maddie and Lydia (Liddy Loo)

Our Little Models in Liddy Loo Too Designs