Review: Powder Blue Photography

Posted Nov 5 2011 by tabitha in  with 3 Comments

Review by Kelly Horsford – PDX mama and reader of all things PDX Kids Calendar

I had the pleasure of working with Missy Timko of Powder Blue Photography to capture the perfect holiday photo for our Christmas card … and that she did!

From beginning to end, working with Missy was easy. We started out exchanging some basic information by email, then discussed more important details over the phone. Missy was very kind, personable and enthusiastic as she asked about our family – asking about my girls ages and details about their personalities. She was also walked me through what to expect at the shoot, cost for services and some recommendations for what clothing would look best.

For the setting – we chose Mt. Tabor. It’s a meaningful place to our family because it’s close to our home and we spend a lot of time there. Missy was very familiar with the park and had many ideas of where to meet.

Scheduling the shoot around nap times and toddler schedules was surprisingly easy – and we agreed on a weekend morning. However, the day before the shoot – my whole family came down with colds! So we called Missy to let her know that we may need to play it by ear for the photo shoot the next day, and she happily suggested we reschedule to the following weekend – especially since no one looks good in photos when they’re goopy and coughing! I thought that was very kind and thoughtful of her, and I was most appreciative.

As the day of the shoot again approached, we watched the weather. Since it was an outdoor shoot we wanted to be sure we weren’t going to get poured on. We were lucky and the weather cooperated, so we packed up the family and headed to the top of Mt. Tabor. Meeting Missy in person was great – she and her assistant were both very personable and professional, and they had already scoped out some places with great lighting. Both my girls took to her quickly and were willing to do whatever she asked. We did a bunch of more posed family shots, then many that were more spontaneous and natural. She captured both of our girls beautifully as they played in the trees and with the leaves. She even brought bubbles, which was such a nice touch in the photos to see the girls blowing and chasing bubbles. Having these props in hand really helped to ensure the shoot was a positive experience, not only for my husband and me but also for my two daughters

Our photo shoot lasted about 45 minutes, which was actually less time than what I had planned for, but it ended up being just right – especially considering the attention span of my little ones. And Missy captured plenty of beautiful photos to choose from.

Our personal gallery of proofs was available for viewing in just 3 days, and Missy also did a sneak peek of the photo shoot for us to see on her blog. The photos were beautiful and it was hard to choose the ones we liked best. Since my goal for the shoot was to get a nice family photo for our holiday cards, we were excited to discover that Missy also specializes in custom-designed cards – and she had several holiday themed ones for us to choose from.

Overall, our experience with Powder Blue Photography was wonderful – from the personal attention to small, but important, details, to the flexibility in scheduling with a busy family, not to mention a true passion and talent for working with children. It’s clear that Missy loves what she does and her work speaks for itself.

Be sure to check out Missy’s Blog to see many examples of her beautiful photos, as well as her website where you can book your session to beautifully capture your family’s photos.

Kelly and her family received their photoshoot and images at no charge in order to write this review on behalf of PDX Kids Calendar

Tags: , , , , , Categories: 

  • Melissa Timko

    I had so much fun with Kelly & family, what a beautiful day at Mt. Tabor!  I was also very pleased with the photos from Intuit_Mama’s two-hour family session, which can be viewed here: http://powderbluephoto.com/blog/2011/11/family-portrait-in-the-studio-portland-family-photographer/  I digitally removed mom’s arm (not a simple task!!) that held up her adorable 4 month old baby, just because mom really wanted a photo of him that looked as though he was sitting up even though he was not quite there yet developmentally.  I spent a number of hours on this and other requests in CS5 and Lightroom, and I feel as though the resulting photos reflect my beautiful, crisp, focused, and fresh style, and how could you not fall in love with photos of that sweet little baby face?  Regardless, my work is guaranteed!

  • John Littrell

    I totally agree with Kelly, Missy has an amazing way with the little ones!  She took breathtaking pictures of our four month old daughter back in August 2011.  Missy wasn’t afraid to get down on the ground and really engage with our girl even making silly noises and funny faces to make her laugh.  And it worked!  I honestly dont know if I’ve ever seen my daughter smile the way she did for Missy.  I think she just understood something about newborns on an atomic mom level. 

    Now we have these beautiful pictures that capture the whole thing.  Seriously these pictures are absolutely priceless, there is something radiant and energetic about them that captures the essence of our new daughter. I was one of those people that really didn’t understand what is possible with high end photography but I get it now.  I am so glad we did this.  

    I was really surprised to read Inuit Mama’s comments below because my experience with Missy was so positive and the pictures came out so great.  So I went back to the powder blue website (www.powderbluephoto.com) to see if our eperience was a fluke.  All I saw was more thoughtful and crisp photos that were like the ones MIssy did for us.    

  • Anonymous

    How fortunate that your pictures turned out so fantastic! Much to our dismay, we did not have the same fantastic experience as you did. The proofs from our session reflect a child who is not engaged in the photographer and several, if not all, proofs were either out of focus or snapped from unflattering angles or both. Further, the photographer offered no direction. For the price we paid for a session that felt awkward as well as hurried and proofs that were hastily snapped and edited, we should have gone elsewhere. Needless to say, we chose not to purchase a single picture.