Baby milk bath sessions are coming back! | Arvada baby photographer

Babies grow and change so quickly during the first year of life. That tiny baby that was born just months ago is now playing, sitting, and maybe even crawling. My milestone sessions were designed specifically to capture important milestones like this. Each month I offer a slightly different milestone session theme to help you capture all the moments of the first year of your baby’s life.

This month’s baby milestone session is designed for babies 6-18 months. These baby milk bath sessions are perfect for any baby who is sitting well on their own and loves to play in the bath! I have 2 different themes for the bath sessions, the strawberry bath and the duckie sessions.

This month I am running a special on milk bath sessions in the Arvada studio space only! With your $99 booking fee you will receive 2 matted 5x7 images with the matching digital files. Additional images will be available for purchase after your session. To get more information and book contact me using the link below.

Jennifer Tavera is a Luxury family, maternity and newborn photographer in Denver Colorado who specializes in creating an experience that will make mom feel confortable, papered and beautiful so she will be excited to turn her portraits into art for her home. Sessions are available outdoors all over the Denver and Boulder area and studio sessions in the studio space in Arvada. Ready to start planning your dream session? Click below to schedule a call.

Jennifer

Wall art sizing guide | Denver Family Photographer

When I started working at the commercial portrait studio 15 years ago I sold prints and wall “enlargements”. In the one week of training, we received before starting as a photographer and “portrait artist” not one bit was about how to help our clients choose the best size of art for their home. Most of our clients came in, bought 8x10 prints, and likely went home and realized they were way too small for their space. After 9 years as a business owner, I started offering my clients wall art and studying interior design. While I still have so much to learn one thing I have learned is that there are rules to choosing the proper size wall art piece, especially if it is going to hang above a piece of furniture. So today I am sharing those “secrets” with all of you.

You may be reading this because you are a current client of mine, or looking to hire a photographer, or maybe you stumbled across this trying to decide what size painting to hang above your couch. Either way, whether you come to have your portrait taken in my Arvada photography studio or a beautiful outdoor location in the Colorado mountains and allow me to design your art for you or you just need to find the right size for the landscape print you are ordering the rules are the same.

The Basics

If you are planning on hanging your portrait or gallery wall centered above a piece of furniture like a table, bed, or couch you will want the image to be 50-75% of the size of the piece of furniture. The same rule applies if you are using a gallery wall, you will want to space the images 1-4 inches apart and have the full set be no more than 75% as wide as the furniture below it.

There are two different rules for how high to hang your images. The rule for hanging above furniture is 6-12” inches above the furniture piece however the general rule is at eye level. Here is how I handle these two sometimes contradicting rules:

For a low piece of furniture that is well below eye level, hang the images at eye level. In the image above it appears that the table is fairly low so when I created this sample I “hung” the images at what I believed to be approximately eye level. You could put something decorative on top of the table (maybe candle sets on either side?) to give the table some height and then hang the art 6 inches above the top of the decorations if you wanted to try and follow both rules.

For higher furniture pieces, go with the 6 images above to hang as close to every level as possible.

And in the case you have small children who may touch your art, either choose a durable option such as canvas or hang just out of reach of your little one!

Choosing the proper size for above a bed

This is a quick “cheat sheet” for creating art galleries above your bed based on the size of the bed.

The program I use to show my clients their art, which is also what I use to create these sample galleries, shows me the total width of the full gallery set so that I can make sure I create the correct size for your home. So having a cheat sheet to check those numbers against is really helpful to make sure that when it arrives it will fit perfectly like this set that I created for a client last fall.

Sizing “cheat sheet”

If you are hanging your art above the headboard choose this size for the best fit:

Twin bed- 22-30” inch art

Full bed - 30-40” art

Queen bed - 34-45” art

King bed - 42-56” art

Crib (above the long side) - 30-40”

Hopefully this gives you a start in choosing the correct size. I would love to design portrait art that fits perfectly into your space. When I plan your session with you and create your art I take into account the colors and design style of your space as well to make sure your art looks at home in your space! Ready to get started? Click below to schedule a call and get all of the information about your session!

Jennifer Tavera is a Luxury family, maternity, and newborn photographer in Denver Colorado who specializes in creating an experience that will make mom feel comfortable, papered, and beautiful so she will be excited to turn her portraits into art for her home. Sessions are available outdoors all over the Denver and Boulder area and studio sessions in the studio space in Arvada. Ready to start planning your dream session? Click below to schedule a call.

Jennifer

Studio Christmas sessions | Arvada Colorado Portrait Studio

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Truth Photography!

I was so honored to be able to celebrate with families in a new way this year with studio sessions in the Arvada photo studio located off of 80th and Wadsworth. The studio was beautifully decorated for the Holidays including this beautiful bed set. This was one of a couple of holiday sets that were available. I am so excited to be sharing this gorgeous space with two other photographers over the next few months and hopefully beyond!

Here are some of my favorite images from family and milestone baby sessions in the studio last month. I will be offering this space for newborn, baby, kids and cake smash sessions as well as the occasional family or maternity shoot. Each season there will be a limited edition holiday set as well as staples like the bed and couch areas perfect for newborn family shots, milestone sessions and kids portraits. To see more of the studio visit my last blog post using the button below.

This bed has already been redecorated for spring and summer sessions! We also have the Valentines set ready for sessions in January and February so contact me today to book you spot!

Jennifer Tavera is a Luxury family, maternity and newborn photographer in Denver Colorado who specializes in creating an experience that will make mom feel confortable, papered and beautiful so she will be excited to turn her portraits into art for her home. Sessions are available outdoors all over the Denver and Boulder area and studio sessions in the studio space in Arvada. Ready to start planning your dream session? Click below to schedule a call

Jennifer

Eliana pink and gold first birthday {Denver Cake Smash Photographer}

I get this excited for the cake too! Isn’t little Eliana smile precious here! I had so much fun photographing this precious girl!

Every baby treats the cake smash differently, most take forever to even try the cake. Some babies get excited about the cake right away and then quickly lose interest, either way, I can get adorable portraits.

Eliana took awhile to get excited about the cake and didn’t make as big of a mess as some babies BUT she gave the most precious smiles and beautiful expressions. The photos from her session are absolutely precious, so cure in fact that I had a hard time narrowing down which to show in this blog. So, here are all of my favorites!

Deluxe gallery (Click the image to view my featured gallery options)

Cake by Cherry on Top Bakery Inc

I would love to plan a cake smash session for your baby. Set up a free consultation to discuss your theme and all of the session details.

I'm Jennifer Tavera.

A family photographer and portrait gallery designer in the North Denver Colorado area.

I help moms capture the moments and milestones that matter and turn then into beautiful art to hang in their home.

Learn more about me and my photography style:

Why professional photo printing is important {Denver Photographer}

All of my clients receive both printed portraits AND digital files. I often get asked why I don’t just give my clients the digital files and let them print them. There are several reasons why I chose to give a printed product, if you haven’t read my blog post “how one family changed the way I do business” then go read that for one of the biggest reasons, another huge reason is quality. If you had your images printed at a store that also sold food and cosmetics, you did not get a professional quality print. The same applies if you printed at a discount online printer. These printers are only a small step up from printing on your home printer.

So what is the difference between a professional quality print and those done by these discount printers?

1. Color

Professional photographers work on color calibrated computers. If you have never calibrated your personal computer and are unfamiliar with what that means it basically means that we have set our computers to make sure it isn’t too light, dark, green red, warm (yellow), or cool (blue). Then as a professional, I hand edit each photo to make sure that the color balance of that image is perfect. I want to create a work of art, not just another photo. After all that work the last thing I want is for you to get get a cheap print that makes your skin look too grey, green, yellow or blue. Unfortunately, these cheaper printing labs can be hit and miss with color and often are not true in color to the original edit. The person printing your images is often not a professional photographer or printer and does not have a trained eye. They also typically have little control over the machine they are printing from beyond loading it with new paper when it runs out.

Professional photo lab employees are trained to color correct images that do not match the edited image that they receive. And when you order through me you have an extra line of defense from discolored images since I check each image before delivering it to my clients.

2. Images that last

These consumer labs are also not focused on images that last a long time. They print the snapshots from your phone and your 10-year-olds camera and their focus is to do this for you at the lowest cost possible NOT on printing photos that you can hand down for generations. Their images often fade or become discolored after a few short years.

Professional quality print labs such as the ones that I order through for my clients are focused on a product that is high quality and lasts. From matted prints to canvas wraps to wood prints all of the products I offer come from a professional heirloom/museum quality lab that uses only the best products such as professional-grade paper, ink, and printers to create your finished images.

When you invest in images through me I can ensure that you receive a product that will last longer and look better hanging in your home. You will still receive the digital files for sharing online, creating fun photo gifts or cards, and even making additional prints to send out to your family, but, you will also have high-quality images that I know you will love!

If you have more questions about a session with me I would love to chat! Contact me or set up a time to chat about your session.

I'm Jennifer Tavera.

A family photographer and portrait gallery designer in the North Denver Colorado area.

I help moms capture the moments and milestones that matter and turn then into beautiful art to hang in their home.

Learn more about me and a session with Truth Photography below.

My favorite images of 2020 {Northglenn, CO photographer}

With fewer than usual shoots in 2020, I thought doing a favorite image of 2020 post would be easy. But, as I look back through the images taken this year I realize choosing favorites is like trying to choose a favorite child. But, I have already started this post and so I am committing. Here are some of my favorite images taken in 2020, separated by category.

Favorite Maternity photos

Newborn Images

Family Portraits

Couples

Kids Portraits

Headshots

I wanted to take this moment to say THANK YOU to all of the amazing clients who supported my business in 2020. This year was not at all what we expected, and you trusted me in the middle of all of this to capture portraits of you and your family and that means the world to me! I look forward to many more shoots in 2021 and beyond!

Interested in more information about a session with me? Click the contact me button to book a free consolation call!

My name is Jennifer Tavera, I am one of North Denver's premier high end photographers. In 2020 I celebrated 13 years as a professional portrait photographer. I got my start back in 2007 working at a children's portrait studio, that, combine with 10 years experience raising my own 5 children means I am ready for just about anything when photographing your kids and I know how to make even the most stubborn kids laugh. I am often told by my clients that I am the only one who has ever taken a photo of them that they love. I attribute this to my superpower of knowing how to get you to relax in front of the camera.

I am passionate about capturing motherhood in all of it's stages and helping you celebrate your life through ready to hang heirloom portraits wall art. I want to take your favorite family photo. Contact me to book a free no-obligation consultation to plan your perfect portrait session.

10 tips for your cake smash! {Northglenn Baby Photographer}

Nothing is cuter than a baby covered in food, especially if that food is a Birthday cake! Cake smash sessions have become a huge tradition for first birthdays but they can take a lot of planning. I plan these sessions with my clients at the consultation call to make your session easy and so that everything is planned before you even put down your session fee so you can book in confidence. Even though I walk my clients through every step of these sessions I wanted to take this opportunity to give you a sneak peek into the process and the quality you will get doing your cake smash session with me. So here are 10 tips that I use to plan beautiful cake smash sessions for my clients.

1. Get your cake from a professional baker.

And when I say professional I don’t mean your local grocery store. There are 2 things that are VERY important when it come to the cake. #1 that it is not placed on plastic packaging that cannot be removed. There is nothing uglier than having a plastic bottom below your cake in an otherwise beautifully styled cake smash session. #2 The decorations need to be on the side. I remember early in my career there were several times when my clients provided the cake and it was plain white on the side which is all you see in at least 70% of cake smash images. Unless I shot all the photos from above you never saw the decor. This is why I have partnered with Cherry on top Bakery to provide the cakes for your session included in your session fee. She will custom design a beautiful cake to match the decor we have planned for your session.

2. Choose a theme

No, you don’t have to go all out with Elmo or Moana, but your session needs some kind of theme to give it a cohesive look. Your theme can be as simple as “pink and gold” or “nature-inspired” or more complicated like “unicorns” or “airplanes” but either way have a theme. Most moms will choose the theme of their babies party for the cake smash as well so if you are not sure that might be a great place to start. If you are not sure I will help you choose one during your consultation.

3. Choose a great location

The thing you want to consider is indoor or outdoor. Both have their advantage and disadvantage and in winter one is obviously going to be a better choice. For indoor, I can come to your home or you can come to mine. I will need a well-lit space with plenty of room and hardwood floors are best. For outdoor sessions, while I typically love locations with tall grass but for a cake smash, these locations don’t work well. During your consultation, we will discuss the best locations for a cake smash.

4. Give your baby cake before the session

The babies that really smash into their cake have had cake at least once before. even if it is just a tiny piece the week before I recommend letting them have cake before the smash.

5. Plan a minimum of 90 minutes

On average I spend about 90 minutes for setup, shooting, and clean up for a cake smash session. This includes about 45 minutes of shooting traditional portraits (No cake) 15-20 minutes shooting the cake smash and time to set up and clean up the session. Expect to spend a minimum of 90 minutes getting these images.

6. Don’t shoot your cake smash at their birthday party

I prefer cake smashes to be a separate session so we can just focus on amazing images of your child. Every once in awhile I am asked to come to shoot cake smash images at a child’s birthday party. I am going, to be honest, this is not ideal. There are too many people, too many distractions, rarely enough room for me to move, and get the angles I would like and I have little control over the setting and lighting. It’s best to plan a separate cake smash session and then another cake for the day of their party.

7. Ditch the high chair

Should you decide not to do a separate cake smash session and have them done at your child’s party, please ditch the high chair. Those high chair decoration kits from Etsy really don’t make the high chair less ugly. The best sessions are ones where the baby is sitting on the ground surrounded by the decorations with the cake In front of them. Choose a well-lit area that has plenty of space around it to set up.

8. Don’t rush baby

Cake smash images are deceiving, it always looks like the baby sat down and smashed up a cake in about 2-3 minutes. It normally takes most babies 10 minutes to even start to get messy. Don’t worry that is normal, let them take their time.

9. Come prepared for a mess

Don’t forget to pack a change of clothes, baby wipes, a wet washcloth in a ziplock bag, a towel to dry the baby off. Seriously they are going to get messy, bring all of the things.

10. Have fun with it

These photos aren’t about the perfect posed portrait, your baby is going to sit and eat the cake gingerly, barely look up, maybe cry, hopefully, get messy and eventually try to wander off. Don’t stress it, these are all about capturing something real. Sometimes baby dumps the cake and plays in it and sometimes they eat it gingerly with 2 fingers the whole time like a little prince or princess. Both are adorable and show their personality and either way, the portrait is going to be adorable hanging in your home! Let them be themselves and just enjoy the process along the way.

Sign up to join the birthday club and your child will get a free Monday Milestone session during their birthday month OR $100 off a cake smash session!

My name is Jennifer Tavera, I am one of North Denver's premier high end photographers. In 2020 I celebrated 13 years as a professional portrait photographer. I got my start back in 2007 working at a children's portrait studio, that, combine with 10 years experience raising my own 5 children means I am ready for just about anything when photographing your kids and I know how to make even the most stubborn kids laugh. I am often told by my clients that I am the only one who has ever taken a photo of them that they love. I attribute this to my superpower of knowing how to get you to relax in front of the camera.

I am passionate about capturing motherhood in all of it's stages and helping you celebrate your life through ready to hang heirloom portraits wall art. I want to take your favorite family photo. Contact me to book a free no-obligation consultation to plan your perfect portrait session.

You should do this every year for your child's birthday! {Denver Kids Photography}

Birthday’s in my house are a big deal. As a December baby who never had more than a few good friends at a time birthday parties when I was a kid were rare. It was hard being so close to the holidays and since I didn’t have a million friends to invite my chances of getting more than one kid, typically my best friend, to even show to a party was rare. So when my first born joined this earth the day before my birthday and 6 days before Christmas I swore that he would never go without a party, even if that party was our family and a few really good friends.

There is only one birthday tradition in our family that is more sacred than the birthday party, and that is the birthday portrait. Portraits of me that were not taken at school were more rare than birthday parties and lets face it that assembly line photography done on school portrait day does not typically show your best side. So every year, at very least once a year but typically a few times, my kids get a new portrait. Sometimes they are just traditional portraits, and sometimes they are birthday themed with balloons and decorations, and sometimes I go crazy and plan a shoot around their birthday party theme like this mermaid shoot I did for my 6 year old’s birthday session, it doesn’t matter much the type of portraits so much as documenting their lives as they grow and change.

The Birthday Club!

Monday Milestones

I launched my Monday Milestone sessions because I wanted to make it easy for families to have new images of their child captured every year. Like my children’s birthday sessions I offer traditional portraits, seasonal themes, customized birthday shoots and more to make your session special. Now I want to make it even easier to get those portraits taken for your child’s birthday!

Introducing the birthday club! Every year for your child’s birthday I will send them a birthday gift! In 2021 that gift will be a free Monday Milestone session! You birthday coupon code will trade in your $100 Monday Milestone session fee for a $50 deposit and session retainer that can be used towards your prints, a total of $100 in savings.

Get signed up now!

My name is Jennifer Tavera, I am one of North Denver's premier high end photographers. In 2020 I celebrated 13 years as a professional portrait photographer. I got my start back in 2007 working at a children's portrait studio, that, combine with 10 years experience raising my own 5 children means I am ready for just about anything when photographing your kids and I know how to make even the most stubborn kids laugh. I am often told by my clients that I am the only one who has ever taken a photo of them that they love. I attribute this to my superpower of knowing how to get you to relax in front of the camera.

I am passionate about capturing motherhood in all of it's stages and helping you celebrate your life through ready to hang heirloom portraits wall art. I want to take your favorite family photo. Contact me to book a free no-obligation consultation to plan your perfect portrait session.

Celebrate your child's milestones {Denver mini sessions}

My almost 11 year old son was born yesterday…while I know this statement isn’t true, sometimes it sure seems like it is. How many moms can relate? It seems like just yesterday he was a little toddler stealing our kittens ball to put in his toys or singing along to every word of the song on his toy piano “Is there anything more fun than playin the pianna, howd about, howd about playin with some fwiends!” he hates it when we sing that to him and would probably be mortified that I am telling this story, but the point is, as you have heard a million times and know is true as a parent, it just flies by so quickly and one day not too far in the future you are going to realize that your now infant is closer to moving out that he is to the date he was born.

One thing I will always be thankful for is all of the quality images I have on my children at these young ages. One thing I have always wanted to do in my business is be able to provide this same gift to my clients and so I asked myself how to I create sessions that are affordable enough for clients to book several times a year or even monthly for growing babies while still creating a sustainable business model where I don’t have to overwork myself with editing or take away the weekend session slots that keep me in business. And from the question Monday Milestones was born.

Monday Milestone sessions are designed to preserve the Milestones like first smiling portraits around 3 months, 6 month “sitter” portraits, 9 month standing images, birthday shoots, religious celebrations, school portraits, tween and teen images and more.

I addition to themed or seasonal shoots each month I have create your own days specifically designed for whatever occasion you want to celebrate.

Because these sessions are on a weekday preserving my weekends for full sessions I am able to offer them at a lower cost without needing to take so many each dat that I can’t serve each client well. While these 5 pose sessions typically only take 10-15 minutes I have reserved a 30 minute slot for each client and I am only booking 3 sessions each day to make sure that I am not stressed and exhausted by the final session. I want each client who books one of these sessions with me to get my very best work.

In addition, I am still helping these clients create beautiful custom wall art from their session with a selection and design appointment via zoom video chat 1-2 weeks after their session. This allows me to give the same service that my full session clients receive without the added time commitment for me to travel to your home.

The great thing about these sessions is the session fee is only $100 and prints start and only $30 and include a matching digital file. There is also no minimum purchase so you only purchase the images that you love from the session! Interested in setting up one of these sessions for your child? Visit my Milestone mini session page where you can view all of the details and pricing, this months shoot themes and locations, and reserve your session time.

Want a weekly update email with this months openings and other specials and events? Sign up below.

My name is Jennifer Tavera, I am one of North Denver's premier high end photographers. In 2020 I celebrated 13 years as a professional portrait photographer. I got my start back in 2007 working at a children's portrait studio, that, combine with 10 years experience raising my own 5 children means I am ready for just about anything when photographing your kids and I know how to make even the most stubborn kids laugh. I am often told by my clients that I am the only one who has ever taken a photo of them that they love. I attribute this to my superpower of knowing how to get you to relax in front of the camera.

I am passionate about capturing motherhood in all of it's stages and helping you celebrate your life through ready to hang heirloom portraits wall art. I want to take your favorite family photo. Contact me to book a free no-obligation consultation to plan your perfect portrait session.

The best cakes in town, Cherry on Top Bakery Inc. {Thornton Cake Smash Photographer}

These cakes are fantastic! Seriously, I don’t work with or highlight other businesses very often because I feel like anyone I recommend to you needs to be someone I have worked with at least a few different times and that I know offers an exceptional product or service. The last time I recommended a business to you all was over a year ago when I wrote a blog post about Music With Mar but, I have been working with an amazing local baker to offer cakes for my cake smash sessions and she is so great I have to tell you all about her in case you need goodies for other special occasions!

Cherry on Top Bakery

Tarra, the owner of Cherry on Top Bakery off of Hwy 7 and I-25 in Thornton has been so amazing to work with! I first met her around 2 years ago when I had the pleasure of photographing her son at my baby flower field sessions. Last year I reached out to her to see if she would be interested in providing some treats and coupons for goodie bags for an event I was doing and when she dropped them off at my home she was sweet enough to include a box of cookies for my family!

This spring I needed something special for my husband’s birthday during the lockdown and noticed some Groot (From Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy) cookies that she had made for one of her customers. My husband LOVES Groot and I know I had to order him some. They were so perfect and delicious I was hooked!

When Tarra announced that she was opening a bakery location in Thornton and had some room to hang images for local artists on her walls I knew I wanted to partner with her and luckily she was excited about the idea too!

I was so excited to hang one of my cake smash images, featuring one of the beautiful cakes she made me, in her bakery last month! Make sure to drop by and check it out and pick up a ready-made treat (or breakfast on the weekends) while you are there!

Cherry on Top bakery

16607 Washington Street
Thornton, 80023, US

She also has a Halloween event coming up as well as Halloween cookie kits that you can pick up and make at home! Find out more on her website! https://www.cherryontopbakeryco.com/

Check out these images from my son’s cake smash session! she made that duck from fondant for his ducky themed cake!

I am now offering a free 6-inch smash cake for your cake smash session custom designed for you by Tarra to match your theme!

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My name is Jennifer Tavera, I am one of North Denver's premier high end photographers. In 2020 I celebrated 13 years as a professional portrait photographer. I got my start back in 2007 working at a children's portrait studio, that, combine with 10 years experience raising my own 5 children means I am ready for just about anything when photographing your kids and I know how to make even the most stubborn kids laugh. I am often told by my clients that I am the only one who has ever taken a photo of them that they love. I attribute this to my superpower of knowing how to get you to relax in front of the camera.

I am passionate about capturing motherhood in all of it's stages and helping you celebrate your life through ready to hang heirloom portraits wall art. I want to take your favorite family photo. Contact me to book a free no-obligation consultation to plan your perfect portrait session.

Client Spotlight:The Stone family's winter session {Boulder Family Photographer}

I had the honor of first meeting Jackie and her family just over a year ago. They found out about me through an awesome local organization called Love for Lily. Love for Lily is a support group for parents with children in the NICU and also offers grants to a few NICU families in need each year (learn more at https://www.lflnicu.org/). To raise money each year they do a fundraiser and a friend of mine who worked with the organization asked me if I would be willing to donate a session to their silent auction. The Stone family where the lucky bidders to receive the gift certificate that I donated and I have since had the honor of photographing their son twice and now the whole family!

I was so excited to finally get to photograph the whole family in November at one of my favorite spots out in Boulder and while we had hoped for warm weather for their session the little bit of lingering snow the day of their session wound up being so perfect! The old Doran barn, tall grass, mountains, and snow all worked together for the perfect look for the portraits and the colors Jackie chose for their clothing were perfect with the colors of the barn!

Their son Jackson was so excited to play in the snow and throw snowballs at his parents! Isn’t he just the cutest!! (I may have a bit of a soft spot for toddler aged boys!)

Here are some of my favorite images from their session. If you are interested in a session at this spot or any other Denver or Boulder location scroll down and fill out my contact form for more information.

Get more information on a session:

My name is Jennifer Tavera, owner, photographer and gallery designer for Truth Photography LLC. I have created beautiful custom portraiture for my clients here in the Denver and Boulder Colorado areas for the past 12 years! I specialize in growing families including children, maternity, and newborn. I love what I do and I cannot wait to share my passion with all of you.

As a busy mom myself, I understand that you need a photographer who will go the extra mile to help you with every aspect of creating cherished imagery of your family.

I would love to become YOUR family photographer and can't wait for us to get to know each other better!

Standley Lake Regional Park, Westminster Colorado {Westminster Maternity Photographer}

Standley lake is a beautiful location with the mountain views, gorgeous lake and occasional wildflowers. It is a great spot for mountain views if you are not up for a trip into the mountains. Here is a little more information about a session at this location.

Best time of year for this location:

This location is beautiful year-round however the winds here can get very chilly in the winter. If you are choosing this location for a winter shoot it is a good idea to have a backup location. Because of the open fields and lake the winds tend to be worse at this location than at other spots, but if you can catch it on a day with low winds this location is gorgeous for photos!

Best time of day for this location:

Sunset!! I know what you are thinking, that seems to be my answer for every location. Yes it is but with this location because of the lack of shade I shoot here exclusively at sunset.

Parking:

There are several spots to park around the lake to park, some paid and some free, I typically use one of the two free parking lots which are a little further from the lake but both have some great spots near the parking as well as access to the lake if we want to get closer. If you select this location we will agree on a spot to park before your session date.

Other info for this location:

On hazy of cloudy days the mountains are not always visible. If you have your heart set on a mountain backdrop I recommend getting a little closer to the mountains for better visibility however this spot does have more than the mountains going for it so either way I can capture beautiful portraits here.

Get more information on a session at this location or any of the beautiful locations in Denver, Boulder or the surrounding mountains by downloading my session planning guide! Fill out the form below for instant access to the guide!

My name is Jennifer Tavera, owner, photographer and gallery designer for Truth Photography LLC. I have created beautiful custom portraiture for my clients here in the Denver and Boulder Colorado areas for the past 13 years! I specialize in growing families including children, maternity, and newborn. I love what I do and I cannot wait to share my passion with all of you.

As a busy mom myself, I understand that you need a photographer who will go the extra mile to help you with every aspect of creating cherished imagery of your family.

I would love to become YOUR family photographer and can't wait for us to get to know each other better!

Lillie {Westminster Colorado Family Photographer}

I photographed my first Gus Gift session last month. I can already tell that the greatest blessing to this program is going to be meeting these amazing families, these amazing women who have gone through the unimaginable and stayed strong for their families and who came out of these experiences as stronger people.

For those of you who are not yet familiar with the Gus Gift, it is a program for families who are facing the loss of a child or who have a child who has overcome a life-threatening illness or condition. I hope to bless families who have children with cancer, conditions like Trisomy 13 and 18, who have been in a life-threatening accident or who were born dangerously premature or with a life-threatening condition. I am currently donating a session and digital files every quarter to one of these families as well as giving them a print credit equal to 15% of print sales from the previous quarter. I hope to eventually grow my business to have enough revenue to bless a family with this gift every month so please help me get the word out about my business and this program to help me meet that vision and goal!

In the meantime, I'd love to tell you about this beautiful family who was my first Gus' Gift recipient.

Meet Lillie, she is about to turn two years old. She was born on October 21, 2017, at only 25 weeks gestation via emergency c section. Her mother, Kelli, had what is known as HELLP syndrome which had caused her organs to begin to shut down. At birth Lillie only weighed 1lb 4oz and was just 8.5 inches long.

Having a child born this early, and this small is scary enough in itself but in addition to her early birth on her first day of life, Lillie developed a hole in her lung and had to have a chest tube placed.

Lillie was 12 days old before her parents were able to hold her. She spent the first 4 and a half months of her life, a total of 133 days in the NICU.

She came home on March 3rd, 2018, a month past her original due date and still on oxygen. Then in June of 2018, she stopped eating and was throwing up constantly. They had to return to the hospital for surgery to have a gtube, a feeding tube through her belly, placed. Lillie is still fed through the gtube for now but has come such a long way since her birth! I hope to have the honor to continue to see her grow as I have no doubt this little miracle is destined for great things!

I am also so inspired by Kelli her mother, despite all of the challenges of raising a young child who has additional medical needs she graduated on May 18th, 2019 with an MA in mental health counseling! I asked Kelli what one thing she would want to tell mothers at the beginning of their NICU journey and this is what she said: “It is going to be hard, possibly one of the hardest things you've ever been through. Find a way to take care of yourself. That might be taking a day away from the NICU occasionally, going to therapy, having a weekly coffee date with another mom in the NICU or a friend, or even going back to work while your baby is in the NICU.”

I am so honored to have been able to photograph this beautiful little girl and her family and to tell a little bit of their story!

If you know a family who has a child with a life-threatening illness or condition and would like to learn more about the Gus' Gift program and nominate that family please visit www.truth-photography.com/nominate

To help support this program by booking your own photo session please contact me below:

My name is Jennifer Tavera, owner, photographer and gallery designer for Truth Photography LLC. I have created beautiful custom portraiture for my clients here in the Denver and Boulder Colorado areas for the past 12 years! I specialize in growing families including children, maternity, and newborn. I love what I do and I cannot wait to share my passion with all of you.

As a busy mom myself, I understand that you need a photographer who will go the extra mile to help you with every aspect of creating cherished imagery of your family.

I would love to become YOUR family photographer and can't wait for us to get to know each other better!

Model Squad Highlight baby Ellie {Northglenn CO Children's photographer}

As a family and children’s photographer in the Denver and Boulder metro area for the last 10 year (12 if you count my time in a children’s portraits studio) I have found one of my very favorite types of sessions are themed children’s sessions. I love creating new sets, planning clothing and props, and bringing a vision to life. It was with that in mind that I created my model squad program, a small group of children ages newborn to 13 years old, who participate in monthly themed shoots for my portfolio and website. My little models help me test out new locations props and outfits and help me have new photos to show on social media on a regular basis. In return they receive a monthly session and print at a huge discount! Little Ellie ha been part of my model squad now since last fall and since she knows me and is comfortable with my now she never fails to bring her best smiles to the session! Her session in May was just so ADORABLE I have to show it off today!!!!

Wondering what the model squad is all about, here is a bit of a preview of what to expect. Some of my favorite images from Ellie’s previous shoots.

Want to get more information in enrolling your child in the program? I have a limited number of spots and once they are filled I will close enrollment. You can read more and sign up while spots are available here:

Interested in information about family, maternity, newborn sessions including indoor and outdoor newborn session options, cake smash sessions or custom designed shoot for your child? Contact me here:

Don’t miss a thing: Receive twice a month emails from me with exclusive monthly product specials available only to my insiders, previews of upcoming session deals, fun local events or ideas for kids activities and more as part of my insider’s club. Sign up below.

My name is Jennifer Tavera, the photographer behind Truth Photography. I am a Northglenn Colorado family photographer and gallery designer seeking adventurous, free spirited families. I believe that your life is epic and deserves to be captured with photography!

I specializes in creating unique photo sessions that will be an adventure for your child or family and turning the finished portraits into beautiful wall art for your home. I can’t wait to photograph your next adventure!!

~Jennifer Tavera Photographer and Gallery designer

4 tips for photo shoots with your toddler {Northglenn Colorado photographer}

Your baby is now walking, toddling around getting into everything and destroying your home. If they weren’t SO ADORABLE even when making a huge mess they may not survive their toddler years.

In all seriousness though it’s how quickly they are changing and how adorable they are that makes us want beautiful professional photos of them at this age, and it’s their rambunctious spirit and tendency to do the opposite of what we asked or hoped they would do that makes the idea stressful for most parents of toddlers. So for all of you mama’s who are longing for beautiful portraits of your toddler or family together to hang proudly on your wall like all of the other moms, this post is for you!

4 Tips for photo shoots with your toddler

Tip #1: Have realistic expectations

This one is always the hardest so I am starting with it first. The most important thing you can do to prepare for your shoot with your toddler is to have realistic expectations. Your toddler is very unlikely to cooperate right off the bat. They may be shy and take a few minutes to warm up the photographer and just want to hide behind you, they may be wild and just want to run around at the park or explore or play with the grass, but if you are expecting AMAZING smiling at the camera portraits in the first 5 minutes you are going to wind up frustrated and feeling defeated very quickly. When I photograph a toddler, the first few minutes for me are about capturing them as they are. .It’s not about the “perfect smiling portrait at this point. I will sit, talk to them see what they do, see how they react to different games, let them do their own thing as a snap a few photos and then see if I can get them to look at me.

I don’t like to push too hard at the very beginning and overwhelm them and sometimes I can see parents start to panic within even a few minutes or feel like they need to step in and try to get a smile. The problem is that then the child is interacting with and LOOKING at you, not the camera. There are times that I ask parents to get a babies attention or make them smile but if your baby is relaxed and just doing their own thing hold off on this for just a moment. Let me capture some moments of them just being them, learning, exploring a new place, being a toddler. Sometimes these wind up being the favorite photos from the session.

Tip #2: Make sure to hire a professional who is experienced with toddlers

Honestly could just say here make sure to hire me, I have 12 years experience as a professional photographer and specialize in children’s and family portraiture, but in case you stumbled across this blog and are not in the Denver or Boulder Colorado areas here is what you should look for when hiring a photographer.

When it comes to photographing a wiggly toddler you are going to want someone who has worked with toddlers long enough to know how to capture great portraits of them whether they sit perfectly and smile or run around and don’t stay still for more than two seconds. Ask your photographer how long they have been in business AND what types of photography they specialize in to make sure you are getting someone who really knows what they are doing.

Tip #3: Bribes are great but…

Trying to bride a toddler to cooperate is a double-edged sword. While it can produce the results you want just as often I see it go horribly wrong, so here are a few things to consider when deciding if you want to try to bride or reward your toddler for cooperating.

First, toddlers have short attention spans and once a treat is mentioned you have a very short time to produce the promised reward before most toddlers will go from cooperation to meltdown. For this reason, I recommend NOT promising a toddler any sort of reward before the session or in the first few minutes of the session. Bribes and rewards should be saved as last resorts. Instead, tell them how fun the session will be and that they are going to go play games and have fun. This rule applies to preschoolers as well although the meltdowns at that age over not getting their reward right away don’t come quite as quickly.

Never show the child the reward unless you are prepared to give it to them, and have it in any photos from that point on. Again seeing the reward and not immediately receiving it normally just results in tears. If you want to get clever with it was can plan the reward into the session. I once had a family bring those giant multi-colored spiral lollipops as a reward for the session and we ended the session with a fun, casual family photo of all of them eating the lollipops. It was a great way to reward the kids and grab some fun unique photos at the session and if you let me know about the plan in advance I can even prepare a few props to go with the theme.

Tip #4: Don’t be afraid to bring a favorite toy

Yes a photo shoot with me is about capturing the perfect photo but its also about capturing the memories and moments you want to remember! Pick something you WANT to have in the photos. The same rule applies to toy as it does to bribes, don’t let your child know you have t until you are ready to have it in the rest of the photos for the shoot, but it can be perfect for the end of the session when your child is getting bored with being there to pull it out and capture a few more shots of your little one planing and just doing what they do.

Although this may not be what most photographers would consider a "perfect shot" as a mom to me it's perfect. I know years from now it will remind me of how much my son LOVED firetrucks at this age.

Want to have me photograph your toddler? My Monday milestones are perfect short sessions for capturing your child alone at this age. You can find more information below!

My name is Jennifer Tavera, the photographer behind Truth Photography. I am a Northglenn Colorado family photographer and gallery designer seeking adventurous, free spirited families. I believe that your life is epic and deserves to be captured with photography!

I specializes in creating unique photo sessions that will be an adventure for your child or family and turning the finished portraits into beautiful wall art for your home. I can’t wait to photograph your next adventure!!

~Jennifer Tavera Photographer and Gallery designer

Want to stay up to date on the latest news, events and session openings AND receive tips on fun activities in the area in your inbox? Join my insider's club to make sure you don’t miss a thing!

The meeting that indirectly helped launch my business {Northglenn CO Children's Photographer}

I first met Chelsey over 10 years ago when I was still a studio photographer. For those of you who don’t know I worked in a national children’s portrait studio for 2.5 years before they closed all of their studios without notice when my oldest son was 3 weeks old, but that’s a story for another time. Back to this story, she came into the studio with her daughter, who was only a few months old at the time, for a milestone photo shoot. I was not her photographer that day, in fact, I don’t even remember for sure if I helped her, I may have sold her her prints, but I sold prints to thousands of customers at my time there. What I do remember was about a week later my coworker Kayla wanted to meet with me to show me the new business opportunity she was starting and when I arrived she was there with Chelsey.

Chelsey was, and still is, a business owner with Arbonne international, an awesome company that sells skin care, make up, health/weight loss and more that is all about being Pure, Safe, and Beneficial for your body. This meeting helped change a lot of things in my life. After this meeting I starting looking at lot more at the safety of the products I am putting in and on my body, I started a new friendship and became closer to another friend and most importantly I started my first business which gave me many of the foundations for my business today. I was with Arbonne for about 2 years and while it didn’t wind up being the right business for me (I still love the product and believe in the business though), I have remained friends with Chelsey and watched her grow an amazing and successful business with the company.

Over the years I have been honored to be able to photograph her children on a few different occasions and they never disappoint as being the perfect models! My session with them last month is no exception. They have grown into such beautiful young people and despite the load of raising two kids and running a successful business Chelsey has not changed a bit over that time, she is still as beautiful, energetic and fun as she was 10+ years ago. I guess she can probably thank her awesome products for the energy and eternal youth ;)

I am excited to share a few of the images from her kids session with you all today. Seriously aren’t they just the perfect models? The images down at the bottom where they are standing I let them pose themselves!

If you are interested in learning more about Chelsey’s business or her products you can visit her Facebook page or Website below:

www.chelseycrittendon.arbonne.com
https://www.facebook.com/ChelseysArbonnePage/

My name is Jennifer Tavera, the photographer behind Truth Photography. I am a Northglenn Colorado family photographer and gallery designer seeking adventurous, free spirited families. I believe that your life is epic and deserves to be captured with photography!

I specializes in creating unique photo sessions that will be an adventure for your child or family and turning the finished portraits into beautiful wall art for your home. I can’t wait to photograph your next adventure!!

~Jennifer Tavera Photographer and Gallery designer

Want to stay up to date on the latest news, events and session openings? Join my insider's club to make sure you don’t miss a thing!

Want to stay up to date on the latest news, events and session openings? Join my insider's club to make sure you don’t miss a thing!