It was a cool November day when you came to say hello. Your mom, dad and me waited in quiet, apprehensive, but no less excited silence in the hospital room. It didn’t rain at all that day, but the leaves were on fire — painted in beautiful reds, oranges and yellows. I’ve always thought that autumn babies are among the luckiest, to be born in the midst of such brilliant colors.

So we waited. Your mommy got stuck with needles of all kinds, while your dad and I watched, none too sure what to say. And then all of a sudden, it was time — you were coming! We walked back to the operating room, and your mom went ahead. Your daddy and I put on funny looking jumpsuits, hats, masks and papery booties and by the time we got back to the room, we mostly had to wait for a few minor prep things.

And then it was the most amazing thing — just a few minutes after they started, you were here! Your mommy, daddy, me and your midwife stared at you and none of us could believe just how beautiful and perfect you were. It took you a few seconds to start crying, and the nurses had to help. I was taking pictures of you that whole time and when you cried — so did I, and that’s when I looked at your mommy and saw just how badly she wanted to hold you and how much she already loved and adored you. Your daddy stared at you in amazement and disbelief. None of us could really believe that you were finally here.

You cuddled up on mom, then, and rested on her breast, and we all continued to stare at you in silence while the doctors sewed your mommy back up again. Unlike the apprehensive quiet before, now there was an amazed one.

Ayla Morgan, you are beautiful and you are perfect and you were loved before you were born and are even more loved now. With every passing day, your mommy and daddy, your grandmas and grandpas, your aunties and uncles — we’ll all come to love you more and more.

For my part, I am so honored and thankful that I got to see you take your first breath. You’re a very special girl, Miss Ayla, and I’m very, very glad that you are my niece. I cannot wait to see the beautiful girl and woman you become, how strong you will be. Life will not always be easy, in fact, I’m sorry to say, it very rarely is. But you can sleep easier, my wonderful little niece, knowing that you have parents and family who love you so dearly and will always do whatever we can to make things just a little bit easier, even if sometimes, all we can do is give you a hug, or try to make you laugh.

Ayla, dear, while I look forward to future falls when we can traipse through the fallen leaves in our rubber boots together and find the most perfect and beautiful leaves each new season brings, I am just as excited to watch you grow and hear about every exciting new thing you learn to do, little and big. You are a miracle, Ayla, and we’re so very glad you’re here.

With lots of love,
Your Aunt Elyse

Please Note; In order to get this sneak peek up as quickly as possible, these images are not finished being processed yet. This is only the first pass. Look out for the portfolio post for fully complete images.

Amy — I hope you enjoy your pictures, and have a great senior year!

I’m so glad to have gotten some wonderful shots of this dog. Lauren wanted to get some before he started to get too old and his health begins to decline, which is a good idea. Our dogs get their pictures taken the most, I would wager, when they’re puppies and when we know our time with them is waning. But we often find we don’t have nearly enough pictures of them in their prime and the way we’ll always truly remember them.

Thanks for a great session, you guys! I hope you like your sneak peek! Your gallery will be ready later this week :)

I always recommend starting at the about page, which is a good overview of all or most of the sub-content for that section! Here, you can read an overview about what makes me passionate about photography and what drives my specialties. Next, I would actually go ahead and read about my specialties. Here, you can find out what each of my specialties are and why I love them, as well as read a little bit about having a non-specialty session. From there, we only have two more about pages which are pretty closely related. I’ve already gotten a few compliments on my brand spanking new about Elyse page, and you can also read about my mascots (aka dogs), too!

If you’ve like what you’ve read about me and my philosophy when it comes to photography, from there, you’ll probably want to check out my portfolio and see if you like my artistic style! It’s split up in a bunch of different ways, but the most important/valuable are probably by Specialty and Non-Specialty. And, as a super cool bonus, you can filter within those pages pretty easily, too!

Hopefully, you like both me and my philosophy, and my photography style! If you like all of those things, then odds are, we’ll work well together and you’ll want to know more about the ekuphoto experience! If that looks pretty good, you might also want to take a peek at the type of products you can purchase after your session, and if all of that looks like it’s totally something that would be up your alley, the investment page has a ton of basic information on how much sessions usually cost. If you’re more than 2.5 hours out of Bothell, WA and you’re really interested in having me take your pictures, the destination page has some relevant information for you!

And finally, if all of this totally gets you excited, please make a reservation request and we’ll start planning your session!

I’ll be writing more posts in the coming days about the specific changes that have been made, goals I have, etc., but in the meantime, just look around!

Plus, there are limited, special introductory prices to go along with the relaunch that you can read all about on the investment page! :)

1. FREE Creative Fees for the first 3 Specialty Bookings
2. 75% off Creative Fee for the first Birth Booking
3. 90% off Creative Fee for the first Specialty Booking

So get moving if you want to lock in those prices!

Thanks for dropping by!