bryce canyon national park

Last year marked the 100 year anniversary of the national parks service. I have always enjoyed visiting the many nearby national parks in Utah with my family growing up, and Travis and I would like to continue visiting all that we can. We were able to go to Yellowstone together and more recently, to Bryce Canyon (T's first time). I had a family photo shoot in the area over the summer so we decided to make a trip out of it! We are so lucky to live in a state with so many national park treasures to visit.

I graduated from Utah Valley University last year, and as my last 'hurrah' I submitted some photographs from Bryce to a collaborative art book the Art & Design department put together at the end of the year. It is entitled Uncommon Ground - The National Park Service - 100 Years in Utah, and it contains a multitude of photographs, drawings, paintings, writings, etc. inspired by Utah's 13 national parks and monuments. Since some of my images made it into the book, I was able to receive a copy and share it with my family. It's beautiful! For anyone interested in viewing a few pages from the book or purchasing one (each purchase goes towards funding more annual projects for the Art & Design department), the link is here: http://www.uvu.edu/arts/books/

Although only a couple of my images made it into the book, I (obviously) took like a thousand (what did you expect) and so I'm sharing a sampling of my favorites here. :)

hawkins family

I met Karlie in hair school when we were 16. We did not like each other right off but over the course of years we learned to deal with each other ;) I watched her romance with Trevor grow for several years until they (finally) got married the same year I did. And now, both of us are photographers! We did a family photoshoot swap and not only do I LOVE our family photos, but THEIR family (Karlie + Trevor + Swarley + Ecko) was a dream to photograph and I'm kicking myself for not putting their session up sooner. The creamy fall light was perfect in the mountains and these guys are among the most photogenic people + canines I've ever seen. Please enjoy a little throwback to warmer weather and prettier foliage.