Sedona is worth the drive north. The red rock takes on colour for about twenty minutes at the end of the day, and a ceremony timed to sit inside that window gives you portraits that no venue lighting can imitate.We keep these sessions unhurried. A few quiet minutes away from the group, a short walk, and the desert does most of the work.

A bride and groom held close on the red rock, Cathedral Rock catching the last of the light behind them.

Cathedral Rock

Usery Park gives you saguaros, open desert and the Superstitions on the horizon, all within half an hour of Phoenix. It is one of our favourite places to start with a couple who has never been photographed together before.Engagement sessions run about ninety minutes. Bring a change of clothes if you want two looks, and we will walk and talk until the camera stops feeling like a camera.

An engagement session among the saguaros at Usery Mountain Regional Park.

Usery Park

Wide frames like this one are why we scout a venue before the day. The couple is small in the picture on purpose: the mountain, the water and the light are the reason they chose to marry here.We shoot the close portraits too. But there is usually one frame from a wedding that belongs on a wall, and it is rarely the tightest one.

A couple beneath a mesquite tree, the Superstition Mountains turning pink across the water behind them.

Superstition

Family sessions work best late in the day, when the desert light softens and nobody is squinting. We plan around the youngest person coming, not the oldest.Expect a mix: a few frames where everyone is looking, and a lot more where they are not. The second kind is usually the one families print.

A family session in the open desert outside Scottsdale.

Desert Family

We build a fifteen-minute gap into every wedding timeline for this: the two of you, away from the party, in the best light of the day.It is the part couples tell us afterwards they were most glad to have, and it is the easiest thing in the world to lose if nobody plans for it.

Bride and groom portraits at the end of the day in the Phoenix-Scottsdale valley.

Golden Hour

Most people book maternity photographs somewhere between thirty and thirty-four weeks, when there is a bump to photograph and standing around in the desert is still comfortable.We keep the direction gentle and the session short. If there are older children coming, we photograph them first, while everyone is still fresh.

A maternity session photographed in the Phoenix desert.

Expecting

Not every Arizona session has to look like Arizona. The Salt River gives you water, tall cottonwoods and green, which is a useful change of scene for couples who want something softer than red rock.Wear shoes you do not mind getting wet. The best spot is usually a few steps into the shallows.

An engagement session down on the Salt River, water and cottonwoods instead of cactus.

Salt River

Multi-day celebrations need two photographers and a plan. We sit down beforehand and go through the events in order, so we know what is happening, who matters in each frame, and where we need to be standing before it starts.Nothing gets staged twice. If a moment only happens once, that is our problem to solve, not yours.

Colour and ceremony at an Indian wedding in the Phoenix-Scottsdale area.

Celebration

The Desert Botanical Garden is a good answer when you want desert scenery without a hike, and shade close by when the children need it.The garden requires a photography permit, which we will talk you through when you book so the day itself is straightforward.

A family session among the cactus at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix.

Botanical Garden

We start engagement sessions about an hour and a half before sunset. The first half is warm and open, the last twenty minutes are the ones you will want on the wall.These sessions double as a rehearsal. By the wedding you already know how we work, and we already know how the two of you are together.

A romantic engagement session photographed as the sun drops behind the valley.

Last Light

Cave Creek sits high enough to feel like a different part of the state, and it stays cooler than the valley floor through most of the year.Every image we deliver is professionally retouched and colour-matched, so a gallery from a day like this reads as one piece of work rather than a folder of separate photographs.

A wedding up in Cave Creek, north of the city and quieter for it.

Cave Creek

A maternity session is a short window. Book it early and we will hold a date that suits how you are feeling rather than what the calendar says.Newborn sessions follow the same rule, usually in the first two weeks, and we come to you.

A maternity portrait made in Scottsdale in the weeks before the birth.

The Wait

This is the last frame of the night, made in the minute before the sun clears the horizon. Everything is given up except the two shapes and the light between them.We will always ask for this one. It takes about ninety seconds and it is usually the photograph people lead with when they show the gallery to someone else.

A bride and groom walking into the sunburst, the whole frame reduced to silhouette and a tree.

Sunset Walk

Details take ten minutes in the morning and they are what hold a gallery together: the rings, the dress, the invitation, the flowers before anyone has touched them.Leave them out for us when we arrive and you will never notice this part of the day happening.

The rings, photographed close, before anybody has put them on.

The Rings

Phoenix gives you desert, mountain and city inside twenty minutes of driving, which means a wedding here can look like three different places on the same afternoon.We cover the day with two photographers as standard, so nothing important is happening in a room we are not in.

A wedding portrait made out in the Phoenix desert after the ceremony.

Desert Vows

Posing, for us, is mostly getting two people standing somewhere good and then giving them something to do. The expression that follows is the photograph.Nobody is asked to hold a smile. If a frame looks relaxed it is because the couple actually was.

A close portrait of the couple, made quietly away from the reception.

The Portrait

Family sessions start at four hundred dollars and run about an hour. You choose the location, or we suggest one that suits the ages involved.Galleries come back fully retouched, with high-resolution files and a print release, so you can order prints wherever you like.

A family photographed together in Phoenix, everyone in one place for once.

Family Session

The point of an engagement session is not the photographs, though you get those too. It is that by the time the wedding comes around, being photographed no longer feels like being watched.Sessions start at four hundred dollars, and are included with some of our wedding collections.

An engagement session in Phoenix, shot loose and lifestyle-led.

Engaged

A wedding day is documented rather than directed. We photograph what happens, step in for the portraits, then step back out again.You get sneak peeks within days, then the full gallery retouched and delivered online with a print release.

One frame from a full day of coverage, start to finish.

Lia and Max, wedding photographers in Phoenix, Arizona