Sara Gray Photography Portland, Oregon

If you look up “happy baby” in the dictionary, I think this picture might be there:

I had the chance to photograph Haven just after her first birthday, and she was oh-so-happy, just trotting around the yard and smiling at her parents.

Haven is so sweet with her dad, Chris:

Look at their sweet little family!

Thanks Brittney, Chris and Haven – your family is such fun to photograph! I can’t wait to see her at two.

When Catherine called me to tell me she had purchased one of my family portrait sessions at the NATAS auction in Seattle, I asked her how many people would be in her family portrait. “Umm…27?” she said, and I think I may have laughed a little. But it was such a blast meeting Catherine’s extended family, during their big family vacation in Gleneden Beach, Oregon.

This family is the product of two twin brothers – one of them was with them on their vacation this time, and the other missed the trip. They’re spread out on the west and east coasts – aren’t they a great-looking family? Check out their individual families, too:

I couldn’t have asked for more beautiful light, a greater beachy area to shoot in and a more cooperative and sweet family (and they’re Cougs!) Look at all those kids.

One last picture – check out Catherine and her husband having a “Toyota jump” moment (I had to explain to her kids what that meant – now it’s the “High School Musical” jump):

Thank you, Catherine and family, for supporting NATAS and for having me be a part of your family photos!

This week you’ve seen some samples of engagement sessions I did in Seattle. I love going to Seattle because usually it means I get to see my dear friends Angie and Sam. Angie was the only babysitter we would tolerate as kids, and my sister Emily and I pretty much idolized her. It’s so wonderful to have people in your life who watched you grow up and really know who you are.

This is Angie and Sam’s son, Manny. He is the sweetest kid – a definite product of his laid-back parents and the fact that he has twin sisters who just turned one this week. While I was staying at Sam and Angie’s house, they each took a twin upstairs to put them down for a nap, and I snuck the camera out and played with Manny for a little while.

It was such a refreshing break from what I do a lot with kids – both mom and I are usually directing them, they get overwhelmed and the whole situation is crazy. But Manny and I didn’t talk, I just kept my distance and he charmed me on his own terms. I adore these photos becuase of his whole vibe and how he came up with 100% of this stuff on his own.

Manny does this cute thing where instead of sucking his thumb, he sucks on his two middle fingers. It’s adorable. I photographed Manny in the front room of Angie and Sam’s cool Queen Anne house – one whole wall is basically a transluscent reflector wall, which basically means it’s the kind of space that photographers dream about.

This is Manny with his dad, Sam. They are so sweet together – Sam is a really great dad to all three of their kids.

Thanks, Sam and Angie, for being such great friends and for making kids that are so fun to photograph! I can’t wait to photograph your whole clan one of these days!

Joe, Tess and Michael really are pretty good-looking siblings. So I was thrilled to be able to photograph them just in time for Father’s Day as part of the promotion I’m doing this month to help raise money for Big Brothers Big Sisters Columbia Northwest.

We spent a little time earlier this week exploring some more abandoned areas on Skyline Boulevard, on a day when after 6 p.m., it was still hot enough to get sweaty. They also brought their two dogs, Einstein and Corby, to play.

They were so good-natured during this shoot, even when I conspired with Joe for him to grab Tess and throw her over his shoulder when she least expected it. Making people laugh during shoots is my favorite thing to do, and they are such happy, generous people that there was plenty of laughter.

This family portrait promotion is really cool, and I’m excited to have partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters Columbia Northwest. You save 25% over regular prices up front, and then at the end of the month I’ll donate 25% of the total profits from family portraits in June to BBBS.

Thanks so much, Joe, Tess and Michael (and Einstein and Corby) for supporting me and supporting BBBS. You were so much fun to photograph!

If you still want to get in on the promotion, you just need to schedule by the end of the month! Call, e-mail or fill out the contact form to get on the schedule and to give back, plus get a pretty nice gift for dad.

You know, in movies where people travel through time, how there’s always one little, seemingly inconsequential action that affects the way the world works out? Well, I think there might be something to that.

This is Carrie, and her husband Andrew. Carrie’s mom is Paula, and her grandma is Elaine. About 30 years ago, Paula and her mom got to brainstorming and decided to introduce a young bachelor named Steve (who worked with Elaine)to a sweet single mother named Marilyn (who knew Paula). They fell in love, and 56 days later, they became Steve and Marilyn Gray. Also known as my parents.

That wasn’t the last time Carrie’s family intervened, though. When I was in middle school, Carrie invited me to an improv theater class, where I fell in love with the stage and then followed her lead and applied to Jesuit to go through their theater program. My life changed again. Pretty impressive, right?

Over the weekend, I caught up with Carrie and Andrew and it was so fun to spend some time with them. They’re such a great couple, obviously a great match, and they’ve been married now for three years. They still get that twinkle in their eye when they look at each other, and they still act like newlyweds. Isn’t love wonderful?

What I absolutely adore is the feeling that although Carrie and I don’t see each other all that often, we have this connection and history that makes it effortless.

Thank you so much, Carrie and Andrew – for having such a great effect on my life, and also for being so much fun to photograph!

I so love reconnecting with old friends. But this old friend is one that never really disappeared – after we went off to different high schools, we reconnected when Desi became one of my sister’s sorority sisters. Now she’s married to Brad, and their family is growing with puppies. How cute are they?

We went exploring over the weekend out near Sherwood, Ore., where the wineries abound and the beautiful valleys make me one happy photographer. Add puppies to that mix, and life is good. I had so much fun hanging out with them all!

Brad took off running at one point and it was another of those “magic moments” for me – good thing I was poised and ready! I shot in this orchard once before on a foggy day in the winter. It looked like a haunted forest back then – what a difference a few months can make.

Dogs are hilarious to photograph – they give you these looks like, “Seriously, what are you doing?” I think they see the absurdity in it all more frequently than we do.

Jasmine, Millie, Desi and Brad – Thank you! I had so much fun hanging out with you and I can’t wait to see you again soon!

It was Memorial Day weekend last year and we just pulled into our friend Katy’s family’s house on the Hood Canal. It was just after 11 p.m., and the phone rang. “My water just broke,” Julie said. The next morning, Audrey Christine was born. Yesterday, she turned a year old!

I’ve known Julie since before I had any permanent teeth, and she met Dan in high school – we’ve known each other a long time. It’s been so fun to see them become parents and do such a great job with Audrey.

A couple of weeks ago, we headed out to the McMenamins’ Rock Creek Tavern and took some new photos for their family, so they can remember what it was like when their baby girl turned one. Pretty soon she’s going to be asking to borrow the car.

The below right photo is my favorite from the entire shoot. I love that mama-baby moment. The one on the left was Audrey’s birthday present from us (along with a copy of Shel Silverstein’s “Where the Sidewalk Ends” – it’s never too early for a little Silverstein).

I feel like Julie and I should still be sitting in the back seat of my parents’ car lipsyncing and making up hand motions to the oldies on the radio on our way to swimming lessons. You are such a great mom, Jules, and you’re a great dad too, Dan! You can check out Dan and Julie’s blog here if you want to see more of Audrey’s cuteness.

When you’re young, you have your friends, and then when you grow up you sometimes keep the same friends and you sometimes move on to new friends. Some of my favorite friends, though, are people who knew you when you were young, then met their soul mates and became even cooler friends times two. Chris and Amanda are like that.

Alright, Chris didn’t know me when he was young, but he and my husband Eric were so closely attached that “ChrisandEric” became one word. I was so happy when Chris found Amanda, because I was hoping for someone cool, and I love her, and love the two of them together.

Chris, Amanda, Eric and I spent the weekend in Tacoma, Washington last week, where we watched movies, ate and spent time together. We love hanging out with them, and we’re looking forward in November to hanging out with all THREE of them – Chris, Amanda and baby! We’re so excited for you guys and for what comes next in your lives.

Lots of these photos were taken outside “Hello, Cupcake” in downtown Tacoma, which rocked my world. Super simple, really cute pastel colors in the decorating, delicious cupcakes and a pink bike out front with a basket full of flowers! These are the things that make me a happy photographer.

Thank you, Chris and Amanda, for being such great friends – we can’t wait for the next time!

How do kids just know how to be photogenic? Maybe it’s the lack of self-consciousness that we all seem to paint on as we get older, or maybe it’s just a constant focus on having fun and being sweet; sugar and spice and yadda yadda yadda?

These kids are totally that way – I had trouble narrowing down the choices from this photo shoot (which was quite a long time ago – these are their Christmas photos from last year!) because they took so many great pictures. They are such good-natured kids, too – except for the pretend sword fight that Jason unleashed on Maddie with a big stick, but that was just hilarious.

I love the above photo so much – I use it in a lot of my marketing materials for family photography because I so love the expressions on their faces and how sweet they are together.

Amy, these cute kids’ mom, won my first e-mail newsletter contest this year so you’ll probably be seeing these kids again this year on the blog! If you want to win one of my contests, check back on the blog on the first of every month and sign up for the e-mail newsletter over on the right side of the blog. Thanks, Maddie and Jason, for coming out to play!

I love meeting people that are sweet and nice and caring, but still have a real penchant for humor. Missy is one of those. She went to my high school, but graduated the year before I started. I saw her, though, in her various roles in the theater department and she was really amazing. Last year, at an alumni fundraising show, she was so very pregnant, and did a tongue-in-cheek reprise of the song “Somewhere that’s Green” from Little Shop of Horrors that brought the house down.

But Missy’s life really is pretty swell – no white picket fence, but she’s got a great husband, Brian, and little Caden came along shortly after that performance and sweetened the deal even more. He turned one a couple of months ago, and I was there to take some one-year-old photos for them.

It was a rainy late winter day, so we settled for an inside shoot which ended up working out great – they had this great red chair that I just fell in love with. Caden was so sweet perched up there – he made my day!

Thank you so much, Brian, Missy and Caden! You’re such a wonderful family and I can’t wait to see as little Caden grows up even more!