Blog - KDI Photography

The Power Of Love – Couples Portrait in Flagstaff

Monday, November 2, 2020

OK, tell me if this doesn’t sound like a movie pitch:

A successful, beautiful, New York political consultant meets a handsome, unassuming river guide during the adventure and romance of a Grand Canyon river trip.

Portrait of Couple Sitting By Pond in Flagstaff AZ, Holding Their Dog

They fall in love, somehow overcome the obstacles of vastly differing lifestyles and 3,000 miles of distance, adopt a cute puppy, and live happily ever after in the lush pine forests of Northern Arizona. (Let’s leave out the pandemic part.) Netflix would probably pick it up and then I’d watch it while eating a bowl of mocha chip ice cream, rooting for them to make it work!

I don’t know how it went in reality but I can imagine that it was a little bit epic – love at first sight! rapids! campfires! All set in one of the natural wonders of the world. Not too shabby.

Portrait of Couple Sitting in Flowers in Flagstaff AZ, Holding Their Dog

It may have been way more mundane than that but when you spend any amount of time with Stephanie and Travis, you get the feeling there were definitely fireworks. Individually, they have such good hearts but together, their love for each other is so powerful that it ripples out from them in concentric circles, permeating passers by.

Portrait of Couple Sitting By Pond in Flagstaff AZ

Triptych of Portrait of Couple Standing By Pond in Flagstaff AZ

In fact, as I was photographing them for the cover of a local magazine, an elder gentleman fisherman kept stopping by, offering assistance and jokes. As we wrapped up, he got more serious, admitting that seeing how in-love they are had warmed his heart.

Keiji and I had a terrific time getting to know them. Even without the mocha chip, we’re big fans.

Portrait of Couple on Covered Bridge in Flagstaff AZ

Flagstaff Family Portrait Photographer • Flagstaff Maternity Pregnancy Photographer • Flagstaff Newborn Photographer • Flagstaff Child Photographer • Flagstaff Senior Portrait Photographer • Flagstaff Couples Photography

Kristen Dacey Iwai of KDI Photography is a full-time professional portrait photographer based in Flagstaff, Arizona with decades of experience. Making portraits of families, pregnancy, newborns, babies, children, and high school seniors in her downtown studio and on location, she serves clients from Flagstaff, Sedona, Tuba City, Winslow, Payson, Page, Williams, Prescott, Mesa, Scottsdale, Phoenix, Arizona

How to Save the Future by Protecting Precious Family History

Sunday, November 1, 2020

My dear friend was in tears. Her phone had been stolen right after the computer she had it backed up to had crashed. The heartbreaking result was that all of her photos were completely gone. Pictures of people she loved, who had since passed, gone forever.

It was an absolute worst case scenario but I’m terribly worried about where ALL of our memories will be in 10, 30, or 100 years. It’s not a case of IF but WHEN you will have a computer failure. The devices and social media networks we’re viewing our precious history on will be a fuzzy memory – along with the images we love. Where does that leave our grandchildren?

I mean, does anybody have images on a CD or DVD somewhere around their house right now? When’s the last time you purchased a computer that actually had a disk drive? Have any VHS tapes? Know anyone with a wedding video that was created in a no longer viewable format?

I’ve been saying for years that we don’t even know for sure that JPEG will continue be the preferred standard format. A couple of years ago, Apple quietly started using a different file format called HEIC instead. Take any picture with your iPhone today and it’s not likely to be in JPEG format at all.

It’s going to keep changing and The Cloud will not save us! 🌧

The only method of viewing these images that we can count on is viewing something printed. It’s a pretty safe bet that humans will still have eyes in 100 years!

Soooo, I implore you…

PRINT. YOUR. PICTURES. PLEASE.

All those smart phone pictures of cute kid moments, favorite trip memories, your grandmother drinking a beer? Use whatever method you can to make actual prints or better yet, albums.

Want to know that a couple of professional photographers (AKA Keiji and I) do? Throughout the year, I put the little hearts on my favorites, separating them from a HUGE pile of images. In Apple’s Photos app, that automatically adds them to the Favorites folder for easy viewing. Then, we make a book from those favorite images each year. We don’t even Photoshop them because it would just slow us down!

We all know the cheap online printing services, and those are way better than nothing, but here are some that are a cut (or more) above:

Annual Albums A high end LA portrait photographer created this service. Editors look through your photos to pick the best. They crop, color correct and create a luxurious album.

Artifact Uprising Well made and designed albums plus much more. Started by 3 photographers.

Mimeo Photos We use this affordable service. The quality is adequate and integrates with Apple’s Photos app.

Chatbooks Super affordable. Can import your photos from your computer or right from social media.

The Butterfields – Family Photos in Flagstaff, AZ

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

The doorbell rang unexpectedly on a Sunday afternoon. Looking down, I assessed my front door readiness. I’d just cleaned up some gross, Halloween level cobwebs. “Good enough,” I thought, swinging the door open. I was delighted to find Ellen and her mom, Karen, stopping by.

If you’ve met her, you undoubtedly know that, Ellen (like her older brother) is an engaging conversationalist. Closing in on 4, she has a curious mind and had several topics she wanted to cover. Although I always enjoy talking with Karen, she hardly got a word in edgewise. Each time Ellen asked one of her questions, she hopped around in circles, the skirt of her dress fluttering as she bounced. We discussed her brother’s violin lessons, the rocks in the yard and the details of what kinds of beds my family sleep in.

An adult asking that last question? Maybe a little intrusive.

But this particular preschooler who could charm a dog off a meat truck? Completely adorable. Not weird at all.

I happily described the disarray of my currently unmade bed. She seemed to like my answers because at the end of our front door visit together, she asked if I could babysit. In case you don’t recognize how big of an honor this is, let me explain that she already has an awesome babysitter. So, the fact that she wanted to add me to the roster of trusted, non-parental adults …well, it’s a little like being awarded an Oscar. #winning

I have enjoyed each of the installments of documenting this lovely family’s growth. This one was courtesy of Brad’s mom. After winning a portrait session with us by donating to our fundraiser for Northern Arizona Volunteer Medical Corp, she generously gifted it to her family members. Thanks again, Suzanne!

Joanne and Silvano: Now reunited

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

She stood close, playing with my hair, smiling at me, beams of love shooting at me from those big eyes. “Honey, can we hire you to come to my 80th birthday party and take some pictures for me?” “Thank you for asking me, Joanne. I’m not an event photographer, but I promise to find someone to take great care of you.” Still locked in eye contact, still playing with my hair, in her sweet voice she said intently “Honey, if you can’t do it, I dont want anybody else.”

Flagstaff Couples Portrait , Married 60 Plus Years

I’d known Joanne and Silvano since I’d been assigned to photograph them for the cover of a magazine a few years ago. They sat down on my office couch on a Wednesday morning and I was instantly enthralled. They shared their story. Many stories, actually. Too many to write about here.

They’d been married for 60 years when I met them and the love was still palpable. When Sil immigrated to the US from Italy at 14, he tried to join the high school football team. Because he was only 95 pounds, the coach (who was also Italian) worried for his safety. When Sil spotted Joanne, a beautiful majorette, he pivoted to join the band instead. Smart man! “He was the cutest thing ever,” Joanne remembered. They eventually married and were blessed with 4 kids and many grandkids. After they moved to Flagstaff in 1978, they remained in the same house for the next 4 decades.

Can you imagine meeting the love of your life in 8th grade? When I asked about the secret to their marriage’s longevity, Sil, the bigger talker, replied “I still see her as that teenage girl. She hasn’t changed.”

Because of their love of cooking and hosting, I suggested portraits of them at their house, possibly eating dinner. I arrived to find that they’d prepared a feast that they intended to feed me. More of a dinner party than a photo session. Dodging raindrops, Sil kept us all laughing throughout. When the food was no longer needed as props, we ate the delectable fare they’d carefully crafted. They were so eager for me to be happy, consummate hosts. Joanne showed me the heartfelt care she put into decorating each room in their home, her loving touch visible in every corner.

After our magazine shoot together, I told anyone who would listen about my ‘new favorite friends’. Every moment I spent with them filled up my tank. He made me laugh, she called me an angel. I loved them. By the time Joanne looked me in the eye that day and asked me to come to her birthday, I couldn’t have said no. Of course, I went to the party. It was two years ago today. I made a portrait of their family for her as a birthday present.

Later, as Joanne’s health deteriorated, Silvano cared for her with his trademark humor, gentle kindness, and protective care. Two months ago, it broke my heart when I learned that he’d passed unexpectedly. I worried about how Joanne must feel without her dear Sil. Last week, she joined the love of her life on the other side. I’m happy they are reunited but how sad that they are not here with us anymore.

The holiday card we made for them said “Blessings to you! Love, Sil & Joanne” We were all blessed to know these two beautiful humans.

The Class of 2021: What you need to know about high school yearbook deadlines in Flagstaff AZ – Senior Portraits

Friday, September 11, 2020

It’s an important, often emotional, moment for any family. It’s both an end of a chapter and the start of a new one. The first time you have a child that reaches his or her senior year of high school, there’s a lot to contend with. Your family configuration is about to change in a huge way. And while you’re contemplating that, deadlines come at you fast, especially if there are college plans. One of the deadlines that I find first time parents of seniors get a bit blindsided by is the senior portrait yearbook deadline. While you can sometimes elect to just use a school picture in the yearbook, many families prefer to have professional senior portraits made to document this important, watershed moment in their kids’ lives – The moment when they’re transitioning from adolescence and family life to independence and a lot more adulting!

I absolutely adore getting to know and spend time with these soon-to-be-grown-ups. We get to celebrate who they are right at the moment and hopefully, help them (and us parents – sniff) remember this time. From those studio or location senior portraits sessions, we make wall art, coffee table books, gift prints for family and friends, graduation announcements, social media posts, and of course, submit one to the yearbook.

Seniors seem to get excited about having beautiful (and photoshopped!) portraits of themselves to share with friends, seeing themselves in a new positive way. Parents often tell me that these portraits are especially meaningful to have at home when their son or daughter moves away.

Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re not totally sure what senior year will look like this year, so I think it’s especially important to celebrate seniors in the ways we can! Beautiful portraits and custom products like our Premium Albums and custom designed graduation cards help mark the moment with the auspiciousness these hard working students deserve. Here’s hoping that the Class of 2021 gets to have more normalcy in their senior year!

What you need to know – high school senior portrait yearbook deadlines for Flagstaff schools, fall 2020 – as of now:

(for seniors graduating in 2021)

12/30/20 BASIS Flagstaff

11/20/20 Coconino High School

11/22/20 Flagstaff High School

11/2/20 Northland Preparatory Academy (NPA)

01/21? Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy (FALA)

Those deadlines come up quickly! We schedule portraits for seniors as early in the season as possible, to have time to get everything ready after the session. Feel free to contact us at studio@kdiphotography.com with any questions or to get on our calendar.You can check out some examples of KDI Photography senior portraits here.

Want to know more?

Click HERE to get started.

Celebrating a beautiful milestone – Baby photography in Flagstaff

Monday, August 31, 2020

I’ve heard it said that all babies are good but some babies are also “easy”. Sloane certainly checks both boxes. At almost one, she makes me feel like a stand up comedian who’s crushing it. Even with my mask on, she gets all my jokes. Well, after the initial 2-3 minutes, where she just looked at me quizzically, mouth agape, as if to say “Hmmm… I think I like you but then again, you might be an alien from outer space. The jury is still out.”

Sloane’s awesome mama had a master plan to celebrate her daughter’s upcoming birthday with a unicorn, an artisan cake, a giant balloon, and a beautiful flower crown. The stuff childhood dreams are made of, right? Now with any baby, even one as precious and sweet as Ms. Sloane, one must be willing to be flexible and fluid. Things rarely go according to plan. But those unexpected twists and turns are where a lot of the fun comes from, too. Not to mention some very entertaining portraits over the years!

Needless to say, Sloane did not disappoint. She was so freakin’ adorable! Watching her play with the giant balloon and explore (more than eat) the cake, made me laugh till my face hurt. After the session, as she sat in the bubbles of my studio sink getting the frosting cleaned out of her ears, her giggles continued to light up the room as I mopped cake off the floor with a big grin on my face.

Working for the Census – Flagstaff Portraits

Monday, August 31, 2020

Did you read that last line and wonder if we’d started a side hustle as Census workers? Nope! 🙂

We were commissioned to do a project for the City of Flagstaff and Coconino County to encourage participation in the 2020 Census, since, as you can imagine, that has been uniquely challenging this year!

Family in Flagstaff, Coconino County and City of Flagstaff ad for the 2020 Census.

We photographed two local families and also medical workers providing COVID-19 tests at Fort Tuthill for a public awareness ad campaign.

First responder, providing COVID-19 testing in Flagstaff, Coconino County and City of Flagstaff ad for the 2020 Census.

It was such an enjoyable project, from the awesome women at the city and county who hired us, to the beautiful families who stepped up to model and those heroic folks testing everyone out at Fort Tuthill!

Did you know that Census participation not only determines the number of seats our state has in congress, but it’s tied to the funding we get for all kinds of essential services – like those vital virus tests? And it only happens every 10 years so it’s important to get it right. So, PLEASE take the 10 minutes to fill it out online! It’s pretty easy because they have a video walk-through, plus a helpful FAQ’s page for any nagging questions. The deadline is September 30th, 2020.

Elliot, BASIS Flagstaff, Class of 2020 – Senior Portrait Photography Flagstaff

Tuesday, August 4, 2020

Can you imagine the scene? Parents are bumping into each other on the grass, trying to extract their own small, highly mobile offspring. Their calls are drowned out by the cacophony of happy kids attempting to get in one last trip down the slide before day’s end. Standing by the playground gate, I hear, “Excuse me, Kristen.” I look around, trying to ascertain who is calmly speaking in the chaos. I finally discover the source, roughly 2 feet below.

3 year old Elliot is attempting to schedule a play date during the mayhem of preschool pick up. Phrased with the maturity and perspective of an adult peer, I remember always expecting to find that little voice to be at my own height. A little unnerving then, but now, a fond and perfectly congruent memory.

Senior portrait, playing chess by the side of the road, north of Flagstaff, AZ

Since then, I’ve had the privilege of watching Elliot grow up into an actual, awesome adult. You can imagine how excited I was to try to make a record of who he is at this moment. Something pretty hard to define when it comes to Elliot. He’s a lot of things, and conversations with him are never dull. He has so many interests but says that video games, biking, chess, and CrossFit are ‘critical to his being’. At his request, we picked a wide open desert location where we could document some of those aspects of his personality.

It was SO MUCH FUN. He’s always irreverently game for whatever, keeping me laughing while he pokes fun at everything. His mom, Nora, was along for the ride, bravely holding up a lighting scrim that quickly turned into a sail in the fierce desert wind. Thankfully, she was able to use her mad muscles to keep herself from flying away, never to be seen again!

Senior portrait in the desert with the San Francisco Peaks in the background, north of Flagstaff, AZ

Elliot is headed to the University of Arizona Honors College, for whatever school may look like this fall. I’m looking forward to what comes next for him.

Senior portrait near ruins with the San Francisco Peaks in the background, north of Flagstaff, AZ

Senior portrait in the desert at sunset north of Flagstaff, AZ

Before and After – maternity and newborn portrait photographer

Thursday, July 23, 2020

It was an unusual story, with some unexpected twists… Alex wanted to do maternity portraits earlier than most of my pregnant clients. She had a mother’s intuition that her baby would come early. So, we found ourselves in March, navigating socially distant portraits during the rise of COVID-19, with me staying away from subjects that I have always preferred to hug. It was a joyful session. Witnessing the love between Joey and Alex, awaiting their baby was sublime. Two souls who seem to fit together like pieces of the same puzzle.

Studio portrait of pregnant couple In black and white, maternity portraits in Flagstaff, AZ

Thank goodness we did the session early because Wilder decided to arrive just ONE week later. After Alex’s water broke, her caregivers at the hospital tried to slow her labor. But, Wilder, ever the spunky “little man”, had his own agenda, and preferred not to wait very long. He made a very dramatic entrance via c-section, at 33 weeks – on Alex’s beloved grandfather’s birthday. Wilder made it home, but not right away. Immediately after birth, he turned blue, giving everyone a scare. It turned out that he had an unexplained collapsed lung. A stroke of great fortune brought the neonatologist to the scene exactly at the right time. Wilder would recover, but needed to spend some heart wrenching time away from his mom and dad in FMC’s Special Care Nursery. Every day, he showed off his feistiness to his nurses, and was finally allowed to go live at home with his people.

Studio portrait of family with newborn baby In color, newborn photography in Flagstaff, AZ

He couldn’t have landed in a more beautiful family and judging by his adorable facial expressions, he knows it. Alex is love personified – warm, welcoming, kind, nurturing and smart. Joey is her steadfast hubby, amazing post-surgery caregiver (with ER nurse cred) and badass, expert dad. And big sister Basil is SUCH a pro. Wilder is so lucky to have her snuggles and confident care, too. I loved hanging out with Basil again, having photographed her as a newborn and toddler.

Black and white studio portrait of father holding his smiling sleeping newborn baby, newborn photography in Flagstaff, AZ

Each day, Wilder’s plucky personality shines more and he is thriving, the dramatic part of his story firmly in the rear view. I love seeing him grow up.

Black and white studio portrait of parents kissing their sleeping newborn baby, newborn photography in Flagstaff, AZ

The Hatch McDonald Family Welcomes Their Newborn – Photographer in Flagstaff

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

At their wedding, the theme was country and can you guess what the footwear was? Well, #@*kicking cowboy boots, or course! Naturally, we needed to incorporate the family culture into their newborn session with baby Jordy Max.

Newborn baby sleeps on a wooden chair with boots and cowboy hat. Flagstaff, AZ

They brought their own beautiful boots and a pair that Jordy may take some more time to grow into. Although… maybe sooner than later because this little guy’s getting bigger by the day! He was a looong baby to begin with (or should I say tall?). He’ll be wearing boots before you know it. I really enjoyed getting to get to know Jordy and his very nice parents. I’m excited for our next couple of sessions together to chart his growth!