Melissa Hancock Photography

Hello Friends! With a new season comes a new pricing structure around here. Its never easy to raise prices, but I have carefully thought out an investment plan that I think will keep family portraiture within the grasp of everyday families.

Now, if you’d like to take advantage of my introductory rate of $130 for a family session (with 20-25 edited photos on CD), all you have to do is schedule your family session with me before April 15th! Sessions should be scheduled to be completed by September 15th. Pretty simple way to get in on a great deal, right? You can reach me at Melissa (at) hancockfam (dot) com.

Happy Spring everyone!

Hello there! I just finished editing this session that I did a week ago with a good friend and her three handsome boys!  Every time I look at these photos I am reminded that Spring is right around the corner! It was such a blustery day and these boys were such troopers as we tromped through downtown from one snazy alleyway to the next!

I hope that you enjoy them, Liz!

Thanks for sharing another chilly Monday afternoon with me, Diane! Your family is just beautiful!

I’ve got a few sessions coming up in the next couple of weeks and have had styling on my mind. Its so difficult to get everyone dressed in a warm and cohesive style on a bleak winter day! So I thought I’d share a little styling inspiration. Its playful with pops of color for those wintery backdrops, but still keeps you warm! 

We’re trying to make the most of this Seattle Snowpocalypse 2012! In an effort to keep ourselves entertained while snowed in for six straight days, I convinced my husband to let me take his picture.  He’s got that cool boy stare down! My neighbor looked very confused when she saw us out running through our 8 1/2 inches of snow without kids this afternoon!

Anyways! I may just steak my girls off to this very niche of our backyard tomorrow for their own mini-session before the rains begin and the FLOOD begins! We calculated it out and there are 8,000 cubic feet of snow on our property right now. Not sure what that equates to in water, but its all gotta go somewhere! And we’re praying it goes somewhere FAST!

I met up with this handsome trio a couple of weekends ago and just had to share a few photos with you. Aren’t they dashing and rat pack-esque?

Right now, I cannot think of an activity more fun than a photo booth. Seriously! Just think about it ya’ll; the hats and mustaches, spontaneity and silly faces all combined with learning a new avenue in photography! The right kind of photo booth is a photographer’s dream, and this night was just that kind of booth! To top it off, a great friend of mine let me borrow her studio lighting equipment (a must in this situation) and spent an hour teaching me the ropes. I can see why so many people say studio lighting is addictive!

Thank you Leslie Hancock Real Estate (that’s my mother in law!) for inviting me and my camera to your party!

I had the opportunity to meet up with this beautiful mom and her three kids, here visiting family from Oregon, yesterday. We were blessed with an incredibly sunny November morning! We headed down to one of my favorite local spots. The air was crisp and there were actually patches of blue in that grey Seattle sky! The session was actually scheduled for 11am, but we moved it up to 9:00 last minute so that Aubrey son could make it to wrestling practice. Well, its a good thing we opted for an earlier meet up because by 11:00 the clouds rolled in and the sky let loose the rain!

Enjoy your sneak peak, Aubrey (and grandma too!)

Sometimes I like some major processing on my photos. Like this one. It wouldn’t work on every image (and I sure wouldn’t want it to!) but there is something so raw about this that I love.

On Saturday I had the opportunity of meeting up with this couple and their high school aged son, two adult daughters…and their families! Professionally, it was the largest photoshoot that I’ve done and was a whole new ballgame as far as logistics and keeping track of my vision for the shoot go! These things only made it more invigorating to be out there with my camera! This family is so, so happy together. You can tell that they genuinely love each other’s company. Which is one of many reasons that it was fun to photograph them this weekend! We met up at a local farm and had a lovely evening snapping away…in fact I may have gotten a bit carried away! After half of the group had headed to their cars for warmth, Shon and Caitlin kept catching my eye as they smooched on their adorable little guy. They are clearly smitten! And my fingers were numb when it was all said and done! Now that is a first!

They really are a group of shiny, happy people. See for yourself!

This is quite possibly my favorite shot from the day. I can’t get over the lines in that tree!

Wow, have we lucked out with the Seattle weather lately! I’ve been busy with several incredible back to back photoshoots in the past month and each time the day has either been lovely and sunny or the rains have parted for the hour we needed to capture our photos. As you can see in the photos below, we had one of those perfectly sunny afternoons when I met up with Denny and Cyrstal at Carillon Point early last week.

Its amazing to think that nearly eight years ago we were in this same place for my wedding reception! The Point hasn’t changed much, but our lives sure have! (we have five kids, 15 years of marriage and four college degrees between us!) Its a good thing that Charlie is cute, even with his inquisitive little stares, because he sure gave me a run for my money this day! His curiousity and determination are quite impressive And don’t get me started on his little brother’s plump cheeks because they are about as kissable as cheeks come!

Ok, on to the photos! Which, I must say, are not a peak at all! Its like a chapeter book on the blog today!!