It's that time...High School Juniors, come model for me!

Junior Model's/ambassadors are integral to my business. I LOVE working with teenagers, and doing their senior pictures. It's my favorite thing! If you're chosen as a Junior Model/Ambassador, we'll do your first photo shoot in your junior year. You and your mom will get a big heavy book of pictures of your shoot, plus give away cards with your pictures on them and a special offer that your friends get only if they bring in the card. You'll receive a $50 picture credit or $25 for each person that you bring to me...send 3 and your books are free, as well. You will also star in my marketing campaigns for the year AND you get to play fairy godmother and choose your legacy Model Ambassador for the next year, AND you get a second shoot late in your senior year, because you've changed so much since your first photo shoot. I try out all of the newest poses and techniques, so your pictures are going to be amazing.

I am taking applications for Junior Model/Ambassadors Right NOW for class of 2011. Deadline is February 20. You must be fun and outgoing, and love to show your pictures to EVERYONE to tell them about me and what I do.
Send an email to photobarb@aol.com with your name, email, phone number, high school that you attend, activities that you're in, why you want to be a Barbara Stitzer Photography model/ambassador and the emails of at least 5 friends who might be interested in having their pictures done with Barbara Stitzer Photography...that way, we'll help you out by marketing to them for you! We look forward to having you on our team!

Helping Haiti

Helping Haiti--I am a little tiny company, a speck, really, compared to corporate America, but every little bit can help. For the Month of February, EVERY PENNY of sitting fees collected goes straight to the Red Cross. Get incredible, one-of-a-kind photographs and help Haiti as you do. Giving never felt so good.

An extraordinary moment

I am so honored that Arlend Hougland chose our photo session together as an extraordinary moment in her life! Check out eomoments.blogspot.com or her facebook fan page at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Extraordinary-Moments/258101654214?ref=search&sid=714982748.3897873393..1&v=wall#/notes/extraordinary-moments/are-you...-ready-for-your-close-up/280467to read all about...ummm, me. And how cool I am. I'm totally embarrassed right now!!

Glorious Gloria

I absolutely adore photographing pregnant women. They are so glorious and elegant in their roundness, perfect Madonna's. Gloria, 7 months pregnant, didn't disappoint, except for the fact that, even though she was carrying only in her belly, we had to keep prodding a pushing and turning the little tiny thing so that the belly would show! She was a super good sport about it, though, and hubby Sean, daughters, Kiley and Taylor and neice Amethyst just rounded out the fun. We shot on the grounds of the JW Marriott, which I think is my favorite place to shoot in the Phoenix area, and it was pretty gosh darn cold out, but Glamorous Gloria was incredible! There should be no way that a pregnant woman could look this good! She looked all glowy and dewey, with very "now" hair and absolutely perfect makeup. Her arms and legs are more toned than mine, and I'm here to tell you, I'm not pregnant. For those of you who are photographers trying to get insight into why I do what I do...I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I don't really have a rhyme or reason on how I shoot...of course there are some poses that everyone adores, so I always shoot them, but all of a sudden I recalled a shot that the great Sports Illustrated photographer Walter Ioss had shot, with a swimsuit model on a gourd. I couldn't get it out of my head, but of course, gourds aren't just always hanging around in the desert. The sun had sunk behind the horizon. We were walking out the parking lot, and there were a triumvirate of giant gourd-like vases just hanging out there. I have walked past them a thousand times, without even noticing them, but I knew that Gloria would not only pull it off...she would make it her own. And she did, of course! Another moment for the books. Ahhhh, photography. I just love it. To see that particular image, you're just going to have to mosey over to my facebook page: (but not until later this evening...ooh, the anticipation of it all! ) http://www.facebook.com/#/pages/Anthem-AZ/Barbara-Stitzer-Photography/45325794506?ref=ts, and while you're there, why don't you become a fan! You'll have access to the latest and greatest as it happens, and it's a lot of fun!

The Raskin Family

Every once in a while, I meet a family who is so chic, so interesting, so totally COOL that I'm kind of intimidated. I mean, don't get me wrong, I adore 99.9% of my families that I shoot, and usually work with them for years and years, but you know the ones I mean...the people who have so very much going for them that they really don't need to be nice to you, and you wouldn't hate them for it, but how, somehow, they are just the ones who are incredibly kind, welcoming, open, (which is key, really, on both party's parts in making meaningful pictures) and inexplicably, you realize that you've totally clicked. This is how I feel about the Raskin family. The moment I met Joan, and her daughter Maddie, her husband Randy, and sons Remi and Jonathan, I felt like I came home, they were so welcoming, and I really wanted to do right by them.

Of course, I got nervous and kind of tanked. A light stand fell on poor Randy's foot, I had just taken a new lens out of the box and didn't realize that I was on manual focus while shooting in autofocus mode, something that I had never done in 16 years of shooting... so I tried hard not to show my total mortification, closed my eyes, took a deep breath and forced away the nerves... through it all, they were totally gracious about it, laughing and funny and carrying my bags out to the car, something that NO ONE ever offers to do, I might add. Then, at the viewing, after really complimenting the heck out of me, which is always a nice thing, Joan and I got into a very much needed conversation on my part...I just felt so honored that she would share like that with me. The more I see of that woman, the more I admire her. She's totally my role model. Am I allowed to have a role model so much younger, prettier and skinnier than me? Well, either way, I'm taking it! And, we got some shots that are different and funny and totally them, ones I'm really very proud of. They made it to the front slide show of my website, http://www.barbstitzer.com/, if you would like to see my favorites!

We shot baby Jake and his mom and dad at sunset, at my favorite place and time to shoot...this kid was so much fun to shoot! He's at this glorious age where he never stops...we went up and down the stairs at least a hundred times, then he ran up and down the grass hills, giggling and smiling the whole time. It was such a fun day!

Jonnika and Kelly

I've known Jonnika since Zoe was her flyer at American Elite cheer, five years ago, and have had the great fortune to shoot both of her sister's pregnancies, which were both totally different and beautiful, so when Jonnika called and told me that she was eight months along and wanting to do something edgy, I totally jumped at the chance! We started at City North, a very cool location in North Phoenix that has a "live, work, eat" philosophy and a generally urban chic vibe. Well, let me tell you that no one was shopping, eating, or doing anything else but gawking at this whippet thin, muscle bound, wearing her regular pants, 5'10" supermodel who totally took over that three block area. Construction workers, businessmen, and moms with strollers literally stopped and stared at her utter presence. The lust factor was so high, I would have feared a riot if it weren't for the amazing Kelly, a doting, totally sweet gentle giant of a gentleman taking care of Jonnika, catering to her every whim, telling her how amazingly beautiful she is, (she is!) and generally projecting the fact that he thinks she's the greatest thing since fried twinkies and it would be best if everyone would just stay back or he'd bite off their heads and chew them while we were shooting. These guys are truly a great couple, one who I totally expect to be shooting their 50th wedding anniversary, and I never say that about anyone. We then moved to the JW Marriott, a favorite spot of mine; every angle is fabulous there, and did some more! Mom, Janis joined us and took some shots, which was great, I mean, who could resist?!