When you have been married for 20+ years, you might have the tendency to lose sight of a few…read morethings. And, after the same number of years of buying birthday presents, you might just start to run out of thoughtful and imaginative gift ideas. Both of those things were happening with me, and due to an offhand comment by a co-worker, a great resolution was found. I keep a lot of photos in my office at work, and have done so for so long that I have more or less stopped noticing them. Every now and then an office visitor will comment on a picture, which often causes me to take a fresh look at it. Right around the time of the year when I start wracking my brain to come up with a birthday gift that exhibits a little more thoughtfulness than a Red Lobster gift card (not that there's anything wrong with that), a co-worker commented on how much my child had grown since we had taken the family portrait she was looking at. It was then that I realized that we hadn't had a new family picture taken since the one we were looking at. Inspiration struck! What a perfect gift! Not only would I find and purchase a gift certificate for a family photo, I would make a personal pledge to not treat the entire process of getting dressed up, going to the studio, getting the pictures taken, and going through the meddlesome process of trying to figure which over-priced printing package to get like it was an ordeal comparable to the Bataan Death March. The pledge proved worthless, and perhaps not for the reason you might suspect. What happened was that I used Google to find a local photographer, and what I realized during the search was that family portraits have changed. I'm sure you can still go to Target and stand stiffly in front of a gray background, looking for all the world like Dad should be holding a pitchfork in the American Gothic style, but these days you can have the photographer come to you and take far more informal (and thus more realistic) pictures in the surroundings of your choice. This is how I ended up trading emails with Matt Kieffer. I wanted to coordinate the timing of the gift certificate to keep it from showing up on the Visa account site that the Missus peruses every few days to make sure we don't get blind-sided by another identity theft - Matt was quite patient and helpful throughout the entire pre-purchase process. When it came time for the session, he arrived on time and well prepared to get the job done. He did not seem hurried at all - it was a nice, casual couple of hours of setting up various areas in the house using our normal family communal places. He was very conscious of potential distractions in the background that would show up in the final pictures, and was extremely patient as we corralled the pets from their various hiding places throughout the house and struggled to get them to settle down long enough for a few pictures. With the interior shots done, we all donned coats against the winter chill and headed outside for a few more shots. My pledge to treat the entire experience as enjoyable rather than burdensome was moot: it WAS enjoyable. We just received the proofs via a web service he uses to show us the collection of pictures and select those that we would like to have him do further editing on. They are fantastic! The lighting and the colors are great, and some of the preliminary edits he did to remove some clutter on the fireplace mantle are amazing. We are very happy with the results that he achieved. I highly recommend Matthew for any occasion worth remembering.

From the owner: Matthew specializes in portrait, wedding, and lifestyle photography. See the website for full…read moredetails.

Mark was a perfect match for our engagement photos at Hocking Hills State Park in November. We…read moreappreciated how professional and organized he is: we didn't have to sweat a thing with coordinating - he told us where to meet and when, and there is NO gps signal in hocking hills so that took a lot of stress off of us in planning. Mark is incredibly talented as well, the photos turned out beautifully! We aren't exactly naturals in front of the camera but he made us both feel very comfortable and we ended up having an awesome experience! Even our family said he managed to capture both of our personalities really well on camera but also our love for each other which was really sweet. The turnaround time was excellent, especially during a busy time of year for engagement end holiday photos! Totally within budget too. Cannot recommend MVM Videography highly enough, thank you so much for our beautiful engagement photos!

From the owner: MVM Videography LLC is a videography company based in central Ohio. This business can capture a…read moretimeless film of your wedding day, document your story, provide real-estate videos or even promote your business with promotion videos and product photos. We are also excited to work on any creative projects that you desire to bring to life.

Great and professional! Quick turn around time High quality…read morebeautiful pics! Highly recommend!

From the owner: Jen Miller is a boutique-style portrait photographer located in Vienna, WV. Types of photography…read moreservices I provide include weddings, newborn, senior pictures, children, animals, family, and engagement. I'm truly blessed beyond measure to be able to do what I love and love what I do. My prayer is my clients will love their experience with me half as much as I've loved mine with them!

Simply outstanding. I cannot say how pleased my wife and I were with our maternity shots. There…read moreare photographers, then there are artists. This team truly has a knack for quickly recognizing how to bring the best out of their subject, and the environment in which they are working. Highly recommended!

From the owner: Emily Ferguson Photography specializes in creative photography for weddings, engagements, high…read moreschool seniors, and family portraits.

Susan took both of my daughters' senior pictures and I was so pleased with them, we did a family…read moreshoot with her! She is not just a photographer, she is an artist! She has a real talent for seeing beautiful backgrounds that complement the subject in the photo! The colors in her pictures turn out so vivid! She makes her subjects laugh and feel very natural and relaxed around her. I would HIGHLY recommend her for any of your photographer needs, her prices are reasonable, too! You will not be disappointed!!

There are absolutely no words that can express how much I love Cassie Clarkson and her incredible…read moretalent when it comes to photography. She is amazing at catching the perfect angles that make you feel incredible in every photo. She is also wonderful at making you feel comfortable and beautiful during the photo shoots. I will ALWAYS recommend Cassie and speak her up every chance I get!!!!

Cassie and Jon were absolutely outstanding to work with! I am so happy that I entrusted Cassie to…read moreshoot our wedding. She is so passionate about her work and it showed in our final results. The photos are amazing! I recommend Cassie Clarkson photography 100%!