While I always love seeing you and chatting on the phone, I realize that most of you live very busy lives and I do not always have the opportunity share with you as much as I would like…. so I promise to be more diligent with sharing all of the amazing things happening with the portrait studio via Linnea’s blog! And, for those of you reading this whom I have not met, my name is Megan, and I have the pleasure of being Linnea’s studio manager.

So, one story I would like to share with you is my recent first experience being photographed by Linnea. She created this beautiful family portrait of my son and me.

On a daily basis, I encourage parents and loved ones to slow down and take the time to document these beautiful and fleeting moments in life with portrait photography. Being a proud mother, I see, first hand, how quickly children grow and how easy it is to let the craziness of life distract you from enjoying these times. Working for Linnea and watching how she sees life and love, I have truly come to see why family portraits are such an irreplaceable treasure…yet it took her months of reminding me to actually step in front of her lens myself!

I came up with all the excuses in the book to avoid being photographed, “I need to get my hair done, tone up a bit, etc…” But I realized my son was growing too fast for me to keep making excuses and finally asked her to photograph the two of us together.

I literally see Linnea’s work everyday and I am impressed everyday, yet I was still floored when I saw the results of our session. They weren’t just photographs of us; she really captured our relationship and how we feel about each other. When I look at these wonderful family portraits of my son and I now hanging in my home I don’t see a “photo”, but that sweet moment in time between my son and I that I will always have to cherish….even when he becomes a rebellious teenager! So, I wanted to share one of these moments will all of you out there…it is my favorite portrait of my son, Logan, and myself. It is, in itself, Art!

Here’s a link to “The Doctors” video that featured the maternity photography that I created for them.

Congratulations to the Dahm Triplets and your husbands for your little girls and the new lives you’ll be leading. The only thing that tops being pregnant is holding your little one in your arms.

I chose to submit a fine art nude series of three art pieces which feature a woman posing nude on a dance pole. In the images, I captured her in a sophisticated way performing erotic “pole dancing” moves which she does regularly as part of her fitness regimen. The fitness phenomenon which incorporates yoga, Pilates and other strength building moves helps women build their self-confidence by giving them the freedom to be their naturally sexy and erotic selves without social restraints. The series of images captures the beauty, joy and strength of a woman empowered by her own sexuality, and I love that she exhibits grace and strength through what has historically been perceived as a demeaning and degrading activity.

Art Gallery Show dates are from March 1st – April 17th, 2009

Come join me at the

Special reception:
Thursday, March 5th from 5pm-10pm during San Pedro’s first Thursday art walk.

and Formal reception:
Saturday, March 21, 2008, 5pm-10pm
Light hors d’ouvres, wine and music by DJ CEE-BO.

at Gallery Azul
731 S. Pacific Ave.
San Pedro, CA 90731
310-831-2116

See more nude photography which has a elegant, sophisticated edge on my website www.LinneaLenkus.com or my new nude website at www.FineArtNudePortraits.com

I have so much to be grateful for and so I want to say thank you to all of my wonderful clients and to the people who are on my team. Being a photographer means I get to be a part of so many families and I love knowing that I can create something that reminds you of your love for them. Each moment is priceless and we all need to stop once in a while to capture those moments for posterity to remind us what adds true meaning to our lives.

I recently received the sweetest Thank You card from one of my favorite people, Brooke Burke. She sure warmed my heart by writing in her note: “The Photography Book you made for my family is Incredibly Beautiful! And Priceless! It has become a Ritual during story time. The Kids call it our Family Book. What a generous gift that we all enjoy!”

Thank you Brooke. Thank you to all of the wonderful people in my life. Here’s to a new year and a new era. Here’s to creating beauty and love everywhere.

I’m a photographer and my photography website is at LinneaLenkus.com

This family portrait titled “Serving Double Duty” features a husband and wife who are both on active duty in the U.S. Navy. In the portrait the father is cradling his 9-day old daughter, while his wife gently kisses her on top of her head. This artwork is one of 12 from the “Images From the Homefront” collection, a project I proudly worked on with “Operation Homefront,” a non-profit organization that provides emergency assistance and morale-boosting programs to military members, their families and our nation’s wounded warriors.

“Serving Double Duty”
Both serving in Navy combat teams, this dynamic duo has been on several deployments – each at least 6 months in duration as a result of the on-going wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Over the last four years they’ve been physically apart for more than two years. Their daughter was just nine days old when this portrait was taken.

The mother in this portrait wrote:
“The strains on dual military marriages are tremendous because we’re apart so often. We keep our marriage strong through constant communication whether it’s through e-mail or letters – as long as we have each other’s words. It’ll be very difficult when it comes time to say ‘goodbye’ to our little baby girl, but we proudly wear this uniform because we know we’re an important part of what it takes to keep our nation free.”

This portrait photography features one of the nine military families I took portraits of for “Operation Homefront” which has become a traveling photography exhibit to increase awareness about the issues facing our country’s military families and to help raise money for the organization. Other images in the exhibit include a maternity portrait, newborn photography, family portraits and pair of desert combat boots which serves to represent our nation’s fallen.

On Tuesday, November 11th, 2008 I will also be Click here to see more of this unique family photography.

I’m excited and a bit nervous to tell you that my video is up. After several months in the works, and still working out the Flash conversion I’m happy to present to you a bit about me, my portrait philosophy, and how I work. I felt it was about time to let everyone know about the photography experience that they can expect at our three portrait studios. Many people get really nervous being photographed but there is nothing to fear. It’s a fun experience! I am a photographer and I can tell you that it’s true.

So without much ado please go to the Linnea Lenkus Experience.

A couple of blog posts back you will recall that I recently had the honor to be part of a couple’s wedding celebration. They’ve been married for 21 years and the husband decided to make the experience of doing a portrait session with me as part of his anniversary gift to his wife.

As I prepared the couples portraits for them, I have to admit I got jealous. I thought it was such a terrific idea that I decided that I wanted my own couple’s portrait of my husband and I to celebrate our 16 wonderful married years together. So, on our anniversary last week we went to the photo studio, and what a terrific time we had together.

We kissed, hugged, held hands, touched each other’s faces, stared into each other’s eyes, and well, you get the picture! I must say, it was such a delight and incredibly romantic, even after all these years. I feel very proud to still love this man so much and to know how much he loves me right back. Actually, I have to say, that we’re probably more romantically in love with each other today after 16 years and three gorgeous children, than we’ve ever been in our lives.

It was exciting to play and laugh in front of the camera all in an effort to visually capture our love. I’ve been a professional photographer for over 18 years, yet, I just couldn’t get around to a professional photo portrait with him alone, but what a wonderful and romantic gift!

Come for a visit at my photography website.