Find me at Rocker 7!

Hi there!

I am writing this blog post for my 2022 clients to help them find me at the Rocker 7 Farm Patch for their sunflower photo shoot coming up in mid October.

The day of your photo shoot I will text you a photo of me, just to help you find me. See the aerial map below - I like to photograph where the red Xs are. This is where we will do your photo shoot, so look for me here.

Rocker 7 Farm Patch is located at 19601 W Broadway Rd, Buckeye, AZ 85326. Entry is $8 per person, including babies and kids.

I see other photographers out at the Rocker 7 Farm Patch and sometimes they are really dressed up. They look as good as their clients. While I would love to look that good and professional, you will usually find me wearing sneakers (I had spinal fusion surgery in 2014 and after that New Balance zero drop sneakers are the only thing that are truly comfortable for me to wear - plus, as a working farm, the sunflower fields do get muddy and dusty.) I’ll be wearing a T-shirt (frequently the T-shirt that Rocker 7 Farm Patch sells) and probably black basketball shorts, because they are the best thing to be able to wear while it’s hot and also sit or lay down on the ground for some shots.

I will have a black wagon with me, full of gear. I bring a step ladder, little chairs for kids to sit on, a little bench for kids and adults to sit on, a big gold reflector and a big white light modifier (see the pics below.)

Side note: frequently kids are intrigued by the big gold reflector and want to pick it up and play with it. If your kid does this, that is totally, completely fine! These things are indestructible. I am absolutely not worried about a kid picking them up, they can’t hurt them.

Here’s some pics of me taken in 2020 and 2021.

This one is with my stepson, who sometimes comes out to the sunflowers to assist me. I was wearing Rocker 7 Farm Patch’s T-shirt that day. I like wearing it because it is such a bright yellow shirt that it makes it pretty easy for people to find me. Side bonus is some of the people working at Rocker 7 think I’m part of the crew and are chatty with me.

Here’s a video of me photographing my cousins at the end of their photo shoot in 2020. My bonus son is filming it and that’s who you hear talking. This is back in 2020. Wearing a mask and I had pink hair. Seeing this makes me want pink hair again.

I do not love this photo of me! This was taken after sessions were over one evening last year. I was walking by a woman and her daughter. She asked me to snap some pics of them and then asked if I wanted pics. Thinking of how dirty I was (can you see the dirt on my knees? haha) I started to say no, but then changed my mind because I want to remember this, no matter how dirty I was. Someday i need to get dressed up and have photos taken of me in the sunflowers!

Fall Break Sunflowers

Frolic in the Sunflowers

Explore amongst the sunflowers & capture memories

at Sweet Flower Home for Fall Break 2022

How are you making memories this Fall Break with your kids?

Want to bring your family to explore the sunflower fields while getting mini session portraits?

Sweet Flower Home is a working farm owned by Carrie Mayfield in Buckeye, Arizona. Sweet Flower Home has planted thousands upon thousands of different kinds of sunflower seeds, staggering the planting weekly, so that there will be acres and acres of bright yellow blooms all October long in 2022.

The sunflower fields are available to professional photographers who buy a permit. I’ve signed up during the time many Arizona schools have fall break: Friday, October 14th, 2022.

Photo shoots are $150 plus tax, $50 plus tax non-refundable retainer to book, $100 plus tax remainder due on or before the date of your photo shoot. You receive 15 beautifully edited high resolution images in an online gallery - I choose the best photos, edit them in my signature way, and upload to an online gallery and send them to you. If you would like all the good photos (approximately 40-50 edited photos, that is $150 extra.)

Available times are: 6/6:30/7/7:30 AM. In the morning for early risers!

3/3:30/4/4:30/5/5:30/6 PM In the afternoon

Here’s a cell phone video of me (taken by my stepson) at Rocker 7 Farm back in 2020 (when I had pink hair!) I usually get kids doing some running games while I take their photos, either at the start of a session or at the end.

Here are photos I have taken over the years of people in sunflowers. Some of them are from the Valley of the Sunflowers in Phoenix in December 2011 and May 2012. Some are from Rocker 7 Farm Patch in Buckeye, Arizona in October and November 2020 and 2021. Some of the photos are from Agritopia in Gilbert; some are from sunflower fields south of Maricopa. Some of these photos are from picnics and so there are people in the backgrounds, in some I have edited them to remove people in the backgrounds. Some are at sunset, some are at sunrise. and some are in the middle of the day. Some photos have been edited quite a bit, some have not. Some have been edited to look like different types of film photography. PLEASE NOTE: none of these are from Sweet Flower Home. This year will be my first time photographing there! And I can’t wait! Because of the way the sunflowers have been thickly planted at Sweet Flower Home, photographing there should be really awesome!

Paula and son at Rocker 7 Sunflowers

Paula and son at Rocker 7 Sunflowers

Rocker 7 Farm Patch

Rocker 7 Farm Patch

Rocker 7 Farm Patch

Rocker 7 Farm Patch

Salt River Portraits

My sister and I photographed Nancy and Kevin and their daughter at the Salt River before they welcome their brand new baby. Nancy and her family live in our neighborhood, just a 5-10 minute walk away. I’m so glad we are neighbors!

The Salt River has always been one of my favorite places to go for all sorts of recreation - I love going stand up paddle boarding, getting to see the wild Salt River horses, going out there for picnics and just to sit by the water, I love tubing down the Salt River and I’ve been biking out there. My absolute favorite thing to do is to go out there and watch meteor showers. Darker skies = seeing more falling stars!

But something I’d never done, and been wanting to do for quite a while, was do a photo shoot at the Salt River. I’d love to do another one. Something we learned is that it’s pretty busy at the river, week days might be less crowded than a Sunday afternoon. I photoshopped a lot of people out of their images. I’d rather make it so that clients have a more peaceful experience and find a quieter time to go.

We met up at Phon D Sutton and then just before the sun set, we headed to Granite Reef. Phon D Sutton was beautiful, but I’d really like to go back to Granite Reef. I feel like it has a lot of potential.

Are you looking for a Salt River photographer? Let’s chat! Here’s where to find more info and message me!

Big sister to be!

To a little brother!

Justine's Family

Here are some of the family portraits I took for Justine and her family at Veterans Oasis Park in Chandler, Arizona. Veterans Oasis Park is a gorgeous location and a pretty perfect place for family photos - there’s a little of everything: meadow areas, cottonwood trees, lakes, picnic pavilions, a flowing spring with gorgeous desert trees, citrus and fruit trees, lots of paths to meander down, little cottontail rabbits all over the place. I highly recommend visiting this absolute gem of a park!

Justine is part of the group Desert Bloom Multiples - which describes itself as “an inclusive support group for parents and caregivers of multiples (twins, triplets, and higher order multiples). We accept and embrace members of every age, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and nationality.” The group is in the East Valley and welcomes anyone in the Valley/Phoenix metro area. They seem like an extremely fun group; they get together and do lots of activities! If I had twins, I would definitely join them so I could be a part of all their social activities!

I created mini sessions portraits for ten Desert Bloom Multiples families in one weekend in March. Justine and her family were my last family to photograph, so I had a little extra time with them at sunset and we were able to get a variety of photos in different locations.

I loved how these family portraits turned out!

Are you looking for a family photographer? Click here: Brenda Eden Photography for more info!

Or send me a message here:

Now I am going to add a carousel gallery of the photos, some from above, and some extra, just so that if you are reading this, you can see more of my work!