I don't know where to begin with a review of Umber's work. The whole experience was so much more than I expected. In a nutshell: Umber is an exclusive portrait artist who makes artistic portraits based on a relationship she builds with you first. When we first set up our interview for my son's senior portraits, I was hesitant because her work is pricey, but what she gave us was worth every penny. We wanted to pay her for the session to reserve the date, but she wouldn't let us until we had met and talked about our vision for our son's senior portraits. She wanted to make him feel comfortable first! He's not the sort who likes to talk about himself and he wasn't too excited about the pictures at first, but her she was easy and insightful, and by the time he left he was actually excited about taking his senior portraits. She listened to him, and he told me that he wasn't expecting that. She knew the right kind of questions to ask to engage him and make him feel at ease. Since she built a relationship first, the session was not awkward. My son has always looked so forced in pictures. In her photos, he looks like himself. The pictures are better than I had ever imagined.

She said she used to be a painter and she has a degree in art. She taught us a lot of things (before the session) about how color and light works and how to prepare for the session. Then afterward when we went for our viewing she had some very innovative ways to display our photographs. We have a mural in metal of our son that is breathtaking. I have never seen anything like it. Everyone comments on it.

Be prepared to spend a lot, but there is NO ONE who puts the effort into creating meaningful works of artistic portraiture like Umber. She has a sweet spirit, too!

Just go for the consultation. It's free and you'll see what I mean. She's amazing. I can't say enough good things about her.

She shot our wedding and did an incredible job! Our photos are breathtaking. What the other reviewers said is true, she spent a lot of time with us before the wedding getting to know us and she actually taught us how to do things like exchange rings and cut the cake so we'd get the details we wanted. She captured so much that I didn't even get to experience at our wedding! I'm so glad we hired her. She will be our photographer for our future children. She's the best but I heard she is not doing weddings any more. I'm not sure if that is true, so call her. She is the best!!

Umber did our newborn portraits. Now I wish we had hired her to do our maternity portraits, too. I felt like my maternity portraits were good, but they were kind of posed and generic. I feel like Umber's work is more custom than that.

After I had my baby I was in pain from a c-section and I was tired but we wanted to photograph our daughter while she was still very new. I wasn't ready to leave the house yet. She was patient and so understanding! She understood about what it's like to care for a newborn, being a mom herself. We never felt rushed, even though it took 4 hours between feeding and napping, etc.ome for as long as it takes to get the pictures we wanted. She actually built a special background for us and did not charge anything extra. I don't know if she does it for everyone, but I couldn't believe anyone ever does that! We felt comfortable nursing in her studio, which was a big deal for us because it was hard at first. She actually dimmed the lights and left for a while so that that my baby could fall asleep in peace. It was hard being out for so long and her studio is small but she makes everything so welcoming and comfortable.

The pictures were perfect, of course. If you've seen her website you already know her work is good! She got one of my husband kissing our daughter that has made everyone who has seen it tear up! I found her through my friend who had her maternity and newborn photos done by Umber. I am so glad we did! My husband even says he liked the experience, and he didn't even want to be in the pictures, but he loves them!

We spent a lot more than we planned to, but it was worth it! The photos are amazing!!