Franklin Photography Studios Arizona

Hello! My name is Shelley and I’m a portrait photographer located in beautiful Scottsdale, Arizona! If you haven’t been here be sure to put it on your list of places to visit. It’s truly a destination that has it ALL, and in January or February you can’t beat this gorgeous weather!

I’ve been specifically a portrait photographer in studio for five years. My passion is making women feel BEAUTIFUL, strong, comfortable and cared for, with a luxury photography experience that includes professional hair and makeup as part of a complete day of pampering.

Before the pandemic started in 2020, I had launched what I called the Fifty Over Fifty Project. I planned to photograph Fifty women over the age of Fifty in 2020 and celebrate their strengths and stories through portraiture. We would showcase them in a gallery style showing with a champaign party and celebration when all fifty photoshoots were complete. 2020 did not turn out as ANY of us expected, and shortly after we began our photoshoots, we were forced to shut down for three months and put the project on hold.

Something surprising happened though! Women over Fifty continued to call and book shoots for months down the road with hopes of being able to celebrate milestones and themselves in a time we were all feeling down and unsure. Our photoshoots became SO much more than photoshoots. They became days of beautiful distraction. We worked as safely as possible and masked, photographing these incredible women.

Women over fifty have LAYERS of life, and decades of stories. I heard so much determination and saw such strong spirits! I learned from women who told me about the ways life tried to break them, but they had persevered. There were also stories of women in their 50’s or 60’s finally feeling as though they’ve stepped into their power and are walking towards their dreams. There were also heart-breaking times, like when I learned I was taking a client’s obituary photos. She didn’t expect to see the end of 2020, and she did not, yet the memories of that day leave me filled with joy and a feeling of peace.

2020 introduced me to so many different kinds of women, and we celebrated during Covid restrictions with small groups visiting the gallery I held at the studio, and with a magazine we published. ( It can be seen here)

We were lucky to be able to celebrate again in November of 2021 when the gallery was on display at The University Club of Phoenix. Meanwhile in 2022 we are working towards finishing the next round of fifty women we started photographing in May of 2021. All good things must come to an end, and though photographing women over 50 will ALWAYS be something I specialize in, this will be the last round we are doing as part of a project. There are still a few spaces open so if you are interested, please reach out by filling out the contact form you can find by <Here>

Stay tuned to our new blog because I’ll be introducing you to the women of these projects in upcoming blog posts as I combine the projects and post their stories you will see a new name, “Fearless After Fifty” because all of these ladies contributed to my new outlook on life and helped me see that it just gets better from here! I look forward to sharing their very diverse, very amazing stories!

I’ve been told a time or two that photographing animals is my superpower. It’s never easy to get perfect photos of moving subjects that are not always cooperative, but over the years I’ve learned a lot of tricks that help me capture images of pets that truly showcase their quirky personalities. With the use of my toolbox of tricks during photoshoots and post processing and editing skills I’ve learned to create composites, my Photography of pets has earned high praise and I have been awarded multiple silver awards with many international photography competitions, becoming the fifth photographer worldwide to earn the title of Fellow Photographer with The Portrait Masters, and winning many silver awards with WPE and WPPI, to name just a few.

When I was commissioned recently to photograph a nine year old girl and her adorable cat “Skittles” I was up for the challenge. I will call it a challenge, because when working with animals there are always unexpected things that pop up. Cats are known to be difficult subjects. They don’t like to pose or sit for the camera, and are not usually motivated by food or treats. Most cat’s don’t enjoy traveling to unknown places. When anxious they often run and hide under the closest piece of furniture, or squeeze into a tight space where it might be hard to retrieve them. Knowing this could be the potential scenario, I prepared my clients for the worst case scenario.

With pets, the number of photos we show to clients at their reveal can vary depending on the cooperation of the pet. At Franklin Studios, I tell clients I will have 10-30 images to present them with, depending on how things go. Skittles did a great job, with only a small detour to hide under the dresser for a few minutes when we first started shooting. Because of this I was able to provide my client with a gallery of over 40 images of her daughter and cat to choose from!

It is certainly easier to photograph a cat if they are posed with a trusted and familiar companion, and the bond this little girl had with her kitty cat was a special one to see and to capture with my camera.

Below are SOME of the images that my clients loved.