What a cute little family session and pregnancy reveal all in one! Always so exciting to take such major photos announcing life changes be it pregnancy, engagement, wedding days.
What a fun job to have to celebrate peoples life changes!
I had a blast shooting M+G’s engagement photos with their adorable dog recently. They are one of our awesome 2019 wedding couples for the fantastic Rollins Mansion here in Des Moines.
We ended up with the most gorgeous Sunday night for photos!
This sweet family sadly lost their adorable fur baby Sadie since this session but it was truly such an honor to capture them all together! Especially with her new human brother before she passed.
What a night filled with smiles and laughter, and new babies are just the best!
Thanks for having us! And we are so happy to have captured these amazing images of your sweet miss Sadie for you! XOXO
We lucked out with just the PERFECT night for photos! Despite the cold temperatures these two just rocked their maternity session!
We even lucked out with the most epic sunset for some silhouettes to end the night. If you are looking to document your pregnancy and want some amazing maternity photos to remember your journey to parenthood here in Des Moines feel free to reach out! I’d love to capture your big life moments!
Thanks for having me and so thrilled how all these turned out!!! You two are just the best!
Another great family photoshoot with one of our past brides and grooms! It’s fun to catch up during family sessions years later.
I mean it when I say we leave lots of weddings with true friendships, we spend a majority of your wedding day with you and it’s so special to see where people are in their lives years later! (:
I had a great time with these two! The bride was actually one of our FIRST clients ever with her senior photos years and years ago. Gosh doesn’t that make us seem old! 😉
When they brought up the idea of incorporating his police officer uniform for engagement photos I couldn’t have been more thrilled. Always supporting all the wonderful officers that keep us safe! And your fur child made the session so much more fun.
Thanks for having me and can’t wait to make some photo magic at your wedding in a few short months from now!
I had a blast photographing for The World Food Prize foundation covering the GYI Oxfam Hunger Banquet for the Global Youth Institute. What an eventual night it was!
If you aren’t familiar with the event feel free to check out the links above, honestly it was for high school age children from all over the globe here in Des Moines but I have to say I learned so much as well!
Oxfam is a global organization working to end the injustice of poverty. They help people build better futures for themselves, hold the powerful accountable, and save lives in disasters. their mission is to tackle the root causes of poverty and create lasting solutions.
Such a cool event for The World Food Prize to bring to Des Moines, and wonderful that ALL these kids from all over the globe flew into Des Moines to learn, discuss and work together to solve such a huge global problem!
I had the best night for family photos with this cute Bondurant family!
I’ve gotten lots of messages about family and kid photo sessions in Bondurant, feel free to reach out to our email address info@ztsphoto.com or fill out our contact form to set something up! We would love to capture your memories!
These two were one of our first wedding couples years and years ago and so fun to see all our past clients families grow!
Thanks for letting me capture your growing family and all his smiles just light up the room! What a little sweetheart!
I had the honor to shoot some images of some local Des Moines teachers and educators for a national education publication recently.
With Tanner being a high school teacher, and growing up with my mother in education it’s so awesome to celebrate all the time and effort teachers put into making their students lives better.
Can’t wait to see this shoot in print soon! I’ll post all about it when they send us copies in the mail, so exciting!
Thanks for having me out to the school, and congratulations to these two Des Moines Public School employees for all your hard work and dedication to improving the lives of the future generation!
Catching up on blogging so many fun things! Another great family session with a past wedding client of ours and their sweet fur babe.
What a gorgeous night!
I had the pleasure of capturing a local Des Moines Northwestern Mutual office recently for group photos of the entire office and headshots of each individual for marketing images. We lucked out with the weather and it ended up being just the perfect sunny morning for photos.
Thankful for clients that also are interested in doing offsite photos in natural light in addition on on site photos. I think they turned out just wonderfully!
Thanks for having me out again and great as always to have so many wonderful commercial photography clients for head-shots, new website photos or events here in the Des Moines area.
Feel free to reach out to us if you are in need of fresh images to advertise with. We would love to chat!
Love when our past wedding clients have babies! So fun to meet this little man and I had a great time capturing such a fun and joyful time for your little family!
Two quick favorites from a recent commercial headshot session for the current and new Presidents of Iowa State Bank here in Des Moines. What an honor to have so many fantastic on-gong commercial clients!
If you are in need of new social media marketing images, website photos or simply some updated headshots feel free to reach out. We would love to assist!
Excited to share that we are officially building (another) house! AND it’s actually…almost done!!!
We’ve been SO incredibly busy these last few months it’s been such a blur of work, weddings, commercial shoots, portraits, building meetings, you name it!
Tanner and I are blessed to have been able to do something totally custom this time, have a designated ZTS Photo office after 10 years (YESSSSS) and Dexter our sassy bulldog is just thrilled. (Ok really he’s just exhausted from walking to the new lot, the life of a famous bulldog is sure hard I tell you!)
We can’t wait to share more photos soon! Possibly a full house tour?! As well as our GREAT experience building with Meadowbrook Builders LLC and some photos of our new office digs!
We honestly couldn’t be happy with their prompt communication, ability to meet all our expectations and quality of our build here in Des Moines. Such a fun adventure!!!
We just can’t wait to be all moved in soon. Just two short weeks before we kickoff our ZTS Photo 2018 wedding season!
I had such a blast with this March engagement session! We lucked out with just the best day. You never know in Iowa what the weather will be (and wind!) in March so we had a blast enjoying the sunshine!
Can’t wait for J+D’s big day this fall at one of our favorite wedding venues in Des Moines, the Red Acre Barn and man did we sure get an epic sunset!
So great to finally meet you two and we are so excited for all our Spring weddings in the next few weeks! About time for some sunshine and warm weather, this winter seemed like it was just truly never ending! (:
I had such a great family session with the C family and blogging everything from the last few months is making me so excited for SPRING weather soon and all our Spring weddings! What a perfect night it was!
I had a blast covering the 2018 Iowa High School State Wrestling Tournament for IA Wrestle again this year. What an awesome atmosphere!
This is my 6th? (gosh I’ve lost count!) year covering the tournament and I can’t say how much each year it’s SUCH a rush to photograph! Sports is like nothing else, and truly pushes me to be a better photographer, engage in the moment and think outside the box. If you want to be a better wedding photographer, shoot some fast paced sports!
Congratulations to all the boys on their hard work, some great matches to photograph and NOTHING beats the electrifying atmosphere of finals of the state wrestling tournament at Wells Fargo.
Enjoy the photos! Thanks Iowa Wrestle for having me! And THANK YOU as every year I shoot for the kind messages from wrestlers, parents and fans for your joy over these. Glad to have captured such a special moment for you and your families!
ALSO if you DO decide to snag these for your social media/memories please @ tag us on IG/Twitter or FB with credit! (: We greatly appreciate some free social media marketing!!! 😉
Hands down the coolest event I’ve ever photographed!!! A list celebrity and all! Alec Baldwin was beyond kind. I’ve got to say that was probably the most nervous I’ve ever been to photograph something. I even had the pleasure of snapping a photo with him after the step and repeat!
I had the privilege of covering the Iowa Democratic Party Fall Gala for the party. Not only featuring the A List celebrity Alec Baldwin but also the past governor from Iowa Thomas J. Vilsack and many governor hopefuls speak for the 2018 election. Along side many photographers and journalists from CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC. I have to say…so amazing!
Photojournalism is something I take great pride in and find joy in covering. As primarily a wedding photographer I believe photographing events is refreshing and brings a unique challenge to document the day.
Hopefully this is the first of may political events I am able to cover here in Iowa. I had the best time capturing the night and enjoy the photos! What a great photojournalism event, so proud of these photos! Thanks again for having me Iowa Democratic Party!
Over the years we’ve probably had 15 inquiries for proposals on ice at the Brenton Skating Plaza here in downtown Des Moines. They were INCREDIBLE for one of our winter engagement sessions and opened up the rink to us alone at sunset. In exchange we did some fun marketing photos for them for proposals!
I can’t honest think of a better spot to prose in the winter to your significant other than on at Brenton Skating Plaza. And if you do feel free to reach out to us to photograph it, we’d love to capture your big moment!
Thanks again Brenton for allowing us to shoot their fun winter ice skating engagement photo there and so excited for them to use these images for marketing!
Oh my goodness this winter engagement session!!! What a PERFECT winter day for engagements here in Des Moines, Iowa! And I can’t say how much I enjoyed photographing ice skating engagement photos. Over the years I’ve had so many people inquire about it but we’ve always chosen another route. SO COOL to shoot a session on the ice!
Big thanks to the The Brenton Skating Plaza here in East Village Des Moines for opening up for us outside of business hours for the PERFECT sunset shoot before dark. You guys rock! And if you plan on proposing to your girlfriend guys of Des Moines, they do proposals here too! Contact us about shooting your special moment on ice, what a great idea! 
I just can’t wait for your big day this next July at one of our favorite wedding venues here in Des Moines, Glen Oaks Country Club. Seriously can’t say enough great things about the insanely organized staff at Glen Oaks. They are above and beyond for weddings!
Thanks for having me for your engagements, from the perfect red dress in the pines to the best sunset in East Village ice skating what a great winter session!
Stoked to have wrapped up our 2017 wedding season (our 9th one at that!) with an ANOTHER award for 2018 with a Wedding Wire Couples’ Choice Award!!! Based SOELY on client reviews.
Tanner and I say it often, we never really intended as two young college kids at BVU to have ZTS Photo grow into the amazing thing it has since 2009! We’ve had the best time capturing so many weddings over the years together, and made so many new friendships with our clients that we truly cherish.
Thank you to ALL our amazing 2017 brides and grooms from wedding season NINE for leaving us GREAT reviews. (You can check them out here!)
Blessed to do something we love together as a couple. It’s been such a fun journey and so fun to see how far we’ve come.
Thank you again Wedding Wire and our brides/grooms we are SO excited for all the wonderful 2018 and 2019 couples lined up for year TEN and ELEVEN of photographing weddings here in Des Moines, Iowa. If you know anyone getting married, feel free to send them our way! We would love to chat!
I had such a fun in home 6 month photo session with this little sweetheart! He’s one of our 2011 wedding clients little guys, and his eyes I’m just dying over!
Thanks so much for having me and he’s seriously just the sweetest happiest baby around!
We were thrilled to photograph the impressive new Brick House Fitness in Bondurant this past weekend. What an amazing new facility! If you live in the Ankeny, Bondurant or Altoona area and are seeking out a new gym this is the place to be!
Not only do they offer child care, but they are finishing up a track, volleyball courts outside and a wonderful gymnasium. The sauna, weight room and cardio areas are all open to the public already. They also offer an olympic weightlifting class and general classes to all members and kids focused fitness classes.
As avid gym goers ourselves I was seriously impressed with the offerings and staff at Brick House Fitness facility. They truly go out of their way to cherish all their members and their health!
What a great new addition to the town of Bondurant where Tanner and I call home in Polk County. And if you are in need of commercial photography for your new location feel free to reach out! Be it headshots, social media marketing images or event photos we would love to be of service!
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Kicking off 2018 with all the corporate photography here in Des Moines! Another great on location headshots session for a local bank. Thanks as always for having us, your employees are always a joy!
Feel free to reach out if you are in the Des Moines, Iowa area and in need of fresh and friendly commercial head-shots for your social media marketing or event photography. We would love to help out!
I had the pleasure of photographing the new Curate event venue open house this past Friday in East Village. The new venue created by the wonderful ladies behind Taste to Go catering here in Des Moines.
What a BUSY night it was! Such a great new space in East Village here in Des Moines. Just what Des Moines needs is a NATURAL LIGHT blank canvas event venue that fits an ample amount of guests for a wedding or event.
It’s over 6,000 square feet of room to work with, modern, classic and just the perfect light for photos. Brides and grooms to be please go check it out, I know if it were available when Tanner and I had gotten engaged in 2013 it would have fit us so well for our wedding! (: And we did use Taste to Go for our wedding catering and our guests still talk about our amazing food stations including a taco station (pictured below), a state fair food station and a bacon wrapped food station at our wedding. Plus a donut bar, such a hit to make your wedding day food what you two enjoy and unique to you!
Thanks for having me and I had such a great time connecting with fellow wedding vendors and photographing your new space. Just what Des Moines needed! I wish you guys all the best with your new amazing venue venture!
Holiday parties are such fun events! I had the pleasure of photographing the 2017 holiday party for ILC at the West Des Moines Jordan Creek Holiday Inn this past week.
Johnny’s Italian Steakhouse as always does such a wonderful job catering for events at this venue and I had the pleasure of snapping some couple photos as well as new headshots for all of the employees.
Thanks for having me and always a pleasure!
Also if you are in need of a commercial photographer for your event in the Des Moines, Iowa area or new marketing images/headshots feel free to reach out! Professional images for your social media really help your brand stand out.
I had the pleasure of photography at the brand new The Tea Room here in Des Moines for a commercial awards ceremony event for the University of Iowa presenting the Iowa Business Leadership Award of 2017 to Bankers Trust recently.
I cannot say how incredibly excited I was to photograph and see the new Tea Room! What a dream venue!!! As a wedding photographer the last 9 years I can’t say how excited I am for this new wedding venue to be here in Des Moines. What a wonderful natural light and clean space, if you are a bride and groom looking for a photographer please reach out, we would love to chat with you.
And now back to the event! I had a great time photographing this event for the University of Iowa Tippie College of Business. Thanks for having me and if you are in need of a commercial photographer for your event, awards ceremony or networking outing feel free to reach out! We would love to cover it with fresh amazing images for your marketing and social media needs!
Thanks for having me and so amazing to be in a room full of CEO’s and Iowa College Presidents, what a thrilling and rewarding event to photograph!
This family session was a huge reminder how important photos are to families. Their poor fur baby sadly passed less than a week after this photoshoot. I am SO thankful as a fur mom myself to have been able to capture some images with their newest addition and their last few days with their fur kid.
I’m not going to lie this is the 2nd session I’ve done lately with a sick pup and it’s just so nice to be able to provide the happy images they can look back on forever and cherish!
So sorry for your loss and what a special fur man he was!!!
Thankful for repeat clients and amazing friends!
Year 4 for this adorable family and their fur kids. This fall was just a whirlwind of weddings, commercial shoots, family photos, engagements and event photography for us. So many great sessions to blog!
Thanks everyone for all the support and what a great family session this was!
We have been so lucky to have several wonderful banks and professional institutions to be their primary contact in 2017 for commercial images. What a great headshot session in West Des Moines last week!
Feel free to reach out if you are in need of some updated marketing images be it office photos, product photography, event photography or headshots in the Des Moines, Iowa area.
Oh my goodness can we just talk about what a perfect wedding venue the Salisbury House and Gardens is here in Des Moines?! Tanner and I finally photographed our first wedding there in 9 wedding seasons a few weekends ago. What a PERFECT garden wedding venue. And so much greenery, I can’t say enough great things about it. A photographers dream!
Annie and Lance are just perfect together. They truly care so much about each other and compliment each other so incredibly well!
The day started with an epic bridal gift to Annie. Lance had made her a custom made box full of all her favorite things. Art supplies and so many thoughtful little gifts, how sweet is that!
Sadly we battled the rain all day BUT we managed to pop outside between the thunderstorms multiple times for photos and made it work.
I must say the foggy/rainy day made for some truly dramatic lighting!
It did sadly start misting during the ceremony but it was just so perfect I don’t think anyone even noticed!
Post ceremony they gave us endless time to explore around the Salisbury House and Gardens area for photos. What a perfect venue!
Due to the rain the dinner got moved inside, but thankfully they have such a fun room for the dinner. It was a joy to have a new venue to photograph in with such character!
Post dinner we were able to head outside for the dance. The rain had finally passed and what a sunset. That perfect September light for a cobblestone first dance made the best backdrop!
Thanks so much for having Tanner and I photograph your big day. You two are just the sweetest couple! And we hope you get your corgi puppy soon Annie, life is so much better with a fur child! (:
Bridal Hair- Renee’s Hair Salon
Ceremony location-Salisbury House and Gardens
Reception location- Salisbury House and Gardens
Catering- Occasions Catering
DJ- Puttin on the Hitz
Cake- Shade Tree Bakery
Video- Harding Videography
Florist- Scott Ellingboe
Makeup Artist- Jessica Jansen
We had such an amazing wedding portrait session with these two at sunset a few days ago.
Wedding portraits are so incredibly important so it was great to be able to capture some special ones for these two.
They literally let us pick any spot we wanted and were so much fun to work with! If you are wanting to have a bridal session feel free to reach out, we had a blast!
Tanner captured some amazing drone shots also, always so impressed at his visions from above.
Thanks for having us you two, I can’t even pick my favorites from this sunset fall couples wedding session!
I had such a great time catching up with this sweet family for some fall fun!
Little Nola is the cutest 2 year old around, she’s just so busy but it was a delight to have a more candid family session. She could literally be a track star!
Thanks so much for having me capture your family memories again this year, you guys are adorable and I hope to see miss Nola for year for #3 next fall!
We have an absolute marathon of fall engagements, family shoots, weddings and commercial sessions this October so going to start it off with the amazing W family here in Des Moines!
It’s always a pleasure meeting new people, this family literally laughed the entire time. I had so much fun with you all!
Thanks for letting me capture your memories, so many fun fall images!
Jess and Taylor had a picture perfect wedding day at Sticks here in Des Moines. They started out getting ready at the new AC Hotel by Marriott in the East Village.
I can’t say enough great things about the AC Hotel, what a great venue for getting ready! I highly suggest all wedding couples pick a getting ready venue with wonderful light.
Their first look took place in the lobby of the hotel, and just such a great new spot in Des Moines!
These two are just so perfect for each other, it’s evident from the smiles and laughter shared by the two the entire day. I am pretty sure they both didn’t stop smiling the entire day!
From the AC Marriott we headed to the Iowa Capital steps for some bridal party photos then across the street for a bit of shade with a great view of downtown Des Moines.
Finally pre-ceremony we headed to the park with the best view of the city.
They were married under the gorgeous trees at Sticks’ Design Studio Warehouse. I can’t say enough great things about how unique Sticks is, it truly is a blank canvas that you can mold it into what you want and what fits you as a couple. Such a perfect venue! (I might be bias as Tanner and I were married there 3 years ago!)
During the ceremony the crossed the thin blue line as Taylor is a police officer saying that Jess supports his career and him putting his life on the line. What a beautiful moment! We’ve photographed several law enforcement members weddings over the years, I’d never heard of this. Such a touching moment! Thank you for all you do officers!
Post ceremony they had an amazing band play at cocktail hour while we did sunset photos around the Sticks venue. I can’t say enough about our wonderful couples giving us 20 min around sunset for photos. They always turn out to be my favorite when the light is just perfect!
They danced the night away and we ended the night with some smoke bombs for night portraits.
Overall Tanner and I had the best time capturing your big day. Thanks so much for having us. What a perfect September wedding day, congratulations you two!
Wedding Ceremony Venue- Des Moines, Sticks’ Design Studio Warehouse
Wedding Reception Venue- Des Moines, Sticks’ Design Studio Warehouse
Catering- HyVee
DJ- Mobile DJ Studios: Chuck Rice
Cake- Whitney Leighton Little Blackbird Bakery
Wedding Planner- JoAnn Bohn – Weddings Without Worries
Florist- CamBamFloral
Getting ready venue- AC Hotel by Marriott Des Moines East Village
Makeup Artist- Beauty of All Faces & Jenn Pohl Staack of Salon 86
Hair Stylist- Ashley Harvey, Amanda Snell, Lauren Scott
It’s always fun seeing past wedding couples and their families grow over the years! I have a marathon of fall sessions and this adorable family kicked it off last night!
It’s shocking how much the boys have grown in the last few years. Always a pleasure seeing you guys over the years!
If you are in need of a fall family mini session in the Des Moines, Iowa area feel free to reach out, I’d love to capture your family memories.
Thanks for having me and I’m sure I will see you guys again next September!!
Sarah and Danny had a beautiful wedding day at the Rollins Mansion here in Des Moines.
If you haven’t been it’s the perfect vintage mansion venue for an outdoor garden wedding.
The day started off with the gals getting ready in East Village at the wonderful Salon Spa W.
From there they headed to the Rollions Mansion to finish getting ready, setup some details for the day and relax.
The niece of the bride and groom was so adorable all day!
She made an extra effort to pose for us and can I say how incredibly impressed I was that she knew every word to each Moana song on her iPad while getting ready. Impressive!
Sarah and Danny wanted their first look to be on the mansion steps and what a perfect location for the first look on your big day!
The weather truly cooperated with sun and humidity, you just never know this time of year it’s either amazing or incredibly hot in Iowa.
We did several photos in the garden area with family and bridal party pre and post ceremony.
All their friends and family gathered in the garden area while Danny’s sister sang for a beautiful short ceremony.
Post ceremony we took the couple to the back of the mansion for a quick portrait session and what a fun place for cocktail hour for the guests to wander around!
The rain held off long enough to eat outside and cut the cake and then we headed indoors for dancing!
Thank you Sarah and Danny for having us and the incredibly thoughtful handwritten thank you note at the end of the night!
Hope your honeymoon was amazing the last few days in Mexico and can’t wait to share your wedding photos with you upon your return!
Wedding ceremony & reception venue: Rollins Mansion
Bridal hair & Makeup: Salon Spa W
Catering: Daniel Grimes/ RM Food and Beverage
Cake: The Cheesecake Factory
Florist: Originals by Beck
Wedding Dress: Bridal Boutique in the East Village
We had the change to shoot the Apple Tree Inn Motel in Indianola remodel recently. What a fun shot! So fun to see how much the hotel has changed over the years. Thanks for having us back!
If you are in need of fresh commercial images of your property, business, etc on social media marketing in the Des Moines, Iowa area feel free to reach out to us. Tanner and I would love to help!
I had the pleasure of taking several corporate on location head shots and group shots for Iowa State Bank here in the Des Moines this week for new marketing materials and social media marketing.
If you are in need of new commercial images feel free to reach out! We would love to update your social media profile be it for LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, your website, or just marketing images in general for publications.
Thanks for having us!
Where to even begin with this one!
Tanner and I had the pleasure of shooting Megan and Tim’s wedding at Glen Oaks this August.
Oh my goodness what a perfect day it was!
I can’t say enough great things about Glen Oaks Country Club as a venue here in Des Moines. When brides are looking for venue options I always highly suggest finding a venue that lets you do everything in one place. From getting ready to the ceremony to the reception.
It really cuts down on travel time, and you and your guests ability to really relax and enjoy the day to celebrate your union together.
Glen Oaks is the perfect mix of that!
The staff there is also beyond, can’t say enough great things about them.
Megan planned her day so incredibly well, we only only did the wedding photos but wedding day highlight video as well. (Click to view below!)
Stetler Wedding 08.19.2017 | Glen Oaks Country Club Wedding from ZTS Photo on Vimeo.
The incredibly talented Shelly Sarver Designs did all the floral arrangements and Cynthia Betts with Vintage Love Retals and team supplied all the wonderful vintage decor.
What a perfect day to capture filled with lots of happy tears, love and laughter.
You two truly are each others best friends and what a joy to spend the day capturing your love!
We popped out at sunset for some perfect sunset light for photos around the golf course.
Including a fun little drone shot from above.
They had the dance so elaborately setup on the outdoor patio. They had a fun night celebrating the night away with family and friends!
Thank you so much for having us, what a fun wedding to be a part of with some of the best vendors around!
If you are looking to get married at Glen Oaks in the future please consider us, Tanner and I would love to be back and capture your big day!
Venue for Ceremony & Reception: Glen Oaks Country Club
Makeup- Kelsi Zeimann Artistry
Hair- Maggie McDonald & Mallory Fowler
Cake- Creme Cupcake
Vintage Decor- Vintage Love Rentals
Florals- Shelly Sarver Designs
2nd shooter for the day- Kayla Pontier Photography
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