Sommessa Photography - Portland, Oregon

Kate E.

Mel is absolutely the best when it comes to maternity, baby, and family photos! She took our maternity/family photos with our two strong-willed and half-deaf senior dogs prior to the birth of our daughter, and did a fabulous job wrangling our furry sons and capturing our little family before we became parents to a tiny human. After our daughter was born, Mel came to the hospital for a Hello Baby/Fresh 48 session, which turned out to be the perfect way to capture candid photos of our newborn. I'm so grateful that Mel was there to capture so many of our firsts as a new family, and I will treasure her images for years to come. Mel is amazing at what she does, and has a gift for putting furry critters and babies at ease while taking incredible pictures of them.

Allison C.

I can’t say enough good things about our experience! Mel has a wonderful way of making you feel comfortable, gives clear direction that allows for natural interactions and poses, and has a great eye for detail (think rings being turned the right way, fixing folded over collars and hair in weird places moved etc!) we look forward to seeing our photos and can’t wait to our new born shoot soon!

Esther T.

How do I even begin to describe our love and appreciation for Mel! She has captured our little Ohana since my little premie came home, to her sitter photos, and our toddler now! Mel has the ability to make you feel calm during your sessions and waits for the perfect moment to capture those little smiles and baby details. Her attention to detail and her eye for different angles are *chef’s kiss*. We are so blessed to have had Mel capture these forever memories and moments- we can’t wait to continue to work with her! Love you, Mel!!!!

Natasha K.

Mel is a talented photographer and lovely person who created truly beautiful photos for us. The lighting, colors, compositions of the family shoot were so well done, she made us all look like our best selves running through magical fairy hills! I especially loved the series of cute snuggles she captured of my twins, and all the funny expressions inbetween. She also did a pet photoshoot of my fluffy geriatric dog, who I can’t say was the most cooperative of participants. I was so pleasantly surprised at the adorable yet modern shots she managed to capture. It was exactly what I was hoping for and more. Mel puts a lot of love and care into her work and we look forward to working with her again!

Emily C.

We have had the pleasure of working with Mel a few times now as she took our maternity, newborn, and sitter baby photos for us. Each time, she has impressed us more. Mel makes you feel comfortable in her sessions and does an incredible job of documenting the natural emotions and bonds between you and your family. The photos from our maternity session are stunning and my favorite images ever taken of me and my husband. In our newborn session, she made my husband and I look and feel a thousand times better than we felt in those early days. She captured so many beautiful details of our daughter and moments of our new family together. In our recent sitter session with our 7-month old, Mel shot a spectacular range of emotions and faces of our daughter. I will cherish those images and memories forever. Mel is an incredibly talented and creative photographer! We are so grateful to have the photos she took during these formative times for our family and look forward to our family session with her in the Fall!

Lindy M.

I used Sommessa Photography for my maternity, birth, newborn, sitter babies, and family photos with my twins. I was most interested in hiring Mel for my birth photography and she went ABOVE and beyond to make sure that we got some images to cherish. I look back on those photos every once in a while and they make me melt with happy tears. My birth photos are SO much more important than wedding photos to me and I am so grateful for all that she did to immortalize the moments I became a mama <3 Mel with Sommessa Photography is such a pleasure to work with too! I've worked with photographers in the past that can be so awkward and you end up not looking your best in photos you want to cherish. I always look like a super model in all of my photos with Mel because she is so good at getting you (and babies!) comfortable in front of the camera. She's also so good at helping you pose and smile. On top of all that she captures light, nature, and most importantly, BABIES sooo well. We always get plenty of images back from Mel and in a pretty timely manner. My mother in law has used the printing services with her photo storage providers and loves them too! Yay! Side note: I am super interested in getting my adorable older kitty in front of the camera soon too with Mel's PNW Critter Photography 😀

Charnae D.

I’ve gotten professional photos done for each of my kids when they were newborns, 6 months, and 1 year. After 5 kids, that’s A LOT of photo sessions. We’ve used four different professional photographers, and our most recent session was with Mel.

My husband and I still talk about how casual and fun our session with Mel was. How real and authentic it felt and how perfectly she captured our family dynamics and the personalities of our precious babies. And let me tell you, it is no easy task to photograph a family of seven, with five babies all under the age of six. But Mel did it. And she did it beautifully!

As long as Mel offers family sessions (and if we decided to add more to our bunch) she will always be the first I ask to capture us.

She truly an artist. And incredibly skilled. And just a delight to be around. ❤️

Ashley J.

Mel is such a joy to work with! I can’t imagine a better experience for our family and little one. We had a studio session with our 8 week old and loved the time with Mel. She has a wonderful attitude and calm nature, that put not only us two adults at ease, but our infant as well. She was able to capture lovely and unique moments that I will cherish forever. Her images are not only pictures capturing a moment, but true works of art.