Photography Service Added

Working as I do so closely with the digital scrapbooking industry has opened my eyes to a new trend.  So about a year ago I started to offer a new service to my clients.  They can choose to purchase a digital CD of their photography session.  So if this is something that interest you then give me a call so I can explain the package deal.  So far this service is provided only to my portrait sessions.

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One Year Anniversary

Well it’s not really the kind of anniversary one likes to mention.  So why do I, especially here on my photo blog?  Well because it has been a huge part of our family lives for the last year.  It’s something that can’t be ignored or forgotten about.  Of course it’s not pleasant to experience either!

TODAY….is our One year Anniversary of Steve’s (my husband) layoff from work.  Yep we are part of the unemployment stats in the USA.

Here is the summary of the year:

• Lots of promises of jobs/work that’s fallen through
• Steve has applied to so many jobs
• Steve Worked hard on his own company (ParseTree) trying to get contracts/building clients (not easy in this economy)
• He’s managed to get some contracts throughout the 2009 year (yet not enough to support a family on as of yet)
• Had a son get married out of State in Dec
• Benefited from some very generous friends
• Learned that some people has tons of advise
• Felt blessed for the families general good health
• Grateful to understanding kids
• Yuk to 7 days a week work for me but feeling extremely grateful to have it
• Feel grateful for being able to make it this far in one year…so far we haven’t fallen behind on bills
• What an emotional roller coaster ride the year has given us with extreme highs and extreme lows, that can change very quickly.
• To bad the federal government hasn’t adjusted its budget like we have been forced to.  We certainly couldn’t act like them and get away with it.
• Forced to prioritize important from unimportant expenses.
• Has been blessed by a higher power and know of the reality of it.

Just to clarify some questions I’ve been asked over the last several months:  Yes I still do pictures and photo sessions!!  Fortunately my schedule does allow for the flexibility to do the thing I love most!  So please feel free to contact me if you need a photo session done.  This is the work I love the best and would like more of!

Eagles and Hawks

My challenge for a number of years has been to capture a fantastic photo of an eagle or hawk.  My eye has gotten where I can spot them quickly, mostly when driving down the road.  Often times I don’t bother stopping because of several reasons such as a bad angle, by the time I came up close they flew off, traffic is such that it’s not safe to stop, etc…

My regular job that I work at has started up again, which requires me to drive about an hour up a canyon to where I work and an hour back.  This gives me plenty of opportunity to see these magnificant birds.  Only problem the opportunity to capture them hasn’t worked out.

On my way home, I tried by having my camera out and ready, but still no success.  These creatures are smart, once you slow down or stop they know something is up, and they will fly away faster than you can pull the camera out.

Yesterday I was coming home from a job and saw the most amazing thing.  Only problem is, that I didn’t bring my camera.  Total bummer, for it would have been perfect.  There was a dead rabbit on the back road.  I see lots of ravens, and as I came closer-slowing down-I noticed that there was an eagle in the center of the road,  eating the rabbit.  The ravens flew off, but the eagle was so busy eating that he didn’t pay much attention to me.

So I  drove extremely slow towards where this eagle was eating off the rabbit on the roadway.    I was able to get within 6 to 9 feet of it.  The bad thing is, I didn’t have my camera with me.  I would have been able to take some fabulous pictures of it, with how close I was and the angle, etc.

Instead, I watched it and observed it for nearly 15 minutes.  Fortunately for me their was no traffic on the road, and the eagle was so busy eating that it didn’t fly away when I moved into its zone.  It was interesting to watch it so closely as it devoured the meal.  It would use its beak to tear the rabbit fur off, then peel into the flesh and eat it.  The strength in it’s beak was something else.  Then to see it’s feet cling to the kill to steady it while it tugged at it with it’s beak was fascinating.

So much for the perfect picture…this is like the third time to have a opportunity like this, and miss it because I didn’t have my camera with me.  You’d think I’d learn.  Maybe someday.

A Brave Family

It’s Christmas season!  The orders are coming in and so I’ve gotten a behind on posting to the blog.  In fact I need to post some of the pictures I’ve taken recently…sometime.

For now I’m going to show the most recent family pictures.  I have to say they were Brave.  Why?  Well because it was cold out.  The wind came up which made it feel colder.  So we ended up taking the pictures inside a barn.

I love these kids…they are so cute and got personalities that match it.  They did great considering all the circumstances of the session.  The parents are awesome too.  They showed alot of patience with the kids and of course me.  hee hee.

Ordering Pictures for Christmas?

This is a friendly reminder to all my customers who would like to order pictures for Christmas.  I usually get lots of orders and get backlogged and then the lab I send them to has the same problem.  So it takes longer to process orders at this time of the year.  So please get those orders in soon if you want them in time for Christmas.  This becomes even more inportant if they are to be mailed elsewhere.

Also I would like to THANK all my customers.  It’s certainly a joy to work with each of you.

Family Pictures

Tanya was so amazing!  The decision to get family pictures was made at the last minute.   Of course, we were loosing light quickly as it was getting to be dusk.  She was able to get everyone moving, changed, and ready in such a short time.  To top it off she she even had matching shirts on hand.  Fortunately they cooperated so well and moved so quickly that we were able to get several different family poses in!  Way to go Kevin and Tanya!

In these samples I thought it would be fun to show you different borders and how they can look with a photograph!  The right borders can really add to the photograph!  The same goes with a digital scapbook layout.

 

Digital Scrapbooking Day

Did you know that Nov 7th is Digital Scrapbooking Day!  Digital photography is perfect with Digital scapbooking.  If you enjoy pictures and or scrapbooking you might want to check these links out.

Here is a place where you can see examples of Digital scapbooking pages.   You can see a variety of digital kits availabe for free or for sale by clicking here.  Of course if you have any questions about starting, how to’s, etc….then click here to visit the forum.  You can read what is already there or register to login and post your own questions.

Below is an ad made using a digital kit found in the SumScrapper Shoppe.

SumPhoto Specials

SumPhoto is offering a special discount on all outdoor sessions (families, seniors & Children) which includes all digital images on a CD/DVD for $150 (not including sales tax).  This special is good till December 23, 2009.

The other offer that is going on right now at SumPhoto is a FREE Indoor Children’s, newborn, & Baby Portrait session.  This special is good till Sat December 19, 2009.  The special package deal includes a 1 (8×10), 2 (5×7), 8 (Wallets) for $24.  If you can get 2 other families kids signed up for the same day then you get one FREE package.  After November there is no guarantee that delivery of products can be made before Christmas.  For an additional fee we can put a RUSH order in but this ends a week before Christmas.

Skylar

Skylar is one of my beautiful neices who wanted me to get some pictures of her.  She recently picked out some of her favorites so I thought I’d share them with you.

100% Cute Kids

Taking pictures is a passion…I love it!  Every session is a learning curve because you never know what will go especially with kids.  These kids are adorable!  Of course I had to get a little creative in order to get the older boy to smile and the younger boy to look at the camera.  Below is a digital scrapbook page I created using a few of the pictures.  I also included a few pictures of each of the kids.