A snippet of my day...

I am so excited to announce that this next week is my last week working at my 2nd job. My notice has gone in and I am done! I will be pursuing photography full time now and I couldn't be happier!! I can't tell you how amazing it feels to have found my passion and to be able to focus on it completely is just the icing on the cake.

Now on to the pictures...

Here is my first Senior session for the class of 2010 and it's made me realize that I absolutely love doing these sessions!! And this girl was adorable, sweet and incredibly stylish... bring on the Seniors!

Next, I had the opportunity to meet this sweet couple. And if I'm being honest... I really like these sessions too! It's amazing to me that I was "working" today but really I was just having fun meeting new people and making them look good... ;)

I love what I do!

Libby.

Meet Miss Libby. This picture cracks me up... feed me mom!! :)

The blanket is from Libby's room and how adorable to have it as a backdrop to match. I adore it!

Here are some of the other sweet knitted props my friend, Karina, made for me. I absolutely love them all!

Remember this one?

Her eyes are so soft and sweet in this next one.

I think one of the best things about doing newborn shoots is the gorgeous, wonderful mothers that I get to meet. It's so fun to witness the interaction between mothers and their new babies. This mother was no exception. One of the sweetest ladies I have ever met and so loving and nurturing to her children. Plus, she's beautiful!

A fun fall night...

Remember this little one? I absolutely love all the colors in these shots... great location chosen by my sweet friend Melissa. Fall is ridiculously beautiful and I'm so depressed that it's pretty much gone. Boo!

Notice the little gold shoes? How cute are those?

Love this blue background... matches this little one's eyes perfectly!!

Wedding Albums

I'm so excited about these! Amazing quality and totally customizable. The size of the pictures in this book are 12x12 just to give you an idea of how big it really is. I honestly think this is one of the most important wedding necessities... which is why I'm including it with my future wedding packages.

And who could forget this amazing couple?

I absolutely love how the pages are hinged to lay flat. It's so sleek!

Isn't it fun?

Off Camera Flash... an experiment

Tonight I tried a little experiment with my speedlight. A couple weeks ago I went to a small portion of a workshop called "Rock that OCF (off camera flash)" with Ali Hohn. And by no means am I an expert in this area at all... but I was so curious to try it out for myself to see what I could come up with. Btw, because of scheduling conflicts I wasn't able to attend the entire workshop but I am so there when she comes in the Spring!!

Here are some of the results... flash was once not my friend... and now look how fun!

These two are always the guinea pigs when I want to try something new. They're such good sports.

And could it be? Yup, it's me. I decided I wanted something new for my blog so Will took a couple for me. He did a great job! I'm pretty excited to experiment more with this. It's opened up a whole other world of photography for me and how cool is that?

You can view more of me here. I know you're dying to... ha, ha, ha!

Camera For Sale!!

So my hubby talked me out of selling for now... sorry!

Hey, photogs, I'm looking to sell my Nikon D300. I purchased it in June of this year so it's about 5 months old... still a baby. It's been absolutely wonderful... just need something with video. I purchased it for $1700 plus tax and I'm asking $1300. If you or someone you know is interested then email me.... please!!

Oh, I'm also selling my 50mm 1.8 lens as well. Purchased it for $130 plus $20 for the lens filter. This is a pretty sharp lens for the price. I think almost every photographer starts out with this little guy because of the low aperature settings making that wonderful blur. A must have!! Asking $100 for the lens and filter.

One Year Anniversary

I actually have never done this before but today I'm going to show you the BEFORE and AFTER of one of my shots from last night. All I can say is "Thank heavens for photoshop!" There are a lot of people out there that believe true photographers don't need photoshop... well, I beg to differ. Granted, that doesn't mean you still don't have to work to get your exposure and other settings correct in your camera first (sadly, that was my mode of thinking when I first started... I can just fix it in photoshop.) But the truth is, I HATE FIXING PICTURES!! So my goal is to always get it right with my camera first and then ENHANCE the picture later in photoshop. That is when the fun begins!! Isn't it amazing how flat and muted the colors are in the first one?

Since November is my ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY as a photographer professionally... I'm giving all of my clients who book sessions in November a free 8x10. So 25 free Holiday cards for family sessions (in case you didn't catch that in one of my earlier posts) and a free 8x10. Pretty cool if you ask me! What a crazy year it has been... I really am so grateful to have found something that I truly love and to have the ability to express myself creatively... which is what I've always hoped for.

Happy One Year to ME!!

Black & White

I love when I have a vision of a photo shoot and it's carried out through good friends. These two are some of my best friends ever and some of my most gorgeous friends ever too! I've had this vision in my head for a while now and I'm so happy they were willing to play around with me.

This is going down as another favorite location.

Isn't she absolutely beautiful?

We actually took family pictures this day too... so those will be coming.

Thanks so much for such a fun night!