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Sunday, April 25, 2010

Summit Hill / St. Paul Photographer / Testing...testing 1 2 3


Today is an exciting day. I've set up an account with a professional photo printing company, and sent in my choices for the 5 test prints that they provide for free. I gave Cherie choice of two of them, so she will get 2 8x10s for free. The above photo of Aubrey is one of them :)

I posted her proofs online yesterday...her family and friends are pretty impressed, so I am thrilled!

Here is another photo I sent in for a test:


I'm really interested to see how this will look on the wall as an art piece!
And this one, my sister, Ivy is interested in, so hopefully it turns out well and she likes it on HER wall.


I am on a MUCH needed vacation from work this week, so my time will be filled with cleaning, sorting, business planning, photo/dog walking and catching up on all the other things I never have time or energy to do during the regular work week. I also need to put some thought into how I'm going to handle the documentary shoot I have planned for Friday. So, all in all, it will be busy week, but I'll try to relax as much as possible!
Happy Sunday everyone!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Summit Hill / St. Paul Photographer / Sibling Practice Photoshoot #2

I spent this past Sunday evening with the kids of a good girlfriend of mine. Beauty #1 is 8-year-old Aubrey and Beauty #2 is 2 1/2-year-old Jenna. We had sooo much fun! Thank you so much to Cherie and Brian for inviting me into their home and neighborhood to chase their children around with a camera! And for feeding me grilled brats afterward! hehe



I got a ton of great photos. These girls are extremely photogenic and easy to work with. The natural smile of little Jenna is absolutely priceless even if not just a little challenging to capture. Aubrey, on the other hand is a natural model (read: complete ham!) and fun fun fun and easy peasy to work with! We hung out in the backyard, hula-hooping, blowing bubbles, sliding, swinging, tree-climbing as well as going into the neighborhood park to monkey on the jumgle gyms, dance on tables and pose super-cute for me on the bridge



Here are a few sneak peeks of our session. Out of 104 potential images, I need to weed it down to 30 or less.. its going to be sooo hard! It was hard enough just to get it down to 104 from about 350!! There is a saying amongst photographers: "Take lots and lots of pictures. The more you take, the more good ones you end up with." I may have gone a little bit overboard given this piece of advice ;) But maybe not! Oh well... shoot and learn, I guess! A few other things I learned: Other neighborhood kids are great helpers and I'm going to need to work out my left thigh so it stays as strong as the right one, given the insane amount of exercise the right one gets when lunging down constantly to get on the children's level!


I really did have tons of fun! How can I call this work!?
Coming up this weekend, I don't currently have any photoshoots planned. However, I do have a 5K planned. Will I be 'running' it? mmm not so much :/ With all this photography business, my run training has taken a serious hit. My friend Nicole, who is doing the 5K with me has also not been running so much lately because she and her boyfriend just bought a house... so at least I won't be walking most of it all by myself...yay!! Next week, I am off of the "9-5 gig" on vacation and I have 3 shoots planned. A maternity on Tuesday, a sibling lifestyle on Thursday and on Friday, a just-for-photographic-experience-sake, a documentary shoot with my friend Luke who is a film-maker. That should be interesting!

Lots of fun and interesting stuff coming up, so please keep stopping by!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Summit Hill / St. Paul Photographer / This is just oh so exciting!... and scary.

Ok, heres what I'm worried about. I'm worried about coming off on this blog as someone that I'm not. Sometimes I do that... I worry too much (sense a theme here?) about what to write, how to write it, what personality to exude. I'm just not a natural at this blog-writing business. BUT. I'm going to give it a whirl anyway and this time I mean business! Literally.

About two months or so ago, I splurged. On a camera. An expensive one. I've always wanted it and finally one day after obsessing over which one to get for weeks, I just did it. And I haven't looked back. No regrets, not even as I scan the financial damage on my credit card statement -- now thats serious, folks! Since that wonderful Saturday at National Camera, I've been more obsessed than I thought possible. I have learned sooooo much and I want to learn more. I want to "do it" all the time. Photograph, that is! I've joined a meetup.com group of local photographers and met some new friends. Our first meetup was veeeerrrry early one Sunday about a month ago. The Como Park Conservatory was opening it's doors two hours early for photographers and artist to bring in normally not permitted tripods and easels. Since I'd never met any of these people, I decided to get up extra early and meet a few of the meetup group people for coffee at Caribou beforehand. Such nice, generous (and knowledgeable) people! I had a fantastic time and really felt 'at home' with other photographers. I was no longer that girl with the camera. I just blended in. I loved it. Here are a few photos I took that day:
















On other days, I just take the camera (and my dog!) on photowalks around my neighborhood. Several weeks ago, the rivers in our area were flooding and I got this:















This is Mushu. She is a celebrity...at least in my neighborhood. She's a gracious celebrity. She loves her people!...and they love her. What does she not love? The Paparazzi!!! Yes, thats right. My own dog will not let me take her picture properly. Any good photos I post of my dog are a result of plain luck. Here is one:










Early on, I discovered Flickr.com Once I started looking at other people's work, I was transformed. I love this. I want to do this. I want to create beautiful photographs. Whats this!? This beautiful child... and this one...and this one...and this....and so on and on and on. These are soooo good and the photographers are soooo talented. Wow. Just wow. As I continued to browse (and lose complete interest in ALL my TV shows!) I started to realize some of these photographers hadn't been 'photographers' for very long. I also discovered how helpful they are. Forums and groups exist for the soul purpose of helping new photographers get their feet wet without making too much of a mess. Could I do this? Could I? A few days later, I was still thinking about it and asking myself that question. Could I? Why not give it a shot. Thus began the pestering of all my friends and family to let me photograph them and their children. Brenda was the first to oblige with her two-year-old twins and 3 month old infant. I was sooo excited! To be sure, it was a novice attempt and I got few good photos out of it, but I learned Oh, so much. So much. What I could do better, how I could prep the client better, what I shouldn't do... and most importantly, what not to expect. Here are a few examples from that day. I know they're not great, but they were my first try.. and I am proud of them. And I had fun that day...thats the most important point of all. I loved it. Thanks, Brenda!!


This is the adorable Meghan.










This is sweet little Landon.

My intentions for this blog are to keep customers up to date in whats going on with SBliss Photography as well as to show clients "Sneak Peaks" of their sessions before the proofs are complete and published. There is also a link at the top which will take clients directly to Storefront Ordering of prints when they are ready. There is also some links on the right which will take you to the blogs and portfolio/websites of a few photographers that I admire. They inspire me greatly. I'll also be sharing with you how my sessions go, whats upcoming on my calendar as well as with occasional off-topic photography subjects.

For a limited time, I am Portfolio Building and am offering my complimentary photography services for my maternity, baby, children and family natural light portraiture business. Once, I feel confident in my ability to offer quality to my victims (I mean clients!) I will remain in Portfolio building mode, but at a 50% discount off of full pricing. Current pricing will be subject to change at anytime prior to your booking an appointment with me, but I will surely keep you informed of any changes here on this blog. Full Pricing structure has not been worked out yet, in case you were wondering.. again that will be posted as soon as it is relevant.

Thank you so much for reading SBliss Photography's first blog post! I hope to hear from you soon ... I want to photograph your family! ....and please stop by often! It'll keep me posting :)

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