It's a New Year! | 2014 Updates

2013 has come and gone. Hard to believe! I don't know about you but it seemed to fly by for me!

A new year always has a way of making us think of what we want to do differently than last year. 2013 was a year of huge growth in my business, so I'm reevaluating some things for 2014 and here's a little update on what's new for this year!

• PASS! As of now I am officially switching over to using PASS exclusively for delivering photos to clients. Before I was using CDs or flash drives that could easily be lost or damaged, plus took up way more time to create and to deliver to the client. With PASS, clients get their pictures instantly! When I finish them, all I have to do is load them into the PASS gallery, click a button and voila! The client can view, favorite, download files, order prints, and share their pictures immediately! Not to mention there's even an app so you can show them all off on your smartphone. What's not to love? Get more detailed info at my.pass.us

• Anniversary sessions! This is a niche that I really love and would like to branch into some more this year. So many couples get their engagement photos done, and their wedding photos done, and then they just stop getting pictures together aside from casual day-to-day snaps - which are important too, but I love the idea of continuing to set aside some time once a year to get some professional shots taken together. All my 2013 couples - watch your email because you'll be getting some special info from me about this. :-D

• Pricing adjustments. You knew that was coming, didn't you? :-) Yes, my pricing has been changed a bit, but I think portrait pricing will stay at this point for the foreseeable future!

• This is still very much in the planning/mulling-in-my-brain stage, but I'm contemplating offering a beginner's photography workshop this spring/summer. Interested? I'd love to know what aspects you would like to be covered!

Happy New Year, everyone! :-)

Photo credit: Laura at Dust & Rainbows Photography

G. Family | Portraits

I had the pleasure of taking family pictures for this sweet family… they've got some ridiculously cute kiddos! It was chilly but they were troopers and did a great job! You never know how kids are going to behave in front of the camera; but I seriously considered hiring them as models. :-)

Stinker. :-)

Classic Laura!

Newest Addition to the Lens Family!

I am so excited that I am officially the owner of a Canon 100mm 2.8L lens! (YES! I have an L lens! Ahhhh!). Originally I was saving for the 35mm, thinking the 100mm was fun but not super practical since I'd only used it for the macro side of it, but last time I rented it, I tried it out as a portrait lens and fell completely in love.

So excited that I get to use it on all my shoots from now on!

The Cutest Cupcake

Our friend Grace, whose delightful confections have made it on the blog before, brought these delicious  chocolate raspberry cupcakes with her when she visited and her visit coincided with my Oma's birthday. She had to finish them off here with chocolate ganache and Ghirardelli chunks, and when I saw the mounds of frosting in this particularly adorable and photogenic shade of pink... well, let's just say a photo shoot was inevitable.

And yes... they tasted just as good as they look. I pity all of you that you can only imagine biting into these things. Grace, I think we need to strategically plan your visits around birthdays...

Meow!

Since I know you all must be dying for more pictures of my cat (sarcasm intended)...

This is what she looks like in her crazy mood... wild and fearsome!

But she switches back to innocent and angelic with amazing rapidity!

I took my drawer out of my dresser for some reason (can't remember) and left the room for two seconds.

Came back to find Miss Fluffball comfortably ensconced in the empty space.

Possibly my favorite thing about this cat... she blinks her eyes when she meows. :-)

Now Offering Professional Prints!

I did it.

I took the plunge. I signed up with a professional photo lab, so that I can offer you professional prints! I have needed to do this for a while, but I finally did it.

And I have decided: prints are addicting.

I got my samples back from the lab, and it was just soooo fun to hold my pictures in my hands! It's really great to look at them on the computer, but there's something about a physical product that is really thrilling. I've printed out photos once in a while for personal use on our little home printer, and they turn out fine, and that's fun, but these are 8x10s, gorgeous and EXCITING! :-)

So... hop over to the Packages page where I have updated the print options (toward the end of the page). To all my existing clients, you should have gotten an email from me with a nice introductory special just for you! :-)

You might be wondering, "What's the difference between professional prints and cheaper prints I can get at Walmart or Walgreens?"

I'm glad you asked!

Department store printers generally use inkjet printers, which essentially spray the ink on to the paper. Most photo departments will over-saturate the colors, resulting in an image that doesn't match the image you saw on the computer! The printers are just push-button run, not carefully monitored like a professional lab. One of my clients experienced this first hand; he got pictures at Walgreens, Walmart, Jewel, and a few other department store printers, and the colors were washed out and not true to the original image. The saying, "You get what you pay for," is really true!

Professional prints are printed at a professional, dedicated photo lab, using professional quality papers, and high-end printers that print using light-sensitive paper and chemical processes, resulting in actual photographs, not just inkjet prints. The colors are accurate and will last longer. They are a correct reproduction of the original picture!

Calling 2013 Seniors!

Graduation... it's looming in the distance! I'm guessing most of you high school seniors are counting the days. That can get tedious though, so how about taking a break from counting to book your senior portraits? We'll have a fabulous time roaming around a fun location and getting great shots of you to share with your proud family and friends. I have dates available in April and May... email me to secure your date!

And what kind of advertisement would this be without a nice little incentive to go along with it? :-D

Pianista | Portraits

That's Italian for "pianist." (I bet you'd never have guessed!).

So, a little while before I got my harp, my sister got her dream piano. A Schimmel grand. Long story short, there was a private owner selling it, who happened to be 10 minutes away from us, and happened to be selling it for a great deal. It came to live at our house fairly promptly. :-)

Our previous piano was in our back room, which is very dark. The only light coming in is from the sliding door, and the walls are wood paneling. Not the most ideal photo situation. But the new piano has a place of prominence in the front room (taking up approximately half of the room), which is full of light. We took some shots of her with her new baby for use with any music-related activities.