A child and a dog!

I recently had the pleasure of taking this little girl's family portraits(and yes it has been longer than 48 hours which shows I'm not sticking to my new goal at all). She has 3 wonderful big brothers, on big sister-in-law, and 2 of the most amazing parents I've ever met.

One of her brothers and her sister-in-law had gotten this cute little puppy the weekend before our session, and I was so excited that they brought her with them. I love taking photos with animals, although it is quite tough.

This little girl was so sweet, and I was so happy to be able to capture her family and the love they have for each other.

Meet one of my little friends!

This is one of my youngest child's friends. I have photos of this little guy from play dates up on Monte Sano mountain that are super cute. His Mommy and Daddy had a family session, and took me up on that great Fall Special. So, in addition to showing off his CUTE face (can I say that about this age still?), I get to show you some of the Holiday card designs.

As you can see, sometimes an image works great for a Holiday card, even from a summer session! :) With the thought of having more "summer sessions" turned Holiday cards, I picked out a designer who was offering some more designs using less traditional holiday papers (in addition to the holiday color designs).

I never showed you all the workshop images!

I can't believe I didn't show you all these! I was thrilled to learn from some great photographers (TriCoast Photo and be sure to visit their blog!)

Besides being great fun to be around, and talk with, they are awesome wedding and senior photographers (that's High School seniors). LOL I'm trying to incorporate a lot of what they do into my sessions, so if you see me pull out something new or try a different angle, or ask if you would be interested in "trying something" know that it's more than likely something Mike or Cody taught me (or even Suzy). :)

All of these images were taken in full sunlight except the last one...which was taken AFTER the sun went down!

A request from clients

I've been told by a couple of clients that I really should put up the sneak peeks much much faster. They would prefer immediately after I get home from the session, but would accept within 24 hours.

I appreciate your excitement, and I understand it is hard to wait. While I can not guarantee within 24 hours, I will do my very best to provide those sneak peeks that quickly but it might take up to 48 hours! LOL

So, in the spirit of this new found ambition to get sneak peeks up quickly...I have a LOT of work to do tonight so that I can try to flood my blog with all the sneak peeks I have waiting in the wings. :)

I love that all of you LOVE your sessions and are that excited about seeing the prints. Thanks so much for the feedback on my sneak peeks not being quite fast enough.

Sometimes I just love a session

This happened recently to me. I was emailing with the Mom about her upcoming session, and I was brainstorming for fun new ideas. She told me her daughter loves pink, loves "makeup," and loves dressing up. So there I was, in "new mommy to a girl" bliss, and I thought of all those photos I had seen over the past 2 years that showcased a real "girly girl" in the portraits.

I met little M, and while she is a girly girl, she is also full of life. I loved her! We let her be herself, and I tried my best to capture that special spark that makes M...well M!



Then, I got to meet her big brother B. He was so cute (but since I know my own boys don't like to be cute, let's say he was a true gentleman!). He let me photograph him in his room, but I quickly realized that at his age, he's in that awkward stage of leaving behind the toddler/preschool favorites and going toward being such a big boy. He's between the ages of my 2 boys, and I know, if they ever could meet it would be instant friendships.



Thanks so much M and B for showing me your home and letting me get to know you!



Mom to these 2 beauties, I'm getting there, and I anticipate getting your proofs to you in a day or so! :)

I can not wait to meet Baby M!

I've been patiently waiting for a client who wanted to have fun doing a maternity session! I more than got my wish with this family! This Mom was up for any idea I could come up with (and she had a few of her own that I loved). Doing this session just about made me want have another baby myself (almost!!).

Like always I'm leaving the some of the very best for her viewing pleasure (have to leave some surprises don't I?).




and that Harry Potter book? It's calling my name!!!!

My wonderful clients from last weekend...

I'm working on proofs and will have your sneak peeks up really soon. You all have been so incredibly patient, and I know you will LOVE your portraits. I do. :)

I will say I'm having a tough time proofing, that Harry Potter book 7 is calling my name. I am determined to finish your sessions before I read the book. Yes, that is how special you all are to me!

Fall/Holiday special!

In anticipation of our trip to China to bring our daughter home, I will be limiting my sessions this fall. And, if you book your fall session by August 15 you will receive free digital file ($150 value) to use for your Christmas cards with a $500 minimum order. So, not only are you able to knock one thing off of your to-do list (schedule session with Carla Blankenship) but you also receive a gift!

This file can be plain to be used in a template you find, or it can be a file that I have designed and you print (yes, I'll help you find envelopes for the odd sizes). :)

A special person to me!

This is B. She asked me if I would mind taking her photo while I was on "vacation" over the 4th. Of course not!!! Love ya B!

She's waiting, ever so patiently for these images.

Only a little late!

4th of July photos from our family. I'm sure that none of you procrastinate over photos from holidays and viewing them, getting them ready to print, and then even putting them in scrapbooks, right? Here's my little secret, I'm very behind on all my scrapbooks. So far behind that I'm looking at over 2 years of my personal photos stored on the hard-drive, stacked in envelopes, or *gasp* put in non-acid proof plastic baggies for sorting.



Yes, I'm that far behind.



So, I'm sure it's not surprising that it has taken me 2 weeks to even LOOK at the photos from July 4th holiday. Actually, I guess since I went to a workshop that weekend as well and I have looked and edited those images, I've actually looked at some. Just not ones of my boys!



But I finally did it! What else was I going to do while uploading orders to my lab? Okay, yes, I could be editing all those sessions I've had lately (and I'm working on those sneak peeks, but for now, I wanted to share my boys). :)



I don't think they had a good time, do you?!

Fall schedule

I am sitting down creating my schedule for this fall, and due to exciting family happenings it is very likely that I will be out of the country for 2 weeks in November. This means that my holiday rush season must be as complete as possible by the end of October!

Watch the blog for the announcement of a sale that I will have to celebrate my news, and for thanking all of you in your help to get these sessions done before we travel. I will be contacting all my baby planners to get you all scheduled soon!

In anticipation of this rather rushed season, I will be opening up a new shooting day. I will be able to possibly accommodate 2 clients per Friday. Since I have had inquiries about my schedule for fall sessions, I would encourage anyone wanting to book a specific date to do so quickly.

I've got people getting on the books all the way through October already, so I anticipate the more popular days going quickly!

Workshop time!

I am super excited to be going to a workshop this coming weekend to learn more about photography. This workshop is being taught by one of my favorite wedding photographers, and I've told my husband that if I could get remarried to him again, then I would want TriCoast Photo to come and take photos! I think they have such a mastery of light and photoshop skills. I'm hoping some of that will find it's way into my brain so I can give you, my clients, even BETTER photos!

This means that I will have limited access to email, phones, and internet between July 3rd and July 9th. Please forgive my slowness of response during this time.

To all of you, please have a HAPPY and SAFE Fourth of July!