Cool Cat/ Gainesville Child Photographer

Don't worry, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth.  I have been a bad blogger though.  Life's been busy...the camera has been in a corner for most of the year...it's slowly coming out.  When I saw Quin pick up his accordion this morning and strike up the perfect pose, I knew I had to grab a few shots of him with it.  So this afternoon we took a quick ten minutes out of our lazy Sunday afternoon to have some fun out on the street.  There weren't many passersby, so the music was just for me, but I think he had fun anyways.  Here are a few of my favorites.

 

Don't Be Afraid of the Sun. / Gainesville Professional Photographer

I've been on a bit of a hiatus lately.  Mostly due to the fact that the mirror in my camera broke, so I had a month without anything to shoot with, but also because I just wanted the break.  It's been a great first year in business and I've enjoyed every minute of my sessions, but this is the perfect time to reflect on where I want to go from here and what I want the business to become.  It's also the perfect time for some creative inspiration, and there was no better place for me to get that than with the fabulous Shannon Sewell.  I find it pretty funny that I didn't discover her until we had moved here (she's from Portland).  Not only did I get a fun day of shooting with her, but I also finally had the chance to meet some other fabulous ladies in the area who are all wonderful photographers themselves.  I think one of the biggest things I learned from the day was that even if it's 3 in the afternoon on a bright, sunny Florida day, you can still get some nice shots.  Normally I would have been worried about finding shade, breaking out the reflector, and saying "oh my, I can't have a highlight on their face".  But Shannon wasn't the least bit phased.  So out we walked in the sand and the surf with three adorable models.  I can't wait to see what we all came up with from this shoot.  Here are a few of my favorites...

Little Miss K!/ Gainesville and Central Florida Baby Photography

I'm so glad I got to meet this sweet little girl.  The last time I "saw" her she was still in her mom's belly, and now here she is, a smiley, happy cutie pie.  I'm so glad this isn't the last time I'll see her because let me tell you, she has a dream closet full of cute girlie hats and clothes that I can't wait to use again.  She has a pretty handsome brother too, doesn't she?

Newborn models wanted!/ Gainesville Newborn Photographer

Attention all pregnant ladies about to pop...do you want gorgeous images of your new baby?  I'm offering free sessions (prints at regular prices) to a select few newborn models.  If you or anyone you know are due between now and Feb. 1st in the Gainesville area, please drop me a line.  Babies must have their sessions between 3-14 days old and sessions must be between now and January 31st.

Before and After/ Gainesville Florida Photographer

Sometimes when I have a few minutes to myself I love to play around with images from sessions that didn't make the cut.  I typically go through the images from a session three times before narrowing down my choices of what will go in a gallery.  It often leaves a lot of "OK" images behind, ones that I might use in an album or storyboard.  But sometimes I'll leave one behind just because I know it will need a lot of processing to make it good.  Maybe it was underexposed, or there was something distracting in the background.  Here's an example of an image that was far from being right straight out of the camera.  It was the very first shot of this session, so a test shot really, and ended up pretty underexposed.  It was still sharp though, and he's such a cute little guy that I decided to see if I could bring it back to life.  Here's the result...

BEFORE:

AFTER:

So there you go.  Not every picture you take will be great straight out of the camera.  Sometimes they just need a little boost to make them pop!

Get Minted!/ Ocala Family and Newborn Photographer

After seeing what they had to offer, I couldn't pass up a chance to be an affiliate photographer for Minted.com.  I'm happy to announce that now all of my clients will have an additional option for ordering beautiful press printed holiday cards, birth announcement, and birthday invitations.  So how does it work?  Just go to my storefront and choose from a huge number of custom designed cards.  Once you've made your selection and have placed your order, I'll upload your photo for you and their design professionals will make sure your cards look perfect.  I'll still be offering my regular custom designed cards, but this gives you so many more designs to choose from at an economical price.  Of course, if your interested, please contact me for prices and more details along with suggestions of which images to use.  You'll see that I've suggested a few designs, but there are so many good ones it's hard to choose!

Boo!/ Gainesville Family and Child Photography

There are many times when I debate whether or not to bring my camera with me for an event or special day.  Often the iphone just ends up in my pocket because I'd rather be experiencing the moment than have my eye behind the camera, at least when it comes to my own family.  But, this time I decided to bring it along since Halloween makes for some excellent photo opportunities.  Here are a few crazy characters to put a smile on your face.