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Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Bedroom Shoot

I shot these cute pics of my honey today at sunset. He was laying on my bed watching cartoons and the light from the window was just perfect.

























My favorite:













































I would like to do a family bedroom shoot sometime. Here are some great reasons to set up this kind of shoot:

1. Kids love to play on their mom and dad's bed!

2. Some of the best moments in my family are spent cuddling, goofing, and reading books in bed.

3. Natural light from windows!

4. Great, genuine smiles.
5. Framing the pics and hanging them up in your bedroom!

If anyone is ever interested in trying this out, let me know! It's perfect for winter since we can't do too much shooting outdoors. Another cute idea would be baking cookies or doing an art project.


Here is a pic I got at my friend's house of her hubby playing with the kids in bed:





Monday, November 27, 2006

a few more Charlie pics...

























































Charlie Miller

Sue Miller (my best client!) booked me a few months ago to do Charlie's 6 month pictures. I kind of laughed because it seemed so far away, but it came and went in no time at all. Spending time with Charlie was giving me such baby fever! He's so adorably cute and snuggly.

I also managed to snap a few pictures of big brother Jake who hates having his picture taken. This kid is amazing. Let me just say, that he just turned five and read me an editorial out of TIME magazine when I was there. I'm dead serious.





















































































Sunday, November 26, 2006

Compact Flash STEAL!

If you use compact flash memory cards, there is an amazing steal going on right now at B&H Photo online.

1 gig Sandisk compact flash cards are going for $14.95! SD memory cards are also $14.95

2 gig Sandisk cards are going for $29.95. These are AMAZING prices. Snatch them up today!

Click here.













*After much consideration- I decided not to accept a lead position with Bellagala. We were both up front with what we wanted out of the promotion and they were looking for someone to shoot at least 5 weddings a month during the busy season. With my office job, being a mom, and everything else, I'm just not ready to commit to that level of dedication. I will continue to assist for them and book associate lead packages. I shoot my first wedding as an associate lead in March.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Holiday Wish List

Just for the fun of it I thought I'd create a holiday (or lottery winning) wish list. Of course, almost everything on the list is photography related! Actually, a lot of this stuff I will need someday!

Canon EOS 30D. A newer version of my camera but with a larger viewing screen and a few extra features. Back up camera is a must for wedding photography. $1,150















Alien Bees strobe set. A basic lighting set but on the inexpensive end. They come in a variety of obnoxious colors- but I'd stick with basic black. $599





















Canon 15mm f/2.8 Fisheye. A very cool wide angle lens. Pretty much a novelty item. $580















Canon Speedlite 580ex. A must have in wedding photography. I've put off getting one of these for awhile now. $360



















Canon PowerShot SD600 6mp Digital Elph. I want to get one of these to carry around in my purse. I always want to take pictures but try to protect my professional gear and only take it along if necessary. This is a great point and shoot camera with a ton of features. It has a macro mode which will allow you to take awesome close ups. Only $215!












The Cupcake Courier. Safely transport up to 3 dozen cupcakes! Jenna Fischer (Pam from The Office) first introduced me to this on her blog. Her cousin-in-law invented it. How genius! I'm a total baker and this would be an awesome thing to have. Up until now, I put cupcakes in a cake pan with a lid to transport them but they always end up getting smushed into each other.
$32.99













The Group Portrait Photography Handbook by Bill Hurter. Supposedly a great posing book. $23















The Best of Wedding Photojournalism by Bill Hurter. A collaboration of award winning wedding images by pros from across the country. $19















Omron HJ-112 Digital Premium Pedometer. Strive for a goal of 10,000 steps per day to lose weight! This is the model recommended by Dr. Oz, who was recently featured on Oprah. $18


















That about sums it up! Of course there are a couple more lenses I could have thrown on there, but hey! ;) On a side note, I got these *COMFY* slippers at Old Navy. I got them in tan, not baby blue as pictured, but they'd make a great gift for somebody who loves slippers! I wear mine ALL the time. $14.50




















Oh- and for you moms! L-Bow mittens. I bought these for my boys last year. You can only order them online as far as I know, but they are made by a small company in Waconia, MN. There is a waterproof panel on these mittens that pulls up over their coat sleeves! Genius! My boys always got frozen, red wrists after their mittens kept falling off while playing in the snow. These mittens stay put, they're great! They come in a variety of colors. $18, but well worth it for warm hands!

The Venell Family

Sunday, November 19th

Andrew, Karla, Simon, 4, Jordan, 2, Alena, 5 months, and Josie the black lab. I had such a great time shooting the Venell's at their home in Edina. Their boys are the same age as mine and they have the little girl that I want someday! Anyway, we had some great parenting discussions and I enjoyed spending time with them. I also wanted to share an email I received from Andrew:

Olivia, I just wanted to drop a quick note to say how utterly thrilled we are with these pictures! We appreciate all you did - including the extraordinary number of pictures you took!

Truly, outstanding. Karla called me this afternoon to ask how many times I had looked through the album, and I told her I hadn't stopped looking all day! Thank you! We'll definitely want you to do this again for us sometime, probably many times, as the kids grow (if we didn't scare you off this time!).
Andy

I was so touched to receive that- especially the fact that he thought into the future "as the kids grow." That means so much to me. I mean, it is almost like being an honorary member of the family. Does that sound nerdy? Anyway, here are some photos of their session:















































































LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this photo!


Friday, November 24, 2006

Thanksgiving 2006

I hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving. We celebrated at my in-laws with a turkey and all the trimmings feast. The weather was phenomenal, a balmy 56 degrees! I snapped a few photos of the kids but I forgot to get a family photo for the second year in a row! I am actually looking to hire a photographer to come out and do some family pictures for me down my by house. I haven't found anyone yet and I have had other photographer friends agree to do "swap" sessions (I would shoot their family, they'd shoot mine) but it's hard trying to clear my schedule, yet alone two photographer's schedules! I also want the photos done at the park down by my house. So, I DO understand the service that I provide to my family clients and would appreciate it myself! ;)

I booked an October 2007 wedding on Monday. She actually booked me over email so we got together to sign the contract and I got to show her my new album. She had heard of me through Sue Miller's sister, whose hair she styles. It was great to hear that she looked at a lot of other photographers but came back to me. Anyway, what a random referral! I love it!

I have another bride who found me online who wants to meet with me on Tuesday.

Bellagala has also asked me to be a lead photographer for 2007. I had accepted an associate promotion (a lead-in-training), but after discussing some things on Monday I will be a full blown lead. I will have a profile on their website and you will be able to see my work. That's pretty exciting! I honestly wasn't expecting to get asked that until further down the road.

I have 9 family shoots starting tomorrow through the next couple of weeks. I will try to post as many as I can, but I am also frantically trying to get photos out to my clients before the Christmas card cutoff.

A few Thanksgiving photos:

Aidan wearing my new FAVORITE shirt: (as seen at Target)
























Owen and his cousin Alyssa. She is actually only 2 months older than him, but she looks like she's 7! She's always been off the charts for her age...




























Alyssa and Sydney (my sister-in-law's girls)















Thursday, November 23, 2006

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Owen's first Thanksgiving with his cousin Alyssa:


Sunday, November 19, 2006

Busy, busy, busy!

I have had a busy weekend. I had an engagement shoot on Saturday for an upcoming March wedding, followed by an afternoon of grocery shopping. Today, I had two family shoots, the Venell family and the Maras family. I will try to post those photos as soon as possible. I have a lot of clients to wrap up in the next couple of weeks! After my shoots, I spent some time over at my in-laws with my hubby. It was pretty nice out so I walked the boys to the park. I am starting to worry that with all my busy craziness in my life, that I am missing out on enjoying my kiddos!

Tomorrow after my office job, I will be meeting with a client who booked me for her October 2007 wedding. I put together my first library bound leather wedding album last week. It turned out great! It was a lot of work going through all of my portfolio photos and deciding which ones were "worthy" and figuring out which sizes I needed and how I wanted the layout to be. After meeting with her, I have to hurry home and get Owen to preschool, try to eat dinner, shower and get ready for another day of work on Tuesday! Sigh, at least it's a short week due to the holiday. I plan on taking it easy on Thursday and Friday and enjoying my short time off!

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Commuting!

Today I spent 4 hours of my day commuting! I started out in New Prague, drove to Burnsville to my park and ride. Caught a bus from Burnsville to downtown Minneapolis. Left work by bus from Minneapolis back to Burnsville. Traveled from Burnsville to downtown St. Paul (to Bellagala), then finally back home to New Prague (45 miles).

THAT IS INSANE! I could have watched two movies.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

The Office

Does anyone watch The Office? I'm so excited for Jim and Pam to reunite on Thursday! I know they're not going to be together because they have to drag it out until the show ends, but I love the anticipation! Pam is going to be sooo jealous too when the new Stamford girl shows up. What a love triangle! Last week was hilarious when Jim faxed Dwight that fax from himself... LOL
I normally don't watch TV throughout the week but Thursday night is my night! My sweet hubby either keeps the boys occupied for an hour and a half or rents them a movie so I can indulge myself.
















I have this on my desk at work:

Sunday, November 12, 2006

The Kellenberger Family

Sean, Leah, Haley, 5, Griffin, 2, and Ian, 2. I shot the Kellenberger Family at Como Park as my final appointment of the day on Sunday, November 12th. Not to be confused with the Kennelly's who also have a son named Griffin.

What a great family, I really enjoyed spending time with the Kellenbergers. I just got such a good vibe from them and they really knew how to let loose and be a little silly. What personalities those kids have!































Griffin























Ian