• You have your biggest fan cheering you on. It’s just more comfortable to have your BFF around. Let’s face it, the first ten to fifteen minutes of any photography session can be awkward. It’s hard to totally relax and get in modeling mode, but with your best friend around to help calm your nerves, crack a joke, or remind you how beautiful you truly are, things just feel more natural.
• You have your personal stylist at hand. Not sure what to wear? Having your BFF there to help advise in your wardrobe selection is a huge plus. She can give you that extra confidence you need to rock those red heels or wear that amazing dress.
• She’ll actually save you money. Since you’re taking your senior portraits during the same two hour session, you’ll be saving big on your session fee. Instead of paying the $150 fee on your own, you’ll split it, so you’ll both be saving $75! (The BFF session has one session fee, but the digital packages will be ordered separately. Each girl or guy will have their own individual gallery of 20-25 images to select their pictures from).
• It will be an experience you both will remember for years to come. Taking your senior portraits is a big deal. They represent who you are your final year in high school before you embark on one of the biggest journeys of your life. Sharing it with your best friend just makes it that more memorable.

The BFF session will only be offered for a limited time, so be sure to contact the studio to get your date on the calendar! And because a blog post just isn’t complete without a picture, here are a few recent ones from the amazing lighting workshop I attended this past weekend with Ali Hohn.

{L}, I hope you love your sneak peek. Enjoy your final days as a high school senior and have a great graduation!

And instead of my normal sneak peek, I’m including a gallery of images to give my future class of 2011 clients out there an idea of the look and feel of a senior session. Enjoy!

And yes, we did get some traditional shots for the relatives. But I really love these ones that tell a story. And just look at those eyes! I have a feeling that these little guys will get out of many situations throughout their lives by their adorable puppy dog eyes alone. I know they have me wrapped around their little fingers!
Mom–thank you again for such a wonderful afternoon. I have so many more great images that I just can’t wait to edit. I’ll let you know as soon as your gallery is up!

And I’m not the only thing headed out of the office. These beautiful products will be leaving my hands today and will arrive in my client’s later this week. I’ll admit that I’m not the greatest product photographer, but these are just too gorgeous not to be photographed. As a custom photographer, I offer much more than just your traditional 8×10 print. These gorgeous image boxes are my current favorite. They hold 15 matted prints and are so dreamy in person.

And this float wrap is a modern take on a 16×20 print. It’s literally your image, wrapped and mounted so when hung it appears to “float” from the wall. How cool is that? I’m so excited for my clients to have these (although part of me wishes I could keep them for myself!).

I would really encourage anyone considering custom photography to look around your home and find the perfect places to display your artwork. Gift prints such as 5×7’s and 8×10’s are meant to sit on desks. But walls scream for large, gorgeous images. Don’t be scared by the sound of a 16×20 or 20×24. I promise you it’s not as big as you might think and I bet you’d even wish you went larger. To me there is nothing more beautiful that decorating your home with images of your own life, so go big!

I get nervous.

Whew. I feel much better now that that’s out there.

But seriously, I do. I get nervous. I still get nervous before every photography session.

But I look at that as a good sign. I get nervous because I know how important the images I’m about to take are. They will represent one second in time that can never be duplicated. They will hang on someone’s wall. They will become works of art.

And for today’s session I was a bit more nervous than usual. When Mom contacted me to take pictures of her six week old little guy we knew {C} was on the older side for newborn images. We talked over the details, knowing that we would have to work hard to get those sleepy, snuggly images. Well, turns out we hardly had to work at all. {C} was the perfect little model. He was still and alert and made great eye contact for all of his awake images. And usually for newborns we need to feed, snuggle, burp (and then feed some more) to lull them into dreamland. Not so for {C}. He fell alseep all on his own in my green bucket of all places! It was truly hysterical–we placed him in the bucket and then watched as his eyelids got heavier and heavier until he was out like a light.

So once again my nerves were for nothing since {C} was a champ and our session was awesome. Here are a few of my favorites.