I LOVE Taking Portraits!

Wow! It's been a really busy week! I booked to portrait sessions at our fundraiser a couple weeks ago and I got to shoot both within the last week!

I did the Konigs last Thursday evening. Kevin & Cindy have been married just over 8 years and you would think they are newlyweds. They're so sweet I get a toothache everytime I am around them. :) They chose a Wall 2 Wall Standard Traditional package, and I think they will be very happy with it. When I last spoke with them, they were planning to use this photo in their Christmas cards.

Yesterday was a busy one for me, also...I got up early, had breakfast, drank at least a pot of coffee, came into the studio early to get some web site updates done, as well as update my blog, but alas! That wasn't meant to be. I found that my anti-virus program had expired. Apparently I had ordered two copies of Norton 360; one for each laptop..but at about six months apart. Well, the one purchased in November of last year went over a couple of days ago, and the one for the first laptop had been renewed for up to 3 computers and it doesn't expire until April, but of course, NOTHING is as easy as it seems with my software, so I ended up on the phone with the Symantec people for over an hour! I spoke to a lovely person who was very personable, and we got it all worked out. Just in the nick of time, too, I might add.

I had the Dutton portrait session scheduled for yesterday, as well, and when Rhonda called me to tell me she was on her way I told her to drive R E A L L Y S L O W L Y because I still had the Symantec people remotely controlling my laptop out here in the studio. Fortunately all is well that ends well, because I regained control of the computer, updated the virus software, and the laptop was ready to rock and roll when we reviewed the proofs right after the shoot. As you can see, Mark and Rhonda have a wonderful family. The kids were an absolute joy to photograph. Madeline was very poised (AND photogenic) and Okey needed a little convincing to jump in Mommy's lap for the family shoot, but as you can see, it was a great session!

I was able to put a rush job on the processing so that everyone would have their prints prior to Thanksgiving, which is so important when families get together. It's nice to have those current portraits in hand when you see the grandparents and aunts and uncles and everyone's clammoring for a copy of your portraits.

If I don't post again this week, Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Fundraising and Picture Taking...

So, wow! It's still November, I'm still busier than a one armed paper hanger, the DDJ is still making me crazy, but I remain (much to my surprise) upright and breathing! All I can say is that I will be SOOOO happy when the Joint Commission has come and gone. Perhaps the PTB will regain their normally even keel, huh?

We had our fundraiser out here at the studio on Saturday. While we didn't have an incredible turnout, we were able to acquire almost four huge boxes of groceries which we delivered to the Taylor family, and needless to say, our timing was wonderful. :)

During the weeks leading up to our fundraiser I was able to complete the Sperry photoshoot, some of the portraits I am posting here. I've got two more shoots coming within the next week, and because they were booked during our fundraiser, I am able to contribute 30% of our proceeds toward the benefit.

I just want to give a shout out to all that helped us get this thing off the ground. Specifically: Lori & Aaron Carver, Rhonda Dutton, Brenda Warren, and Cindy & Kevin Konig. Without these people, our benefit would not have been as successful as it was, and I want each and every one of you to know that I appreciate your participation, your encouragement, and your fellowship on Saturday. Can we all say, "Laminin"? I knew we could! God is GOOD, y'all! :)

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to keep up with all this craziness! Blessings to all!

Now it's November & my hands are full!!!

Good grief! What a busy month it has been!

A very good friend of mine had major surgery last week. He had cancer ("had" being the operative word, as the docs think they got it all and he's going to be ok), but he will be out of work for 12+ weeks. They are a one income family and his short term disability pays 60%, which is good, but not good enough. He and his wife have four little girls at home and they are going to experience a financial hardship, so my fellow small business group of girlfriends and I got together and brainstormed, and the result is fundraising for my friend and his family. This Thursday night we will be having a benefit Pampered Chef party, which will be the culmination of a month-long catalog show we have been holding. Two days later, I will be hosting a benefit bazaar featuring original handbags and gift baskets from Brenda's Creative Designs (remember Brenda, my boss, from my early posts?), facials from Mary Kay (my friend Rhonda is my sponsor, but more about that shortly), and Tupperware with my good friend, Lori. Oh...and Wall 2 Wall Photography will be there, too. A percentage of sales proceeds will go to the Taylor family by way of gas cards and groceries, etc. We are also hoping we will have earned enough from our Pampered Chef party to earn free product that we can raffle off. 100% of those proceeds will go to the Taylor family. We are having a silent auction for arts and crafts (another 100%) and are seriously considering a 50-50 drawing. If anyone in the Goldsboro, NC area is interested in further information, please leave me a message here, or email me at info@wall2wallphotos.com.

And while that has kept me hopping, I also had the Sperry portrait shoot on Sunday, and have been retouching photos this week.

To further keep me busy, I have decided to be a Mary Kay Independent Beauty Consultant. I love my Pampered Chef, please don't get me wrong, as I will probably be one of their best customers, but I thought about the pros and cons of the many income streams I have available to me, and Mary Kay seems to go hand in hand with the photography business, and I can very easily integrate the two. Should any of you that are reading this be in need of pampering, a facial, or just need a "Mary Kay Lady" please visit my other site: www.marykay.com/juliewall .

Wall 2 Wall Photography is also offering other services as well as portraiture and art images. We are now doing custom "cd" or "record album" covers with interesting tracks listed on the image. (Check back here soon for an example. I went off and left the file on my hard drive at work.) We are also offering bereavement sheets, which are basically a memory sheet with a picture of the person that passed retouched and placed on a sheet with a border and information about the individual. These sheets will be available for donations only. There are no "set" prices for this service, due to the sensitive nature of the product. Email me at info@wall2wallphotos.com for more information regarding either of the above services.

So with all of this going on, you can see that, in addition to my day job (which we lovingly refer to as the DDJ-Dreaded Day Job), I have a full plate until November 16, at which time I will be able to more actively persue my Mary Kay-related goals and my holiday portraiture.

I hope that you all have had a wonderful couple of weeks. :)

More soon!

~~Julie