So, it’s a few days before Christmas...

And I want to share with all of you some location images that I was able to capture right before the sky opened up, and I went down hard with last week’s nasty little bug that kept me confined to the house.

This is the Chudy family.  They are an absolutely wonderfully photogenic family, and we had an absolute blast doing their Christmas portraits in front of their historic home downtown. :)  Thank you, Casey, for sharing a bit of your family with us!

I also wanted to take just a moment to mention the terrific sale and giveaway at Soulographer.  Skye’s got a workbook and posing guide on sale that you absolutely MUST NOT miss out on if you are even a little bit interested in children’s portrait photography!  I picked them both up last week and cannot say enough nice things about these tools for photographers!  Even a seasoned pro will take away a little something that is well worth the cost of admission. :)  Thanks, Skye!

I hope that all of my readers, clients, friends, and family have a warm, blessed Christmas, and prosperous 2011!

Blessings to all of you!

Until Next Time….

Down Time Lesson

Apparently, if you don't slow down on your own, your body will slow you down!

I know this, as I'm curled up on the couch with blanket, pillow, and laptop, on day four of lost voice, nasty cough, and low grade fever.  I've gotten little done since Sunday, which was NOT on my agenda.

What I have been able to do is catch up on my Facebook games, do a little research and development, and sleep.  Yup, I excelled in sleeping.  I'm quite good at it, apparently.  :)

In my Internet travels I re-visited Soulographer, which is fast becoming one of my favorite sites to peruse, and not just because of the awesome giveaways they're sponsoring this month. :)  Not only is this site a good read, it's an amazing resource for photographers to find good vendors for equipment, props, guides, etc.

Check out this week's giveaway (and awesome sale) at Soulographer.com and be sure to enter, if you are an aspiring, or even professional shutterbug.

I have no photos to share with you this time, as all of them are on the studio computer, and it's been too cold (ok, and I've felt too cruddy) to even venture out there, so I will keep this entry short.

The lesson learned this week is - You may not be able to fit everything you need to do into your waking hours, so do as much as you can after prioritizing, take a little time for yourself, take your vitamins, eat well, and exercise.  If you don't, your body will most likely turn on you and knock you on your butt, and that only puts you further behind than you were when you started.

Until next time....

On New Experiences and Other Personal Things...

Greetings, and Happy Holidays to all!  We just had our belated Thanksgiving feast just a few days ago, due to my eldest son not arriving home until the Monday AFTER Thanksgiving, but were still able to pull off the roast bird and all the fixin’s, enjoyed by all three of my sons for the first time in many years!  I was a happy Mom (and Nona!).

My middle son, Matthew, has just announced his engagement to his beautiful girlfriend, Ashlee, and her baby girl, Lilly, so there has been much activity in our busy (and growing) family!

Last month I was touching base with a photographer friend of mine who was very nervous about shooting her first ever wedding, and she asked me if I wanted to come and help her.  I thought she was joking, initially, but she was dead serious.

Now, those of you who know me, also know that I have avoided shooting weddings like the plague, given some of the horror stories I have heard about bridezillas and the like.  Well, long story short, I sucked it up and told my friend that I was honored that she thought enough of my skills to want *me* to help her shoot the most important day in a young woman’s life.  No pressure, right?  (See? There’s part of it, right there…You do NOT get a do-over during someone’s ceremony, so you had best believe you need to be very familiar with your camera and its settings before you even THINK about shooting someone’s wedding!)

At any rate, we did the shoot, it was SO much fun!  Had I known doing weddings would be as fun as it was, I would have started doing them many moons ago! :)

Also, if any of you reading this are photographers or aspiring photographers, then you need to check out the wicked giveaway and sale at the Soulographer Blog for Photographers.  


So that’s it for right now…Until next time….

Yeah, Yeah….It’s Been A While….But I’m Back!

Wow…

Junior Miss Pageant 9-11-10

What a ride it’s been here lately!

I hardly know where to start.

After my last post I did a photo shoot for the Junior Miss program in Wayne County. It is their first year having the pageant locally, and Casey Chudy did a magnificent job of organizing this event!

I had the honor of meeting 3 wonderful high school senior girls who were not only beautiful, but talented and smart, too!  I did NOT envy the judges, as they had a very hard decision to make!

Jefferson Monument

Shortly thereafter, I received a phone call from my eldest son (he is in the Air Force) who told me he was stateside and staying at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.  I won’t go into all the details, but we jumped in the car the following Saturday morning and drove to DC to see him.  Long story short, he is going to be medically discharged and should be stationed at our local base within the month.  Of course, we felt the need to do a little sightseeing, and since he was able to go, Chris took us around and showed us some of the places I’ve only gotten to read about to this point.  We saw the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Monument, the WWII Memorial, Jefferson Monument, Vietnam & Korean Memorials, and the Marine helicopters flew overhead several times on our walk back to the car.  The entire morning was very moving to me, ESPECIALLY the sculptures by the Vietnam Memorial.

5K Run - Wayne Uplift Benefit

After returning from DC, I had a short radio interview pertaining to domestic violence. (I am a survivor, so this is a subject near and dear to my heart.)  The following weekend, I shot the 5k/1k run/walk, which was a benefit for Wayne Uplift, a program to help victims of domestic violence.

2010 Taste of Wayne County Winners

Once I finished the post-processing of that shoot, I was contacted by the United Way of Wayne County and asked if I would mind shooting this year’s Taste of Wayne County on October 18th.  Of course, I accepted.  I ended up shooting just under 300 images of vendors, the judging of the food, contributors,  the awards, the band, etc.  Many of Wayne County’s finest dining establishments represented and offered samples of their yummy wares.  I had so much fun that night!  I was so busy running around shooting that I didn’t have time to really stop and sample a lot of food, but I can tell you that the Peruvian chicken I tasted was OUTSTANDING! :)

I just finished the post processing of those images last night, and am so excited to deliver the discs to the United Way.

I am taking a few days’ breather, but am in the process of gearing up for our Christmas portrait special, and I have also heard through the grapevine that many of this year’s Seniors are not terribly impressed with their portraits, so I would like to offer them a special, as well.  This green screen isn’t hanging up in the studio for nothing!

Sooooo….Until next time….

Better Business Bureau Accreditation

We are so excited to announce that Wall 2 Wall Photography has achieved Better Business Bureau accreditation!

We have always prided ourselves on giving our clients the best experience possible in our field, and this accreditation further solidifies our goal of making your photographic experience with us the best that we can give you.

Our BBB report can be reviewed here.

Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at julie@wall2wallphotos.com.