Up and Coming

Now that it’s Sunday evening, the USA Hockey team won Silver, the closing ceremonies are about to begin, and the proofs from yesterday’s shoot are uploaded, now I can get down to some more business.

First, I would like to give a shout out to Karen & Jeff, who were kind enough to allow me to shoot their portraits that are commemorating the renewal of their vows for their 25th Wedding Anniversary.  Congratulations, you two, and thank you for allowing me to capture your memories! (Some of their proofs are shown here.)

Wall 2 Wall Studios has gone through some transition since the first of the year.  We’ve upgraded our hardware, which also required software upgrades, as well, and are just tickled with the results.

We are also proud to announce that Wall 2 Wall Photography will be working with the Wayne Memorial Hospital Relay for Life Team this spring.  We are planning a portrait shoot.  Tickets will be $15 and are good for a shoot and an 8x10 print.  All proceeds are going to the Relay for Life, and a portion of reorders, enlargements, or packages will also be going to the Relay Team.  Stay tuned for more information as it becomes available.

A “Social Networking” portrait shoot is also in the works.  Just about everyone’s got a Face Book, Linked-In, or My Space page these days, and most people want to put up a good image of themselves.  We will be offering a special package of 1, 2, or 3 web ready shots for a fraction of our regular pricing.  Sitting fees will be waived for this one day only event.  We’ll post more information as it is available and hope that you will call us for your social networking needs.

Don’t forget that Senior Portrait Season is upon us!  Check out our online portfolio at the Wall 2 Wall web site to see some of our Senior Portrait offerings!

Until next time….

I Know, I Know…How Slack Am I?

Yes, I am aware that the last time I blogged was in August of 2009.  I had a very full Autumn, and happy that I don’t have to go through much of that again.

The plusses? My eldest son came home for a surprise visit and stayed for an entire week!  Christmas and the holidays.  A very serious increase in portrait and commercial work.

The not so greats?  Illness. Husband’s inability to return to work after major back surgery.  The loss of a beloved pet.  Increased responsibilities at the day job which fill more than 40 hours weekly in many instances.

However, with all of the drama, the ups and the downs, I learned some things, discovered others, and can’t wait to share with all of you. :)

More to come!

GRRRRRR.... Anyone Else Had One of THOSE Days?

ARRRRGGGGHHHH!

Ok, I'm just sayin'.......

My green screen backdrop got here yesterday afternoon, and because of the butterflies (www.butterflybyjulie.blogspot.com/), I didn't get out here to hang it up and ops-check it.

So tonight I try and lower the backdrop stand and the whole freaking thing blows up on me! On the right side, the rod that holds the crossbar up broke, and the entire crossbar dropped across my temple, backdrop and all. Ok...that wasn't bad enough, but I could DEAL with a quick fix for that.

My step-daughter, Peri, was trying to lower the left-hand side and whatever held the entire left side up shattered. She brought me about a gazillion pieces of backdrop stand in her hand.

UGGGGG! So I have this new backdrop, no stand to hang the new backdrop on to practice on this whole green screen-thing, and have this BOGO add out all over the Internet based on the next two weeks practice time.

I must be Murphy's daughter....anything that can go wrong usually will.

Dammit.

*grumble....*

Yes, I Know, It's Been Awhile

Things are finally slowing down around here. Ok, maybe not, but at least things are getting to a manageable level.

The day job kept me hopping between May and June. On my birthday (June 30th; be sure to mark your calendars, as I always love e-greetings on my special day, LOL), my oldest son, Chris, came home for two weeks between assignments. He got out of South Korea, after serving a year there, and is now over in the Azores for the next 15 or so months. He's loving it there!

During Chris' visit, my husband, Johnny, was rear-ended on his way to work. So insurance work ensued. The week following Chris' departure brought Johnny's neck/back surgery, to include a 4 day hospital stay (making me so glad that we chose our local doctor so that he could be admitted to the hospital where we both work). I am also very thankful to my powers-that-be for allowing me to take a portable phone and laptop up to the second floor so I could continue working while sitting with him.

Now that he's two weeks and a few days post op, the staples have been removed, his pre-op pain is gone, and now we have to focus on keeping him busy doing things that he enjoys, but won't mess with his healing, which is proving to be quite challenging. He is not a couch 'tater by nature.

Prior to the early-summer festivities, I was given an outstanding opportunity to be a photo-journalist for a local publication, here in Wayne County. If you get a moment to do so, please go check out Down Home Magazine's web site. You can view past issues in PDF format. Prior to Johnny's surgery, I was shooting and writing for the upcoming issue. I'm very excited about this one, because it is personal to me. I can't tell you about it now, but maybe I'll share with you, after publication, why the most recent article is near and dear to me. :)

Over this past weekend I was able to do two shoots. One was the 9 month portrait of my favorite red-headed bundle of joy, and her big sister, who is also a stunning red-head. The following day I did a maternity shoot for a friend of mine who is also a red-head, as is her daughter, and significant other.

During the first shoot, I learned that 44 is no match for 9 months and mobile! That child was hard core mobile. :) She was sweet as could be, but fast as all get-out! What's a photographer to do? Get on the floor and try to keep up, of course! Sometimes the baby is faster than the shutter finger, however, soooo...But we got some good shots, both of her and her big sister and the two of them together. I always enjoy those girls when they visit. They are well behaved, sweet tempered, and just as good as gold. :)

Right before I started the shoot Saturday, I found that I had black swallowtail butterfly eggs/larvae in my parsley plant, which gave me the idea for my other blog, which I call The Butterfly Chronicles. I started taking pictures for my camera-as-science-project blog that day. Follow the above link and check it out. :)

On Sunday, my friend Crystal came to the studio to graciously let me take pictures of her mid-section. Honestly? This girl glows! I know every pregnant woman is beautiful (at least in my humble opinion), but pregnancy really suits Crystal. She brought her boyfriend, Will, and daughter, Amber and let me go to town on them with the camera.

I had never taken maternity portraits before, and was really looking forward to the opportunity. My red-headed 9 month old session from the day before was supposed to be my first, but she decided to take the plunge into life outside the womb about a week before our scheduled shoot. :)

Crystal, Will, and Amber were very gracious about letting me into their world for an hour that afternoon. There is something really intimate about shooting an expectant family. I was priveledged to be allowed into that inner sanctum for that time.

Sprinkled throughout this blog are images from both shoots. I hope that you've enjoyed reading my blog thus far, even though I know I've been rather slack about keeping up with it, lately.

Holy Cow...What an Interesting Month Thus Far!

Hi, all!

Just wanted to give you a brief rundown of the last couple of weeks or so. Small business ownership is not all it's cracked up to be, so you really have to want it to make it work. Trust me. It ain't for the faint of heart!

Let's talk about the Spring Fling for a moment, shall we? It was fun. Don't get me wrong for a moment. I had a good time, as did the kids. Ok, till it rained, but that wasn't anyone's fault. Just know that after all the prep time spent in the world, it's entirely possible that you will not make a sale. Period. It's also entirely possible you may not hand out a brochure or business card. (This would have been the case if I hadn't had the two kids begging to peddle the literature, LOL...Gotta love those kids!) Even though I had a huge inventory of art prints, people were not feeling the whole "art print" vibe, and had a tendancy to walk on by. Of course, hindsight being 20/20, I can see from the picture of our booth that we needed some help. Can you say ZZZzzzZZZzzzZZZ? I knew you could. Of course, I also had to consider the economy. The lady across the way with the cute handbags and snazzy displays didn't do much better than we did, from our observations. (Note to self: Snazz up your display a little bit next time, and maybe even offer a service. You know, a lot of parents might have wanted a 4x6 print of their little darlin' with their face painted...next time, just OFFER it...)

Forward to the following evening. My friend Cindi Pate dropped me an email and asked me if I wanted to be a regular contributor to Down Home Magazine, which is a local publication for our county. Of COURSE I want to be involved. So that was happy news. I'll be shooting in Wayne County at various locations in the coming months, so if you happen to see me, stop by and say hello!


Fast forward a little more to last Friday. I was so excited that I finally got to meet my friend Sandra Carrington-Smith. She does a local blog on the news web site here (although took a bit of a break to work on her second novel). She has both fictional and non-fictional works due to publish in 2010 and needed jacket shots. After emailing over several months, speaking on the phone numerous times, and being weathered out, we finally met last Friday. Let me tell you...Sandra is a doll! Not only is she a fantastic author, she is also a life coach, mom and wife. I REALLY enjoyed meeting her face to face. She had told me she wasn't photogenic, but that wasn't exactly the case. That girl commanded the lens. :) Talk about a breeze to shoot. All models should be like her. I am going to post a couple pictures that we took that afternoon at Oak View Park in Raleigh. I am also linking to her book sites. Her non-fiction work is Housekeeping for the Soul. Her fiction is the first of a series: The Book Of Obeah . Check them out when you get a minute.

So that brings us to the present. It's the winding-down of Memorial Day, 2009. I'm about to call it a day, take a bubble bath and then roll into the bed. I just want to remind everyone to think about the soldiers and airmen that gave their lives in the past so that we can enjoy the freedoms that we do today. Also...I'm giving a shout-out to all of our current active duty members to thank them for all the sacrifices made so that we remain free, and to their families....

Till next time, y'all!

Jules