Leaving Virginia- Nashville Photographer

This week is more or less our last week in Virginia. We leave this weekend for vacation with my family for an entire week (freedom!) and will then return to load up all of our packed belongings into a moving truck. I will drive down to Nashville with my daughter and brother while Scott, my husband, stays behind for a week to work. My computer will be packed in boxes for nearly two weeks and during that time I will have limited access to internet (which I will reveal why in a future post). If you have any questions please feel free to email me and I will get back with you as soon as I can.

One thing that I love about the East Coast that I never really had growing up in Washington state are the thunderstorms. I grew up on the dry side of Washington (it does exist!) and of course we had thunderstorms but nothing like what I have experienced here. Here, it pours and the thunder is deafening... the lightning blinding. I realized just a few days ago that I really didn't have any scenic pictures of the area. This same day it stormed and the sky afterwards was just glowing pinks, purples, blues... a photographer's dream. And so I took my camera and drove around the country trying to beat the light. Nothing fancy or spectacular but beautiful nonetheless. I will miss you Virginia! You've been wonderful to us!

By this time I was really racing against the sunlight. You can see that the clouds have mostly lost their pink color.

Charlotte

I have always heard that when photographing newborns, try to do so within the first two weeks. After that time they don't sleep as readily. Well, we followed that advice and yet little Charlotte wanted to stay awake the entire two hours we shot. But she was such a good girl so we couldn't complain. Ashley mentioned how she couldn't believe that she was still awake through all of it.

I'm still experimenting with newborn poses and trying to figure out how to form their little bodies into the many different shapes I see on other photographer's blogs. There is still progress to be made but I was pleased with how this session went. Everyone was so calm which helped me relax and focus on what I was seeing. Hope you like these pictures!

Moving to Nashville!!

That's right, my husband is transferring to Vanderbilt Law School and within a few weeks we will be residents of Tennessee. I have never (can you believe it?) been to Tennessee. We have heard such wonderful things about it though and so we are very excited for this move. We will definitely miss Virginia as it has become our home. I will be up and running around the middle of August so please spread the word if you know anyone in the Nashville area who would like to schedule a photo session. This is going to be great!!

New baby!

My beautiful pregnant friend Ashley, whose pictures you saw a few weeks ago, had a beautiful and healthy baby girl the first of the month. She has dark hair (perhaps more than my one year old daughter) and named her Charlotte. I was able to go to the hospital and just take a few shots. There is something so special about a new little baby. You hold them and melt and realize how much they depend on you. I have heard that Charlotte for the most part has been a good little girl... sleeping decently well and of course her big sisters are more than excited to have a new sibling. Here are a few of my favorite. Enjoy!

101 in 1001

I don't know if this concept of 101 in 1001 is familiar to any of you but I came across it on the blog of a photographer I follow and admire, Melissa Jill. The idea is to lay out 101 goals and aim to achieve them in 1001 days or basically 2.75 years. As many of my goals are related to photography and the growing of my business I have decided to post them here.

As time goes on and I complete a goal I will dedicate a post to it and create a link from this post to the finished goal. I decided to begin July 4th which will give me a finish date of March 31, 2012. I hope this will be a way to share more of who I am and also be a way to hold me accountable and get me motivated for some very exciting changes!

1. Write a letter to the 35 year old me
2. Run a half marathon
3. Buy a Nikon D90-Completed July 17, 2009
   
4. Plan a candlelight dinner
5. Go to a pro athletic or college game
6. Buy the Nikon 50 mm 1.8d or 1.4g-Completed July 17, 2009
   
7. Get a monitor calibrator-Completed September 3, 2009
   
8. Do a photo shoot of my mom and dad
9. Buy a Nikon D700 or equivilant
10. Update my camera bag
11. Update my wardrobe
    
12. Print, frame and hang photos for Ella’s bedroom
13. Print one canvas print, frame and hang in living room
14. Get an iPhone
15. Learn how to make fabulous Italian focaccia-Completed October 2009
    
16. Become CPR certified
17. Upgrade my blog to a non blogspot blog.
18. Buy a video recorder
19. Go apple picking
20. Buy a pocket sized digital camera
21. Read a “classic” novel that I haven’t read before
22. Have a “celebrate Scott” day
23. Buy a macro lens
24. Eat at Café Rio-Completed December 2009
    
25. Photograph a sunrise
26. Begin shooting weddings
27. Buy a new game and play it with Scott
28. 2^nd shoot a wedding with 2 photographers
29. Make my own jam-Completed September 1, 2009
    
30. Can my own salsa
31. Knit the baby blanket I started and never finished
32. Hire a designer to update my signature, logo, blog, etc.
33. Attend WPPI
34. Go camping at Ohanapecosh, Mt. Rainier
35. Make Scott his favorite treat
36. Attend a workshop by Melissa Jill
37. Take a carriage ride in Central Park
38. Attend a workshop by a well known family/children’s photographer
39. Visit Boston
40. Read one book per month for three months to benefit my business
41. Have photos displayed in a public location: gallery, coffee shop, children’s store, hospital
42. Create packaging for my products
43. Buy the latest version of Photoshop
44. See Wicked again
45. Buy Kubota actions
46. Get a massage
47. Create a special day just for Ella
48. Stay at a fancy hotel and go to the spa
49. Visit New England
50. Surprise Scott with a night out
51. Start a newsletter to be sent out every two months to clients
52. Do a “shoot for a cause” where I devote an entire day shooting mini sessions for a cause
53. Donate $50 to KIVA
54. Visit NYC during the Christmas season
55. Read to Ella every night for a week
56. Attend the US Open (tennis)
57. Plant a garden that includes at least: corn, tomatoes, zucchini, watermelon, carrots and peas
58. Volunteer at a Senior Center one time
59. Buy Scott something out of the blue
60. Host a party
61. Shoot a wedding or family in Europe
62. Update my website, complete with video
63. Start a photography group of women and meet up once a year for our own workshop
64. Go on a hike
65. Do “engagement” photos of my sister and hubby
66. Enroll Ella in a nursery/pre-school
67. Host a Christmas party
68. Own and wear a pair of True Religion jeans
69. Take a yoga or pilates class-Completed October 2009
    
70. Create business stationary and envelopes
71. Buy pens with my business name on them
72. Go skiing
73. Get soaking wet in the rain (not a lighting storm though)
74. Create a more personal information questionnaire for clients
75. Get a new laptop complete with software for work
76. Be a guest at a wedding
77. Learn about stocks and invest $500
78. Take Ella to a children’s museum
79. Book 5 weddings a year
80. Have a photographer I admire shoot our family photos
81. Teach Ella how to swim
82. Plan a girls only getaway with sis, sis-in-law and Mom.
83. Learn photoshop inside and out
84. Visit Paris
85. Create a workflow complete with checklist and folders for clients
86. Read the entire Bible
87. Blog every day for a month
88. Print and organize my family photos
89. Create my own little office space
    
90. Create customer kits (welcome, information, contracts)
91. Get professional contracts done up
92. Purchase a set of templates or two from Design Aglow-Completed May 2010
    
93. Add more products to my business
94. Shoot my brother’s wedding-Completed December 2009
    
95. Come up with rewards for referrals
96. Go canoeing
97. Visit Falling Water, PA
98. Make personalized thank yous for my business
99. Write a letter to my grandparents once a month for three months
100. Take a business class or some course on new businesses-Completed Jan. 2010
     
101. Visit a state I haven’t yet visited- completed July 30, 2009.
     

DC Family II

My final family that I was able to book had the most adorable son! Just look at those brown eyes and you'll fall in love. I never alter the eyes using photoshop so when you look at his eyes and they look like glass, it's because that's how they really look. Lucky. What I found so wonderful was that mom and dad both speak Spanish and so mom speaks only in Spanish while dad speaks Spanish and English to their son. I feel that knowing a second language is so important these days. It offers so much possibility!

Here's your sneak peek! I couldn't choose just a few so you've got... oh, let's say nine. Your images should be done in the next few days.