Priscilla...

Priscilla is one of my clients, she's a girl that is near and dear to my heart... this morning I needed to go through my desk drawers to clear out some space. (See I'm trying to be more organized this year I say this as tomorrow being 3-1 and I haven't even entered Jan's stuff into quickbooks yet, but I'm STILL waiting on my tax guy, totally another topic) As I'm going through my drawers looking for things I can clear out I see stuff from the 2007 Jacksonville Pet Expo... it was my first time ever doing any photos on the spot. I set up there in a really big booth and took pet portraits for people. (I also unknowingly met Scarlett Lillian there for the first time she walked by my booth and told me she was a photographer too and that it was such a cute idea!)

I had just started my business and had done a session or two for Priscilla and she agreed to come help me out (I think Leslie Anne came too) She helped me drag things in from my car, and set up the booth, true manual labor. I know that Priscilla sat there for like 12 hours at my booth helping to organize people that wanted photos done, and talking to customers at the booth, promoting my services and all that stuff... it was a total mess those two days!! I remember us trying to figure out how to put the baby play pen together that I had for my puppies!! (and it totally kicked both our butts!!!!!) such good times!

I can't believe that Feb marks a two year anniversary that I've known Priscilla and she's such a great girl... She is much younger than me but over the past two years I've gone to her with issues I've had and asked her for prayer and I know she's done the same with me... A couple of weeks ago we sat down at the starbucks in the landing just to catch up a bit... She's such a sweet girl and so near and dear to my heart...

I came across some photos of dogs that I intend to put with all my other "older prints" (I hardly ever throw anything away, I guess I can thank my Grandmommy for that) and when I pulled out the dog photos there was one that had miss-printed and on the back of it Priscilla had taken it and written my name in cute letters and written down the prices for all that I had offered today and we used that as a sign for people passing by so they would know the pricing on the prints... The letters are so cute! and I just got to thinking about how thoughtful she is, even two years ago and I wanted to write something public about it. So I can tell her and everyone else that reads this that she is truly one of the nicest people I know and I <3 her!

New Ness..

My friend Liz has officially opened up her wedding shop in Avondale... Couture Wedding... She makes custom isle runners and has other custom goodies for weddings... you should check her out..

One of the new things she offers is invitations by Envelopments they sell separate pieces to mix and match as you like... well I sat down and looked at her sample books and she pointed out to me there were these nifty little inserts that were the perfect size for a CD... and I've been looking and making things for my CD mailings for like a year now... but nothing that I felt fit my business perfectly... I started really looking at what she had and decided that it would be perfect...

A black square envelope, with red lining, and a black and silvery taupe swirly design sleeve for CD's... it's waay classy and I LOVE it... just have to put them all together which kinda stinks but it keeps things affordable...

So, here is a little sample from my point and shoot... and be sure to check out Liz' blog... her super stylish website will be up and running very soon!!!

Revisiting My 1st Jacksonville Bridal Photography Session

wow that's a long title... I hate thinking up titles... but I hear it helps in Google searches? LOL

Anyway, Liz has pretty well opened her shop for Couture Wedding Designs and asked me for some photos... Well I had forgotten that I had a couple of large prints from the expos I attended in like 2007!! LOL and one of my all time favorite bridal shots was from my first real "mock" bridal session.

When I started my business I knew I couldn't just say.... "hey I do a pretty good job at this photo taking thing but I've got nothing to show you... BUT I promise I'm good" so I started nagging friends to either get into a wedding dress that I purchased or one of their own....

Krystal volunteered to wear a dress that I purchased from e-bay (and that my bride Donna later purchased for her own wedding) Anyway, this loooong email is to show you this.....

My fav bridal shot!!!!!

Shenanigans In Riverside

So, you all know Jenny from her rainy trash the dress session and her family session not to long ago... Well when I met Jenny it was for a "Ladies Night" and we kept in contact, I cruised her myspace page and saw that she liked to take photos. She had done some of Christy & Shawn and she's decided to turn her hobby into a budding freelance business... She asks me for tips and advise from time to time and it's always easier to show someone one on one than to explain things. (Mainly becuase when I explain things I use a lot of words like do-hickie, and thing-a-ma-bob, and wheely thing... very technical terms)

Back in September I offered like a little training session deal that a few people were interested in but it never quite worked out. Now, I'm not claiming to be some master photographer but half the folks starting out don't really understand manual mode and I can at least explain getting a good exposure... I think I'm qualified for that!!! Anyway, that's a whole nother rabbit trail that I won't get off on today.

Jenny was one of the first people to say that she wanted to do it... and while the "seminar" fell through, Jenny and I still made plans to have a little training session of our own... Well yesterday was that day. A couple of willing ladies met up with us in Avondale and modeled for us, then Jenny and I came back to my (horribly messy) house and went over some photoshop basics... I can't wait to see what all she got out of the session yesterday.... Me personally I conquered one of my fears, LOL... well not "fear" per-say but something I've been a little timid about... and that's shooting in the middle of the day!!! We started around Noonish!!!

Anyway, here are my shots from the day.... it was a total blast and I have to give a BIG thank you to my models for the day. We had a ton of fun!!

Jenny hard at work...

I can't wait to see this shot!









I love this one, with the direct sunlight behind her!!


And, without a flash... you know I love lens flares!














Shenanigans I tell you!!!!!

watching j*

She's soooo cute! She just got asked the question...

"How do you feel about people copying your poses?"

The basis of the answer was that people can't really copy anyone else, there isn't anything that hasn't been done before, and it is what it is... (very true, and I think we should stop concentrating on "copycats" or whatever you like to call them and just focus on ourselves and our own work, if the clients love it and they love you then woohoo! why worry about this stuff, it's negative sweat like my momma would say, LOL)

She also mentioned something about doing poses inspired by renaissance portraits and I think even mentioned drawings on cave walls, and it's not like we are "copying" the cave drawings, etc etc...

So, are there any truly unique poses out there?

I'd love to know your thoughts
(and I'm aware that this is a loaded question and I have NO idea if this will be good bad or just informative)

Been A Busy Little Bee....

So, January turned into a busy month... December was dead and I got to rest a bit but man second week in January came back at me in full force!

First I had Leah and Darren's wedding which I have already blogged about but then I had, couples sessions, a ladies night, and a family reunion just to name a few... it's been a good month and I'm not quite sure I can catch up on all my blogging so I'm going to give it to ya all in one!!!


Right after Leah and Darren's wedding I met up with Miss Britnie for some head shots, she'll be submitting them to an acting agency soon, I'm still editing some of her favs but here is one that I liked a lot...



Now we move on to some steamier ladies... These ladies scheduled a "ladies night" with me to have photos to give their hubbies for Valentines Day... This shoot was almost a total disaster. It was out near PVB which is pretty far from my house, and I gathered all my studio things together, all my gear some props and set out for my evening with these 4 lovely ladies. I get allllll the way out to Nocatee and realize I have no CF cards for this shoot.... not even a 1gb with me!! My marvelous husband drove all the way to best buy got me a card drove it to me, only to be the WRONG type of card, then he drove BACK to best buy to exchange it then back out to me then home! I'm telling you ladies I've got a good man... he wasn't a very happy man but he's "a mighty good man, yes he is!" The lovely ladies of that night weren't even phased by my hour and a half delay they simply drank a bit more and primped a bit more, lol. It all worked out really well and produced some of my favorite images from a ladies night...







Aren't they HOT!

These ladies weren't the only ones to wear lingere for me this month... my lovely photography partner also did a little modeling for me... as part of the art series we are displaying at 1st street tattoo gallery.. Tara has quite a few tattoos as most of you know and we did a little mini session taking some really cool photos of those tattoos which you can see Wednesday night at artwalk (wink wink, nudge nudge) Here is a cool portrait we ended up with at the end of our shoot...



You can see more of the images if you are friends with Tara on myspace or on the Breaking Tradition Studios myspace page under the behind the lens photos and maybe some behind the scenes photos that show what a mess we get ourselves into sometimes...

I'm also working on a special project for a family member that I can't mention cause I don't know how many of my family members read my blog (not likely that many do) either way I promised my lips were sealed while I worked on this project, and everyone will know about it and see it soon enough.. but as I'm working on it (like I said it's for family) I discovered a photo of myself, as a blond...

Talk about a nightmare!!!!

And I must be on a black and white kick these days... all my fav photos from recent sessions are the black and white ones...

I met up with another couple about a week ago who are recently engaged, we roamed the streets of downtown then got rained out but not before we got these images...













And now you are as caught up as I am... Yesterday I met a family of 30 in memorial park for some really cute and fun family reunion style photos... I haven't even begun the work on them yet but as soon as I do I'll post up a couple of them... Wes and I had a blast with this family! They were very entertaining!!