As summer comes to an end and with all the fairs going on this is an appropriate engagement session to share with you all. Jo and K.C. met by chance on the Riverwalk in San Antonio when K.C. asked Jo for directions to his hotel. Only Jo was lost too! K.C. was visiting from Washington state for a few days but ended up staying a lot longer because of Jo! A true love story right?

Well as I said with all the fairs going on and what not I thought I must do an engagement session at one. And everyone knows the best one is at the Brownwood Reunion! I just knew all the colors and scenes would not disappoint and boy was I right. K.C. and Jo are such and have such outgoing personalities that it was a perfect fit. Sure we had to deal with the carnies and wow they’re a unique breed to say the least, and there’s also the ever present sense of impending doom when your strapped into a ride that folds up on a truck but Jo and K.C. were troopers and all in all it was an awesome session.

And the Slideshow:

Mark your calendars for the biggest sale of the year! Call between 10am and 7pm on SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3RD and book your session for only $20.11!!!! That is almost a 85% savings on the session fee!!
Please call or email the studio to ask any questions!

Ever since I came across Forbeyon wedding albums, I fell in love. They have so many beautiful cover options and you can even mix the leathers and colors to make the album completely your own. But there was one thing , I wondered if they had some sort of swatch samples for all their covers because I couldn’t possibly order a ton of studio samples in every cover and combination. It would be such an overload for a client to view. Thankfully and brilliantly, they came up with these cute 3×3 square cutout samples. It showcases all 42  cover options and since they are actual slices of the cover material you feel the texture also .

Premium Italian Leathers

Sleek Leathers

Classic Leathers

Bonded Leathers

Textured Eco Material

Textured Fabric

Satins

Exotic Eco Materials

Sleek Shimmer Fabrics

When I can I always try to take a break from client work to do that’s just for me. Working on personal projects is necessary, I believe to keep the creative mind sharp. Recently I’ve been exploring silhouettes in my free time.

A silhouette is defined as an outline that appears dark against a light background. More specifically, it is where your subject is seen as a black shape without detail against a brighter background. Silhouettes are a wonderful way to convey drama, mystery, emotion and mood to the viewers of your photos. Without detail and color to distract the eye the mind of the viewer is forced to contemplate shape and form alone. This makes the image a universal statement about humanity in general as opposed to a specific statement about a specific person.

The challenges of shooting silhouettes are many, but my main issue has been keeping a clean line. That exacerbated by my decision to focus on interpersonal relationships with this series. Most silhouette images feature one person because it is much easier the keep the image distinguishable that way. That would be waaaaay too easy, so of course I had to make it harder.

So here is the result of my first series of silhouettes the theme of which is motherhood. Thanks to evryone who agreed to model for me!

I had no idea how much fun a bridal show could be until yesterday, when we exhibited for the first time at the Total Bridal Show at the Civic Center in Abilene. I’ve been to a lot of bridal shows, as both a bride and a photographer. This one is my new favorite, a select showcase of Abilene’s most creative vendors. The organizers at Total Bridal Show outdid themselves in this first year of the summer show. If you don’t know about Total Bridal Show, it’s an awesome resource where brides and grooms can see the work of multiple vendors in the same category, such as photographers, florists, planners, etc. You save on gas and you reduce your stress!

Thanks to all the brides and their loved ones who took the time to visit with us and sit on our little couch out of the traffic. We’re following up with all of you today and eager to see how we can help you with your wedding plans.

Here are some photos of our booth. We loved seeing Julie Edwards of Weddings by Juliana and Denna O’Conner owner of The Plant Lady, who were our sideways booth neighbors.

Our Boudoir products were a big hit with brides and non-brides alike!

We have some gorgeous new things we showed off at Total Bridal Show. We brought out our buttery soft leather wedding albums complete with brushed aluminum cameos on the cover. We also have gorgeous guestbooks to display your engagement photos along with sweet notes from your guests. With these custom disgned books you will actually look at your guestbook after the wedding!

We also brought along our newest product offering – Wedding Collages. We’ve had request for an alternative to albums so we came up with these 30×30 canvas prints. We have two designs one that displays 32 images and one that displays 48 images, along with frame side text your options are endless.

Ok, so I guess these last couple of posts are plugs for some of the different products , but Stephanie and Bradley”s Guest Book looks so awesome I just had to share it.

The engagement session guestbook is absolutely one of my favorite wedding products. I mean come on! Do you remember the lame-o plain sign-in books with the lined pages? Who even looks at those again? Who even keeps the book?? So whoever thought of the engagement session guestbook album is a genius in my opinion.

This album is very much like a custom designed coffee table book that one would keep in their purse to show off professional portraits to their friends. However, the difference is that this guestbook album is usually printed in a larger format (the following photos are from an 8×8″ book), and include more “open” space throughout the book for guests to be able to write comments and congratulations to the bride and groom. This “open space” could be solid white pages spliced throughout the book, or light backgrounds, or even faded out pictures to allow black ink to show very clearly.

So, in the end, the couple not only has a fabulous book of loving and memorable comments (as opposed to just signatures), but also a very timeless and stylish album of their engagement session. Sweet! I hope every bride and groom I work for will allow me to design an album like this for them.

Here are some of the spreads from Stephanie and Bradley’s engagement session at Rancho del Orso – each spread is approx 8×16″ (two 8×8 pages):

I always get the question “what should I wear for my session” or “how many outfits should I bring”. My answer is always the same: “bring all of the things that you love and that make you, you!”
Now, if you need some inspiration, here are some of the 2011 style trends:

Sure, scarves have been in style for a long time, but this year they will be worn a little bit differently, here’s how:

You can never bring too many accessories to your shoot: hats, scarves, bracelets, earrings, bags, purses, belts, necklaces and anything else you can thing of. Here are some ideas:

For outfits, it’s great to have variety. For example: 1. something simple: jeans, flip flops, white t-shirt, 2. something dressy: dress and heels, 3. prom dress? 4. a layered look: boots, leggings, shirt, sweater, coat, 4. something trendy: whatever you are into right now and might be embarrassed of 15 years from now! Here are some ideas:

Style Tips For Girls

What to wear:
Anything goes, bring a variety of colors, sweaters, tees & hoodies, dresses from prom, homecoming, bring heels, favorite shoes, jewelry, necklaces, dark jeans, worn out jeans, accessories, earrings, headbands – bring anything you LOVE to wear.

Bring:

Something classy when you look at your portraits 20 years from now. Consider covering your shoulders and arms for one outfit.

Something casual -what you wear everyday. Long Sleeves, Short Sleeves, or both – variety rules!

Something different fun – whatever you want, Dresses, Tanks and Cami’s, T-shirts.

Identity clothes- sports, music, arts etc.

Things- dance stuff, a microphone, guitar. See some samples here.

Hair ….we suggest no new styles. Use a de-frizz product to tame stray hairs and fly-a ways. Hair should be done BEFORE coming to the studio. Quick easy hairstyle changes are ok, but it should be quick or you’ll lose camera time. Waiting to do hair or makeup until you arrive will dramatically cut down on camera time and images. We will not run over your scheduled time.

Make up – my number one tip is don’t wear any glittery lotion or make-up. It doesn’t look good in pictures. Number two tip: bring your lip gloss for touch-ups!

Use a concealer on acne. If you stand 2 feet away from a mirror and and can’t see it, it won’t show in your images.

Professional Hair & Make up – many girls want a professional job done for their portraits, if you do too just let us know! We work with licensed local stylists and you can add it to you session for just $50!

Nails….your hands will be in your portraits. Have your nails done.

Tops….feel free to add sweaters or jackets. We suggest covering arms in one or more outfits.

Shoes….bring lots of them! They can totally set off an outfit!

Style Tips For Guys

What to wear

Something classy when you look at your portraits 20 years from now. Button up shirts, Shirts, sweaters, polos, jackets. Do not bring a suit unless it’s something you wear and you own one that fits.

Something casual what you like to wear everyday, your own unique style – tees, jeans, torn jeans, shorts, hats, bring different colors.

Something different fun – whatever you want

Identity clothes sports, music, arts etc.

Things car, a microphone, guitar ect.

Hair avoid cutting your hair right before the session. Give new styles at least two weeks

Extras

Nails.…your hands will be in your portraits. Have your nails done.

Tops….feel free to add sweaters or jackets. We suggest covering arms in one or more outfits.

Make up….Have it done before arriving, bring powder and lipstick for touch ups. We recommend having it
done professionally.

Clothing….bring a variety of colors and clothing for all seasons. Girls, if you’re wearing a tank top bring a
strapless bra. Spaghetti straps and sleeveless tops will draw attention to the arms, making it difficult to hide bra straps. There are additional charges to remove bra straps.

Brows and facial hair….please remove any unwanted brow and facial hair

Tanning….avoid being overly tanned for your skin type as it will add weight to your face.
Also avoid sunburns, uneven spray tans and tan lines. There are additional charges to remove sunburn and tan lines.
bumps and blemishes….we remove them all, so don’t worry!

Pets….you must bring someone along to watch and care for your pet while you’re being photographed.
Keep in mind that involving your pet takes extra time and may mean less images and/or clothing changes.

friends, siblings…. we’d be happy to take a couple images with you and a
friend, sibling, boyfriend/girlfriend. As with pets, this involves extra time and may mean less clothing changes
and images of you. THIS IS NOT A FAMILY PORTRAIT.

Arriving….Plan your travel time to arrive 10 minutes early. Allow yourself plenty of time to get here. If you’re
late, we cannot run your session into the next appointment’s time – it will only result in less images taken of
you. If you will be more than 15 minutes late, please call to reschedule.

Music…..bring your favorite cd or ipod if you’d like.

Glasses…..to eliminate distracting glare and reflections, call your optician to either borrow a pair of empty
frames or have the lenses removed from your own frames. Non glare lenses work well in some cases. If you
choose to wear glasses with lenses in keep in mind that removing glass glare from your photographs will be
done at your expense. Non glare lenses work well in some cases.

What to bring

Clothes – bring what you want and we’ll help you choose what’s best

* Wear one of your outfits to the session
* Have hair and makeup done before arriving. Not having this done means less images.
* Rain – summer showers come and go quickly. Arrive at your session as scheduled and if weather is an issue we will reschedule the outdoor part of your session.

Last but not least make it fun, and make it YOU!

I shot family portraits with David and Coleman in the studio recently. Coleman was too much fun! Everytime I would look back, he would make a silly face at me. Then I would throw one back at him. We decided to make fun of each other. He loved being on camera and I can tell in about 10 years he is going to be a complete ladies’ man. It couldn’t have been more awesome session!

And the slideshow:

Remy had his one year “smash the cake” session with us in the studio. I usually despise food on the face pictures, but when you’re talking cake and babies, it’s a perfect combination. Remy was hysterical. I wanted a picture of him just sitting next to the cake, but he dived right in. As you can see by the photos here, he did quite a good job at smashing his cake.

Kim is a professional cake maker/decorator and she made his adorable cake. She works at Twisted Sisters on Austin Ave just a few blocks from our studio, and also does AMAZING wedding cakes as well.

the perfect little cake…

Remy has a happy fit when he sees the cake…

This must be closely investigated…

Some help from Mommy….

So cute!

Ooooh, yummy…

This would look awesome on the floor…

If you’re happy and you know it…..

And the slideshow:

The Brownwood Art Association will be hosting their annual Photography Contest during the Brownwood Reunion.   The Photo Contest will be on display during the following times:

• Friday Sept. 17th 5pm – 7pm
• Sat Sept. 18 12pm – 5pm
• Sun Sept. 19 1pm – 4pm

A reception for the entrants will be held on Friday, Sept. 17th from 5-pm to 7pm.

Visitors viewing the photographs are invited to cast a vote for their favorite image in the People’s Choice selection.  The overall winner of these ballots will receive the People’s Choice Ribbon on Sunday.

The contest is open to photographers age 8-80.  Prizes awarded in Student, Adult, and Professional categories.  Entries are $5.00 each and must be framed.  All subject matter in good taste is accepted.

For those interested in entering the photography contest, entry forms are available online at www.brownwoodtx.com and www.brownwoodart.com.

Photographs will be accepted at 215 Fisk in downtown Brownwood on:

• Saturday Sept. 11:  11am – 1pm
• Monday Sept. 13:  11am – 1pm
• Tuesday Sept. 14:  11am – 1pm & 6pm – 8pm
• Wednesday Sept. 15:   11am- 1pm