My Hero

This is ‘K’, the son of one of my closest friends. When I was visiting one day, she told me about how much he loves dressing up. She showed me all his costumes & I knew I *had* to do this shoot. As you might guess, it was a long shoot with lots of wardrobe changes! He was a trooper (a storm trooper, actually). I’m so pleased with the results.

and close ups of a couple of my favorite shots:

be bold. be emotional.

Lately I am really loving photography with bright, bold colors.

I think the bright green in these photos of my cousin and her son is so fun!

I just love the pop of red & blue in these photos of little ‘A’ and his basketball…

check out the form!

Just as soon as I think I’m convinced that bold colors are the only way to go, I find an image that needs to be black & white.  I love black & white for highlighting the relationship & emotions between my subjects.

For example, these shots of my other cousin and his son:

Here’s baby ‘Z’ with his dad…

and the cute little family…

So…leave me a comment and let me know which look you like better.  Bold & fun?  Or B&W & emotional?

Thank you!

Well, the auctions closed today at noon, and we were able to raise $305, which helped bring Ty to a grand total of $655, far surpassing his personal goal of $400. I am so excited to have been a part of this! I talked to Ty on the phone this evening, and he’s excited and thankful in his adorable, 5 year old way! 🙂 What a cutie!

I want to be sure to thank everyone who took time to follow the auctions and support this effort by passing the word along! My blog stats tell me that there were up to 70 visitors on the busiest day! That’s awesome. I know the economy isn’t great right now, and several people emailed to tell me they wished they could bid, but just couldn’t afford it this time. Please know that your attention and support is still appreciated and encouraging to me!

Finally, I want to especially thank my super-cool winners! I’m looking forward to working with each of you! When these shoots take place, I will post my favorite photos here on the blog, and I’ll make a point to let you know you’re looking at an auction winner.

Finally, since I think every post deserves a picture (or 3), I’ll post a few.  (Just as an aside…’B’ & I had the best time picking all these sunflowers in the field by her house and weaving them into her porch swing!  If you haven’t picked wildflowers lately, you should.  When spring arrives, of course.)

weddings vs. portraits

You may have noticed that my website is all about wedding photography.  It’s true that I have much more “professional” experience with photographing weddings than children.  Note that “professional” is in quotes.  In reality, I have been photographing children & families for more than 10 years, a bit longer than I’ve been shooting weddings.  However, in many cases I was doing so as a favor (read: free or really cheap) for my many friends with adorable children.  And in all honesty, many times they were doing me a favor by letting me practice on their kids!  I don’t regret this at all…I learned so much from those sessions, and who doesn’t love making your friends happy!   The thing is, when you’re photographing people’s families for free, you don’t really need a website to get jobs.

I’ve always found it easier to market myself to brides than to moms.  Brides have a deadline and a sense of urgency about booking you before someone else does.  They are shopping around, and they have a budget set aside for photography.  They are willing to pay more for a certain style and level of quality. A wedding is “once in a lifetime”, so they can justify paying a little more for the photography that will be the memento of that special day.

Mom, on the other hand, may be thinking that a child’s portrait could be made any time.  In most cases, she is right…there is almost always another day, week or month to make that appointment.  I can’t tell you though, how amazed I am by how fast the time flies.  (I’ll bet you’ve looked at the calendar in shock that it’s already February….I know I have!)  My point is that there will not always be a chance to capture your child at the particular stage she is in right now, and, if life goes as it usually does, it may be next year before it’s convenient.  That’s just the way of life, and I believe it’s the reason I have found it more difficult to build a thriving client base in portraits than in weddings.  

As you may have guessed, I have decided to put more efforts into marketing myself as a portrait photographer this year.  As a matter of fact, this blog is a part of that agenda.  I’m also planning some major revisions to the web site to showcase both sides of my business, and I can’t wait to unveil that to you.  For now, I will rely on blog posts and Flickr to give you a glimpse into my recent portrait work.  

And, with that in mind, here are a couple shots of the adorable baby C from last December.  How cute is he?!?

auction 2: photo session & book

Auction 2 is for an on-location photo session with me and a story-book style photo album  (a $275 value: photo session fee = $75, photo book = $200)

These books are very nice, and people always love them!  However, if you prefer framed photos, you can choose a $200 photo credit instead of the book when you win!

 

The starting bid is $75.  If you wish to bid, you must raise the bid by at least $10.  You can place your bids by adding a comment at the end of *this* post.  (Remember that 100% of the proceeds from this auction go to the American Diabetes Association.)

 

The auction will close on Thursday, February 12th at noon.  If you are the winning bidder, I will contact you via email to let you know.  At that time, you will need to go directly to Ty’s donation site (http://main.diabetes.org/goto/tycrowley) and make a donation in the amount of your winning bid.  Then email the receipt to me, so I’ll know you made the donation.  At that point, we can work together to schedule your photo session.

 

If you know of anyone else who might like to bid on this auction, please pass the word along!  AND, if you aren’t able to spare the money to bid, remember that you can still contribute to the cause by donating any amount you can afford at the American Diabetes Association website.

You can find out more about why I am raising money for ADA here.

You can see more of my work here.

auction 1: photo session & bracelet

Auction 1 is for an on-location Photo Session with me and an awesome Sterling Silver photo bracelet  (a $325 value: photo session fee = $75, bracelet = $260)

This is the perfect Mother’s Day gift for Mom or even Grandma!  This bracelet is very good quality, and the photos are sealed, so you don’t have to worry about getting it wet.  (That’s always people’s first question, so I figured I’d let you know up front.)   

The starting bid is $100.  If you wish to bid, you must raise the bid by at least $10.  You can place your bids by adding a comment at the end of *this* post.  (Remember that 100% of the proceeds from this auction go to the American Diabetes Association.)

 

The auction will close on Thursday, February 12th at noon.  If you are the winning bidder, I will contact you via email to let you know.  At that time, you will need to go directly to Ty’s donation site (http://main.diabetes.org/goto/tycrowley) and make a donation in the amount of your winning bid.  Then email the receipt to me, so I’ll know you made the donation.  At that point, we can work together to schedule your photo session.

 

If you know of anyone else who might like to bid on this auction, please pass the word along!  AND, if you aren’t able to spare the money to bid, remember that you can still contribute to the cause by donating any amount you can afford at the American Diabetes Association website.

You can find out more about why I am raising money for ADA here.

You can see more of my work here.

for a worthy cause

Can you imagine dealing with Diabetes in Kindergarten?

My friend Honey’s son (one of my favorite little photo subjects) was diagnosed with Diabetes more than 2 years ago.  This year he started Kindergarten.  Here’s what Honey has to say about how he’s facing the challenge: 

       

“Ty started Kindergarten this year and things have been going very well.  I think it’s much easier to keep his blood sugar in the normal range when he’s at school because of the routine.  The normal range for him is 75-120 but he goes above and below that too often.  Going to PE, recess, walking around the school, a late snack, stress, excitement, illness and many other factors contribute to his blood sugar going high or low. 

I think Ty does an amazing job of dealing with Diabetes.  He goes to the nurse’s office a minimum of seven times a day to get his blood sugar checked or to get insulin.  He’s always willing to answer questions the other kids have about Diabetes, his insulin pump or about getting his finger poked.   He is learning more about how to take care of himself and he’s become a lot more independent.  He’s learning how different foods affect his blood sugar and what the blood sugar numbers mean in regards to being high, low or perfect.  He had a substitute nurse last week who was not very familiar with Diabetes.  The other Kindergardener with Diabetes came in and told the nurse he had beef jerky for a snack and needed to get bolused (get his insulin). Ty told him he could go back to class because beef jerky doesn’t have any carbs in it so he didn’t need to get bolused.  The nurse checked the wrapper and saw it didn’t have carbs so she sent him back to class.  She thought it was funny that Ty was so confident in telling the other boy he could go back to class.  He is very smart and he amazes us all the time with what he learns and remembers.  I am so thankful that he only has Diabetes.  There is so much out there that is a lot worse.  Ty leads a normal life and just has to deal with a few interruptions a day.  I know it’s easy for me to say that when I’m not the one dealing with it, but I hope I will always be able to help him put it in perspective and teach him that Diabetes shouldn’t stop him from doing anything he wants to do.  But I will continue to hope and pray that a cure will be found in his lifetime.” -Honey C.

       

Ty’s school is currently running a program to raise money for the American Diabetes Association and increase Diabetes Awareness.  I was thinking of ways to contribute to their efforts in honor of Ty, and I have decided to auction couple of photo sessions here on my blog to raise money for this cause.  I will post the details of the 2 auctions separately, but, in short, this is your chance to support a worthy cause and get some awesome photos of your child (or yourself) in the process.  100% of the proceeds will go to the American Diabetes Association.  The auctions will begin tonight, and bidding will end on Thursday at noon.  If there’s enough interest, I will add a 3rd auction!

You can support this cause in a number of ways:

1) Bid on the auctions!  It’s fun. 🙂

2) Spread the word about the auctions.

3) Make a donation directly to the American Diabetes Association.  If you use Ty’s link to donate, I will be able to tell you how much we raise together at the end of the week.  Here’s the link: http://main.diabetes.org/goto/tycrowley

Below are some photos I’ve taken of Ty through the years.

 

 

 

Let the blogging begin!

I have so many, many exciting things happening in the next couple of weeks that I decided it is FINALLY time to start the blog I’ve been planning on for so long.

First of all, I have several baby shoots coming up (including twins this Saturday), and I can’t wait to share some of the images with you.

Also, I am just so excited about a project that I’m working on to help raise funds for a worthy cause.  You will see details about that very soon.

I’m looking forward to sharing with you, and I hope you’ll come back again and again!