Archive: March 2010   |   View all recent posts

03.29.10Children/Families A kid at Heart

I guess if the truth be known, I'm still a kid at heart. I've never really embraced the idea of being fully a grownup. If you were to attend one of our family "get togethers" you would most likely find me playing with the kids instead of talking with the adults. I am the most content when I have one baby in my lap and two around my shoulders. Kids grow so quickly ... one day you're holding them in your arms and the next day you're giving them away. I remember Kristle when she was just a little girl. She had the most beautiful eyes with dark eyelashes ... the kind that any cover girl would envy. When she was young, Kristle stayed at my mother's house while her mom worked. We always thought of her as family. She's grown now and married to a wonderful man who is a fantastic father. They have two beautiful boys, one of whom we were blessed to photograph the other day. When Kristle pulled the blanket away from little Sawyer's face his eyes just captivated me with beautiful eyes and eyelashes!

03.27.10Weddings Tips For Choosing Your Wedding Photographer

H ere it is, the beginning of wedding season! We thought it would be a good time to post some tips on choosing a wedding photographer. We've listed some pointers that we, as wedding photographers, think are important tips. Tips for Choosing A Wedding Photographer One of THE most important decisions in planning your wedding is choosing your photographer. Think about it: after the music has stopped, the food is gone, your guests have departed, aside from your memories, what will you have? Hopefully, you will have beautiful, storybook photographs of all the details from your wedding day! Check out the styles of wedding photography and decide what style you like best. Whether it is documentary or photojournalistic, traditional, contemporary or blended -- what style appeals most to you? There is a wide range of descriptions for today’s wedding photography that characterize a photographer’s style and approach. Do the research and look at as many wedding images as you can and decide what you like! Web sites are a great place to start your search. You can get a good idea of the photographer’s style by the images on their Web site. Once you have decided what you like, start e-mailing or calling photographers and ask about availability and pricing. This will let you know if the photographer you are interested in is available AND is within your price range. But do keep in mind, when looking at prices you may not be comparing apples to apples. Be sure to evaluate the packages and what is included and compare. The old adage, “You get what you pay for” is usually true in wedding photography. There are only so many weekends in the year and the number of weddings a photographer can book is limited. Therefore, as a photographer comes into greater demand by developing his or her artistry and experience the price will certainly go up. The end result is that the best photographers are more expensive than others. So, when planning your budget, if excellent photos are important to you, don’t scrimp in this area! Ten or twenty years from now, your photos will be there on your table to remind you of the details that might otherwise be forgotten. Schedule a consultation to meet the photographer. It is very important that you are comfortable with the photographer you choose to document your wedding day. Consider this, your photographer will be with you at least 6-8 hours on your wedding day so you have to be at ease and comfortable with your photographer. Personality is very important. A few questions you might ask are: Do I like this person? Would I choose to spend the day with this person in a close professional setting? Will this person fit into the social environment of my wedding day? Will this person be unobtrusive in capturing the images on my wedding day? During your meeting with a prospective photographer, ask about their equipment and if they carry backup. Ask for referrals. There is nothing any better than talking to a bride and groom about their photographer! Most photographers will be more than happy to give you referrals and in fact, we love it when we can share contact names with a potential bride and groom. Our clients are our best advertisers! View albums that the photographer has done and make sure the albums are from weddings they have photographed. You would be surprised at how many photographers show albums that are not from weddings they photographed! Pay close attention to the quality of the albums. If you are paying for a top of the line album it should look like a top of the line album. Ask about experience. How long has this person been photographing weddings? What is their background? What is it about photographing weddings that they like? Make sure the photographer you are interviewing will be the photographer photographing your wedding and not an associate photographer. Once you choose your photographer, make sure you sign a contract with them and that you have paid a retainer to secure your date. Remember that retainers are non-refundable. Get to know your photographer! Communicate during the planning process to let them know what you like and what your wedding style will be (colors, theme, specifics about locations, etc.) Obviously, if you have decided to hire a particular photographer you must like their style. What would you look for in a wedding photographer? Let us a comment at let us know. We would love to hear from you!

03.23.10Children/Families NC Maternity Photography - Lindsay & Brantley

D on't you just love seeing an expectant couple? Especially when it's their first. There's such a tenderness about them and it most always makes me a little teary-eyed. It's an exciting time for them as well as a time of preparation for the awesome responsibility ahead. How can one not see the hand of God at work? Isn't He so amazing! June 2008 we had the honor of photographing Brantley and Lindsay's wedding and just last week we did a maternity session with them. How exciting is that! We love hearing from couples after their wedding and are elated when we get a call that their family is growing. Brantley and Lindsay will be proud parents in just a couple of weeks. I'm already looking forward to the newborn session with them! Congratulations Brantley and Lindsay on expecting a little blessing. God is so good! By the way, Brantley's family owns Todd's Seafood in Thomasville where you can get some of the best seafood available! Anytime we are wanting flounder, shrimp, oysters, etc., we visit Todd's Seafood. P.S. Springtime is here and we are cranking up for Spring sessions, exciting times for sure!

03.20.10Children/Families Greensboro Children's Photography - Johnny

S orry we have been under the radar this week with our blog updates! There has been so much going on and our blog has suffered the consequences. We had a pipe to burst and had water damage which resulted in a restoration company working here for over a week. You just don't realize how much stuff can accumulate until you have to take it all out ... not a good way to do your "spring cleaning". Karen has also been doing some home improvements upstairs for a couple of weeks now ( I think she has been watching too much HGTV while on the elliptical!). Another item of importance is that our son-in-law Neil left for a mission trip to Guinea-Bissau to share the Gospel with the Badyara people this week. Lindsey and the girls are "bunking up" here for some of the time and it is a joy having them here. What a blessing that our family is so close! So that's the lowdown, now we are back to blogging. Life is busy but life is so good, better than we deserve. We give God the honor and the glory for all His goodness. Don't you? Work is going well. We have been blessed with some wonderful sessions with "little ones" and most recently with Johnny. This was our second session with Johnny with the "Watch Me Grow" package documenting his first year. He is six months old now and my what a change from the first session we did! He has such big beautiful eyes and some eye-catching red hair ... he definitely has a unique look and a cute personality, a combination of both his mom and dad. Speaking of which, Johnny's mom helped us several years ago when were looking to redesign our logo. At that time she was with Leap Frog Marketing. Lorie honed right in to the heart of who we are and her team presented a logo so befitting of Autumn Song. We are so happy that our paths crossed and thankful for what she has done for Autumn Song! If you need any help with marketing in any way she is THE one. Lorie has an inept ability to discover who you are and then give you the guidance in the direction you should move. She is now a part of Action Coach. Thank you Lorie! Here are a few of my favorites from the last session with Johnny. In approximately 6 months we will be doing his one-year old session and already I'm looking forward to see how much he has changed in such a short time! We will be putting together an album to document his first year in photos ... priceless!

03.14.10Commercial Work Greensboro Portrait Photography - Beth

I love photographing people. For me, the real challenge is and has always been, capturing the true personality of who I'm photographing. Like most photographers I have at times fallen victim to over-using photoshop and certain actions to "improve" or attempt to establish a particular style. In reality, style doesn't come out of a box, it comes from your heart. Although I will continue to experiment with different techniques, I've made a promise to myself to look deeper into who I am as a photographer and study more who my subjects are ... bringing out the uniqueness in both. It's a lifelong journey, one I'm excited to be travelling! Now, I'd like to share a few photos from our last of three sessions with Beth for her model portfolio. It's been a real joy getting to know Beth and to see the different looks that make her personality. (Thanks Karen for a great job on Beth's makeup!) "To photograph is to hold one's breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It's at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy." Henri Cartier-Bresson

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