"Prose For Portraits" - winner announcement!

First of all, this was really hard. We knew it would be, that's why 5 of us photographers wanted to get together, so that we could have 5 yes's instead of just 1. (Knowing these other ladies is such a blessing to me - one of the really good things that happened to me last year was getting to know them.) Reading your heartfelt nominations brought tears to our eyes. I'm sure you can imagine, if you've been following this at all, how hard it would be to choose one family from the nominations we received. And how humbling it is to have gotten the nominations in the first place.

So, this amazing family below really struck a chord with me. This is the Dils family and I know I will love them. Loren, the dad, was diagnosed with ALS a couple of years ago, and a family portrait session now is exactly what I'm all about. I want to use photography to hold onto memories - because my memory is awful, full of holes. And this seems like the perfect opportunity to help someone else with what I would want myself so much if I was in that place.


(picture taken from the ALS Awareness website http://www.alsa.org/ - this is their family with Pete Sampras, how cool is that??? Wish I had taken THIS picture! Posting pictures was Amy's idea... thanks Amy.)

I'm funny about how much I want to talk about people on my blog - privacy is big to me. (And that definitely cramps my blogging style.) I usually won't even put names, but there's no getting around it here. I will talk with them about it because I know he's really involved in raising awareness about Lou Gehrig's disease and probably has some amazing things to share.

So - I will get in touch with you, Dils family - and we can talk. I have lots of ideas and I'm sure you do too. I'm so looking forward to meeting you.

Check out the others - I'm so excited to see their sessions with these other talented photographers.
Monique
Amy
Brianna
Tammy

And thanks again.

Little pink newborn

This was an amazing newborn session. This little girl was a preemie, so she was small - but not tiny, and she was so perfect! She was lying down in her crib, and just drifted... off... to sleep. The perfect baby! (Side note: I had to become a baby sleep expert after my 3 babies, each with a different and difficult sleep problem. Babies falling asleep in their cribs by themselves is EXACTLY what you want.) Then she slept really soundly while we moved her around, posed her, put flowers on her head, etc., and it didn't bother her one bit. What a sweet little girl! I had a really hard time picking which pictures to post - there are going to be a ton of beautiful ones.

Still 2 more days to nominate a family!

We have been reading nominations, thanks so much for any of you who have submitted one. There are 2 more days - I think we're wrapping it up Wednesday night, so we can make our announcements on Valentine's day.

It's alive!

I know people who work on websites are probably a lot more excited about their new websites than anyone else. :) That's because it takes so much work to get them done! I've been working on re-doing my website for more than a month, and it's finally close enough that I uploaded it. It still has a few problems (that's not meant as a challenge :) ) but it seems to be working pretty well. I was definitely ready to be done with the old website - the pictures were SO outdated - and I'm excited to have it be much more current.

Check it out here:
http://photo.etherdox.com



In celebration I'm doing an end-of-winter sale! This is for additional prints from your portrait sessions completed last year. If you would like any additional prints, or if you'd like to purchase the CD with copyright permissions, here are the discounts I'm offering:
If your order is under $50, subtract 10%.
If your order is between $50 - $100, subtract 20%.
If your order is between $100 - $200, subtract 30%.
If your order is $200 or more, subtract 40%.

If you are interested in taking advantage of this sale, and you need your gallery re-posted, just email me (or call) and I'll put it back up.

Thanks and happy February!

Senior session on the mesa

I did a really fun senior session with this great guy a couple of weeks ago. (After the weather today I can't believe we were out on the mesa at sunset with only sweaters...)

Anyway I'm just finally getting his session proofed, and I love these! After every picture I was saying to myself "I have to send this one to his mom!" Instead I'll put a few here. We went more places the next day, I guess that will have to be a new blog entry because this is plenty for tonight.

So a cello up on the mesa at sunset - magic! And I have to add as I look through this post, there are lots without the cello too. :) I must just have liked the cello ones best.

Maternity preview

Another really fun maternity session - they were so nice, they tried a bunch of different things, and some of them I ended up loving! I think this soon-to-be mother is so beautiful, don't you? Just how I wish I looked when I'm pregnant. Her husband was great too - they're going to be amazing parents!

Princess Rose

When anyone sees her in this getup they always say "I hope you're taking pictures of this." She is my funniest child with dress-up. She has consented to wear her costume over the top of clothes, in order to be seasonally appropriate, which leads to even more eccentric combinations. She has a specific crown and a specific wand that go with this outfit, and she often wears the crown upside down like a visor. The shoes are called "the shoes that don't stay on" and they are favorites, but require her to walk extremely slowly. She would prefer to be called Rose when she wears this, and doesn't mind reminding you 250 times of that.