Summer, Ethan & the Newbie On the Way

Summer, I am SO happy with these portraits. You have such a great pregnant body - I'm thrilled you chose me to help you show it off! And, Ethan...he just cracked me up with his playfulness and excitement over your belly. Here is a mini preview of some of my favorite shots of you guys from our session the other day.

Dannah's Belly

My wonderful friend and fellow belly lover : ) Just a brief preview of the belly you just got rid of! : ) Congrats! I just love 'lil Mazzy and can't wait to meet her.

Kody, Danny & Fam

Here is a quick preview of some of my favorite shots from our shoot together. You all looked fantastic and I had a great time working with you. Have a relaxing Thanksgiving - I'll be in touch next week!

Shannon and Fam

Talk about an adorable family. I don't think I've ever seen a boy so unabashedly himself before a camera. Handsome and down right sweet too!

Ron, Julie & Ellie

I can hardly believe it was warm enough to go without a jacket just a few weeks ago. On a gorgeous fall day, I headed out to a park to work with Ron, Julie and their fantastic daughter. Full of spirit and energy, we took our time getting her comfortable in front of the camera and then - wow - her eyes and expressions just came to life.

Large Family Group Photo Samples

Large Family Group Photo Samples

Mike, Brittany & Camryn

I had SO much fun doing these pictures! We could not have asked for more perfect weather - it was an absolutely fantastic fall day with fabulously puffy white clouds in a gorgeous blue sky. And Camryn - wow! - besides being totally adorable, she is animated and full of spunky joy.

Here are your previews guys. Enjoy!

Blythe's Senior Pictures

What a gorgeous fall day in the park! Blythe is simply naturally adorable. We had a ton of fun! Here is a quick preview of some of my favorite shots.

What a doll!

Reduce your wedding day stress with a Wedding Coordinator

When you meet a newly engaged bride, she is undoubtedly elated about planning her magical and perfect wedding day. Somewhere down the line, however, many brides become exhausted by the seemingly endless list of things to decide on and choose from for the wedding day. Since most people do not have a career in event planning, it is no wonder that the wedding planning process can be overwhelming. It is not something to lose ANY pride over (nor is it singularly for the wealthy) to call in a wedding planner to help you organize all of the details. Their ability to coordinate all of the sometimes competing aspects of your day will be invaluable to you.

Not only that, but the more you have planned ahead and anticipated potential dilemmas, the less your will have etching away at your "wedding day glow". It is simply no secret that people wear stress on their faces and reveal it in their body language. So, it should be no surprise that it has the potential to show in photos as well. I certainly do everything in my power to uplift my clients (and neither myself nor my clients can resist having fun when taking romantic wedding portraits!), but there is simply no question that every bit of planning you do pays off ten-fold on your wedding day.

So, take a moment when hiring your wedding day professionals to honestly assess your needs and really look into having a wedding coordinator - be it your best friend, your aunt or a hired professional. The person you choose needs to be able to meet your expectations and anticipate your concerns - all with grace and ease even when under pressure. It is essential that you "click" with them so that throughout the planning process, you feel complete freedom to be honest - and so that you can trust them on one of the most magnificent days of your life.

This week I had the wonderful opportunity to meet with Jaclyn Meyer, a wedding coordinator serving Fort Wayne and its surrounding areas. She has been coordinating events since 1998 and started Simply Elegant in 2003. Her experience includes weddings, bridal showers, bachelorette parties, bridesmaids’ luncheons, anniversary parties, baby showers and birthday parties. Jaclyn is fantastic! Friendly, organized, knowledgeable, easy-going and down right sweet! Her expertise helps couples save time, save money, and reduce stress. Simply Elegant offers three great bridal packages and some really fun options to meet your specific needs and expectations. Find out more about Jaclyn at http://www.simplyelegantfw.com/

Images on CD

Most of my clients want to purchase their images on CD. As a consumer myself, I completely understand that desire - especially in today's digital age! Plus, having electronic copies of pictures completely simplifies the process of sharing memories with friends and family - at home or abroad.

In most markets, demand for images on CD is growing rapidly, so the cost of digital images must provide the profit margin required to justify investments in cameras, lenses, lighting, computer hardware and software, the hours of digital post-processing, and the regular costs of doing business. These investments are necessary in order to both survive and excel in the art of photography...not to mention to wow and please clients! No serious photographer wants (or can afford to) give away their images for nothing.

The majority of the people I work with want to own at least some of their image negatives for archival and reprint purposes. So, I offer the images for purchase as DVD slideshows and lo or hi-res negatives on CD along with a beautiful proofbook with previews of all images on the CD (plus safe archiving tips and printing recommendations). Also, when a client purchases electronic image files, I deliver it all in some really fun and completely customized packaging!

Sweet Sorrow: Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep & Diana's Angels Project

Maternity photography is a "must" for some moms and a taboo for others. But I have never met anyone who denies that pregnancy and birth are miraculous journeys full of moments arousing everything from laughter to curiosity to exhilaration to fear and sadness. So, pregnancy is a time when families practice cautious anticipation. There are unexpected turns the journey can take. I have had my own experiences of joy and tragedy during pregnancy - and have since felt a pull to do what I can to love others who also step onto that diffucult path.

A short while ago, I came across an organization called Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep. They provide a healing hand to families grieving the loss of a baby by offering free professional portraits of their child in the hospital. The portraits are done in an intimate, sensitive, and compassionate manner which helps families honor, cherish their beautiful baby. Those gentle moments captured on film are such an important part of the healing process because they reaffirm the family by fully acknowledging the Spirit and life of their baby.

I am now officially one of more than 5,000 volunteer professional photographers for The Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep Foundation (NILMDTS). At any Fort Wayne family's request, I will come to your hospital or hospice location and conduct a sensitive and private portrait session. I then professionally retouch the photos if necessary and present them to the family on CD so that they can print portraits of their little one who has passed.

If you know of someone who you think should know about NILMDTS, please send them my way or send them to http://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/. Also, let them know about Diana's Angels® Patterns. These beautiful infant burial outfits (including a kimono, blanket, burial outfit including covering for the feet, and a bonnet) are small enough to fit even the tiniest child. Diana's Angels Project was organized by women at St. John's Lutheran Church in Waverly, Iowa. Since then, many other groups have joined them and have made hundreds of burial outfits which are distributed to hospitals and mortuaries. Diana's Angels® Patterns are $10 and can be purchased at http://shop.lwml.org/index.cfm?Product_ID=59598&page=details.cfm&thisrow=6&action=search&criteria=pattern&startrow=1&mystartrow=1&maxrows=10&cat=&man=&afid=&searchcat_id=&itemprice=&searchfield=&searchman_id=&boolean=or&var1=&var2=&var3=&return_product_id=&returnpage=&makeid=&modelid=&modelyear=

Your Family Portrait Can Create Smiles and Change Lives!

During Family Portrait Month — October 2008 — I will donate $25 of all family portrait session fees to PPA Charities to benefit Operation Smile, which treats children around the world who suffer with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities.

Celebrate your family by helping a child! And, remember…your family portrait is perfect for holiday cards!

Also - if you book by October 3rd, you will receive a special Family Portrait Month Pick-Your-Own Bonus! With your sitting, choose one of the following:

• 2 free 5x7 prints
• 24 free custom holiday photo greeting cards
• $75 gift certificate (for your use as a holiday gift for someone special)

Don't miss out on this wonderful opportunity! Call now. You can schedule a sitting on a date and at a location of your choice.

Or, you can join me in Fort Wayne, IN for one of two special events in October (appointments limited):

"Autumn Pictures in the Park"
Saturday, October 4th @ Shoaff Park
OR
Saturday, October 18th @ Kreager Park

Committing to a sitting time and a deposit are required to book a sitting. Please contact me to reserve your desired sitting time!

I'm a bloggin' now!

For my first post on blogger.com, I thought I would share a little about my philosophical journeys these days.

With fear and trembling, I have been diving deep into my heart to unravel (and learn how to better articulate) my passion for photography. And, like Michael Phelps' body is perfectly proportioned to make him a super-human swimming machine, I am experiencing great joy in discovering what my "eye" is designed to make me do best...to have those priceless "ah-ha" moments with my role in Christ's Kingdom.

To be sure, I am committed to making a positive eternal difference with my photography and do not take lightly my artistic calling nor its theological considerations. For example, I am keenly aware of the clash photographic expression has with the aniconism of Abrahamic religions. My photography does not avoid images anymore than Christ avoided the risk of getting a reputation as a glutton, a drunk, a friend of sinners and tax collectors (Luke 7:34).

Yet, of course, Christ was no doormat for those prone to oversimplify and therefore misunderstand ("Let not then your good be evil spoken of", Romans 14:16). So, let me offer a little more discourse. I certainly do fear and reverence God - but I do so by celebrating the fact that we are created in the image of God (that is certainly cause for celebration!) and that even if we tried, we could never literally diminish NOR increase the power and glory of God by ANYTHING we create (or suppress). Somehow we have to reconcile ourselves to the fact that we "exist under the shadow of something infinitely more important than (ourselves)" (C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory). [And, yes, that is what inspired the name of my company.] How will we respond to that greatness looming over our heads? In all its fullness, I want to acknowledge and appreciate the fact that the REAL thing is the best thing.

Considering God’s position as the ultimate power holder, some feel the need to defend that status against competing external and internal forces (like idols). Call me too humble, but nothing we do impacts God's state of being - only our perseptions of it. So if, at its roots, idolatry is a threat to uniqueness - our human response can be to fight idolatry by the prohibition of material representations - OR, we can seek to appreciate the wonder and beauty of God's ulimate and totally unique power by discovering some of the ways in which (don't know that we'll ever know why) God Almighty did man the honor of making us in His image. I am a sort of photographic marketer for God...not praising man, but God in man: the true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy things.

By the way, I have just recently initiated a partnership to volunteer for Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep, a non-profit organization that provides portraiture services to families whose babies will never leave the hospital. If you have a family member or friend who could benefit from this organization, please let me know. My contact info is on my Web site at www.ShadowlandsPhotography.com