Monday Updates!

Hello hello guys!  Happy Monday!  How are you? 

I am so looovinggg this weather.  It is perfect out.  I'm trying to get a ton of sessions in right now (engagement, family, etc.) before it changes!  We have so much happening right now - lots of album designs, album deliveries, gift packages, prints, and disks galore!  Look at the stack of packages that went out today! (as a sidenote, love my packaging supplies, can I get a high-five for washi tape and twine?)

I'm also starting to plan out the winter months - winter here means more blogging, album designs and...winter engagement sessions!! Am I going to have any takers this year?  Check out a few from last year here and here.  I think a winter family session would be so fun too - cute hats, coats, snowballs and a snowman!  Hmm, maybe we should do that for our photos this year (tim, are you reading this?). 

Besides work this week, we also managed to squeeze in a little family time. Tim and I did a quick shoot with Sophie (more on that in a separate post), and we went apple-picking with the fam. This girl knows how to smize for sure.

 

 

And, I found out this morning (via text from Tim), that I could announce something huge today on the blog. Here is goes. Get excited. Tim will be back tomorrow with Tech Tuesday!  He has a lot of explaining to do :). Haha, love you Tim.

I had a great engagement session this week and wanted to take a minute to talk about it. I just love shooting engagement sessions, besides letting you guys get to know me and my camera a little better, we have just been getting some killer images.  I love shooting love. What is better than that? And you guys, all of you guys - just like each other so much, it makes for the best photos!

I have really been enjoying styling some sessions just a little bit.  For example, I shot Ana & Mike's session last week.  Ana and I talked a lot beforehand - she had the perfect location, a beach that meant a lot to them and a place where they frequently hang out (it also happens to have ridiculous sunsets).  She also had a few ideas for photos that she might want to use for a save-the-date, and we talked about fun props to bring and how many outfits, etc.  The day of was so much fun.  I feel like I should write that in caps, or italics, because it was so much fun, not just so much fun.  Seeing our ideas come to life in a relaxed way.  It doesn't need to be super complicated, but just  a little thought or a quick talk about how the session can be made to suit your personalities goes so far. Check out the results:


Check out Ana too - she brought such cute outfits!!!  Ana - I need to go shopping with you :).

Today I'm shooting what is going to be an awesome family session.  It is always fun to shoot families, and even more fun when it is your friends!  Toni and Mike just had their 10-year(!!!) wedding anniversary and we thought a shoot was in order.  Results to be shown on this blog shortly and on holiday cards everywhere (well, if you know them anyway)!  Their smallest daughter is best buddies with Sophie - here they are at a street festival a few weeks ago.  So cute.

And lastly today, I would like to submit a piece of evidence.

My daughter finally looks a little like me!  Or at least we have the same expressions.  All of you people telling me that she is all O'Connell.  Take that!  :)

That is all - have a great Monday everyone!

Monday Updates

Happy sunny Monday everyone!  Hope you all had a good weekend :).  I had a mostly working weekend, with a few non-work activities mixed in.

On Friday night, Tim and I went to a fun Vegas night - a charity event for Mt. Pleasant-Blythedale School.  It was a ton of fun and really cool because we donated a photography prize and were there when it got raffled off (Hi Lisa!).  We won something too - a rock-climbing lesson (!) and camping/kayak rental gear.  Pretty awesome. 

Our wedding yesterday was so great - I love my job! The weather was perfect and the couple (Kat & Devin) had an awesome, relaxed day planned out.  Love love love Kat's look - can't wait to get some photos up on the blog, you guys are going to love them!

Here are some of my instagram photos from this week. I have been obsessed with taking sunset and sky photos using instagram (usually while I'm in the car). I'm planning to put them all togther to make a collage. I'll post it when I do. I'm also still obsessed with photos of my kid, sorry about that, but...its probably not going to stop soon :)

I made these cookies this week (which I pinned from Real Simple magazine) and was not overly excited. I didn't even take a photo - that should tell you something. They never set up right so they stayed mushy and are currently living in my freezer for when we are desperate. I should have known that a good 'no-bake' cookie was probably too good to be true.

And lastly, I have been meaning to post more photos of client albums and other products, but always forget! Here are some wedding dvd cases from last summer that I have been meaning to post - I love these cases! Everyone - don't forget to copy your wedding photos onto at least one other drive (or back-up source!), you never know when a dvd might fail!

Enough from me - have a great day guys!

Uplift Products: Albums

Ah, the weekend :). Warm weather, no rain or snow in the forecast. Sounds perfect. Anyone doing anything fun?

Anyways, we offer a ton of different and fun products, and most of you guys get to see the majority of them when we meet up to talk weddings :), but, with all that is going on and by the time the wedding is over, it is hard to remember what you liked! Plus, for couples looking for a wedding photographer, it is great to see as many albums and products as possible so you can try to decide what you might like. So, I'm going to kick off a blog series to show off some of our awesome product offerings, starting with some of the many albums we have created in the last few months. I'm also thinking of posting a full album soon, so you can get a feel for the flow and page design too.

I love designing albums - it is really fun for me to put the photos together in a way tells the story of the day. I take your favorites and usually a few of my own as well that help fill in all the details and the results are always drool-worthy. Our albums are both modern and traditional at the same time. I design all albums with a certain modern aesthetic in mind - a cleanly-designed layout with lots of negative space to really show off the images, but albums are also 'traditional' in the sense that I stay away from anything overly trendy and use only the best printers and materials. Then you won't have to worry about your album being outdated :).

Cards

I have been meaning to post these adorable announcements which feature a few of my recent newborn images - Owen & Ella. The scans didn't come out so great (some of the images are a bit too hot), but you can see the general design. There are so many ways to incorporate the images into really cute cards to send to your friends and family.





I also forgot to post these cards - remember these guys? I shot these images last summer & fall and designed this card for the holiday season. This is just the front - there were also photos on the inside and back.

Gallery Wrap *Secret Sale*

I will be posting some wedding photos in a few hours, but I just wanted to do a quick post on my secret 2-day sale on Gallery Wraps (Canvas prints)! For the next 2 days (ending Thursday, July 31st, 10pm), all Gallery Wraps will be 15% off regular prices! Think of it as a Christmas in July type thing just for blog readers :)

I absolutely love canvas prints - no need for framing, comes ready to hang and they just look like a gorgeous piece of art. I don't have any client canvas prints in my office at the moment, but here are a few snaps of a personal canvas print.

This Gallery Wrap is a 15x30 and it hangs above my couch in our living room - it is one of my favorite wedding photos, shot by the wonderful Zlatko Batistich.



Here are 2 quick detail shots that show the grain of the canvas and the how the canvas is wrapped around the back so none of the wood frame shows when hung.





Email me - jade@upliftphotography.com - for pricing info. Have a great day!