One of my most popular products for family and children sessions has been the 10×20 storyboard.   These products are completely customizable.  I create a few design options, but the client is welcome to make changes in regards to changing the photos and changing or removing the quotations.  All my prints, sized 11×14 or larger, are mounted on 2mm styrene.  This gives the print rigidity which is very important for framing.  If you try to frame a larger print without mounting (or without getting it professionally framed) it will start rippling over time.   The mounted storyboards can be framed or even displayed on an easel.

This is a mounted print displayed on an easel:

This was a storyboard that was framed.  I just LOVE when clients order this frame – it is absolutely gorgeous in person!!!!!

I also LOVE LOVE LOVE canvases!!!!!  I got one for myself this summer after I had a mini-mini beach session with my girls on our Hilton Head Island vacation.  This is probably my favorite image of them EVER.  I ordered it in a 20×30 size.  SWOON!!!!  I hope to get another one, with all FIVE of us in it (if that EVER happens).

One of my Pittsburgh clients ordered a 16×20 canvas from her son’e 6 month session.  She has a similar canvas of her older son at that same age, and wanted to display them together.  I just love how it turned out!!!  He is such a doll-baby!!!

Lastly – I wanted to show a peek of my spiral photo books.  I love these things!!!!  Clients can choose up to 30 images for the book along with one for the cover page.  The covers are thick and rigid and the pages are beautiful prints.  It is such a great way to share you session images with friends and family.  It is also just a great little album to keep for posterity!  This was a book I did for one of my senior girls – Cassie.

If you have any questions on any of my products, please shoot me an email or give me a call!

Until next time! xoxo!!

When I started out with my photography business, I just included a CD of images in my session price.  And I always gave my clients suggestions on where to print their images.  Hopefully they took my advice.  Because seriously, getting images printed at a reputable printer (such as MPIX) makes a HUGE difference in the quality of the final product.   Just check out THIS comparison I recently saw on Facebook.  Blech!!!!

However, even though I can make recommendations until I am blue in the face, there are probably still going to be people who choose a Walmart type printer.  Oh well.

The other problem with selling just a CD is that there is a chance the client may never actually get a photo printed!  EEK!!  And if they are anything like me, there is a GOOD chance they will never get a photo printed!  (Just take a peruse of my 10K pics that sit on my hard drive!  I swear, this winter I WILL get caught up!! heh.)

Long story short, to prevent both of these possible problems I changed up my product line this year.  All clients who order a DVD of high resolution images for printing, also receive a full set of 5×7 session images, in a beautiful custom image box!

And I solved both issues!  Now I know the clients can see what the print  *should* look like since they will have a quality, professionally printed copy of each image.  Plus, if they never get around to printing enlargements, they still actually have a set of real-life prints in hand.

One of my clients this summer decided to go with the digital package – I just loved the beautiful image box and matching DVD case!!!!!  Of course it doesn’t hurt to have such an adorable subject on the cover!!!  Just take a peek!!!

Beautiful – don’t you think???

Until next time!!  XOXO!!

So instead of trying to write a post about all my new products, I decided to just showcase one of my new products for 2011 – my new Mini Brag Books!!!

These are adorable, pocket-sized, leather photo books that measure 4×4 and are available in a wide range of colors.  They come in their own individual fabric cases and are sold in pairs!

Brag books are actually just like a mini coffee table book.    My standard books have 20 pages – 10 spreads with no gutter – that can include up to 20 of your favorite images.  I custom design each page in the book and let you review the design before it goes to print.

These books are photographically printed – not press printed books.  May not mean much to you, but just take my word for it , the quality is amazing!!!!

This particular book was for a newborn client.   But they would be great for senior, family or child sessions!

For more information on this or any of my sessions or product – give me ring!!!

Until next time! XOXO!

I love capturing a senior’s unique personality and interests.   I shoot on-location, and have done shoots all throughout the area (and beyond!).  However, I am also eager to try new locations and ideas.  I am always thrilled when I senior wants to shoot somewhere I never shot before:

Or wants to incorporate one of their favorite hobbies!

Because all seniors are so different, I offer a few different types of senior sessions.

Standard Senior Sessions

This is my most popular session.  The standard session is a 1 – 3 hour on location session.  You can choose a few different locations and multiple outfit changes.   I choose and edit the best images of the session and upload them to a password protected gallery where you can view and share the photos and order your prints and other products.

Standard sessions are just so much fun.  It always takes a little while for the senior to get comfortable being the center of attention and to start feeling less awkward and more like America’s Next Top Model.   By being very generous in the amount of time I spend during the portrait session, I find that once the awkwardness passes, and the senior relaxes, that is when the truly amazing images happen!   And I have often been told, at the end of the session  – “That was SO much fun!!!”.

BFF Senior Session

BFF sessions are, like my standard session, a 1 – 3 hour on-location session that can include a few different locations and multiple outfit changes.  However, A BFF session is a session that you share with, obviously, your BFF!  I have done these sessions with best friends and even a few twins!  And we always have a blast!

Each senior takes turns getting their individual portraits.  I will also take some photos together.  But the main purpose of the BFF session is to allow the seniors to enjoy their senior session with their best friend.  And I find that BFF sessions are just a bit more relaxed!

Each senior gets their own individual, password protected gallery of images.  Since it is a shared session, each senior’s gallery has a few less images to choose from, but I find that, for most, it is still more than enough!

Simple Senior Session

Lastly, I offer a “simple” senior session.   This is a great and economical session for a senior who may just not be interested in a full session.  A simple session is a 30 minute session that must be conducted within the zip code 16301.   But if you are a senior who lives outside the area, you are welcome to travel in!  There are a whole host of location options within this area that I am sure will meet any senior’s needs!

The senior gets an online, password protected gallery, of about 10 – 15 images to choose from.   Just enough to choose your yearbook image and give mom a few portraits to display!

I am so looking forward to meeting all the 2012 seniors!!!!  And please CONTACT ME with any questions or to schedule your senior session!!!!

Until next time!!!!

xoxo!

The first product I want to show is an album I designed for Bethany and Jeffrey.

I absolutely love when clients order an album.   A wedding is something that often happens only once in a lifetime.  So much time and energy is spent deciding on the dresses, colors, tuxedos, flowers, location, food, cake and all other details.  It seems almost sad to only hand the couple a small disc of digital memories when it is all over. I know clients will (hopefully) print out lots of their favorites, but I think an album is one of the most gorgeous ways to preserve your memories of this day for generations to come.

I love leather, flushmount albums. They are just breathtaking…but they are also a bit expensive. And not everyone has the luxury to be able to afford this high end product. I do offer high end, leather flushmount albums, but I also offer linen albums for a lower cost alternative. The only problem has been, I have not been thrilled with my previous linen album suppliers. Even though linen albums are often considered more “economical”, I just hate for any of my products to actually look like they are “economical”.

So, when I found this album supplier, who not only has gorgeous high end albums, but also offers an amazingly impressive lower end album! I was pretty stoked!  I recently ordered one of these albums and actually spent time getting some product shots before delivering them to the client.  And I am so excited to share!  I thought it was just beautiful!!!!

All albums come in this beautiful fabric case:

The pages aren’t as thick as the leather option, but they definitely are not flimsy!

And both the leather and the linen options are lay-flat with no gutter.  A BIG selling point for me as many linen albums also have a gutter down the center which cuts a small portion of the photo out.  And I hate losing any part of the images to the gutter or the binding.  I also thought the colors and the quality of the images were just spectacular!!!!

I really wish I had one of these of my own wedding…….but what can I do 12 years later?

Anyway….I also got [finally] took some photos of a lot of my product samples and will be sharing them soon!!!!  Stay tuned!!!!!

Fast forward a few years, I start to become obsessed with photography, I start to read every and any photography blog I can find and soak it all in.  And then I read a blog post from a photographer (whose name I can NOT recall for the life of me) who stated:

“8×10′s are NOT wall prints!”

Huh? 

She went on to explain that an 8×10 is almost always too small to hang on a wall.  Unless you have a very small space, or are using it within a large collection of photos, an 8×10 will typically be lost in the expanse of a wall.  She showed examples of how much better a LARGE print looks.  And when she said large, she was talking BIG – much bigger than your typical sizes.

After reading that article, I completely agreed.  And I realized that the vast majority of the photos hanging in my house were way too small.   The photos were hard to see across the room and they had no impact whatsoever.

So I decided I would start re-doing my wall photos.  (Sadly, I also have a serious problem deciding what photos are good enough for my walls so I have been “working” on this project for a couple years with very little progress).

The one room I did start doing this was my bedroom.  I took a photo a couple years ago of two of my girls at the beach.  It has always been one of my favorite photos, it is the kind of photo that I can just stop and stare at over and over again.  So I took this (unknown) photographer’s advice and printed the photo as a 16×20.  I mounted it on styrene and bought a frame.  I LOVE it.

You can see my “desk photos” below that are sized at 8×10. And you can definitely see that if I hung the 8×10′s instead, they would be lost and look out of place. And, to be honest, I probably would like this photo even larger. But I took it with my older camera and I was a bit nervous to blow it up too big. Although it probably would have been fine.

One of the parent’s of a senior client from this past summer told me that she wanted BIG photos of her son. And when said big, she meant BIG! She ordered 3 photos sized 24×36! I was very interested to see these photos after they were hung on her walls and she was nice enough to let me stop by and even take some photos!

Aren’t they beautiful!!!!

If you would like to learn more about large wall prints – give me a ring!

I have been very busy with seniors, engagements and families – and having an incredible time!

But in the midst of my busy-ness, my computer hard drive died and my brand new external hard drive went with it! Once I got that mess cleaned up, all 3 of my munchkins spent at least some part of the last week or so sick with (probably) the swine flu. I am definitely eager for a few very uneventful weeks to get caught up!!!!

Anyway, I wanted to post photos of some of the cool brag books my seniors have been ordering. A brag book is a 5×7 book with 30 of your favorite photos – of course, can also use more or less photos if you like. The pages are coated and the book includes a translucent cover. What a great way to show all your favorite photos from your session!!!

This is a brag book I did for one of my great seniors. So pretty!!!!!

I know this blog has been slow lately, but I have lots of great sessions I will be blogging about very shortly!!!!!