Today was a whole, free, extra day we didn’t have last year. I hope everyone took advantage and lived today to their fullest potential. Leap Day is a perfect opportunity to leap into the senior photo season for all of you lucky members of the Class of 2013! To help launch the fun, let’s have a little contest. Last year I tried to give away an iPod nano. Apparently they aren’t in demand as much as I thought they were, or (more likely) I didn’t reach enough people with my message because my contest didn’t go very far. I say “more likely” because it couldn’t possibly be that I was mistaken … right? Well, just in case it turns out that I was wrong (maybe I’m the only one left in the world who doesn’t have an iPod already?), leave some prize suggestions in the comments below (keeping in mind that I will not spring for a new car as your graduation present, okay?). For now, I’m operating under the assumption that an iPod nano is still a good prize and I really want to give one away. Here’s how it’s going to work: The goal is to book (and actually hold) 13 or more senior photo sessions by September 30. Any senior who participates will get their name in a drawing for an iPod nano, which will come loaded with the high-resolution image files from their senior session. To make the deal a little more rosy, anyone who books their appointment by Friday, April 13, will also be eligible to win a $25 iTunes gift card (in a separate drawing), AND (imagine this announcement coming from my best radio personality voice) anyone who holds their appointment by Friday, July 13, will double their chance of winning the iPod when I throw their name into the hat a second time. Fun, right?! Who wouldn’t leap at the opportunity to win with those odds? To be clear, I will only be giving away the iPod nano if I hold a minimum of 13 sessions. The separate drawing for the iTunes gift card will be held April 13 from the names of those who have booked their session and the prize will be delivered on your photo day (unless it has already taken place, in which case, I’ll be in touch!). This prize is not contingent on a specific number of participants. I offer two different sessions for seniors. Details for each are located on my “Seniors and such” page. For the purposes of this contest, I will accept either type of booking. Scroll all the way to the bottom to make sure you see how I treat nice people who share. Would you like even more ways to increase your odds of winning? [Your response is: “Yes, please tell me more!”] Great, I’m glad you asked. For each of the following you complete, I will add your name to the grand-prize drawing an additional time. (Listen guys, I’m trying to make this as easy as possible. I want to give away a prize, okay?!) 1. “Like” CLG Photography’s Facebook page, located here: www.facebook.com/clgdigitalimages 2. Share this announcement with your friends. Link to this post on your own wall and send everyone over to visit me here. Once you do, come back and leave the link to your page in the comments below with a note like, “I shared your Leap Day announcement here: … ” or just something random like, “My favorite color nano is…” 3. Post a photo of yourself playing leap frog with your friends. Ha! Just kidding on that last one. For real on the first two, though. Who’s going to jump in with both feet? All we need is one awesome-sauce senior (with 12 savvy friends) to make the leap and get this joint jammin'! Hop to it, gang! Not a senior? I bet you know someone who is. Share this with them! Finally, because blog posts are boring without photos, I leave you with this Instagram photo of my desktop assistant. This contest is sponsored by me, myself, and I. Apple doesn’t know I exist.
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Today marks the second birthday of my little bud, RTK. My favorite model, those eyes get me every time! It's a hard sell to get him to stand still but, with bribes for car rides, m&ms, and Bob the Builder, I think we got a few special shots to mark his big day. Leave some love for the birthday prince in the comments!
Today’s log entry is brought to you by the letter K.*
While flipping through vacation photographs taken last month, I was struck by the expressions on my niece and nephew’s faces: excitement, wonder, elation, exhaustion. Before our trip, I had given each of them a camera for themselves. I wanted to see the trip through their eyes. What was important to them? What would it be like to look at the world from their level? What did they see that I might have missed? I wanted to see things from a different perspective, perhaps a better perspective, like viewing the world through rose-colored glasses. This is what I wish to further develop in myself: the creative ability to see beyond the everyday norm; to challenge myself to look through the lens in a different way; to showcase the commonplace and bring it to life. The road sign above is a vacation photo I snapped with my phone from the back seat on our trip to the airport. For some reason (and we won’t go into the weird way my brain works sometimes) I thought to myself, “hey, that sign looks like a letter K.” From there I decided, “wouldn’t it be ‘kewl’ (yes, I spent most of my formative years in the 90s, why do you ask?) if I could photograph a whole alphabet on vacation?!” Keen! It was a great plan. The K is the only letter I got, of course, but still… it was a great plan! (Remember that issue of mine, where I don’t finish stuff… Right. Moving on.) So this is my idea for audience participation: I want to leave you with a challenge. For the next week, try to view your normal routine with a new perspective and seek out photo opportunities** that you would be willing to share with everyone. Then, go ahead and post your favorite on your Facebook wall, linking back to this post. When you do, leave me a comment here and share the link to your photo so everyone can be inspired by your ideas. I think this will be great fun if everyone participates; I hope we don’t have a bunch of killjoys. *Raise your hand if you still love Sesame Street! **Caveat (i.e. warning, caution, admonition, proviso, condition, stipulation, provision, clause, rider, qualification…): please don’t crash your car taking pictures of road signs—thank-you-very-much. Okay, so yesterday I posted my Confessions here and today I thought, hmmm... maybe it would have been a good idea if I had actually let someone look it over before I aired my dirty laundry to the world. Yep, that totally would have been the smart thing to do.
So, my real-life BFF read it today and suggested (because she's smart that way) that maybe I was giving the impression I wouldn't be a good choice to hire as a photographer because I can't get my work done. Well, dang! That's not funny at all. What I was trying to say (in a poke-fun-at-myself kind of way) is that this blog will always take second place to my real-life responsibilities, which I take very seriously. My customers are always my top priority. Thank you for your thoughtful insight ABK! I do wish I could complete that necklace for your birthday tomorrow; however, I'm afraid you are going to have to wait just a little while longer. XOXO _This introductory post ended up rather long-winded. You can skip to the end for the summed-up version, or, if you have the inclination, grab a cuppa and join me!
Okay. My first blog post. Let’s start this off with a few confessions, alright? I want everyone to know where we stand from the start… be up front, get it off my chest, lay all my cards on the table so to speak [insert any other lame cliché you can think of here]… Sometimes it’s hard to believe I am a published writer. I am way out of practice. I’ll try to correct this as we continue, but first things first: Confession number 1: I [heart] blogs. I <3 blogs. I luv blogs. I mean, I looooooooovvve blogs. I love photography blogs, cooking blogs, travel blogs, DIY blogs. Blogs where people do all of the above, living in fabulous restored homes, creating fabulous food, taking wonderful photos of such food, and then showing me how best to set my table to enjoy such gourmet delights which I can easily make myself at home while sharing my latest vacation photos with friends at my latest, perfect dinner party. Ahem… right. So, I like blogs. A lot. I have bookmarked lists and lists of blogs. Some I read for fun, others for inspiration. Some I check once in a while, others I read nearly. every. day. This fact alone, that last bit there, is the number one reason I have never started my own. Being a blog reader myself, I know if I go to a page and there is no new content, no new post, a picture, something, anything to amuse or entertain me, I get disappointed. Click. I’m gone. My mouse is already scrolling to the next one on my list. So, my schedule being what it is [confession number 2: I have three jobs and, regrettably, the one that takes up most of my time is the one I like the least], I dread the pressure of constantly trying to come up with new things to put here, and wondering when I will find the time to do it. (Already I can hear some people thinking, “well, maybe, if you didn’t waste so much time online…” I’m working on it, okay?) Confession number 3: I start things and never finish them. [insert update to say: hey, read this too] Or, to be more accurate, I prepare projects and then rarely even get to the starting point. The thing is, I get an idea, I get super excited, have grand intentions, research every aspect, make lists, implement plans, even go so far as to purchase equipment and supplies (sometimes recipe ingredients) to complete a project… and then it sits in my house collecting dust or mold (which is worse). I hazard a guess to say this is probably because, by this point, the initial excitement has faded and I have moved on, looking toward the next fun thing (who knew starting a blog would involve so much self-analysis? The things I am discovering about myself, yikes!). Once I have secured what I “need” (and I use that word loosely) for my project, I always intend to complete it, but then time becomes an issue and it turns into a “someday-when-I-have-time-I-will-do-this" kind of project. I have stockpiles of supplies and plans for projects that could keep me busy until the next millennium. My craft room is more like a craft warehouse. A perfect example: I saw a necklace I wanted on Etsy. I decided it was too expensive for me to purchase. Oh, did I want that necklace though! “Hmmm…” I think, “surely I am creative and smart enough to make one myself?” Of course I am (and don't call me Shirley)! So, I did what any smart and savvy crafter would do. I went to Hobby Lobby. [Interrupting myself to insert confession number 4: I love Hobby Lobby. I’m addicted. The end.] You know where this is going, right? I am now the proud owner of a whole slew of jewelry making tools and supplies. And no necklace. I probably spent more on the supplies than I would have to just-purchase-the-necklace-already. Okay, fine. I know I spent more on the supplies, but at the time, it was such a smart decision. I know fellow addicts and wanna-be crafters will understand, because we rationalize things. “Yes,” I ponder, “it’s more money now… but with the items I’m purchasing I could make, like… 10 necklaces! And maybe, maybe! I could sell my own necklaces! Or, even better! They could be gifts for friends. It’s like I’m buying presents. It’s totally the more cost efficient way to go…” So, friends, I just spilled the beans. I bought you a necklace and it’s homemade. Don’t worry. By the time you receive it, you will have completely forgotten this rant and will be totally surprised. You're welcome. This is just one tiny example of the warped way my brain works, so you understand my dilemma*. Or maybe I have issues that no one can understand. Anyway. Moving on. Confession number 5: I’m a bit of a perfectionist (as an aside: that sound you hear echoing right now would be members of my family who just read that last sentence and collectively collapsed to the floor in hysterics). Okay, fine. OCD, anal-retentive, compulsive, controlling, obsessional, fanatical, neurotic, excessive, whatever… I like things to be JUST SO. Consequently, if I can’t do things the way I have envisioned them (which would be perfectly), I don’t like to share them. I never think they are good enough. Add to this the fact that I am a fairly reserved and private individual, and, well, I think you get the idea (which is, I have issues—and, also, I don’t share well with others). On the plus side, this means I am in a constant state of study, always trying to improve upon my best and then do better. So, back to the beginning: Here I am, wanting to start this blog, being told it’s the smart thing to do for my business (I mean, after all, photographers are supposed to have their own blog, right? Keeping up with social media, proving we’re all tech savvy and on top of the latest and greatest iGizmo, sharing our best work), yet knowing I have little time to maintain it and having no idea what I want it to convey to peak your interest and then keep it. *my dilemma, the summed up version: I like blogs. I want to start my own blog. I worry about what to put in the blog. I wonder when I will find time to update the blog. My family likes to laugh at me. I have issues. Those last two things may or may not be corollary. And also: buy homemade items on Etsy. It turns out they are worth absolutely every. single. penny. With all that in mind (and good grief, did this ever get WAY longer than planned—can we say TMI, Carrie? TMI!) I’m starting this little web log here. I may not update it every week, or even every month (reference confession 2 above if you skipped to the end for the good part) but I will do my best to make it worth your while if you occasionally want to stop by and look for pretty pictures. To make it fun, I think we need audience participation. More on that soon! P.S. For those who haven’t already quit reading by now—you’re still here, fabulous!—we are going to be BFFs, I can just tell! |
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