I will be at The Waxahachie Junior Service League’s Christmas Market on Saturday, December 3rd, between the hours of 10 am and 2 pm. Christmas Market will be held at the Waxahachie Civic Center and admission is $5 and kids 10 and under are free. This will be a charitable event benefiting  The Women’s Resource Center.  We are asking for EITHER a Baby Blanket OR a $10 cash donation per child. In return you will receive a complimentary 5×7 per donation.  Photos will be available for pick up here at the studio on Tuesday, December 13th and Thursday, December 15th, between the times of 5:00-6:30. At pickup we will be offering packages at significantly reduced prices. We have a great Santa shown in the photos above who is THE BEST with kids. Please stop by and get your photos with Santa and take care of a cold baby this winter too!

No appointments necessary, this is a first come, first serve event.

Be Good!

#1 – Cookie Cutter is out – Buying matching pumpkin outfits may seem like the easy to go.  It may also get us an automatic blog entry on www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com.

Instead try a mix and match approach of pairing complimentary colors together.  The most important thing to consider is tone. Want to make it easy….stick with solids.  One of the first things I was taught was to lay all the outfits out on the bed or dining room table.  Walk away from it for a while.  When you come back to it where does your eye go.  If it goes to a certain outfit or piece of clothing that is the piece that doesn’t flow.  Your eyes should move from one side to another without stopping.

#2 Monochromatic – Pick your colors and layer, add textures and dimension, add prints, just keep it in the same monochromatic family. The look below makes it easy to add a bold accent color.  Experiment with turquoise, yellow or fuchsia.

#3 What’s hot now… Layers, layers, layers.  You just cant walk out the door with just jeans and a t-shirt now. The look above does a good job of showing an example of layering.  But I posted one below for examples of layering using more than one color.

#4 – If you want to go for something different – embrace it and do it all the way!  Bold bright colors add dimension to your photos and enhance your good looks.  I guarantee that everyone will say how wonderful you looked in the photos.  It will draw their eyes to the photos and make them look at your family!!

See all these cool outfit ideas, I borrowed them all from www.pinterest.com.  If you haven’t been invited yet, shoot me an email and I’ll send you an invite.  You can’t join without having an invite.  Search for family portrait outfits and see the examples for yourself. Want to narrow it down, just add the color you are using and take a look.

We still have a few fall outdoor mini-sessions available this weekend. It’s $99 and includes the session fee and a 24 pack of 5×7 holiday cards.  Call us at the studio to reserve your spot today! 972-937-9511

Each year we try and come up with a theme for my daughter and the twins for Boo @ Marie Q.  It is always a last minute decision.  Always a scramble to find what we need. And always a race to the printers.  So this year we decided to try and make “American Gothic” our own.  After all, we have twin boys we need to incorporate. In a few years I may have to adopt honorary studio children.  The bribes are becoming more elaborate, the shoots are becoming shorter, and we’d probably be nicer to other children than our own. I’m already stressing about what we’ll do next year.

Details about Boo @ Marie Q

When: Monday, October 31st 2:30-5:00 PM during Trick or Treat on the Square

Where: Marie Q Photography- 213 S. College St Waxahachie, TX 75165 – 972.937.9511

Why: Benefiting Local Charities Waxahachie Care and The Light of Gabriel Foundation

What: Bring your child/ children in costume along with two canned goods and $5 cash donation per child and receive a complimentary 5×7 (to be picked up on November 9th or 10th).

See you there – Be Good!

Come visit us at The Waxahachie Bridal Extravaganza, being held at the Waxahachie Civic Center, today from noon to 5 pm.  Make sure and enter your name and email address into our sign in book for your chance to receive a complimentary engagement session and 11×14 print.  See you there!

Be Good!

This weekend is going to be a busy one.  If you are local to Ellis County, this Saturday is also Oktoberfest at the Civic Center from 10 am to 8 pm.  If you see my husband, Hector, tell him Hi for me.  Poor guy is working it 6 am to midnight – buy him a Diet Coke for me.

Then on Sunday, September 18th we are setting up our booth at The Waxahachie Bridal Extravaganza from 12-5 also being held at The Waxahachie Civic Center.  And that poor guy I wrote about earlier… he is such a trooper, will be there again to help me.  Lots of Diet Coke for that man!

I’ll see you around.  Be Good!

Since the first year we opened the studio we have had ducks here the week of Easter.  The first year was the experiment and I gotta tell you, we had some problems.  I bought six ducks and two chicks that year and brought them to the studio about three days before my mini sessions actually started.  It was a great thing for my daughter to take care of and spend time on while she was here and she loved them so.  I had mentioned to the contractor who was doing work in the back of the studio that I didn’t know what I was going to do with the animals after the sessions were over and we left the conversation at that.  The next morning I walk in and the animals are GONE.  The contractor advises me that he took care of “the problem” for me.  I wish someone could have captured my face when he told me he had given away the ducks and chicks before I had even snapped ONE photo with them.  Needless to say he went and purchased more for me.

So after the sessions were over, a sweet client of mine told me that she would come pick up the ducks and take them to a pond by her house. I told her great, just let me know when you can get them.  I don’t know the exact time line but the ducks became adults at the studio and they were having parties overnight so I took them to my house.  We put them in the back yard and I figured they would be safe there until my sweet client could come get them.  One night it storms REALLY bad and they get underneath our pier and beam house directly under our bed and start going crazy.  My husband turned over in  bed and looked at me and I swear I had seen the eyes of the devil.  I had to laugh because they knew I was there and I was their “momma”.  That is where they went to be safe.  My husband hand delivered the ducks the very next day.

As for the chicks, a very dear friend of ours built a chicken coup for my two little chicks and thought he would have himself some fresh eggs later in the year…..  I gave him two roosters.  oops.

Call the studio, they will be here for photos Friday and Saturday before Easter.  Session fee is $50 and $10 additional dollars per child.  Each session comes with 2 5×7′s and one set of wallets.  Only one outfit please.

Be Good!

Be Good!

We have lots of new ideas for the studio.  And honestly we came home and went straight to work.  We spent the better part of the weekend rearranging what has accumulated in my studio over the past three and a half years.  I have to say I am enjoying the end result. On Monday, my typical day off from the studio, I went to hear Jerry Ghionis speak for the first time ever.  In Las Vegas I was able to see his work in person in the print competition room and I was moved by his work.  We were almost moved to tears by his images.  What a master he is at telling stories without words.  Listening to him speak last night touched me to the core.  I can’t say that anything he said was new or ground breaking.  I can’t even tell you I learned something from it.  I can tell you I FELT it.  That little voice in me that said, ” you can do better – you can be bigger – it’s all inside of ME”. He said to me, “to be a better photographer, you must become a better person.  You must shoot with empathy.  Consider hindsight when you are shooting”.

I took this photograph before my trip, before the talk last night.  And when I clicked the shutter I knew it.  I had captured IT.  That bond between the mother and her daughter.  I could empathize with her.  I wasn’t a single mother for very long, but I can tell you that it forever changed my relationship with Madeleine.  When you are married or have a partner you feel like you go through life with a safety net.  But when it was just Madeleine and I, if something happened it was ALL on me.  I recognized last night that what helps me tell other people’s stories is MY story and when my heart sees it and feels it, I can can capture it.

Be Good!

A new year always makes you nostalgic.  It makes you look back and reminisce.  While at the same time, you plan for the future.  This past year has been one of personal challenges.  My father has been gravely ill and everyone knows its a matter of time.  It’s hard for me to be optimistic about the year that I will most likely lose my father.  But I have started searching all things related to my father.  Letters, gifts and you got it… photographs.  I have so few photos with my dad.  In this digital age that we live in, I implore you to take more photos of your family and PRINT them.  I promise you those photos I do have of us together, I cherish.  I don’t look at them and criticize.  I look at them and remember.

I leave you with a montage of 2010.  Thanks to all of my clients for making 2010 a year to remember.  I’m not going promise to write everyday like I did last year.  But I promise to try harder

Be Good!

How it works…. the event is first come first serve and last year we had people camping out to be the first in line.  A $5 cash donation and two canned goods per child will be collected at the door (of course if you want to donate more you can).  I’ll be taking the photographs of the kids and displaying the photos on a computer screen.  You’ll make the selection and we will write it down and place the order for you.  We’ll have other packages available at special event prices.  Photographs will be available for pick up two weeks after , November 11th and 12th from 5:00 – 6:30.  If you didn’t pick up your photos from last years event, I still have some here at the studio.

We had fun taking the photos for the promo pieces yesterday.  I’ve never considered myself to have a darkside.   After viewing what came out of the session I have to say that I must have some darkness buried deep within. The kids did a fantastic job.  I think my daughter considered it her acting debut. My husband and I laughed and laughed at her video segments.  She took it very seriously.

I’ll be sending out a newsletter to my current clients for special VIP times for the event this week.  Be on the lookout for information in your email boxes this week.

Be Good! And don’t forget to watch the spooky video and check out how awesome the kids did.