A little bit about ME! - Northern California Wedding & Portrait Photographer

It's coming up on a year since I became an "official" business, and with that I felt it was time to do some changes. Of course, I've got the new product coming in, the new business cards, etc. etc. but after scrolling through my website the other day and reading my "about me" section, I felt it didn't really say much about ME! Sure, it had the long wordy back story of how I got in to the business, but nothing really about me as a person! It's been a little hard to work personal things in to the postings, but maybe that will be a goal for me for 2012. I want my viewers to feel like they know me, or know something about me that we might share in common! After an afternoon of revising and editing, I'm pleased to present to you the revamped "About Me" section of my website! You can view it as part of the site at http://www.photogbyem.com/ along with my revised investment page. I've got a few tricks up my sleeves to come next month for the one year "birthday" so hang tight and wait for some things that will be awesome!

photo credit: Ariana at Silver Daisies Studios. She's the bomb.

"let's do 52" - wk 52

Here we are, at the end of another personal "goal" project. Last year it was the overwhelming 365 project, this year is was the one photo per week. Lucky for me, I survived both of them! Not sure if I will have a new project for 2012, but I guess that should be decided soon! With the Christmas holiday come and gone, and today being the FINAL day of 2011, I should mention that some things that I feel are pretty great are about to happen. 2012 is literally right around the corner now and 2011 will be a thing of the past at the blink of an eye. Some pretty great things have happened for me this year, and just for fun, here are some statistics of everything fabulous that I photographed this year:
Kids: 6
High School Seniors: 4
Ballerinas: 15
Families: 7
Couples: 12
Weddings: 8
I had a great year for 2011 being my first official year as a business, and I cannot wait to see where 2012 takes me! HUGE thanks to everyone that has supported me along the way and pushed me to be where I am. Without all of your support both in person and on the web, I could have potentially given up months ago!

"let's do 42" - wk49

Things have been pretty quiet this week. Well, quiet in a post college sort of way. While I watch everyone cram for finals, I'm spending my days editing photo sessions and getting ready for a Christmas show with my dance studio. Oh! And getting exciting things in the mail, planning out the end of the year blog posts and wanting to start an obnoxious countdown for WPPI 2012. Some of these business productive things came thanks to my new photography mentor Raven through the [b]school photo forum. We may be on opposite sides of the country (which happens quite a bit with some of my photo friends that I connect with online!) but she was fantastic to chat with and I cannot wait to bounce ideas off her this coming year with all my changes :)
Sidenote: Yes, my cat is pretty much just as evil as he looks. His days consist mainly of sleeping, growling, and hissing. In a "lather, rinse, repeat" kind of cycle. Had I known he was going to be a punk, and not a sweet kitty, I may have picked a more fitting name for him than Elroy. Then again, probably not. Unless it was "Sweetums" like from The Muppet Show ;)

March of Dimes 2011 Donation Raffle - Winners!

The time has come to pull the names for the 2011 March of Dimes Donation Raffle! We took in a whole $293 to the cause, and couldn't have asked for more of our donors! The fabulous prizes can be seen HERE, and I went ahead and drew the names in order of the prize listing. The winner have the option to "play" and keep their prize, or "pass" and offer it up to be drawn again. If a prize is not claimed, It will also be drawn for again. So without further aideu, here are the winners:
Banana Cherié Sugar Plum Petti Skirt: P. Goforth
Purple Sparkle and Shine Headband: T. Mata
Little Mister Purple Tie: S. Collier
Freeze Frame Photo Collection: C. FieldAnd because every post is not complete without a photo, here is one of our snapshots from pre-walk! Our team thanks you for your support! We'll be at it again, planning up some fun for next year!

"let's do 52" - wk13

this week has been a week of celebrations. starting off with tuesday, my "little" sister turned the big one-five... and my mom already made the mention of drivers ed. what is this nonsense?! doesn't she know she has to perfect the art of lawn mower driving first? this same girl brought home enough sweets from her plethora of band friends to put someone in to a sugar coma. no really, there is this cake... with chocolate chip cookie layers... it needs to go away so i stop eating it.
yesterday was the big kick off for my march of dimes giveaway raffle this year, and i couldn't of asked for a better start to it! Shout out to my elementary school friend Amber for meeting up with me on thursday with 2 of her 4 kiddos to help with the purple photo shoot to create the awesome product images you saw. Couldn't have done it without your willingness. Thanks to the incredible parents of the girlies i teach on fridays, i raised $27 just on the first day! I'm very excited for this month's donation collection, and i hope to surpass my personal goal of $250 in order to help raise money for babies yet to come.
all day today is the winter championships, hosted again by Del Oro (last time was my senior year of high school). In a way, it's a celebration of how far the winter percussion and winter guard have each come this season, as well as a final celebration for the seniors to reflect on their journey over the past four years. I wish you all luck, and i'll try not to sneak one of those trophies home with me. I mean come on, can you blame me for trying? i'm on it... literally!

Friday Feet - April 1st, 2011

how crazy. this is our 30th feet post! just 22 away, and we will hit the goal of one year. i thought about doing something "silly" since today is april fool's day... but my thoughts were never verbalized to the rest of my comrads. so here are our feet, with no crazy antics. just another week :)
amy - "We're dog sitting my future parent-in-laws 4 dogs. They are all very sweet and get along great with all of the other animals in the house. From right to left, it's Arrow the beagle, Tank the Miniature Dachshund, Smith the Border Collie mix, and Wesson, Smith's brother. And of course my dogs Ellie and Rue. If only I could have gotten Turbo to behave.... We are also enjoying this BEAUTIFUL weather!! "
emily - "last weekend a friend of mine from work, chris & i headed out to the sacramento ballet performance of icons & innovators. this was just moments before my life was threatened by the door guard, being informed that absolutely NO photography was allowed. oh well. i'm a rule breaker"
jenny - "here are my feet....enjoying weather that actually feels like springtime. the flowers are finally out too!"kasey - "Drove to ramstein air base today for some girl clothes that don't scream jail bait, as that's all our crappy army base sells. These feet were taken once safely home (and parked, no worries). Yay for road trips!"

Friday Feet - March 18th, 2011

amy - "Chillin with my slippers and enjoying some much needed reading time over spring break! The house is clean, there is no home work to do. Life is good. :)"emily - "totally unintentional feet, but here they are. this was the only "before" shot that i got of my green with envy bowling shirt before it became what it is now (which is to say it was a mens 2x, and now it fits me snug)"
jenny -"Spring in sacramento lalalala...I'm soaking it in while I play pokemon and try in vain to catch up to cousin!"
kasey - "Went for another walk with the monster on one of the last sunny days this week. Sat down on one of the hills overlooking the town/fields below."

"let's do 52" - project 2011

its six days in to the new year. today last year, i would have picked up my camera a minimum of six times at this point. that was then. last year, i did the ever challenging 365project, and boy was it a rough 365 days! but to be honest, come january 1st, i felt confused. do i continue and do yet ANOTHER 365 days, or do i just drop off cold turkey and only shoot when needed? well, i didn't want to do either. and well, i think i have finally found a project to keep me going.
my problem with the 365 was i would get points where i just got SO burnt out, and took one picture. just one. no matter how good it looked, it counted as a photo. and that wasn't my goal with the project. my goal was to feel inspired about the project, but instead i felt like my camera was a ball and chain. today, in my usual late night robotic facebook mode, i came across annie manning's "lets do 52" post and was intrigued. of course, i was making dinner at the same time, so i couldn't fully appreciate the post. and then, this happened:when i turned back to go finish making my classy dinner of pasta roni, i found we had acquired some new kitchen decor. i ran to go grab my camera... but didn't grab the one i should have initially. sure, i'm VERY excited to use my instax, but i should have grabbed my dslr. i almost slapped myself on the wrist. really? its has sat on my desk for 6 days now... so i grabbed it, said my apologies by putting on the 50mm 1.4, and found the furry beast still in the kitchen. so its decided... lets do 52 needs to happen. just one "emily acceptable" photo a week. i feel i won't run out of steam that way. so to kick it off, here is 1.52 :)i really hope i'll have more than 52 pictures of cats... although, it wouldn't surprise me in the least. haha. hope to see you back here tomorrow for the other weekly project of friday feet! the first feet post of 2011. how crazy is that?