Amy Seeley

I just wanted to publicly thank Amy Seeley, a wonderful and talented singer and songwriter from Portland, Oregon. If you visit my Web site you will notice that I have added some backdrop music. The song you hear is titled, “Call if a Life” and is written and performed by Amy and was originally published on an album back in 2005. There are so many of Amy’s songs that I adore but for some reason this one just kept jumping out at me. It’s probably because it always seems to be playing when I’m editing my images. I noticed that my images seemed to take on a new layer of emotion when viewed with this music in the background.

Amy, thank you for so humbly sharing your amazing talent and for allowing me the opportunity to bless all the visitors to my Web site with your music. It will surely set the perfect tone for enjoying my images.

And for everyone else, please check out Amy Seeley Online or visit Amy Seeley on MySpace to learn more about her and enjoy more of her songs. And, if you happen to be in the Northwest, you can see Amy perform live at Insomnia Coffee in Hillsboro, Oregon on February 27th. If you go, be sure to say “Hi” to Amy and let her know that you were there at my invitation. Also, be sure to look for me and say “Hello” as well. I’d love to see you there.

Also, be sure to visit my blog again during the next week. I’m going to have a promotion to give away Amy’s newest CD titled, Eight Belles.

And for those of you that are unable to attend Amy’s next show, here is a YouTube broadcast of her performing her song, “Gravel Lines”. Although the video isn’t the best quality, Amy’s performance is magical as usual. Enjoy!

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I’m Still Alive!

Despite the fact that I haven’t gotten back on my regular blog posting schedule I’m still around. I have a lot to catch up on from a blogging perspective but I’ve been focused on going through my year end financials (sounds fun doesn’t it) so that I can complete my tax paperwork. That way I’ll be able to pass along the sales taxes that I collected last year on behalf of the Department of Revenue. The glass is half full perspective on this is that it has served to reinforce those areas of the business that I enjoy the most. Let’s just say I prefer working with clients and doing photo sessions much more than this aspect of running a business.

I miss you all though and plan to get back on my blogging horse by next week.

And, I just got the good news today from my client Katie that she and her husband are now the proud parents of a little girl. I had the privilege of doing a
maternity photography session for them back in November. I can’t wait until I get to meet their little girl and I’m excited to share her pictures with you all. Congratulations to Katie and Jason! And stay tuned for photos of their little girl.

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Portrait Art – Does Size Matter?

The short answer is, “Yes”. I will have much more to say about this in an upcoming post because it ties in to some changes I am implementing regarding the process surrounding my portrait sessions. But for now, let me just throw out there that I am going to be offering a more formalized post-session consultation so that I can walk each client through their proofs and offer advice (if requested) for how they can best integrate their portraits as wall art throughout their home.

Part of this post-session consultation involves me displaying my client’s favorite images in the context of specific rooms of their home and how the portraits will look on their walls at the actual size. Let’s just say this process is very eye opening and goes a long way in curing the assumption that we all have about an 8×10 being a large print. I recently did this for a client and boy were they shocked to see how out of scale an 8×10 image would be as the focal point over their mantel. When we took their favorite image from their session and displayed it as an 8×10 image on their wall (scaled in proportion to their particular room), they quickly saw that a much larger size was necessary. Additionally, we were able to plan out a group of framed prints on their hallway wall that was otherwise bare. This client was pleased to decorate her home with unique, one of a kind artwork that involved her favorite subjects (her family!). And what a difference it makes to go from bare walls to having coordinated and properly sized pieces of art on the walls.

Just as an example, here is a 40×60 canvas that we just had delivered to our home. Although it has not yet been placed in it’s final resting place, I hung it up on the wall (where mounting hardware was already in place) and grabbed a couple of photos with my point-and-shoot so that I could share with you what I’m talking about. If I would have told you I was ordering a 40×60 print, you may have thought I was crazy. But when you see it on the wall (even in it’s temporary location), you quickly see that an 8×10 sized print does not really do an image justice if you are planning to use it as art on your walls.

I included this next image just to show you how nice the gallery wrap is. Isn’t it cool to see the image continue around all sides?

As I mentioned, I will have much more to say about this in an upcoming post but for now, please let me encourage you to realize the full value of your portraits sessions and integrate your portrait art as key components of your interior decorating.

And, just to show you how serious I am about having you decorate your home with portrait art, I will waive my session fee ($150) for anyone that wants to pre-order a 20×30 or larger gallery wrapped canvas. Contact me to schedule your session or inquire about prices.

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Bebbinar Photo Shoot

Last week I attended the 4-day Bebbinar up in Vancouver, BC. Since I’ve been back I haven’t had a chance to write about what a wonderful experience it was. I still intend to do that but since I don’t have time right now to do it justice, allow me to just share a few images from a shoot that we did last Wednesday. This was the only time we picked up our cameras and it was just for about an hour down around the Lonsdale Quay market where my hotel was.

So, until I have the chance to share more details about Steve & Jen Bebb, the 13 other awesome and talented photographers in attendance, and the great restaurants that we ate at each night, please enjoy a few shots from our time hanging out down near the market.

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Out of Office

Just a heads up to everyone that I’m out of the office this week while I’m attending a seminar up in Vancouver, BC. Actually, it’s not a seminar but a Bebbinar. I’ll be back in the office on Friday.

I will be checking email periodically but just be aware that it may take a little longer than usual for me to reply.

I can’t wait to get back to my regular blogging schedule. Lots to share!

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The Best Holiday Portrait Location – Random Drawing Winner

The second part to the contest to come up with the best holiday portrait location was a random drawing from all of the people that submitted votes. And the winner is Kendra! In addition to Niesha who came up with the winning location (Pumpkin Patch), Kendra will also win a complimentary mini-session that includes a 30-minute portrait session at a pumpkin patch, an online gallery of images available for two weeks, an 8×10 print of her choice and an electronic image of her choice that she can use for her holiday photo cards.

Congratulations Kendra!

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The Votes Are In!

Well, the poll for the best holiday portrait location in the greater Seattle area ended on Wednesday and it was a tie up until the last minute. But, we ended up with a winner. Niesha’s idea of the pumpkin patch won. Congratulations to Niesha! Just as a reminder, for submitting the winning idea, Niesha wins a complimentary mini-session that includes a 30-minute portrait session at a pumpkin patch, an online gallery of images available for two weeks, an 8×10 print of her choice and an electronic image of her choice that she can use for her holiday cards.

Check back in tomorrow when I will announce the winner of the random drawing. That’s right, I will be selecting at random a name from the pool of people that voted (and submitted a comment to confirm their vote). This person will win the same prize as Niesha.

And for those of you that want to see how the votes played out, here are the details:

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More Family Portraits From Lincoln Park in West Seattle

Yesterday I shared some of the images of the kids that we captured during this last weekend’s session at Lincoln Park. As promised, I have posted a few of the family shots. Like I said yesterday, I think there will plenty of nice options for decorating the walls, gifts for family members or including on a Christmas card.

As always, I love to hear from you so leave a comment and let me know what you think.

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Family Portrait Session at Lincoln Park – Sneak Peek

This past weekend I spent some time at Lincoln Park with two fun families – Lalisha and her husband Jeff and Jeff’s sister Jody and her husband Jason. And what made it even more fun was that between the two couples, there were four beautiful children. And, as if that wasn’t enough, we had a beautiful 80 degree day to work with.

Lalisha found me online a couple of months ago and wanted to get the family together for some portraits that they could use to decorate their home as well as give as gifts to other family members. As I’m going through the images I captured during our time together, I think they are going to have some really great shots to choose from.

Although I’m not yet done with reviewing their images, I wanted to at least put a few previews out there so that they don’t have to keep waiting in suspense. I’ll start off with a few of the kids and will plan to share some of the beautiful family shots tomorrow.

Lalisha, Jeff, Jody and Jason – I hope you enjoy these portraits of your beautiful children. The only thing I wish was different is that my blog template allowed larger landscape images because it really doesn’t do them justice to shrink them down to this size.

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think and check back tomorrow for a few more previews from our time together.

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Vote for the best holiday family portrait location in and around Seattle

Ok, last week I asked you to submit your ideas for the best location for holiday family portraits in and around the greater Seattle Tacoma area. Thanks to Steph, Niesha, Amber and Diane for your ideas.

Now, it’s your turn to vote on which of the ideas you think would provide the best setting for holiday portraits. The person that submitted the idea that gets the most votes will win a complimentary holiday mini-session which includes a 30 minute portrait session at the winning location, an online proofing gallery available for two weeks following the session, an 8×10 print, and one digital image that may be used to make your holiday photo cards.

And, there’s something else. I will also select a random winner from all the people that vote and they will also receive a complimentary holiday mini-session as described above. But here’s the deal. The only way I will know you voted is if you also leave a comment. Unfortunately, the software I’m using to run the poll does not collect any information regarding who is voting. So, be sure to leave a comment to let me know that you voted so that I can include your name in the random drawing for a winner.

So what are you waiting for. Let the voting begin!

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