It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...

...And it will be here before you know it! Prepareth thyself NOW!!

Christmas 2009 is just around the corner with less than 100 days to go. Oh my! The crazies will be coming out of the woodworks at the malls and the Wally Worlds. Grab your body armour and helmets and get ready for battle! Me, not so much. I'm an online shopper and detest the stores during the holidays. But who knows? I might just break down and join all the shopping warriors. Then again, probably not.

Anyways, I'm announcing my Christmas 2009 Special. It's not like normal Christmas specials because, well, I'm not normal. Yep, just call me abnormal. My kids call me crazy.

I'll have a newborn and don't want to be overwhelmed with making print orders, so this is my version of frankincense and myrrh in the form of a holiday special(a little discount if you will). Here it goes, so print this out and put it on the fridge:

The session will be in the same format of the sessions I do now. You choose the location(i.e. your home, urban, park, etc.) and you don’t necessarily have to be dressed “Christmas” style.

For this 30-minute session, I will only offer a Hi-Resolution DVD of 5 professionally edited images with rights for you to print at your convenience and location of choice (Snapfish, Winkflash, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, etc.) I will also provide a Release of Rights form, showing that you own the images and you are legally able to print them. And you know how these places act like the "Picture Police", even I've been questioned about my own images! Anyways, this is perfect for sending out Christmas cards, holiday party invitations, and prints to give away as presents to family members and friends. All at your own convenience!

The cost for this session is $225, due on the day of the shoot. If you bring a wrapped gift (at least a $10 value) to be donated to a needy child, the price will be $200. Please remember that although this cost might seem high, I spend a lot of time editing each image by hand (see my previous post about my editing process), and then I’m turning over the digital images to you to print any number of prints/cards at any location or online website and even post online to your Facebook account. And you're not paying for a session fee! Personally, I wish I had this option available to me when I used to have my children’s pictures taken.

If you are interested in booking for this Christmas special, please let me know as soon as possible. I will be taking a very limited number of clients. And as you all may know, I’m due with my son in October, so I would like to have sessions booked soon, and I will be scheduling them starting in November. I will not take anymore sessions after Saturday, December 5, 2009, as this is a busy time of year for me, especially with a newborn.

**If you are a previous client and you would like to purchase any digital images from your previous session for this Christmas season, you may do so at a cost of $45 each or $100 for 3 images.

Now, I already have a list of clients for this Christmas session, so slots are dwindling fast! Call me at 573.724.9202 or email me at stephaniegreenwell@sbcglobal.net to book your session!

Make sure you add this session to your Christmas list!

I Got Some 'Splainin' to Do!

**UPDATE: I decided to remove the actual things I did to edit pictures. I realize this might not be appropriate, but for the sake of preserving what I do to my images, I think I should leave it up to the imagination of my clients. I will leave the images so you can see what a "before" image looks like and the creation of the "after" image. Thanks for understanding.**

Let me preface this post by stating that I'm not completely knowledgeable in photography. Nor am I proficient in editing. Or working under the hoods of cars. But I do have skills in motherhood. I think. Maybe my kids will tell you different.

Anyways, I get questions, emails, Facebook messages, and even some airplane notes about various topics pertaining to photography, the camera I use, and so forth. And I again, I will say that I'm not the go-to source to answer these questions. Far from it actually. However, I do want to let those of you who are interested to see how my work is accomplished. Sort of.

The following images are before and after shots. Before meaning "straight-out-of-the-camera" (SOOC) shots, and after meaning the editing I've done to achieve the look that is the final image. I mean, I know it's certainly not rocket scientist, but there is a technique or techniques each photographer uses to obtain the image they want. Of course, I'm still in the stages of experiementation, which leaves a lot to be desired, in my opinion. That's the perfectionist in me.

Each session is an hour or so long. But for me, the session goes far beyond the time I actually spend with a client. (This is how it goes; take a deep breath):

I upload images to my computer, sort through the ones I think are best(which can be anywhere from 200-300 images), edit each of those chosen images, upload the edited images to the slideshow from which the client will see later, write up a blog post about the session, upload images to the blog post, and send email to client about slideshow.

Theeeeeeen, I spend time working with the client about ordering. Sometimes this is quick, sometimes it's not. It makes me feel good when the client has a hard time deciding on images. It makes me think I did something good. I hope, anyway. Once the client has decided on the order, I spend time ordering each and every print from the lab. Then those images are uploaded to the lab. Phew! I'm still not done...

After the prints arrive, I check to make sure all images have been received. And most of the time, I deliver those images. But sometimes, my clients are kind enough (or maybe anxious to see their prints?) that they come to me to pick up their prints.

Okay, that's how it goes for me. Again, far beyond the hour or so I spend with each client at their session. Therefore, my pricing doesn't just reflect the prints you order, it's a lot about my time I spend on each session. After all is said and done, I could be looking at an investment of my time beyond 12 hours or more. Yes, you read that right. That's why I usually only take one session per week. It does take a lot of my time, mostly late evenings, but I have a 30 hour/week job, three kids and one on the way, and a life. Therefore, my pricing schedule reflects my time. Just to give you a heads up on it, I'm just saying...

And don't even get me started on the time I spend learning and communicating with others in this field about editing and business practices. It's an ongoing class in my world and I don't think I can ever learn enough!

Okay, on to my before and afters. The left side of each pair of images is the SOOC image and the one on the right is the final edited image. I'm going to try to give a little insight into what I did to achieve the final look. And again, it's not the gospel, it's just my style of editing. And I can only hope to learn more as I get more into this photography thing. Because I'm never satisfied. Oh, the tortures of perfectionism!











Well, if you're not asleep at your computer, thanks for taking the time to read all of this. I just wanted to give a little insight into what goes into producing the images that become the final images my clients see. I'm still new at this, so I'm sure there's a lot more that can be done to my final images that I didn't see. That's the beauty of this art--you can make it what you see and if someone else likes them, that's just icing on the cake. Oooh, icing, that sounds so good right now!

Thanksgiving...On Labor Day

It's Labor Day(ha! funny, I'll be really experiencing labor in a few weeks!), so I wanted to take a few moments and post a personal post today. I've been so busy with photo shoots this summer, so I slacked on posting anything other than images from each of those shoots.

As many of you know, I'm expecting a bouncing baby boy in October, Halloween to be exact. I finally took a break from shooting from my busy summer schedule because who really wants to see a fat pregnant woman sweating, losing her breath, and panting like a dog in the hot summer sun?? Yeah, that's what it was getting to, even though I've fared better this pregnancy than any other one I've had. But I do have to say the summer weather has been quite mild compared to almost every summer in the Bootheel.

Well, moving on.

When I started this small photography business last fall, I never, you hear me???, never imagined that it would take off like it did and that I'd manage to have a waiting list of more than 30 clients. Holy moley!!! I just re-read that and it still blows my mind!

But yes, I have a waiting list, mostly I'm sure because I only shoot once, maybe twice, a week and I also have a 30-hour week job and oh, did I mention I have three other little munchkins at home? And a husband? And then I had to go and make the decision to quit taking on shoots after a certain point in my pregnancy because, again, the sweating and panting and losing my breath thing isn't that flattering. Seriously.

But I'm going to try to fulfill shoots for those clients as soon as humanly possible. I mean, I know I'll be on maternity leave from my day job, but that doesn't mean I'll be shooting, with baby in a sling. I mean, c'mon, this won't be my first rodeo at getting to know a newborn, but it will be new to me to get to know my new son. And every moment with a child, a newborn, is precious when you only get so much time off. Again, I will try to shoot what I can, so please bear with me on this one.

Now, back to Thanksgiving...Ooh, I can't wait to eat some turkey! Oh, not that Thanksgiving.

I want to give thanks for so many things in case I get sidetracked on the actual Thanksgiving holiday with poopie diapers, breastfeeding, new baby smells, and oh-so-good turkey and dressing.

First off, thanks to God for letting me bring into this world another precious child, whom we can't wait to meet. I know my little man is already prepared for the party at his new home because he's probably heard so much raucous fun times from the time his ears developed!

Second, thanks to all the clients who had faith in my new found love of photography and decided to take a chance on having me capture precious images of their families. Even while I know I still have so much more to learn. You have rocked my esteem and given me hope for this business!

Another thing, when I found I was pregnanct in March, I was sooooo dreading the fact that I would be pregnant in the hot summer. Based on my last pregnancies, I got so big, so uncomfortable, so swollen, and I just knew what was in store for me this time around. I had visions of bloated Violet from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (ca. 1971) after she chewed the forbidden gum. Except I wouldn't be purple, I would be red and blistered! But I have to say, I have been pleasantly surprised in two respects: the weather has been relatively mild and I haven't blown up as previously stated. Oh, I'm pregnant alright, just not all over!

I'm thankful for my husband. I know, he won't appreciate the shout-out, but he's seriously been there for me. From doing laundry, cleaning house, hauling kids around, you know. These days, I get a little winded and run down because baby boy lives in my ribs most hours of the day. Or he's down South resting on my one and only bladder. He's really a mover! Oh, and my hubby has been great at supporting this biz of mine, even when I spend more time on my computer than scratching his back!

Another thank you to my friends who have listened to my hormonal grumpiness. I'm not always smiles and rainbows and sugar-coated sweetness, but some days it's hard not to vent about little things that really won't mount to a hill of beans, even when I think it's a mountain. And thanks for checking on me too. It makes me feel loved, even when I'm not a rainbow!

And one more...well, there's so many things, but I know you'll find yourself bored with this post if I don't cut it short.

I must give praise to the Lord. I'm seriously blessed, and when I find I'm being cranky, ungrateful or what have you, I always get a reality check in some way, shape or form. It's like my kick-in-the-butt from God. Even when I fight back. I have a loving husband, a beautiful home, even with its fix-'er-up projects, great friends and most of all, healthy, vibrant, always entertaining children that love me so much, even when I get impatient. They've given me so much purpose in life and I don't know how I thought life was so awesome before them. Before their kisses, their hugs, their "I-love-you-so-much-Mommy" words. They'll just never know how they gave me life.

So on this Labor Day, I leave you with this image of me at 32 weeks. Enjoy the day with your families, your kids. Don't let a day go by without letting them know you love them. And thank them for loving you.