My words are difficult to pull together right now, there are so many thoughts that I want to put down and they are all racing through my head in an unorganized manner.  I’m supposed to be working on my client’s images but instead, I’m trying to rush through this blog post so I can share these images of my own family. I’m so in love with them!

There have been a few events in my life this year that have made me wake up and realize that I need to practice what I preach; a kick in the head so-to-speak. I have never hired another professional photographer to take photographs of my own family.  I decided this summer to contact Deb Schwedhelm, an amazing photographer and artist who lives in Tampa. I have been following her work on Facebook for some time now, had been following her blog (read this post) and I’m absolutely in love with her style.  I knew she was the right photographer to capture exactly what I wanted of me and my family, together, happy, healthy, loving and having fun.

Family sessions are really popular at this time of year, getting ready for the holidays and such.  If you have not made the decision to have your photographs taken, do it now. NOW. I don’t care who you hire as long as it’s someone whose style you LOVE, not like, LOVE.  Hire someone who you know will give you the results you desire, who will show generations to come who your family is and how you felt at that exact moment. Search for that person- it’s so worth the investment to have those treasured memories!

I have thanked Deb about a thousand times by now, but I’ll do it again and think it every time I see my photographs.  I am so completely thrilled with them and hope you will enjoy getting to know me as ME, not a photographer, but a wife, mother and individual.

Find Deb here: Facebook, blog

After Michele Van Son had introduced me to this place to shoot, I had to take my kids there. Nathan had been out of town for the weekend so the kids and I got to go play.  As you can see- we all had fun.  The images of them sitting together playing came from me saying to them, “Okay just play, pretend I’m not here,” and that’s what they gave me.  I may have prompted the hugs and kisses on the cheek….

James and Kaitlyn you are the lights of my life.  I hope you stay best friends for the rest of your lives.  I love how you not only like each other but you love each other. Daddy and I love you so much.

Love,
Mommy

I am extremely pleased to be offering my professional services to you and your family. I am a certified professional photographer with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Portraiture from Brooks Institute.  I am a specialist in children and family photography who also acts as your personal art decorator for your home.  I’m also a mother, which gives me great insight into working with kids.  I know how to get your kids to laugh at me and what makes them come out of their shy shell.  I do the usual photography work that you can find around town, however, I am proud to say I take it one gigantic step further.

Let me explain.  Here is an example of the usual photographic experience.  Usually when a family hires a photographer, they coordinate a time to do a shoot, meet that day for the session, spend 30 minutes to two hours capturing the photographs and they go their separate ways.  The photographer puts an abundance of images on a website for the client to view and order.  The client stares at the computer and flips through them over and over and can’t pick their favorites because so many of them are so similar.  If the client can even come up with choices to order, they then get a package of paper prints and it’s up to them to go find frames, put the pictures in the frames and hang them on the wall.  Even if they actually get them framed and they don’t live in a drawer for two years, they still may not be happy and feel unsatisfied and regret the whole process, reminiscing about what a hassle it was.

There can be a lot of guesswork and uncertainty on your part if you don’t have professional guidance.  If it was you in the above scenario, questions like these may go through your head; How am I going to pick which images to get printed?  Which images will hang well together?  Should I just hang one or should I do a grouping?  What size will fit best on the wall?  Am I framing this right?  Should it have a mat?  What if I don’t like the frame in the room and all of my money is wasted?  Why does the picture look so small on the wall?  I thought I ordered a huge 16×20!

Here is where I change the way you feel about professional photography, and it’s really an amazing idea. Wait for it…I help you.  YES!  Finally, someone that knows what they are doing both with photography and helping you with the finished product!

It’s so much easier to plan for the images to hang in a specific place rather than do the shoot first and then have to find a place to hang them.  For this and other reasons, all of my projects start with a required consultation.  These are conducted in your home for maximum benefit for both of us. I see the colors you love and live with, the décor of your home, the style of furniture you have, the essence of your family.  Best of all, it lets us plan ahead for clothing choices for the shoot, where your images will hang best and in what format.  In other words, do you want traditional matted prints in frames or do you want your images printed on canvas, or even on glass or metal?  These are the ideas we brainstorm before the shoot, so it’s easier to visualize the final product.  We will also discuss pricing so there are no surprises.  I will take photographs of the areas that you and I decide would best fit this project.  Why?  Keep reading.

After the consultation, we do the shoot according to plan in the location we have agreed on.  If it’s a newborn or baby session, it will most likely be in your home by some amazing window with lots of natural light.  If it’s a family or older children, an outdoor scene is usually best.  I will edit the images and pick about 30 for your viewing pleasure.  I will notify you that your images are done and we will schedule an ordering session.  Here is where the most amazing part comes in….

The ordering session takes place in your home so you don’t have to go anywhere or do anything except sit down and watch your images come to life.  You can even drink wine.  Or beer.  Or fresh squeezed orange juice.  Whatever you prefer.  You get the point.

I will bring my projector and screen and set it up in your living area.  I start with a slideshow set to music and then we go through each image one by one.  Boom.  Your images are there, in front of your eyes, in life size format.  I cannot tell you how much more amazing and emotional this is rather than seeing your images on a tiny computer screen.  Once we reach the final images that you absolutely adore and can’t live without, it is then that we start playing with wall layouts that I have designed specifically for your living space.

Remember how I said that, during the consultation, I take photographs of the spaces that we had decided would best house your images?  Well this is why…I can show you, on the screen, in a virtual room, exactly what your images will look like.  Perfectly sized.  Matted and framed.  On your wall.  In YOUR home.  You can see what you will be getting before you even buy anything!  It’s like seeing yourself in the mirror wearing your custom tailored wedding dress with your hair and makeup done, before you even buy the dress!

After we have agreed upon the layout of the wall collection and the detailing that comes with it, we then choose any prints, albums, books, mini books, photo boxes, baby announcements, holiday cards, DVDs, iPhone cases, or anything else you’d like to order as accessories or gifts for the other amazing people in your life.   I have predetermined collections from which you can choose, or you may buy á la carte.

After your ordering session, we will go our separate ways, but don’t cry.  I will put your images on a website for you to share with your friends and family that weren’t able to join us for the ordering session.  They will be able to marvel and share in your bliss for one week while the gallery is live and they can contact me for any purchasing they would like to do.

When your products have arrived from one of my fabulous vendors, I will do a celebration dance in your honor.  From there, I will call or email you to let you know your order is ready.  The final step is handing the family heirlooms over to you for you to love and cherish for the rest of your life.  As an optional stress saver, I can even have someone come to your house and hang the images for you so you don’t have to lift a finger, er, hammer, or do all of that spacing math.

I hope you have enjoyed reading about how I will make your photographic experience fun, enjoyable and stress-free.  It will be a great honor to create your family artwork that will become heirlooms.  Please remember to freeze those special moments in time, they all go by too quickly.  Plus, it’s all guaranteed to knock your socks off.

This is my grandmother, Lois Casey. These were my favorite pictures of her when I was going through the slides. I love the colors, the scarf and the wind.

When my grandparents would sit around the table while eating dessert and they didn’t want the whole thing, they would cut it into little pieces and just take a small amount. This is what they called “Deloising” something. Delos + Lois= Delois. Get it? So anyway, here is Delois’ better half.

My grandfather passed away.  I never knew him because I was not yet even a glimmer in my parents’ eyes.

My Mom had a box of Grandpa’s old slide film in her storage room for years.  I never saw any of the images because we never had a projector or anything to view them on.  One day when she was out of town I decided to secretly get to work and sort through and scan all of this slide film for her.  The first images I found were of my mother as very young girl, maybe 3 or 4 years old.  They continued until my mother’s late teenage years, specifically the trip that she met my father.  That was amazing to me, to have images of when my parents met! The slides told me stories of my mother’s childhood that I never even knew existed… they unfolded before me, one by one on my computer screen.  The best part was that the images were in color instead of black and white.  I could see the color of Mom’s hair, the pink in Grandma’s lipstick and the red of her shoes.  It was incredible.

I put more than 200 images together and made a book for my mother and for her siblings.  I was giving them a gift, but it turns out that I got the best gift of all.  I felt like my Grandfather was sitting with me and telling me a story every time an image would pop up on my computer screen.

Delos Casey was a pharmacist at Casey Drug and Jewelry in Madison, South Dakota.  He died at the age of 63.  He was a funny man, had his famous phrases like “You can never put enough butter in potato soup.” I think most of all though, he liked to drink with the ladies.

I wish I could have known you, Grandpa.

…he warms my heart!

…what a spirit she has!