It's The End

At the end of the school year there's soooooo much stuff that comes home and it can get a little overwhelming. I had a couple of my favorite teachers tell me, with smirks on their faces, that they let the kids dig through their paper piles and take whatever they want home to help them "clean out". I told them I didn't think it was very funny because knowing my sweet children they were helping themselves to plenty of those "goodies".  But one of my favorites things that comes home is a HUGE file filled with art work from the past year.  As much as I love it all I never know quite what to do with all of it.  I usually save a couple favorites and then discretely try to dispose of the rest.  I have often thought of photographing each piece and someday doing something with the photographs but never do.   So this year, this is what I'm doing.  Here's Kid #1 and his art from his folder.  I'm hoping to get the rest done in the next day or so.

What do you do with all the paper and art work that comes home with your kids?

So what do you think?

It's time for another little give away!  I will send a $10 Gift Certificate to the first person to guess what Lucas made his letter "Q" into.  Trust me, I laughed so hard when he told me that I thought I better share it with the rest of you.  We'll see how close your guesses are but you need to be rather specific.  :)

A Happy Accident

I love it when things like this happen. However, the moment I was "taking" this picture I was not lovin' it! You see, the Dad of this sweet family (more to come on them and their WHOLE BIGGER family!) is a podiatrist and they thought this sign suited them well....it says "foot traffic only". We were going to take this adorable picture of their feet and the sign. However when I was changing the settings on my camera, my camera froze, I froze (panicked), I even asked Wendi to run to the car to get my other camera (and wouldn't you know, by the time she was back it was working).  But somewhere in the "messing around with my camera" process came this picture. I almost deleted it but something caught my eye, I liked something in this photo. It was their long shadows, the casualness of their interactions together and in the middle of it all, their feet. Sometimes you just have to hang onto to those that almost get sent immediately to the "trash" because they just might become a treasure.

Friday Finds

Press Printed Albums





I was wanting a sample of a Press Printed Album so this winter I made one using our family photos that were taken a couple summers ago by Melissa Diekema Photography.  I LOVE this album.  Not only because of the photos but because of the quality of the album.  The one thing I really love is there is no "seam" or "gutter" through the middle of the pages, the pages lay flat when it's open.  One of the great things about that is you can have a photo span across both pages.  This album is an 8x8 but other sizes are available as well.   This is a great way to "showcase" your photos from a family session all in one spot.   It also makes a great gift idea, too!

Friday Finds

This week I'm featuring a great product called a Standout. A Standout is a thick lightweight board finished with a black plastic edge and comes ready to display with hanging holes on the backside. It is available in two depths, 3/4" and 1-1/2", nothing extra needs to be done to prepare to display. I love this alternative to the traditional canvas plus it's a little less expensive as well.

A Happy 4th!

Hope you all had a great 4th of July yesterday! We did, although the weather wasn't terribly summery (extreme understatement!) we still had a great time.

(I had seen this idea somewhere a while ago and was anxious to try it. Thankfully I had some willing participants to play along! Thanks, guy!)

Friday Finds

Did you know that Simply Enjoy Photography offers gift certificates! If you can't decide on a gift for someone, why not give them a gift certificate?  Give me a call and I'll get one out right away.

(over the next several Fridays I'll be posting some various products and other great ideas of what to do with your photographs. If you have any suggestions of what you'd like to see, leave a comment and I'll see what I can do!)

And the winner is....

Thank you to everyone who gave feedback! I will use it all as I start putting things together and will update you along the way! And to the winner (posted in the photo above) I'll be contacting you!!

Winner coming tonight!

I know, I said I'd pick the winner on Friday but it was finally a beautiful day out here in the Pacific NW and well, the day just got away.  So tonight we'll announce the winner of the gift certificate.  If you still want a chance to win, leave a comment suggesting what you're ideal photo studio would look like.  For more details see THIS post.

2 Day Canvas Sale!

You're going to have to RUN to CATCH this great deal! If you've been wanting to order a gallery wrapped canvas, now is the time! All 10x20, 12x12 and 11x14 are on sale for $100.00 each. Orders must be in by 5:00 tomorrow night (June 11). Call or e-mail me today! (simplyenjoyphotography@gmail.com)

Having fun with flare

I have been asked a couple times how I create this sun flare on photos so I thought I'd share it here.

I took this photo in Arches National Park at around 8:00 a.m. just as the sun was popping over the hills. I had my beloved Nikon set on Aperture Priority and the ISO set to 250. I bumped my f-stop all the way up to 22 and fired away. I often times take several shots of the same thing, varying the settings on my camera along the way.

If there's other things you see on here that you wonder about I'd be happy to share them. I've gained a lot of information and fun tips and tricks from other photographers who do the same and I'm happy to pay it forward!

Hope you enjoyed and leave me a comment if you try this out. I'd love to see the result!

My 365

Here's the deal. As the launch of Becky Higgins Digital Project Life has gotten closer she's "revealed" more and more about it. It promises to be a great product and I'm sure it will be easy to use but while I've waited for its release I've been messing around with some options of my own.

This fun calendar template is from Ali Edwards over at Designer Digitals.  I love being able to see our "month at a glance".  Below area couple weeks for my Project 365. Project Life/Photo-a-Day Project.  I've laid out my pages similar to Becky's Project 365 album last year, the pages are 12x12 (below are the full 24x12 spread)  Simple, clean, easy!  The blocky letters are also from Ali Edward/Designer Digitals.

A couple things I'm really excited about if I do go this direction is
a.) I get to keep my albums all the same size (12x12).  Becky's Project Life album will  be 8.5x11.
b.) I get to add additional pages/layouts as necessary, for "special events".  I know that's cheating and going past the 365 photos in the year but it will make my book feel a little more complete.  I think I'll like being able to add an extra layout here and there for holidays/birthday/trip. They will have the same simplicity and feel as the rest of the pages throughout the book.

Let me know what you think or if you have any other great ideas or if you've seen others that you like as well.  I love the concept of the Photo-A-Day album and am excited to do it for 2010, no matter what format the album will be.  At least they'll be in an album!

Back when the weather was warm

I did my first senior shoot! I hung out with Hilary and her mom on a beautiful September evening. It was great to meet them and I learned that Hilary helped in the pre-school class my boys were in last year. When I was loading her pictures on my computer that night the boys said "we know her!" Cool!

Thanks, Hilary! You made my job easy tonight. You are a beautiful girl who has a bright future ahead of you!

Seriously, Take 2

Do you remember this post, Seriously, from a few months ago? I was attempting a group photo of my kids and the results were rather typical. So, true to form, we headed to the pumpkin patch after school today and I asked for 1 group picture, that's all, and this is the result, once again! :) They're a little more animated than say when I took THIS picture!I've got lots of sunny weather shoots to post yet so be checking back for those. I'm just getting a little bit behind lately! Such is life, right!

Kim and Dave's Big Day!

Kim and Dave had a beautiful September day for their wedding. Dave had so many family and friends here from out of town and everyone was so excited to celebrate this huge occasion. What a great day!Thank you, once again, Wendi, for being so awesome and making my job way easier! We make a pretty great team!

I really could keep going and going and posting more. Thanks again, Kim and Dave, for letting us share in your big day! You were so fun to work with!

Because everyone needs a little sunshine

and it doesn't look like there's any in the near future, I thought I'd add it to my blog tonight! Enjoy!

These guys were FUN!

They were ALL up for ANYTHING and had a ball doing it. I could post sooo many more but I think I've added enough already. :) And THANKS again, Wendi, for helping! You are soooo appreciated!