Children, what a delight!

So this weekend be were fortunate to have back-to-back sessions with children. It was the first time I had kids come to the studio.

The Kinney Boys and their cousin, Isabel, were up first. Isabel did not want to participate...at all. Little Grant arrived with tears in his eyes and grumpy because he was sleepy. His mom, Kristin, was not sure the shoot would be successful. But I was up for the challenge.

John and I pulled the boys aside and started making all sorts of goofy faces. We started seeing smiles, then big smiles, finally laughter. Lots and lots of laughter. It was magic. Isabel eventually warmed up when John started telling them that I stunk! Hey, whatever gets them to laugh is fine with me.

Then Navarone arrived. He may be five years old, but he's got the soul of a 50-year-old.

He didn't need much direction. We just talked and laughed.

Then we headed to the Amtrak Station in La Plata. His mom had told me he liked trains so I thought it would be a great location. As our shoot wrapped up, we heard a train approaching. Navarone ran around in what we thought was excitement. But it wasn't. He totally freaked out. The train was perhaps too close or too loud. He grabbed my leg and burst into tears. I covered up his ears and tried to comfort him as much as possible. Next time I'll be sure not to be so close to the tracks.

Time Flies

I can't believe it's nearly April already. Last week went by way too fast. I spent most of my time re-designing and refining a website for the Kirskville Tourism Office. It's nothing fancy. Just user friendly.

I'm using Yahoo Small Business Site Solutions. I've been very impressed with the customer service and with how easy it is to create a site using their program. Totally give it two thumbs up if you need a simple site.

If you get a chance cruise by and take a look. http://www.visitkirksville.com/


BTW: You can buy the flying clock at :www.blavish.com/novelty-time-flies-clock/

Lift Off!

After two weeks of sorting, resizing, uploading, and glasses of wine our new site is LIVE!
I've learned more than I care to know about html, ftp, fla, and loads of other tech jargon. It was all a means of getting the site to look pretty! I like pretty.

Anyhoot, the new site offers clients the ability to proof and purchase the prints of their choice. It's a bit minimalistic but it's very user friendly.
Go take a look studio1004.net

Senior Session

Taylor, what a delight! Our session started around 4pm. Next time, I'll start the session later because I think the sun light was still too strong for some shots...but I tried to work around it.

Unfortunately, I had some issues with my strobe lights. For some reason they didn't want to fire. When I got them home, pop! They work just fine. I'll have to read the owners manual or something.

Our outside session were pretty smooth except for the 90mph wind! But again, I just worked around it.

All in all I fired off about 450 shots. More than I thought and many of them are keepers.

click hereto see her slide show: studio1004.net/taylorhalterman/

Baby Craze

We had an after birth baby shower for one of my co-workers on Friday. Our former secretary came with her baby too. So, I set up my lights, blankets and started shooting.

Here are a few of Thomas Welker:

Here are a few of Braden Puckett:

Inspiration

So, there's this photographer name Gsquared out of L.A. His work is amazing. In his portfolio you can find all sorts of inspirational shots. I got this idea from him. Thanks G!

Tuesday night, I set up the lights and pulled the car out of the garage. It was 25 degrees outside but the shot had to be taken. I wouldn't be able to sleep if it wasn't.

Anyhoot, John got home and I told him I would stand in as his model and this time he would be the photographer. I must say, for his first night-time shoot he got the shot. The headlights were giving him a bit of trouble but he worked it out.

Thanks Johnny G!

Upgrade

So, I've been contemplating for a while switching our html website to flash.

HTML sites are a great way to get your information out on the web. They are also easy to load and find on search engines. Flash sites, on the other hand, are not search engine friendly but are pretty, and some can have an emotional tie.

After many sleepless nights we decided it was in the best interest of our customers to make the switch. The new site will allow our clients to proof and purchase their photos on-line.

We hope to have the new site launched in about two weeks if not sooner.

Aw Crap!

Have you ever had one of those moments. You know, the ones that make you feel like you are a complete and utter idiot.

Well, I had one on Wednesday. I ran into a pole with my SUV. I just didn't see it. The sun was in my eyes, the SUV sits high, the pole was short, all circumstances that alone aren't a big deal but together they create a pain in the a-double-s.

To make matters worse, I discovered that I will have to pay for the hood, bumper, headlight, and fender myself because I only have liability insurance. Yup, yup, that's what I get for not having a lean on the SUV. That will teach me to pay off another vehicle.