while you celebrate this memorial day…

Posted on May 30, 2010

take a look at the photos being submitted HERE.

absolutely beautiful. some had me just sobbing.

the market. | st. louis photographers

Posted on May 29, 2010

Bailey came down with strep last night and has been fighting a super high fever all day. And we’re so paranoid about Parker getting sick again we’ve tried to keep the kids apart most of the day. So after naps I took Parker with me to the Kirkwood Farmer’s Market.

One of my favorite places on earth.

I love the smells, the people, the colors. I love that I’ve been going there since I was a kid. I love that my kids know where to find the wire baskets and have to help each other carry it when it’s filled with good food. I love how excited they are to buy fruit, come home and wash it and then pick which ones they want to eat at each meal. Their excitement to eat healthy, locally grown food just makes me smile.

So today after naps I took Parker with me and we headed to the market with a list of requests from our sweet+sick Bailey.

Strawberries, pears, blueberries and grapes.

The grapes. Oh the grapes. She could barely lift these by herself! And they are SO crisp and sweet!

And the blueberries just for Bails, my only kid that likes them!

As soon as they were washed Bailey had a little cup filled with fruit, the first real food she ate all day, which was so great!

The first trip to the market this summer and we missed Bails and the little man but Parker had a blast helping me pick everything out! Next week we’ll all go! And until then we have lots of great things filling the fridge!

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odds and ends

Posted on May 27, 2010

Fresh Art has been popping up around the internet and so have some other fun finds so here we go with a new set of links to keep you busy this weekend!

1. If you are a woman you have to read THIS article by our amazing winter bride, Stephanie! It will make you think twice about how you look at yourself! Thanks for your incredible words Steph.

2. Kim and I are so honored to have been asked to be judges on THIS awesome photography contest! You should go check out some of the amazing submissions! Can’t wait to get started!

3. We just opened our in-home studio a few weeks ago and it just won a contest! Over HERE! We were shocked it won and so excited! Plus that’s a great blog so make sure to check it out!

4. THIS is one of the most beautiful posts ever written. A great reminder for everyone out there. Enjoy your life. Capture your life. Beautiful.

5. I almost cried when I read THIS post. Because it’s coming from a client’s perspective! Not our client of course, but a client nonetheless. And what struck me is that she really GETS it. Her guide at the end of the post made me want to pull a Tom Cruise and jump on my sofa yelling “YES! YES! YES!”

6. We are heading to Cuba Lake in the morning to celebrate C’s first day of summer and although we won’t need much more than the beach for a few hours of good fun, I am bringing a few supplies to make THIS idea. I LOVE it and although I will certainly be doing it at home also, I love the idea of them being able to create a “lake treasure tank” or even just a lake habitat! So a big plastic tub will be accompanying us on our little day trip!

7. My good friend Lyndsay had the cutest craft idea on her blog recently and although St. Louis isn’t known for it’s blue bonnets I just adore how cute THIS turned out! And SO easy!

8. My new FAVORITE photo blog is HERE. I just found her and fell instantly head over heels in love! I am currently figuring out ways to steal some of her amazing decorating ideas! She has also inspired me to keep my camera on hand more now… as it’s been living in the bag only taken out for client sessions recently. Need. To. Document. MY. Family. More.

9. Another rad photographer I came across recently and who graciously gave me permission to totally and completely steal this idea of hers when I emailed her for permission! Check THIS out and tell me it’s not so totally amazing you want to get out your camera right now and wake up the kids to start shooting! I can’t wait to show you my take on her idea in a few weeks!

10. And last but not least, I found THIS site for photographers looking to buy templates and they have some really cool stuff! I always appreciate finding different designers so I thought I’d share the link with all the photogs that read our blog! You may have heard of them, I just hadn’t!

AND THAT’S A WRAP!

We are off to the lake tomorrow morning and out on a date tomorrow night with our good friends the Johnstons! Which just means tomorrow is going to rock my socks off! And which also means I will not be emailing or working AT ALL besides taking a million photos of my own clan. So if I don’t get back to you until the weekend don’t get mad!

ALSO… the Allen family is putting all their crap on their front lawn Saturday morning and would love you to come buy it! Oh yes indeed! YARD SALE! Come one, come all and buy our junk! Oh, and if you stop by and see a treasured gift you gave us or something, don’t get mad! I am in a massive PURGE mood ever since we cleaned out the art room to make the studio! Less is more! Except when it means MORE is going to your house and leaving mine! HA!

Have a great weekend!

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the fresh class.

Posted on May 27, 2010

Tonight we held our first Fresh Class for an incredible group of 10 women at our house. And oh my gosh did Kim and I have fun! The last person left just about 11pm! We had so much fun teaching these women about their cameras and although we had a few first class glitches (like not enough chairs, no cork screw, not knowing how to work all the cameras, etc) it went pretty smooth I think!

Especially considering that it poured down rain for most of the time so we couldn’t do all of our assignments or take shoot breaks. AND considering I was coming home from the ER late this afternoon after Gray fell head first at our church play ground today! An hour and a half before people started arriving! He’s fine, they just had to clean out the gravel and glue the little+deep cut back together! Never a dull moment huh? HA!

So most of the time Kim and I talked. But then as the rain let up we went outside and while we were teaching, Kim and I passed my camera around so we could get some shots…

I wish I could tell you more about it… but I guess you’ll have to sign up to find out more!

BUT watch the blog b/c in about a month or so we’re having a CONTEST with all the women that came tonight! We’re so excited to see what they do this month! We can’t wait!

Thanks to all the ladies who came from near and FAR (we had two women come in from Jeff City! A few hours away!)… it was awesome to spend the night with you chatting about our LOVE of photography!

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shayne+dan. home. | fresh movies.

Posted on May 24, 2010

I do not claim to be a videographer.

But at Shayne and Dan’s reception Saturday night the room was dark. I mean DARK. And while Kim used flash I was kind of stuck. So for a little while I pretended to work while she worked her ass off, which was easy b/c Shayne is Chris’s cousin so I could move around mingling with all the people I knew and Kim wouldn’t have been the wiser. But then, about 20 minutes in to my “work” I realized I could shoot video. That my camera actually takes decent video in little to no available light.

So I started shooting.

In the dark.

Which means you’ll have to ignore the poor excuse for focus I had going on and which also means you’ll have to EMBRACE THE GRAIN!

But even with all that I did wrong, I LOVE how this captured their night! Their family and friends enjoying themselves at their party! People laughing and dancing and hugging and loving.

Oh, and a MAJOR disclaimer to the song choice.

We DO NOT own the rights to this song. But I am obsessed with it. So rather than lie and tell you we owned it, I’m being up front and telling you we don’t. But I’m also going to tell you to GO BUY THIS SONG on iTunes! It’s awesome and will make you smile all day long if you add it to your play list! HERE IS THEIR WEBSITE and seriously, go buy their song called HOME. It’s so rad. And Edward, if you find this, I love your song and I hope you love how I used it!

Ok.

Enjoy the video!

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shayne+dan. married. | St. Louis Wedding Photographers

Posted on May 23, 2010

Ok. We would never call ourselves “wedding photographers” because babies are really where our love is, but we have a BLAST at weddings and get to do a few each year that we love! SO although we’re not breaking into that side of the business, we love each wedding we are blessed to do and the one last night didn’t disappoint!

Tonight, after church, a softball game (oh yes! Chris and I play co-ed softball!), kid-time and a NILMDTS session… I am wiped… so this will be a FAST and semi random sneak peek for the bride and groom as they head off tomorrow on their honeymoon! More to come soon!

Shayne was SO beautiful!

Congratulations Shayne and Dan! We couldn’t be happier for you and we’ll come back in a few days with LOTS more photos (and a little video maybe!)!

(Sorry this was so random! My eyes are closing as I type this but I was determined to get at least a few images up!)

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the studio. | St. Louis Newborn Photographers

Posted on May 19, 2010

st. louis newborn photography

After leaving one of our favorite family’s newborn session a month or so ago and driving the 45 minutes home we started talking, seriously, about how much easier it would be to have a studio space for our newborns. This last year we’ve photographed a lot of babies and although we love EVERY second of our time with the babies and their families, we HATE that we have to drag around so much gear all the time. You should have seen the back of Kim’s Suburban! Rolls of paper, baskets, scales, blankets, props, hats, headbands, baskets, blankets, light gear, backdrop stand and did I mention the baskets and blankets? Oh and a heater and sound machine and the list goes on.

We realized that we spent at least an hour (if not more sometimes) driving to the location and then about an hour of set-up time. Figure 2-4 hours of actual shooting and then another half-hour take-down. Sometimes we’d be gone for 6-8 hours and not all of that was actually working.

We also have lots of ideas of new props and poses but the thought of dragging MORE gear around kept us from really moving forward.

So we brainstormed and contemplated renting/buying space but ultimately decided we’d give it a try at our house. The Allen home. We had already converted our formal dining room into an art room a year or so ago and it would be big enough to have the dual purpose of shooting newborns when we need to shoot newborns and still letting my kids be creative on a daily basis. So we got to work on the art room!

And OH MAN!

SIX trash bags of junk, a front porch full of yard sale and two storage tubs for the attic and it was almost ready! A day of cleaning and a long night of emptying Kim’s SUV plus organizing everything and we were even closer! Then just a few samples on the walls and DONE!

The NEW Fresh Art in-home newborn+baby studio!

st. louis newborn photography studio

Pretty rad right?

We are in love.

Is it perfect and magazine worthy? Nope.

Is it clean and organized? Yep.

Is it perfect for my family AND our business? Yep.

Will it impress other studio owners? Nope.

Does it work perfectly for our newborn clients? Yep.

Do we love it? HELL YEAH!

Yesterday as we photographed little Will we got to really test it out. And it was awesome b/c we are at my HOUSE. So Kristie could go in our back family room to nurse and be nearly as comfortable as if she were at her own home. Mike could sit in the front living room and chat with us while Will ate. They could also cuddle on the couch while we worked and watch the whole thing! We had snacks and drinks if they needed them, tv if they got bored, etc. It was cozy and comfy and worked out great!

Here’s a few shots of Kim working in the new space…

We love it!

And the best best best part?

Because working in one space is SO MUCH EASIER for us and such a time saver we can CUT our newborn session fee down significantly!

So it helps you AND it helps us. We really think this will be the best fit for everyone!

That being said, if you REALLY want us to come to your house we can talk about it but the price will be significantly higher (back up to where it used to be at $500). And for all the moms out there that have already booked, we will honor our original agreement and come to your home… OR… we will credit you the difference in price for prints if you come to us instead.

Before we offered our newborn session for $500 and that included the newborn session, a 30 minutes mini maternity session and 25 birth announcements.

NOW we are offering THIS:

And THIS:

Do these savings excite you as much as they do us?

Being able to make things easier on us, allowing us to actually be more creative AND giving us room to lower our price a bit is a total WIN-WIN and we are SO excited about this new chapter in our business!

The ONLY other thing we have to talk about is how this effects our summer sale!

WE ARE HONORING OUR SUMMER SALE!

Did you hear that?

That means that IF YOU ARE DUE IN JULY your session fee is 50% off! ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS PEOPLE!

And if you are due in June or August your session fee is $187.5 or 25% off the regular price of $250!

Kim and I are crazy excited to start really working in the studio so share these discounts with ALL your friends! This summer will be the summer of babies here at Fresh Art!

YAHOO! GO!

Filed Under behind the scenes, newborn | 16 Comments