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FAQ March 26th MOHR Mini Sessions
Posted on February 25, 2011
Hi all!
Today ROCKED MY WORLD.
It’s going to be hard to go to sleep I’m still on such a high! Right now we have 20 sessions booked! TWENTY! That’s $4,000 in ONE day you guys! Can you believe it? And I think we can do better!!!
So because there is quite a bit of info I need to get out right now I’m going to do it in list form… feel free to email me with questions! AND if you did email today I am going to try to get to them all tonight but some may have to wait until tomorrow… bear with me while I get everything sorted out!
1. March 26th at Kirkwood Park (back by the shooting range) and the times are from 8am-11am and 1pm-6pm.
2. 20 minute sessions and we’re squeezing THREE in each hour!
3. You must arrive at least 20 minutes prior to your session and our sweet friend Missy Lang will check you in.
4. Payment is due by March 5th (all checks made out to Katie Mohr) or your slot opens up!
5. There will be two “sets” designed and executed by Katie Mohr. I will let her email all that have booked and PAID (you will not get an email from her until we have your check!) with the details but her ideas are awesome! She will help you choose clothing and at the sessions she will be there helping pose the kids and setting the scene. Think very whimsical and bright and fun!
6. If you are a photographer and are interested in learning more about how to run mini sessions, want to watch us work, want to chat with us for 2 hours over our lunch break, etc the cost for a full day of mentoring is $250 and again the money goes directly to the Mohr family! This is NOT a time to learn your camera. It IS a time to learn, watch, shoot, ask, etc. This is NOT a workshop. We are actually working with real clients. You’ll be in the trenches with us! Time from 7am-7pm.
7. We’d LOVE someone to donate lunch to us at the park! We won’t be able to leave so if there is a kind soul out there that would bring us lunch we’d be forever grateful!!! Otherwise we’ll be calling our friends at Imo’s! Hey maybe they’ll donate… hmmm…
8. If you own a business and want to donate something for a treat bag it might be a great way to get your name out there to our clients! A coupon, a small item, a gift card, etc. would be awesome! We will have 24 sessions plus lots of people helping so plan for about 30 people!
9. If ANY clothing or hat or HEADBAND artists are out there we would LOVE some merchandise to help Katie add to outfits! Hair accessories for girls would be especially appreciated and we KNOW there are some talented ETSY sellers that read this blog!!! We need them for KIDS b/c all we own ourselves are for newborns! HELP! We will feature your store/shop and you can use the images for your site!
10. We’d still love to giveaway a few more sessions! Right now we can giveaway TWO free sessions but we have gotten a lot more amazing nominations we’d like to help! PLEASE send us $10 (or whatever God puts on your heart to give) so we can bless deserving families WHILE we bless the Mohrs! If you want to donate please email Jodie@freshartphotography.com OR if you have a deserving family you’d like to nominate shoot me an email also!
THANK YOU to all that have offered to come volunteer the day of the minis! We have already scheduled all the help we’ll need but we so appreciate your offer to give of your time!
THANK YOU to the NINE families already donating to sessions for someone else. AWESOME doesn’t even describe it!
THANK YOU to all that have spread the word, have booked a session, nominated a family or donated money. It’s all going to such a great cause and because of the super radical internet we can actually see our money+time in action when that baby is home, in the arms of his parents and growing up in the most loving of homes! How cool is that?
Katie and Russ are OVERWHELMED with the giving today. I just talked to her earlier and we all can’t get over the generosity that abounds from this blog. A little photography blog! Who knew!
We will resume to regular scheduled blogging soon with two sweet babies this weekend!
Can I say THANK YOU one last time???
THANK YOU!
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Spring Mini Sessions for a GREAT cause!
Posted on February 24, 2011
Gear up people. This is going to be one LONG blog post with SO much info you might need a drink and a note pad to take notes! Or you might need a degree in Fresh Art to follow along all the connections I’m about to blow your mind with!
Ready?
Here we go.
You ALL know this girl right?
She is officially going to kill me and I bet within minutes of posting this I will get a text telling me just that! HA!
This is Katie Mohr.
Just in case you’re new around here or don’t pay close attention, we photograph her a lot. And her awesome family. For their last session we wanted to experiment a little and so did she, so we gave over complete creative control to her with very little direction at all and with her help we got shots like this:
All photographed by us of course but all completely styled by her. To see more of the shoot go HERE.
When the session was over and we looked through the images we had a photogasm. Katie rocked it. The styling was perfection and an idea was born.
Our big announcement?
Katie Mohr will be a big part of Fresh Art this year and hopefully for a long time to come! As our STYLIST! For a slight additional fee you can choose to add Katie on to your session! She will help you design the session to fit your family in the most amazing way possible. You get her for 2-3 hours prior to the session to help design the shoot, choose the location, pick clothing/props and then at the session she will be there to help pose/style/be your personal assistant! It will take a normal family photograph and make it YOURS. More personal! In the coming weeks we have sessions planned that Katie is running so the sneak peeks will be coming soon! If you are interested in getting more personal help while making your family portraits into true art just let us know and we will send you all the info you need!
So that’s our fun announcement but are you wondering about the spring mini sessions?
Well, if you read Katie’s blog (which you should) you would know they’ve been on a LONG journey for another child. A very long journey that she blogs about so openly and honestly. Seriously, go read her blog! Well. They got AMAZING news recently that there is a sweet little baby due in a couple of short months ready to make them parents again!!! HUGE NEWS!
But do you know how expensive adoption is? And they only have a tiny amount of time to raise the money in order to receive this incredible miracle and answer to prayer.
So Kim and I want to help!
On Saturday MARCH 26th we are holding children mini sessions to raise money so they can bring this baby home where he belongs! ALL the money will go directly to the Mohrs. In fact, we don’t want the checks made out to us at all! You will mail them to us but please make them out to Russ and Katie Mohr!
The cost is $200 which includes a HIGH-RES DISK!
DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT KIND OF DEAL THAT IS?
Let me break it down. March 26th. Mini sessions. For your kids. 20 minutes shoot time yielding 10 images you will get on a disk to print at your leisure. For $200. Our normal price is $525. That’s a HUGE savings. But we talked to Russ and Katie and we all agreed we’d rather FILL THEM UP and make a little less money than not. So we’re all on board at this price… but if your heart is leading you to give more? Well, we certainly won’t stop you!
As if this blog post could get any longer…
If you know Katie Mohr then you MUST know Tom and Sharon by this point in your blog reading right? Do I even need to link to their story or sessions? I didn’t think so. (The image above is from the Johnston’s freezing cold maternity session that Katie helped us with! SO nice to have her there primping Sharon so Kim and I could 100% focus on the shots!)
So last week when Chris and I were hanging out with them letting me get my Mac fix I told them the good news about the new Mohr baby and the mini sessions to raise money to bring that baby home.
They were SO excited they offered to SPONSOR a mini session for someone else!
HOW COOL IS THAT???
It inspired Kim and I so much that we want to take their giving to an entirely new level!
So here’s the deal.
We want to help the Mohrs, obviously, but we also want to help others. On the same day. SO. We need TWO things from you.
1. Anyone that wants to donate money to the Mohrs to sponsor a session for someone else email me at jodie@freshartphotography.com. It can be $10 or $200 we don’t care. If they all come in small increments we will keep track until a session is completely sponsored. If you’re booking a session for the minis and want to add on a little money you can do that or if you’re out of town and just want to give you can do that too! Kim and I will keep track of all that comes in and announce in a few weeks how many free sessions we can giveaway!
2. We need submissions. WHO do you know that deserves a free mini session of their kids? Why do they deserve it? Nominate yourself or someone you know. THIS is the group we’ll choose from to give the free sessions away! Email me (Jodie) with your nominations ASAP!
We will be shooting on MARCH 26th from 8am-11am and 1pm-5pm but if we 1. fill up the slots with paid sessions or 2. fill up the slots with sponsored sessions we can work through lunch to add in more sessions! We are willing to do whatever it takes to bring this baby home!
IF YOU ARE A LOCAL BLOGGER please consider posting about this on your blog so we reach new families!
Does that all make sense?
Katie Mohr is joining Fresh Art Photography as their in-house stylist for 2011.
Katie and Russ Mohr are adopting a baby this spring and we want to help!
We are hosting mini sessions (STYLED BY KATIE BTW. Duh how could I forget to mention this?) on March 26th for $200 each with all the moola going straight to the Mohrs.
We have ONE free session to give away and want to give away more so donate some money to help make that happen!
Submit your nominations for a deserving family to receive the free mini session(s) we want to give away.
Longest blog post ever? Probably. Full of so much good stuff you might need to read it twice? Maybe!
We can’t wait to see how these mini sessions bless the Mohrs and other families as well! Let’s PAY IT FORWARD you guys!
And fill in that question mark with one tiny baby who so deserves to have these two as parents!
Thanks and good night!
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aaaand I’m an idiot. But at least you benefit from my idiocy!
Posted on February 22, 2011
Remember how yesterday I went on and on and ON about how so many photographers are faking merging the newborn head-in-the-hands shot? And remember how I said we’ve only done one of those (it was Mac btw)? And how all other times have been real?
And TRUST ME. I wasn’t knocking other photographers. Well, I guess I WAS. But only the ones that don’t do it right. And not in a mean way. Just in a getitrightordon’tdoitatall kind of way. And I was using our non-merged shot from Addie’s session as an example of just balancing that baby in a safe way instead of merging the shot while I blabbered on and on.
However.
Two things happened yesterday.
1. Kim is SO freaking awesome at editing she rocked my socks off. And laughed her ass off at my expense.
2. I made a complete fool out of myself. And am now telling the tale.
Remember this shot I blogged yesterday?
Besides the post-processing do you notice anything different about this shot that I didn’t post?
Not much right?
Well the day of Addie’s session we didn’t think she would be able to hold this pose but she looked so dang cute we resorted to setting it up for a merge. I snapped away while Kim posed and then BAM she held it! So Kim moved her hands and I snapped away knowing we’d nailed it.
Knowing we’d gotten the shot, when I saw the edited version of Kim’s ready for the blog I ASSUMED it was not a merged shot. Because DUDE, merging those shots is HARD and takes way more time than just editing a regular image!
But do you know what happens when you assume? YOU MAKE AN ASS OUT OF YOURSELF! HA!
The black/white shot we blogged IS TOTALLY MERGED!
But can you tell? Because I sure as hell can’t!
Which leads me to start talking about what a ROCK STAR my partner is! Seriously, she’s amazing at nailing an edit in LR and PS. AHHHMAZING. She texted me this morning laughing hysterically that even I couldn’t tell the difference!
And SO. To help anyone that might not totally understand HOW to merge these shots AND to help salvage a little of myself I’d like to introduce Kim. My wonderfully brilliant partner who tricked me and laughed all day about it! Kim is going to teach the masses her wizardry! Enjoy!
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I took great delight in not necessarily laughing at Jodie, but knowing even SHE, who was there and knew we took shots with the intent to do a composite, couldn’t spot it as a composite. And so I figured now was as good a time as any to share a little “secret” in newborn posing for those interested! This is an example of one of the reasons we MERGED as Fresh Art, knowing some shots are just plain difficult without 2 people, and keeping baby’s safety as a #1 priority!
This shot is actually one of the more easy composite/merged shots! You still need a *really* sleepy baby, which Addie certainly was! She easily got into position, but not able hold it on her own… so I just held it for her, and moved my hands, knowing with 2 shots and her not moving and Jodie not moving, we could have one complete shot.
So, after my initial processing in Lightroom, which I just synced the two together so they matched perfectly, I brought them into Photoshop looking like this:
And then just put one on top of the other, lined them up, applied a layer mask and masked away the places where I’m holding her up and it became this:
And then, as I was holding her, I could feel she was getting more stable and I was able to completely pull my hands out of the shot and Jodie was able to snap away a few more frames in the horizontal orientation which was a total bonus!
So no, Jodie, you aren’t an idiot… it’s just a testament to our awesome team work! 
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big+fun announcement coming soon!
Posted on February 22, 2011
Big+fun announcement concerning THIS girl!
Anyone wanna take any guesses as to WHAT we’re announcing? And if you already know it’s not fair to comment!
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Addie | St. Louis Newborn Photographers
Posted on February 21, 2011
I love it when someone that I KNOW contacts us out of the blue so it was great to hear from Sara after she gave birth to little Addie and was looking for a photographer! I went to high school with Sara (she was a year younger), played lacrosse with her and later coached lacrosse at different schools but got to see each other all the time which was so great. She’s awesome and now so is her daughter! Oh and her husband of course!
But seriously. Addie rocked our world.
At three weeks old she SLEPT the entire time! We popped her around from place to place with only one quick feeding! SO fast and easy! It was literally a breath of fresh air to have a super sleepy newborn because a lot of our babies lately have not wanted to sleep for us! We adore them all (even you sweet little Joseph!) but sleepy newborns definitely just make our job easier!
LET ME POP IN HERE TO ADD… we always take anyone that wants to book us last minute and lately we’ve been having more and more sessions booked after the baby has been born. We ALWAYS fit them in and are happy to have them! BUT. We (and all photographers in case you’re shopping around) prefer to have you book while still pregnant. Then we get your due date on our calendar and know we will have to fit you in the schedule near that date. It just makes scheduling our life easier! AND. It also means we’re more likely to be able to schedule the session before the baby is 2 weeks old ensuring more of these awesome sleepy moments. Just an FYI to all prospective clients!
Luckily miss Addie broke all the records yesterday! She slept soundly, posed beautifully, had perfect skin and the list goes on! Such a delightful session!
Sara and Justin, we hope you LOVE your sneak peek!
Are you dying over her smiles? SO perfect!
A lot of photographers “fake” this shot but let me tell you… she rocked it all by herself! You can tell the faked ones a million different ways but mostly they make you wonder how they’re balancing… you can see Addie is propped right up on her two hands and with her being a bit older she was strong enough to hold it for a while! Let me ALSO say, we do FAKE it sometimes too! Nothing wrong with that unless it looks really unnatural. Can you tell which ONE we’ve faked? Yep! We’ve only faked one of these shots! (I might be talking more about posing or other newborn details because it seems like people wonder stuff like this a lot… if you hate me interrupting the images let me know too!)
They brought so many cute hats to the session! Love that!
If you are DYING over that headband we will be talking more about them soon! AND giving one away!
Oh Addie. So sweet. Thanks for being so easy on us!
We can’t wait to see you sitting up at your six month session!
Happy Monday!
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WINNER! WINNER! WINNER!
Posted on February 20, 2011
Remember back before Christmas when we said that if you sent in a Christmas card we’d pick a winner for a free Love Light session? Didn’t I say we’d pick it by Christmas Eve or something?
Have I ever told you I have the BEST of intentions and the WORST follow-through sometimes?
So Merry Christmas to TWO couples!
If these cards belong to YOU contact me at jodie@freshartphotography.com to pick a date for your Love Light! SO fun!
OH OK.
Let’s make it THREE!
Jordan Parks sister, Leslie, sent in a card too so if Jordan and Leslie want to do a Love Light TOGETHER let’s do it! A Love Light session with two couples should be SO much fun!
That’s THREE Love Lights!
Because 1. we had over 50 enteries!!! and 2. it’s not REALLY Christmas anymore and we feel bad it took us so long to announce this winner! Sorry guys!
AND while we’re on a giving roll lets just announce the THREE winners we picked for the one hour phone mentoring session!
Oh yes. We said THREE!
We had a great session today and are feeling super happy so we decided to offer to chat with three lovely ladies!
First up is STEPH M.! We KNOW what it feels like to be in it alone trying to make huge decisions! It’s HARD. So you will be chatting with Kim! Email her at kim@freshartphotography.com to work out a good time to chat!
Second is COURTNEY! I get to chat with you about all things marketing or whatever else. We also get rebranding and starting from scratch! Taking two businesses and making a new one was HARD but we’re so happy now! Plus marketing is like Mnt Dew to me! I LOVE it!
And last but not least we wanted to pick DONNA b/c she’s a St. Louis girl too! We obviously LOVE newborn photography and will share all we can! We feel crazy strong about not being competitive. There are enough clients to go around and so we’re not scared to share anything with someone in our own back yard. We believe that the industry can only get better if we all help one another! So DONNA! How does lunch one day sound??? Email me at jodie@freshartphotography.com to see if we can find a good time to get together!
Thanks to everyone that ever enters one of our giveaways! We know everyone can’t win but we wish you could! That’s why we couldn’t just pick one winner! Stay tuned b/c although we’re not personally giving anything else away this week, we WILL have a fun week of giveaways! Maybe two weeks! Or three depending on how fast I can get around to blogging everything! HA!
Hope you all had a great weekend! Check tomorrow for a sweet little newborn girl to hit the blog!
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52 Smiles: personal project
Posted on February 19, 2011
My family is starting a new project next week that I’m crazy excited about! If you want to follow along read HERE.
We’d love you to join in!
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