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The Jones Family | St. Louis Family Photography

Posted on September 29, 2011

We were SO lucky to meet up with the Jones family! Heather and Dave are awesome… super laid back and SO fun to work with! And their one year old twins, Ruby and Scarlet? Perfection! SO cute and so easy to get smiles from! It was such a great morning we hope to work with them again and again!

Dave and Heather… we hope you LOVE your sneak peek!

Could Ruby or Scarlet get any cuter?  (We will be linking to the ETSY shop that sells those teeny tiny bows soon!)

 

My favorite shot of the day was one of the very last… finding that “everything was beautiful” was a total fluke but I love it!

Heather and Dave… you guys were SO easy and fun to work with! Thank you so much for choosing us to capture your family as they are today! We can’t wait to watch Ruby and Scarlet grow!

The Beachy Family | St. Louis Family Photography

Posted on September 28, 2011

The Beachy’s are such regulars on our blog I’m not sure I even have to say much! I met up with them last weekend to do Luke’s EIGHT year old session but we started with some family sessions first! So family sneak peek today, Luke’s tomorrow!

I made Amy get shots with Dale AND each of her kiddos because how many times do moms get to be on the other side of the lens? She protested (I would have too!) BUT I truly hope she cherishes these images. I need to get on the other side of the lens soon too!

SO many more to come Beachy’s! Thanks for letting me capture your family again this year!

On running a business | St. Louis Photographers

Posted on September 27, 2011

Four and a half years ago when I started Jodified Photography+Design I was a work horse. A total workaholic. I was doing like 3-6 sessions a week and working until at least 1am. Every night. I also had a one and a half year old, a 6 month old and was pregnant. Neither kid slept through the night and my husband was gone 90% of the time.

It was insane.

I kept that up for two years and it nearly killed me.

Then I met Kim and it got a little better because we significantly raised our prices which meant people weren’t using me just because I was cheap. They booked US because we were good. Or at least they thought we were good! We were booking awesome clients that chose us for our work not our cheap price and so of course we slowed down some.

In the first year and a half of quitting Jodified and starting Fresh Art I was scared. I was used to being booked solid and constantly busy (I traded constantly working to constantly worrying). And while we did raise our prices we also split things straight down the middle. Our business expenses also went up. While we were pretty busy we also had some slow months, or months when we were busy but didn’t hit our goal numbers. It was scary. And also part of the reason we moved in with family. I was watching a new business slowly grow (which is absolutely not a bad thing!) while our family expenses grew much faster.

So Chris and I hit the pause button. And moved in with family. And fixed our credit, saved our money and paid off debt. It was ten months of a financial pause for my family but luckily Fresh Art kept growing. We moved our studio, met more awesome clients and had some really cool opportunities. Then we bought a house, renovated that house, moved in and hit the Fresh Art busy season!

WHEW! It’s been quite a year! October first is when we moved in with the Allen’s and so for Chris and I it’s a new anniversary of sorts. The day we decided to change our lives.

ANYWAY.

The point of all of this is that I’m in a good spot. We have our tiny little dream home and while totally terrifying it’s also the most secure we’ve ever felt. An address that’s all ours. No one to answer to about changes we want to make or things we want to do to OUR house. We’re making lists and plans and figuring out a new way of life in our little Webster home. And we’re happy. OH my gosh Chris and I have never been happier! He and I have never, in our seven years of constantly changing+completely stressful marriage have we ever felt this at peace and HAPPY. It’s a good thing.

But back to Fresh Art.

During all of my turbulence, Kim has remained constant. A steady friend to me and sometimes acting more like my big sister since I go to her with every little problem/issue/thought in my head! And while she was quietly trying to teach me ways to live happily, my life was too noisy to hear her. But now it’s not. Now my heart is a little quieter and luckily it’s quiet enough to finally hear her biggest lessons.

Family comes first.

And.

Our time away from our families is valuable.

So we’ve been spreading out our sessions more, not booking so many in one week. We’ve been trying to shoot during the week and leave some time on the weekends to just be moms. Because now that my kids aren’t three under three anymore I actually crave time with them.

When I started Jodified it was my outlet. The way I felt like a real adult person and not just the diaper changer/breast feeder/spit-up catcher/Elmo watcher/potty trainer/meal maker/hand holder/booboo kisser I was 24-7. It gave me passion when I was losing myself in three young kids. So getting away from the house was awesome enough and to get paid for it too? Amazing!

But now that’s all changed. And I’ve changed. And while I do miss my babies (I constantly have baby fever!), I don’t miss that life. I’m happier now. More at peace.

So what does that all mean for Fresh Art?

Well, we continue to grow, which is awesome. But of course we’re growing right at the moment I’m happy not working as much! I’m finally to the place Kim has been all along. So what that means for our clients and WHY I started writing this novel in the first place is a few things…

First, it means we’re booking further and further out. Right now October is almost completely booked and November is starting to get full. We’ve had to start saying no to last minute sessions completely, even some newborns who we hate to turn away. If you want to work with us please think ahead. It also means I’ve become a bit slower to respond to emails. Because I’m not staying up until 1am anymore. It took me about five years but I’ve finally figured out that sleep is important! So I answer as fast as I can during the week and ignore email almost completely on the weekend. So if you email me on Friday you might not hear back until Monday or Tuesday when I finally catch back up. Because while I used to have ample nap time to answer emails during the weekend and still have good family time, I’m now spending my Saturdays on multiple soccer fields, balancing sessions and trying to go on dates with my hot husband! Sundays we’ve recommitted to being good members at church and having a family dinner which means IF we shoot on a Sunday we have just a few hours to do so. I won’t even overwhelm you with Kim’s weekend kid schedule! HA! We’re limiting our weekend time shooting so that our time can be spent with our families and not just our clients.

I write all of this in hopes that you all understand. That if it takes me a week to get back to you you don’t take it personally. That now maybe you’ll understand I just chose to read an extra bedtime story to my kids. It doesn’t mean our clients aren’t important to us or that we don’t love being booked solid, it just means I’m finally finding the right balance. And honestly, at the end of the day, at the end of my LIFE, reading that one extra book is a hell of a lot more important than an email.

I titled this post “on running a business” because it’s been on my heart a lot lately. Can you run a successful business where you don’t have a 24 hour email return policy or where you miss a few calls or where you plan some sessions last minute? Can your business be built on the stance that family comes first without making your clients feel like they come last? Is it possible to have both?

I’m not sure.

But I wanted you guys to know that we’re trying. That I’m working everyday to let my kids know they DO come first while also trying to help clients feel like they don’t come last. Being quick to apologize when emails are late. It’s a work in progress, certainly, and one that might never be complete. Balancing being a mom and a working mom is HARD and we know most of you totally get that. Thanks for all the grace that’s been given to us while we find the right balance… we seriously have the best clients around!

the LeMoine Family | St. Louis Family Photographers

Posted on September 26, 2011

Kim and I met up with the LeMoine family and had a great morning session! They are a super sweet and loving family with their daughter about to head off to college it was a great time to capture them all together!

Tis the season of family portrait sessions! Are any other photographers out there booked solid? Whew!

Isn’t Deb’s dress to die for? SO cute!

Thanks LeMoine family! It was great to spend the morning with you!

What do you do when a baby won’t sleep? | St. Louis Newborn Photography

Posted on September 23, 2011

Sometimes I think newborn photographers make it look like it’s easy to get babies to sleep peacefully though all the posing and moving and changing. And sometimes it is! Harper literally didn’t wake up once and her entire session was over in under two hours. That is almost a record for us!

Was Harper a dream? Totally.

But she’s also totally the exception!

Most babies take more time. They get hungry or fussy or just stay wide awake for no reason except, well, they want to be awake! It’s those babies where we really have to work our magic and pull out all of our tricks to keep them sleepy.

And yet, there are still a stubborn few that really just don’t want to sleep for us!

Jaxton was a sweet little guy and not fussy, just not tired either.

Now you wouldn’t know it from the images we shared because eventually we DID get him to sleep! We always do, some just take a LOT more time than others. So the question is, what do you do with a baby that’s wide awake but not hungry or crying, just calm?

You photograph them!

We don’t blog many of the wide awake shots we get sometimes because we show what we would consider our favorites or our ideal shots. Awake babies aren’t safe to pose in our often used poses and can fuss easily so we want to show all of you the sleepiest of sleepy babies posed in sweet little positions! But I wanted to share some of the things we do when a baby just won’t sleep in case anyone else runs into that problem!

One shot we might try with a wide awake+calm baby is the head shot:

I wish I had a pull-back shot of this but I don’t… so I’m going to tell you what’s going on where you can’t see!

Kim is holding onto Roman’s right hand/arm and both legs and I’m standing above him (on a step ladder because our table we shoot on is waist high). His left arm was calm but his right kept flailing so Kim held on for dear life which in turn totally calmed him. He felt secure (like he was swaddled) and very calmly looked around.

Now we know a newborn can’t see all that far, they dart their eyes around a lot and sometimes they even go cross-eyed so you have to be super patient. We adjusted his head numerous times too because he kept looking to the right but the light was to his left. And then I waited. The second he even sort of looked my direction I snapped. And out of numerous shots I got, the one above of him looking directly at me that was a keeper. Was it worth all the time waiting and readjusting?

Of course! We got the shot dad wanted with the hat they brought and we used time we’d otherwise have just been shushing him trying to force him to sleep. This way he had some awake time, we got a shot we needed and then he fell sound asleep!

Another thing we do is break out the macro lens. A lot of our macro shots are on wide awake babies because again, there’s little else we can do while we wait, so we play!

Sleepy little Jaxton above wasn’t sleepy until the last 30 minutes or so of his session. I think he was awake/feeding/fussing for maybe three hours? Once he finally fell asleep we rocked it out and filled their gallery with so many sweet+sleepy shots but during all the time he was awake? We played a little!

I call this, a foot study!

I mean seriously, how cute are baby feet?

Now, are macro shots easier with a sleeping non-moving baby? YES! It makes me SO dizzy when feet are flying at the lens! HA! But in most of the shots Kim was holding the legs so only the feet were moving and since the baby’s awake (meaning you can’t do much else) it’s ok to load your card with out of focus shots as they move around!

All I’m saying here, I guess, is PLAY! When a baby isn’t sleepy (but isn’t screaming or eating) don’t panic and go into full “get baby to sleep” mode. Take a little time and play with different shots you CAN do while a baby is awake! And once all of those are exhausted THEN go into baby whisperer mode and get that kid to sleep!

Kind of a random post for a Friday! Have a great weekend!

Sophia | St. Louis Newborn Photography

Posted on September 22, 2011

The blog is light because we are in the midst of BUSY SEASON! If you read a lot of photography blogs you’ll start to hear it over and over again… all of us photogs loving and complaining at the same time about the fall busy season! We are having 2-5 sessions per week which is a lot for us and we’re working our hardest to keep up! Bear with us, we have lots of fun stuff for this little blog once winter hits and there’s not as much happening!

————————-

On to SWEET Sophia!

We LOVED hanging out with her awesome+creative parents! Mom, Kristin, works for Feast Magazine and asked us to do the scale shot just in case the magazine wants to announce her new bundle!

I hope you all saw Kim’s awesome behind the scenes post about how we got that shot! HERE!

Dad, Tim, is also super creative and he asked us to get this shot…

This was certainly the first time we’ve photographed a newborn with a banjo!

Thanks Brashares family! It was so great to meet you and photograph your adorable baby girl!

Photoshop magic & keeping babies safe | St. Louis Newborn Photographers

Posted on September 19, 2011

Jodie & I talk all the time about one of the major reasons we merged together to become Fresh Art; to be able to do some really great newborn shots in the safest way possible.  It’s not a big secret that a lot of this is done through the magic of Photoshop, but I thought I’d touch on this again, to remove any doubt.   We NEVER put a baby in any sort of danger.  Sometimes it may *look* that way, and so as a caution to other photographers who may want to try these sort of things, it’s always done by composite, or a merged layers shot.

Sophia’s parents came in specifically asking for our hanging scale shot, and as I just finished editing it, I’ll show you the pieces that went into achieving this shot:

First we started getting shots of the empty scale hanging.  And since it wanted to turn to the side, and we wanted it head on, dad stood on one side holding the scale in position:

I was on the other side and grabbed it from the other side, being careful to keep it in the same position:

We also wanted to make sure we got her weight to read correctly, so we took this one:

Now we just need the sweet little baby!  Since we already had all the other “parts” of the shot, we just needed her tucked inside, and it didn’t matter that the scale was actually resting on something, or that my hand was holding onto it the whole time. So we piled up blankets to be the base support, and it didn’t matter what the top of the scale was doing either.

Safe and secure and never actually “hanging”…. ah, the wonders of Photoshop!

Kristin and Tim… more photos and your official sneak peek coming soon!

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