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the studio. | St. Louis Newborn Photographers
Posted on May 19, 2010
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!
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
Baby Will | St. Louis Newborn Photographers
Posted on May 18, 2010
Today Kim and I got to do TWO big+fun things…
1. hang out with Kristie Cromie of L Photographie and
2. play in our new studio!
And both were totally awesome! As was meeting her sweet husband Mike and even sweeter little guy Will!
Kristie is a super talented photog here in St. Louis and it’s always amazing to meet other photographers… especially when you respect their work, have lots in common and can learn so much from each other. It really was the perfect session to break in the studio!
Today was the first sunny day in WEEKS but it was still too chilly to photograph Will outside all naked, which is what we were dying to do, so instead we bundled him up and shot the new family… in front of our front porch… which is funny b/c having to look around your own yard for a new and exciting location was HARD!
Luckily this family wasn’t hard to make look beautiful! Doesn’t Kristie look AH-MAZING for just having a baby 7 days ago?
Being a photographer herself, Kristie looked at our work and requested a few shots… this one with the owls was one she wanted b/c the owls are from his nursery!
Even with LOTS of awake time this little man certainly delivered the goods! He posed like a champ! AND it was AWESOME to have all of our props at hand in the studio! It is seriously going to make photographing newborns even better!
Thanks to the Cromie family for coming over today and sticking around long enough for us to get all the shots we wanted! We had a blast and can’t wait to hang out again soon!
Filed Under newborn | 8 Comments
Harper | St. Louis Newborn Photographers
Posted on May 10, 2010
On Mothers Day, we got to hang out with 6 day old little Harper…
This was one anticipated little girl! You might remember her story HERE. It was so amazing to see Amy with a baby in her arms, for Colton to have a sister and for Jim to be the Daddy to a little girl. It was the PERFECT way to spend our Mother’s Day!
Seriously, is she not gorgeous?? And she was so sleepy! Which is great for us, like putty in our hands!
This is also a great time to share that we have big plans to expand our offerings for newborns! We will still be offering the full Fresh Art newborn & maternity experience, which includes us coming to your home, but beginning in June we’ll also be able to offer studio newborn sessions. Not only will this allow us to reduce the rate for someone who is only wanting a newborn session or willing to come to us, but also allow us to be able to photograph more newborns. Win, win! Jodie & I will be busy getting ready a dedicated studio space in her home and we couldn’t be more excited! More details soon!
Filed Under in home session, newborn | 6 Comments
lucas – [St. Louis Newborn Photographers]
Posted on April 2, 2010
*** (March Fresh Favorites winner will be announced in the morning!)***
If you had told me even a week ago that we would have a new, four day old baby, outside on April 1st I would have said, “HAHAHA! APRIL FOOLS right?” But we did! Because St. Louis, being so very St. Louis, went from winter to July in about a week when temps hit almost 90 yesterday! Who has high 80′s on April 1st? I guess we do.
So we totally embraced it and little Lucas couldn’t have been happier with the warm breeze on his tush!
Jessica and Gabe live in the city and with the hot temps allowing us to go outside Kim and I were DYING over the endless possible places to stick that tiny baby! But when we walked to the back of their building and I saw the fire escape I about peed my pants I was so excited! And Kim, being awesome, took the shot that was in my head and made it an awesome reality! And Jess and Gabe were AWESOME about not freaking out when we took their 4 day old baby up three flights of stairs, laid him down and photographed him! HA! Thanks for being so cool you guys!
This kid seriously slept through the entire session… a true dream baby! And it was great b/c every time he even squirmed we just handed him to Jess who nursed for us on demand all afternoon… worked like a charm! A full baby truly is a happy baby!
Thanks Jessica and Gabe and little Lucas for an awesome and WARM afternoon!
Filed Under newborn | 10 Comments
behind the scenes – [St. Louis Maternity & Newborn Photographers]
Posted on March 12, 2010
… of which Jodie may kill me, and I am shaking a bit at her potential retaliation! Ha!
Remember this shot from Jessica & Gabe’s maternity?
Here’s how Jodie captured it:
Yes, it had rained all night before, and clearly dirty ground…. but pretty much every session you’ll find one of us laying on the ground for a killer shot!
And yesterday, at a huge, but fun commercial shoot…. testing the light and settings. ::snicker::
Sorry, Jodie, but I adore this photo of you. Silly face and all! It just shows your fun personality and how much fun we have at shoots, even when we are at the end of a full day and exhausted! And seriously, those amazing eyes framed by the best curls ever! Love you…. and totally running away to Gulf Shores now!
Filed Under behind the scenes | 6 Comments
Colin – [St. Louis Newborn Photographers]
Posted on January 25, 2010
Kim and I met up with sweet little Colin, 8 days old, and his 1 year old brother yesterday afternoon. Colin, very much like his cousin, was a VERY wide awake baby! He certainly gave us a run for our money! And so did his busy brother Nathan! But MAN were these boys adorable! And we absolutely LOVE their family! We’re getting to know their mom, aunt and Grandma pretty well and just love spending time with them! Thanks Tina, Maggie and Midge for making our afternoon so much fun!
Could Nathan be any cuter? I mean seriously!
And little Colin, while awake most of the time, barely made a peep! Soooo sweet and cuddly!
We have a BUSY week! Two more newborn sessions, a meeting at Children’s Hospital and a T.V. interview! More on THAT later!
But can I tell you that my Monday freaking morning started out with an entire bag of Goldfish AND pretzel sticks being dumped on the ground? Oh and I have NO clean underwear. And well, I can just tell it’s going to be one of those days. My goal? Survival. And to catch up on the massive laundry pile that’s threatening to give up and walk out the door! Oh and go buy diapers and pick up dry cleaning. And get the girls to and from school. And keep Bubba busy and not making huge goldfish messes. When I read that THESE photographers stay in bed until 10am on Monday mornings it made me want to cry… how nice would that be?
Time to get moving! GO!
Filed Under newborn | 8 Comments
sweet little brynn – [St. Louis Newborn Photographers]
Posted on January 20, 2010
Jodie and I got to meet sweet little Brynn yesterday. Mom Sherri is a dear friend of mine, our boys are best buddies… as in, my Samuel will go home to spend the night with him on Friday, and Sherri and I say, “see you sometime Sunday!” because it’s just a given that they spend the entire weekend together… and vice versa.
I also remember not toooo long ago, Sherri and I talking about how we were both SO done with having babies, I’m sure she was teasing ME about having another, but both being of “advanced maternal age” we laughed and laughed… DONE! But Miss Brynn had other plans for their family in mind! And what a sweet little surprise she is!
Sherri told me Brynn is a very easy baby, and they hardly see her eyes open during the day…. and she was spot on! Brynn was putty in our hands! And she’ll also be the very first star of our tutorial videos we are hoping to share very soon!!
Hope you love these, Sherri! (she purposely didn’t watch us so she could be surprised!) She looks so much like big sister Emma!
Filed Under newborn | 11 Comments