I know I’ve been teasing you with the new project Kim and I have been working on and TODAY IS THE DAY to announce it!

OMG you guys, I am SO excited to show you this!

It’s going to be the PERFECT fall session b/c it will make an INCREDIBLE Christmas gift… for your husband, the grandparents, or just to put away and give your kids someday! Seriously, I am dying over this!

And to give credit where credit is ABSOLUTELY due… we got the idea from Tara Whitney, one of my favorite photographers from out of California. She started doing these earlier this year and I know it’s inspired a lot of photographers in other markets to start offering them! Thanks for being awesome Tara!

AND this would not have come together without Kim and Jeff Koziatek (videographer) collaborating with me. The three of us make a great team and we can’t wait to show you some of our other videos in progress!

Your Life. The Movie.

Your life is a series of moments. Small moments. Fleeting moments. Beautiful moments. Real moments. Moments that all add up to equal the whole of your life. Your life that is worth capturing. Photography does just that. It captures those tiny moments. Frame by frame. Imagine being able to capture all the moments, even between the frames. Your complete interactions. Not just still images, but moving images too! With our home movie experience we are able to give you both. Two photographers and one videographer will be there to capture your family as they are, today. And with our digital package you will receive a DVD of your movie and a CD of all images! Let us capture your life.

Your Life. The Movie.

Enjoy!

the canatsey family from Fresh Art Photography on Vimeo.

Email me for dates available and all the incredible details of this AWESOME session!

***EDITED TO ADD*** Please make sure your comment is on THIS post! There have been lots coming in on random posts and those DON’T COUNT! Feel free to vote again on THIS post if your comment was on a different post!

Last month it was so fun to see Jamie and Elizabeth battle it out! I know they were both STALKING the comments and then Jamie ended up blogging the winner for me since we were on our way to Florida! Thanks again Jamie!

So let’s do it again people! Popular vote wins so feel free to enlist your family and friends to help you win this one!

The prize?

THREE 3×3 canvas covered accordion books!

These little books make AWESOME gifts and will be offered exclusively to our Mini Session clients this year! They include 10 of your favorite images from your session!

RULES: You can vote ONLY ONCE and it has to be on THIS post! The photo with the most votes wins! Comments will close tomorrow night at midnight and the winner will be announced Tues Sept 1st!

HAVE FUN!

#1: p kids

#2: jessie and BRIAN! HA!

#3: b family

#4: s family

#5: zoey

#6: k love light

#7: k family

Good luck everyone!

GO VOTE!

ALSO… we’re having our August contest over at Fresh Art too so head over there and vote next!

At the end of the road there are going to be pieces of your life you’ll be able to look back on and know that they shaped who you were. Who you REALLY were. And I really believe that more than events, it’s the people we meet that become those pieces. The pieces of the puzzle that make up, well, US.

There is a family I had in my life during a really difficult time. They accepted me for who I was, loved me and welcomed me into their lives with open arms. And the entire time neither they nor I realized just how hard of a time I was going through, because at least for me, in my life, I never figure out how big the bump in the road is until I’m well past it and driving smoothly. But knowing them changed me.

And because of them I got to meet a few other people that in my heart equal that time in my life too. People that although I didn’t know quite as well as that family, are still incredibly special and make up a big part of my story.

And tonight I got to photograph that family. The family that makes up a smaller piece but still a pretty major piece of my life. And it’s nothing I can even concretely put into words, but every time I see them it makes me happy. Like an “I’m home” kind of happy. And it’s like they are locked into some kind of secret time box b/c I’m always surprised when their kids are older and bigger and in high school. I actually tried to tell Katie this tonight at our session and I’m sure I made no sense, it’s just that b/c they are freeze framed in my life story I expect them to not change. Does that make sense?

Anyway. It was incredible to see them, to be in their GORGEOUS home and see how big and amazing their three boys are.

I am in love with this photo. I would die to look that cute just sitting with Chris! Katie, you are GORGEOUS! Scott, you’re pretty cute too! HA!

AND.

This is hands down my favorite series of photos ever…

Scott was pushing Katie, I was snapping away when he just jumped up there with her! It was the cutest thing you’ve ever seen and although these aren’t technically the best photos ever (as I was scrambling just to capture the moment!) I still love them!

Thanks Kemper family… you guys mean more to me then you know and I am so honored to have been able to capture your family tonight!

August favorites contest coming tomorrow!!!

First, October is almost fully booked! Last week I was worried about filling slots and this week I was inundated with inquiries. Not all of them are official so please contact me soon for fall bookings!

Second, I will shoot in November but I can not guarantee Christmas delivery  for any sessions after Nov 1st. Just FYI!

Third, I’m SO excited to announce our Halloween Mini Sessions!

Kim Weiss and I are working together again for these sweet little minis! Last year was so great, seeing so many kids in their costumes! A great tradition to start while they’re young!

Who wouldn’t want their child captured in their Halloween costume? SO FUN!

Email me at jodie@jodified.com with interest and I’ll send you the rest of the details!

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Tonight while I had the three kids in the tub I actually said, and I quote (myself)…

“No Bailey, Robin Hood is a good guy and doesn’t shoot baby Jesus.”

Seriously.

There should be a book of just all the random things you say as a parent!

In this case, we were talking about Fischer Price Little People!

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Parker and Grayson were both up most of last night. Grayson had a fever all day today too. It was a long day.

However I still somehow managed to be super crafty mommy today!

The girls and I splatter painted like Jackson Pollack, we traced their bodies on paper so they could decorate “them people” which are hanging above their beds currently and we made green slime out of cornstarch, water and food coloring.

We also took a trip to the doctor, had a quick playdate, jumped on the trampoline and got some chores done.

No work happened exactly but I had a great mommy day and that’s what my kids and I all needed. Especially while two of the three felt like crap!

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I have a Christmas toy swap idea floating around in my head I can’t wait to share with all of you…

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My kids were jumping in the living room two days ago and my camera somehow bounced off the shelf it was sitting on causing my GO TO 50mm 1.4 lens to break. Awesome.

HATE that I had to spend money on a lens I already HAD instead of putting that money towards a dream lens.

But it’s my fault for being careless with my camera I guess. I GUESS. Ugh.

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Kim and I are in the planning stages of the FIRST EVER newborn workshop geared towards experienced photographers! It’s in the EARLY stages but it’s SO fun! It will be out west somewhere most likely…

MAN I am such a tease!

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I’m wiped and am headed to bed before midnight tonight!

THAT my friends is a miracle. Good night!

Thanks to Debbie Mehlhaff for donating to my birthday party over at charity: water!

Donations can come in at any time, you don’t have to wait for my birthday!

Let’s ROCK this charity you guys!

You helped me win a blog contest… as a complete and total LONG SHOT… now help me HELP others! Spread the word!

I am all about trading work. I know that’s not good business but it’s good business for me and that’s all I care about!

Last year I traded three photo sessions in exchange for three hand crafted Christmas gifts for my kids. I have one client with kids all just a bit older than mine and we trade photos for her awesome hand-me-downs. Oh yes I do! Photos for hand-me-downs! It’s awesome! I trade for lots of things if the trade works out for both of us.

Of course, I like to work for money too though! HA!

Anyway, last year a client of mine posted images of these amazing paper dolls she had made on her blog and I fell in love with them! So she made me two adorable sets for the girl’s Easter baskets and I offered to do a quick mini session of her kids, that we rescheduled a million times until we finally got together!

And although I saw them last winter, they were both so BIG! I love watching my client’s children GROW each year!

Thanks Amy!

Oh yes people!

Rather than work on ANYTHING else tonight I just spent WAY TOO LONG putting some links up for you. Because I want to make my mom happy. Since she’s watching my kids tomorrow at the last minute so Kim and I can go photograph newborn twins! Thanks mom!

SO.

There is a “links” tab at the top of this page!

CHECK IT OUT!

Kim and I are working on a NEW project over at Fresh Art that I am DYING to share with you… which I will next week hopefully… but in the meantime here is a sneak peek of one little piece of the BIG project…

Actually, it’s only MY little piece of the BIG project! Kim has pieces too and so does SOMEONE else we’ve brought into the Fresh Art family!

And lets just say that if you love having images of your family just BEING YOUR FAMILY…

then you are going to be as obsessed with this project as we are!

Because trust me, Kim and I are DYING over here while it’s all being put together!

And as soon as all the pieces come together we’ll show you! I promise!

On October 11, 2009 I turn 30.

My mom asked me last week how I wanted to celebrate and since then it’s been in the back of my mind.

How do I want to celebrate?

Chris wanted a simple dinner out with best friends and he got that in Florida (too bad he ended up with food poisoning though!).

And that sounds nice, but too typical.

I’ll be 30.

30.

It’s a big deal to me.

The start of a new chapter. A new decade.

But a party seemed like a lot of work and a lot of money.

I just couldn’t decide.

Until today.

When I came across a video on Tara’s blog.

That gave me the solution to my birthday dilemma.

Watch this:

For my 30th birthday I am asking ALL OF YOU to donate $30 to charity: water.

It’s simple really. Don’t eat pizza this week. Skip the lunches out for a few days. And definitely don’t buy me a birthday present.

Instead go HERE and donate $30 to my birthday campaign!

Will you please do it?

My goal is to raise $5000 which would be enough to build one well. How cool is that? If we could all come together and build one well for people in need of clean drinking water? Can you imagine the impact?

A few years ago my dad went to Sudan to build wells in Lui. And it changed his life. Actually, he was on the trip PRIOR to the building of the wells and the video of the group that got to actually SEE clean water coming out of the wells our church helped build was pretty freaking fantastic. And since I can’t go dig a well myself, I think this might just be the next best thing.

Please help.

Wish me a HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY in style! And if you are having a birthday soon… wanna join me? Abbie? Anyone?

The challenge is out there!

How cool is this?

Laura and Dane were married in June.

June was the month I had 13 sessions, 2 out of town weddings and 1 catalog shoot. Chris was out of town for 4 days and Grayson turned one. And June led straight into July when I launched Fresh Art Photography with Kim Weiss. And I had over 20 sessions. And Bailey turned 4. Which led right into August when we had our first family vacation. And I’ve shot one wedding and 14 sessions so far.

Ummmm.

I have had a very busy summer.

Like it makes me wonder how I survived that much work busy summer.

And poor Laura and Dane got caught in the middle of it and they have been patiently (VERY PATIENTLY) waiting for their photos. Which I finally finished yesterday while I battled a case of the stomach flu… which sucked… but left me kid-free all day and night so if I wasn’t in the bathroom I was editing photos.

Their wedding was awesome.

It was awesome because THEY GET ME. They let me take photos how I like to take photos. They let me be creative. They just kind of let me do my thing and I seriously appreciate that. Because it leaves me with images that I really love and in the end I think they’ll love too.

It was awesome because Laura and Dane are so sweet to each other! AND THEY ARE SO YOUNG! They make me feel really really old, but it’s ok because they just made me remember how incredible it was to get married. And I know they will live happily ever after.

It was also awesome because their wedding party was a blast! The girls were SO sweet and fun to work with! They even gave me these awesome paper flowers (HUGE paper flowers) that they ended up not being able to use for decorations and they are now hanging from the ceiling in our dining room art room! Thanks girls!

AND it was awesome b/c their family and friends were so much fun! I knew some of them, have worked for some of them and just felt very at home the entire time. It was great.

Thanks Laura+Dane+family+friends… enjoy your photos!

Could they be any cuter? I love it!

For a while I wasn’t sure if I would do weddings anymore b/c they aren’t why I started Jodified BUT if I can find more couples like Laura and Dane I would do weddings all the time! So I am currently reworking my wedding packages to make them fit ME and my potential couples better. I’m excited about that and hope it means I’ll be able to find some more fun couples like L+D again soon!

ALSO… last note about my price changes coming on Sept 1st! THEY ARE A CHANGIN’ PEOPLE! Just wanted you to know!