Sweet Offerings

Valentine's Day. Some people hate it, curse it and otherwise ignore it. I'm not one of those people.
Pink is my favorite color and I have a sweet tooth the size of Alaska. So a day that's big on both... yeah, I love it.

I don't get caught up in the 'Hallmarkiness' of the day though. John and I tend to avoid crowded restaurants and rarely exchange 'gifts'.  However, if I happen to get flowers, or cupcakes, or something pretty and sparkly from the hubs... well, I don't hate that either.

I like to celebrate it the way we did as kids, before romance was involved, by telling my friends how much I love them. And, since my best friend IS my husband he fits in quite nicely to the loveliness of the day :)

In honor of Valentine's Day I am spreading some love to my friends by sharing a sweet offer on Engagement Photo Sessions.

Book an E Session in the month of February and I'll give you a $20 credit on your print order!*

*A session is considered booked after a date has been selected and a 50% retainer fee has been paid. 
*Session must be booked on or before 2/28/2011. 
*Session date must be before 12/31/2011. 

Craft time is the right time... to cover your hands with glue.

Today I'm being crafty, working on a surprise for a special someone, and I realized I don't have the right kind of glue.  I have the kind that comes in a brown jar with a brush in it and I have glue sticks, but what I need is Elmer's glue.

I don't know about you, but I can't look at a bottle of Elmer's School Glue without fighting the urge to coat my hands in glue.  My palms to be exact. You know what I'm talking about. Grade school. Craft time. Glue.  First, you smear glue on your hand. Let it dry and repeat until you have a glue handprint. Then, you peel it off trying to keep your glue handprint in one piece. Y'all did this too, right??

Here's a tee-tiny hint at what I'm making.

Focus on Fitness

Bobbi + Mike are a husband and wife photography team based in Indianapolis. I've followed their blog for a while and Bobbi periodically blogs about being on the healthy train. She recently started a new train and I hopped on. Now that Olivia is 10 months old I don't feel like I can get away with the "I just had a baby" excuse any longer. I also subscribe to the school of thought that my image is a division of my brand. I believe that brides book out of emotion and want a photographer that is not just going to snap great pictures, but also someone that is going to help make their wedding experience fun and fabulous. In the end, what makes Jessi D Photography different than the hundreds of great photographers in the area (other than price at the moment)? ME. JDP is the only place that has me.

Since I am selling myself as much (if not more) than my skills as a photographer I think it is important to look and feel my best. If I am confident behind the camera, my brides will be confident in front of it.

Fitness is also another way for me to connect to my clients. I don't know a woman that didn't think about getting in shape before her wedding. Even naturally thin (lucky!) girls want to look their absolute best on their wedding day. Wouldn't it be awesomesauce to find new running buddies this way?

So, I am introducing the first 'column' on my blog. Focus on Fitness.

Today's FoF starts with a thank you to Bobbi for the encouragement. Next is a shout out to the Y's up at Hampstead. You are always clean and non-judgy. I love that your cardio room is upstairs with a view of the beautiful Hampstead farm. I love/hate your gravity classes that give me noodle legs. The only thing I don't like about you is that you make me wish I lived in Hampstead, and that just isn't in the budget... for now :)

This month I am focusing on cardio so these shoes are my besties. I. Heart. ASICS.

Looking Past the Fear

I wouldn't call myself a control freak, but maybe (if I'm keeping it real) I should. I am impatient and imperfect and I get anxious waiting. I'm going through a transitional phase trying to create a new normal - a new daily routine. Now that I'm my own boss I have to learn to be productive, while not being too hard on myself.
I also have to take a huge step out of my comfort zone and ask others for help. My success this year relies heavily on other photographers and brave clients willing to take a chance on a newbie.

I am committed to put in the work, now I have to look past the fear and move forward.

*This may seem like a random portrait, but I was experimenting when I took it and I absolutely adore it. It's a reminder for me to try new things and take risks. 

2010 Favorites

This year brought change, surprise and happiness. First, John and I became parents. It's cliche to say that becoming a parent changes your life. Duh, of course it does. But, it changes in ways I never expected. Every thought, tear, smile, worry, headache, joy, moment of sleep .. ever.ry.thing. revolves around a tiny baby.  Becoming a mommy didn't change my life, it re-defined it. It re-defined ME.  To quote Ramona from the Real Housewives of New York,  "I'm going through a re-newal"

I also stepped out of my comfort zone and decided to finally take the plunge into a photography career. I will be a full-time-f'real-self-employed-photographer starting next week. I am a little terrified (is it possible to be a little terrified?) and extremely excited to see what 2011 has in store for me.

Here are some of my favorite portraits of 2010. Do you have a favorite?

Michelle and Josh (click to see more)

Augustine and Mark (click to see more)

Beth and Kirby (click to see more)

 Jessica and Matt (click to see more)

Sarah and Jason (click so see more)

And, naturally, Olivia! You know I couldn't post just one... do you know how hard it was to pick three?

The Slide

We all have stories that our parents tell and re-tell about us through the years. My story is the slide and my Dad can tell it as if it happened yesterday.  I was terrified of the slide. I’d try to be brave, inching my way towards the edge until I’d freeze in fear. Crocodile tears ensued until my Dad climbed up to save me. 

Finally, one day I inched just far enough (probably on accident) to slide and from that moment I was hooked. Instead of crying at the top of the slide I laughed and squealed, then cried when it was time to leave.

For the last few months I have been sitting at the top of the slide, staring at the long drop, white knuckles gripping the metal bar… afraid and excited. Last week, I let go and remembered how much fun it is to slide.

Nine Months. How'd you do that?

My baby girl is almost 9 months old. I've been thinking about her shoot for a while and I knew I wanted it to be semi Christmas themed. I love the look of portraits in front of a Christmas tree, but a big sparkly tree is just TOO much temptation for a 9 month old. I knew if I plopped her in front of our tree that I'd never get her to look at the camera. Enter brainstorming.

I decided to put her in front of a white background with lights strung all around. I got some 'stuffing fluff' to look like snow and some over-sized ornaments for props. When I started setting up I realized that the light strands were green and did not look good against a white background.

I replaced the white blanket with some black fabric and got the look I was going for.

Here's a shot of the full set up.

The black fabric and lights are draped across the back of our couch. There's a big window to the right and we used a reflector (seen on the left) to shine light on the cream tile just in front of Olivia. This bounced light around and lit her very well. She is sitting about 3 feet in front of the background and I shot with my aperture wide open (f1.4 on my Canon 50mm fixed lens). This is what caused the lights to blur and gave me exactly what I had in mind. I ditched the 'stuffing fluff' because it looked blah against the black background.

John stood over my shoulder trying to get her to look and smile. He must have said something hilarious on that first shot!

Olivia just started clapping this week and I was so happy to capture it in this shoot. 

Once I was dialed in and could see on my LCD exactly what I had pre-visualized I shot, shot and shot some more.

She was moving a lot so I had to compensate with my camera settings. I changed the Auto Focus to AI Servo, which continuously focuses as the shutter is depressed. I also changed the Drive mode to Continuous. This means when I pressed the shutter and held it down I'd shoot approximately 3 images per second. Using these settings together allowed me to get a ton of images in focus no matter how much she wiggled and giggled. 

That's a LOT of pictures but... really.. how am I supposed to pick just one (or 10)??  I need to start brainstorming now if I'm gonna top this for her 1 year shoot!