You Wanna Piece of Me?

Said in my best New Jersey accent. :) No not really but I thought I would take a few moments to talk about  myself and my "art".

First and foremost I want you all to know that I am incredibly honored and extremely grateful that you have entrusted me with the monumental task of capturing your memories.  That being said I also want you to know that a "piece of me" goes into everything that I create.  In a roundabout way I consider myself an artist and therefore everything I create comes right from my heart.  Whether it is a gorgeous 20"x30" gallery wrapped canvas print of your family, a custom made flower or headband for your hair, or a super hero cape or whimsical guitar strap or spring purse.  Each and every item is made with all my heart and soul.  Sometimes there is literally blood, sweat and tears that went into the final product.  Your portraits, hair accessories or hand sewn goodies represent me and how I feel about you or your family.  I know of no better way to express my love or admiration than to "make" something for you.  When I am photographing your child I am watching him or her as a parent does, looking at them with the same kind of love that I have when I watch my own children.  These precious moments or connections happen so quickly that my heart swells and tears often come to my eyes.  They will only be this way for a short time.  Unfortunately time marches on and we are left with nothing but our memories. 

I am an artist and a storyteller of sorts and I take my "job" very seriously.  You might not ever get the opportunity to capture these precious souls in this way ever again.  It is my pleasure to help you preserve these magical moments and "make" something special just for you. 

Now enough of the fluff let's get down to business...photos of course.  Here is a small sampling of some images that moved me or spoke to my soul over the last year. 

This little sweetie is Abbie and I just adore her.  It is quite a miracle that she is even here and her sweet parents are enjoying every minute with her.

You all remember Christina and Landan right.  Well what you don't know is that Christina was in a life threatening car accident a few years ago and her family didn't know if they would get the chance to have any more time with her.  Again another of God's miracles.

These sweet little girls are Kameryn and Regan and I'm sure you remember them from a few weeks ago. The miracle here is that I got this one precious moment with 2 very lively, active little girls.

Here we have beautiful little Taylor.  She is a quiet little thing and it's a lot harder than it looks to get her to make the connection with me that you see here.

Speaking of Taylor here she is again.  This time I was lucky enough to capture her in a moment of pure joy.  You can see it right on her face.

Little Mr. Blue Eyes here is Lance.  There is a special place reserved in my heart for this little guy.  What you can't see here is that he was not exactly happy to have my camera in his face when we first started.  I think he warmed up a bit don't you?

This is Isaac and yes technically we are related.  Isaac is a very fiesty, spunky little boy so to get this calm, serene moment made my heart skip a beat. 

Yes I know, VA VA VOOM!  Let me reintroduce Janna.  We met up for senior photos this last year and this photo is proof of what a little patience can do.  With seniors I often spend a great deal of time getting them to relax and be themselves.  This photo was one of the very last shots of the day.  I think all my yapping must've worked.

This cute little duo is Annie and Elliot.  We have been "friends" for awhile now and I get so excited everytime I get to work with them.  This particular photo was taken at their own home so you can see how comfortable they really were.  Pure love baby!!

And last but certainly not least is the Rogers clan.  This is one of my all time favorite photos...EVER!  It was completely spontaneous and perfect!  Again a little direction and a lot of patience and this is the payoff.

There a hundreds of other photos from 2009 that I would love to share with you but there just isn't the time or the space on my little 'ol blog.  Like I said before my heart and soul goes into everything I do and it is an absolute pleasure to do something that I love so much every single day. 

Thank you from the bottom of my heart,

Angela

***edited to add*** Technically the photo of Kameryn and Regan was not from 2009, it was just a couple of weeks ago.  I felt that it fit perfectly with todays topic so I included it anyway.

It's been a rough week

but I'm back in action.  I was sidelined with a yucky case of bronchitis and a nasty sinus infection.  Now my poor little Logan has it too.  Luckily he's on meds so he should be good to go soon.

I thought that for todays post I would introduce you all to Adrian.  He is a sweet little guy I was lucky enough to photograph before the holidays.  You might remember his gorgeous mama Nayitha...

And don't forget his spunky big sister Bella.  She is quite the little helper and loves to "talk" to "her baby."

I am often asked when is the best time to photograph your newborn.  My typical response is before they are 2 weeks old.  That way they are still sleepy and can easily curl up for the sweet blanket or basket shots.  Plus they still have that yummy new baby smell.  :)

 However I have to say that if you can't make it in in the first 2 weeks that's ok.  Just come as soon as you can.  I had 2 extremely difficult c-sections and was under doctors orders not to do ANYTHING.  So when you tell me you aren't up to photos at 2 weeks I completely understand.  I also want to say that I am very aware and respectful that you have just given birth and might not feel ready to walk the runway yet.  I promise that I never ask you to do anything you aren't comfortable with and I can easily disguise any post baby body issues.  It is much more important to me to capture and document the beautiful new baby than worry about exactly how old he is. 

Here is one more glimpse of sweet baby Adrian.  Look at those lucious little lips!  Oh and the soft "fur" on his arms and back.  Even now, a couple months later and I still want to cuddle him right up and rock him to sleep. 

Thanks again for the privledge of photographing your sweet little family Nayitha.  You are all truly beautiful!  Welcome to the world little guy!

That's all for now folks,

Angela

***Product Spotlight***

Today I would like to take a few minutes and introduce The Gallery Wrapped Canvas.  For those of you who have been to my home studio, I'm sure you have noticed that I have several of these beauties hanging around.  They are by far my very favorite product.

Now remember everyone I work best photographing people not products. :)  Anyway this canvas is a collage of my 2 cuties that is hanging in my office.  It is 16"x20" and hangs directly on my wall.

This fiestly little thing is my 8 1/2 year old Savanna.  Again it is 16"x20" but she rests beautifully on my fireplace mantle.  Just to be fair I have another one in the exact same size of my 5 year old Logan sitting right next to Savanna on the mantle. 

Let's take a closer look shall we.  The term Gallery Wrapped refers to the type of canvas.  The image is printed slightly larger than the final size and then it is wrapped around a thick wooden frame.  Hence the term Gallery Wrapped Canvas.  That's Savanna's red sweater you see wrapping around the corners to the back side of the canvas.  In the collage below I designed it to have 2 photos so it would be white wrapping around to the back.

This is a close up of the actual canvas.  It is a bit hard to tell from just a photo but it has a gorgeous texture that makes me swoon.  Yes folks that's right I said swoon.  The photo is actually printed onto high end gallery worthy canvas and then sprayed with a special canvas laminate to protect it from scuffs and scratches and give it UV protection.

All Gallery Wrapped Canvas come ready to hang the moment you receive it.  Framing paper covers the back of the canvas, with metal hangers and bumpers applied to the corners.  You can literally hang your fine art up as soon as you get home with no additional work needed.  Unless of course you actually use a tape measure and level when you hang things on the walls.  :)

Gallery Wrapped Canvas can be ordered in a mulitude of sizes and styles.  As usual all the custom design work is done by yours truly so if you can imagine it I can probably create it.  A Gallery Wrapped Canvas is truly a piece of fine art and deserves to be displayed as such.  I personally feel that they are a beautiful way to document your story.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you enjoyed our little journey into the world of canvas.  Stay tuned for future exciting installments in the world of photography products.  Oh and please be careful in all this snow!

Dreaming of spring!

Angela

Overheard while eating dinner one night last week...

Logan: Is Do You Think You Can Dance on tonight?

Savanna: No it's cold and they don't have pants.

Rob and I: snicker, snicker, snicker



Apparently, even though she has danced for more than 6 years, Savanna believes dancers do not wear pants.  Not sure what she does with hers when she gets dropped off. :)

Product spotlight coming later in the week.
Ta Ta For Now,
Angela

Sneak Peak for Kjersti and Jay

I only have a minute to post as I am still trying to recover from Betty my old computer's demise.  Kjersti and Jay have been patiently waiting for the photos of their girls so I thought I would give them just a little taste.  I'll let the rest of you in on a little secret.  Photos of sibilings together at this age (about 1 & 3) are INCREDIBLY difficult.  When I am able I always try to get something.  As a mother myself I know first hand how precious the shots of the kids together are.  Well enough rambling...

(as usual click the photo to enlarge)

When I saw this photo my heart did a little back flip and I let out a small gasp.  Look at these beautiful girls-together!!!  Obviously I am not their mamma but I think all of us mothers out there can collectively sigh and imagine this photo hanging prominently in Kjersti and Jay's home.

Thank you again Kjersti and Jay for all your patience.  I am diligently finishing your photos right this very minute.  I promise they will be online for you by tonight. 
XOXOXO
Angela

I'm back!!

After a few minor, ok major, hiccups I'm finally back to work.  Eleanor is running beautifully and I'm finally able to send and receive emails.  Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah!  Obviously I am behind on several things but everything should be caught up soon.  Thank you all so much for your patience.  If you have emailed me in the last week or so and have not heard back please send it again.  I have not had any email access until this morning.

Barring any unforseen problems things will be back to normal here very soon!
Thanks y'all!
Angela

Well there's good news and there's bad news...

The good news is I have a new computer.  The bad news is the old one crashed and burned taking my emails, contacts, itunes music and some photoshop data with it.  Oh and I guess you could add the cost of the new computer plus a minor flesh wound on my right hand to the list of bad news. 

Without further ado I would like to introduce Eleanor.

Yes that's right folks her name is Eleanor.  As in Eleanor the Mustang Shelby GT 500E that Nicholas Cage's character Memphis Raines longed for in Gone In 60 Seconds. 

I'm sure you can see the resemblence right?  She is black and silver and lightning fast, just like Eleanor.

Plus look at her sleek exterior.  I certainly could not ask for a finer specimen.  She's a beauty that's for sure. 

Just for comparisons here is her namesake.  Gorgeous right!!

Let's talk just briefly about the bad news, but I won't dwell on it though.  I still have no email access plus all my old emails and contacts are gone.  I lost all my itunes music and some important photoshop data.  Is there a chance of getting them back you ask?  I have no idea.  I am by far one of the most computer illiterate people out there.  I can run photoshop with my eyes closed but don't ask me to do anything with the rest of the computer.  For that we have the good folks at PC Laptops (http://www.pclaptops.com/) at 745 S. State Street in SLC.  To say they hooked us up would be the understatement of the century.  We brought Betty (the old computer) in Thursday evening for them to have a look.  Shortly after returning home we got a call with the news of impending doom.  The internal fan inside the CPU seized and literally fried the motherboard.  Of course I needed a translation to understand the diagnosis.  Basically we were probably only days maybe even hours from a fire obviously completely destroying Betty and possibly our home and family as well.  I suppose the bright side is that we caught it before the utter destruction.  The bad news was that I needed a new computer STAT!

Of course the cost of a new computer caused my heart to stop for a brief moment while I processed the news.  After sleeping on it Rob called Ryan at PC Laptops back and relayed the news that it was just too much, we couldn't do it.  Ryan and Jason had our backs though.  They were able to give us last years model and supe it up for our needs at a SUBSTANTIALLY lower price.  I was able to commense breathing at this point and started crossing my fingers that they would be able to recover any of my data from Betty.  The story gets even better at this point.

I have several outstanding photo sessions to work on and be completed right away so I needed Eleanor to be ready ASAP.  Ryan, Jason and Eric at PC Laptops stayed almost 2 hours passed closing on Saturday night to get us ready and out the door.  Plus they didn't kick us out when my kids acted like monkeys in the store.  Let's just say that I still know nothing about computers except that PC Laptops rocks!  They have earned our business FOR LIFE.  That says a lot for someone who works in a industry dominated by little white machines with a emblem of a fruit on the back.  Ryan, Jason and Eric Thank You, you guys are amazing!

Oh I guess I should elaborate on the minor flesh wound on my right hand.

See it's really not that bad right? :)  Friday night I was getting ready for some weekend crafting with my kids.  A forced diversion thanks to Betty's demise.  While kneeling on the floor near my "office" the top of my right hand rolled over the metal strip seperating the carpet from the vinyl.  Basically I filleted my middle knuckle right off. 

I won't show photos of the actual wound as it's a bit gory for a photography blog.  Anyway it took quite a while to stop the bleeding and get it wrapped up.  One of Rob's flight students is an Orthopedic Surgeon whom we affectionately call Dr. Dan.  He came by Saturday after their flight lesson and looked at it.  He brought me some special Coban tape and told me to keep pressure on it and not get it wet for 3 or 4 days.  I was of course embarassed by my accident prone antics.  He laughed and said not to worry, I wasn't the worse case he'd seen. 

I was feeling much better this morning but there was still more bad news.  In order to keep the wound dry I wouldn't be able to go for my sanity swim at the gym this morning.  Boo hoo you say right.  Well I'll let you in on a little secret.  That weekly swim of mine keeps my head on straight.  All that back and forth, back and forth forces me to forget about my crazy life and just keep swimming, just keep swimming.  So to say that I was a bit sad this morning is putting it mildly.  I suppose I can say that I'm over it and I seem to be functioning ok so far.  Unless of course it's my alter ego doing all this blogging.   Well now that I have bored you all to tears with the sad story of my life I guess it's time to get back to work. 

To those of you waiting for your proofs-I promise their coming.  I'm just a little gimped up at the moment so bear with me.  :)

Hopefully the next post will be short and sweet with just a few lovely photos.

Over and Out,

Angela