It's been a busy week!

This has been such a great week, and I have met some wonderful people that have brought their children in for the Baby and Child Portrait Contest! I was just telling my husband tonight that just today I got 3 hugs from clients- and I am so thankful for them! To know that someone felt so great to reach out and say thank you with a hug is a treasure- I feel the same way about them all!

I wanted to share a few images with you from this week, it has been a BLAST! Keep watching - more to come!

Miss Ashlin

Here's Miss Ashlin- full of energy and cute as a button! If you look back earlier in the month, you will see that her brother came in recently and this time it was her turn!

With naturally curly hair that has as much bounce as she does when she moves, she's one lucky gal!

Here's one image that shows the FUN we have at the studio- hmmm, did I say bounce?

;)




Another one .... a bit more formal ....





I LOVE profile images, especially of children. I really believe that when you combine the right lighting, a cute little nose, sweet cheeks, and eyes that draw you in, that nothing could be better....

Meet Aiden- Sneak Peek!

Meet Aiden- he came in recently for a session for the Bebe Collection- and what a handsome guy he is!! He had the cutest hair- a tuft of long strawberry blonde fuzz right on top that his mom says she can't tame! I can't wait to see what color his hair ends up later, it's so pretty now!!

Here's a sneak peek of a couple of images from his session for his mom- so here you go, Jessica! Jessica will be picking one image in black and white from this session to be a part of an image collection later as part of the Bebe Collection.

When you see the image of Aiden and the fireman hat- his Dad is one of our amazing firefighters and rescue team members in Bloomington so this hat has a special place with Aiden's family. As you are reading this blog, take a moment to quietly thank our amazing team out there!!

Recent Session-

I had a wonderful family come in and we captured some images of these brothers before the baby's new haircut- aren't they beautiful? It was exciting to get to know this family - and I think they are pretty excited to share these images with their family! We had a hard time narrowing it down to their favorites, but the first one, by far, was everyones favorite- including mine! Thanks for sharing you family with me, Ravi!

Enjoy!








Enjoy!

Going to New Hampshire

Recently I was asked to speak at the New Hampshire state convention that will be held at the end of April in North Conway, New Hampshire. It is an honor to be asked back to New Hampshire and be able to share and spend time with other photographers who love what they do as much as I do!

Gosh, did I mention it was an honor to be going? The speaker lineup is AMAZING and it is a priviledge to be speaking in the same lineup as nationally known photographers and speakers such as Fuzzy Duenkel, Mike Fulton of TriCoast Photography, and Mark Garber and Jennifer Gilman.

So, needless to say the lineup is wonderful, the people of New Hampshire are great- and I have a little place in my heart for this conference- last year I entered their print competition and received a few awards, including the New Hampshire Court of Honor.

Even better, it looks like a group of us are going out for New England lobster- now what could be better?!

Sessions are booking FAST!!

The portrait contest- WOW! I can't believe the response from the Baby and Child portrait contest information that recently went out, and I can't wait to meet all of your little ones !! Stay tuned, I will be sharing pictures from some of these sessions soon!

Baby and Child Portrait Contest

Our children are the sweetest, silliest, cuddliest, brightest, and most wonderful little characters we know- so lets show them off! This year, Studio J Photography is hosting our first ever Baby and Child Portrait Contest, in conjunction with the Millers Professional Imaging Portrait Contest. We are so excited to bring this opportunity to you! Not only are there in studio prizes - there are GRAND CASH PRIZES to be won as well!!

So what's the catch? There is none! There is no session fee and no purchase requirement - we only ask you to make a $25 donation to a children's charity of your choice. Sessions will fill quickly- act fast!

Categories include: Color, Black and White/Sepia,
Special Needs and HumorousEach month, beginning in March and running through June, one overall in studio winner will be chosen within the studio to receive a $100 gift certificate from Studio J Photography. Then, All entries for the month will then be entered into the Millers Professional Imaging Portrait Contest.

Round 1 (March) must be photographed by March 19
Voting will be from March 22-31
Round 2 (April) must be photographed by April 19
Voting will be from April 22-30
Round 3 (May) must be photographed by May 19
Voting will be from May 22-31
Round 4 (June) must be photographed by June 19
Voting will be from June 22-30


Contest Sponsored by Millers Professional Imaging

THE DETAILS: Millers Professional Imaging is a professional image processing and printing lab that is now entering it's 6th year of their annual Baby and Child Portrait Contest. Entries are submitted online and voted on by Professional Photographers- the top 5 each month from each category will then be entered into the final round. From each category, a first, second and third prize will be chosen along with 2 honorable mentions. One portrait will be chosen as the Grand Prize Winner. From the final round, the Grand Prize Winner will receive $5000, $2000 for first place, $1000 for second place, $750 for third place and $500 for the honorable mentions. The cash prizes will be awarded to the parent(s) or guardian of the winning entries by Millers Professional Imaging.

MORE: No purchase is necessary and there is no fee to be entered into the contest. A $25 donation to a childrens charity of your choice is recommended in lieu of a session fee. For complete contest terms and conditions, please contact Studio J Photography .

It's a Hit!

Jennifer, one of our clients, recently got this great purse showcasing her kids- aren't they just darling?!

what I LOVE about these handbags and purses are that the materials are great, this one in particular is made of bridal satin. You get a preview of what your handbag looks like BEFORE it comes in, which of course makes the waiting so much more FUN! Even better: This one is called the "Large Eye Candy" bag... isn't that so true?! :)

Happy Valentines Day!!

Print Competition

Todayh I had another print competition and I am pretty happy with the results! This one was at the Professional Photographer Association of Northern Illinois and we had the opportunity to enter 8 different entries.

What is fun about print competition, I think, is the IMPACT the images can have. You give each image a title, they read the title and the image spins on a turntable around to the panel of judges. To see so much amazing work from great photographers is really inspiring. Here area a few of the images I entered, I have included the titles with my entries..... enjoy!

In The Hood (This image received 3rd place in the Portrait category and is a strong possibility to be going to our Regional competition next month)





Love You





My Secret Garden






Wet and Wild

The Kids Expo

Saturday was the Kids Expo at the interstate center and what a blast! Not only did we have a booth at the expo, but my own children were there enjoying themselves as well with periodic updates letting me know how much fun the expo was! If you were not able to attend, I have a picture to share of the expo booth.

A big thank you goes to Deanna for taking her time to help in the booth in the afternoon- thanks Dea!!

It was so great meeting everyone that stopped by, and SO MANY cute kids! WOW! I have to say our world is truely blessed by the beauty of our children. Being a photographer I look for the beauty in people, and each and every individual that walks by has a beauty about them- and it exists there in everyone.

Kids Expo!!

Visit Studio J Photography at the Kids Expo !

The expo is being held at the Interstate Center from 9 am to 4 pm- and we'll be there! When I talked to the Pantagraph yesterday, they are expecting up to 7500 people at the Expo this year- that's HUGE! There are all kids of things to see and do, be sure to check out the expo information . Stop by and say 'Hi', check out our new samples for our childrens line - Studio J Kids- we can't wait to show you!! We are sooo excited to be at the expo this year!!

10 Month old Cutie!!

Brenden and his family came into the studio today, and what a FUN session!! This baby is the happiest little guy, and I seriously can't wait to photograph him again and again and again. What a JOY! Here is a sneak peek of a few from his session!!

Olympia High School

I want to say a big thank you to SARAH, a senior a Olympia High School, for inviting me to come in to speak to select classes at Olympia High School about being an entrepreneur. Sarah was working on a project for a class she is taking at the Bloomington Area Vocational Center and was working on a class project. To find out more about the Bloomington Area Vocational Center, please visit www.bloomingtonavc.org . THANK YOU, Sarah, it was an honor being there and I enjoyed every minute of it!

It was a SNOW DAY!

I hope you all enjoyed your day today! Because of our 8 inches of SNOW overnight, the studio was closed today and we stayed home with our 4 little ones, enjoying the snow.

To make it an extra special day, we had a fun dinner- for the older kids (and adults) we had Chicken Tortilla soup- and it was yummy!! We partnered it with a corn casserole, and for the younger kids had good old fashioned homemade chicken noodle soup. My favorite web site for recipies is www.allrecipies.com . Here's the Chicken Tortilla recipe, and I highly recommend it!!

INGREDIENTS
2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
2 (14.5 ounce) cans chicken broth
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup chunky salsa
8 ounces corn tortilla chips
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (optional)

DIRECTIONS
In a large pot over medium heat, saute the chicken in the oil for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cumin and mix well. Then add the broth, corn, onion, chili powder, lemon juice and salsa. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 20 to 30 minutes.
Break up some tortilla chips into individual bowls and pour soup over chips. Top with the Monterey Jack cheese and a little sour cream.

ENJOY!