Buzzing Heads

Brynn is telling me that she is so tired that her "head is buzzing."  She wants me to put her to bed.  I am trying to get in this quick post before she unplugs my computer.

One word for this shoot: "Cute!!!!!"

Anna, so great seeing you and your beautiful family.  You look the same as you did when we played b-ball together in high school.  Lots of love!!!

Home for the Holidays

I went to another Mom's Together meeting today with my sister and Krissy.  Cheryl Pacilio gave a wonderful talk about "Finding Celebration in Everyday Motherhood."  It was awesome.

One thing she touched on briefly is there really are three things you want to take in to consideration when buying a gift for someone else:

   1.  Personality

   2.  Purpose

   3.  Plan/Prospect

This really resonated with me as I think about starting my Christmas shopping.  Yes, I said think about starting my Christmas shopping.  I even won a major award today because I was one of two women in the room (of a couple hundred women) who has not started shopping yet.  It is a source of major anxiety for me.  Shopping for someone else.  I think I put too much thought in to it and then I always second guess myself.  I really struggle with finding that perfect gift.

For example, I had my annual holiday get together last weekend with my college roommates and we had a little gift exchange.  All of these girls are very different from me.  We all have different career choices.  Different interests.  When we get together we enjoy each other very much, but then we go our separate ways until we meet up again next month.  It gives us more to talk about when we do see each other.  

I digress...I bought what I thought was the perfect gift.  The Island Song candle from Anthropologie in a beautiful shade of that turquoise that is so popular right now for decorating your home.  Similar to this one, but not blue.

I had to stop myself from picking my own gift (which I have done before and they always tell me I can't do that anymore).  I thought it was great and I just assumed they would love it too.  I am sure they would have loved it had they ever been in an Anthropologie and smelled the smell in there.  It is heavenly.  I want to move in there.  Brynn told me when we were there the other day that she wanted to work there.  Unfortunately they are not hiring for the holidays.  I tried.  Maybe next year, B.

Anyhoo, my point is that I need to think a little more about what people want for a gift rather than what I think they might want.

However, I do know what Faye wanted for Christmas, and her gift came a little earlier than they thought.  Eight weeks earlier to be exact.

Faye's little fighters, Bode & Jake, turned one month old on the 7th and have now been home for one week.  They are both snug as a bug in a rug in their new nursery.

Before they got to come home, they called the NICU at Delnor Hospital home for several weeks.  I was lucky to visit them when they were just a day old.

I am not going to lie...I have mentioned before how bad I am at telling twins apart.  I really struggle with it, so I am not going to pretend I know which is which.

I am 99% sure that this is Jake because he is the bigger one.

The boys are growing so fast already.  I picture that this is what they looked like in Faye's belly together.

These little rockstars are loving life and are home just in time to enjoy the holidays with their family.  Can you really ask for a better gift than that?

Scrum-dilly-umptious

A lot of blood, sweat and tears have gone in to my business venture.  MANY late nights I have spent on my laptop researching other photographers, reading forums, networking with other photographers, trying to improve not only my photography knowledge but also my business knowledge.  

I joined organizations such as PPA, PPANI, APPI, and WPPI to get as much exposure to all the different speakers, products and resources out there.

I took out Michael Barton's garbage, answered his phones, did his filing and tagged along on as many weddings and shoots as he would let me.  I tried to absorb it all and then evaluate it to see where I stood.  I didn't rush in to anything.

I love being able to share the information that has worked for me, and what has not worked, with other aspiring photographers.

Erica and I worked together as lifeguards at the Geneva Pool way back when.  I am so happy that we have reconnected to share our love for photography and I can help with getting her business off the ground.  You can check her out here.

Erica's husband, Craig, has been a friend of mine since I moved to Geneva in the 5th grade.  They now have a son named Kai.  Erica and I always talk about "your Kai" and "my Ky."

A girl needs some head shots to get her website going...

Obviously there is no snow on the ground...these were taken a few months ago.  This golden light was totally scrumptious.  Are they not the cutest little family?

Enjoy!

Feeling the love

The love in the room was warm.  It cast a beautiful light on everyone's faces and it smelled like cinnamon.  It was my new happy place.  Being surrounded by such supportive and loving people really just made my heart melt.  Seeing faces I haven't see in a while and also ones I just shot last week.  

I would say the party was a huge success and I am contemplating making it an annual event.

Let's get right down to business...

The giveaway drawing results are in.  I wish I could give something away to every single person who came.  But, then I wouldn't be a very good business owner, would I?

And the winners are...

Laurie Wendell is the winner of an 11x14 canvas print!

Katie Lanci is the winner of a free photo session!

Brittany Egan is a winner of a workshop seat!

Kate Rominski is the winner of an 20x24 print!

Yay!  Shoot me an email and we will discuss :)

Also, without further ado...The Workshop announcement that you have all been emailing me about:

The Workshop will be on Thursday, February 10th, 2011 from 10am-2pm.  Space will be quite limited, so I am throwing around the idea of adding some more dates.  It will be at Graham's 318 Coffee Shop on Third Street in Geneva.

I am really passionate about this workshop and have a very specific purpose for why I wanted to share my knowledge.  One of my guests at my party on Friday asked me why I would want to share any of my secrets or why would I want to teach people how to take better photos for themselves.  Wasn't I afraid of losing clients??  In actuality, it is quite the opposite.  I aim to educate my clients and friends so that they have a better understanding of how difficult professional photography really is and how much time goes in to making artwork for them.  I think there is a common misconception today in our digital age that if you buy a nice camera, that you can take nice photos and call yourself a professional.  Nikon and Canon are not helping my cause by marketing to the masses how easy photography is.  Who is taking the photo?  You or your camera?  If you shoot on Auto or Program, well, the camera is the boss.  I want you to be the boss.

I want to take something complicated and try to explain it in layman/non-technical terms so that my clients can appreciate all that goes into a well composed image.  I also hope that they will be better at taking those everyday snapshots of their kids and still let me do their portraits ;)

Seating is limited, so I will be signing you up on a first come first serve basis.  The Workshop is $129 and that includes lattes, lunch and a world of beginner photography knowledge.  There is so much I want to share, it could easily be a week long workshop, but I'll try not to overwhelm you and fit it in to one day.

Email me at kelly@kellyvanderploegphotography.com to reserve your seat.

Before my guests arrived, I quickly grabbed a few shots as we were finishing setting up.  A huge thank you to my employee of the year, my CFO, Courtney, and also to my amazing aunt Pat for helping me pull everything together in record time.

Also thank you to Chad and my kiddos for being cute and staying out of my hair all day so I could get this done ;)

(B took this picture...I think she may have a future profession)

I did not remember to pull my camera out again until the end of the party, but at least we got some snaps of some peeps enjoying themselves.

You may recognize these people from past sessions and weddings...

I love my ornament that Nicole got me for my party.  It was so thoughtful and so cute!  Thanks Nicole!  I can't wait to put it on my tree.

To complicate matters for the night, Chad and I got an offer on our house that afternoon as I scrambled to get everything ready.  Long story short, we got a contract this morning on our house and we are now wondering where were are going to move?  haha.  Let the games begin.  Who wants us to move in with them?  Any takers?

P.S.  Photo orders are due by this Friday, December 10th if you want to guarantee they will be in by Christmas and not have to put a rush on your order.

Happy Monday everyone and THANK YOU to everyone for your love and support.  It does not go unnoticed.

K

xoxo