I am going to be contacting some of my former clients to get comments for my “press” link on my website, and I will also be updating my pricing and image packages in the next few weeks and months.

If you’ve been thinking about talking to me about taking some pictures for you… stop thinking and act!

I will be increasing my session fee for 2011, and I will not be offering the same image package options. So… ACT NOW!

What do you think of the little something that I’m working on for a new logo.(see above)  I like the camera with the heart in the middle… it’s kinda saying, “I love photography”, which for me… is what I want to communicate!!   It could also be saying that “I am capturing love through the lens of my camera”, which again, is totally what I want to convey with my photos.  I’m continuing to explore options for all of my branding.  I just want things to be fun, simple and consistent.   I feel like some of the updates to my website really are starting to express what I want to say with my photos.  It is so dang hard to pick photos for a portfolio.  I am always torn between picking the photos that I think people will want to see on my site, and the photos that I want to show.  I am learning to be more and more confident in showing what I like, because in the long run, that is what someone hiring me, should be hoping to get.  I hope people will want me to take their pictures because they like what they see??

Here’s a screen shot of my new splash page. Check out the fun little clip art vectors that I found.  The typewriter is for my blog link, and the antique camera is for my photography website link!  Just a bit of what’s moving and shaking and making me want to skip and jump!

below is another screen shot of the home page of my website!  I’ll be adding a few more images to the running slide show.  But I’ve also updated the galleries with some of the work that I’ve done in the past year.  If you were a client of mine, you just may see yourself in either the “Joy” or “Happiness” galleries.  (I have temporarily included a gallery of some wedding pictures in the “Love” gallery for my dear friend Mary… it’s only there temporarily because I’m really not a wedding photographer

I remember the day!  It was a beautiful summer day.  We had wasted away the entire day and somehow didn’t even make it outside.  I was still trying to figure out how to balance the newborn with the other 3 kiddos.  Anyway, I remember the evening beginning to fall, and  I could feel the light fading.  I just had to get outside!  The baby was sleeping and the girls broke out of the front door.  They both went over to the large daisy bushes on the side slope, and then they tried to make a break for the neighbor’s houses to play.  Even now, as I think back, I can almost hear the warm summer breeze blowing through the large palm trees at the front of our house.

Ohhhh summer… come again… SOON!

I was trying to throw the image out of focus, by placing my focal point at the very bottom of the frame.  Then I judged the focal distance and set wide… and put the camera down on the curb- SNAP!  Here are the two images I caught.  FOCUS!  It’s Campbelle walking the line! Rylie is sneaking away ;o)

Griffyn is getting so big now.  He wakes up, kicks around, and smiles for the camera… all at a whopping 3 months old.  This made it a bit difficult to make the skateboard look like a skateboard, because he kept kicking it! How dare he??

The hot chick Barbie fans were a fun little added detail.  Campbelle is excited that her dolls are making it into this photo series.

Also, the hat/helmet, is the same one that I photographed Griffyn in on his way home from the hospital.  It barely fits him these days!

Enjoy!

I’m still aiming for 12 of these for a calendar.  I’m running out of time these days, now that I’m back to work.  I’m going to have to get a move on it.  Griffyn will be rolling over soon, and then these type of images will become even more difficult to capture.

Have a blessed day. (images to come of our first days back to school)

XO,

Katrina

I came into photography out of a desire to capture better images of my own family.  I wanted to tell the story of our life… through pictures.  It began quite simply really- with scrapbooking. But I quickly became frustrated with the quality of the pictures I was scrapping.  Honestly, at first I just wanted to figure out how to take a sharp picture.  One that didn’t have red-eye and wasn’t all blurry.  So… I set out to learn.  I love to learn!  Eventually after receiving accolades from several people close to me… I began Katrinaelizabeth Photography.

I’m not sure how it is all supposed to work, but I’ve heard about some fantastic photographers out there, who just happen to be pretty accomplished.  They began their business and it spread like wild fire.  People were just drawn to their work, their creativity, their honesty!  I wish I could say that it is all happening like that for me too, but that would be a lie.  While my business has steadily grown each year, I feel far from accomplished.  I have had limited time and energy to put into my small business over the past couple of years, and while I really enjoy taking pictures and feel like I have grown tremendously as a photographer… I am not extremely sought after.  I wish I were.  I wish I could run my photography business from home, and stay home!  But that just doesn’t seem to be on the path for the immediate future.

I am always excited when a new client contacts me for photos, but I have noticed that the cold call contacts that I receive from Yahoo or Google searches, usually do not pan out.  I offer pricing and dates of availability as requested, and then often do not hear from them again.  My best clients have come through personal reference.  If you are one of those people that has referred me… THANK YOU! I appreciate it.

Ahem… well enough with the bla, bla… on to my idea.

So I’m a teacher.  No really… like I have a masters degree in education. I am a wife, mother etc… and I am a photographer!  I’ve been thinking… what if there was a way to put all of these things that “I am” together.  A way to smoosh all the parts of me into one single solitary… fulfilling personality??  I know about how to teach, I know about family and children, and I know about photography.

Teaching + family + kids + photography = teaching families how take photos!!

I’d love to teach moms and dads, just like me, how to take better pictures.  How to use their fancy “pro-sumer” DSLR.  The basics.  Maybe… just maybe there are other people out there who wish they could take better pictures?  Maybe they’d enjoy being able to benefit from my knowledge and not have to read a ton of books or take several years to get there?  So there you have it.  I’m thinking about offering a basic introduction to taking great pictures of your own family… seminar.  I feel like it would be most appropriate to gear it toward moms?  That just feels easier… but maybe there would be some dads out there too?

Anyway… I’ll keep thinking about it!  Stay tuned for more information to come.  Who knows, I may end up doing more than just thinking.  This would be a great time for everyone to become empowered to take better photos.  Christmas is just around the corner (scary ;o)

I saw this bright orange shirt while were shopping at the Carlsbad outlet mall a few weeks ago. I immediately put this image of the little rocker together in my head. It took a little while to actually find time to put him into the scene, but I finally did it.
My older kids got a kick out of watching me set it all up… blankets, guitar & sock monkey! They wanted to dance around on the pretend stage too. Then I dismissed all of them to the back yard, climbed up on my ladder (literally) and snapped a few pictures on my family room floor.

I’m aiming for 12 images that I can use in a calendar for 2011. It will be so fun to look back on these ideas of what Griffyn might do, when he is big- some day! (a long time from now)

I’ll be working on a skateboarding scene soon bere, at the request of the big brother:-)