New Items

There are so many new products coming along that I don't get a chance to write about them or tell my clients about them before something newer comes along. As well as all the new albums and coffee table books, there are tons of new products. I've got a few to share here that have been popular in our area.

You've probably all seen the calendars. They're a great treat for the grandparents and who doesn't have at least 12 cute photos of their kids. There are also note pads, dry-erase boards, and playing cards with your choice of photo on them. One of my favorites and one of the most popular is the watercolor-paper note cards. These cards really "feel" nice and are a special treat to the person you send them to. I've done some stock cards with some local scenes like the old Red Apple restaurant in Murfreesboro, Conway High School, and some of the peanut-picking scenes from the 1940's. I've also done some note cards from weddings and children's portrait sittings. Nothing is more personal than a note with your photo or your child's photo.

As with everything, we have samples here in the studio. Stop by and take a look!

Jessica & Hunter

We may be a little chilly right now but I think Jessica and Hunter are still basking in the warm sun of their honeymoon. I don't remember the details of their trip but I think they were going somewhere warm. These two have been a wonderful, special couple to work with. I did a great, extensive engagement session with them on the Outer Banks last year and they have met with me several times to discuss their wedding photography. They planned carefully and gave me plenty of opportunities to get to know them and they scheduled their day so that we would have time to get the photos they wanted.

Considering the bad weather we've had lately, I was concerned that they would have a cold, rainy, messy day but Mother Nature really came through. It was the mildest day we've had lately --no rain and we were even able to take lots of photos outside.

Edenton is a beautiful spot for a wedding with all of the wonderful old buildings and history on every corner. Jessica and Hunter got married in picturesque St. Paul's church which has been there since the colonial era. Jessica climbed into her hot, red heels (see my earlier blog about that) and her maids into their elegant cranberry gowns and we had a gorgeous wedding. The flowers were especially beautiful -- by Dozier's Florist of Hertford. After the ceremony, the wedding party climbed on the Edenton trolley and headed for "the Green" in front of the old courthouse for some fun shots. While the girls bustled Jessica's gown, the guys got a little restless and did some "jumping" shots. It reminded me of a Beatles album cover!!

A wonderful evening of dinner and dancing followed at the country club with one of the most unique table favors I've ever seen -- each guest got a lottery ticket!! Throughout the evening I'd see guests scratching away at their lottery ticket and even heard a few "YEAH!". I don't think anyone won a fortune but there must have been a few winners in the crowd.

I'm finishing up their wedding website and hope to have it completed by the time these two come home from their honeymoon. Thanks, Jessica and Hunter, for allowing me to be a part of your special day!!

New Looks!!

You may not have noticed and I hope you really don't care too much but I've finally added my photo to my blog and my Facebook page. I had a few people mention to me that it was a darn shame that a photographer didn't have a photo of herself for all to see and Peggy has been bugging me to take a new photo ever since I cut off my hair. Those of you that know me are correct in recognizing that I'm no fashion plate and not much for make-up but I had an appointment this morning that required both make-up and a presentable sweater so I got Lynn to take my photo before I left. I put my retouching skills to the extreme test and tried to take some years and pounds off before I uploaded the photo. If I can make myself look this presentable, I can make my wonderful clients look like Angelina Jolie!

Also, for those of you (my friends) who helped me select a new logo for the studio before Christmas, thanks for the votes. We're using it already on some of our correspondence, etc. but haven't quite gotten everything switched over yet. I thought you'd enjoy seeing what we selected.

You've Come a Long Way, Babies!

It probably tells you how old I am that I've used "you've come a long way, baby" as a title since it's from an old Virginia Slims ad but it's the first thing that came to mind when I was working on the new photos of little Katie and Chloe Morris. These precious cuties have come to see me for photos at 3, 6, 9 and now 12 months old and look at how they've grown. We could keep them on the background this time but I suspect that the next time I see them, we'll need lots of help to keep them both in the same place at the same time!

Sweet Mason

I've said before how much I love working with former brides and grooms who bring in their new babies for photos. Amanda and Charlie go back even further with me because I remember them both from my years working at Northampton-East. I followed their romance, photographed their wedding, and am now enjoying the privilege of photographing little Mason. He was a sweetheart even though Mandy thinks he "misbehaved" by wetting our blanket during his nudie photos. What are washing machines made for if not for that!

Amanda was my husband's office assistant at East so I had to report to him how special and sweet the baby is. I also told Joe (my husband) that I thought Amanda and Charlie would be good parents and he wanted to know why I said that. My years of observing parents have made me believe that all that love and good common sense will carry little Mason through with flying colors.

You ought to check out Mandy's blog. She's doing a great job of documenting little Mason and is taking some great photos. She's one of the followers of the Conway Photo blog so click around and you'll find her.

Red Hot!

I've had brides in cowboy boots, bedroom shoes, ballet slippers, even barefoot. I've got a special place in my heart for Sami and Jessica -- my brides with the sassy, red heels. I've been wanting to write on my blog about these "red hot" blushing brides for some time but I needed to wait until after yesterday when Jessica got married. I didn't dare put her photo online before the wedding! But check out the cool kicks on these hot chicks!!

In a couple of days, I'll be sharing some photos from Jessica and Hunter's wedding in historic Edenton. It has been so cold lately but they got lucky with a beautiful day!

Looking Back -- "Ain't We Cute!"

I have lots of people who appreciate old photos who tell me that "I'm sittin' on a gold mine" because the studio's files and my father's photography files are pretty much complete and intact from 1946 to the present. My father was insistent on guarding his negatives because he knew that they represented a piece of someones life and I've tried to follow suit. When we switched to digital several years ago, I set up my own system of backups and backups to the backups in the hope that I would never lose someones history as well.

I'm sure there are some negatives that have gotten damaged or misplaced through the past half century but that's a rare occurrence. It really does give us a wonderful feeling when former clients call us because their wedding album has been destroyed or their portrait damaged and they want to know if there is anything we can do to help. The majority of the time it's no problem for us to find the old negative and have a perfect, new photo made.

Sometimes it takes a little digging to find an old set of negatives and sometimes in the process of searching we find an envelope of negative that just looks too irresistible to us. We bring it back in the studio and often find pieces of our own personal history. I found such an envelope last week when I was looking up an old file from 1963. It's my first grade class on a field trip to the Conway Fire Department. We all climbed up on the fire truck and my father was called to take our photo. I don't remember the day very clearly but it was a treat to see all my classmates in this photo. By the way, I'm on the front row, sixth from the left, with the bangs.

Anyway, long story short, I think I'll start sharing some of these treasures from the archives here as I run across them.