Soon, though, very soon... I finished the girls' 2008 photo album this past weekend. I am just looking it over and making a couple of changes before ordering it. I will not post the pages on here, but I will upload them to Facebook when I get the time...maybe this weekend.
I will take photos of the album when I get it back and post photos of the actual album on here in the next couple of weeks.
It is a very nice album that will be printed at an incredible pro-lab. I use two pro-labs for all of my products. This one just has the nicest albums and cards. I still use a local pro-lab for all of my prints and canvases.
I will start offering beautiful photo albums from sessions starting in June. They are an awesome keepsake to have from a session and will be custom designed, which takes time. My design work is taking me to new places. I feel like that is all I have been doing in my spare time. I have gotten some design jobs, and I have lots of new ideas to launch in 2009.
The past week has been busy, but I wanted to blog about everything that has been happening. It may not be too interesting for you to read, but as I go back and look at my blog, I am really happy for all the memories I have recorded. It is so easy to forget.
Last Friday, I registered Addie for gymnastics. She will start on June 4. I am very excited for her, as she has a lot of natural ability for athletics. She loved checking out the place, and I know that she will love it! It will be once a week all summer.
Meanwhile, we will be putting Reilly in a summer art class. This seems to be her talent in life. Just tonight, her preschool teacher met with us for the final meeting of the year. Reilly is an excellent student, and it was great as a parent to see her progress charted throughout the year, to view her growth. It was an incredible preschool.
The teacher was outstanding. Reilly finished at the top of her class for all academics. Her teacher told us that her art work is very advanced for her age, and this seems to be Reilly's passion, too. She loves to draw and work on art projects all of the time. Her pictures are very detailed. I am thrilled to see this talent blossom because I never realized I was creative at all until just the past few years. I wish I could have been exposed to art as a child. I was much more into sports my entire childhood. That and reading. Reilly is getting a head start.
Today after school, one of my students (and future babysitter!) showed me all of her art work from the past school year. It was so neat to see! I couldn't help but think about Reilly and wonder where her artistic ability will take her.
She is smart, but she is also creative. We need to figure out which art class (or two) to put her in this summer.
Reilly did receive only "beginning" ratings for some of her physical abilities (athletics). It just does not come as naturally to her. She was in gymnastics for a year but really struggled with the skills. She has good eye/hand coordination, but her movements are a little slow. I plan on working with her this summer on some fundamentals.
I love sports!
This past weekend, we started an official "Maternity Leave Bank Account." 10 of my 12 weeks of leave will be unpaid. Dave and I are such planners. I started saving even before the pregnancy. We want it to feel like I am still getting paid during my leave. We have made great progress with saving so far, so I have been very happy about that this past week.
We have 5 more days of school, and then we are off for the summer. I do not think I have ever wanted to be on leave more than I do now!
Along with all of the design work I have been doing lately (late at night), I have also registered for an Adobe class at KVCC, which will focus on Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator. I really want/need to learn how to use Adobe Illustrator for my design work. There are some limitations with using just Photoshop. I cannot wait to learn many new skills! I have spent the past few years working in Photoshop and InDesign, but I am eager to learn new skills in those programs, too. I am always thinking about a second career...after teaching.
Finally, I will start booking clients for the months of June, July, and August right after Memorial Day. Stay tuned for a *one-time only special* that will be posted on my blog next Tuesday. I have first booked my clients who have a year-long collection with me and those who have received gift certificates in the past year. I will be open for booking everyone else starting next week. It will be a busy summer, but I will stay busy with my photography, too.
The session fee is the same as 2008. Some print prices have gone up slightly so I can better cover my expenses, which include nicer packaging and SHIPPING THE FINAL PRODUCTS TO ALL CLIENTS! Having my clients pick up their products is a pain for them and a pain for me, so I am done with all of that! I want to make life easier!
New products, etc. are on my photography website. I was going to wait a little longer to book summer clients, but I keep getting contacts, so I need to move forward with all of this. I will also offer the Christmas card mini sessions, but since every photographer out there charges almost 10 times more than I do for these mini sessions, I will be doing them a bit differently in 2009. I will be offering them in collections, which will include the session, post processing/editing, and the cards with envelopes. There will be plenty of card choices. Altering any of the cards or custom designing a card from scratch will involve an additional design fee. There will be plenty of new ones to choose from, though! I will create many new ones over the summer!
I will enter my fourth photography season after Labor Day. Three full years in business! It has definitely been a huge learning experience! All photographers learn how time-consuming photography is and learn to value it that much more along the way.
I am excited for my 2009 season!
I will be back this weekend with some photos to share and a brand new look for the blog. We're still working on the new blog...(no time for that right now with the school year ending). Let me know if you would like to keep reading/looking, and I will send you the link. I am planning on being more careful with my blog next time around.
***Oh, yeah, as painful as it is to write this...Reilly has been grounded for life! after cutting all of her hair off her own head! Remember how she chopped Addie's ponytail and braid off of her little sister's head about a month ago? Well, this time she cut about 8-10 inches of her own hair. I was devastated! Her hair was so pretty!
It is still under my bed, with the scissors. I still cannot bring myself to look at it or pick it up, and it has been a whole week!
Now we all have short hair!
I will post photos of her soon!
Boy oh boy does Reilly have a thing for scissors... and cutting hair! I'm so glad to have boys and we've never had to deal with that!!
Make sure you get me the link to your new blog! I look forward to stalking you :)
Posted by: Amanda Holman | May 21, 2009 at 07:31 AM
I would like you to link me to the new blog. I am excited about the new photo albums you are going to offer.
Christine Landry
Posted by: Christine | May 22, 2009 at 06:06 AM