31 Day Photo Challenge

I put together this 31 day photography challenge for a fellow photographer that I am mentoring, but thought I would share it here in case anyone else would like to participate. The purpose of the challenge is to get you more comfortable with your camera and what all the pre-set modes are capable of. It will hopefully also serve to spark your creativity and get you "out of the box" of the usual things you might take pictures of. At the end of the challenge, I would love to hear from you. I am asking specifically for three things you learned, and three questions that may have come up during the daily assignments. If you post your responses here, I will answer as many questions as I can. Thanks for stopping by my blog and may January be filled with many great photographs!

31 Day Photo Challenge

1. Read the table of contents of your camera manual in case you need to refer to it
    later on in this challenge. Make sure batteries are charged and memory cards are empty.
2. Take a self portrait
3. Take a head shot of someone in your family.
4. Use camera on Full Auto all day
5. Use camera on P mode all day. Manually decide whether or not flash is needed.
6. Use camera on TV mode all day. Manually choose shutter speed for each shot.
7. Use camera on AV mode all day. Take 3 shots of the same subject at different apertures.
8. Use camera on M mode all day. Pay attention to the exposure bar on the bottom of screen
9. Experiment with Exposure Compensation. Take a picture that is properly exposed, then
    take the exact same shot at 1 stop above and 1 stop below properly exposed.
10. Use the lowest f-stop your lens will allow today
11. Take a picture that would look good framed on your wall
12. Take a landscape photo
13. Take a picture of a flower
14. Take a picture of technology
15. Take a sillhoutte picture
16. Take a picture of a fruit
17. Take a picture of architecture
18. Take a picture of the back of something
19. Take a low angle shot
20. Take a high angle shot
21. Shoot in black and white all day
22. Take a picture of your favorite color
23. Take a picture of something you made
24. Take a picture of shoes
25. Take a picture of food/something you ate
26. Take a picture of something in motion at different shutter speeds
27. Take a picture with a shadow in in
28. Take a picture of a treasured item
29. Take a picture of words
30. Take another self portrait
31. Do not take any photos today. Load all your images from the challenge on
     your computer and write down 3 things you learned and 3 questions you have.

Announcing...

We photographed their wedding a year and a half ago, and now, it is with great excitement and joy that we get to announce... they are having a baby! Here is what the lovely mom to be had to say on facebook:

"Two years ago on this day, the love of my life asked me to marry him, so it only seemed fitting to announce today that we are expecting our first little one next summer! :)"

With so many ideas coming from Pinterest these days, I'm happy to say that I thought of this cute one all on my own. I had seen the candy cane hearts before, but thought how cool it would be to have the heart around the new little baby growing in mommy's tummy. I just love how it turned out. Thanks to Jon and Holli for allowing me to photograph another special moment in your lives. I can't wait to meet the newest addition to your sweet little family!

Siblings

Last week I had the opportunity to photograph a handsome little 5 day old. Henry Paul was born on April 4th, 2012, weighing in at 7lbs 13 oz and measuring 21" long.

Newborn sessions are always special to me, but this one was especially so, since almost 2 years ago I had the opportunity to photograph his sister. Here is Lucy Cooper, born July 22nd, 2010.

Their mom had the very creative idea to incorporate towels into Henry's newborn session as well, so this is what we came up with:

Congratulations to the family on the newest addition and thank you for letting Be Photography help to record these special moments in time! For information on our newborn packages, please visit our website at www.bephotographyoregon.com. 

Be Photography is located in Molalla, Oregon and specializes in maternity, newborn, wedding and family portraits.

Introducing Cathy Quattrocchi!

Be Photography is excited to introduce the newest member of our team, Cathy Quattrocchi!  Cathy will be coming on board as an associate photographer this April and we are so thrilled to have her! One thing we have learned in the photography business is that “style” is what sets you apart from your competition, and that is one of the many reasons that we are so excited to have Cathy join us. Her style and creativity is very similar to what we already offer and her friendly personality will be sure to put you at ease during your shoot. To help welcome Cathy, we are offering $50 off your session fee to the first 50 people who book with her in 2012!

Want to learn a little bit more about the newest member of the Be Photography family? You can check out samples of her work on our facebook page by clicking here or visit her blog to get an up close and personal glimpse at her life and photographic style. We think you will like what you see! We also want to invite you to join us for a meet and greet with Cathy and Shay at Hillendale Park in Oregon City on Sunday April 22nd from 1pm - 3pm. We will have free coffee, donuts and free 15 minute mini sessions with Cathy.

And, as promised, we are giving away a free 1 hour portrait session to one NEW customer (this means you've never been photographed by Be before) who can tell me what Cathy's favorite drink is in the comment field below. Winner will be drawn at random from all correct answers on Saturday March 24th, 2012.

Growing a small business can be a challenging task and we hope that the addition to our team can help to serve you, our faithful clients, better. By adding additional photographers (yes, we plan to add more in the future) we hope to offer you more flexibility in scheduling and eventually be able to offer specialized photographers in the area of newborn, maternity and boudoir photography to better meet your needs. However, we feel it is also important to keep the style that we have become known for, so Cathy, as well as any other photographers we bring on board, will be carefully selected, chosen and trained by us to offer the same skill and style that you have become accustomed to with Be Photography. In addition, Shay will continue to do all creative editing and touch ups to your photos.

Welcome Cathy!

Lincoln City Beach Special 2012

We are so excited for our first annual Beach Special this summer in Lincoln City! I wanted to post some pictures of the location so you have an idea of what to expect. The best slots for lighting are going to be first thing in the morning or in the late afternoon/early evening so reserve your spot now for July 28th and 29th. The special includes a 45 minute session for up to 4 people (additional people can be added for $25 each), and your choice of 10 edited images selected from your own private online viewing gallery and burned to a disc with full printing rights. All this for only $145 (that's $30 less than our regular price sessions!) Oh, and did I mention it's a great excuse to take your family to the beach for the weekend? Who doesn't love the Oregon Coast!? Here's some samples from our last visit...

To book your own family session at Taft Pier this summer, please email us at shay@bephotographyoregon.com or contact us through our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/bephotographyoregon

New Packages for 2012

Our packages have changed a little for 2012, due to the overwhelming requests we received last year by clients wanting to choose which pictures were included in their package, rather than having the photographer pick their favorites. We thought long and hard about how we could offer this services, while still providing you with a disc so you wouldn't have to order all your prints from us. We  also still wanted you to have the freedom to share your pictures on Facebook, email them to friends and family, and have prints and merchandise made at your vendor of choice. In addition, we wanted to be able to offer all this with out accompanying it with a huge increase in sitting fees.

So what we came up with is kind of a hybrid between the old and the new. Session fees have stayed the same and you still get to pick between 5 and 20 pictures (depending on your package) from your session to have on your disc with full copyright release. However, in addition to this, all good images from your session will be edited and uploaded to your own private online viewing gallery where you can view them, share them with friends, order prints and merchandise of any of the pictures, as well as choose your favorites to be burned to your disc. If you just can't narrow it down, you have the option of purchasing additional digital files at $25 each, or you can buy add-on bundles which can reduce the per file cost significantly. All our package details can be found on our website at www.bephotographyoregon.com. Just click on the packages link on the right hand side and scroll to the bottom to learn more about the add on bundles.

Not only do I hope this new feature is a benefit to you, I also feel like it will help make us better photographers this year as we are able to see first hand which pictures are your favorites! And of course, our goal is to take so many great pictures that there is no way you can choose just 10! Because in all honesty, it will be the sale of add on bundles that will cover the cost of all the additional editing time that will be spent editing all your images, verses just the 15 - 20 that we use to choose ourselves for your packages.

Thank you so much for your business and continued support as we grow. We are so excited to see what 2012 has in store for Be Photography! We always welcome your input, so please feel free to comment here or send us a private message through our website.