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Some girls collect shoes....

Well, truth be told, so do I but for totally different reasons. I have a ridiculous assortment of totally unworn or highly worn shoes that just haven't made it to where they belong - Goodwill (or the trash, lovingly). But of my meaningful collections are coffee cups. I love - can u guess? - Starbucks coffee cups - like a totally mismatched, random assortment of beautiful SB coffee cups, the only requirement being size. They MUST be the big cups, big love handles...perfectly fit to a huge cup of SB coffee in the wee am. This is truly a case of life's little pleasures, but it makes my morning to wake up to these, to sit with a cup before the house is filled with noise and chaos, before the rush of the day sweeps through and carries us in it's current. Here's to my last sip of my SB coffee from my SB coffee cup as I begin the day's journey. Happy Monday!

oh yeah, and did I mention my honey made my coffee this morning so when I walked down the stairs it was into the fine mist of freshly brewed joe....now, that's the good life.

August/September Promotions

I just realized we released two new promos this weekend but I forgot to post here! Sooooo....here we go...

1. Capture Your Cutie - Book a session before August 30th (session dates available for late Sep/early Oct) and receive 48 free wallets ($90 value). Sweet!

2. Prom Night Fashion Shoot - seniors - book The Ultimate before Sep. 15th (session dates available for late Sep/early Oct) and we'll come meet you on prom night for a mini fashion shoot. Limited availability.

To book a session or for questions, please email studio@llfotos.com.

Things We Love!

It's the product girl again! Another cool new item to add to our product line - the Image Art Box. Think of it as a beautiful leather sanctury for your treasured images - we frame your images in 8x10 mats and provide an easel for easy display. The cool thing is, if you're like me and love change, you can pick a different image to display each day. Or better yet, pick up multiple easels and display throughout your house. So lovin' this one!

Taking Our Style to a Whole New Level

A few months ago I began a serious evaluation of my business image but it wasn't until I attended the Free to Succeed Tour in SF with David Jay and Jasmine Star that I got the kick I needed to make some changes - as in, like, now. Anyone who listens to them - especially the extremely charismatic JS - who doesn't feel a kick to wring in some new action is seriously checked out. I made the drive home with my mind going 100 miles an hour and trying not to let my foot match my mind because even at that insanely late hour of the night, I was ready. If I could have commanded my body to snap to, I probably would have even set to work the minute I pulled in at 1am or so.

But reality check - in addition to this great job, I also have a spouse and three very talkative, happy, awake children at (if I'm lucky) 7am in the morning.

So, after getting some sleep, and meeting some extremely happy, awake children at 7am the next morning I set to work. Not wasting any time, I found a graphic designer for my logo, another designer for my blog and a brand, new, spiffy website (truth be told, I think I actually found it the week before but for the purpose of this story, to add to the motivation, I found it on the same day :)).

Besides my extremely supportive, understanding spouse, and happy, talkative children - this has been my life for the last 10 days. I mean, eating, breathing, thinking, sketching, playing, pondering my - as Jasmine said it - brand. I'm putting a brand to my business. After a year and a half in business, I finally feel like I'm getting it - my business, who we are, who we want to be. It's scary, fun and exciting all at the same time.

So - this is where we are at - my logo wrapped today (with big, huge thanks to Designs by Christa who was extremely patient with me and who's final design I'm beyond thrilled with and can't wait to share) and my blog is in the works. My website will be the last piece to settle into place.

[good] Sigh. The adrenline rush is wearing off...as is my usual style, I'll be crashing shortly, getting some much needed rest and then starting up again. But before I crash, back to editing I go - working on the cutie below this post.

Oh yeah, and those pics up top are, once again, my absolute fab fashion star wearing her absolute fab, awesome new shades.

Good night beautiful peeps!

SNEAK PEEK!

I have to tell you, I was SO excited for this session! I photographed Marv when he was 18 months old and totally fell in love! He IS sweetness. There is just no other way to put it. He is truly just a beautiful child through and through. Mom actually signed up for the Lollipop Club so I knew I'd be photographing him again soon (which is - selfishly - one of the reasons I love this club - I'm guaranteed to see you guys again and be a part of watching your kiddos grow which is so much fun) but when they pulled up and I saw him in the backseat, saw that adorable smile and twinkling eyes, I melted - again.
It's just a great package deal all the way around with this family because mom (Anissa) is so easy-going and so wonderful to work with. Both times we've had a session, I've walked away thinking - wow, I so need to learn to talk to my kids that way! She is clear and precise yet brief. And totally calm - which made our session an effortless work of collaboration because I'd explain what I was hoping to do and she'd help communicate it to Marv. I love this! I know some photographers prefer that parents stay in the background or even out of sight and with some children, this definitely works. I like parents around though because they know best how to talk to their kids. And often times, these little verbal exchanges provide the best smiles or little characteristic looks especially when parents get on a familiar subject or bring up a favorite character or subject of conversation. Then it's fun for me to just step back and watch for the moments.
Anyway, I'm rambling as usual so I'll sign off here by just saying - check out this cutie!!!

Me, taken by Cindy

Just a few more fun pics to share from my Georgia trip - these were taken by Cindy. She blows me away! I have to say, I'm the WORST critic of myself in pictures but I loved these. She took a ton of fun ones - I'll share more later but for now, thought I'd post these.
ps- I took total liberties with post-processing - we were playing with overexposure when we took these but I took it to a whole new level for fun!