project 52 of 2013 | spooky

Halloween is Thursday and there are so many great opportunities for our "spooky" challenge this week. I'm sorry this post is late - but since we were planning to be on Long Island over the weekend I decided to wait and photograph the spookiest thing I can think of. And I didn't even need it to be Halloween.

project 52 of 2013 | old

Our challenge this week was "old." Growing up, my grandma told me she gave both of her daughters a copy of this book when they got married and would do the same for me; sadly, she passed before that could happen, but I inherited hers which is even more meaningful. Hanging from it is her cross that she gave to me as a young girl. They're sitting on top of my grandpa's book, Basic War Photography. I always loved the contrast between them.

project 52 of 2013 | SOOC

Our challenge this week was SOOC - straight out of camera. I'm definitely one of those people who has fallen into the trap of "if it's not edited it doesn't count." I couldn't tell you if I enjoyed or really disliked the theme this week for that reason. Anyway, I'm sharing an image of our new daughter's bedroom :)

project 52 of 2013 | reflection

Sorry this is coming so late - I completely lost track of time!

For this week's "reflection" challenge I chose a picture from a beautiful wedding my husband and I attended on Friday night. I tried to capture this image first by focusing on the flowers with their reflection in the background; then I tried to focus on the reflection and blur the flowers in the foreground. The latter looked great in my head but not so great in execution, so I went with my first idea. I had also really wanted to make the image black and white, but I felt that it lost a lot of detail that way. Basically, you are all getting a sub-par image this week ;)

project 52 of 2013 | love

This week's theme, naturally, was "love."

And naturally, this was easier said than done. I had a number of pictures to choose from - the usual loving picture of my daughter with her dogs; with her "lovie," a stuffed bear we named Schwartz; cuddling with her dad before bed. I also had a newborn session on Valentine's Day and could probably have chosen one from that to share with you.

project 52 of 2013 | low light

Let's talk about irony: last week's challenge was "cold" and it was warm here...and this week's is
"low light" but we got snow! Which, as you might imagine, bounces quite a bit of light. I wondered out loud why Mother Nature didn't want me to succeed in this weekly photo challenge.

Allettante Salon & Spa

Imagine my excitement when, out of the blue, a friend from high school messages me on Facebook and tells me that she loves my photography - but wait, it gets better. She tells me she has suggested to a friend that she hire me to come take pictures of her new salon on Long Island.

They say the best compliment you can give a photographer is to hire them - but I think a referral is at least just as good, because it means they stand behind your work.

And the winner is...

You may not know this, but I was recently a part of a giveaway held by the amazing Heather from Spunky Real Deals! We had a lot of great entrants and it was a seriously difficult decision, but there could only be one winner...

Congratulations to Julie from The Bumble Bee Studio! I absolutely can not wait to work with you and your bee-autiful products!

Thank you so much to all who entered! I am offering a very discounted session to all of you as a thank you, so please email me directly for more information :)