Time to move on....

Movin on up......to the east side!!! Have that song in your head yet?! So my new blog is up and running and I'll no longer be using blogspot for my photography blog. Wanna check it out?! Head on over........


HERE (www.carrieannphotography.com/blog/)

Be on the look out.....

for a new and IMPROVED blog coming soon (I can't wait.....I'm working on customizing it right now!)

A wedding in the park.....

Is such a beautiful place for a ceremony....and the Georgi Museum in Shushan, NY is the perfect setting!!  Every first in your life can be such a rush of emotions.  The first time you see your future wife/husband, your first kiss, your first walk as husband and wife......and last but not least, your first time photographing a wedding!  Strangely enough, not a single bone in my body was nervous.  My sister Betsy, also known as the assistant sent from heaven above was there to assist me and help me capture Tiffany and Leon's Day.  And what a beautiful day it was!  The sun was shining and love was in the air......corny I know!  At any rate, I had a great time and I thought I'd give them just a little sneak peak of their day.....lots more to come.  Thanks again for letting me capture your day!

Still Busy....

which is a good thing right?! I'm actually okay with sitting at the computer today after falling down the stairs and bruising my tailbone......can you say ouch!! I'm still a little sore, but I have A LOT of things to do this week, including editing Tiffany and Leon's wedding (they're coming guys!) Their wedding was my first and it really was a lot of fun. I am so thankful that my assistant Betsy, otherwise known as my sister, was there to help. Assistants are a must!! I never knew that a day could fly by so fast!

In other news, I had the pleasure of photographing this wonderful family last week. I just love being able to go to people's homes.....it truly is where everyone is most comfortable! Anyways, here's a few photos from our day together.......

Busy, Busy, Busy.....

That's the one word that describes how my summer has been going! We're in the midst of painting our house which also involves a lot of scraping......which is no fun!!! I'm still here and my camera is sadly collecting a little bit of dust since I've been devoting to so much time to the house. But, the dust is coming off next week with a couple of shoots which I'm really excited about. So I'm still here, just hard at work. I'll leave you with a photo of my sweetie enjoying our new backyard and being her sassy self.....

Oh Snap!!

I'm so excited that I was finally able to sit down and iron out all of the details for my portrait parties so I could finally share!! I'm super excited about this and it's really such a wonderful way to gather a bunch of friends and family together and not only have a great time, but also get some wonderful memories captured! Why not gather a bunch of your co-workers together? Or how about a mini family reunion? Are you heading off to college? Why not get a bunch of your friends together to get some cool photos?! The possibilities really are endless!

Wondering about the packages? Well you need to contact me to find out the details......but let me tell you......it's a steal of a deal and you'd be crazy to let this opportunity pass you by! Interested, contact me today.....my schedule is starting to fill up!

Be the first to book a session from this ad and mention the words "I'm first" and receive a free 11x14!!!

Where I've been and where I'm going....

Summer is here and she decided to make a grand entrance by giving us weather in the 90's!! It's days like these that make me thankful that I live up North and not where being in the 90's is a daily thing! Our summer started with a family vacation to Acadia National Park in Maine. A whole week where we didn't have to think about a single thing except where to eat dinner that night! The weather could have been a little better, but it wasn't too bad. I think that the best part was probably the fact that there were absolutely no crowds! We were able to walk into our favorite pizza place and actually sit at a booth......without waiting 45 minutes!!! Not much has changed since our last time there 5 years ago and I doubt much will change the next time we go. I think that's what I love most about it up there and why we continue to go there (this was my 6th time there.) So here's a little slideshow of some of the photos that I took during our stay.....



So what's on the horizon for the rest of the summer?! How does unpacking and remodeling sound? We'll be moving at the end of the month and starting to make the house our own. I'm sure it will at least be a couple of years until we'll be completely done with everything, but to finally have a space of our very own is super exciting for us! Once things start to settle down at the end of July or thereabouts I'm going to be running a summer special so be on the lookout for that. Anyways, just thought I'd say a quick hi and take a break from the endless packing that I've been doing!

I can tell your story.....

with my photographs AND a custom designed digital scrapbook page! Digital Scrapbooking, for those that don't know, is a form of scrapbooking which is done on your computer. All of your supplies are stored on your hard drive and can be used over and over again! Once you're done, your layouts can be printed in a hardcover book (like the Asuka Books that I offer) and you never have to worry about the pieces becoming unglued!! I provide the photos (or you can email me photos that you took yourself), you provide the memories and I put it all together. For only $5 per page, your family's memories will be preserved and you'll never have to wonder "where was this taken?" again!! Here's a few examples of pages that I've created.....

It's my thiiiiiing.....

If you watch Little Bill on Noggin you know what I'm talkin' about!!! Little Bill's family each had their own thing, something that they each like to do. My thiiiiiiing......shooting outdoors!! I love it! And for it to finally be warm and green enough to do it just makes me one happy lady!! I had the honor of shooting this little one and her family on Saturday so here's a little sneak peak for mom and dad.....


This week will be spent on the computer editing and packing boxes.....which one do you think I'd rather do?! Hope everyone has a wonderful week....and if you'd like to capture your family in the great outdoors be sure to contact me today!!

Today....

I heard a strange noise coming from the other room......it was my camera crying because I haven't touched it in a awhile!!!! We're in the process of buying our first home which is obviously something completely foreign to us. Most of my free time for the past week and a half has been devoted solely for that purpose instead of the usual trips to the park. With some of the major stuff out of the way, I was able to take a deep breath today and wipe my camera's tears away when I brought her outside. The garage has some tulips beside it and the paint is peeling, so I thought it was the perfect backdrop....I'll be working on some new portrait packages geared towards moms-to-be and their little ones next week. If you're local and you have a little one you might just see one of my photos on their pediatrician's walls sometime soon!!!

In Love.....

Taking these photos makes me wish that me and Dan had gotten engagement shots! Actually I wish I could do the whole photography thing over again, but since we had limited time between the ceremony and reception we did what we had too and took the pictures at the Reception Hall. Although Samuel's was absolutely beautiful (really recommend them if you're getting married in the Buffalo, NY area) it would have been nice to have some variety with our outdoor shots. Having been a bride and knowing now what I didn't know then will hopefully help me be a better photographer. Taking these engagement shots with Tiffany and Leon was a lot of fun! They got up at the crack of dawn......heck I even used my alarm clock.....something which I don't use often since my daughter tells me when it's time to get up!! Although the sun never made an appearance , I think that we still got a bunch of cute shots......

Click on image above to make larger!

Warm Weather=Outdoor Sessions!!

With warm weather headed our way, why not schedule a session with your family outdoors?! I only have 3 more sessions available where the session fee will be waived so be sure to contact me if you're interested! I just love getting outside and exploring new areas for that perfect photograph. How about these train tracks......


or a day at the park.....


And when your session is done, why not add a storyboard to your home?! The possibilities and locations are endless. Let your family's daily life be your backdrop, and let the photographs you display in your home tell your family's story!

Back to work!!!

So now that me and Lilly are finally feeling a little better, I'm finally able to do a little bit of proofing from my final session from Easter weekend!  Check out this little one.....

I hope to have everything done within the next two days so I can start working on my advertisements for the local papers.  It's been on my to do list for quite some time, but like everything else, life tends to get in the way.

In other news, I'm getting my hair cut this weekend!  I haven't had my hair cut in over 2 years (slapping my own hand) and it needs it really bad!  When we lived in Buffalo I always had my hair cut every 6 weeks.  It's the one thing that I treated myself too.  I went to a Bumble and Bumble salon......if you haven't used their products before you really should.....your hair will thank you!  I was going to go to the closest B&B salon in Saratoga which is about 45 minutes away, but I thought that it would be a good idea to try and find something a little bit closer to home.  So I guess we'll see what happens.  I want something completely different than I've done before and maybe shorter than I've ever gone before.  If you have any cute styles that you've seen on the web be sure to point them out!!!

Anyways, hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far!!!

We're sick.....

again!!  It's seems like it's a given each time we travel home that we'll return sick.  It's around 6 pm right now and we just started functioning a couple of hours ago.  Anyways, just thought I would share a pic of Rowan in her crib......way too cute!  Still have some more to go through and hopefully me and Lilly will feel better tomorrow so we can finish those up and move on to the next session that I need to edit!

Time flies.....

when you're having fun!!!!  I've really been enjoying myself sitting in front of the computer and editing my images from this past weeked......strange I know!!!  My first storyboard arrived yesterday so tomorrow me and Lilly are going to head to Saratoga to get some supplies for the finishing touches and I'll post a pic once it's finished.  I already know I'm gonna love the way it turns out and I haven't even started it!  Since I'm a little pooped from some yardwork me and Lilly did today I'll keep it short and leave a couple storyboards that I made tonight....

  

My little bunny.....

This is what happens when your little one decides they don't want to take any pics in their Easter outfit!!!  Just stick 'em in a giant crock and put jelly beans down at the bottom to keep them occupied!  I really wish that the ground wasn't so mushy so I could've taken some outdoor shots.  This winter has been the first one that I've ever wished it would hurry up and be over with.  I LOVE the winter and all of the fluffy snow.  But as a photographer, I wish I could take portraits outdoors all year long.  Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to some warmer weather so I can do some exploring for new outdoor locations.  I just look at things a lot differently now as a photographer.......it's like I have a new set of eyes!

I was able to accomplish a lot this week so now I can now focus on doing some advertising and what not, so be on the lookout for some ads in the Eagle and Bennington Banner if you're from my area!  

What's on your iPod?

Wish I could use those cool earbuds that everyone uses

but I have little ears so they don't fit!!!!!

I don't know about you, but I love music.  As soon as Lillian goes down for her afternoon nap, I turn off the TV (even though she never really watches it!) and turn on some music.....plus I tend to work faster.  Whether I'm cleaning or editing a photo at the puter, there's always music.  As far as what I'm listening too, my taste varies!  I've yet to tackle putting all of my CD's onto the iPod since we just got it last week so I've really only been listening to what I have on iTunes at the moment.  Right now I only have Kate Nash, DMB and a few scattered songs.  But if you were to open up my CD holder, you'd see a few different genres of music.  So here's a few of my favs......

Dave Matthews Band (me and my sis are DMB junkies and used to go to 2 concerts a year up until I had Lillian 2 years ago.....hoping we'll get back into the swing of things before they retire!!)

The Beatles, Fleetwood Mac, Maroon 5, The Cranberries, Allison Kraus, Linkin Park, Sara Evans, Coldplay, Nickel Creek, Madonna (the classic stuff), Third Eye Blind, Sarah McLachlan, Gwen Stefani, James Taylor, Enya (when I have a migraine!), Janet Jackson, Led Zepplin.  The list goes on and on but my brain is fried! 

So tomorrow is hopefully going to be a good yet busy day for us!  First we're going to head to Office Max to get some stuff printed and check out the printers since I'm in need of a new one.  THEN (and most importantly) we're going to attempt to take Lilly's Easter pics......can't wait to see her dressed up.  I wish we could get outside to get some shots, but the ground is still way too mushy hear.  It's only as a photographer that I wish that I lived in a warmer climate.  And by warmer I mean it gets no hotter than 60 all year long!  I love the winter, but it'd be nice to be able to shoot outdoors all year long!  Anyways, I need to get my files ready for printing!  Hope everyone's week is going well so far!

Storyboards

So I've been putting my experience designing digital scrapbook papers and stuff to use by creating some storyboards!  I plan on making some with doodles and my handwriting on them to add a bit of whimsy so we'll see how those come out!

So today was a complete flop photography wise!!!  It rained cats and dogs outside.  I really hate rain!  I'd rather have ten feet of snow (like we had in Buffalo that one year......at least it was fun trying to find our cars!!) than rain any day of the week!  So our day was spent on the road to the mall in Albany to pick up our new iPod!  We ended up going with the classic one since it was only $50 more than the 8GB shuffle.  At least this way we shouldn't have to worry about deleting any songs to make room for new ones any time soon!!  I also picked up some shoes for Lillian for Easter as well as her Easter basket since I didn't want to pay to have it shipped from Pottery Barn.

Nothing planned for tomorrow as of yet.  The temp is supposed to drop and we might get some flurries, but it's supposed to be windy all day so I guess I'll have to wait until later in the week to get outdoors for some shots!  Anyways, I really need to head off to bed!

What are you doing this weekend?

Well since it's supposed to rain all day tomorrow what could be better than the mall?!!!  We're going to head to Albany tomorrow and pick up our gift for each other with some of our tax money.......an iPod!!!  It feels like we're the last people on the face of the earth to have one.  Dan's been downloading one cd each week off of iTunes which is fun to watch.  His taste in music has COMPLETELY changed since we first started dating!  He went from Snoop Dog to Merle Haggard.  I always feel like I'm in the truck with an old man when he drives......an old man with a lead foot though!!!  Anyways, if by chance there's a break in the weather in the morning I'm going to head out and take some outdoor shots which is something that I haven't done in a long time.  We're gonna start having Carrie night again once a week which I'm excited about.  When I was taking that class from Andie, Dan would make sure that he came home on time to watch Lilly so I could go shoot on my own.   I'm looking forward to a little me time again........just me and my camera!

So how about some new products?!  Need a custom storyboard?  How about a custom announcement?  A custom album?  You know you need a custom canvas print!!!  And don't

 forget about the bling......gotta have some photo jewelry!!!  Still working on a few details and ordering some samples but I'm super excited to be adding all of the above to my services!  Check out my website or contact me for details!!

Anyways, have a wonderful weekend wherever you are!!!

How about some random facts.....

about me!!!  I'm going to tag myself!  Here it goes.....

Favorite color: gotta be pink by far.....and all shades!

Favorite food:  Pizza and ravioli's!

Favorite dessert: elmo cookies from Original Cookie......LOVE all of the frosting!

What camera do you use: Nikon D80 at the moment, plan on upgrading to a D300 later this year and use the D80 as a backup

Favorite Band:  Dave Matthews by far....absolutely amazing in concert!

Other creative outlets: digiscrapbooking, knitting, painting

The one thing you can't live without: my family

The one thing you can live without:  poopie diapers!

What makes you cry:  a good chick flick and the episode where Dr. Greene from ER dies......gets me everytime!

Favorite Vacation spot:  Bar Harbor, Maine- we're going again this year for the 5th time.......at least I'll be able to take some awesome shots this year!!

Last time you wore a bathing suit-  probably my first year of college so like 9 or so years.......I hate my short legs!

Significant other and how long together:  Dan and we've been together for 10 years

Morning or night person:  without a doubt a night person.....could stay up all night if I didn't have an alarm clock named Lilly!

Ever get in trouble as a kid?:  once in the 4th grade-  I was sitting in the back of the bus and this kid made fun of me so I stabbed him with my mother's pen-had to sit in the front of the bus for the rest of the week

Favorite TV Show: Project Runway......it's fierce!!!

If you could travel anywhere where would you go?  Probably on a tour of Europe.......I love history and would love to just go to all of the museums......oh and I'd LOVE to be able to go to the attic where Anne Frank hid with her family.......such an inspiration for all of us.

Glasses, Contacts, neither?  I wish it was neither but unfortunately my eyesight totally

 sucks!!!  Contacts during the day and my fab DKNY glasses in the evening!

That's it for today......I'll think of some more questions to ask myself in a couple of weeks!  How

 sad is that.....tagging myself!  Anyways, here's another pic of my cutie patootie niece Marianna.....

She's the reason....

I got into photography.  For those that don't know, Lillian was born premature at 32 weeks.  The moment that she arrived, I felt the need to capture everything during her stay in the NICU.  My digital Kodak camera, knitting needles and a book accompanied me every day that I went to the hospital for my daily visit.  From her first bottle feeding, to her first test in her carseat to see if she could come home........these are the images I cherish most.  When I look back now at those images, I'm thankful for the experience we had with the hospital staff and consider that we were one of the lucky ones since Lilly was one of the larger babies at 3lbs.  What means even more to me is the fact that these imperfect, unprofessional images continue to touch my heart each time I look at one of them.  This is what I love most about photographs.......the emotions that each one brings.  Lillian came home after a month in the NICU and from that point on, my love for photography was ignited.  I took countless pictures of Lillian, learning little things along the way and getting pointers from my dad who's a photographer as well.  Then Lillian dropped my camera early last year.  When it came time to replace my trusty Kodak, I decided to switch to Nikon and a new world was opened up to me.  From that point on, I've been learning new things and building my own style.  I took a couple of classes at Pink Ink Studios from Andie which helped immensely and I started to read a lot more.  All along the way, Lillian has been my perfect little model.  And now with the business side of things starting to dwindle down, I can start advertising and handing out my business cards (which should be arriving tomorrow......yay!!!)  and capturing some new souls!  Anyways, I just thought that I'd share my journey towards photography and the reason I was drawn to it!

Being busy....

is a good thing, but it certainly requires some adjustments on my part!!!  Being a stay at home mom really didn't involve deadlines or needing to wake up with an alarm clock.  I've actually gotten to the point now where I don't hear Dan's alarm clock go off anymore, and he sets them really loud so you would think that I would hear them!!  But as soon as I hear the faintest little whimper from Lillian, I get up and out of bed.  Lillian is still my alarm clock, but I tend to move a little bit faster now throughout the day.  Making lists is a BIG THING for me........I have a lot of them!  Blogging today was actually on my list of things to do.  Next weeks' list is a long one, but I'm happy that I have something new to look forward too.  Being a mom will always remain my greatest joy and accomplishment, but when I see images like the one below that I was able to capture for my sister and BIL, I'm happy about the joy that I'll hopefully be able to bring to other people.....

So in other news, I picked out some albums that I'd like to add to my services!  I'm still pricing out some other ones that I'd like to offer as well, but I'm really excited about being able to offer the Asuka Books and I can't wait to get one in my hands when I order one later this week!

I'm also working on creating some custom items like birth announcements, save the date cards, etc.  Time to put those digital scrapbook designing skills to work!!!  Anyways, hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!!

WARNING.....

the following little ones may be way too cute that there's a chance you'll become glued to your screen......so be prepared!!!

I told you they were cute!!!!  The teeny weeny one above is my niece and below her is my cousin's little one!  I'm having such a fun time going through all of them and it's such a nice change of pace to edit a picture of someone other than Lillian!  I thought for sure that she'd end up being my only client......how sad would that be?!!!  So I'll be doing lots and lots of editing this week, creating my business cards and finally work on picking out some albums that I'd like to offer to my customers!  There are so many little things that you need to do to get things off of the ground when starting your own business, but it's totally worth it to be able to capture these amazing memories for people and their families!!  So I'm off to do some more editing, searching and pricing.......wish me luck!!  And have a wonderful week........can you believe it's almost March?!!!!

Back home.....

(in Syracuse) to witness the birth of this miracle!  My niece Marianna Josephine arrived on Valentine's Day and weighed in at a healthy 8lbs 1oz and was 20 1/2 inches long!  Me and Lillian arrived earlier that morning and went straight to the hospital.  Lillian was such a good little girl according to my dad since I was with Betsy and Justin for a good portion of the day.  When it came close to the delivery, I went back into the room and was there with the both of them until she arrived.  Since I had Lillian via emergency c-section, this is something that I wasn't able to experience......actually it's something that I'll never be able to experience, so it meant even more to me that they both let me be in the room with them.  Naturally, I wanted to be able to capture some of the special moments, but since my most important job was helping Betsy, I didn't get as many as I would have liked.  When Marianna was born, her heart rate was a bit fast because Betsy had a fever during delivery.  So they kind of had to wisk her away and take her to the NICU to make sure that everything was okay.  So for the brief moment that Betsy was able to hold Marianna, I had to hold my camera up in the air and pray that I was able to capture something since a  couple of nurses were blocking all of the prime real estate!  Needless to say, they didn't turn out, but at least I was able to capture a few images for their scrapbook.  We had our first photo shoot yesterday, but I want to wait until I get back home next week to edit and share.

Oh and I also had the pleasure of shooting my cousin's daughter this past Sunday.......talk about a cutie!  I'm just so excited to get back home to start editing everything that I've shot thus far......and I still have a lot of shooting to do before I leave so I have a feeling I'll be spending a lot of time on the computer when I get home! 

Happy Valentine's Day.....

just a wee bit early!  Since all of my equipment is ready to be packed in the car for our trip back home, I thought it'd be the perfect opportunity to use one of the fabrics that I picked up for backgrounds to take some pics of Lillian for Valentine's Day.  Ideally, I should have taken them a lot earlier, but I forgot to put it on my to do list so it was overlooked.  To get her to stay still, I bought a lollipop at Target yesterday and it seemed to do the trick!  I've learned that you either need to make really funny noises when they're this age or bribe them with a treat........bribing worked this time around for sure!!!  Anyways, here's a couple more pics to share......I'll have some pics of someone other than Lillian pretty soon, so be on the lookout for those!!

We're getting ready....

to head on home soon and I have piles to prove it!  All of my photography equipment is in the corner of the kitchen and ready to go once we get the call from my sister that she's in labor.  It's going to be such an exciting time the next couple of weeks with lots of shooting involved!  I'm so excited to not only meet Marianna, but to also have the opportunity to capture the very first moments of her life.  I have lots of little props that I'm excited to try out since we're not able to venture outdoors for any shoots......it's the one time living in warmer climates would certainly come in handy!!!

Anyways, time to share a pic of Lillian!  She's been getting sleepy a lot earlier than normal for her afternoon naps and today was no exception......

Don't forget about the furry ones!!!

Good to go!!!!

Need a photographer?!  Then I'm your gal!  Carrie Ann Photography is officially open for business and I'm now booking sessions for the beginning of March.  I'll most likely be traveling home next week for the birth of my niece Marianna.......I'm going to be an Aunt!  Me and Lillian will be there for a couple of weeks to help and of course take lots of pics!  But once I return home, it'll be back to business.  So if you're interested, be sure to contact me!  And be sure to check out my website as well.....www.carrieannphotography.com

And did I tell about my sweet deal!  My first 10 customers don't have to pay the session fee!  That's a savings of $75!!!!!  I already have 5 sessions booked, so be sure to book a session  with me before this sweet deal passes by!!!

So how about some pics of my little one......

And have I ever mentioned some of the presets and actions that I use on my pics?  Well, they're from PinkInkStudios.com and they have tons of cool color actions and textures.......and well.......just lots of neat stuff!  I really recommend going on over and taking a peak at all of the wonderful stuff that they have in the store.....you won't be disappointed!!!

Almost there.....

Well, my paperwork will be sent to the State of Vermont tomorrow and once I get a few minor things done I'll be good to go!  I'd like to have everything done by the end of next week so I can start advertising and bringing in some new business which is sooooo exciting!  I'll be running a few specials so be on the lookout for those.  In the meantime, here's a shot of my little cutie in a prop that I discovered in our house.......