Studio J Photography Blog

Bloomington Pet Portraits - The Esteemed Lord Ferlin of the Atomic Blue Eyes a.k.a. "Nuk"

Meet 'Nuk', whose official name is The Esteemed Lord Ferlin of the Atomic Blue Eyes.  Nuk was in before Christmas for a surprise for his mom-owner.  This guys eyes just pierce right through you!  This image is the one that was chosen as a 20x20 portrait to hang on the wall of his forever home.  You see, Nuk is an adoptee from the local shelter, and his owners have a great prize in this dog.  He's one smart cookie - it's so fun to watch him with his owners and see how well trained he is!  Merry 1st Christmas, Nuk! 

Bloomington Children's Portraits - A trio of fun!

These little darlings came in recently for a portrait session and sent out some gorgeous Christmas cards from it!  A fun family, it's always a good time when they come in!

This young lady, the older sister, is so beautiful, as are all of these children and quite whitty.  She like to play with my "I can be a Baby Photographer Barbie" when she is in.  I am, truly, so grateful to be their photographer!  When they came in to pick up their Christmas cards, the little guy in the middle (a Spiderman fan, I must say!) walked into the studio, took off his jacket and made himself right at home.  Him mom said that he must feel pretty comfortable to do that, and we are so glad to hear it!  We love having children in the studio, and to know they are comfortable in their surroundings as well is awesome!

You may recognize Mr. Spiderman from a previous blog post, we photographed this family him back in March for our Baby and Child Portrait Contest and his portrait I ended up entering into the International Photography competition, and the portrait will also be published in the Professional Photographers of America Showcase Collection book.  You can view the portrait in this post .  He's changed a bit since then, but wow, still adorable as can be!

I can't forget to talk about the baby, who I can't wait to watch grow up.  He, like his older sister and brother, makes your heart just melt, and he is just the happiest!

 

 

 

Anyway, these little faces make our days at the studio so much fun, so different every day, and we just love what we do, and why wouldn't we?  Just look at those faces~!

Bloomington Senior Portraits - Senior Portrait Update Time and Spokesmodel Info!

 

     

You may remember this senior from a while back - she's one of our Senior Spokesmodels from the class of 2009!  She came in recently for an update session, with a friend! 

Enjoy your sneak peek!  This young lady has been a great spokesmodel and we are so happy to have gotten to know her this year!!

If you know someone that is in the senior class of 2010 who may be interested in being a spokesmodel for Studio J Photography (there are some great benefits if you are chosen!) then be sure to drop us a line, or have them email us directly at info@studiojphotography.net .  We are getting ready to kick off our 2010 senior season and have already received a number of spokesmodel applications, so be sure to email us to get yours in. 

Merry Christmas to All!

Cheers to you and yours this Christmas holiday!

May you be blessed with the warmth and spirit of this holiday season and may we not forget, and celebrate wholly the true meaning of the holiday - CHRISTmas.

As you gather 'round the table with your family, watching in awe the young ones and remembering when you were a child -may you also hold closely the classic holiday traditions of yesterday still ringing true today.

The meals, the laughter, the holiday carols.  Mistletoe and holly, poinsettias and hot mulled cider - and even though many of us may not celebrate with a goose and Christmas pudding, in our home we do celebrate with an old-fashioned pudding, Bread Pudding, a favorite at our home that is enjoyed on Christmas day.

BUTTERSCOTCH BREAD PUDDING

(pay no mind to the nutrition analysis :) ) 

INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

• 1 (10.75 ounce) loaf day-old bread, torn into small pieces
• 4 cups milk
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup butterscotch chips

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DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, combine bread, milk, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla and butterscotch chips; mixture should be the consistency of oatmeal. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven 1 hour, until nearly set.

Had to share a few of our favorite images from the Santa's Boots special we had around Thanksgiving! 

Bloomington Family Portraits - A Fun Family!

When this family called for a portrait session, I had the opportunity to talk with dad first. What a nice guy!  He scheduled the session, and gave me mom's info so we could discussion clothing and plans for their session.

It turns out that she works right down the street from the studio!  I took a stroll over to A. Renee .  If you haven't been there, you should go.  It's a great shopping experience. 

Anyway,  I really anticipated this family coming in!  Casual, more fun, and knew exactly what they wanted!  Dad was excited, mom was excited, and I was excited!  Love the colors and as I was going through their images, I had to put together a fun wall grouping- the image were just calling for it!! 

Enjoy your sneak peek!

Bloomington Family Portraits - SHHH! Don't tell!

We have had a LOT of family portrait surprises come in this fall, and it's fun yet I can't blog a lot of them 'cause you all read the blog!!

One of those portrait surprise families was actually my assistant Britten and her sister.  They planned this surprise portrait grouping for their parents as a Christmas gift.  We have talked and talked about if these should be blogged, so IF any of you know them, don't tell!

Won't that look great over their living room sofa?  The framing for this piece is just exquisite, I can't wait to see a picture of the real thing! 

And just because they are both amazingly beautiful, I just have to share 2 of my favorite images!

Received the letter ....

I have a bit of news, which (to photographers) is really exciting. I wasn't sure if I should share it here, but a dear photographer friend of mine told me I HAD to blog about it, so here goes.

Yesterday I went to the mailbox and received a letter in the mail that I had been hopefully anticipating for a while.  It is pretty exciting, to actually have in in my hands!  Before I can tell you about the letter, though, I have to share what it is about...

For the last few years, I have been a member of the Professional Photographers of America, THE international organization of professional photographers.  Part of being in the organization is having the opportunity to put yourself out there and earn degrees in photography through the organization.

For the last year, I have been focusing on a particular degree from the organization and needed to obtain a certain number of merits (credits) toward education in photography.  1/2 of those merits HAD to be from teaching.  So, off on travels I have gone over the past year, taking me to Louisiana, Wisconsin, our Illinois state convention, New Hampshire and Maine, and a few classes at my studio which brought in photographers from as far as Florida.  Each class or program I have given has varied in length from 2 to 8 hours, the average being 4.  The other 1/ 2 of the merits had to be from receiving education, attending seminars or photographic schools, conventions and classes. 

By June of this year, I had all of the required merits to be eligible to receive my Photographic Craftsman degree this coming January.  I will be traveling to Phoenix, AZ to our national convention, walking across the stage with my sponsor, Jeff Dachowski of Manchester, NH,  and receiving my degree certificate and medallion from our PPA President Dennis Craft.  It's been an exciting year, and a bit of a whirlwind.  What is interesting about it is the teaching has not stopped there.  It's been quite enjoyable, and currently I have plans to be teaching in Tennessee and San Francisco this coming year, and am looking forward to it.

Back to the letter - yesterday I received the 'official letter' from another organization, the American Society of Photographers.  The letter was to invite me to join the organization.  What is so exciting is the American Society of Photographers is that membership is BY INVITATION ONLY (I am so excited!!).  Because I will be receiving my Photographic Craftsman degree, and you must hold a degree with the Professional Photographers of America, and be a member in good standing with PPA, I am also now eligible to be a member of the ASP.  Photographers that are invited to be a member of the ASP are considered the 'best of the best'.  I cannot tell you how honored I am to be among them! 

Needless to say, now the the convention is approaching quickly, and the letter has been received, I am getting nervous!!  Even after the teaching over the past year, walking across that stage in front of hundreds of people is even more nerve-wracking!  Yet at the same time, it's so exciting!!  

Baby and Child Portrait Contest

Get ready, get set!  Just wanted to give you a heads up that after the first of the year our annual Baby and Child Portrait Contest will be here!  More details to follow, of course, but for those of you that plan ahead, the time is coming.

Be sure to get on the list ! Just enter "Contest List" in the subject line so you don't miss important announcements regarding the contest as they come out!  You can also email us directly at info@studiojphotography.net !

 

Old is New Again

Occasionally we have a call for copy and restoration needs from clients that have special images that needs to be restored, or they have one last image in not-so-great shape and they would like to see it restored and need additional copies to share with other family members.

We do offer copy and restoration services, which is done at the studio by our web/computer person Wayne.  Wayne is our computer jack of all trades and does a great job bringing those images back to what you want to see!

With copy and restoration, it is important to remember that we do what we can to restore the image you bring in, and do the best we can with what we are given.  As with this type of service, each job is different and we will custom quote you the work before anything is ever done.

With that said, here are some sample images that Wayne has done in the past!