Hello all! Especially those of you who met me last weekend at the small business expo at the Janesville Mall. What an amazing weekend! As I mentioned to most of you, it was my very first time marketing here in Wisconsin. Almost everyone who signed up for my drawing was generous enough to share their opinions on what kinds of sessions and products would most interest them and many even shared experiences they’ve had with other photographers in the area. This information is so incredibly helpful to me and I really appreciate everyone who took the time to help me get to know this market better!

I will be announcing the winner of my drawing this weekend (I want to have a chance to contact the winner personally before announcing it), but even if you didn’t win the free session and package, I want everyone to know that I have some great specials coming up and some surprises, too. In fact, I’m going to be changing up my pricing and business model just a little bit for the spring and I think it will enable me to work with a lot more of you during this busy season.

Remember to fan me on facebook so that when I announce this new information, you’ll get notified in your facebook feed. I’ll also be sending an e-mail to everyone I met, so look for that sometime next week!

Once again, thanks for making my first expo such a fun and energizing experience. I can’t wait for the weather to warm up permanently so we can get outside and start shooting!

It warms my heart when she says it, but unfortunately it does nothing to warm the weather, which is still putting up a good winter fight. The kids are desperate to get outside (and so am I), but Bailey and I filled some time with a little indoor magic. Bailey says “abracadabra” when asked to use the magic word — some summertime reprogramming might be in order.

Brandon and I hit the park before his hair cut appointment (desperately needed). Brandon is a tough one. He has a lot of limitations in his posing. He has no trouble picking up a bug, but do NOT ask him to sit anywhere near one. No, he won’t sit in the grass, no not on the rocks either… nope, he won’t lean up against that wall. I am definitely being punished for what I did to my mom.

Here’s one from our park trip. Full midday sun, in the shade… I was surprised to find so many cool locations at one park. It’s a definite keeper and would be awesome with someone who is more willing to get a little dirty.

And from my favorite series yet… it’s Brandon looking “like a grown up going to work…” There were taken in the neighbor’s yard in the few minutes we had before dinner (post hair cut).

I am dying to scope out thrift and consignment stores in the area for more props. This chair really made my day — $5 at the thrift store AND it folds — BONUS! Fits in the car with no trouble at all.

The rest of the images from those 2 series are on my flickr.

I attended Bellies and Babies yesterday in Milwaukee and I really need to mention it. I am so encouraged and motivated now. I’m obviously no stranger to WOM marketing and I can’t say that the core of the information was new, but she packaged her information in such a way that it really just makes you feel like you can conquer the world.

I also met another super fun local photographer who I think (hopefully) really meshes with me personality-wise. I am so excited to print up some marketing materials to send out to local moms and moms-to-be. I hope that she and I can get together and shoot bunches of kids and babies to build our portfolios together.

I also attended a lighting class tonight at a really awesome local camera store I *just* discovered a couple weeks ago. The class itself was somewhat uneventful, but I was so pleased to find that they stock the few things I needed to get my off-camera lighting up and running.

I have a REAL shoot on Monday with Brian’s former boss and her kids. I am so excited to shoot this adorable young lady and her brothers — they are older and will certainly have a longer attention span than my own kids. And now I even have off-camera lighting to help me out a bit (even if it is still just a single light).

In the next post I need to share some new photos taken in the last few days.

We’ve been here in Janesville for 3 years and I’ve always felt that we really don’t have much natural beauty here. I have tried to convince myself otherwise, but Janesville has really not come through for me. Today I took off at sunrise in search of something beautiful and came back with almost nothing.

I’ve been thinking more about this and I’ve realize that we do have natural beauty here, but that the city of Janesville has not done an acceptable job making this beauty accessible to the general public. The vast majority of our Rock River shoreline is locked up in private residences. We have bridges over the river, but nowhere you’d want to stop.

The city of Janesville calls itself the “city of parks” — but I have yet to find a truly photogenic park. I do find playground equipment and public pools, but true raw natural beauty that would require a camera, no. The Janesville flickr pool reminds me of this reality every time I check it. Train cars and old buildings, even bowling alleys and pictures of Taco Bell… but not a single thing that would inspire me to wake up at 5am and set out with a tripod.

This morning, I went looking for the sunrise in my stylish rental car. I drove for over an hour, mostly downtown and near the river. This is what I shot first and it’s the only one I liked enough to process. Everything else left me with a blah feeling that makes me very insecure about my own abilities. I would love to discover Janesville with someone more accomplished. I’m open to the idea that it’s just me.