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And the contest winner is...
This was a very H-A-R-D decision for me! After receiving several entries from you guys out there, it came down to two, both talking about sibling relationships, and both within the last few days...but without further ado, the winner is:
Juan (and Wally) Gonzalez!
Here is the winning entry:
Together, no matter what. Every time I see this picture I get so excited. To see how much my kids love each other and support one another is amazing! At barely a year and a half (at the time of the picture), Paulo understands love and shows it every time to his big sister Bianca (4 at the time). Bianca in turns deeply cares for her baby. Here they share a moment of silence for a lost ball down the stream - their hands holding as if to say, don't worry, it is going to be ok. As a parent, this is all I need...to know they will always be together, no matter what, supporting each other. Their love is what keeps me going each and every day. They are the simple pleasure in my life! - Juan
 Lucy (and Shaun), your entry was a very, very close second! So on that note, I'm going to send you a 8x10 of each image you entered. Those entries got me too :-)
Thank you everyone for participating and congratulations to the Soto-Gonzales family!Labels: CONTESTS, NEWS
The entries are coming in for this contest and there are some very touching ones. It is going to be hard to choose! I'm actually going to extend the contest deadline by 24 hours because I have an engagement shoot tonight and want to get some pictures up from Charlie and Kent's wedding this past Saturday, and want a little more time to mull over the entries that have come in thus far. So if you want a free photo shoot and haven't yet entered, you have a little more time...Labels: CONTESTS, NEWS
You may remember several weeks ago I hosted a contest for those who had terrible wedding photos when they were married. Cristi and Curt won the contest (here is their story and original pictures) and this past Sunday, we met up to take some new, fun pictures of them! This August will be their 5th wedding anniversary and no doubt their love has continued to grow over that time, which I think we were able to capture a little. While we certainly couldn't recreate many of the moments from their wedding, we did have a blast spending a couple hours getting these pictures. I cannot say enough about Cristi and Curt. They are such a genuine, caring, nice couple and I honestly had a great time hanging out with them. Cristi is that rare mix of being a stunning beauty, coupled with an absolutely adorable personality and sweet soul -- and a total pro in front of the camera! And Curtis is just an absolute class act and quite the pro too :) I'm getting all mushy here, but I just loved these two!Thank you again you two! You both are amazing people. Labels: CONTESTS, NEWS, PORTRAITS, WEDDINGS
Just a quick reminder that if you are interested in a **free photo shoot** to submit your entry in our contest give-away! The deadline is next Tuesday, March 11th. Click here to read more and enter today.Labels: CONTESTS, NEWS
Here is another contest that just came to me.... and it's open to any bride, groom or portrait client of mine.
Send me a quick note and tell me which image from your wedding day or portrait session (that I took) is your absolute #1 favorite and why? If you had to rescue just one single image from your wedding day or a particular shoot because it just represents YOU or something important to you, which one is it and why did it mean so much? The one who moves me the most with their short story will WIN a FREE PHOTO SESSION in 2008. (I'm in a pay-it-forward mood this year.)
The Jist: Describe or email a copy of the photo (or send image number from your proofs) and tell me why it meant so much to you. Did it make you cry? Did it capture the pure essence of a particular relationship? Did it make you see yourself (or someone else) in a whole new positive light? It doesn't have to be a long story and can even be one sentence... I'm just curious about which one moved you so much and why it moved you. If it's from a wedding and both the bride and groom have different favorites for different reasons, both can enter. Same with families if mom and dad had different favs.
The photo shoot will need to happen in Phoenix metro area, however, you can still enter if you are out of state because we can always schedule something if I am in your area or if you travel to and from Phoenix from time to time. Winner will have one year to schedule their session.
What can the 1 hour session be used for? Anything: new baby, family, engagement, pets, you name it. You can even give the session away to someone in Phoenix metro area who possibly can't afford a professional photographer if you want to keep paying it forward.
Deadline: Please send me your entry by Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at midnight PST.
I'll select the person who moves me so much with their email and announce the winner by Friday, March 15th on my blog.
Good luck!
Here is a random image just cause I felt like adding in some BW to this post :-) One of my favs from 2007.
 Labels: CONTESTS, PORTRAITS, WEDDINGS
And the winner is...... Cristi and Curtis! The girl whose terrible wedding photos inspired this very contest just couldn't be topped. So congratulations Cristi and Curtis! We'll get your new shoot scheduled and go capture some new images of you two-- and your love for each other 5 years later.
Here is their story and five of their original wedding images... (remember, these images were not an exception to the rule - this is what the rest of her images look like too, if not worse.)
Cristi and Curtis's Terrible Wedding Photos Story While planning our wedding, so many things went wrong that I remember a co-worker saying “Good thing you don't believe in signs, otherwise you probably wouldn’t be getting married." At that time her comment didn't really bother me. I didn't really care about where my wedding was going to take place, what my flowers or cake looked like, or that my custom-made dream dress had just gotten ruined. The most important thing to me was to have amazing pictures and I knew that I had an amazing photographer and that made me feel so incredibly lucky. Unfortunately, not for long. My amazing photographer had some personal problems and had to cancel shooting our wedding about 3 weeks before our wedding. Ok, maybe now I should believe in signs. However, I'm a very positive thinker and I believe that everything happens for a reason.
The same day that I found out I no longer had a photographer I went out dancing with some friends. There, I met a girl whom I had worked with while in college. I told her my story and she said the magic words: "Don't worry my husband is a wedding photographer! Let's meet this week so you can see his work and I'm sure it will all work out. The meeting went great. I really liked his pictures, they gave me a big discount and she even offered for me to wear her veil (they had just gotten married a couple of months before). Let's stop here for a moment. We met at a restaurant, he brought one photo album, with pictures of lots of different weddings and had a list of poses for me to check off. I told him I wanted more of a photojournalistic approach and thought I was covered. When you choose a wedding photographer, make sure that you see a few whole albums of just one wedding to give you an idea of what yours will look like. Make sure to be critical and not overly positive like I was.
Our wedding was so beautiful and so much fun! We left for our honeymoon and when we got back all I cared about was seeing our wedding photos. I remembered first looking at them and wanting to cry, but they were both there with big smiles on their faces saying “aren't they beautiful?" and “they turned out so great”, “you looked so beautiful” and so on. So I took the pictures, gave them the check, grabbed my purse and ran to my car. I called my husband crying telling him how bad the pictures were. He calmly said, “I'm sure they are not that bad. You just had really high expectations. I'm sure they are great. Come home.” I drove home and prayed that he was right, as he usually is. I ran inside and handed him the photos. As he looked through them, he avoided making eye contact with me and proceeded to go trough each picture a little faster than the one before. Pretty soon, he stopped, as he had given up. He looked up at me and said “I’m so sorry, honey." My heart sank and I cried – a lot. He hugged me and held me while I cried. Then I realized that I had something a lot more important than pictures, but still I wanted the pictures.
I called the photographers and told them how disappointed I was. She said that their style of photography was great and that she was sorry I didn’t see it the same way. When I went over to their place to return her veil, they gave me back my check so all I paid was a deposit (about $1,000). I explained to her that it really wasn't about the money. I had dreams of displaying my wedding photos all throughout the house, being able to relive my feelings on that day and sharing those photos with my kids and grandkids but now I would never be able to do any of that. She said she was sorry. I know she was, but it still didn't make me feel better. They were really nice people and I was never mad at them. I think I was disappointed in myself for letting this happen.
Now, I'm thinking this all happened so I can win this contest and have some truly amazing and special pictures. And also to be able to tell my story so this doesn't happen to others.
This August, we'll celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. I know that the wedding day cannot be recreated but I also know that we love each other more today than we did the day we got married. The feelings that can be captured now could not have been captured 5 years ago. Plus, when we got married I had my grandma's ring and now I have my own!
Picking the worst 5 pictures was no easy task as there are so many! I picked the ones I really wanted to have: the first kiss, walking out of the church, in the car on our way to the reception, a view of the church during the ceremony, and a “posed” picture outside on the bridge by the beautiful lake on a beautiful day. So here they are. Please don't cry, I'm okay now! And If I win this, I will be REALLY happy!
Labels: CONTESTS, NEWS
Tonight at midnight is the deadline - so hurry and send in your entries or send out to others you know who may want some free photography :-)This contest was inspired by someone I met recently. A sweet young woman named Cristi emailed me several months ago asking me to coffee so she could pick my brain about photography as she is at a bit of a crossroads professionally and is potentially interested in starting a photography business because she loves it so much.
I am happy to meet with anyone who puts forth the effort in starting their own business because it was the single best thing I ever did for myself, and there were many along the way that helped and guided me. I'm still learning and am constantly influenced by other photographers and business gurus, so it feels good to be able to return the favor. During our conversation, she shared her experience in hiring an affordable (read: uber-uber-affordable) "wedding photographer" for her wedding several years ago. Couples/parents who are simply price shopping for the cheapest photographer you can find, take heed.
The result was disastrous and it still brought tears to her eyes to share the story with me. She told me she cried for months after they received their pictures back as most of them were way too dark to see, or extremely blurry that you couldn't even tell who was in the picture, or otherwise awful. All the important moments were missed and very few shots, if any, were usable. I don't know who the photographers were (and mind you, they were photographers, just not experienced at all in weddings) so this is not a bash on anyone in particular. All I saw was a poor young woman who has no usable wedding pictures from the most important day in her life thus far.
After I saw the actual pictures, my mouth dropped in horror, and I felt terrible for her. I just wanted to do something to give her some decent pictures of her and her husband. So on this note, I am launching a contest to give away a free photo session. I know there are others of you out there who have had similar experiences. If you have terrible wedding day images and wish you'd hired another photographer, this contest is for you. Unfortunately, there is no way to recreate your wedding day short of renewing your vows (and even then, it's not the same...) but the winner will receive a 2-3 hour photography session with me to at least capture some cool images of you two together .... and ladies, you in your dress if you still have it. You can wear whatever you want and we can go anywhere in the Phoenix Metro area to shoot it (that we are allowed). We can at least capture some fun, trendy, stylish photographs of you two together now. And if you are planning a vow-renewal ceremony in 2008, even better! (Up to 3 hours coverage.)
The Jist:
1. You must have been married in the past 10 years (anywhere in the US). (Note: this was 7 years previously, but I edited to include those who may be doing vow renewals for their 10th anniversaries).
2. You must prove your pictures are very bad. Please scan and email, mail, fax or otherwise get to me 5 images from your wedding day. If you need me to return actual prints, please include a self-addressed, stamped envelope so I can put them back in the mail to you. Bad means they were grossly underexposed, overexposed, way too blurry, or otherwise technically flawed in nature. We can't account for stylistic changes that happen over time.
3. Tell me your story... how did you find the person who photographed your wedding and what happened?
4. What would winning this contest mean to you and your spouse?
The Deadline:
January 31, 2008
The Winner:
1. Will receive a 2-3 hour photo shoot of you and your spouse together. If you would like to bring your kids along for part of it, that is fine too, but remember, the purpose is mainly to capture images of you two together.
2. Must be willing to have your story and pictures shared on this blog. Don't worry, the original photographer will not be mentioned (I don't even request that info).
3. Must complete the photo session in 2008. The actual shoot will be scheduled once the winner is picked.
4. Must live in the Phoenix-metro area or be willing to travel to Phoenix for the shoot.
The winner will be picked from both the pictures they submit and their story. Stories can be emailed or faxed to 480-503-8149 and must be received by midnight PST January 31, 2008. The winner will be selected and notified on my blog by February 4, 2008.
Do you know people who have had this experience? Send them this link so they can enter.
Good luck!
Labels: CONTESTS, NEWS
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