Posted: January 10th, 2012 | Author: Julie | Filed under: Family, Kids | Comments Off
My first scheduled shoot for 2012 had to be bumped out a few weeks, so this was my first official shoot of 2012…and I couldn’t have asked for a better family to kick the new year off with! They were adorable, sweet, funny…and up for anything (i’ll save those pics for their personal gallery ;))….and really, is Kimmie not one of the cutest pregnant women you have ever seen?!? Ashton is so stinking adorable….and I can’t wait to meet baby Gage in March! :)
Posted: December 29th, 2011 | Author: Julie | Filed under: Family, Kids, My Life, Press | Comments Off
Yep, it’s that time of year again! The time when I *try* and choose some of my favorite images from the year. Each year I pick the amount of photos to go with each year. There was 8 for 2008, 9 for 2009, 10 for 2010, this year is 11 for 2011, etc ;) Here were 2009 and 2010 if you’d like to see. Just like every year, I choose a select group of family and friends to help me narrow down the choices…since it’s close to impossible to select just a few favorites.
Also, I just want to take a few minutes and thank all of my wonderful clients. Without you, there wouldn’t be “Lot116 Photography”. Many of you have been with me since day one. I have had the honor to watch your kids grow up, and capture them each and every year. Nowadays, everyone seems to be a photographer, and many start out dirt cheap (like I did), so to know that I have a wonderful group of clients that are still with me (even though “Joe Schmoe only charges $200 for everything”) is a HUGE honor. I have also had a few clients who had/have decided to use someone else at one point (because I was already booked, because of pricing, etc). Many of those clients have come back to me afterwards (like a phone call I received yesterday from a family I love) and said that they regretted it, had a horrible experience, bad photos, etc…..and that “you get what you pay for”…..and most importantly… “never again” and were coming back to me :) I know i’m not the cheapest photographer by any means, nor am I the most expensive (I have friends who make around $3,000 PER SHOOT and tell me that i’m “too cheap”). Since day one, I wanted to charge what A) I thought was fair, and B) What I needed to make to keep my business going (for clients, keep in mind that there are MANY costs in running/keeping up this biz – business taxes, cost of cameras, lenses, bags/backpacks, props, computers, hard drives, websites, gallery sites, etc, etc). I started out *EXTREMELY* low (like many do) to build my business. Within the past year or so, Lot116 is finally where I want it. I have learned to only schedule what I can physically and mentally handle (long gone are the days of doing up to 15 full shoots in ONE month) without getting burnt out. Also, as some of you might have noticed, instead of two, I only offer ONE type of session now. I no longer offer the “session fee + purchase of prints” option. Why? Well because in my 4+ years of business, only ONE client did NOT purchase the session that comes with the disc (they purchased prints only instead – which basically ends up costing the same…which is why I always push for the disc). It was basically pointless to even offer that option since everyone chose the higher package….so that other option is now gone, and I have simplified my pricing even more than it already was ;) I know many photographer’s “hate me” for offering a disc (especially for “so cheap”), but my reasoning is simple: Many photographers don’t offer a disc, just prints/canvases (usually at very high prices). With a disc, you can upload them to your favorite photo site, pop them onto your hard drive and throw the disc into a fireproof safe. Let’s say your house burns down and you barely have time to get out alive. Your prints/canvases, etc on the walls are now GONE. Those photos of your family are now non-existent (most photographers delete your photos within a few weeks, months or a year, tops). With a disc, you will still have those photos as long as you did any of the 3 things I mentioned above. I’m not in this business to make a killing. Yes, I could switch to “boutique pricing” like many do, but for me, I offer what *I* would want.
Ok, sorry to have rambled and derailed a bit, but I just wanted to tell a bit about why I do things the way I do :) It has worked for 4.5 years now….so I must be doing something right ;)
Thank you all again…..and here they are, the “Favorite 11 of 2011″ (in no particular order)!!
Posted: December 23rd, 2011 | Author: Julie | Filed under: My Life, Press | Comments Off
Ok, ok….so I waited until the last minute (even though I had gotten the outfit months ago and knew what I wanted to do) and shot in 15 min….but hey, at least I got something up….right? ;) Wishing you all the best!! :)
Posted: November 15th, 2011 | Author: Julie | Filed under: Family, Kids | Comments Off
This is another adorable family that i’ve had the pleasure of photographing before :) Last time, Emma was 2 and Elyssa was still in mommy’s tummy! Emma just turned 3 and Elyssa just turned 1 :) Elyssa is such a little doll. Her eyes, those cheeks, her hair starting to curl….love it! :) Emma was my little supermodel this year and was SO good. Seriously, she took direction better than a lot of kids ages 5+ that i’ve photographed :)
Posted: November 14th, 2011 | Author: Julie | Filed under: Family, Kids | Comments Off
I’ve been lucky enough photography these cuties for 3 years in a row. Some of my favorite images ever have been with this family. Mason is 3 now and is a silly little guy who laughs at everything and talks and talks….and talks ;) Faith has always been one of the easiest kids i’ve ever photographed. She is so extremely sweet and just stunning.
Posted: November 9th, 2011 | Author: Julie | Filed under: Family, Kids | Comments Off
Everything about this shoot was golden. The light, their smiles, the fun, the props, the beauty, …..and their last name! ;) This wonderful family drove down from Newport Beach and through friends, were able to get permission for us to shoot at this amazing (top secret) property. On top of that, they arrived with THE raddest little pedal car in tow, as well as balloons, their family pup….and 3 adorable boys dressed to perfection! Sessions like these make me SO happy :) Throughout the property, there were horses and other animals, and I thought to myself “How rad would it be if that white horse (who at the time was WAY far out in the field with other horses) came close enough for a few pics?”. We headed off to do some other shots, and as we walked back, there, right next to the fence, was the white horse. We didn’t want to spook it (tricky with 3 little boys ages 4 and under ;) haha), but we managed to snap a few shots for about 1-2 minutes until it walked away….
Posted: November 2nd, 2011 | Author: Julie | Filed under: Family, Kids | Comments Off
Get ready for some cuteness. This little guy is 7 months old, one of my favorite ages. Why? Because they are usually sitting up, happy, smiley, chubby and adorable. Max filled that quota, and then some :) His mama also brought along a fun and colorful blanket that was given to them. Oh and if any of you are worried about the baby on the train tracks….don’t worry, it’s a little park train, and the train doesn’t run that day ;)
Posted: October 27th, 2011 | Author: Julie | Filed under: Kids, My Life | 10 Comments »
A few weeks ago, my sister called me excitedly to tell me that she found an awesome kid’s Werewolf costume (for my nephew, Isaac) at Marshall’s for under $20. She already had a Dracula costume that she bought for my nephews’ carnival party (Mason wore the suit as a Ringmaster’s outfit). And with PJ’s Bride of Frankenstein costume, we thought it would be fun to take some pictures of the kids together as these “classic” Halloween monsters.
Then, since I had already done PJ’s Bride Of Frankenstein pics, I thought it would be fun to do sort of a take on the werewolves versus vampires themes of Twilight or True Blood. So PJ became our “Bella” (but minus the jeans and flannel shirt ;) haha). The boys’ costumes happened to have a lot of red/black…so we went the olden day/victorian style with PJ and I had her wear a vintage dress that she already had (which she wore in this little “at home” shoot) and added a red ribbon and apple for the final touch ;)
Getting a 5, 6 and 7 year old to “stay serious” for longer than a few seconds (especially with costumes) was tricky….so as you can see, there were lots of laughs and giggles as well ;)
So here are our little monsters, “Twilight with a classic twist”…
Happy (early) Halloween (again)!
Posted: October 26th, 2011 | Author: Julie | Filed under: Family, Kids | 7 Comments »
I seriously get to work with the most awesome families. This family (who drove down from Laguna Beach) was gorgeous, dressed super rad, fun, goofy and natural! I loved their outfit choices, clothing colors, accessories….heck, EVERYTHING! I’ll be sure to share some of the “everyone looking” shots (along with some other families) sometime in December (after holiday cards have gone out). This family was amazing……
