Happy Birthday, baby J! This little guy has the sweetest personality, as you can see in his photos. He was hesitant of the camera at first, but quickly got into the photoshoot groove, playfully interacting with the camera for the whole session.

We’ve had a lot of nautical cake smash themes this year, but nobody had done an ‘under the sea’ set until this one! I loved making all of the creatures, and J was mesmerized by the fish swimming around him. Thanks to Sweet Indulgence for the friendly shark cake!

Storyboards are my favorite product that clients order. These are my favorite because they are super customizable and are beautifully stunning when displayed on a wall.

This weeks featured size is a 16×24 storyboard.  These 16×24′s are very popular for all types of sessions.

16×24 storyboards are one of our most popular sizes by far! The tricky part my clients face is picking the right amount of images and the orientation because it really matters!  This week tip I focus on 3 to 4 image storyboard because thats the average number picked.  I’ve done up to nine images on one board though!  These are great visual layouts to help pick images because whether its a canvas or in an Organic Bloom frame the goal is to make the images look balanced.

I first met this happy baby girl back in 2011 when she and her big brother visited our studio for portraits.  We stayed in touch online and through the wonderful community of moms at Bellani Maternity over the years.

We were on our Holiday break this year when I saw the story spread over facebook.  A family in our community was struggling with the recent diagnosis of their young daughter.  She had gone into the doctors with a stomach bug and then their world had changed.  I soon found out it was Belle and her final diagnosis was pre-B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) .  I just couldn’t wrap my head around the sudden news.   I sent mom a message as soon as I heard.  Whenever she was ready, whenever Belle was ready, I wanted to be there for them in any way that I could.

I have worked with many families fighting childhood illness through The Tiny Sparrow Foundation over the past few years.  It has been the most meaningful part of what I do as a photographer.  I know how much photos can mean to families fighting through treatment and recovery.  I also knew how much Belle’s beautiful curls meant to her mom.  Not for their physical beauty, or the soft way they framed her baby doll face, but because they were a symbol of Belle’s babyhood.  They were a symbol of Belle before their world was turned upside-down.  I know I would have felt exactly like Belle’s mom did.  Yes, those curls will grow back, surely more beautiful than ever, but I would have wanted to hold onto them as long as I could.  I had to get to the hospital and capture Belle’s curls.

Belle and her mom are some of the strongest girls I’ve ever met.  Mom has been incomprehensibly positive and tenacious for her daughter.  They amaze me and everyone else they meet.  Belle had already fought through over two weeks of treatment and wasn’t feeling great the day I visited.  We had endless fun, girly, dress-up toys to make her smile, but she mostly wanted her Elmo, her mommy, and her cozy blanket.  You know what?  That Elmo and blanket looked pretty perfect to me and there is nothing more beautiful than a mother’s love.

Plus, this isn’t the last photo shoot you’ll see with Belle here.  We’ll be catching up again, when she’s feeling much better.  She has plenty of tutu-twirling ahead of her!  This summer, her hair will be growing back and I probably won’t be able to keep up with her as she runs around outside.  For now, I’m happy to have captured those sweet curls before her next chapter begins.  You can read more about Belle’s story in her mother’s words on the Kent Macaroni Kids Blog.

If you would like to help Belle and her family, please visit  Belle’s Youcaring.com Page or check back in with us for the many opportunities to make a difference for Belle in the coming months.

Oh my gosh, is this not one of the cutest babies you have ever seen?  I was totally in love with her from the first second she looked at me with those big brown eyes.  Little Star sessions are some of my favorite and especially when babies are at this age.  It feels like I’m just hanging out with mom and dad, playing dress up with their little one.  Sometimes I have to remind myself that I’m working!  M was so sweet.  She indulged us in plenty of adorable outfits and sets.  I’m wondering how I’ll ever choose favorites for this gallery!  Enjoy your sneak peek!

Wait, did I just say that? 

Yes, I said that.  I said that even though digital negatives are the most profitable item any professional photographer can sell you after your session.  We all know that the material cost of a CD or thumb drive is exceptionally inexpensive compared to producing albums, prints and frames.  I said that even though digital negatives still remain one of the most popular products at my own portrait studio.

I’m here to tell you today that a disk of digital negatives should never be the only product you walk away with from your professional photographer.   If you do, you are probably wasting your money.  We believe in this so strongly at our studio that our team works hard to ensure all of our clients walk away with heirloom, archival safe keepsakes from their sessions in addition to their digital negatives.

Before I get everyone up in arms, let me start out by saying that we sell digital negatives at our studio after almost every session.  Digital files certainly have a place for the consumer.  We generally sell digital negatives to clients for the purpose of sharing with their family and friends.  They love showing off their images on facebook, on their mobile devices, and printing out 5×7’s for grandparents and friends.  That is all great, but surely that isn’t the only reason they invested in a professional photographer.

Why hire a professional photographer?

We all now have access to amazing equipment and technology to take everyday photos of our own lives.  If we want snapshots of our kids to show off on facebook or print for Grandma, we can do it on our own.  We can Instagram, email, Facebook, Tweet, and 1-hour-photo to our hearts content.  I’m amazed every day at the artistic and photographic capabilities of Heidi Hope Photography clients.  They definitely have a good eye!  So many of our clients are amazing photographers in their own right and have equipment at home that rivals ours.

So why does anyone hire a professional photographer anymore?

We invest in professional photographers to capture the details of our life beautifully and in a way that no one else can.   We invest in a service that caters to our specific requests and takes care of the whole process professionally from end to end. I can cook a gourmet meal at home, but there is nothing like going to my favorite fine restaurant and having the amazing staff take care of everything for us.  We hire professional photographers to create “artwork” for us and for our families.  We hire them to document a time in our lives through their unique artistic eye so that we can enjoy looking back on it for generations.  If all you get is a dvd in the mail, upload to the pics to facebook and then stuff your DVD in a drawer, you are missing out on what professional photography truly is!  Couldn’t you have just as easily shared some Iphone pics?

Enjoying your professional photography for generations.

“From the iPhone to the Garmin, advancements and gadgets introduced this decade changed the whole world.  In the process, a few things that once were considered social mainstays are now either obsolete or well on their way. Remember busting out a map to figure out directions? Or using a cell phone that had actual buttons? Yeah, those days are a bit hazy for us, too.”  – Bianca Male  Business Insider

I began researching to revamp our 4-year-old website and came upon an astonishing bit of news;  Flash is dead.  Flash is DEAD?  In 4 short years it went from being the darling of visual media, taught in all of my web design classes, to DEAD?  Where have I been?  It isn’t just flash.  CD’s are dead.  Desktop computers are soon-to-be dead.  Yep, they’re as dead as payphones, road maps, and Blockbuster.

So what happens in 10 years when you finally have some free time and actually want to do something with those photos you had taken way-back when the kids were little?  Like most people, you didn’t know what to do with them at the time, so you bought the disk.  Where is that disk?  If you are far more organized than I and can actually locate that disk 10 years later, chances are, your computer won’t read it.  That’s right, computers won’t be manufactured with optical drives much longer.  Oh, but you backed it up on that external hard drive.  Sorry, fire wires and external hard drives are soon to be extinct too.  Desktops won’t be around much longer either, so you probably only have a laptop or tablet that you were never even able to transfer those files to.  At least you uploaded them to Facebook.  Thank goodness Facebook is still in existence in this future hypothetical!  What a shame you can’t print a 16×24″ for your wall off of Facebook.

Okay, maybe your photographer was up with the times and started offering flash drives in adorable little packaging.  We’ll be offering flash drives rather than CD’s later this year for the aforementioned reasons.  At least they have a longer shelf life.  Or do they?  Unfortunately, flash drives are equally unreliable with industry experts warning that flash drive failure and file loss is at epidemic proportions.  “The price of USB flash drive data recovery services at typical data recovery labs can reach into the thousands and it might take weeks or even months to get your files back“ (http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/9/prweb8735457.htm)  That’s if you didn’t loose the little thing, like I surely would have.

Well, at least you can contact your photographer.  They have a 20% chance of still being in business after the first 2 years.  That’s if they were in fact a legitimate business.  Did you check to see if they were a registered business?  If they weren’t, the statistics are worse.  Here’s to hoping they still have those files for you!

See where I’m going with this?

With the rapid change in technology, the only way to preserve your photographs so that they can be enjoyed for generations is by producing something tangible out of them.  What’s even greater, I can guarantee that you will be even happier with your investment in professional photography if you do so!   No one ever calls to say how much they love their DVD.  They call to say how much their friends raved about their greeting cards this year, or how their wall art makes them smile every time they walk by, or how their toddler daughter looks at her newborn album every day!

This is so important to us at Heidi Hope Photography that we don’t sell digital negatives without giving clients their counterparts in print.  We also include beautiful heirloom pieces such as wall art and albums in all of our collections that come with digital files.  We take the time with clients during their viewing appointments to help them plan and design how to use and enjoy the photography we have created so that their investment lasts a lifetime… or longer!  We show wall display options and custom design beautiful storyboards and albums so that the portraits clients adore can be proudly displayed and enjoyed.  That is, after all, what you hired us for!  We never want someone leaving saying “I wasn’t sure what to do with them, so I just bought the disk.”

I understand the desire to have access to digital files so that you can print and design on your own.  I also believe some people actually do create beautiful artwork at home out of their digital files, even when I’m hesitant to give up the control of quality that is lost when we can’t check over the final product.   If you are one of those people who still hasn’t ordered your wedding album however, you probably need some professional help figuring out what to do with all of those gorgeous photos you’ve had taken!  If you do opt for digital files in addition to your heirloom pieces from your professional photographer, please back them up in multiple locations on a variety of platforms so that you have them to enjoy in the years to come.

Yes, in our digital world, digital files still certainly have their place, but you are cheating yourself, and wasting your investment, if all you walk away with is the files.

Sweets + a sweet model = an epicly sweet shoot! Shoots like this remind me how much I love my job.    Sweet Indulgence called us the day before this happened and asked if we wanted to pop over to their shop for a quick shoot, and I had no idea that THIS would happen! We started out shooting the table of cakes and candy, then added in our bridal model to create a ‘fashion’ shoot to show off the stunning wedding cakes that Sweet Indulgence now makes. The tiers of lace in the background, her dress, and then the ruffles on the cake all came together for a vintage-elegant look.

Wedding cakes and dessert table: Sweet Indulgence

Bouquet: Flowers By Semia

Dress and Accessories: Couture Bridal

Lashes: Ch’i Spa

Makeup and Hair: Dion at Magnolia Salon

~ Mariah

December has come and gone, but we have one more deal to share with you for 2013!  This deal is available for ONE WEEK ONLY.  After one week, the deal, and the opportunity, expires! If you’re a newsletter subscriber, you’re already in the know about the entire series. To hear about future promotions, sign up for our newsletter here.

This week’s deal (expires 5pm EST, January 15th, 2013): Book a Maternity session for January-March of 2013, and receive 20% off your session fee!

A maternity session is the perfect way to create stunning, heirloom portraits for your family to remember your pregnancy. We love to get older siblings involved in sessions, and husbands, too! To see more maternity photos (from almost a year ago, when Heidi was pregnant with Grace!) click here!

How do I take advantage of this deal??

Call the studio (401-864-1919) this week to schedule and submit your session fee for a maternity session. Please note we are here to answer your calls Monday through Friday 9-5pm.  Calls during non business hours will be returned in the order received.  Session fee must be submitted before 5pm EST, December 21st, 2012.

~ The Heidi Hope Team

I had so much fun with these 4 sweet kids and their mom, aunt and grandmother the week before Christmas!  I’m not going to lie, I was nervous about how a session with 2 month old twins and 2 older siblings would go.  I was so pleasantly surprised by how amazing big brother and sister were with their new babies.  They were such good listeners and did a wonderful job holding the babies and posing for me.  I was so impressed with them.  I think half of this gallery will be the four kids all together because I have so many favorites!  After the family portraits, we took some of just big brother and sister on their own, and then we captured a few sweet newborn sets.  It was so much fun, the time flew by!  Thanks for such a great session.  Enjoy your sneak peek!

It’s FREE! Book a full Heidi Hope Photography session for 2013 before January 11th and earn a FREE Valentine’s Day Mini Session at our studio!

Mini Sessions will be held on: January 17th, 2013
Deal Expires: 5pm EST, January 11th, 2013

Exclusively available to our 2013 clients, the Valentine’s Day Mini Session is a great way to get to know us at the studio and capture a few keepsake images for you or your child’s Valentine cards!

• A 15-minute shoot that captures up to three people in a custom Valentine’s Day set in the Heidi Hope Studio.
• Post-session custom image preparation with attention to each image by our team of editors.
• Approximately 5-8 images presented to you in an online ordering gallery available for 1 week.
• 24 free custom-designed wallets that you or your child can give out as Valentines!
• One custom Valentine’s Day-themed Facebook cover photo for showing off online.
• No minimum investment.

How do I take advantage of this deal??

Call the studio (401-864-1919) today to schedule and submit your session fee for your Full Session (must take place in 2013) and receive a complimentary Valentine’s Day Mini Session.  Please note we are here to answer your calls Monday through Friday 9-5pm.  Calls during non business hours will be returned in the order received.  Session fee must be submitted before the deal expiration date above.  If you already have a session booked for 2013 and would like to come in and visit us for a Valentine’s Day Mini, just give us a call and we’ll get you in the schedule.  We can’t wait to see you!

Restrictions:
The complimentary Valentine’s Day Mini Session includes photographer’s time and talent, custom image preparation, 25 free wallets, and 1 week online gallery hosting only.  All prints and products from your Valentine session are available for purchase approximately 2 weeks after your session in your online ordering gallery and are not included.  There is no minimum investment and no purchase necessary.  Online ordering gallery will be available for 1 week and will not be eligible for reactivation.  The Valentine session must be scheduled during our normal business hours after booking a full family shoot for 2013.  Session Fee for full photography session must be submitted in full to schedule your free Valentine’s Day mini session. Full photography sessions include family, boudoir, newborn, maternity, senior, or modeling sessions. Full photography sessions do NOT include Little Star or other special Heidi Hope Photography sessions. During the winter months, all sessions must start by 1pm due to the availability of natural light in the studio.  There are no rain checks and the session is non-transferable in the event of rescheduling. There is NO minimum investment after a Valentine’s Day Mini Session.

Hope to see you in the studio!

~ The Heidi Hope Team

I had so much fun with this gorgeous baby girl and her mom last week.  The bond between them was so sweet and made for some portraits that make me teary-eyed!  A was such a happy girl.  She loved crawling and playing and was a natural in front of the camera.  We had an adorable Minnie Mouse cake smash to match the fabulous outfit mom had gotten for A.  From the tip of her hat to the bows on her bottom as she crawled away, A was the perfect first birthday princess!  Enjoy your sneak peek!