Jennifer Chaney Photography

When I got the call about this maternity session, we rushed a bit to get it done because the mama was pretty sure she would have the baby early.    So with the maternity photos out of the way, we started working out the details for a birthing session (nope, I’ve never done one, but this family is perfect for me to test the waters – and when I say birthing photography, I’m talking about the emotional aspect of the day… not the “hey, what’s happening down there, oh.. whoa… I see..” kind of photography.)

I want to capture moments to help a family remember an amazing day.  A day that zips by faster than a wedding day.  A day that is oddly forgotten about until you start talking about having another baby.   When I see some slideshows that other photographers have done for birth photography, I am literally in tears… and it’s not even my baby!  I don’t even know the couple.  We aren’t even in the same town, much less state, and here I am fully crying over their pictures.  So maybe it’s selfish.  Maybe it’s because I wish I would have had the foresight to have a professional photographer in the room.  I don’t know.  But whatever it is, it excites me.  I get all giddy thinking about it.  Being in a profession where it’s commonplace to move your clients to tears is powerful, but being able to produce work that moves a complete stranger to tears?  I’m beside myself.   Not to mention I’m rambling.  So next week is the big day.  Hopefully all the stars align and I can create some lasting memories for this beautiful family.

So here we are. Waiting for baby.

xoxo

Yesterday I met 13 fabulous women for my first ever beginning photography class, and I was floored by how sweet, excited, and ready to learn they were.  They made it so easy for me!  I’m excited to see how they implement all that we talked about, but I’m even more excited since it seemed nearly unanimous that I need to have another class so they can further their learning.  Thank you lovely ladies for joining me… I’ve got a lot to say and you all impressively stayed with me!

And a few more thank you’s I need to pass out:  Kristen Kiltz, for help in assisting and offering her daughter as a model (beautiful!), Rikki Roden, for taking a few “action” shots of the class, Julie Ligon, for the use of her gorgeous Dailey Method studio, to The Nurture Center, for the model’s clothing (the entire outfit can be purchased for under 50.00 – yes, that’s right, the super cute hat, shirt, and baby legs for under 50!)  And last but not least, a thank you to Cathy Bennett of How Time Flies digital scrapbooking – She stopped by to offer everyone a little peek at her album layouts and offered a generous discount.

Be on the look out for more classes!  I will definitely be doing another beginning photography class and am now working on the next level up: learning your DSLR.

Now… back to the Hockey game!

And seriously… how cute is this little peanut?

As we near the end of February (can that be right?  how is that possible?!)  I’m also nearing the end of my self imposed time off – but I have to admit, I worked A LOT.  I don’t know why, but I can’t stop!   So even though I may take a few weeks off from shooting, I still work on networking, marketing,  and educating myself.  I think I like both the business side and the photography side equally.  I have no idea how that happened.  I thought creative types were supposed to be one or the other… not both.  Maybe that’s why I feel like I need a third arm?  And with that disclaimer, I shall share yet another session… (even though I should be relaxing and enjoying my last few days of “vacation.”)

This session was fantastic… “why”  you ask?  Loving people, funny kinds, and nobody ran away from me!  Yes, that’s right, I didn’t have to run at all!  Now there was a little bit of sassiness as you can see, but that’s totally to be expected, and always worth a good laugh or two!  So here they are, a very sweet family that I can’t wait to work with again.

Pssst… see the photo with the mom looking down while carrying her son?  Yep. Perfection.

Geek speak: working with glasses can be tricky, especially if they are transition lenses… a tip?   Bring up the curves and mask the glass only.   And then dup the background layer and dodge the glasses at a low opacity.  Works like a charm!