Best newborn award...

goes to....

All newborns are wonderful in my eyes and I don't mind one bit if they fuss while I am "bothering" them during their session. However... Oh my goodness, this baby was the best baby I have ever worked with! Look how little he is... awwwww! He was so compliant!!! That probably sounds weird doesn't it? Let's just put it this way... Mr. Jaden didn't fuss once while I maneuvered him in 100 different positions for his session. I COULD not believe it! He just kept snoozin away!

I know baby Jaden because his daddy is a DJ in my area and we have gotten to work a couple of weddings together this year. If any of you are looking for any DJ needs, he's your guy... check him out here. He does a fantastic job, you won't be disappointed!

Jaden really shouldn't be here yet. We had a maternity session scheduled and I got a call from his dad and he said, "well, we aren't going to make it to our session, because it's baby time"! So, he was a month early, but look how perfect he is!

Big brother Skylar! Look at those amazing eyes!

Congratulations Joel, Christina and Skylar! He is perfect!

note: Joel and Christina, I am terribly sorry if I spelled his name wrong. I looked on both of your myspace and it was spelled differently on each one!!!

FYI

I have been a volunteer for this amazing foundation for about 3 months now. I got involved with this orginazation after my mom watched a segment on the Today Show about what Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep does. She thought it seemed like something I might be interested in. I checked it out and from there I went through the necessary training and application process. I have added a link at the bottom as well for you to view anytime, however, I wanted to also post it just so you all have the opportunity to take a look at what it's all about.

To give you a very brief dea of what exactly NILMDTS is: It's infant rememberence/berevement photography. When a baby dies at birth or thereafter, we come into the hospital and do a photoshoot for the parents. No cost for the session or images. We capture the relationship and love that those parents have for their baby, in hopes that they can have these images show how special their precious baby is.

Several people have asked me how in the world can you go and do a photoshoot like that and not be too upset by watching people hurting so badly.

The only way I can answer that is this: If I was in a situation like these families who we reach, I would want someone to do this for me. I think those photos are some of the few things families who have lost an infant have to cling to for rememberence. It gives a sense of "my child was here and he does matter, no matter how short his life may have been". I think its very rewarding to be able to give back in this manner.

If you would like to watch the video that the today show did click here: Today Show video

NILMDTS is entirely a non-profit orginzation. If you are intersted in making a donation, please visit the website and follow the prompts there: http://www.blogger.com/www.nilmdts.org

Congratulations!

And the winner is......

Valen!!!!

I know his mommy will be so happy! Congrats Michelle, I think if anyone deserved this contest it would have to be you hands down! Just to give you all a little background, Valen is just over 1 and I met his mommy just before she was pregnant with him! She has wanted to do a session since he was born and she finally is able to! Way to persist Michelle! I can't wait for his session! I will get with you regarding details this week!

Adorable!

Sorry this has taken me so long to get your sneek peek up Angie! Well it's baby time! Ashton is HERE!!!! and... SO SO SO cute! Here's a quick sneek peek, Ashton decided it would be fun to stay awake for his entire session and that was great... until we tried to get some shots of just him by himself... and well.... everytime his mommy got him to sleep and set him down... he would wake up and cry!

Proud Big Sister!

Such is life with a newborn, however, we did get a couple of great shots. Enjoy and stay tuned for more to come very soon!

My favorite guy!

I took Carson to get his haircut today... I know... about time right?! He was workin' on a serious mullet/fro (not cute on a 2 year old ;-)

Tara another one of the stylists @ Salon Breathe gave him an adorable haircut and then... to top it off shaped it into a faux hawk! What made it even better? It is a BLUE mohawk!!! Carson thought he was awesome and looked at himself in the mirror about 300 times tonight! Too cute!!!

Boudoir session!

So I did another Boudoir session and it ROCKED! I had to wait to get this one up for posts until she gave this as a gift! "A" (we will call her) did a "pin-up" style calendar for her husband for his birthday/wedding anniversary! I haven't heard, however... I know he is going to love this gift! "A" did such an AMAZING job of workin' the camera... good goin' girl!


I obviously can't share much of our session however... here is just one. For those of you who aren't familiar with what this type of session is; basically it's just a very tasteful yet intimate session highlighting lingerie and curves!

Hi Guys!

So I wanted to encourage all of you to head over to Tyler's blog (my assistant) and check out a slide show he did! This was a wedding we did back in June (they are friends of mine and also his aunt and uncle!) That's where Tyler and I met! Anyway... go check it out! I'm very proud!

Check us out this weekend!

This weekend, Touch of Love Photography will be at Hidden Lake Gardens in Brooklyn, MI. If you are not familiar with Hidden Lake Gardens, this is a GREAT chance to come out and check it out, you WILL NOT be disappointed! There is a schedule of events and further information listed below (You can click on it to make it larger). Touch of Love Photography will be out there and set up for the kids to have their picture taken with the Leprochaun!!! Should be a great time! We will be in the main building directly behind the Lake! We will be offering a drawing for a free session to one lucky winner, just come in have your picture taken to enter! Hope to see you all there and be sure to introduce yourself!

Larger Pics

Ok, the contest is posted below, however, the images are SO small and if I resize them it cuts off the kids. Soooo... here they are larger, BE SURE TO VOTE BELOW!

THANK YOU!

Hunter

Paige

Landon

Holly

Valen

Anna

Brayden

Auden

Contest Voting Time!!!

Contest will end on Sept. 19 2008 @ midnight. The winner will be notified once polls are closed. For those of you who are not familiar with what the winner "wins", please see the post below listed "Here we go"!

I wanted to let all of you know that I am so sorry, however I cannot make these images larger. When I do, it takes some of the canidates out for some strange reason. So sorry :-(

Online Surveys & Market Research

Parents, if anything is incorrect, please contact me asap to let me know! Otherwise, happy voting to everyone! I am sure glad I don't have to choose!!! They are all awesome!

Last Chance

We are down to the last 24 hours to get your baby pictures sent in! See post below for further details if you haven't already heard about it! We have some GREAT contestants, can't wait to show all the cuties!!!

Me

Ok, so I finally did it. I finally stepped out to the other side of the camera. NOT something I enjoy AT ALL! In fact I can't stand it! I much prefer to be where I am, right behind my lens!

However... I wanted my clients to know who they were going to meet and what I look like so that when we meet at a park or something they have an idea of who to look for!

Because I dislike being photographed SO much, I went to Salon Breathe and got a little mini-makeover from the best girl in town! Teresa did my hair and makeup and Tyler (my favorite assistant) and I met up afterwards and he was kind enough to take some pictures of me. Thank you to both of you miracle workers! I sincerely appreciate it more than you know!!!

One more baby Sam

Because I love him!

Just for Tyler

Some of you my know, others may not... I have this INCREDIBLE photography assistant, Tyler! Tyler has been my sidekick at weddings this summer and has done an amazing job capturing images that fit my standards. As a photographer, it's extremely difficult for me to give up control of how I want images captured at weddings. However, Tyler has made it so easy for me because he has proved that I can trust him to put his heart and soul into capturing just what I am after when I can't be in 2 places at once. It's been great also because we both have different strenghts and weaknesses in different areas so its a great mix of talent! Tyler, thank you so much for all your help this wedding season. I sincerely appreciate it, and could not have done it without you... or had nearly as much fun! All of you be sure to head on over to Tyler's new blog and give him a shout out and welcome him to the blog world!

These pics are just some quick shots we did the other night for a picture he needed for a pass. Be sure to check back soon for his Senior Pics! :-)

In rememberence....

Contest Clarification

I have gotten some questions from a few people regarding what "baby pictures" means EXACTLY... so after some thought. Lets say any child UNDER TWO and it does NOT matter if they are 15 or whatever age now, it just has to be that child when they were under two. Or if you have a child who is UNDER two right now, take their picture and get them entered!

Hope that helps!

Here we go.....

Contest time again!!!



Well as you know we are making some changes over here at Touch of Love Photography. All in an effort to keep and make all you wonderful clients happy! So, I decided I would start with a big kickoff for our Bebe' Collection. Now, I know your wondering what the heck is a Bebe' Collection.

I have had the awesome prividlege of photographing so many adorable babies over the past few months. I'm not sure if it's something in the water with all these babies, but whatever it is... I like it!!! If you know me... you know I love babies (since I am all through with having my kids, I love to snuggle and squeeze yours while they are still little)!!! So I talked with many of my clients/parents and got some info from all of you on what would be helpful or things you would want from your child's session. The number one answer I got was; I want to be able to do my child's pictures more often. So, here is my way of helping to accomadate just that. Indroducing the: Bebe' Collection

Here's what's in it for you!

$100 covers four sessions. Choose from; Newborn, 3,6,9, or 12 months. You have a choice of 4 out of the 5 different ages listed.
You will receive 1 free 8x10 print from each session and a 20% discount from your final prints at each session.
All prints are kept on file for an entire year. At your child’s 1 year mark you have the opportunity to have Touch of Love Photography create an album to display at his/her first birthday party which basically shows all of the images we capture from all 4 sessions. This album is eligible for your 20% discount.
Location(s) of your choice and a guarantee that you are happy with your proof choices, will reshoot if ever necessary, offers peace of mind for fussy babies
Include anyone/any props you want in your child’s session(s). Unlimited outfit changes. Flexible time schedule, we want you to enjoy and experience your session, rather than feeling stressed!
Password protected online proofs you can share with whomever you choose to assist you in the ordering process.

Now, on to the contest part of the fun!

I spent some time trying to think of what would be a fun way to do a contest and here's how we are going to do this:

Let's have a beautiful baby contest! I really wanted to do something that would incorporate a baby into the Bebe' Collection so we could feature that child for their entire first year that you all chose. However, I realize that's really not possible because there are just too many people who deserve an entry and I don't want to leave out anyone.

So here are the rules:

• Anyone can enter, but we will have ONE winner. You can be a current client, past client, or future client :-)


• You have to enter either YOUR baby picture or your child's baby picture. See last bullet for entry options (Gotta stick with model release rules, even if you are 100 years old and you think you have a cute baby picture... send it my way!)
• If you win, you can use your winning's towards any photoshoot (except weddings). It does NOT have to be just a Bebe' Collection. However... if it does come down to it where we can have a new baby, then you will recieve a Bebe' Collection as a gift. You could give this as a gift to someone.
• If you win and the Bebe' Collection isn't a "fit" for this time in your life, then no problem, here's what you get; a free session, 1 free 8x10, 8 free wallets, and 1 free 5x7.
• Lastly, you have to enter the contest. There are 2 ways you can do this. You can email me your picture: karicarpenter2002@yahoo.com or send your picture in via snail mail and I will scan it and post it.
• Then.... on Tues. Sept 16 2008 at midnight, I will close the contest entry. On Thursday Sept 18, 2008, I will post a poll for you all to VOTE! Then, after 48 hours, we will close the voting and whomever has the most votes... WINS!!!

So it's now 11:35pm on Monday Sept. 9 and you don't have tons of time, so get those baby pictures out and let's get them submitted!!!

As always... best of luck!

I <3 Baby Sam!

Ok I know it's so cliche' to say that babies grow so fast, but honestly I feel like it was last week that I was at Angie's house taking her belly photos! Baby Sam is part of the NEW improved Bebe' Collection (formerly known as; Grow with me Plan). I will be doing some features/specials here on my blog over the next few weeks for the launch of my new Bebe' collection, so stay tuned.

Basically, Angie did the Belly to Baby sessions and now she has moved on to the Bebe' Collection! Over the next 9 months you will get to see this adorable little guy for a total of 4 more times! If any of you expecting or new moms are interested in this type of deal, be sure to contact me for more information. It's a GREAT deal and a awesome way to capture your little one through their first year!

First of all... tell me... HOW DOES THIS HAPPEN in such a SHORT amount of time? Little Sam's mommy is always so great about coming up with ideas and being so willing to try anything during their session. I love when my client's come back, it's so nice that they know what to expect in a session and the whole process. However, most of all, I enjoy getting to know them so well! I kinda feel a little special place in my heart for these babies that I get to photograph over a year! Little Sammy hardly resembles that little baby I saw just a few short months ago.

So... i've rambled enough as usual... I know your thinking... get to the pics already... so without further hesitation... Here he is!!!!

New Look!

My official logo:New business card front:

New business card back:

I am beyond excited about this! I finally have an official Logo!!! I spent some time with Jess (a graphic designer) from Image That!, I told her what my vision was and she put it on paper! It is exactly what I wanted and more. If any of you are looking for a graphic designer to help you with any type of work, she is extremely talented and very reasonable, check her out. Thank you Jess for your creative wisdom and your time, I sincerely appreciate it. Let me know what you all think!