Ella & Saleah!

Ella's Touch
Ella of Ella's Touch is still doing wonderfully.  She is now much more alert with all kinds of jabbering and laughing.  She is so much more receptive to being held now too.  I took another crack at capturing her for her family so there will be lots of great images to visually celebrate her life.  We had a beautiful evening with nice soft light for her session.  

Check out these amazing eyes.  Her eyes are so pretty.  She loves to put her fingers in her mouth, suck on a passy & will play with her hands by clasping her fingers together.

This shot is perfection.  You can feel all the love and affection Tiffany has for her special baby girl.  Having lost her third child at 6 months old she knows, like most people could not possible fathom, how to love this baby girl, her two older kids & husband with everything she has in her.  She handles the struggles of life with so much grace and beauty.  

Ella's big brother announced to me proudly, "My sister has lived longer then my brother!"  Despite all the inevitable sorrow her loss will bring they make sure to cherish each moment they can cherish.  Shouldn't we all spend much more time cherishing our family including all the 'insignificant' moments?  We really don't know what will happen tomorrow or next year.  For some of us, we too, will feel the pain of losing a loved one in our immediate family.   Please take time to cherish those you love.  And for all those mama's out there who don't want to get in pictures, please just do it!  Your loved ones do not care for perfection.  They care for YOU!

Tiffany was getting Ella to laugh here.  She smiled several times for us.  This one is one of my favorites with her looking back at mom as she smiles.

Sweet Seleah

Three of the last four newborns in front of my camera have smiled for me!  Seriously?!?!  It has never happened in the past, and now they all are doing it.  Maybe I'm learning some magic skills {with those beautiful mama's help!} with the newborns.  Saleah is adorable.  That hair.  She also has the loads of fine baby hair over most of her just like Blake did.  It brought back great memories.

We were even able to clip this flower in her hair without a headband.  Love it.  No distractions.  Just beauty.  Those pouty little lips are also perfection.

{So all my phrases on here remind me of Nike commercials I've seen in the past!  Just do it}

My Kiddos

In case you don't follow my personal blog, here are some images of a project I did this week.  The Inner Hooker is a pattern maker who's Fan page I found on Facebook.  She picked me out of about 25-30 people to do a test crochet pattern.  Yay, me!  Here is the second hat I made with this pattern test being modeled by Madison.  It was a great experience that I hope I can do again.  Maybe I'll start selling hats, scarfs and other things during the slow seasons.   Always gotta be busy...

Love this photo of Madison showing off one of the hair props I've gotten recently.  There's a whole small case full of them.  Those with little girls are welcome to use any of them during your session.  I have a few cool flowers that would look great on Mom too {I wore one to our church breakfast this morning}!

And what's a post showing my Maddy when my Blakie isn't included?  No way!  Here is my adorable boy with his summer bleached hair and happy smile.  

What would you like to do to cherish your family more this week?
Please share in the comments to inspire us all!

Contest!! 2011 High School Senior Facebook contest!!!

Lifelong Impressions Photography 

2011 High School Senior Facebook Contest

First the prize!!!!
A full Regular Senior Session called "My Shoot" worth $200!!!
BUT the prize could be:
If the winner noted the friend's name who referred the winner in the entry comment, together they will receive a Full Regular Friend Session called "Double the Fun" worth $350!!

AND if you have already booked a session with Lifelong Impressions and win, you will get the prize Plus 24 custom designed announcements (an additional $40 winning)!!

How to enter:
Like Lifelong Impressions on Facebook

Make a comment on your favorite senior image in the "2011 Seniors" album on the Lifelong Impressions Facebook fan page saying why it is your favorite and include the name of the friend or senior rep who referred you to Lifelong Impressions.

Bonus entries:
Refer your friends to enter.
They must note your name in their comment entry on their favorite 2011 Senior image

Parent entries:
Parents may enter for their senior by commenting on their favorite 2011 senior image, giving the child's  name and why then love the image.
If the 2011 senior parent was referred by another 2011 senior or parent of a senior please also include the other senior in the comment

The Details:
If you book a session with a paid deposit and win, you will not only get the prize, but you will get a set of 24 custom designed graduation announcements!!  Your deposit will be applied to your print order.
All entires must be made in the Facebook Photo Album entitled Seniors 2011 on any one image of entrants choosing. 

Enter by 8 am EST on June 20, 2010.
The winner will be chosen on June 21, 2010 st by a random drawing chosen by Random.org from the total number of entries based on a numbered list I make.
Only One entry per person.  You can earn extra entries by getting your friends & parents to enter and listing your name in their entry.
The session must take place by August 14, 2010 in the Raleigh metro area.  If the winner lives elsewhere they are responsible for any travel fees associated with coming to and staying in the Raleigh area.
The winner must "like" Lifelong Impressions Facebook fan page at the time of the drawing.  

The prize has no cash value
Images from the session will be used for marketing and promotion.

{Photographers are welcome to use the details of this contest for their own senior contest - Out of my market area, of course}

Back from Vacation & ready to go!

Can the breeze have picked her hair up any more perfectly.  Love this image.

I'll start off with an update on the session availability for the next few months.

There are spots available for newborns not listed since we don't always know when they will be born.  Please set up your tentative date ASAP, though as I do have a limited number of sessions I do per month.  

March: 

Booked

April:

5-10th one spot

20-24th two spots

26th-May 1st  one spot

 May:

May 1st one spot

May 3-8th two spots

May 10-15th two spots

May 31st two spots

June:

May 31-June 5th two spots

7-13th one spot

14-19th three spots

21-26th three spots

28-July 3rd two spots

Please schedule your appointment soon if you would like pictures in the next few months.  I will be holding a Senior Session special for all upcoming 2011 seniors in June which may book up rather quickly.

Three years ago I found out I was pregnant with twins.  Around the country there were other women finding out they were due with twins at the same time.  A nice little group of us found each other online.  We started out in a public forum, then created our own private group, and now we are all Facebook friends with our own group on there.  Even though most of us haven't met in person I feel like we are old friends.  Mary is one of my fellow twin moms.

She won the consolation contest prize I decided to give instead of the big one when we didn't reach our new Facebook Fan page goal.  As of today, most of the old S & G Photography fans have still not switched over to the new fan page.  Just like the old fan page I'm sure the membership with increase steadily over time.  In only 7 months we reached over 300 fans on the old fan page!  OK, so I just went and checked how many fans are on the new fan page & we got over 100 new fans in the last two weeks!!!  Amazing!  I love you guys.

So, I digressed.  I assumed Mary would be getting a fine art print sent to her with her winner credit since she doesn't live by me (no one in our group does).  She happened to mention on Wednesday before the Saturday we left on our cruise that she really wished we could do a family session.  Out of curiosity I looked on her Facebook profile to see where she lived.  Talk about timing, they live in Miami!  Our cruise was out of Miami & we had extra time between arriving & our flight home.  

Meeting Mary & her family in person was like seeing your favorite childhood friend again after being apart for years.  Though we don't really know each other super well, we were instantly comfortable & gabbing away {OK, I was gabbing away}.   The two shots in this post are a sneak peak from their session.  Enjoy.

Upcoming & Current Events!

Facebook Fan Page

Lifelong Impressions Facebook fan page is still doing a fan drive!  Come over to become a fan today!  If we reach 400 fans by Saturday we'll be giving away a free sitting or a fine art print.  Click on any word in this paragraph to be sent to our fan page on Facebook!  All of our fans on the old S&G Photography fan page are being urged to switch over to help us meet this goal.  We can definitely do it!!!  I'll give you an extra entry if you post about the new Facebook fan page in your profile status & comment you did on the new Fan page wall!  Those who have already done this {Big Thanks!!} can comment on the wall to get their extra entry.       

Beach Session Days

Friday April 2nd & Friday May 21st
{Updated:  May 21st was moved to May 28th and is booked out.  If there is more interest I can add May 29th.  There 2 mini sessions or one regular session left for April 2nd}

We are offering both full and mini sessions at the beach these two days.   Both sessions will be in and around the Wilmington area and the price listed includes the travel fee.

Regular Family Sessions - A full session is $250 and includes 1-2 hour of shooting, 1-3 locations at the beach, clothes change, 40 online proofed images & $100 print/product credit.  Only one additional full session will be booked for each date.  Hurry to claim your spot.  

Mini Sessions - A mini session is $130 and includes 30 minutes of shooting at one beach location, 15 online proofed images, a set of digital proof images & an 11x14 print.  Only 2-3 mini sessions will be taken for each date.  

If there is enough interest we will add Saturday April 3rd to our calendar.  We may consider doing another session in June or July.   We are also planning on going to Myrtle Beach in the next 6-8 months for a few days.  Please let me know if you are interested in any of these locations & dates.  Call me, Shannon, at 919-585-6433 or email at shannon@lifelongimpressions.com.

Seniors 2011
{Updated: Most of the spots are filled.  I am only accepting one or two more boys from schools other then West Johnston.  THANKS for such a wonderful response!!}

I am currently accepting requests to be a senior rep!

I am looking for outgoing and fun upcoming seniors to be my senior reps!  You get a free session, discounts on your prints & products purchased, awesome cards with Your picture on them to hand out to your friends & other upcoming seniors.  You will also earn gift certificates or credits towards products for the seniors who complete a session with me!   If you are interested or know someone who would make a great senior rep you want to refer please contact me ASAP!  We will be doing our sessions in the next few weeks for the senior reps.  There is only a limited number of reps accepted per school so don't delay.  Contact Shannon at 919-585-6433, shannon@lifelongimpressions.com, friend Shannon Rowen White on Facebook or leave a comment on this post.

Fine Art February

We are featuring Animals in February.

Here is a sneak peak showing a part of some pictures you'll see.

Facebook Fan page - Maybe free session?!?!

Become a fan of my new Lifelong Impressions Facebook fan page. AND if 600 fans join by February 6th I'll be giving away a free session to one of the lucky fans by random drawing to take place by the end of February 2010. In the first 15 minutes of going live 8 fans already joined! I think we'll be able to make it! Spread the word. I can't wait to see you all over there.

It's here!! We are now officially Lifelong Impressions!

How do you like the changes? Check out our new website at www.lifelongimpressions.com. It's the same website address and the same blog address. I now officially have a new logo and decided to drop the S&G Photography to go with the name my husband helped me pick 7 years ago. It was taken back in Phoenix by a mall kiosk so many years ago, but is available there again. I'm so excited to finally be using this name instead of being dual branded. Guy is still a second shooter at weddings, the one who goes to the bank, huge supporter of my business and the primary caregiver to our children while I'm out shooting. Life is good!

The new email address of shannon@lifelongimpressions.com is almost ready to go live. By next week you can use this address for all correspondence with me.

Let me know what you think of all the changes!

S&G Photography Babies 2009!!

What a great year! I was inspired by another photographer to put together a little collage of this years babies. Some of them were photographed more then once as they are following the recommended schedule of newborn {within the first 14 days}, 3 months, 6 months 9 months & 12 months. The secondary recommended schedule for those unable to afford that many sessions is newborn, 6 months and 12 months. Check out these super cuties!

We haven't had any new babies for a few months, and I'm totally missing those sweet little ones in front of my lens. I'm looking forward to the ones about to be born in the next couple of weeks, though more would always be fantastic! Remember, you get a referral credit to use towards your sitting or products with any referral you send me once their first session is completed.


And so there are no surprises. We are working hard to finalize our logo & we will be redoing everything! in the near future going with only Lifelong Impressions. I'm so excited to share everything with you. One of the first things we'll share is our philosophy & feelings on photography!

The Elizabeth album

I've decided to name each completed album design after the first person or family who orders that design. It's a fun way for me to remember the first family who loved the design & it gives a little personality to the design name. My mom even has an album named after her! She loves it. I made here one with some recent photos of the kids and gave it to her when we went to visit in October.

Albums are a fabulous way to get all of your favorite shots from your shoot. Most of the family albums have a large shot on each page. They have a ton of impact and are oh so cool!

I've been thinking of offering true lifestyle sessions that are almost completely un-posed shoots lasting a minimum of 4 hours with a large magazine style hard cover album of at least 100 shots from the day & a large gallery wrapped canvas included in the session investment. Lifestyle photography is so much fun and has great meaning. We plan a family activity or activities where I tag along and photograph the happenings. It can be anything from cooking a meal, visiting a museum, going to the park, coloring, building a fort in the house or any other fun & meaningful family activity. I also love nighttime routines like storytime, cuddles, tickle sessions, singingtime, bathtime, sipping hot coccoa in front of the fire & tucking into bed. Some of these activities can be included in a regular session. Please let me know if you are interested in one of these sessions.

Enjoy the Elizabeth album.

A little bit of everything! - Christmas Card sessions!!!

First off, I am happy to announce three days of mini sessions with Christmas cards And an 11x14! The Saturday will be November 7th from 10:30 am until 4:00 pm with fabulous downtown Raleigh as your backdrop! Monday November 9th & Wednesday November 18th will both be from 2:00 pm to 5:30 pm with the pretty Lake Benson park as your backdrop!

Each session will last about 25 minutes and we'll take a few poses in the same area to give some variety and texture to your Christmas cards. Please feel free to spread the word on this great deal! Referral credits will be $5 for any booked Christmas card session you refer. All regular sessions booked will still be a $20 credit. Of course, our regular full custom sessions will have the opportunity to get their own custom Christmas cards!




The rest of these shots are all from recent sessions I just haven't had time to blog about!

This silhouette is soooo stinking cool. We were on our way to the shoot location when this great run down industrial site. On our way back we stopped her for a few shots. Love them all. Ladies who are preggo, it isn't all about the naked belly anymore. We can really showcase this special time in your life with so many cool shots. You'll see more of these later for sure!


By the way, my girl here is about 5' 1"! Doesn't she look waaay taller?


These guys were a lot of fun.


Most of my session pictures are the typical shot you see on my blog with the great contrast & saturated rich colors. A few families lately have really fit having a more vintage look to some of their shots. They have all loved those vintage edits too. I love this family, and we've really become friends over the last year of sessions every three months. It will be sad to 'only' get to spend the fun session time every 6 months now. We do get to have play dates though, which has been loads of fun.


The next two storyboards are of a brother and sister. I think they will look great hanging on the wall side by side or in their seperate rooms! They shared some cupcakes at the end of our session for some fun and messy shots.




The last two storyboards are of one of my pretty seniors. Her and I are both total chatterboxes so we hit it off immediately. There was this great bridge it would have been cool to get her up on the concrete cross piece. Unfortunately we didn't have a big strong man with us or a ladder! The small attempt we made at trying to get her up there ended up with my foot 1/2 inch away from a fire ant hill! Yeah, we aborted.

5 Girls & a Guy - Photo tip too!

Here are a couple simple tips to help you take better pictures of your family.
My favorite: Never use the Date Stamp! Many people used the date stamp feature to put the date on onto your photograph so they can remember when it was taken. With digital photography as long as your camera date is set the information is written into the digital file. You can right click on any digital photo and select 'Properties'. This will show you the creation date and when the file was last modified. Most photo editing & organizing programs will also display the created date with the file. You can also save a file with the date in the name. I only save ours with the month and year to keep the file name short.

Always shoot with the highest quality your digital camera will allow. Back in the film days the better the film the better quality pictures. The same thing applies with digital. Most cameras have several different quality settings. Some cameras categories are listed as simply as Extra Fine, Fine, Normal. Memory cards are becoming cheaper and cheaper for loads of memory. The old reason (expensive memory) people did not use the finest quality doesn't apply anymore.

One other item to check on your camera. Is your zoom optical or digital? If it is an optical zoom great! Feel free to use your zoom when needed. If your zoom is digital pretend you do not have a zoom. All it is doing is cropping your picture in camera. You are better off doing it yourself later when digital editing or better yet, just move closer to your subject. There are a few cameras with both digital and optical zoom features. It's hard to know when the optical zoom is maximized and the digital zoom starts. Not sure what to tell you when this is your cameras feature.

Happy picture taking! Remember your photographs become family history the moment they are printed and/or preserved.

Love love love to see people jump, so don't know why! Look at what fun they are having. To me jumping is pretty much like potty humor. Even if you don't like it you end up laughing and having fun!


All the girls look so different from each other, and they are all beautiful.


Getting everyone's faces close together is one of my favorite things. There is just such a cool closeness that makes people really feel the connection to each other bringing out the connection for the photo. You may recognize Courtney as one of my fabulous senior reps.


It was fun really doing different poses with each of the girls.


She is laying on a super tiny tree branch. Talk about balancing talent!


I really liked this spot.


More joy. More fun.


I follow the blog of a couple (their married) really cool photographers out of somewhere up North in what most people call the Midwest.. lol Anyway, they had a cool family shot the other day that inspired this one. Don't they all just look so comfortable and happy?


I love this storyboard! It would look great in their master bedroom.

Your chance to win a free sitting or a fine art gift certificate!

If you are feeling crabby I have the pick me up for you.

Would you like to earn a free sitting or a fine art gift certificate from our company S & G Photography? You can by entering our contest at the Multiples and More Blog Party. I'll be featured sometime today as one of the big contests. They will be posting new contests every 1-2 hours all day. Already I entered to win some nice handmade silver jewelry. All of the official contests will be open until Sunday after dinner. There is also an area where many more will be linking to their own contest. Check it all out here!

Don't forget about Fine Art Friday starting tomorrow! It will be happening here with your chance to get a great fine art print at a discounted price.

So much to share - some for today

Lately I've been getting my creative on. I bought a sewing machine to make some clothes for the kids, mend items and make a sweet apron for myself. So far the kids have a few new things & I'm still looking for the perfect apron pattern. I've also been making baby props like hats, cocoons and blankets by knitting and crochet. Then there is the graffic design using Photoshop for all the cool products I offer.

Here are a few shots of Reagan's senior album that just came in & the coolest new item we offer. They are these adorable accordion wallet albums.

The album is one of the Standard series in a 12x12 inch size with amazing lay flat pages. It looks much better then I imagined it would look.


One last shot of the album then the accordion album. The accordion album is perfect to keep in your handbag, diaper bag or desk drawer! It folds out showing off quite a few photos. It can hold up to 10 photos, but looks great with a few less and interesting design elements showing off your photos.


Here are two of the hats I made. The top one is a toddler size with cute tails. The bottom hat is a newborn to 3 months hat with really long tails. I may cut them a bit shorter, but it looked really cute on baby Lily last week!


Here is the shot of lilly in the infant hat. We got some really sweet and interesting shots from this family. I love their seriousness and goofiness. They have the perfect balance of both.


Lily was very insistent on being held for most of her individual shots while she was awake.


I did a lot of plays on coloring & texture with this shoot. All the backgrounds we found really seemed to call for it.


I love the face she is making here.


This building wasn't in the plan, but they really rocked it! I think the 70's vibe was inspired by some cool family shots of Brandon's family they have in their house.


Baby Lily has the sweetest skin. Not many newborns have such perfect skin.


Still lovin the old station. I had Lily all set up leaning on her dad's shoe and had just gotten to my prone spot on the ground to take the shot when a pesky bug was on her eyelashes. Hefting myself up and swatting (gently) at it made her a bit cranky. We could not get the shot again so I had to at least get one with her crying. It still came out cool & I love their concerned looks in the background.


Amanda loves this old church which is great since I picked it out for a location to shoot at.


There really is nothing more sweet and soft and calming then a sleeping baby. It makes everyone content and happy.


We were just hanging out here when I took these shots. LOVE them. The one on the right is my favorite of the day.


I think we could have stayed right here and gotten at least 10 more interesting shots. The last one on the bottom right is my second favorite of the day.