Always Portraits by Sally, Newborn, Children, Family and Wedding Photography

Good Day to all of you! So, I’ve been VERY absent from blog posts for awhile! As we all do from time to time, I just went through a season in my life that left me stressed to the max and unable to concentrate on even small tasks. Anything that didn’t have to be done, well, it just didn’t happen. I’m happy to report that God is good, and life is back to a happy place and things are going well again!

I’m SO excited to announce that my little sister (one of 5 sisters haha), Jenny, has written a song for my website and to touch the heartstrings of every mom and dad… Always, is the name of it. I’m proud and did I mention, excited!? She and Patty Jo, another sister (and no, they aren’t really twins, but everyone thinks they are) sing it together in this recording. Jenny is playing the guitar, and Patty Jo is playing the bass. I’m working on getting the songs ready for digital downloads, but for now, you can just listen while you browse. Check it out!

So, we made it through the holidays, and some of you are still slightly dizzy from the whirl of activities that is Christmas and New Year’s. If you’re anything like me, not everything you planned on doing got done. For me, one of those things that didn’t happen was holiday cards…. I know, the photographer didn’t get pictures out to family! So, as in years past, I’m going to make up for it with a Valentine! I’ve always loved Valentine’s Day. Started when my sisters and I were little (there were three of us at the time) and we would make valentines for each other all month. Secretly placing them for one another to find and trying to hide who might be sending them. Silly now, but those were great times!!!

Now, I bring that love of Valentine’s Day to my work. I found some great template designs and have tweaked them to work for me. They’re “confection valentines” which means that they’re meant to fold in half and be stapled around a treat. Either a sucker or the top edge of a small bag of goodies. I will post actual product pictures once they arrive next week. In the meantime, these are some of the designs that I’ll be using. Each one will be personalized in some way to your child. Call Sally or Amy to schedule your session! Hurry, this special ends Jan 29th!

This is the 3rd time I’ve had the extreme pleasure of capturing this little girl’s milestones. She was teething and kinda grumpy, but Oh, SO adorable! I LOVE her eyes, and look forward to the times I get to photograph her! Another one for the portfolio! Thank, {K} for letting me come to your beautiful home once again!

Fall is officially here!! I LOVE FALL!! The cooler air, the leaves changing, the new clothes, the smokey smells, the harvesting, the festivals… all of it! This year I’m going to be offering a special Oct 31-Nov 1st. I’m privileged to be able to offer exclusively, Sugar Grove as the venue for these! I’m SO excited!!! It’s absolutely beautiful! Check out the location here. I’ve already booked several of these and sessions ARE limited, so if this interests you the booking fee is $75.00 which includes a 45 min lifestyle portrait session and a $50.00 print credit toward your order. My normal sessions are $120.00 with the print credit, so you can see the value, PLUS you’ll be getting your portraits made in a location that isn’t publicly available!!

Contact me today to schedule your session!! Weekend and evening appointments are available. To view my full price list, please click here.

Oh, and I almost forgot!! I have already put the choices for holiday cards up on my website. You’ll have to use your imagination a bit because they don’t have your image in them yet! What you’re looking at are the fronts and backs for a folded card. They are completely editable, so we just choose one and your image and go from there!! Check them out here. I’ll have gallery wrap and album samples up closer to November. Waiting on the graphics!! Enjoy your fall break!!

This weekend I was privileged to be the official photographer for the Christian County Jr. Miss Scholarship program. It was a real treat to watch these beautiful, talented ladies strut their stuff and compete in talent and physical fitness. I will be uploading pictures from this event over the course of the next few days. To check them out please visit my website and once inside, visit the “featured” page to see all that are up so far,  or follow this link http://alwaysportraitsbysally.com/index2.php?v=v1#/featured/ right there. Thanks girls for such an awesome time! You were gorgeous, and your attitudes were AWESOME! My hat’s off to all of you!!

I’m so excited to share this post! It hasn’t been very long that I’ve done “modern” newborn portraiture, and every time I do I learn something new… or in some cases experience things for the first time as someone other than the mom. This is the first time I’ve had a model for my little girl hats with their big flowers. Oh so cute on such tiny faces!! We didn’t get to try out all three colors… turns out my dear daughter had tried two of them on and kind of stretched them out for a newborn head. Even so, baby {E} gave me a few cute smiles and made my day! Thank you so much {T} for having me in your home to capture your new baby girl’s first weeks. I had fun! Sorry I was so chatty…. I don’t do good with quiet! ha ha! Hope you enjoy your preview!

I was asked to come and take some family and couple shots for this wonderful couple after they found they were missing some of the pictures they really wanted from their wedding day. They were so gracious and warm and have been so patient with me during this past month while I’ve dealt with my injury. Congratulations to you both!! I wish you many happy years, and thank you for letting me be a part of your beginning!! God Bless!

I recently got the opportunity to take pictures of these three beautiful sisters! Hoping their mommy likes this little preview. Thank you {V} for letting me come to your beautiful home!

Wow! What a roller coaster these last few weeks have been for me! If you’ve read the last few posts in my blog, you understand how all of it got started. During all of that I seriously injured my arm. I went to the Dr twice and was still in great pain, so I started going to see the chiropractor. The pain is in my right arm from the shoulder blade down through the wrist and esp in the elbow. Normal activity hasn’t bothered it much, but sitting here at the computer trying to use the mouse has been TERRIBLY ouchy! I go for my fourth visit to the chiropractor later this morning… she says that the pain is from the stress and misalignment of my neck… who knew! Probably from stress.

Secondly, some of you knew that I had tried to open a studio in town a few months ago and wasn’t able to because of needing a military clause in the lease… just in case! Well, a little over a week ago my Realtor called me and said that they’d changed their minds and would put the clause in if I was still interested. Talk about bad timing! Yet, I really want to take my business to the next step, so I followed that road for awhile til I could see that it was a dead end… at least for now. I have too many responsibilities anyway and that was going to make it worse. Needless to say, I’m going to continue to operate out of my home for awhile longer.

That doesn’t mean I’ve given up on my ultimate goal though! I really want to take my business to the next level, so I’ve taken out a small loan and am going to invest in equip, marketing and education. All to better serve you, my wonderful clients! I had a lawyer file paperwork for my business to become an LLC… right now I’m a sole proprietor. I’ve got an employee, wonderful Amy, to help me, and together we’re going to revamp and rework every aspect of Always Portraits to make things more streamlined, comfortable and professional. I’ve said changes were coming before, but now, we have a timeline and a goal! Some of the changes will be small, but you’ll notice a difference in the pricing come Sept. It will be a big change, but after figuring out how much it actually costs to run a business, and taking into consideration that I want to continue to do this for several years, I’m hoping that you’ll view the changes with an understanding heart. Amy and I have labored over the pricing structure and the marketing materials, and are very proud of what is to come! Some of you have already seen the new packaging that will help brand the logo.

At the risk of being too wordy… I just want to say thanks again to everyone for bearing with me the last few weeks through my family crisis and my subsequent injury… I have a new-found tolerance and sympathy for those who’s pain can’t be measured in bandages and scars. Both the emotional and physical. I hope that the new found strength I have will translate into my work and the passion will shine through! Life is short… photography is for Always!

Blessings!
Sally

So, I think most of you have noticed by now, but my blog looks WAY different than it used to! That’s mostly thanks to the ladies at Clickinmoms.com for helping me figure out what I needed and Tracy, from www.sugarlime.com for putting the color and design together for me.

Can’t pause for long today…. gotta get back to work!