I love sporks! How funny that I am a spork! lol What are you? 

You Are a Spork

You have a playful, eccentric sense of humor. You are creative. You see the world in bold colors.

I love showing sneek peaks! As I am going through my editing process, I hit those images that I just cannot wait to show! This is one of my awesome neighbors. All of my neighbors are awesome, but here’s one of them! This is Scarlett! Isn’t she beautiful! I love this kid! Scarlett is taking the first steps in her modeling career. She loves to perform! Kids love her! My kids get so excited every time they see her. Always asking if they can play with her. You know, inviting themselves to tag along. lol. Kids these days! But when my kids get to spend time with her, they are entertained for hours! Scarlett is amazing!Scarlett and her brother Marco. Another good looker! Both of them had me laughing the whole shoot. It was a ton of fun and I got some great shots! I may have to share more soon!

For those of you that don’t know, i’m a huge fan of monkeys. If they didn’t throw poop at you, I would so have one in my house. One of those tiny ones. They are just so cute to me. No I don’t decorate with monkeys, nor do I any longer have all my stuffed monkeys. I secrectly like them. lol. You probably wouldn’t know it if I didn’t tell you.

So I am browsing the web today and came across these. How stinkin cute are these? Love them. Wanted to order them but looks like they are out of stock. No fair.

Are you a fan of monkeys? Want to know where you can get them once they are in stock? Click here —-> http://www.wishingfish.com/510678.html

What else does this super cool website offer. Only the super coolest stuff around. I peaked around and check out some of these items. I think I am in love.

Super duper cute albums for babies first year!

And check out this spoon. Now why did they not have this when my kiddos were that little? I love it.

 How funny are these? I think I will get them for my next party. lol

Why not some royal paper for the royal thrown?

This is on the top of my list of things to buy. lol. Matches my new business design. How cute.

Just finished proofing these images the other day and fell in love with a few from two different shoots. How cute are these kiddos? And so much fun to photograph!   I’ve been on kind of a color kick lately. Actually, it’s been a while, but I think it’s really starting to show now. When I first started my photography venture, black and white was always my favorite. But color portraits are really growing on me now. I think they have become the new favorite. More color to come soon!

I have finally decided on my new logo and have begun designing my new site. I think I am in love. I just love dots so much. Everytime I go through logo changes, I somehow find myself working on dots at some point in the process. It’s obviously meant to be for me to have dots as my theme and branding. So I went with it! I have to completely finish it before it goes live, but I thought I would share a screenshot of my design with you. Let me know your thoughts! I’d love to hear what you have to say. Comment here or email me at shelly@shellykeefe.com

 I am so happy with my new look, i’ve decided to celebrate with a rocking deal! Want a session with me but funds are tight? I know the feeling. Gas prices do not help. For a limited time only, a weekday session fee is $75 and a weekend session fee is $100. Wait, that’s not all. I’m also gonna offer a 20% discount on your print order! How awesome am I? Come on, tell me just how awesome! lol

 Session must be booked and paid for by July 31, 2008 and session must take place by September 15, 2008 in order to take advantage of this special deal. Spread the word. Tell your friends. Tell anyone and everyone you think may be interested.

So those of you who have been with SKP since the beginning were probably expecting this soon. I’ve changed my logo a few different times and I have since gotten bored with my logo again. I know I know. Make up your mind Shelly! lol Here’s the problem. I design logos on the side. Being that I do that, it makes it 10 times harder to design my own. I don’t like my name with any fonts out there. How sad is that. lol. Somehow, I will come up with something. And if I don’t, I just might have to hire someone to do mine.

 With a new logo comes a whole new site. Well, not entirely new. Mostly new. The look of it will be knew. The flash design of it will be the same. I’m thinking fun fresh, bright colors. But before I get started on that, I need to come up with a logo. lol  Once that happens, I can design the site around the logo. I will redo all my galleries and everything. How exciting is that? Anyone have any ideas for me? I’m always searching for new music also. Know any good independant artists? Comment me if you do. I’d love to use someone local if possible.

So keep an eye out for changes coming soon to SKP!

So we all know that this is a growing popular with weddings now a days. I’ve seen these a few times. You know, where the bride and groom start off slow dancing and then the music changes and they break out some cool dance moves. It’s cool. I always enjoy watching the videos and I even had the pleasure of watching one in person at a wedding I was photographing. They are so fun!  

But this one beats them all. I came across this tonight and it made me laugh so hard. It’s a long video, but well worth the watch. I’m guessing they had a choreographer of some sort who put this together for them. It seems like a lot of work. I know I wouldn’t be able to do it. 

Now go grab yourself a drink and sit back watch what is the coolest wedding dance ever. Wedding Dance Evolution! 

Who doesn’t? Everyone wants to capture their memories in the best way possible. And you can’t have a professional photographer 24/7. So I thought I would give you some tips on how to make your family snapshots a little better. Most of us don’t think much about it when we see a picture opportunity. Instead we run and grab the camera really fast and snap away. Right? Well, there’s a few things you can thing about to make each shot you take better.

 1.) Get down to their level! For babies and crawlers, often times I lay on my belly and take the pictures. For a busy toddler, I crouch down to their level. Put your subject on a chair or steps to bring them up to higher levels.

2.) Get lots of angles. Walk around your subject and take shots from different angles. Your natural reflex is most likely to take the picture straight on. Changing the angle gives a different perspective and look to the image.

3.) Fill the frame. Zoom in or move closer to your subject. When using your point and shoots flash, stay further away and zoom in on the subject. The flash won’t be as harsh. Filling the frame takes out the distractions in the background. It helps keep the focus on your subject.

4.) Try to stay away from white or extremely light colors for clothing. Yes, I know, white polos and khaki’s make for classic shots, but light colors also absorb light much more than darker colors, therefore you lose detail in your shots in bright light. Bright colors usually work best.

5.) Stay away from busy patterns and logos! 500 cars or trucks zooming across a shirt can be very distracting in pictures. It draws your eyes away from your main focus. Don’t get me wrong, some patterns are way cool for pics, such as polka dots, or really cute plaid shorts

6.) And lastly, try to keep you background simple. Look for spots that are kinda plain, or interesting. Simple is good in keeping the focus on your child, and not what’s behind or around them. Tight shots that fill the frame help this a lot. Take a cool barn that has been weathered and fill the frame with the wall, and you’ve got yourself a cool shot!

Hope that helps in making your pictures better when a professional photographer is not there to capture that special moment. If you decide to use the information I have provided you, I would love to see what you got! Send me your shots using these tips to info@shellykeefe.com 

I really need to double check my posts. I swear I thought I hit publish last night. I guess I didn’t hit it and instead hit save. Can someone tell me how to get your mind back after children? So my apologies for not posting the winner last night.

And without keeping you waiting any longer. The Fresh Faces of 2008 contest winner is ………….  Emma! Congrats to Emma. Proud parents Shannon and Kellie. Parents, be on the lookout for something in your email from me within the next couple of days.  Emma receives a complimentary session with Shelly Keefe Photography as well as a $100 print credit, and her images from her session all over SKP’s website and marketing materials.

The winning pic:

I’d like to thank all of the entrants and their great entries. The rest of the entrants receive $50 off their session fee when they book a session in 2008, and a complimentary 8×10. Be sure to mention that you were in the Fresh Faces 2008 contest when booking. Thise who did not make it to the top 10 recieve a complimentary 8×10 print with their 2008 session.

Also, there’s 2 days left after today for the newsletter contest. It was extended to the end of the month. Get on that newsletter list and you could receive a great prize!

I know you all want to hear the official announcement on who is the winner of the Fresh Faces 2008 contest. Look out for the official announcement later today.