Clothing choices to go along with your location is one of the most important things for a successful session. Do you want fun funky session? Maybe a classic session? Or how about a vintage session? When you contact your photographer, you should have an idea of what you want. Think about your home and what fits with your style. Think about how your photography session can showcase you and your family and the things you like. Make it all scream YOU! It’s easy to say I want a session and book a slot. But will the outcome go with the style of your home? Chances are your photographer has no idea what the inside of your home looks like. They probably don’t know you unless you tell them about yourselves. Search the internet and don’t be afraid to link them to examples of photographs and styles you like. Remember that the images from your session will be hanging on your walls, make them go with your theme.

For this post I am using my latest session.

Gorgeous family and yes, they do have six children. Six really fun and amazing children. Six really good looking children. I love photographing children. Notice that their clothing does not all match perfectly. Instead it all coordinates very well with each others. The colors, the textures, the funky style. Sure everyone having the same outfit is fun but using different outfits that coordinate well makes each individual person stand out in their own way. Moms blue dress is a hit here. (I realize it looks a bit purplish but that is all from the post processing of the image.) After all she is mom, the reason all six children are here. Make her the focal point and showcase her. Mom is rarely in pictures as she is always the one behind the lens. This is her moment to shine. And baby here has a fun grey striped button up shirt that works very well with moms blue dress. Perfection! How cute are suspenders and a bow tie? LOVE this outfit. Great choice to go with the vintage camera. Don’t be afraid to mix small hints of patterns. Notice the two different patterns in the bow tie and the band on the hat? This look fits this little guy and his personality. This little fella is a sweet talker. Watch out for his charm. Mom paired a grey textured shirt with a gray scarf and fedora with a hint of print to make this charmers personality shine. Love the smile and pose for this shot. I just asked him to lean on the railing and have fun. Perfect for his portrait. I call this Sparkle Girl. Miss Sparkle wore a cream textured dress, jean jacket, and brown cowgirl boots with some bracelets. Handful of glitter and bam! A perfect shot to capture her dream photograph. Roll up the sleeves for added style. Hats!!!! Notice all the hats the boys are wearing. I love hats! Especially this one. Old school aviator hat. A little touch like this adds a nice personal look. Not everyone has fun hats so bring along anything fun, different, quirky to stand out.   Talk to your photographer. Tell them what you are thinking for clothing choices and if you have no clue what to wear, schedule a meeting with them. If you plan on hanging portraits up in your home, it’s a great idea to invite your photographer over for a cup of coffee and a sit down to help you decide. If my clients request it, I will gladly come to your home and look over some websites and help you choose clothing. I will work with you to make sure your family portraits suit you and your home style. Feel free to email me links or pictures if you wish and ask opinions on clothing. I want to make your session the best it can be.

When we first moved to Charleston, we made a blind move. We knew no one and started in a city we knew very little about. It was not easy at first. We have grown to really love Charleston and have made some amazing friends as well as some outstanding clients. We thank each and every one of you for all the support and all the great times we had. We are happy yet sad to announce that we are moving our family back to Charlotte, NC where our hearts belong. My family is there and I miss them terribly. We really are going to miss Charleston but will be back to visit a lot.

For all my clients that have been so great to SKP, please don’t be sad. I promise to come back to Charleston periodically for photo shoots and visits. We will not be strangers to Charleston. We loved Charleston when we were tourist and will continue to be loving tourists and come back to the Holy City. If you want to schedule any future photo shoots, please try and give me as much notice as possible so that I can arrange a trip back. I do plan on running some specials and get you all in for a last minute shoot sometime in November. Please don’t be strangers and keep in touch via Facebook, email, or any other way you choose. You have all been amazing and I want to continue to be your photographer of choice.

Goodbye Charleston (but not for another month) and hello Charlotte.

Ok, so who is ready? Two lucky commenters win an awesome package valued at $550! Each of the winners will receive my Digital Essentials Package which includes your session, 10 digital files along with a 5×7 print of each chosen file, and 30% off additional prints! Yeah, I rock! Additionally, I am going to help you stylize your session. Together we will decide the perfect location, clothing, and session time. I cannot wait to get started working with each of you!

Wait no more, winners are below!

1st up was comment number 18

and 2nd up is comment number 24

Congratulations Patty and Becky. I will be emailing you both tomorrow. If you do not receive an email from me by tomorrow evening, please check your junk box. Still no email, shoot me one at shelly@shellykeefe.com. I’ve been having some trouble with my email lately. SKP is looking forward to the photo shoots with both of you!

That’s right, you can win a package valued at $550 from me, just for being a fan of mine! I’ve recently reached the 1,000 fan mark on my Facebook fan page and it just means the world to me. Word of mouth is the best form of flattery to any photographer and obviously you all are spreading the word. To thank you, I have decided to give two lucky winners my Digital Essentials package. This package includes your session, 10 digital files of your choice from the session, a 5×7 reference print of each chosen file, and 30% off any additional prints. And it will all come to you in my pretty new packaging that I am super excited about. Trust me, you’ll love it! What do you have to do to enter you ask? Just spread a little more love. I’ll give you details in just a minute. I wanted to add that in addition to the awesome package, I will also work directly with you to style your session. I love shopping! What woman doesn’t right? Well this one seriously loves it. If you want the help, I would love to sit down with you over some coffee, or tea, or milk (your choice) and talk about what you have in mind for your session. Your vision, your ultimate dream session. I will help you choose the right location and suggest clothing for your entire family. I’ll even bring my iPad or laptop with me and we can browse some of the best shops around for the look you really want. And if you happen to be a winner from out of town, no problem, we’ll chat on the phone and I will send links to outfits I think will work well. How awesome is that? It’s like a personal shopper and dream session all in one. It will be fabulous, because after all, you are fabulous!

The details! I just want you to spread the word a little more. How much you choose to spread is your choice. Each one you complete earns you one entry. Once you complete each one, come back here and leave a comment stating what you did. Please leave a link if applicable. 1 comment per love spreading is necessary for your entry to count. If you complete three, leave three comments. Complete two, leave two comments. Winners will be chosen with a random number generator and then entries will be counted in the order they are received.  Session must take place in either Charleston, SC or Charlotte, NC within one year. Non-transferable. Winner will be chosen on October 15, 2011. Session includes immediate family members only. Sessions not completed in one year are forfeited. If you already have a session scheduled with me, the session fee you paid will be applied as a print credit for additional prints/products. You may not use winnings towards sessions that have already taken place.

1. Become a fan of Shelly Keefe on Facebook. www.facebook.com/shellykeefe (If your already a fan, just leave a comment saying so)

2. Tell your Facebook friends about this giveaway! Be sure to tag my fan page when you do so. To tag me, just type @ symbol before Shelly Keefe in your status update. Something like “I know this awesome photographer doing an amazing giveaway, go to www.shellykeefe.com/blog and give Shelly Keefe some love” hehe.  :)

3. If you have a blog or another social network your on (such as Google+ or Myspace) , blog or talk about the giveaway. Be sure to link to my blog and also leave me a link in your comment so I can check it out.

4. Tweet about my giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to tag me there too. I’m ShellyKeefe2009 on there. I hate that Shelly Keefe was already taken back in 2009. Be sure to leave me your Twitter name in your comment so I can follow you.

5. Just let me know how you found me in a comment. If a friend told you, leave their name. If you found me on another blog, link me to them if you can.

Now go spread the word. Remember to leave a comment here on this post on my blog letting me know what you did for each entry. Separate comments for each. Good luck!

I had the pleasure of photographing a beautiful family full of girls. Dad is in trouble when they are all teenagers! Such good looking girls! Sweet as can be too! Mom and dad are truly blessed! The K family came to me all the way from NJ. Ok, they didn’t come to me, they came to Charleston for vacation and chose me to do their family pictures. I was way too excited to meet them downtown. It’s not that often that I get to shoot in the beautiful historical parts of Charleston so I jumped up and down (literally) when mom said she wanted to do the shoot there! Here are just a few from the shoot for now.

This is my favorite one so far!

Look at that precious face!

This one makes me smile so much!

Love mom and baby in this one. Such a sweet moment!

Thank you K family for choosing me to take your family portraits! I had a blast meeting you all! If you would like to use any of these images for your Facebook, let me know and I can upload them there so that you may tag yourself in the images. Can’t wait to show you the rest! Enjoy the remainder of your vacation and I will continue to pray that hurricane Irene stays away!

We went with the top 3 with the most votes. We cannot wait to get started on planning the photo shoot. The winners will be contacted by Monday via email with details on what to do next. Not a winner, no worries, you will still get a little thank you from MaDa and myself. Check your inbox also on Monday! I know most of you scrolled right down and just saw the winning pictures but I am going to say it anyways. Drumroll please…..

And the winners are……………..

Congrats to all three winners. MaDa Designs and myself are super excited to have you as models!

If you entered the gift card giveaway, sit tight. I have some kinks to work out with some comments not actually posting to the blog properly. I need to work on that before I randomly select the winners. They will be announced by tonight!

All the pictures have been uploaded to Shelly Keefe’s fan page in an album titled “Model Search 2011″. What we need you to do now is have everyone you know vote! Tell your mom, tell your dad, your sister, your brother, your best friend, your cousins, your aunts and uncles, your coworkers, your dentist, your mailman, the telemarketer that calls yours house, and everyone else that comes to mind! Direct them to the SKP fan page at www.facebook.com/shellykeefe.com . They must become a fan to vote. In order to vote, you must find the photo you want to vote on and click the “like” button. Votes only qualify if the voter and photo owner (mom and/or dad) are fans of both Shelly Keefe (www.facebook.com/shellykeefe.com) and MaDa Designs (www.facebook.com/madadesigns) at the end of the contest. Winning photos will be checked. One cannot become a fan, vote, and then unfan. If you really wish to unfan either of us (We sure hope you don’t though), please wait until the contest has ended. Voting will end on March 31, 2011 at 11:59 pm. That’s more than 2 weeks to gather all the votes you can!

Remember:

Qualifying votes must be a fan of both Shelly Keefe and MaDa Designs on Facebook (see  links above)

Photo must be “liked” in order to count as a vote

Tell everyone!

WAIT!!!!! There’s more. Shelly will also randomly pick one voter who will win a $20 Starbucks gift certificate and another voter who will win a $15 iTunes gift card. In order to qualify and enter to win one of these awesome gift cards, please be sure to come back here and comment to let me know you voted! It’s that simple. A random number generator will be used to pick the gift card winners.

Ready?  Ok, go vote now!