Photos of the Week and All the Reasons Why You Should Follow This Blog

It's bad enough I feel like I'm slacking with this whole blog thing, but what's worse is now I have this yucky cold that seems to have slowed everything down for me. However, I have plans to change that as of tomorrow and cold or not, I have been browsing pintrest for some pretty cool weekly photo ideas (similar to that whole 365 photo project).

I haven't decided 100% how I should run this blog just yet. I want it to be fun, interesting and I want you to be able to see things here that you don't see on my FB page. I know that as I continue to gain customers and do more photo sessions I will have the privilege to tell you a story about each child, family or individual I photograph but I would like to add some other stuff in the mix as well. 

I'm even considering offering special discounts if you mention you read specific blog posts, posting all my contest info here and maybe a few giveaways along the way that you will only find by reading and sharing my blog. 

Bottom line, help me gain followers!

Below are my photos of the week. I took these photos at a local park as a part of a homework assignment for one of my photography classes. This little guy was a lot of fun to photograph. At first, he was incredibly quiet, then he started hollering at me, then he actually came at me and nipped my foot and finally, he dove into the creek to mate with another geese while I was trying to photograph the creek itself (yeah thanks Mr.Ladies Man Geese!)

Facebooking, Blogging, and All Things Photography!

I am having a hard time finding the right blog to post my photos. Part of the trouble is figuring out how to format the photos to where they aren't too large for the blog. I have joined My Foto Journal and am hoping to figure it out soon. I could see where down the road it would be a valuable tool for customers to see ALL their photos versus me posting them on Facebook.

Speaking of Facebook, I encourage you all to follow me on this blog and/or my Foto Journal blog. It seems as though Facebook is going to make business owner's posts less visible which as you can imagine will become a huge headache for me and others who are trying to grow their business.

Thank you all for your continued to support. I am amazed at how quickly my FB page has grown and plan on continuing to keep it up regardless of the changes. Encourage your friends to like my page and please take me into consideration the next time you need wedding photos, family photos or newborn photos.


By the way, when my FB page reaches 1,000 likes, I will have a different, but cool giveaway/offer for one lucky person!

The classes I'm taking with AI are improving my art every single day and I'm looking forward to what the future holds for my business.

Below are some shots of my sweet Noah that I took yesterday.

Snow Day!

So, even though it didn't last very long, we still got to experience a Snow Day today. Which meant I got a chance to experiment with photographing in the snow and when trying to do this in complete manual settings, it was quite difficult to figure out how to get the photos just right with out them being too bright or too dark. 

Needless to say I finally figured it out, and I think the pictures turned out gorgeous. I would LOVE to live up north just long enough to do a few sessions. I have lots of ideas in mind of things I could do.

Here are my favs:

Sweet Miley

Miley is one of my sweet baby models. (She also happens to be my daughter). I took these photos out in the country last week at my Grandmother's old home in front of her old barn.

I'm learning more and more about white balance and shutter speeds and I took this day to really practice with what I've learned. I've just about figured out how to operate my camera 100% in manual mode which means I use no automatic settings. 

I think these photos turned out great and capture the sweet spirit I see in my "Smiley Miley" everyday. 

New Year, Dreams Come True

When I was a kid, I remember being slightly obsessed with cameras. My Grandmother had an old school flash 35 mm camera and I would constantly beg her to let me use it. I think over time she got tired of me asking, because one year for my birthday she bought me a hot pink camera. It was love at first sight.

I carried it everywhere, photographed everything, and between her and my parents, I feel quite sure they got tired of paying for my film rolls to be developed. 

Eventually, I lost the camera and transitioned to using those disposable cameras for a while, but then the digital camera was invented. I was in the 12th grade when my father purchased their first digital camera. I remember taking it to the homecoming game and any other place I could get my hands on it and take it with me.

As I grew older, I kind of lost time to focus on photographing the world, but I never ever lost interest in it. It has always been something close to my heart, and I think that I see the world in a way that others don't. I don't mean that the least bit negative, but seriously, I think I do. Colors, scenery, children, buildings - life in general, I think I see in a different light than most. I cannot tell you the times I was out riding around selling insurance and would think "Oooh that would make an awesome photograph!."

With all that being said, I am beyond excited to FINALLY be able to see my dreams come true and launch my photography buisness this year. I have so many ideas in mind, I can't wait to jump in and get started. Furthermore, I couldn't be happier to see the increase in likes on my Facebook page, the continuous increase in a customer base and I have some super adorable models to help showcase my talent.

With that being said, I think it's obvious my resolution is to grow my business this year, but no worries, I'll share my others with you as well:

2. (Because, well I just gave a detailed description of number 1) Get in shape, get fit.

3. Grow in my walk with God, become more active in my church

4. More arts & crafts time with my kids 

5.  Go fishing more often

6. Take better care of my skin, my hair and my overall self

7. Be a better person

Thank you all for your continued support! It's gonna be a GREAT year :)

Cutest Couple

Okay, so I need more models other than my 3 sweet children (and the 4 other children I've selected recently for modeling purposes) to help me get my business going and showcase what I can do with a camera. Therefore, I've decided to have a Cutest Couple Contest! Here is all the info you need to participate!

1. Send me a recent photo of you and your sweetheart to: aprilswancey@hotmail.com

2. Be sure to include a short story about you and your sweetheart and why you think you guys should win.

3. Make sure to include your full name, mailing address and phone number in the email (this information will NOT be published on the album, it is just needed in case you win!)

4. Photos will be uploaded to my "Cutest Couple Photo Contest" album on April Swancey Photography's Facebook page. (http://www.facebook.com/AprilSwanceyPhotography?fref=ts).

5. Deadline to submit photos is January 31 at midnight. Photo with the most likes wins.

PRIZE:

Winner of the contest will win a free photo session with 15 poses, CD with printing permission, (1) 8x10, (2) 5x7, (12) wallets of your choice.

Good luck!