{Sabrina & Family}

So I was thinking of a great post title and I could not stop thinking about this sweet puppy and her beautiful family. So sweet Sabrina, you get the honor of my post title! Such a sweet pooch. In fact, the pictures of her were the last in our mini black and white session. This mama wanted to capture some classic b & w's of her great family while they were all still together for the summer. Her children did a great job and I think she will be pleased with her sneak peek. Happy Friday!

{Early Birds}

{Early Bird Special}

I don't heavily advertise my work. I'm mainly a word of mouth kind of photographer. Since I seem to be getting new business weekly, I thought it would be a good idea to let my returning clients in on early booking. Seasonal Fall sessions tend to be very popular around here for the holidays. I mean, who doesn't want to have family or kid pictures down at the beach? We live in a fantastic area full of wonderful outdoor options. Due to the limited amount of sessions I book per week and month, I am offering an Early Bird Booking Special that includes a free edited 5 x 7 with your early booking for the months of September-December. This special is only for my returning clients but I welcome anyone to book early as it will be my busiest season yet! Don't wait until after Thanksgiving to get your family portrait done for grandma. Be smart...be an early bird...catch the worm!

A nonrefundable deposit of $25 is due within 3 days of after the day you make your appointment to hold your session date. Email me with your questions or check out my website for details about my work. tonya@designsbytonyar.com or www.designsbytonyar.com

{Butterflies & Animal Sounds}

I usually get butterflies and my nerves seem to kick in whenever I photograph my friends and their kids. I get so worked up worrying about what might go wrong...my camera will break...I won't get anyone to smile...they won't like my work...yada-yada-yada!!!! I don't know how but I do manage to pull myself together just before they arrive. I'm so glad to have friends who are giving me opportunities to grow in my photography skills and who are truly willing to give me a shot at capturing some memories for them. Today I met up with a friend of mine who recently got back from Down Under. She wanted some real classic portraits of her munchkins and really liked some of my closeup work of children's faces. So I have to admit here...one of the ways I get younger children to look into my lens is to pretend I have animals in my camera that make sounds after I click. They seem to fall for it every time(chuckle...chuckle) but I have to be the absolute worst at making animal sounds. My goat sounded like half horse today! I'm so sorry about that guys!

Happy Friday! Enjoy your sneak peek, N.

{Bubblicious}

I need to go out of my comfort zone and put myself out there when it comes to talking about my work. It's not a real comfortable thing for me yet. I feel very selfconscious calling myself a photographer. If I hadn't spoke about my work the other week to a really nice clerk at one of my favorite stores...(Pier One), I would have missed out on the opportunity to meet this 6 month old peach. Her mom brought grandma to watch and I noticed that they kept cooing and calling her bubblicious or maybe it was my imagination or something like that but the name kind of stuck in my head as I was thinking of a post name. Any hoo, I think she is certainly "bubblicious"...pink, soft and squishy and yummy...just like the gum of my childhood.

{Johnny & Company}

Meet sweet baby Johnny & Company. Such a sweet little man at 3 months. I just adored his very well behaved brother and sister too.They all had just the best skin tone...so jealous! His siblings were great help and quite natural and comfortable in front of the camera. I enjoyed hearing him coo at his mom and siblings and me. I tell you, it's one of the very best perks in this little business of mine. He was very particular about what pose we put him in and saved most of his smiles for his mom but I think I managed to capture a few for his baby announcements. Happy Monday!

{More Cutie Patooties}

I'm posting way more photos than I normally do so hold on to your hats! Been photographing this 18 month old since his birth. He was one of my first photography subjects. His mom is a great friend of mine and has entrusted me with documenting his development. Generally, at this age, babies are busy so his mom and I put our heads together and came prepared for what has to be one of my favorite sessions so far. I have never sweat so much in any session as I have with this little guy. He was constantly moving until mom pulled out her secret weapon and his only weakness...a bag of cheerios. Mom says, he sneaks bags of these at home and heads for a quiet place to gobble them up! Seriously, how dog gone cute is that! The shots of him in the suitcase, are probably the only time he sat still for more than 10 seconds and because they truly portray his little personality, they are my hands down favorite images of our time together.

Older brother caught up with us afterwards and mom wanted to capture this blue eyed boys 5th birthday pics. He is one charming and handsome kid with a passion about pirates like I have never seen. I could stare into those baby blues all day! Because he was such a great subject, mom rewarded him with a sucker. I snapped off a few pics at the end and the one with him playing peek a boo with the sucker is my favorite. It reminded me of a pirate eye patch. Something tells me he is going to have a great pirate party!

Happy 5th Birthday!

{Cutie Patooties}

Just a quick little snippet of some other cutie patooties that I got to play with this week. 4 sessions in 2 days. Kind of tired tonight but I will surely regain energy after a nice weekend with my boys. Next time, I will post way more pictures of these guys than I normally do. Here's 2 to last you until next week. Happy Friday and have a good weekend!

{Hands on Daddy}

It's not too often that I get both parents for a sitting. Dad took some time off work to capture some moments with his family. I was so impressed with how sweet and loving and attentive they were to their new baby daughter. What a striking beauty she was. Such beautiful long dark hair and an adorable grin. She kept blowing these bubbles that tickled me so much. I could see why her parents are so crazy about her. She is a very lucky girl to have not only a great mommy but a very hands on daddy. These are some of my favorites and the one with daddy feeding her was just a snap of a moment that mommy thought was so precious and I totally agree.

{Missing My Boys}

Been enjoying a staycation with my hubby this past week. Kids are visiting family.Now I have to admit, having a week to myself with no kids has been amazing! No laundry, no cooking, no house cleaning,no dirty socks laying around, no yelling, no "what's to eat?", no video game noise. I've simply had to fend for myself and take care of my hubby and our dog, Mickey of course. Took in some dates with my hubby, walked on the beach, watched some movies, cleared some clutter, tinkered on the computer, went shopping, went out with friends, more shopping, read and read! It's been the best staycation ever!!!! But...at the end of this glorious week, my husband and I find ourselves feeling just a little bit empty. We kind of realized that so much of our daily living is wrapped up with spending time with our kids, taking care of them, playing with them, nagging at them, cuddling with them and reading to them. It just hit us hard last night how much we really miss them. It's the longest we've ever spent apart from all of them at one time. Would we do it again next summer? Uh yeah!!! I mean come on! We had a blast without them but the joy that they bring even the annoying joys of parenthood, are missed when they are gone. It's a piece of our life that I don't want to give up just yet and I know that day will come soon enough when the all hit the teenage years. They are coming home tomorrow and since I haven't posted some personal pics in a while, here are a few so I can remember what they look like...not that I could ever forget. Hope everyone is having a good week. Busy end of week for me. I have 5 sessions booked. Stay tuned for some sneak peeks of cute babes and kids and families!

{Minions of Dominance}

I have met quite a few talented people in my life but no one as talented as my good friend Merri. You see, a few months ago she shared with me the fact that she had been working on a book. But that wasn't all. Not only did she write a book but it's going to be published. I'm so excited for her and I can't wait to read it! So cool that she is gonna sign a copy for me. I was even more tickled when she asked me to take her photo for her book cover.

As I await her books release next month, I thought it would be fun to do a question answer interview and share with you a link to her blog. I think she was being incredibly modest because not only is she a writer but creative scrapbooker/paper artist extraordinaire! She is one of those creative souls who inspired me to start my invitation business. She constantly astounds me with her talent and I always look forward to seeing what she is up to. So here's the interview....

1. Besides the Twilight books, what did you use for inspiration to write your book? Nothing. I made it up as I went along. It's all the things I would like to read in a book I guess...!

2. Have you written anything else? Yes. Minions of Servitude-it's due to be released in a few weeks and is the sequel to Minions of Dominance. I've also started the third book of the series: The Fifth Species

3.You have a great imagination. What other creative skill do you posses? None other than paper crafting. I do have my cards in a local doggie boutique, Bark Place. They are dog sympathy, thank you and congratulation cards.

4.Tell me more about the character who is named after your dog in the book.What are similarities/differences? No difference, other than the name;the character is exactly like Zoe.

5. If you could do 5 more things in your lifetime, what would they be? Win the Lotto, write a best seller, paint, retire, travel to Europe and then stay there.

6. Who is your favorite author? And what type of books do you like to read? Diane Mott Davidson, Anne Rice, P.D. James, Elizabeth George-Mystery, Suspense, Who-dun-it's...

I'm a big "Twilight" fan but I've been told by Merri that her book is more for adult readers or young adult, especially the second book. Click here Minions of Dominance for a look at her blog and information about her book release. I, for one, am looking forward to a signed copy of that book and wish her tons of success with it. I'm so proud of you for following your dreams and ambitions, Merri. Thanks for being such a good sport about all this. Looking forward to that lunch we need to have real soon! luv, T

{Before & After Photoshop}

I get this question all the time by new moms..."Can you edit baby acne?" The truth is, I can just about edit any kind of blemish on a baby's face or body. I also suggest to people that they not let a little skin blemish get in the way of documenting your baby's life. The moments are too precious to pass up. With that said, I do have to say that I charge per file for this kind of editing. A fee of $10 a file or $75 for an entire CD up to 50 images but this is in addition to my session fees which are $50-$75 per hour. The CD you get with your session is only semi edited. I will turn all photos, delete unusable files. A fully edited CD gets you cropping, touch ups, coloring fixes and black and white conversions. So I thought I would show you some examples of before and after edits. The first picture is the original...not bad... in fact I like sweet light coming from the side it's spectacular and it is a look I like but the skin blemish on my nieces chin and scar above my other niece's eyebrow has to go. The following photos are color touch ups and a black and white conversion. Every photographer is different in how they charge and at this point with my photography business, I'm happy to keep my prices low and continue to build my book of business and portfolio. Every session has allowed me to grow in my experience and confidence and I appreciate all the great referrals I have been getting lately. Special kuddos go out to my friend and neighbor, Amanda, and the staff at Hopscotch for sending me some awesome clients my way. You all ROCK!!!! Thank you so much! Luv, T