Siebert Family Session

I had a great time shooting with the Sieberts, all the laughs with the grown ups and sweetness of Dylan and Austin were just wonderful! (Remember Austin from his hospital shoot, here?) I have the best time when I'm working with families! Especially, families with little ones!

Thanks again, Sieberts, so glad we could get a couple shots in between the laughs!




PS. There are only 3 days left to catch the $50 off promo! Be sure to snap up a booking, before their all gone!

..and have a cup of cheer..

Hoping you all had a wonderful Christmas and are only just now coming out of your food comas!

My holiday was great and am walking away warmer(with a new Columbia OmniTek coat!) and more prepared(8G SanDisk CF) than ever ;)

Thanks to all my siblings for being great and sharing in the prep and clean up this year! You all made it a HECK of a lot easier to enjoy the day!
Jeremy, your pot roast was exactly like moms! My goodness was it awesome and a welcome throwback to the good days!
Hope, your efforts to unite are always lovely and well received.
Jen, Thank you for taking charge and planning everything, mother hen. I'm not sure what would have happened if you hadn't!

To all the non-family blog readers, thanks for baring with me and reading faithfully! I'm blogging today because I'd like to offer you one last cup of Christmas cheer


I have Extended the $50 off H|Photography Christmas Promotion until January 1st

I encourage all of my local readers and clients to please take advantage of this unique deal, and remind your friends to as well, because it will not be back around until next year!

Have a blessed and joyeux holiday!

~Hadassah :)

Merry Christmas!

Christmas is coming...

...and the geese are getting fat...please put a penny in the old man's hat?

Hmm, how about I do one better and give you ALL another $50 off deal? That sounds much better than pennies if you ask me and much more in the Christmas spirit!

Here are the details - click on the image to enlarge -

Please remember that H|Photography Gift Certificates are also available for that special someone!! After all, photography is the gift that keeps on giving!

Also, I am an all weather photographer - Snow and cold don't bother me, if they don't bother you! Plus they make for sweet rosy cheek portraits, not to mention the perfect winter backdrop for Christmas and New Years photos!

Artist Statement - Rough Draft - Feedback??

Artist Statement:

I have always been interested in light; the colors it creates and shadows it casts. This project, 6:40, is based on light; specifically, the light that wakes us up in the morning. The images shows the effect sunlight has when it pokes through the clouds and above buildings, while dancing beams in soft pastel blues and blazon reds. It shows a journey of the moment 6:40AM exactly, over the course of November. As the days pass, light subtly changes; leaves fall from the trees; interior yellows fade to blue; cold shadows turn warm. So does life go on, not a moment more or less, still so much goes unnoticed.

The sand of life is ever running through our fingers, it is up to us to stop and savor it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What I'm wondering is what type of picture this paints in your minds? If I am getting the point across, or not?

The project is very conceptual, and scientific, but I don't want to get into so much detail about the scientific portion that viewers get lost in the concept and forget to SEE. Yet, I am torn on writing specific details and more conceptual prose. Maybe I should interject myself more "I did this or that" or "I learned this or that."

Please let me know what your opinion and any pointers you may have. Thanks.

Thanks

Thank you! to all who participated in the Thanksgiving promo! I feel really accomplished that I even tried that! I've been pretty chicken to do anything like that before now. I've been doing my best to grow this year, so I felt it was time.

For those of you who did not get to book a session and/or purchase a gift session for a loved one, don't fret! I've got one more promo coming up this month and plenty of spots to fill up! So if that's you, just stay tuned!

Also, please remember that these sessions do not have to occur within this month, only the booking needs to be done before the promo's end date. In other words, you can book up six months in advance!

A question that arose about the gift session certificates was: Do the gift certificates have expiration dates?

The answer: Yes, the receiver of the gift session must book within six months of the purchase date. Again, these sessions may be booked in advance, up to six months.

My pricing file is available to anyone who is interested, please just send me an email(Hadassah[dot]Bullis[at]gmail[dot]com) and I will send it over to you. I will have a place for it on my website (which is merrily moving along, btw!!) soon!

Anyway, thanks again! and Please get the word out to your friends, and family, to watch for the next promo!! It's a good one!

Thanksgiving is upon us...

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone! I hope you take this day to relax, enjoy family, and be thankful for the things that matter most like turkey, coffee, pie.. *cough,* I mean, life and health! Hee hee!

So now that we have the formalities out of the way, how about a little Thanksgiving/Black Friday deal?!?! Click the thumbnail below to view larger:


Be Sure to Like H|Photography on Facebook
For more information and booking email me at: Hadassah[dot]Bullis[at]gmail[dot]com

Check, check ,123....

Whoa! It's almost been a month since I've last posted and I really don't have much of an excuse. I realize I'm breaking the laws of blogging by not writing more often, but to be honest, I really don't feel like many are reading...

Anyway, regardless, I am stopping by to say that it's finally winter! I'm so excited! The air is cold and thin. The sky has gotten bluer and when you look outside you just KNOW it's cold. I love thistime of year. As much as it pains me, winter has always been my favorite season. I think it's because the world becomes quieter, even with the hustle and bustle of shoppers and all the busy-ness, something about winter seems to make everything calm.

I'm officially on Thanksgiving break, and some part of me feels like I'll be getting some things done in these next 4 days, then another part feels like I'll be taking it easy.. I guess we'll have to see. Only 3weeks left of school, so it would be in my best interest to get things done. (The photo here is from my final project - 6:40 - barely edited)

Here are somethings which are making me happy at the moment that I'd like to share with you all:

• The Swingin' Christmas Station on Pandora
• Giada and her love for Chocolate
• Modern Holiday cards on Minted(notice Jessica Strickland's Photography on many of the cards :))
  

A non-link happiness:

• 50s movies on Netflix
• Miles Davis
• John Coltrane
• Bing Crosby
• Vintage fonts and designs
• Sketch and Handwriting
• My Bamboo Tablet Stylus
• August Rush
• Christmas Commercials

Also, I've been designing my own Holiday Cards to send out to clients, I wanted to keep a hand-drawn feel to them. So I copied a doodle I did in Photo History class.. Hopefully, when they're finished everyone will enjoy the artwork as much as I do. Along with the cards, I have been working on coupons and gift certificates specifically for the holiday season.

Which reminds me, would anyone be interested in holiday discounts on photo sessions? Please let me know! I've got a black Friday weekend promo in the works!

Curry Family : Naperville, IL

I had a great time with the Curry Family! We laughed probably the entire shoot, had so much fun! We had a few tears from Gabriela and Miyah, but mostly laughs and sneaky smiles. I was impressed at how well they did, Tami! As for the rest of the family, you all did SO wonderfully! I don't think you guys gave me even one bad shot which made it so hard to narrow down all the choices, and I have SO many favorites! Thanks for braving that cold October morning with me, I hope you had as much fun as I did! And I hope to work with you all again soon!

Bare Truths: Learning from Every Experience

The wedding I last posted was shot with my most favorite wedding photographer, fromIndianapolis, Jessica Strickland and her studio manager, Erika Duncan. I was, technically speaking, shadowing Jessica: watching what she does and learning from her experience. Though, I admit, I was a bundle of nerves on my way to the Sheraton in downtown Indy, I was greeted by two of the sweetest photographers I've ever worked with. On top of that, Jess really treated me like one of her crew, which I really appreciated. She allowed me to take whatever photos I wanted and be as creative as I felt appropriate, and that in itself really helped with my nervousness throughout the day. I really had a great time shooting with Jess and Erika and I wish I could do it every weekend! Ok, maybe my limbs could only handle every two weeks, but I'd still do it weekly if I could!

...if only I lived in Indy...

When I got back to the house after the wedding, completely wiped but high on adrenaline, I started uploading the photos from my cards (something I'm usually too exhausted to do the night of). As I skimmed over the first few, I realized that there were some blurry shots, some pointless shots, some almost tourist "saw a wedding on the side of the road" shots and I couldn't help but start in with negativity and questioning, "what happened?"

Maybe I was just too nervous, getting into it.. and I went to bed while the rest of my images imported into Lightroom.

Over the next couple of weeks I did a cull of my images, trying to save as many as possible from my overly critical eye. But still, something seemed to be wrong with most of them. Something was off.

When it comes to times and events like this, I think my problem is in looking for the unacceptable in my photos. Whether it is because I feel like I'm not going to measure up to an instructors standards, or a fellow shooter's, somehow I'm always afraid of a lack of approval, and ultimately, I pin everything on myself. "I didn't do this," or, "I forgot to check THAT.." and I end up discouraging myself and feeling defeated.

After I had seen Jessica's blog on the wedding, I'm even more disappointed in myself. This time, it is more so because I've learned quite a bit since then. I've learned a little more about being a second/third shooter, after having watched Jasmine Star's CreativeLIVE workshop this summer. As I looked at Jess's shots, I thought, well, I tried to recreate her shots. Maybe I was thinking, I could commit them to memory through shooting them myself, and really I cheated myself. I know now that I should have be gotten different angles, shooting things Jess couldn't see from her angle. I felt like I didn't allow myself to experiment enough that day. I do remember thinking about it, but I don't think I new what it meant. I am not used to being able to think creatively for those types of events. I often lose my ideas to the overwhelming idea that I need to get what's important first and then I never get around to making photos for myself. I feel like I am still struggling with understanding how to be an individual artist rather than one who mimics other artists. But anyway, I know now, given another chance, I would do much better at second shooting. So, if anyone is reading who would like to give me that chance, feel free to email me. :) But until I get that chance again, I'll be working on securing my own events and making myself a better photographer.

So, counting now every experience, good or bad, as a learning experience, I'm signing off.

Lee Denim Day Gala for Breast Cancer Awareness

I'm super excited this morning because I will be participating in my first charity gala and the cause is near and dear to my heart - Breast Cancer Awareness.

In 2006, my sister,Hope, started promoting Lee Denim Day for Breast Cancer Awareness at Robert Bosch Corp. The Idea was that if one were to donate $5 to the cause they could wear jeans to work on the second Friday of October(Breast Cancer Awareness Month). Over the years, the event has grown to include a full week of activities, raffles, ect.

This year, I decided to get involved with my freelancing company, H|Photography. Many companies have donated gifts and services over the years to help promote the cause, over the years, but this year it was especially hard to find sponsors. As I talked to Hope about the event this year, and her troubles finding donations, I decided that as a business owner/ photographer, I had something to give. Not only am I going to Bosch today to support my sister's lunch gala while photographing the event, I am also raffling off a one hour portrait session in their Grand Prize Raffle!

Their theme this year is the idea that Breast Cancer affects, not only the carrier, but those they love as well. Having lost my mother in 2005 to Breast Cancer,I have first hand experience of this. Being a pastor and a missionary, my mother's death affected many across the nation and even across the world.

Someone in one of my classes, naively, stated "if I had to get cancer, I would wanna get breast cancer, because it's one of the easier cancers." Let me tell you right now, if she had sat down and thought about it, I'm sure she could have thought of several friends who have been affected by breast cancer and all of them would have told her, "There is no "Easy" cancer." Thank God for people like my sister who are willing to take time out of their busy lives to raise that awareness.

It's not just about wearing pink ribbons, lighting the skyline pink, and walking in a 5k race, it's about telling people that while it's not an easy fight, we can beat it.

So, today is Oct 8, and I am Photographing for a cause. Please take just a minute out of your day and Visit my sister's Lee Denim Day Team Page and think about donating to the cause, too! Breast Cancer never effects only one, help us find a cure.

Follow the action on Facebook!

Ami+Neal - Indianapolis Wedding

Ami and Neal's wedding was amazing! Not only was it my first Indian wedding, ever, but I had the honor of shooting for Jessica Strickland Photography. This experience cannot be matched. It was my first time third shooting I had the most awesome time! Jessica and Erika, thanks for letting me hang out! It was a blast! And, Ami and Neal, you are an amazing couple! Thank you for the honor of being a part of your big day!

While the events had been going on all day, first on my agenda was the Baraat, or the groom's processional entrance. All of the groom's family led him to the ceremony while singing and dancing- it was really a site to see!




Of course, with Jessica catching the most important moments, I took on the role of capturing the children of the group and some overall ambiance.






Then it was on to the ceremony -



And was it a Ceremony! It even included ICE CREAM!







After the ceremony, Erika and I headed up to the Panoramic Ballroom to catch cocktail hour : It had amazing views of Indy



and the guests were so cheerful and talkative! It was great!



Such a gorgeous couple, are they not!?








So, since it had been a long time since I had posted a good, picture filled, blog, I decided to make this one nice and hearty! Plus, there were so many images from this wedding it was hard to choose my favorites! Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed it!

To see Jessica Strickland's Shots from this wedding, visit her blog here : Jessica Strickland Photography : Ami+Neal