Vacation Bible School

My church here in town held Vacation Bible School (VBS) every evening the week of July 12th. Since it was at night, I volunteered to help and thought that offering to take photos would be a great option since my work hours are not "set in stone" and I could not guarantee I would arrive by 6:30pm every night. It ended up working out great!

I became the photographer who would go from music to storytime to snack to arts & crafts taking many candid pictures along the way. The children were from age 3-12 so some of the younger ones were camera shy if they realized you were taking their pictures and some of the older boys got silly at the same time.

On the last night when the parents attended, I had a simple slideshow playing on my laptop so they could see what sort of activities their children did during the week and we also had it playing before church on Sunday. The head of this year's VBS told me "we almost didn't have church on Sunday because everyone was looking at your pictures!" I'll take that as a compliment although the Pastor probably wouldn't.

I also took videos the last night with my Flip camera of each group singing and dancing. It was a precious sight for sure. Those may be on the PMUMC Website soon as well.

Since I don't have the parents permission to post the photos on my blog - I turned all of them over to the church - linking to the church Website will have to suffice for now, but only a handful are online.

Guestbook

I'm back!! My full-time job has been more than full-time hours for several months now and unfortunately I have not been posting updates to this blog as often as I should have been (obviously). My apologies!

For the 50th Anniversary back in April I was also asked to design a guestbook since they were having a large party. I used photos of the anniversary couple only throughout the years and sprinkled blank pages in between for people to sign, more like a yearbook than a wedding guestbook. The family included a poem in the beginning and my client said her parents were thrilled to have the book as an additional memento from their celebration.

Here are three pages:

Celebrating 50 Years

Just about two weeks ago I finished a video in celebration of a 50th anniversary. I met Kim through another wedding vendor (thanks Pat!) and began working with her in the beginning of March, discussing this project for her parents. This past Saturday, Kim and her family, including two sisters, hosted a 70th birthday party for their mother/50th anniversary party in the New York City area.

Kim shared hundreds and hundreds of photos with me and we worked together to do everything possible to ensure that all party guests were included in the video at least once. You can see that her parents have a large network of fun-loving friends who like to travel and share their days laughing together.

I also created a guestbook for the event that had only photos of her parents through the years. More on that in another post.

I hope Brad and I celebrate our Golden Anniversary with a party in 2058!

April Showers bring...

...new clients?? On Sunday, April 11th I participated in an aforementioned bridal show with some great wedding vendors from the Frederick, Maryland area. More than three dozen
vendors participated and our tables took up the full atrium at the FSK Holiday Inn. I met some new vendors, such as Norma who runs a stationery business in Wheaton/Silver Spring and my table was near two vendors I have worked with in the past, Julie Hipkins from Originations Photography and Pat "the Bra Lady" Schoonover. Let me know if you want her contact information

Not only was this event an opportunity to meet future brides that may be potential clients for their wedding, anniversary, or honeymoon, but an opportunity to network with other bridal professionals. To the left are two photos of my table from the show. I showed a rotation of five wedding-related videos and shared examples of my wedding and honeymoon albums.

This bridal show experience was a positive one, but I am not scheduled to participate in any additional shows at this time. I have found that the fall and winter are peak times for shows because of the frequency of spring and summer weddings.

New Business Cards

New business cards have arrived! I nearly ran out of cards a couple weeks ago so instead of simply ordering more, I also made some modifications. Since I have started projects besides DVD montages and photo books, I wanted to highlight them on my card so potential clients know I am almost a "one-stop-shop" for their media needs. I also made a few minor changes to the front of my card - added my blog address and changed the font of my name so there was less script. I am exhibiting at a bridal show in Frederick, Maryland on Sunday so I wanted to make sure I have plenty available!

Spring Special Deal

I know it may have taken a few weeks, but I decided that I am going to offer a Mother's Day/Father's Day special. If you would like a video for your mother or grandmother, father or grandfather, please send me an e-mail or call me anytime! Mother's Day is less than seven weeks away and Father's Day comes next so start selecting your photos now!

For $150 I will create a video with 100 photos or less for you and you can give it as a gift. I ask that you select the photos and then I can get started. I am going to run this special through April 18th which allows time for previewing, final edits, and shipping. This is not valid for any projects I am currently working on.

Please spread the word to other friends and family members. I can promise that no one else will gave your mom or dad the same gift this year :).

April Showers Bridal Extravaganza

This week I decided to participate in a Frederick-area bridal show on April 11th. The show will be in the atrium of the FSK Holiday Inn and will feature a few dozen area vendors that could help with local weddings. The show is managed by Susan with Studio C photography (www.studio-c-photography.com) and was a success when it is done in 2008.

Admission is FREE and I will have a table with sample videos playing as well as books ot share with potential clients. If you are in the area, please stop by to pick up a porgram, take a look around, listen to some music and have a complimentary drink!