1st Birthday Boy

This birthday boy and his mom traveled 2 hours for this session! We just did a few casual shots first, and then did a cake smash. He really made a mess of that cake, which I'll probably show more of later!

Price Change

If you have not booked a session yet, and would like to take advantage of my 50% off Portfolio Building Special, then you have until August 15th to book your session and receive that discount (you do not have to have your session by August 15th, just booked). If you currently have a session booked, then all prices for prints will be 50% off, except otherwise noted on my website, such as storyboards which are already only 25% off.

Starting August 16th, prices will be reduced only 25%.

Other changes effective immediately include the model release form incentive and client referral program.

Signing a release form will allow me to use any and all pictures from your session on that date, therefore, there will only be a need to sign one form, and you will receive a $10 credit to apply to your order.

For every client that completes a session and mentioned you or your child, you will receive a $10 credit to apply to your next session.

There are still no session fees at this time through January 1, 2009.

Availability

The month of August is completely booked, but September and October are wide open with many sessions available! You can book sessions for November as well.

Soon I will be adding gallery wrapped canvas as one on of my products and collections that include Christmas cards. I know you might be thinking it's way to early to start thinking about Christmas, but I have a 4 year old that's ALWAYS thinking/talking about Christmas (only 4.5 months away now, wow!) so I'm starting to think that far ahead.

If you're interested in a session, just email me what day you'd like and around what time. I book sessions every day of the week Sun-Sat and will book from dawn to dusk. Outdoor sessions are best during the first hour after sunrise and the last hour of sunset, or anytime of the day if it's an overcast day (hard to predict too far in advance) or if there is full shade.

If you're interested in a day on my calendar (www.christisullivanphotography.com) that I already have a session booked for, feel free to contact me to see if we can still arrange a time for the same day.

Thank you to those who have already had their sessions and those who are booked for the next 3 months!

Technical Difficulties

I have been experiencing serious "technical difficulties" this week. In other words, my computer has had major issues! If you've ever bought a Dell from Best Buy and had any trouble at all, you know that Dell won't even talk to you about that computer. It was as if that computer was possessed. I could turn the computer on after being off all night, and settings would be changed. At one point it even quit receiving emails, which we thought was the virus protection software, so Best Buy advised us to switch, which worked temporarily. Then last night when we thought everything was finally straight, the picture on the screen went crazy and everything was pixelated. After another trip to Best Buy today, the computer was replaced and appears to be working just fine with the virus protection software they recommended it.

So, the point to all of this, if you have sent me an email in the past week and you have not heard from me, then your email is one of many that I never received, please resend it and I'll get back to you!

Family Session

Another fun family, I'm so lucky! This family seemed to really enjoy the session and their 4 month old little girl was so full of smiles from start to finish. Mommy said she was exhausted after our session, and slept great that evening and through the night. She was so much fun, and I just loved her dimples!

8x10 Collage

This 8x10 collage is $19.50 and perfect for showing those tiny baby features.

Sweet Baby Sneak Peek

This sweet baby is only 3 months old, and was such a pleasure to photograph. She was the youngest baby I've had a session with so far, but she was very laid back during the whole session even though she was always looking for her mommy! Slideshow coming soon!

New Website Is Live!!

I can't believe this happened so quickly, but after one long day and a late night, my new website, with the shopping cart feature, is now live!

There are still some things that need to be worked on, like the colors aren't exactly what I want right now and my logo is only half showing on the site pages, but I can change those things any time. The shopping cart feature was absolutely necessary, so I did not want to delay it any further.

The logo part is going to take some time to fix, which I'm not happy about, but I'm not able to figure out how to correct that. I'm sensing that I need a new logo, and would love one, anyone out there love graphic design and want to help me create a logo? Probably not, but I definitely need the help or I need to pay someone to design one!

New website coming soon!

As in the very next few days, I hope! There have been some concerns regarding the ordering process, and I agree that emailing in your order is tedious. You, as my client, should not have to do that much work to order pictures of your beautiful family, and so I embarked on a quest to find a solution and implement it as soon as possible. I'm currently working on that solution, which is a completely new website that I hope will be up and ready as soon as possible. The new site, which will have a new look, should also include the following new features:

• integrated cart directly in the proofing galleries
  
• ability to have more than 1 gallery per client with one password
  
• ability to add images to a favorites gallery to reduce the amount of images being viewed
  
• advanced package system that allows multiple packages with or without the same image
  
• ability to add unlimited products and packages for you to order
  
• ability to create custom shipping amounts per product, per amount of products added, and/or a stand alone shipping price
  
• ability to add non image related items to cart such as a DVD of images
  
• ability to add coupon codes that deduct a percent or amount based on the dollar amount ordered
  
• advanced package editing with drag and drop support

I am very excited about this new site and the features, and will let you know when it's up and running! I appreciate your patience while I get the new site ready.

Thanks, everyone!

Contest Winner Session

Take a look at this gorgeous family! You might recognize the little girl, she was #13 (and the winner) of my recent contest. That picture her mom sent in definitely portrayed her personality, she's a very happy baby, and the camera just loves her and I love that big smile of her's! I hope mom and dad, as well as any of their family and friends that may that may catch these, enjoy the sneak peek!

10x30 Storyboard

10x30 storyboards are priced at $60.00 ($30.00 during portfolio building).

Cards~Announcements~Invitations

I have been asked if I will be doing these so I'm happy to say that custom designed cards, announcements, and invitations are now available, and will be press printed on slightly glossed cardstock. Orders must be placed in quantities of 25 and will include envelopes. See prices below.

4x5.5 flat - $25.00 per set of 25 ($1.00 each)

5x7 flat - $30.00 per set of 25 ($1.20 each)

**The portfolio building special does not apply. Prices are as listed.**

11x14 Storyboard

11x14 storyboards are priced at $30.00 ($15.00 during portfolio building).

How many proofs?

I seem to have a little problem that I was hoping my blog visitors could help me with. After a session I have a hard time narrowing down the proofs to show, so I'm wondering, is it that bad if I want to show 50 proofs? How do you feel? Would you be happy with a smaller amount or would you want to see as many as possible from the session? Please take a moment to vote in this poll, and if you have some something to add to that, please leave a comment!

Not photography related...

Have you ever been to the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg? We have been there a few times, and my family just loves it! It's not only fun for the kids, but for us as well. I just received an email from them regarding a limited time offer that I thought I'd share with you. You can stay there between July 16 and August 28 and save $50 using the Promo Code SUMMER. So, if you're planning to take your family away for a few nights and don't want to go far, check out www.greatwolflodge.com, and you won't be disappointed and neither will your kids!

Hope you're enjoying your summer!

New Feature Coming Soon!

By the end of July, so hopefully around August 1st, there will be a new feature on my website to make ordering easier for you. Currently all orders are submitted through email, you just list out the proof IDs and sizes you want, but soon there will be a shopping cart feature added to the proof gallery where you can view your proofs and submit your order. You should be able to view each proof, have the option of adding it to your favorites, and after you've looked through them all, you can pull up all of your favorites together, and go through them one by one adding them to the cart (or you can add to your cart without adding them to your favorites). You'll be able to enter coupon codes and see the discount, giving you a total due. I'll have more information once this feature becomes available!

Storyboards!

I will now be offering storyboards, so don't be surprised if you see one or two custom designs among your proofs. All storyboards will be mounted and coated for protection. They are completely customizable allowing you to request certain pictures and text. Here is a sample:

This storyboard is a 10x20 priced at $38.00 (which means at portfolio building prices you'll only pay $19.00).

New Pricing Info you NEED to know...

All orders placed within 7 days of the proofs being available on my site, will receive 10% off the entire order. Therefore, if I put your proofs on the site on a Sunday, you have until the end of the day on the following Sunday to place your order and receive this discount.

At this time, that's 60% that you could save by doing a session with me. Plus the $35 session fee I'm not charging yet (I'm thinking about changing that later on), and the free 8x10 or (2) 5x7's you could earn just for signing a release form. I'm just giving stuff away here! So if you haven't booked a session yet, there are plenty open from August 15 through October, and these prices will still be in effect.

I'm still planning to offer gallery wrapped canvas in the near future, as well as storyboards, and an extra gift if you spend X amount of dollars on your order! Keep checking the blog!

Mounting is now available!

All images size 8x10 and larger can now be Styrene Mounted for an additional $7.50 each. Styrene Mount is a 1/8" thick white plastic sheet, coated on one side with Cold Mount permanent pressure sensitive adhesive on the front. This is a very smooth board that is not hydroscopic, is not affected by changes in moisture, and changes in humidity will not cause warping. Every styrene mount image will be lustre coated, which is a water-based coating that provides your prints with UV protection that will last a lifetime.

I do not have any pictures to show of it on here at this time, as I'm not really sure that a picture will do it justice, but I do have a sample that I will show you at your session. The reason behind mounting an image is basically for durability.

There are other options for thicker mounts, but I do not have samples at this time, and therefore, will not put up prices for it. However, if you should be interested I will certainly give you the information on the other options and set a price for you.

In the near future I hope to purchase a canvas sample to bring you further options!

My Availability

I have available sessions from August 15th through October, so if you would like a session during that time, send me an email at christi@christisullivanphotography.com and we'll work together to set a date and time that works best for you!

I'm available everyday of the week from dawn to dusk!

Contest Winners

You can see the contest results by percentage of votes down below in the poll box, but here is a list of the winners:

2 weeks-2 year group: #13
3-10 year group: #6
11-17 year group: #2

Thank you to everyone who entered the contest and those who participated in voting. Those who entered I hope to see you for a session soon, and I hope that you'll enter my next contest in October (details will be on the blog as it gets closer). Those who voted or simply visit my blog, I hope you'll enter the next contest as well!

Looking for outdoor locations...

We went out again tonight to look for different locations around our area, and I was very pleased with the location we found tonight. My daughter is getting a little bored playing my model, but my son was happy to get in on the action. As usual, once the mini shoot is over, they get busy playing and my little one always needs to change clothes before leaving! Fun for mom then fun for the kids, and we're getting out of the house this way too. Hurts on gas, but we're having fun together!

Maternity ~ Newborns ~ Seniors ~ Engagements

If you have looked at my website, you probably noticed that I do not have galleries for these categories, but I'm very interested in doing these types of sessions to gain further experience and to make myself available to more people.

The first 3 sessions booked for each of these categories will receive the following:
- Maternity: Free session, (1) free 8x10, and 20% discount on "A Year of Memories"*
- Newborns: Free session, (1) free 8x10, and 40% discount on "A Year of Memories"*
- Seniors: Free session, (1) free 8x10, and (40) free wallets
- Engagements: Free session, (1) free 10x13, (1) free 8x10, and (2) free 5x7's

All sessions include outfit changes. Maternity sessions are best done between 30-36 weeks. Newborn sessions are best done prior to or around 2 weeks for that sleepy newborn look, and they are much more willing to cooperate at that time. However, I will consider it a newborn session for up to 6 weeks.

* "A Year of Memories" includes 5 sessions (newborn, 3 months, 6 months, 9 months, 12 months) for a one time session fee of $150 due at the time of the newborn session. You will receive (2) free 5x7's in the image of your choice after each of the sessions along with your order. The first three Maternity sessions booked can join this plan for $120, and the first three Newborn sessions booked can join for $90.

If you fit into any of these categories or know someone who does, please contact me at christi@christisullivanphotography.com, and send my website and blog addresses to anyone who might be interested.

Today is the last day to vote in the contest (scroll down to vote) and believe it or not, it is actually pretty close as I'm posting this. I know you only see percentage of votes, but I can see the number of votes. So if you haven't voted, please do so today. The poll closes at 11:59 p.m. and I will announce the winners tomorrow, although, you'll be able to tell that yourself as long as there isn't a tie in percentage of votes. Again, everyone who entered can book a free session and will receive (1) free 8x10 in the image of their choice, so everyone wins!

Sunset

I've never been interested in shooting sunsets, as I prefer portraits, but since I was in Colonial Beach taking pictures of my daughter I couldn't help but get a snapshot of the sunset.

Hope you have a happy and safe 4th of July! Now scroll down to keep voting!

Outdoors

I decided to take my daughter out last night for her 4 year pictures. I'll post more later, but I just wanted to give you something new to look at when you're here to vote. She's my little girl so of course I love this picture. The contest is going really well, and the 3-10 year group is SO CLOSE! You have until 11:59 p.m. on Monday, July 7th to vote!