Still, I found a little bit of time to add some new calendars to the Etsy shop!  I received my first set back from the printers, and I am absolutely in love!  There are three different sets:  The Portraits, Animal Love, and the Vintage Collection.  They come as a set of 13 5×7 photographs.

I can’t decide which set I want to use all year.  I may just have to mix and match my favorites!

A fully functioning fan page with 5 fantastic fans!  A little pathetic, I know, but I have only been up and running for one day.  A huge thank you to those first few fans (and a huge thank you to my sister for being fan #1!).  You guys are so awesome and supportive!

It is mostly designed around my portrait business, Kathleen Frank Photography, but I will also be posting updates about my fine art work periodically.

Please head on over and check it out.  Jump on the bandwagon, and maybe I can make it to ten fans by the end of the day!  Also, if you know anyone in high school, I would definitely appreciate it if you passed the word on to them.  One of the main reasons that I set up the fanpage is because I love working with seniors, so if you have any senior connections, please pass on the info

(If you come by the post on both my fine art blog and my portrait blog, I am so sorry for the redundancy!  Some of this crazy business stuff overlaps, and I wanted to have it visible on both blogs.)

It is a five-day seminar, filled with lessons, discussion, and we get to watch her photograph a real wedding.  It has been truly awesome! 

I promise, whether you shoot weddings or not (which I don’t!), you will learn so much.  Jasmine shares so much information on photography and the photography business.  She is also a blast to listen to: funny, charismatic, with a genuinely beautiful personality.

The seminar runs through the weekend, so go check it out cause it’s FREE!

Tagging along with another photographer was such an eye-opening experience.  I can’t even tell you how much I learned in that one hour.  I had the camera in my hand, asking her questions, as I snapped each shot.  Invaluable!

As photographers, we are isolated so much of the time.   This isolation always sends me into a world of doubt.  I have no idea if I am doing anything right during a photo session, and since I am so new to all of this, I am just sure that I am screwing most of it up!  Watching Michelle work and talking to her about my weaknesses really gave me the feedback and information I needed to move forward confidently.

She was also ridiculously encouraging!  I came in nervous, especially for the photo shoot part, and she was so supportive and full of energy.  I relaxed almost immediately. 

Check out some of my pics from the shoot.  We had a gorgeous model, Lorrine, who rocked the camera, and Michelle found our location and coordinated the look of the shoot with Lorrine.  (And found that awesome wig!!!)

Michelle took the lead during the photo shoot, which I found so, so helpful.  I was able to take all of the time I needed to watch and learn.  If I had to take over the whole photo shoot while Michelle watched me, I think I would have just peed my pants right there in front of her!  Talk about nerve wracking!  I felt like I learned a lot more by watching her first, listening to her tips and her process, and then practicing those things as she guided me. 

This was also the first shoot that I did in full manual mode!  (Yay, me!)  I got gutsy and thought that I might as well try it while I had someone there to help me!  Michelle definitely talked me through some of the trickier lighting situations and helped me nail my exposures.

Awesome day, awesome experience, and awesome pictures!

I made it to day 53 or so without a problem, and then life caught up with me. I skipped a day, a few days, and then weeks.

Here is what I have learned…

1. Your skills increase exponentially when you practice something everyday.  Editing, idea development, working in manual mode, you name it.

2. Some ideas will suck, but trying all of them helps you be more creative.  I usually ended up with about one photo a week that I really liked, and several that I hated.  I am so, so, so glad I tried them all, though.  I started to trust my creative process, and since I was shooting everyday, I did not have time to get bogged down in the crappy pictures.

3. Being an active member of a community is such a cool thing.  I was posting to flickr every night, and, because of that, I was able to meet so many people.  I was talking to other amazing photographers everyday, which definitely helped me stay inspired and motivated throughout the process.

Now what…

Now, I have to find away to start again.  I will have to rework my time commitment to the project, but there were just too many benefits to stop now.  I miss it  

I would love to hear anyone’s suggestions on time management and dedication to a project like this.  How do you balance all of those you want or need to do in life?  The unanswerable question, right!

So, without further ado, here is the week 7 montage:

I am now officially a senior portrait photographer!  (Because everyone knows that you can’t be official until you have a website ) How cool is that!?

I’ve put together a new logo and a whole new look for the site.  Those of you who make logos for a living, I am so impressed by what you do!  That may have been the hardest part of the entire process!

So, head on over to kathleenfrank.wordpress.com and let me know what you think.

It looks like a storm is rolling through, and there is a good chance that I will lose power soon, so I had better run!  Enjoy the new site!

Some people are just ridiculously natural in front of a camera.  That was Corrine.  She is fun, edgy, and has a fantastic sense of style.  And she was so comfortable and confident!  Which is not easy task when a camera lens is pointing right at you!  I just loved photographing her energy and personality.

I will just let the photos speak for themselves

She also brought her cello along!  I got her to play right there in the middle of the street

Recently, I was able to photograph Faith, a beautiful 19 year old with such a serene disposition.  Her eyes had that intensity that just makes a photo come alive.  She was a little bit shy,  but every time she looked at that camera, it was just stunning.  There was such thought and calmness behind her eyes.  Gorgeous!  I could not get enough of those photographs!

And now, you get to see them, too

We also had her mom and sister strutting their stuff at the shoot.  I’ll post some pics from her sister’s session in a few days, another amazing girl!  Here’s one more of all three to close out the post.

I spent the week collaborating with Cassia Beck.  Everything about her style radiates simplicity and vintage.  I just adore her colors and tones; they are enchanting.   Please check out her new toy horse project and her Etsy shop.  You will not regret it!

And our theme?  Zig Zag!

Check out our creation:

Left: Me (Squidart)

Right: Cassia

Head on over to the Miss Match blog for more!

But pictures of babies make me happy!  Pictures of babies make everyone happy!  So I definitely wanted to try it, and I am so glad I did!

Little Johanna is three months old and an absolute sweetheart.  We met early in the morning and worked fast, so we could take advantage of all of her smiles and laughter before nap time.  Her parents, Sonya and David, brought such a casual and comfortable attitude to the place.  Johanna is their first baby, and they are total pros!

Here are some of my favorites..

Did it totally change my perspective on the whole having a kid thing?  No.  But it did make babies a little less scary, and I did get to see just how much fun they were to photograph.  Thank you, Sonya and David!  I had such a wonderful time!

(I also spent the whole day saying phrases like, “I shot a baby, today.” and “It was so much fun shooting a baby.”  It did not go over so well with local law enforcement )