Fox Philly's HOT list voting time again!

Last year I was very surprised and excited to place 3rd in the Fox Philly Hotlist! It is now starting all over again for 2008. Lets see if I can do it again this year!

Vote for me!

Exciting couple of days!

The last two days have been a whirl wind! Yesterday I drove up to New Haven Connecticut for the monthly CT PUG meeting. Before I left the house I received notice that a belly print of mine was selected for the annual Perkins Center Photography exhibition, this year it is Photography 27. It is pretty competitive to get in, I made it in only once before, so I was really excited. I submitted three images, one is definitely in and the other is a "maybe" which means it depends on the hanging space and the decision of the judges. The maybe is the shot of Danica and the other one is a photograph of Jean that has never made it online. I invite anyone who is in the area to come out for the opening on Jan 26th!
So needless to say the beginning of my day started out pretty great yesterday and to top it off I hit zero traffic and made it to CT in the record time of three hours! I got to hang out with Justin and Mary a bit before the meeting and they were super gracious to let me sleep on their couch last night.
On to the PUG meeting. This was HUGE pug meeting! J Sandifer was there from Livebooks to give a demo of their awesome website offerings and to educate us on the importance of websites and prominence online. The thing for me that makes their sites so desirable is what they offer on the back-end and the ease of use. J had guaranteed Justin and Mary that if they got 50 people to come out to the meeting for his demo that he would give a site away for free. So you can imagine the draw this was. I went up to support them in this endeavor and add to the numbers as well as network and meet some new people. You can imagine my surprise and total excitement when my number was drawn from the bag for the website! J totally had me sold with his presentation and my mind was already working trying to think of what I would need to do to set up a site with them. I could not believe it, cannot believe it, I am so excited.

J giving his presentation.

Justin and Mary, the CT PUG leaders.

Me with Justin, Mary, and J.

and of course me and Mary!

CT has an amazing PUG. Not only did 50 people come out for this meeting, but 54 people came out! That is such an amazing number. I am so envious of their PUG. We chilled with the PUG until well after midnight!
The excitement doesn't stop there folks! This morning I had an awesome breakfast with M and J before heading into NYC to meet up with Don and his good friend John Gruber of Daring Fireball to check out the set of a commercial Don did the shooting boards for. I can not divulge much information about the commercial BUT I will say it stars an amazing director. When it comes out on TV I will let you know which one it is. I am sorry to be such a tease but I really can't say anything about it. Don does shooting boards for a lot of really cool commercials, one of the fed-ex commercials aired during the super bowl last year and recently he did the boards for AMEX starring Tina Fay. I am sure you have seen it. He got to watch the filming of that one too. He has a good/rewarding job.
In summary; I made it into a print competition, got to see good friends, meet new people, won a free website and watched the filming of a commercial. Doesn't get much better than that.

Merry Christmas!

I wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a happy holiday. (This is part of our card from this year and a photo from last year, I just found it and we didn't use it last year but I still really like it.)
photo credit goes to Linette
It has been a great year and I thank you so much for everything. Holiday cards and postcards are in the mail, presents are wrapped and now we are just taking care of the last minute things to get ready. We will be spending Christmas up in Connecticut this year with Don's family and I am looking forward to having little 5 and 6 year olds excited for Santa! It has been a long time since I woke up with hyper kids on Christmas morning!

My Philly Baby

To all the moms out there:

There is a new source for finding anything to suit your babies needs! Check out MyPhillyBaby.

This is a new site dedicated to helping you find the local resources you need. Two of my favorite places are also listed in their directory, Belly Maternity and Yoga Child. Patty from Belly can outfit you in the most fashionable maternity wear and Gail from Yoga Child can help you relax and breath with prenatal yoga classes, as well as mommy and me classes. You can also see photos I did for them on their site and in their stores.

You can also check out the Philadelphia Expectant Mothers guide, there are some awesome resources in their as well. They have been around a long time and are a vast source of information. They actually have a PDF of their guide that you can download.

Enjoy, and I hope these sites can help you find what you are looking for.

Fun in Cali and dead computers

I have just had such a great couple days in L.A. at the Pictage partner conference. It was so awesome to meet so many people I know online face to face. My head is full of so much new and inspiring information. I can not wait to share more about all of it and post some awesome well I should say funny photos. I will have a slideshow at some point.
The bummer is that my computer has died while out here. boo hooo. So I can't post any photos from Jane and Brian's wedding that I shot on Saturday before we flew out and I can't post any photos from the last couple of days either. It feels so strange. But don't worry I have everything backed up.
I will be back on Tuesday but it could be a couple of more days until I have my computer problems figured out and fixed up. I the mean time I will have even more limited access to email, I will try my hardest to keep up but if you don't hear back from me right away don't panic.

Like the new look of the blog?

October Specials and Celebration

October is going to be a month of specials and celebration!

First is the Celebration.
I am venturing out into the world of being a full time professional photographer! Yep that's right, bye bye day job. This means I will have the much needed time to devote to my business and my clients. Very exciting! I have worked long and hard for this day to come and you, my fantastic clients, have allowed me to get where I am today.

The Specials!
I am a member of the Professional Photographers of America and every October they host Family Portrait Month. Studios that participate in Family Portrait month commit to donating a percentage from each sitting to Operation Smile, which treats children around the world who suffer with cleft lips, cleft palates and other facial deformities. I can not think of a better chance to raise money for such a worthy cause. I plan on donating 10% of my total portrait sessions and weddings booked in October to Operation Smile.

Portrait Sittings
In addition to me donating a percentage from each portrait session to Operation Smile you will have your choice of one of the following products that I will include in your package at no charge to you.

1 set of 24 5x7 Holiday Cards, perfect timing for the upcoming holiday season! 85.00 value
or
1 12x18 print matted to 16x20, ready to be framed. 85.00 value
or
1 soft bound book filled with all the images from your session. 85.00 value

October is a great time to get the family together, the holiday season is right around the corner, so there’s no better time for a family portrait, which is always appreciated as gifts for family and friends and to send along with holiday greeting cards.

Weddings
In the month of October ONLY I am offering 10% off all 2008 wedding photography packages! I will also be donating a percentage from your wedding package to operation smile. The fine print? You must book your wedding, have the signed contract and retainer to me by October 31st. This is an amazing deal and could yield up to 700.00 off your wedding package.

Please feel free to contact me and set up your appointment

Blog Tag, I was tagged.

I was tagged by Shawn Reeder a fantastic landscape photographer who is in this vast expanse of my photography network. I figure I will play along, why not I am sure you would like to know a little more about me anyway. I am supposed to list 8 little known things about myself. Here goes.

1. I was born at home in Santa Fe New Mexico in this house. The same woman who bought the house from my parents lives there today and it has been pretty much unchanged in 30 years. (My dad installed the little sky light bubbles)

2. My favorite place ever is Yellowstone National Park. I went there every summer for eight years when I was a kid. My dad worked there when he was in high school, as did my uncle and my grandmother worked there every summer until she turned 83. Good Ole Yellowstone.I also have another little known fact regarding my relationship with Yellowstone, but that is a better story in person. Next time you see me ask me about it.
3. I am the proud owner of a 1963 VW Samba Bus. This was my fathers bus. Here you see it when Don and I rescued it from my Dad's back yard. It had been sitting for over 2 years after my dad died and we had to give it a better home.

This has been its home since 2005. My hope is to one of these days get it up and running again, that is not too much of a dream I just need to find my Dad's mechanic in Roswell, yes Roswell New Mexico. I also need to set aside the cash to fund its mini restoration.

4. I have been love with Photography since I can remember. I cracked this lens of my Dads when sliding down a natural water slide in Santa Fe, this is me inspecting the awesome crack down the middle of the lens.5. I hitchhiked with my dad on multiple occasions when I was young. This is me with my pack in Yellowstone. Aren't I cute? I am still hoping that pack with surface one day.

Little bit of extra credit regarding the photo above, I still have that shirt. My dad saved everything.

6. I am a bicentennial baby and third generation New Mexican. I have some Indian in me as well, my Indian name is Running Deer.

7. I drove out to the east coast in the summer of 96 in my 1982 Mazda GLC Deluxe. That was a Good Little Car. It was also the first car my mom ever bought brand new. It got both me and my brother through college.

8. I can't stand water chestnuts. It is the only food that I have any textures problems with.

So I am tagging the following 8 people.

Linette Kielinski
Laura Eaton
Liana Lehman
Paige Elizabeth
Joe Pulcinella
Ryan Estes
Misty Dawn
Heather Fowler

Show me some love, comments back on.

No wonder I was feeling so unloved! Somehow all my comments were turned off, actually I have to check a box every time I have a new post that says if I want comments or not...didn't used to be that way. I am wise to it now, comments are enabled so feel free to share your love.

Weekend Catching up

I feel really good about all the things I accomplished this weekend! Friday I took my cat to the vet for a nail trim and soft paws application. I will see if I can get a photo of her, she has bright pink nails, its a little ridiculous but they didn't have any other colors. Saturday morning I met up with Rebecca and Kevin for Nuala's 17 month photo shoot. We had a lot of fun in Rittenhouse square and a great breakfast afterwards.

Rebecca snagged this shot of me an Naula on the car ride home. I will have a post later this week for Nuala's shoot, plus slideshow.

After I my shoot with Nuala I headed out for my long awaited haircut with Joe. I have waited a month and a half for this appointment!

I think I embarrassed Joe a little breaking out the "big" camera.

The fisheye, again to thank for some cool shots.

Joe is awesome. He always listens to what I ask for, does great color and is totally worth the 30-40 minute drive. A big congratulations to him and his wife, they are expecting their first baby in about a month.

For the past month I have been living out of box's waiting to set up my office. I was spoiled at my last place by ample storage and a closet to tuck things away in. I have no storage now and it was beginning to drive me crazy. So Friday we set out to IKEA to get some cabinets and start the office transformation.
It's really amazing what a couple of cabinets can do! I have already unpacked 4 box's! WooHoo. We also found an awesome book shelf, I need to get another table for all my standing work and a couple more things but it feels so good having a place to put things away.
My desk looks so meager now. Its just a table top from IKEA and I think they have a longer version, which depending on the size of the standing table I may opt for the longer one. When it all comes together I am going to have a real cozy place to work.

I will be catching up on a lot this week. You should expect to finally see Lauren and Keith's slideshow as well as Nual's. I hope you all had a great weekend.

Catching Up

The past couple of weeks have flown by. Spring is almost gone, although the weather has been perfect and I have tried my best to take it all in. Last summer we planted a tree in front of the house, in the fall we got to watch the leaves change color for the first time and it has been really special watching it this spring. It was a bit of a late bloomer, the leaves came in first and then it produced these beautiful white flowers. It is a Green Hawthorn; crataegus viridis 'Winter King'.

I have enjoyed morning walks with Don and Alma.

My friend April's 30th birthday was on Sunday. A big group of us met at Fez for dinner. Its a fun experience eating with your hands and being entertained by belly dancers.

Margie and Tammi enjoying the one dish with utensils.

Ape grooving with the belly dancer

After my shoot with DG and Hofherr we headed back to Apes for a few pictures with their new dog Harley.

Harley is named after Hofherr's favorite toy. Can you guess what that might be?

Fun with the fisheye!

DG and Hofherr giving Ape some good ole birthday lovin.

My very good friend Linette now has her own blog! I have kept you up to date on her throughout her pregnancy and the introduction of Carver, now you can check in to see what she is up to in new mommy town. Its going to be hard pulling her away from this little guy but I am excited for her to shoot with me on some weddings this summer. (I stole this photo of her and Carver from her blog.)
And if that was not enough information for you, my Mom has her own blog now! Hopefully she will continue to write on it and tell some stories, she is a great story teller.

One last thing, I saw Helvetica, the movie tonight at Drexel. If you are into graphic design or film you should really see this documentary. Who knew a type face could have such an impact, well designers knew but you know what I mean, maybe. Go see it if you get a chance, it will be touring all summer, it will have a limited release in major cities, and the DVD will be out this fall. Its great, designers have a wonderful sense of humor.

Thats it for me tonight. Have a good one.

Suspense

The suspense is killing me. My new site is set to go up at any moment now. I hoped it would be up today, but that was not the case. I had to fix a couple of bugs and get some things to be just so and now I am just waiting for the final push. I will be sending out a joyful announcement when it is up, don't you worry!
There are some changes, I am now joymoody.com. All the moodycamera.com links will still work so if you have things bookmarked don't worry. The same thing goes for my email, I will still receive email to joy@moodycamera but my new address is joy@joymoody.
Some of you have expressed to see some of the photos taken of me from the biz bootcamp last week, so these are for you. The first two were taken by Paige, and you will see one of them again in the new site. The last one Liana took, you will see that one again too.

Keep checking back, I will make an announcement as soon as the new site is live.