Tagged with: photography
Hey friends, details below on how to get in on Fall Mini-sessions! As you will see, it's a limited time/place and first come, first serve. Please email me with your request and I will let you know of available time slots. If the demand is high, I will consider adding a date. Thanks friends and future clients!
Say it ain't so, an actual photography post?! I know friends, I know. I am WAY overdue!
Fortunately I have a beautiful family to share with you, the Weavers. They happen to be a part of our own extended family and they have a wonderful story. There are six kids in their family, two of which God brought to them through adoption. Being family, we have had the privilege of watching their story unfold. Mr. Weaver is a pastor at a local church and one day years back, a picture of a little boy in a orphanage in Ukraine landed on his desk. He was asked to pray about a family for this little boy...fast forward years ahead and Roman is indeed their oldest son! There is so much more to this story, it is in fact quite a God-sized tale that I can't fit it into a blog post! I do know though that this family is quick to share of God's grace to them. We got together over their kids spring break on a crazy WINDY day and made the most of it! Here goes...
The whole gang...
They had their furry family members along too, Roscoe and Daisy!
The wind on the lane is very evident here but still love this shot.
We might reshoot this beautiful location on a non-windy day :)
It's always fun to watch the lives of friends unfold. I have known Tyler and Jenny for quite some time now through our days spent at University of Delaware. They have a new album out today and I am excited to say that I got to be a part of the creative process for the album art for Open Your Doors and the images on the banner of their website! I think Jenny tells their story best....
"I make music with my husband Tyler. It all started back at the University of Delaware. Yes, I'm being serious, Delaware. Anyway, during my first weekend at school, I decided to take a bus to church. I stepped on the bus and sat next to my friend Joel. Before I knew it, Tyler, who was sitting in front of us, turned around and introduced himself. We talked for a few minutes; he turned back around, and promptly forgot my name. I saw him in the dining hall a few weeks later and we spoke again. Tyler was the music coordinator for the campus ministry that I happened to get involved with. We started leading worship together and from there we began writing songs and eating omelets on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. We spent the first year singing together in the stairwells of the student center. The acoustics were incredible. Sometime that fall we started dating and well, as they say, the rest is history."
It was definitely fun to see these two come together. I had the privelege of photographing their wedding day and am still so humbled/thankful to have sweet friends that include me in their creative world! Wishing them all the best on album release day! I am actually going to give away three copies of Open Your Doors today! How to enter? Like Emily Troutman Photo on Facebook and then comment here on the blog. If you already "like" me on facebook, just leave a comment here on the blog with your email and three winners will be chosen at random!
Be sure to go to itunes to check out Open Your Doors and buy it now! It's already number 3 on the singer/songwriter charts! If you love it, review it and help them out! I personally already love it. Their single Sound of Silence, is also raising money to help support the end of human trafficking across the globe.
If you are a DE local, you can see them in person!
I have been to two industry type events in the last week and connecting with lots of photographers. My head has been spinning with thoughts, not necessarily on how I actually photograph, but on how I run my business. There is SO MUCH to running a business that I think most creative types aren't necessarily ready to take on. I think in this day and age as well, everyone who owns a digital SLR camera thinks that they can "go in business." I am here to say that just because you own a nice camera, doesn't mean you should be in business. Thinking a photographer is great because of their camera is like telling Paula Deen, "dinner was yummy, you must have a great oven." You should be laughing because that's ridiculous! Even at a workshop this past week, the photographer teaching was laughing because one of the students had a newer version of her camera. These things happen, technology changes constantly and gear is important (another post for another time), but the gear does not make the photographer.
Yes you hire a photographer because they have skills or a style you prefer, but what else is it about that person that makes you want him/her to capture your memories? You should like their personality, which is exactly why I write my Monday Confessions. Some people might not care what my kids are up to or what I ate for lunch, but these types of posts help you get to know me as a person. Anyone who has some type of basic skill can post an online portfolio but WHO is it that you want to be a part of photographing your wedding or even your family?
I want to hear from you, what do you want in a photographer? Budget not withstanding, because that's most people's biggest issue - what things would make you want to hire the photographer? Style? Personality? Packaging? Skills? Certain products or locations? Let me hear from you!
All posts are better with pictures, this is cute boy at the park this morning enjoying a pretzel :)
Spring sunshine, the energy of New York, and joining up with other creatives to go on a styled photo shoot...I literally had to pinch myself last Friday. When I originally heard about this workshop, I didn't know what April 15th would hold for me being between 7 & 8 months pregnant so I decided not try to sign up. I got introduced to the work of Kamee June Photography through my friend Rhonda. Well Rhonda heard some spots opened up and invited me along, boy am I glad she did! I knew that I might get tired after walking lots or have to make ridiculous amounts of potty stops but I was game as long as everyone else didn't mind having a prego along. The experience was even better than I imagined... getting to shoot all over the streets of NYC on a beautiful spring day while being inspired by all the creativity around me was such a refreshing change from my daily mommy life!
We were given a little story to go with our shoot... girl meets boy... girl and boy are supposed to be meeting up for special tryst...girl leaves apartment ready and beautiful ready to meet up with her love...heads to the train station...waits, waits, and waits some more....realizes boy isn't coming...heartbreak.
Special thanks to Kamee June for hosting the workshop, Katrina Kirk for styling and Gentry for modeling for us! both Kamee and Katrina have fun blogs you should check out after you look at mine :)
Enjoy the eye candy from the day!
Gentry works it on the steps of a beautiful brownstone and I loved how this guy walked by at the perfect time with the perfect tie to play off Gentry's pretty blouse.
Ahh youth and beauty! Only to be a college freshman again! This California girl has been braving the streets of NYC to get her education at NYU and I have to say she was a good sport with the chill in the air!
Loved her boots...
Great Styling by Kat...
The Famous Grand Central...
Loved how the light wrapped around her stiletto to create a perfect silhouette.
Every bride has ideas about what she wants for her wedding day. Some girls have dreamed about it since childhood and others just start to dream about it when they fall in love. I fell into the latter category, once I knew I found the man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with, I started hiding bridal magazines under my bed. No joke! I didn't want to be all out in the open with it, it was my little way of dreaming about being married to Matt without wanting to jinx it. I know...who can jinx what God wants?! Anyhow, I digress. Once we were engaged (I can share that story another time) and the wedding planning got in full swing, tons of decisions were being made.
I remember very clearly researching photographers and feeling a little lost. I started narrowing it down to people who could give a personal reference for their work. My mom reminded me that her friend from work's son, John, graduated a few years ahead of me from UD with a similar degree to myself and that he was shooting commercial work as well as weddings. At the same time, the lady I was interning for had a part time assistant that also shot weddings. I started tracking down both leads. The one guy was just so sweet and was willing to do the day for an UNREAL price (I am ashamed now for even asking someone to do a wedding for that price :) I met with him and saw his body of work, which was solid but it just wasn't ME. I would not have gotten images that were my style or how I wanted to remember my wedding forever.
I just kept going back to John's work...it was ME! It was how I wanted to remember the day and his price was TRIPLE the other guy (but it still was EXTREMELY fairly priced for the going rates and the work entailed). I finally made the decision to move forward with John because I knew I wouldn't regret it. And I don't regret it one bit to this very day almost 4 years later! John was great to be around all day, did a fabulous job and is someone now we call a friend. We happily referred him all over the place and he happily got lots of work. I still happily refer a bride to him if I am unable to do their day.
So brides,what's the lesson here? Find a photographer that you love and as long as their price and products are within reasonable limits for yourself, make the sacrifice. Cut corners in other places, I mean lets be honest flowers are gorgeous but they die. Pictures are forever. What kind of images do you want your grandkids to flip through and say "this was you all young and pretty and skinny grandma?" :) Shoot I say that to myself already!! haha...Happy Thursday!
My good friend Chantel had a baby a couple weeks ago and her sweet baby girl is Mia Rose. (I like her middle name, it's my middle name too :) Mia is so little and cute, it's hard to think that she will ever tell a lie or hit her brother...but we know these things will come in time! But for today, I just ate up her cuteness and I want to share some of that cuteness with all of you! Of course we had to squeeze in some shot with big brother Josh too!!
No I have not fallen off the face of the planet! The twins have both been taking turns being sick for the past month, add that to all the bad weather and life in general...it's has put a literal damper on my blogging! The exciting news is that Matt (my cute hubby & graphic designer) has made major headway on my custom website. I really can't wait for others to get to see it...his skills in design and just a little piece of my heart in my photos! In the meantime here are a couple shots from a short weekend trip to Florida that Matt & went on a couple weekends ago. These were all taken in St. Augustine, it's a really rad town if you've never been!
I am also now booking for Spring sessions! Contact me if you are interested, emtroutman@hotmail.com
So these pics of my kiddos are actually from last weekend's snow storm. This one was too ridiculous to even take them outside :) Don't worry - we sat them on a towel (which you can see in some shots) but hey, it was just for the fun of it. Dean even took a bite of snow to see what it was all about. Enjoy!
In the midst of cleaning things, changing diapers, cooking food & all the other glorious duties of a mommy - I have lots of photo related things in the works. One which I am very excited about is my own new logo. This probably seems small and most of you (that know me) are thinking - "her husband is a graphic designer, why is a logo a big deal?" Well it's a big deal because this logo is a long time coming - my husband had a hard time trying to capture me in a logo. Probably because I kept giving him ideas I liked but in the end he said it was really hard to encompass me into a symbol. I will take that as a sweet compliment that all he has come to love about me was hard to squeeze down into an image (& I will pretend he wasn't calling me a crazy, complex lady :)
As some of you also know, my husband, Matt, is working two jobs so that I am able to stay at home with our kids. This leaves little time for his designing that he's so passionate about. In his "spare" time he is also building me a website to display my work. I am doing lots of behind the scenes business type stuff as well. Starting up a business is never easy, especially when squeezing it in between diaper changes and naps but I am realizing every day the blessing it is to have a passion that can also help support my family. I am excited to see where God is leading with my business endeavors.
And if you are looking to book a shoot, I am now booking for spring lifestyle sessions. If you want more info and pricing, shoot me an email - emtroutman@hotmail.com. I also am getting booked up on weddings for this year but would love to chat with you if you are a bride to be!
Last weekend I got invited to do a shoot for a friend of her two year old nephew, Christian. What a stinkin' cutie! I mean he was dressed perfectly and could work up tears that would break your heart at the drop of a hat! He even already has a strategy for how to eat an oreo, he just eats the cream and he loves choo-choo trains (lucky for us there was one where we met). What's not to love about this adorable boy?! Enjoy him as much as I did!
The definition to stale is "no longer fresh or pleasant to eat; hard, musty or dry" - that pretty much sums up my blog :) Stale! As many of you (my 2 readers) know though, I have almost 5 month old twins, so that has consumed my every waking (& sleeping) moment! I have recently been able to start doing official shoots again and have been having so much fun doing it. In the next few days I will post some images from recent shoots. I have been posting recent shoots in my "notes" section on facebook so some of these images will be repeats for you facebook stalkers.
In recent weeks I know that I have been growing in my photographic ability and desire to keep pushing it. I have always had a vision, since I held my first camera in my hand at 5 (it was free from buster brown's with my pair of shoes!) I actually still have the pictures from that first camera and although the skill is much improved (as well as the equipment) the vision is the same, snapping moments in time in our lives. I am daily contemplating what it would be to go into business for myself on a larger scale. I am a small operation (me) & love what I do but fear sometimes holds me back. You know all those "what ifs" that keep you stuck.....hoping to get unstuck & keep pursuing my passion (in between diaper changes, naptimes and never-ending laundry) :)
So long for today!