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you never know…

The other night my family and I decided to venture out to our town square and look at the Christmas decorations before they were taken down. We hadn’t been to see them yet and it was the 2nd of January, so we knew they were coming down soon. We went up and sat in the sleigh and hung out with the kids and during our visit up there met two different groups of people, which we really enjoyed talking with.

And of course I snagged a few pics for them… I always feel for people when I see moms and dads or one person always stepping out of the photos to hop behind the camera, thus making them end up with no photos of them all together. The first group, one of the gals is an aspiring professional photographer and we talked shop (and about Vampire Diaries, which I have recently fallen addicted to) and of course I loved that! And the family we met afterwards had several mutual friends with us and needed family photos soon and they run an athletic business that has rec teams for kids, something I had just been talking to my hubby about for our kids (& of course their kids and our kids hit it off and wore themselves out… I’m pretty sure they all slept really well that night). How crazy is all that? Just in a small trip to look at Christmas lights… You never know who you might meet or what opportunities you may come into just being open and friendly to anyone you meet, even in a small last minute decision to do something simple :) –  Anywho, since I’m pledging to maintain my blog with you guys, I thought I’d share a couple photos from that night and the awesome people that we met.

new year

Hey guys!

Sooo… I know I said that I was going to be WAY better about blogging this year, and soo far.. I have not been!

BUT!! ((and yes, thats a big but)) It is because I have been busy with shooting you guys ;)

and… launching a new line of photography, as well as putting in more time on my commercial work

my website is now live, www.ashleybrawner.com

its not 100% completed (and yes, its really a lot more work to do a website than you would think) but its there.

all that being said, I am going to be catching up my shoots from Jan 1 and maybe even a few of my favorites from 2010 (we shall see)

thank you & goodnight… stay classy my internet friends and blog stalkers ;)

Happy New Years!

Happy New Year!!!

And… Just a little update for you all…

2011 has some BIG things coming up!! I already have almost 20 weddings on the books from this month up until November and several months that I am not taking anymore weddings (dont want to get soo busy that you dont get all the attention you deserve for one of the biggest days of your life!) Soo… without further delay, here are some updates for you guys broken out by category :)

Personal: I will be maintaining what you call a 365 photo project… I will be taking a picture a day, sometimes it may be whats going on in my life, a highlight from that day, something that speaks to me or has personal meaning… or maybe just something that I think is kinda cool. I will post these images on my personal blog, that you are more than welcome to check out… Havent decided yet if I wanted to post them here as well though… Thoughts?

Professional: New website. New blog updates. New pricing. New exciting opportunities for me AND you to get in on the action and some fun give aways and events! You guys have probably seen where I have asked for models for shoots… And there will be more of that in the new year for ABP. I cant wait to share with you all the exciting things coming up! I am also going to attempt to maintain regular postings on my blog of all my recent shoots and favorites. Also! Many of you have asked for mentoring sessions, tagging along, etc… So I will be working in opportunities for you guys to do so as often as possible. Many of you have already tagged along with me on a shoot or a wedding and I have really enjoyed it, a lot! So stay tuned for that!

Personal & Professional: One of the biggest reasons that I work from home, is so that I can be there for my kids and my family. I am soo very privileged and blessed that God has allowed me to have a passion for something that I can do because I enjoy it and to be able to make it my profession. I will be taking my time home more seriously this year though. It is great to be busy and to have work, but everyone needs some R&R :) … Especially with 3 kids :) . Because of my need to be completely confident in the work that I give to you as my friends, customers, family and clients, I will be revamping my schedule to allow for specific off days. The off days may change, some times as often as weekly, but for the most part will stay the same and be consistant. I want to be sure that I am well rested and have enjoyed time with my family so that I can give my family my best and give you guys my best. After all, you dont want a half awake person with coffee stained shirts working on your pictures :) .

With all that being said… My new site and new pricing (see note below on pricing) will be live effective January 15th…Anything booked before January 15th will be grandfathered in at the 2010 rates.

I hope everyone has had a safe and happy holiday season! And heres to making 2011 better and bigger than 2010! (and a sneak peek from the first shoot of 2011)

*Pricing: You may ask yourselves why photographers charge what we do… And I saw an EXCELLENT explanation for this on a fellow photographers blog, so in a nutshell, here it is: When I charge you for your sitting, your prints, your dvd of your images… You may say/ask yourselves why you should pay me for a disc or a print when you could do that yourself for so much less… Or why I charge what I do for the sitting when Im only with you for maybe an hour or so. It is soo much more than that though. On average, for every hour that I spend shooting with you, I will spend 2 to 3 hours culling and editing those images(sometimes more, sometimes less depending on the specific needs of your shoot, event, wedding). The editing time doesnt include all the time that goes in to planning for your photography needs… It may include setting up the location, scouting the location, loading and reloading equipment and/or props, among many other things. You are also paying for quality, artistic interpretation/design and my experience… I pride myself in the amount of time that goes in to each image because I want to make sure that you are not showing people images that do not capture who you are and are not of high quality. Yes, you can go pay $15 for a sitting fee, and you will probably get 1 or 2 pretty good images, but I can assure you that you wont have to worry about only getting 1 or 2 good images with me. I produce quality work from an experienced artist/photographer and I take utmost pride in it… And you should too! You shouldnt look back at your photos years from now and wonder what you were thinking :) .

I’m b-a-a-a-ck!!

Hello ladies and gentlemen!

I have had absolutely no internet access for a week now, due to our move into our fabulous new home!! (Of course! I will post pictures soon!) My apologies for the lapse in posting photos… but I promise, this week your regularly scheduled blog posts will resume!!

And just for fun… Here are a few fun (non-photography related) blogs I stumbled upon:

www.awelllovedhome.com

www.shabbychicblog.com

and I also found this artist… she’s great! check her out!!

www.kerenann.com

Enjoy!!! And I’ll be back to posting my photo blogs this week!!

my middlest

So I know that normally my posts are substantially longer but I just couldn’t resist posting this. We were out in the yard today playing and my middle daughter RUNS up to me sooo proud of the roly poly that she has so carefully dug up. Naturally, I took a picture… And I absolutely ADORE it!! I’m not 100% sure why I have fallen in love with this photo, but I think it has a lot to do with the following reasons:

1- it’s my daughter, in as real as it gets, form in all her childlike wonder and amazement, wild hair & all
2- it is S U M M E R T I M E – this photo to me IS summer time and all it should be… kids playing and getting dirty and having fun and just being kids
3- I remember doing the exact same thing with my sisters growing up
4- i love her hands, i love how little they are & how precious they are & i love holding her hands

and 5- …it just makes me happy!…

And now… The photo…