April's Winner Announced!

Congratulations to Gail! My April winner of the gift certificate giveaway. She was nominated by her friend Asta.  I had to pick a fun one for this month and someone wanting to drive over 5 hours from St. Louis to get here seemed deserving. This was the nomination as to why Gail should have the session:

1) It would give her a great excuse to come visit her friend Asta
2) She's been feeling pretty depressed lately which isn't really like her at all, so if Amanda could make her look as happy and pretty in her pictures as she does others, it would really cheer her up! (and Pictures with her daughter Abigail and friend Asta too!)
3) If she drives 5 and a half hours to go to Shutterbelle Photography, winning the gift certificate would help cover some of the cost of gas ;-)

So congratulations to Gail for winning the $40 gift certificate, and congratulations to Asta for winning the $10 gift certificate!!


YOU CAN STILL NOMINATE YOUR FRIENDS! The event continues, and each month the non-winning nominations carry over to the next month. Just let me know why your friend who hasn't used my services before should get a gift certificate. The $40 would cover the full cost of a weekday session, and all but $10 of a Saturday session in the studio. And of course it could apply toward an on location session too. So think of someone you know who needs new pictures and email me they reasons: shutterbelle@hotmail.com

And - don't forget you can sign up to have a $20 mini-session outside on my red Antoinette sofa on Saturday May 15th. I have two slots open in the morning, and just a couple in the later afternoon. Email me for more details if you want.

Garrett's 6 month Session

Garrett was so fun to work with and such a cutie! He did everything I was wanting him to do! I'm so glad they braved the storms (poor dad got soaked getting everything out of the car!) to come Saturday afternoon. Here are the highlights:

Baby Bella

Saturday morning I had the privilege of photographing these beautiful faces. Bella is now 3 months.. you saw her newborn photos not long ago. Such a sweetie with a terrific big sister!

Sweet boys

Meet Dylan and Dawson. These two sure had fun playing around in the studio. They seem to have a good bond with each other which added to the pleasure of the session last Friday.

And one of beautiful mom so she can update her Pampered Chef site with a business headshot.

Mini Sessions - Sign Up!!

I would like to try something I haven't done before, and I hope you will help me with it. I have a neat red Antoinette sofa (seen here) that I've wanted to put in an overgrown field and invite people to come have pictures taken that aren't so typical. But, I dont have a field to work in. So, I'm thinking of trying a park in Thompson Station or around the corner from there. I have to scope it out again.

My offer:  $20 for a 30-45 minute mini-session outdoors on Saturday May 15th.
My first session could start at 10am and my last probably around 4pm unless I need to extend it. I'd take from 11:30-12:30 for lunch.

No clothing changes, just a quick session for your kids, family, yourself. Use of my red sofa would be optional - but preferred since I think it is neat.

Obviously - I wont do the sessions if its a rainy day.. but I want to know how many people would be interested in scheduling a mini-session for May 15th, and what would ideally be the time frame they would like.

If it goes well, maybe I can do this one Saturday a month during the nice weather.

So, for now, let me know if you'd be interested and what time, tell your friends - and then I will give you the specifics once I know for sure. Email me: Shutterbelle@hotmail.com

Abby's 2 year portrait session

So, we've had weeks of gorgeous warm weather. I schedule a session for 9am one Saturday morning and it would be the first one that is cold and dreary. I still enjoyed it and I like a lot of the pictures. Here are some of my favorites:

And of course while I was there.. I might as well take a few of my own, right?  I remembered to bring my tripod with me, but forgot the piece that attaches the camera to the tripod. So, I had to use a children's chair I had in the car as my tripod.. so terrible angle. And I couldn't see into the camera to tell what it was focusing on or how close the zoom or crop was. Yeah, terrible picture, but whatever. Andrew turned 7 months old on Saturday, and its the memory that counts.

This was his first time in a swing at the park. He was SO beyond tired by then.. but singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star got a smile out of him at least - so it looks like he was having fun.

Andrew outside

The weather we have been having has been wonderful for outdoor activities.. like pictures!  Here are the latest of my baby taken this week.  The first batch was taken Tuesday morning, and the bathtub pictures were this evening.  I cant believe he will be 7 months old on Saturday! He's growing up so fast!

I just love looking at all his pictures. I only have his baby book put together through the first 5 months and its already thick. Its going to be one of the thickest baby books by the time he's a year. I hope I can fit his first year into one book!! Anyway, I hope you enjoy his pictures too.