Alta Vista Elementary May 2010 Fundraiser (continued)

I've been on a roll this week!  I'm about halfway through all of the Alta Vista fundraiser pictures....except I'm about to go out of town for the weekend starting tomorrow night - so it's going to push me back a little again....but Monday evening I'll be right back at it!

Here's some images from another fabulous family's session....they came on the first day of the fundraiser, and had to bear through ridiculously high winds at the beach....the winds were not nice to my camera at all and blew ocean water everywhere, creating a pretty significant haze over my lens......so unfortunately we had to reshoot their session because I just wasn't thrilled with the image quality.  They were great sports about it and ended up choosing images from both sessions. :) :)

Here's a few of them!

Arlene and Family

And one more super quick sneak peek for the fabulous and talented family I met with yesterday at the beach (I have been doing a LOT of Manhattan Beach sessions lately!!  Too bad the sun hasn't been feeling as inviting.).  I'm super excited to start editing these pictures as each of the kids plays a musical instrument and brought them to the beach along with their formal wear to change into...amazing contrast of their dress clothes and beautiful instruments with the beach and cloudy background.  Super fun pictures for me to play around with the editing on as well. :) :)

Anyways - here's the little sneak peek for the family!

Alta Vista Elementary May 2010 Fundraiser (continued)

And yet more pictures from the Alta Vista fundraiser!  This is another return family who also took pics with me last fall.  Very sweet family. :) :)

Eva and Family

Just posting another quick sneak peek...this one is for a family that I  met with the weekend before last at the beach...the first day we tried to meet, it started raining at the beach!!  In July!!  So we rescheduled, and I'm glad we did because we had this gorgeous blue sky and warm sun to work with this time.  Here's just a couple pics from our session. :)

Alta Vista Elementary May 2010 Fundraiser (continued)

More pictures from the Alta Vista fundraiser...I am LOVING the two solo pics of the kids here....super cute :) :)

Baptism (N and G)

I had the honor of photographing an absolutely GORGEOUS little girl's baptism yesterday afternoon (and the party that ensued afterwards!).  I have never been to a baptism actually, so this was a first for me....but it was a great experience.

Just wanted to give the family a little, itty bitty sneak peek at their pictures....trying desperately to catch up on editing, so can't share much now - but there will be more to come. :)

Past Session: http://averyjamesphotography.blogspot.com/search/label/N%20and%20G

Alta Vista Elementary May 2010 Fundraiser (continued)

More pictures from the Alta Vista fundraiser. :)  This family came with pose ideas of their own, so I can't take all the credit for how cute they look!  These two little girls were definitely two of the best subjects I've ever worked with though....they were camera ready from the get-go, super smiley and sweet, and some of the best listeners I've ever met. :)  Great family!!

Alta Vista Elementary May 2010 Fundraiser

So it's been ages since I've posted any new pictures on my blog!!  I'm so sorry to my faithful followers....I went on vacation and just lost my whole rhythm with posting...BUT - I have been posting on my Facebook Fan Page - so make sure you're a fan so you can always keep up with the latest on AJP!!

FB: http://www.facebook.com/AveryJamesPhotography?ref=ts

But I am trying to get back on track now....so I'm posting some pictures from the May 2010 Alta Vista Fundraiser...this family came to last fall's fundraiser as well - love that they liked their pictures enough the first time that they came back a second time!

Enjoy :) :)

Announcement about Avery James Photography

I just wanted to post this official update on my blog and AJP Facebook page as I’ve only announced it on my personal Facebook page so far and the day is getting nearer…

Starting in mid to late August, Avery James Photography will officially be my FULL-TIME job….for those unaware, I currently work at DaVita in one of our business offices full-time. It’s a GREAT company with amazing people, but it was never my destiny to continue there as a career…just needed to pay the bills.

I have been doing business as Avery James Photography for about 2.5 years now, and started from the ground floor and worked my butt off to get to where I am today…I started out with barely any knowledge about photography, and have learned and worked my way to a point where I am proud of my work and can stand behind it confidently.

There are various reasons as to why I am taking this step now, but the overall reason is that it’s just time. I definitely have a huge workload to do (which you can see if you’ve read my status updates on my AJP Facebook page recently) along with my 4 year old son that I don’t spend enough time with…so regardless if financially this is the right time, it’s the right time for me in terms of my life balance in general.

So what does any of this mean for you? Well, if you’re a client – this is going to mean that you will receive much faster service and additional availability options for your sessions. I will have much more time to dedicate to editing pictures and getting them into your hands once I can free up 40 hours a week that I currently dedicate to DaVita. And if you’re not a client but just enjoy seeing my photos, then this means that [hopefully!] you’ll see a lot more as I will have more time to do more shoots.

In the future, it may also mean slightly higher prices as I will now be relying on this business as my sole income…I have been able to charge the prices that I do now because it was a side job and additional income…but I will try to leave the prices as they are for as long as I can as I truly want everyone to be able to afford great family photos….but there will likely come a day that I will need to reevaluate and see what my next steps are.

As always, thank you for your support, thank you for the friendships that many of you have given to me, and thank you for your wonderful referrals that have built this business. I look forward to many more photo opportunities with you all.

Oh!  And a couple of pictures from my personal vault - fun at Grandpa's house on the Slip n' Slide! :)