Jay and Nicole's Anniversary Shoot at the Queen Mary, Long Beach

This shoot (from back in February 2012) was so fun, because,

1.  I was working with a very photogenic couple,
2. I was shooting at a location that I had never been to ever, let alone taken pictures at,
and 3. It was a night shoot and also outside of my norm

Shooting at night in a location that I have never been to was definitely going to be challenging, my only light source would be either my flash (which I HATE using) or whatever light sources we could find around the beautiful Queen Mary ship in the Long Beach harbor.  This would limit where we could shoot, but I was determined to do a good job with this!

Jay arranged the entire shoot for his wedding anniversary without telling his wife any of the plans.  She thought they were going to dinner and I met them in front of the restaurant with my camera in hand.  She had no idea, but as the ship's restaurants are pretty high end, she was dressed to the nines and ready to go for the shoot!

We walked around the ship and took some great, romantic shots of the two of them, and as of today it's still one of my favorite shoots that I've done. :) :)

Cindy Orantes Makeup and Hair Artist

In keeping with my promise to catch this blog up, here are some pictures from over a year ago.

These were for some portfolio shots for amazing hair and makeup artist, Cindy Orantes.  She did such a beautiful job with these models, and I had such a fun time taking their pics!  We've been in talks to do another shoot soon, as soon as our schedules can line up at least! :)

Amanda and Mike Engagement Session (Oct 2012)

Well hello there, old friend.  Blogger.com is a link I haven't typed into my browser bar in quite awhile...although I've been meaning to!  Eeks.  I committed to getting back to blogging quite awhile ago...then life happened.  You know how it goes.  But I'm going to try this again and force myself to post here...there's actually a purpose to it, so hopefully that will help me stay motivated.

So I randomly picked an old session to post here for my first post in a year (and that one didn't even really count as a photo post)...this super cute couple came to me for their engagement session, and rumor has it they just got married in Hawaii last weekend!  Congrats to the beautiful bride and groom. :) :)

Avery James Photography on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AveryJamesPhotography
Avery James Photography Website: http://www.averyjamesphotography.com

$50 Shutterfly Credit Giveaway Winner!!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered my $50 Shutterfly credit giveaway that ended last night!

The winning comment was chosen at random by http://www.random.org

And...
that...
winner...
was...

 
Comment #9!!

Congratulations Tara!!  I will be emailing you shortly to confirm your email and let you know about claiming your prize!

Thanks again everyone!!  Have a great week! :)

Shutterfly GIVEAWAY! (Ends 10/29)

It's that time of year again!!  Holiday cards!! Can you believe it?  I swear, the older I get, the faster that clock ticks.  My calendar is already filling up with holiday photo sessions and I'm mentally prepping myself to be non-stop busy for the rest of the year....thank goodness I thrive on busy! :)

To help you out with your holiday budget, I'm doing a giveaway, sponsored by Shutterfly, for $50.00 off your total order!!  Check out their Special Offers page to see all the amazing cards and gifts that you can get from them.  I've been doing my Christmas cards through Shutterfly for several years now. :)

And if you're absolutely Shutterfly obsessed, here's all the ways that you can see what they're up to!

Shutterfly Social Media
Facebook 
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram: Shutterfly
Google+
Blog

Now I need to figure out which design I'm going to get for my own cards!!  Aghhh, too many options!!

GIVEAWAY

One lucky Avery James Photography reader will win $50.00 off of their total Shutterfly order!  (Cannot be combined with other promos and does not include shipping).

MANDATORY ENTRY

Comment below and tell me your favorite thing about the winter holiday season!  Be sure to leave your email address as well so that i can contact you if you win!

EXTRA ENTRIES

(Do any or all of the following, leaving a separate comment for each entry.)

• "Like" Avery James Photography on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AveryJamesPhotography (Leave Facebook name)
• Post a comment on my Avery James Photography Facebook page or on one of the photos (one entry only)
• Share my Avery James Photography Facebook page with your friends on your Facebook page (one entry only)
• Follow @AveryJamesPhoto on Twitter (leave twitter ID)
• Tweet about the giveaway (one entry only)

This giveaway ends at 11:59pm Pacific Time on October 29, 2012.  The winner will be selected by random draw and will have 24 hours to respond to my notification email before another winner is selected.

Good luck!!! :) :)

Shutterfly Contest - Win a Trip for 4 to the Bahamas!

Hey fellow photo lovers!!  

Shutterfly is doing a super fun contest with an amazing prize - a trip for 4 to the Bahamas PLUS a professional photo shoot while you're there!!  Plus you get a gift from Shutterfly just for entering, can't beat it. :)  All you have to do is submit one of your photos that fit the weekly theme, this week's theme is Water Fun!

Just go to this link to enter (Facebook contest): http://bit.ly/sweepS 
There's 2 more weeks of contests as well so keep entering!!

Details are below.  Good luck!!

(And yes, I got a freebie myself for posting this, but I do love Shutterfly products and have quite a few of their photo books at home already!)

Long Live Summer – Facebook Photo Contest details (US residents only) 

 7/9 – 8/12 Multi-week summer themed photo sweepstakes with instant win prizes. http://bit.ly/sweepS

Win a trip for four to The Bahamas and a professional photo shoot so you’ll remember your vacation forever.  All you need to do is upload your favorite photo and caption based on the theme of the week.  Get a gift from Shutterfly just for entering! You can enter at any point during the 5-week sweepstakes period.

PHOTO THEMES

•       Week 1(7/9): Americana - ended

•       Week 2 (7/16): Great Outdoors - ended

•       Week 3 (7/23): Water Fun – current week

•       Week 4 (7/30): Sports & Activities

•       Week 5 (8/6): Parties & Celebrations

PRIZES

•       Instant win prizes just for submitting a photo!
•       Weekly prizes (contestants can enter one time/week)
•       Weekly featured photos: up to 5 weekly entries will be selected from the gallery and featured on the Facebook fan page.
•       Grand prize: trip for 4 to Bahamas, 4 nights, family photo shoot
•       Shutterfly Sweepstakes - Official Rules

Pauline and Family

I'm back (again) peeps!  Had to take a little time out for some personal things I was dealing with, but life is back on track and boy is it busy!!

Work is beginning to pick back up from the after-Christmas-slump.  My son's 6th birthday is only a couple weeks away and I'm still trying to figure out what to do for it!  My "little" sister's 21st birthday is the week after that and we're planning a Las Vegas trip to celebrate.  AND on top of all that and the day-to-day stuff, I'm moving in a week and a half and have a total of 3 boxes packed so far!!  But I work well under pressure and always find a way to make it all work. :)

Today I wanted to share some photos back from November of some of the most photogenic and beautiful clients I have.  This whole family needs to be in a magazine or something.  Am I wrong??

Actually, I love the littlest girl's look soooo much, that I chose her as one of the two models I'll be using in the advertisements for a new upcoming service I'll be offering - I don't have a name or catchy slogan for it yet, but they'll basically be mini photo shoots for little girl's birthday parties complete with professional hair and makeup design.  I can't wait to roll it out, but we're not quite ready yet. :)

Well I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day whether coupled up, single, parenting, chilling with the pets, or whatever it is you did.  I spent the afternoon and evening with my son and had a lovely movie date to go see Chronicle.  Interesting movie, we liked it. :)

I'll be back tomorrow (I hope!) with more pics! :)