{Local Events} Montague Balloon Fair

This past weekend was the Montague Rotary Balloon Fair. It's one of our favorite local events. We make it a point to attend every year, it's like a little family tradition for the past 6 years. Normally we do an early morning, watch the balloons go up, do breakfast (usually at my mom's), just hang out for a bit until the parade that runs downtown.
This year it was pretty much the same except I left my husband home alone to gather up the kids & head into Montague & I was with my aunt and grandpa. My favorite part of the morning is when the sun starts breaking over the hills & casting it's beautiful orange-y glow on everything. The other thing special for this year was that we built a float for Amanda Pratt Photography & entered the parade. It was a super fun thing for the kids. Our float was a prize winner as well.

The ascension starts of with a single balloon, carrying the American flag as the national anthem is sung.

 Then it's mass chaos of filling balloons, fans & people.

The kids graciously (errr, more like forced) posed for a quick photo together.

This year it seemed the wind was drifting a different direction & I could get Mt Shasta in the photos without doing too much traveling from the launch site.

Here is our float in all of it's before/after the parade, windy Montague afternoon glory.

Have a great day!

{Sneak Peek} We're going Back 2 School

This is a special project for me. My oldest started her very first year of school, ever. I knew I wanted to do something special and then I ran across an image from a photo session on Pinterest that inspired me to create a themed "Back to School" session to document this big event for her.

I wanted to include more than just her for the photos though, so I did a little 'model' casting on my Facebook fan page and in the end I had a terrible time deciding which 2 other children to use in the session. I had some input from a few people & ended up choosing Miss J & Mr A to pose with my little Anna for some FUN back to school portraits.

I really love how this came out. The location I chose couldn't have been better either, there was actually a school bus parked there the morning of our session!!!

Now for a little looky at what I came up with. These kids were SO cute together, I look forward to doing a few more themed sessions in the upcoming years.

 I'll be in touch with both mom's later in the week with a gallery link. Thank you so much for the fun and celebrating back to school with us.

{Sneak Peek} Gorgeous Newborn Baby C

This past weekend I had the opportunity to photography Miss C, a gorgeous almost 2 week young baby girl.  I headed over the hill to visit with the little sweetie & took a few baskets & a couple of headbands that I needed to get photographed from my stash of props.  We held her session out on the porch, it was a nice day, not too hot, not too chilly, a beautiful almost fall day. The little miss had her own ideas of how our session should go and wasn't all that sleepy (at least not for very long), but I did manage to get a couple of the head pieces in.  For being such a newbie to this big wide world, she sure was alert.

 

Thank you so much for a great afternoon, I'll be in touch with you soon with a link to your gallery.

{Pricing} 2011 Holiday Portrait Pricing

Fall is almost officially here which means that the holidays are also on there way in.
Time to start thinking about those family portraits. Here are the 2011 Holiday portrait price guides for Amanda Pratt Photography.  Valid October 1st thru December 3rd, 2011.

These are the sessions:

 These are some special 'print' packages:

 Sessions available: Mondays 9am-5pm, Saturdays 7am-6pm, a few select Sundays, other weekday appointments available upon special request.

**Some fine print: The Portrait Collection prices include a 45-minute family session. As always, I do not charge a per person fee, pets are always welcome and there are no limits on the number of poses we create during your session; however, these sessions are meant for family portrait sessions.  These prices are only valid from October 1st through December 3rd, 2011.Tax is not included in the collection price. No size or quantity substitutions are permitted.  Additional prints, print collections, storybooks, wall art, etc may be added to each order.  Payment is expected prior to the scheduled session;  printed products, digital download, etc will not be submitted for processing without full payment.  Other restrictions may apply.

Questions or to get on the books drop me a message: aprattphotog@cot.net or give me a jingle 604.8789 (you can even text me your name & request).

{Sneak Peek} Miss Kelsey, YHS Class of 2012, Senior Portraits

It was a crazy busy weekend for me. I got to spend most of it working, which I absolutely LOVED doing. My first session was Saturday afternoon with Miss Kelsey, a class of 2012 Senior. We had a fabulous time & she is just gorgeous. Absolutely everything about her was gorgeous. Down to earth, simple & so fun.  I'm having the hardest time ever picking which of her images to sneak peek for her because there are that many great ones.
Here are a few of my favorites though:

 Isn't she just stunning?!?! Can't wait to show off the rest of the images, but in the mean time enjoy your sneak peek Miss K & I'll be getting you a gallery up in the next couple of days.

{Entered} Just a Touch of Sun - I Heart Faces

I'm doing something a little different this week for Monday Minute (which I realize, I've been horrible about posting, in fact that whole schedule of things I've got marked on the calender...yea, slacking!!).

I'm entering the I {Heart} Faces weekly photo challenge.  The theme this week is A Touch of Sun.

This photo was entered into the I Heart Faces photo challenge – www.iheartfaces.com

{Services} Wall Displays

So, you just had your portrait session & it's almost time to view your proofs. Have you thought about how you want to display your beautiful family?  Do you know where you're going to put the prints you'll purchase?  What about the sizes? Did you know that I can help you with your wall displays? I will bring sample sizes to your proof sessions as well as a few sample displays using your session images.

Maybe you have an empty wall above a table, in an entry way, hallway, or in the livingroom, we could put together a display like this, using a large print in the center & flanking it with 2 smaller prints.

 

Are you planning your display for a staircase wall?  Let's see what a few of those images would look like together in a pattern that mimics the stairwell.  A collection of prints together, showcasing each part of your family.

 

Is your display place above the fireplace mantel or maybe the entertainment center?  I can show you how your images would come together.

Each display sample can be customized with furniture style, wall color & portrait size. Let me help you showcase your images today.

{My Life} They only look sweet

I sent my camera off a week or so ago for a cleaning, adjustments & a couple repairs it finally came back on Tuesday & I hadn't really tested it out yet. It was a nice & cool, overcast day today (it really felt a lot like fall, yay!), which gives off lots of nice even lighting. So I coordinated some outfits for the kids and we went out in the yard for a quick little shoot.

Of course, rounding up my own herd, is worse than trying to herd a bunch of cats, but we pulled off a couple shots.  I even managed to get in a few thanks to the girls who love taking turns pressing the shutter button with the camera set up on the tripod.

I noticed a couple months ago that the number of photos of me with my kids are almost nil. There are tons of the children, lots with the kids & daddy, but mom is pretty much non-existent in photo form, so it's been a goal (urged from a little scrappers forum challenge) to get in more shots, no matter how I'm feeling about my looks. After all, when the time comes it really won't matter what I was wearing of it my hair was done. If I'm gone, they will only care that they have something to remember me with.

Here is one of my favorites from tonight.