Nominate Someone Today! - Vignettes Photography, Tucson's On-Location Children's Photographer

Tomorrow is the last day I will be accepting nominations for the 5 free mini sessions and one reduced-rate wedding session that I am giving away! See post below for details.
This is my cutie-pie niece. She just celebrated her 4th birthday, and she is at such a fun age to photograph right now! During this impromptu photo shoot yesterday she really worked the camera. =) Isn't she beautiful?

And this is little sister, who looked absolutely adorable, but was not in the mood for photos. Visiting cousins and playing with toys, or taking photos...hmmm...what would any 2-year-old choose?! =) I do have a few of her to edit, though, and will share more when they're ready. Although it's not the best clarity, this photo shows her sweet girly smile, so I had to mark it a keeper.

Best wishes to you all on the mini session give-aways! I will be announcing the winners next week!

- elka

Happy Father's Day - Vignettes Photography, Tucson's On-Location Children's and Family Photographer

I want to send a belated Happy Father's Day to all of you daddies out there. Daddies are a wonderful part of a child's life, and I am thankful that my two boys have such an awesome daddy to look up to! Plus, any daddy that can make this cute of a baby deserves some major adoration, right?! =) (I had to throw in one of the latest pics of our wee one....)I have to share a funny story about our Father's Day. My gift to my hubby was a day of good food and drinks...some of his favorites for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The dinner menu was beef tenderloin on crostini, Rex Goliath Merlot, and a 3-layer chocolate cake for dessert. Everything was going well...

And then the layers of the chocolate cake fell. I mean, completely caved in.

But I figured, hey, I'm going to frost it anyway, so I'll go ahead and just stack them up, frost them, and it will all be hidden! By the time I got the top layer on - whoomph - the entire center fell all the way through. At this point I was cracking up at this spectacular disaster. My hubby said, "Well, it's kind of like a layered bundt cake!" Umm, except I don't think you're supposed to layer bundt cakes! =) Anyways, I went ahead and slapped the frosting on, at this point not even caring how it looked, and it began to tip to the side.

No worries, though...

Our eldest still thought it was good enough to shove big handfuls into his mouth!

Ahhh, well. The moral of the story is, I need to invest in some 9" round cake pans, because, what I didn't tell you is, I tried to scrimp and bake them in those flimsy disposable foil pans that you buy for $2 for 6. Hmm. I guess there's a reason you fork out the big bucks (i.e. $8 a piece) for the real thing.

Happy Father's Day!

- elka

Free Photo Session Contest! - Vignettes Photography, Tucson's On-Location Photographer for Families

Here it is - the big announcement!

To celebrate the launch of the newly designed Vignettes Photography website (www.vignettesphotography.com), I will be giving away FIVE free mini sessions and one discounted wedding session!

Here is the scoop:

I will be giving away one free mini session for each album category on my website - maternity, babies, children, families, and seniors. AND I will be giving away a discounted wedding session! Mini sessions must be booked within the month assigned, and the wedding session must be booked within 12 months (booking subject to my availability). Sessions cannot be transferred to anyone else. Photos from the sessions will be posted on the Vignettes Photography blog, Facebook page, and on the newly designed website!

If you would like to nominate yourself or someone else to receive a free mini session or discounted wedding session, please send me an email (elka@vignettesphotography.com) with:

• the nominated person's name and email address




• which category you are nominating the person for (maternity, babies, children, families, seniors, or wedding)




• why this person deserves a free mini session or discounted wedding session from Vignettes Photography
  

Entries must be received no later than Friday, June 25, 2010. Winners will receive an email with details for making their session booking, and will also be announced on the Vignettes Photography blog and Facebook page! Feel free to tell your friends and family about this awesome opportunity so they can make their nominations as well! Please send entries to elka@vignettesphotography.com.

Also, some other exciting news is that Vignettes Photography just celebrated it's 2-year anniversary! Hooray!

I hope you are all having a wonderful summer thus far, and are enjoying the long sunny days, family vacations, and ice cream cones! Here are a couple pics of my boys from our recent vacation to San Diego. Ahhhh, it just looks so cool! =)

First time in the ocean.

Best wishes to you all!

- elka

The NEWLY Redesigned Vignettes Photography Website is Up! - Vignettes Photography, Tucson's Baby Photographer

Hooray! The newly redesigned website is here! (vignettesphotography.com) Please check it out and tell me what you think! The awesome person responsible for the beautiful new site is Rachel Lohrman. Thank you, Rach! I will be making an announcement having to do with the new launch next week, so check back soon!

Summertime is always a much slower season as far as photography goes - at least here in southern Arizona where it heats up so much! - but I have been busy at work none the less! I recently took a seminar on photo editing and learned some awesome new techniques to get regular-ol' color photos looking sharper, brighter, and getting those colors to pop. I tried out these new techniques on some photos of my 6-month-old baby (isn't he getting so big?!)....

I will also be meeting with another photographer in the Phoenix area in a couple weeks for some private mentoring, and I am so looking forward to applying all that I learn with her!

For those of you that became Vignettes Photography's Facebook fans and earned reduced-rate prints or a free digital negative download, please don't forget that you need to get your session booked before August 8th, 2010 (and booking dates are subject to my availability)! While it is hot outside right now, we can always do a session in your home, or in the late evening when it cools down.

Remember - check back next week for my announcement regarding the newly launched website!

- elka

2010 Photo Session Winner! - Vignettes Photography, Tucson's on-location photograher for babies, children, and families

The winner of this year's free photo session with Vignettes Photography has been announced! Thanks for a great Spring Mini Session, sweet family! I love photos of kids' feet, so here is a favorite of these two siblings at their mini session - I am back from a wonderful family vacation, and working on finishing up some photos from earlier this month. Some darling ones of a little toddler in a tutu are soon to come!

And the redesigned website is truly soon-to-come! I have been so swamped lately that I haven't been getting photos to my website designer like I should have, but she has been wonderful and I can't wait to see the final product. Stay tuned...!


- elka

A quick reminder that I will be out of town for the next week - back on Tuesday, April 20th. In the meantime, some new beautiful images as promised!

First, one of the most gorgeous seniors I know! After getting rained out twice, we finally got to do her photo shoot...but it paid off, as we got lots of pretty green and wild flowers at our locations!

Doesn't she look like a model?!

I love this photo -

I wasn't sure if the last photos we took were going to turn out, because it was getting pretty dark. But I was so happy this one did, because it's one of my favorites!

Next, a session up in Scottsdale for a family reunion. They looked so sharp in their jeans and black shirts!

Love this shot -

Isn't this photo so sweet? I especially love that it's in a railroad car, done in the vintage color effect.

Darling girls (also happen to be my nieces!)....

This might be one of my favorite photos of all time. I love the expressions on these boys' faces.

I'm usually partial to close-ups, but I really like this further-away family photo.

And is this not one of the cutest faces ever?!

The whole, beautiful family.

And here, my sister- and brother-in-law and nieces. Such a good-looking family.

Next up, photos from a mini session of a sweet baby boy that was so well-behaved and adorable. I really like the antiqued effect on this photo...another one of my current faves.

I ask parents all the time to give their baby kisses when I do baby sessions, and I just love the looks I get! I was excited to create a collage with this photo, because it is one of the sweetest I've seen!

Bye for now! Enjoy your week, and look for more photos posted when I return!

- elka

I hope you all had a happy Easter and were able to spend time with family celebrating this significant holiday!

I have been incredibly busy the past month or so! Lots of beautiful people, and beautiful photos. I am still working on six more sessions of post-processing that I can't wait to share with you, but here are some photos to enjoy right now.

First, my sweet baby boy's 3-month photo. He's got an intensely serious stare! (But also great smiles....)
Next are a couple photos from March's spring mini session day at Steampump Village. I love this family, and I have had the honor of photographing these kiddos both years that I have done the spring mini sessions. Plus, I have been photographing this sweet girl since she was in the womb! Doesn't she look darling admiring her new pink pinwheel?

And this little dude made me laugh and laugh with his newly acquired modeling skills. He really worked the camera!

This beautiful friend of mine is expecting her second baby in May, and I couldn't be more thrilled for her! Doesn't she have the cutest baby bump?! We did her session on a windy, rainy day, so we were stuck indoors for most of the session...but the photos still turned out great, don't you think?

More photos to come!

Also, I will be taking some time off while my family and I are on vacation beginning next week...AFTER April's spring mini session day this Saturday morning! There are still slots available, so if you're interested (details in posts below) please let me know ASAP. Drop me an email at elka@vignettesphotography.com. Slots beginning at 8:00am; location - Casas Adobes Plaza at Ina and Oracle.

- elka