Christina's Blog

I probably should have titled this “On Trying to Be Green,” as I am still gaining a healthier respect for the environment daily, and am realizing how unaware I have been about this topic.  Now of course I know to recycle and that using/buying recycled goods is a good thing (is that a pun?).  I recently read an article by Greener Photography written for the magazine, Professional Photographer.  In it they described a few ways to be more environmentally-friendly within a photography studio (or small business in general,) and I found myself realizing I hadn’t given much thought to that issue yet, and that I needed to do so. Being the internet addict that I am, I spent several hours researching for everything from prints to office supplies online. I was somewhat surprised, however, that the options seemed so limited and hard to find.

Even though Greener Photography does have a small list of “green” suppliers on their site, I found that many of those options just aren’t feasible for a small business order. The minimum order of items, like 5000 sheets of recycled paper for instance, is much more than I need at the moment. I did stumble upon the Green Office yesterday and they seemed to much lower minimum quantities and a really good selection of products (ranked by green-ness, even!). I have also bookmarked their “Tips and Tricks” section for ways to be more eco-friendly – I’ll definitely be revisiting that page for more help! Greener Printer deserves a mention as well, as they look like an interesting option for things like business cards and brochures. I received their sample pack recently and was impressed with the different paper options and the quality of their printing.

So, I’m still investigating things like recycled wood frames and albums, as well as photographic printing options. Though I realize not everyone will be interested in those choices, I want to make a real effort to have them available for those that are. I have a long way to go before I can say I’m not leaving any carbon footprint, but maybe it’s at least getting smaller day by day.

One of the things that I most love about portrait photography is that moment when I realize I’ve captured a look or a smile that truly represents the spirit of the person inside – and also moments like this, when I realize that it usually takes much more than one image to truly capture most people!  After all, we are multi-faceted, we humans, and there is so much you can miss in a person when you’re caught up in the fast pace of life.  Since we don’t have a pause button yet, thank goodness we have a camera – think of all the faces we’d miss without one!  On that note, I share with you another image of the adorable baby Evan.   Even at only 7 weeks old he is already more than 1000 words could say…

For more interesting faces, check out iHeartFaces for their “Just for Fun” collection of photographs of, you guessed it, faces!

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I have been so hard at work with the business-end of things around here lately, that my camera has started to feel neglected.  I was beyond excited to schedule a session last week to photograph a tiny newborn – and I was not disappointed!  Baby Evan didn’t really know what to make of me most of the shoot, but I fell in love with him from the first click.  There is nothing like a baby in the studio to make time stand still… they are just perfect.

Here is a sneak preview of one of his photos – I have just begun to look through them and am really happy with what we were able to capture.  He is already such an inquisitive baby, and I loved the “are you sure you know what you’re doing?” faces he was giving me!  Though we had only planned to use Mom as a prop to hold him up at times, I was able to capture several sweet and tender images of the two of them together, in between poses.  I know these will end up being some of her favorites, and they are certainly mine.  She really looks beautiful and the love between them is palpable.