Christina's Blog

Are you looking forward to the holidays?  I am!

This year at Copperlight Art we’re offering something new, and we’re raising funds for charity at the same time.  I hope you’ll join me for our 1st Annual Holiday Portrait Charity Event.  This portrait session provides you with beautiful holiday portraits of your children at a great price and provides much-needed funds to a local charity for children.

I’m offering two different holiday sets for you to choose from this year.  My “Winter Wonderland” features  a sparkling scene of white, silver and gold.  Imagine snow-covered branches glistening in tiny lights and crystals… a magical sight perfect for a winter portrait.  Formal clothing is beautiful with this set, and white, black, red, and hunter green clothing look best.  This set even looks good with casual clothes!

“Christmas Wishes” and “Dreaming of Santa” both feature a beautifully decorated Christmas tree with piles of presents just waiting to be opened.  Gather your little ones around the tree for an unforgettable holiday portrait that you will treasure for years to come.  Christmas PJs look great with this set, as well as clothing in the traditional colors of red and green.

I am thrilled that my “Dreaming of Santa” sessions will enjoy a surprise visit from Santa himself! Our Santa sessions are very limited and will be scheduled on a first-come, first-serve basis – you don’t want to miss this opportunity if you have little ones and this is a great alternative to the long lines at the mall.   My goal is to capture a beautiful moment including Santa in each of these sessions, even if I have to sneak him in the background while little ones are distracted – I want to give you a portrait you will cherish.  (Though I know those shots from your childhood of Santa holding a crying baby can bring back funny memories!)

Our Holiday Portrait Charity Event will take place on Saturday, November 21, and Sunday, November 22.  Please call to schedule your appointment soon!  This time of year, when everyone’s beginning to imagine the perfect gift, I think we’ve found it—capturing enduring family images and providing funds to help children in need.  Isn’t that what the spirit of the holidays is all about?

(continuing from Why Photography part 1)…

Fast-forwarding to late-high school/college, I was lucky enough to have a friend who’s father was a photographer, with his own darkroom, and I was able to learn how to develop black and white film – I loved it and was sure that when I became an adult I would have a darkroom somewhere in my house.   (I obviously wasn’t planning for the whole digital thing!)  I worked part-time for a professional wedding photographer during college who’s work I really admired, and quickly found myself absorbing everything I could about photography, from lighting to posing, and also found myself interested in the business aspects as well.  I attended several conventions and classes by the professional associations in this area, and was lucky enough to listen and learn from some very well-respected photographers of the time.  I even modeled at a PPNC (Professional Photographers of North Carolina) convention once for Don Blair (you may not recognize the name, but most any portrait photographer would if they’re been in the business for more than a few years!)  I watched an amazing presentation by Monte Zucker there, and was really struck by his incredible use of light – it was truly like he was a magician.  Almost 20 years later I found myself reading his photography forum on the net, and was inspired once again.

I was lucky enough to marry my soul mate, James, and later to have two beautiful children together.   I made the decision to be a stay-at-home mom, and was truly blessed to be able to spend so much time with my children during their early years.  With Jillian in school and Zander approaching kindergarten-age, I was struck with the reality that I really had no idea what I wanted to do once my time was my own again.  My career before children had been interesting (web design) but the thought of going back to that just didn’t excite me at all.  I thought of returning to college, but had no set goal in mind for that either.

One late night, James and I were talking about this (for probably the hundredth time) and he asked the simple question – “What are you interested in?  Think about what you would like to do for fun, not work.”  He brought up photography, since he knew a little of my past interest – and my first reaction was no way could I do that – too much time had passed, I had no idea about digital anything, and besides, where would I get the money required for all that expensive equipment.  But the seed had been planted, and before I knew it I found myself immersed in anything and everything I could find about photography.  I realized that I knew much more about photography than I gave myself credit for – and that I was right about knowing NOTHING about digital!  But I’m a fast learner.  I attended the PPNC convention in February 2008, this time as an actual photographer though I had not yet officially started my studio.  I spent months learning everything I could and though I tried to keep it in check, my excitement was building.  It just seemed so late in life to be starting a completely new career, much less trying to start my own business on top of that.  Then a wise friend gave me some of the best advice – “It’s not too late – life is long.  There’s no reason why you can’t start something new, and everyone deserves to pursue their own happiness.”  So that’s just what I’ve been doing and there’s no going back now!

I’ve been asked a lot recently why I decided to become a photographer, and answering that question has been kind of hard for me.  I haven’t come up with a short and simple answer yet, but I can tell you about a bunch of individual moments and experiences that led me here.  It’s been an interesting part of my life to reflect on, so if you’d like to know more – keep reading below and check back in a few days for Part 2!  I didn’t intend to write a novel when I started this, but I think my enthusiasm made it impossible to be brief on the subject.  (You’ve been warned!)

How it all began…
I became interested in photography at a very young age.  To be honest I don’t even remember what the “spark” was for that – but it must have been pretty strong, as my parents invested in a really amazing camera to give to a 10 year-old.  I will never forget that Christmas, it is one of my most-vivid childhood memories.  I even remember that my mom had wrapped each individual part separately for me to open, but then she couldn’t remember what was what and I ended up opening them in the “wrong” order.  Of course, I didn’t care what order they were in, I was just so thrilled to actually have my very own SLR camera!  It was a Pentax K1000 – a really great camera back in the day, and they gave me a zoom lens, camera bag, and  a lens cleaner

K1000

kit.  How cool is that!?  The K1000 was manufactured from 1976-1997, and though it was a completely manual camera, it maintained quite a following and was considered one of the top choices for photography students even as more automated cameras came on the market.  It was a fabulous camera to start with, and learning to set everything manually, from exposure to focus, has made me a better photographer even through the switch to digital.  I have no idea how many photos I took with that camera, but I can tell you I used it for many, many years and it has meant so much to me that I still have it, all wrapped up in it’s camera bag.  I haven’t taken it out for many years, but somehow it comforts me to know it’s still around.

Now I don’t know if it’s possible for anyone to be born a photographer, but my early photos and portrait attempts certainly aren’t hanging on anyone’s walls today, even my own.  Looking through them, though, I think you can see where I was trying to go, even if I wasn’t clear how to get there.  My family loves to tease me every Christmas (because it’s one of the few times we are all together) about one infamous photo shoot I did with my step-sister and a friend down the street.  We had just returned from either the State Fair or Carowinds or some other place where you find yourself going home with ridiculous souvenirs, and we were in the possession of this enormous blue paper flower.  You know, the kind you made for your mom on Mother’s Day in 1st grade?  Except this thing was like 4 feet in diameter with a 5 foot stem – no, I am not kidding.  I decided it would be a great prop in a photograph, and proceeded to pose both girls in various positions and places around our house with this monstrous flower.  Now, at the time I thought these shots were some of my best work and I was just delighted with the results.  Little did I know those images would be brought to embarrass me again and again for the rest of my life – I truly don’t even know how all these people got a hold of copies.  Film wasn’t cheap to a 13 year-old, so I can’t imagine that I was having 10 copies printed.  Hmmm.

Continued in Part 2