by Shelly | Dec 21, 2018 | business, family, special project |
I simply MUST share my favorite new Christmas Tradition with you. If you do something twice during the holidays and you enjoy it, it becomes a tradition, right?
THIS is how the Wallace Family of Katy, Texas rolls!
Seriously, they’ve got to be the FUNNEST Christmas Family in Texas.
You see, It all started when Mom, Jenny, called in 2017 looking for a fun and unique family Christmas card. They had a general concept in mind, but needed a pro to help them pull it off. Oh my goodness! It was exactly the project that had been bubbling in my own brain for quite a while, and suddenly these people just called me to create it! How does that even happen? Did I ever tell you how much I LOVE my job?
As we began planning for our session, I reached out to one of my photography instructors and friends, Dan McLanahan. Dan is very well-known in professional circles for his amazing skills and talents, but my brain at this time was all-consumed by the reknown “Friday Night Food Fight” composite that he had created a year before. Click on this link to check it out! Dan gave me some pointers to help make our session go smoothly, and he also offered a gentle but extremely helpful critique during the post-production stages of Christmas Kitchen Chaos 2017.
The magic of a project like this comes in compiling several photographs until one composite image is complete. I don’t know what part of this scenario I enjoyed the most.
It could have been Scott’s flaming skillet. (Yes we used real fire).
Or Jenny’s flying flour which looked so realistic because the sons hid behind the island throwing flour and mashed potato flakes into the air until we captured our perfect messy cloud.
Maybe it was Braden’s athletic skills catching a football mid-air with his LEFT hand so that we could still see his face –HOW MANY TIMES?
Josh’s feigned boredom with the whole scenario absolutely cracked me up because it couldn’t have been further from reality. In fact, he offered keen thoughts, insight, and even served as a voice-activated lightstand throughout the session both last year and this year.
However, the story I LOVE to tell about this shoot is about the family dog, Brinkley. This dog is so well-trained that he absolutely refused to steal the lasagna off the counter. In order to make that scenario happen, we had to send dad to another part of the house while Jenny and the sons coerced and tempted him.
This was my first ever attempt at a relatively complex composite image, and it was so much fun. The Christmas card recipients started asking what this year’s card would look like, and the Wallaces quickly realized that they couldn’t ever go back to a traditional smiling family portrait card.
When they called me this year, we sat down together and brainstormed until we came up with a new concept.
Deck the Halls — Wallace Style
The family has actually experienced a couple of real-life falling Christmas tree incidents, so they knew that their friends and relatives would understand the significance.
Everyone maintained their basic persona from 2017. Jenny’s tripping over her own enthusiasm, and so surprised that she’s practically juggling the ornaments as they smash to the floor. Josh is once again absorbed in his technology and light untangling mess. Braden’s adding Santa to the top of the tree — Elf Style. And of course we’ve got Scott, once again about to burn down the house with his Griswold-inspired electrical connection.
We even included last year’s card on the television screen at the back of the room.
Best memory from this year’s photography session? The pure thrill on the guys’ faces when they got to actually throw glass ornaments up into the air, allowing them to smash on the ground. Josh said it was the one thing that you’re always told not to do.
“Don’t drop the ornaments, don’t let them break, be careful with them. Don’t make a mess.”
But on this one day we shattered ornaments on the floor and made a royal mess.
Merry Christmas from SPCcreative Photography via The Wallace Family.
I will let one little secret out of the bag.
We’ve already started planning for 2019.
What will it be? I’ll never tell.
by Shelly | May 24, 2017 | senior gals, senior portraits |
No doubt about it, Demi has quite a presence in front of the camera. Is she not a gorgeous STUNNER?!
Well, look out world because here she comes. 
Demi and her classmates from Foster High School will cross the stage to receive their diplomas this Saturday in what is sure to be a celebration-filled evening.
I loved working with her, and had to laugh when we were designing her graduation announcement. Let me tell you, this young woman knows exactly what she wants and how to get it.
As most of you know, my graduation announcements are totally customized for each student. We choose colors, overall feel, fonts, images… EVERYTHING to reflect the student’s personal style. No cookie-cutter announcements over here!
Most of the time I get it right – straight out of the chute with maybe a minor tweak. Not this time! Well, the black background could stay… and the wording was good… and the image selections had already been decided. BUT, I totally missed the boat on everything else. That COULD have gone very wrong, but not with Demi. She sent back her change requests, right down to the exact type style that she wanted.
Really? Nobody’s ever done that before! BUT — we do offer a custom product, and that’s what we provide — satisfaction guaranteed.
We made the changes she asked for — type-style, adding glitter to the school color gold, changing the overall layout exactly as she specified, and then everything just fell into place. She loved the end result.
That’s what I like. Someone who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to ask for it.
I will admit that I had to swallow my pride a little bit, but it wasn’t too difficult at all because she was so very specific about how she wanted her announcement to appear.
After Graduation, Demi will attend Prairie View A&M where she plans to continue her studies and enter the field of nursing.
Congratulations on your graduation, Demi! Have a great time celebrating and reach for the stars. You’re already on target to achieve so very much.
by Shelly | Feb 7, 2017 | senior guys, senior portraits |
Meet Nicholas. He’s a Senior at Taylor High School here in Katy, and an all-around great guy! He’s got so many unique activities and interests, and it was fun to capture the essence of this very special time in his life. C’mon, let’s get to know a little bit about him. You’re going to like him almost as much as I do.
I’ve been able to photograph Nicholas several times over the past couple of years, and am always impressed with him. Every time we meet I learn something new about him and his many interests. Of course, I’m a sucker for horses, so when he first introduced me to Smokey I knew I’d be smitten with just one rub on that soft velvet nose …. Oh, wait … this is supposed to be about Nicholas, not Smokey.
But oh… SMOKEY!
And then, there’s his gorgeous Australian Shepherd, Chief. That dog is going to truly miss Nicholas when he leaves for college. 
Only four percent of the Boy Scouts earn their Eagle Scout Award, but Nicholas was one of them. He fulfilled extensive requirements in leadership, service, and outdoor skills to achieve this high honor.
And to top it all off, Nicholas is also a very creative artist working with multiple media. His favorite works include a stiff-cast shirt adorned with soda-pop can tab chainmaille, a golden sculpted hand, and a truly intricate cutout book. 
One more thing– Nicholas is a fabulous big brother!
Naturally some of his younger siblings wanted to pop in for a moment or two to be photographed with him. None of them are getting any younger, so it won’t take long before they realize how very special these treasured prints will be.
Congratulations on your upcoming graduation, Nicholas. You have so much going for you. I can’t wait to see what you do in the years to come. 
by Shelly | Nov 29, 2016 | musician, senior gals, senior guys, senior portraits, sports |
“They are all so amazing! I just don’t know how I’m going to choose.”
It’s something high-school seniors and their parents say every time they come back to the studio for their senior portrait reveal and ordering sessions.
I love that! Really, I do! It means I’ve done my job. At least part of it.
The images are awesome! If they weren’t, it would be time for me to find some other way to earn my keep. Now the fun really begins. While some photographers simply send out an online gallery with forty-eight bazillion images for the clients to sort through on their own, that can be terribly overwhelming. I absolutely love love love the chance to sit down together with my seniors and their parents as they see their images for the first time. Watching their reactions has always been one of my favorite parts of photographing people.
Sometimes it gets downright emotional for parents who suddenly realize the impact of their child transforming from a teen to a young adult ready to leave home for the next big adventure. That’s okay. We have tissues!
The image selection appointment is an added level of personal service that helps set SPCcreative Photography apart from the rest.
In these appointments we talk about where the artwork will ultimately be displayed and we put favorite images side by side to facilitate the selection process. Wall art, albums, and tabletop/gift prints and CUSTOM GRADUATION ANNOUNCEMENTS all come into consideration, but one of my favorite products is the signature storyboard that we include in a number of our senior collections. These boards can be as big as the wall will allow or as small as 10 x 20 or 16 x 20.
They are a collection of images blended into one piece of art.
Sometimes we select several images from one specific set, while other times we pick from a variety of wardrobes and backgrounds like we did for Jonathan last year.
Our Shabby-Chic Window always makes for a fun composite of images…
As does the famous BOX!
Here are a few more of our favorite examples. The important thing is that we select images that work together and tell a story about a student’s high-school experience.
There’s something magical, whether we look at athletics…
MUSIC
DANCE
OR THE COLLEGE PLANS TO COME
Creating these custom composite images for my clients is one of my favorite parts of my job. I would love to create one for you too. They look great in living rooms, hallways, offices, and dorm rooms, and they make fantastic gifts for grandparents, aunts and uncles, and best friends.
Call today for details about our specialized portraiture services. The senior will feel like a celebrity, and Mom and Dad will have the special memories preserved artistically to tide them over between holidays and vacation breaks when the kids come home to visit.
by Shelly | Sep 26, 2016 | business, fashion, women |
“You only get one chance to make a first impression.”
Maybe it was Oscar Wilde who said it, maybe it was Will Rogers. There seems to be a bit of debate on that.
Regardless of who said it, it’s true. You only get one chance to make a first impression.
Especially for small-business owners, that first impression often happens when potential clients visit a website or social media page. Think about it. What’s the first thing you see when you go to a new site? If the photographs are of a professional quality, if they are engaging and show a personal style, they invite the viewer to linger a while. To read the words. To learn more.
And research has proven that the longer a person stays on a website, the more likely they are to engage.
So, when one of Houston’s most well-known and highly recognized personal stylists and image consultants, Ellen Caldwell-Ng, called to schedule a portrait shoot to update her website, I KNEW it was going to be BEYOND amazing.
Even her “Before” snapshot looks pretty darn great, in a casual Saturday sort of way, but after spending a little prep- time with Brandie, Seifert, founder of Hollywood Hippie Cosmetics, and dressing in some of her own new fall clothing, Ellen is positively RADIANT!
Ellen provides full-scale image consulting services starting with closet overhauls where she helps her clients organize their existing wardrobes and “shop” their own closets to coordinate outfits they may have never put together before. She helps them understand how to dress for their own body-types and she personally takes them shopping for clothing and accessories. Who wouldn’t want a savvy shopping buddy to maneuver the malls, department stores, and hidden boutiques throughout the city?
This lady knows where and HOW to shop! She’s also an Independent Consultant ant Team Leader for Cabi, a designer clothing line for ladies which is sold in home shows and by personal appointment.
We wanted our images from this session to do more than show off Ellen’s beauty and and fashion sense, so we styled a mini-boutique right in the studio.
If your closet overwhelms you. If you want to LOVE your own wardrobe and look your very best every single day. Ellen is the person to call.
And if you want top of the line photographs that show off your personal style,
whether as gift for your spouse, or significant other,
as an heirloom to share with your children years down the road,
or a branded collection to highlight YOUR business
Call the studio at SPCcreative Photography and we’ll create an unforgettable series of images that is BOLD — PERSONAL — UNIQUE– FUN — and most important of all, it truly is ALL ABOUT YOU!
