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!
by Shelly | Sep 1, 2016 | baby, event |
When a baby dies and doesn’t get to come home from the hospital with its family, dreams are dashed and hearts shatter.
Those families need an extra helping of love and care to help them heal, and it’s always an honor to be a part of their story.
Most of my friends and many of my clients know that I spend a good deal of time volunteering for Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep as an Area Coordinator. We provide heirloom quality baby portraits for the families who must face the loss of their little ones before or at birth. Beautiful timeless black and white images of these angel babies.
That’s what we do — and we do it at no charge. We do it because we care and we do it because we CAN.
I feel SUPER blessed to have found an outlet for my skills and talents that just might help someone’s broken heart begin to heal.
Well, there’s another group in town that also helps bereaved families who have lost an infant at any stage of gestation or early life. Volunteers with Baby Gowns for Eternity take wedding dresses, formal gowns, and other special occasion dresses, deconstruct them, and lovingly create beautiful tiny gowns and embellished pocket wraps. They simply want every little angel-baby to be wrapped in love and dignity for their burial.
Very recently Houston’s ABC Channel 13 news team filmed a story about the Baby Gown group, and it just aired this week. Click here to watch the video and learn more about them.
I was there that day too, and these are some of the wonderful volunteers that I got to meet.
There’s a volunteer position with Baby Gowns for anyone who wants to help. These are the organization’s two youngest volunteers. They are very very good at removing buttons and ripping seams.
If you know someone with a willing heart and time to spare, both Baby Gowns for Eternity and Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep are actively seeking volunteers for a number of roles.
Come join us. It’s GOOD for your heart.
by Shelly | Aug 26, 2016 | business, women |
Quality portraits and headshots are so very important to the branding process for any business professional. They create a first impression that can make or break a deal before negotiation even begins. If you were selling your home, would you call a Realtor whose profile image was out of focus or had restaurant dishes in the background? Probably not. You’d want to choose someone who obviously understands polished presentation — start to finish.
So …What’s a Realtor to do when one or two traditional headshots simply won’t do? When one Gary Greene Realtor Alicia Jammer wanted a series of branded images in lieu of traditional basic headshots, she called to discuss ways that we could showcase her smile and personality in a vibrant and consistent manner.
Alicia knew that she wanted something special. She had a vision in mind. She wanted a series of unique images that were bright, fresh, and contemporary. She wanted a variety, yet she also wanted the images to work together so that they could be combined in different marketing materials.
So, that’s what we did. We used two different outfits and a single bright white evenly lit background.
Her smiling face will appear on her property flyers, business cards, online, on printed stationery, and on the personalized notecards that she sends out to her clients and vendors.
Alicia grew up in Houston, so she knows the area very well and has watched it grow over time. She offices in Sugar Land, but has current properties listed from Spring all the way to Rosharon.
The images are fresh, fun, and breezy — and there will be no mistaking Alicia for another Realtor. Her clients and colleagues will recognize her immediately — even from a tiny thumbnail reference photograph, and they will know that she is an energetic, lively and professional who will guide them through the processes of buying, selling, or leasing their next home or investment property.
Thank you for choosing SPCcreative Photography to showcase your beautiful personal brand. It was a such pleasure working with you.
by Shelly | Aug 22, 2016 | senior guys, senior portraits, sports |
Jonathan was my very last senior from the class of 2016, and I absolutely loved everything about his session.
He’s already up and left town for Texas A&M, and I’m getting reports that he is absolutely in his element training as a Freshman with the Corps of Cadets. It’s hard work, military style, but he’s been preparing for this type of activity for a long long time. He is one young man who will do just fine wherever he goes. College life can be difficult, but Jonathan is an overcomer. He’s beaten obstacles that no one would want to face, and he’s come through like a champ.
The way Jonathan came to my studio is a fun backstory. I first met him back in 2013 when he was just a sophomore in high school. The all around fantastic athlete had been seriously injured playing football and had to leave the sport behind. Still, he was able to return to baseball after extensive rehabilitation treatment with Memorial Hermann Ironman Sports Institute. His story was worth retelling for other athletes who needed to be aware of concussion issuesand who also needed to know that treatment and hope are available. He was featured in an article published in VYPE Magazine.
I went to meet him at Cinco Ranch High School to photograph him for the headline banner. The night we shot, I got to meet him, his parents, and his adorable little sister. We all had a great time visiting that evening on the baseball field and somehow I knew I would see them all again.
Here’s the article!
Time passed and sure enough, we reconnected.
Senior portraits? You bet! I’m your photographer! Let’s DO THIS!
Jonathan is one of those guys who can truly be called an All American. He’s an honor student with a great penchant for leadership.
The diving mask and flippers? Oh, yeah… those are not just for decoration. He knows how to use ’em, and he will very likely one day save lives as a Navy Seal.
Although his earlier injuries kept him off the football field throughout his high school career, there was no keeping away from baseball.
He was also active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and One of his prized possessions is a custom baseball bat, hand-crafted by one of his friends and mentors.
He has dreamed since he was a little boy about becoming an astronaut … and he probably will.
But for now, he’s going to buckle down and study — and do all the other things that Aggie Corps members do.
Best of luck to you, Jonathan. Enjoy your time at college and get ready to make your mark on this universe. You’ve definitely got “The Right Stuff.”
It hurts my feelings just a little bit to say it, but I will. — Just for you.
“Gig ‘Em.”
