Jenifer Lyn Photography » Wife, Mother, and Wedding Photographer Extraordinaire

Well, it has been quite a busy quarter, to say the least! With everything going on, I had to cut back on something, so blogging had to be one of those things. But I think we are back to normal now (whatever THAT is!), so I can go back to doing all the things I love, but had to put on hold.

I am very proud to announce that my husband was nominated and accepted to attend the FBI National Academy (FBINA or fibeena as my daughter calls it).

The FBINA is a 10-week intensive training session put on by the FBI for police administrators.  Wait? Did you say 10 WEEKS?! In Quantico, VA?! Yes I did.  He left in early April and we got to attend his graduation on June 10 – a day I am most proud of him for. And with a newborn and two older children to care for on my own, things were a little on the crazy side. The whole experience for me taught me a LOT about how much I took him for granted and made me learn that while I have the utmost respect for military families, I could NEVER do it. I’d go insane. 10 weeks was more than I wanted to handle. HUGE Congratulations to my husband!!!! Here he is receiving his certificate from Robert Mueller, Director of the FBI.

Clearly I was sitting in the wrong location of the auditorium to get a great photograph, however, Little Sammy ensured I had to stay close to an exit to try and keep his yelling from interrupting the ceremony. And interestingly, he’s also the reason I became suspect #1 of the Secret Service agent assigned to the Director. I was doing the nice thing and taking him out of the room so all the other families could enjoy the ceremony, which immediately drew his attention to us. Apparently he finally deemed me an unlikely assassin, as by the fifth time I had to bring Sammy out of the room he began laughing at my situation.

Speaking of little Sammy, here he is with his great big brother who insisted on this new haircut just days after breaking his glasses. He looks like a totally different (and older) kid!

During this time, since my parents were coming to visit, I had the great idea of offering to plan my sister a baby shower. Heck, I only get one chance to throw my ONLY sister a baby shower! Since she lives in AZ, I couldn’t make it a surprise, but she was more than willing to fly out for such an occasion. I will spare you the planning details and just skip to showing you the crown jewel of the shower – her cake. You see, my sister LOVES shoes, and knowing her, she will instill that same love of shoes into her own daughter. So it only seemed fitting to include shoes on her cake.

A HUGE thank you to Marianne from Carriage House Confections. She truly took my idea, ran with it and made an amazingly beautiful cake. And it was the YUMMIEST cake I’ve ever eaten. If you ever need a cake and you are in the Mansfield area, CALL HER!!!!

So now that he’s home, look for more frequent posts from me. In the meantime, have a safe, yet fun Fourth of July!!!

This past winter here in eastern Massachusetts, we have been hit time and time again with crazy snow storms. Not a single one has provided us with less than 8 inches of snow, and most them have come in around a foot or more!! If you know me, you know I’m not a fan of the cold, however, there is something almost magical about all the sparkle and newness freshly fallen snow brings to the earth. It’s almost peaceful. Well, it would be if it weren’t so darn cold!

So I took some time after a couple of the snowfalls to go out and capture a few images of just how pretty it can be in the snow. As I was doing so, though, I realized how much I like winter white weddings. I have only been fortunate enough to photograph on during a snow storm. I know that sounds absolutely horrid to most people, but seriously, it was the MOST beautiful scenery to go with the beauty of the bride and her white gown – oh yah, the groom, too. I then wonder why more people don’t opt for something like that. I mean, we DO live in New England and we are guaranteed snow each winter. Why not take advantage of that and plan your wedding accordingly? With the money you’ll most likely save by booking a venue during the off season here, you can splurge for the horse-drawn carriage and cute faux fur (gotta be nice to the little animals) hooded cloak and matching hand muff. Then we can walk around your venue taking gorgeous winter photographs and they will be like NO other wedding! Your friends certainly won’t have that (well, maybe friends who get married after you, since they’ll LOVE it so much!). Just a suggestion…

And if you opt for any of that, and choose a winter wedding in the snow – I would LOVE to be a part of your day to photograph it. I had a blast the one time I was able to “play” in the snow with one of the couples who hired me, and I would love to do it again! Next year, of course – I’m done with the snow this year!!!!!!!

Here are a few of the images I took a few weeks ago. B-E-A-U-tiful, no?! But I am SO ready for spring—Puxatawney Phil(yah, he has his own website), PLEASE be right!!!!!

I just want to point out that this one was taken after snow storm #2. Since then, the snow has completely covered the top of this entire hedge row! I’m doubting whether we will ever see them again!

Just a quick reminder that I’m offering out a few free portrait sessions for newborns/infants. I have had such a great response to this offer, I am just reminded how truly blessed I am.  I’ve booked a few, and couldn’t book a couple others, but overall, I’m really excited about the upcoming sessions.

So, if you or someone you know would be interested in a session, please read the original post for details, then send me an e-mail at jeniferl (at) jeniferlynphotography.com, or contact me through my website, my blog, or my Facebook page.

And here are a couple snapshots of my current favorite infant – my boy Sammy. And as I prepped these for posting I realized how much I have NOT done more formal sessions of him and I really need to remedy that this weekend.

For years I’ve been searching for a way to give back to a charity that means something to me. I knew the charity immediately – Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Both of my grandmothers were diagnosed with breast cancer and as I get older, the number of people I know who have been impacted by this condition grows yearly. It hit home when someone very close to me found out her younger sister had been diagnosed. It was then I decided I needed to take action, not just keep saying”wanna do someday”.

After months of brainstorming – coming up with ideas and turning them down, I think I’ve landed on a solution that benefits the charity as well as couples working with Jenifer Lyn Photography. Starting today, couples who receive my price list will have the option of making their collection “Pink’T”. Certain proceeds from this collection option will be donated directly to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

I think this is a very exciting option for couples to choose, one that will allow them and me to help a charity that is such an important one. In return for choosing to have your collection “Pink’T”, you will receive a keepsake from me that can be proudly displayed at your reception for all your guests to see. What a great way to give back while hiring your photographer (which you were going to do anyway!). For more information, or to hire me for your wedding day, please fill out the contact form on my website, or up above here on my blog.

Together, we can help the fight against breast cancer! In memory of two very important women in my life whom I miss terribly, I’d like to introduce you to my Gram and Babci (Polish for grandmother, for those who don’t know), looking beautiful as ever on their wedding days. (Copyright belongs to their respective photographers who I would love to credit, however I cannot locate their names):

Tucson, AZ has found itself all over the media recently, due to the horrific shooting at the Safeway in which 6 people were killed (including a 9 year old girl) and Representative Gabrielle Giffords was wounded. The whole event saddens me greatly. No matter your political stance, you have to agree that such acts of violence solve nothing.

If you know me, you know I got my passion for photography from my parents – my Dad showed me how to use his Canon AE-1 when I was young and I loved every minute of it. So it was no surprise to find that they pulled together a slideshow compilation of their greatest images from around Tucson, set to “I’d Rather Be In Tucson” performed by Jean Chastain, written by Earl Wettstein.

Please take 2:34 to watch this view of the city in which they live – a city they love; a city that refuses to be defined solely by this unthinkable event. Their photography is amazing and deserves to be seen by so many. And if you like this video, you can view more of their images (and buy them, too!) on their web site: PicturesAt11.com

If you cannot see the video below, please click here to watch it.

Since I’m a “new” mom (again!), I’ve found a renewed interest in photographing babies. They are just amazing to photograph. I love their little features – all of them! I love their feet and their hands, their little tiny bums and their ears. Oh! And their amazing toothless smiles (when they come) – there’s nothing like it in the world!

Sooooooooooo, Ihave decided I’d like to dabble in the world of infant/newborn/baby photography. Not having had tons of practice in that realm, I’d like to offer out free sessions to all of you – all you pay for is the products you want after the session. I’m going to limit this to the first 10 people to contact me.

Here’s the fine print:

• The session is free, but if you want any prints, announcements,digital  DVDs, etc., you pay for those.
• Sessions take place at a location of your choice, no  more than 50 miles from Mansfield, MA.
• Sessions should last 1 to 1 1/2 hours long. I’d like to take my time to ensure we get a good session in, but no more than an hour and a half.
• You agree to sign a model release, allowing me to use the images to market my services. Please note, I have children of my own- I would NEVER use the images for anything other than marketing (on my blog, Website, Facebook, printed materials) and I would not share your child’s full name.
• If we have time and we got the images we wanted to already, we can try to work in the whole family for a portrait, but having had three of my own, I know that the mood of a baby can be hit or miss.
• This offer is good until I schedule 10 separate sessions. Sessions need to take place before my busy wedding season begins (typically in early May).

I’m really excited about this! I think this will be great! So, if you are interested, send me an email at jeniferl (at) jeniferlynphotography.com, or contact me through my website, my blog, or my Facebook page. Not interested for yourself, but know someone who might be? Please send this along to them.

We rang in the new year in sunny Orlando, FL, visiting the awesome new Wizarding World of Harry Potter portion of Universal Studios. What a way to start 2011!!!

But first we made a stop off in Savannah, GA – LOVE that city. I want to go back and spend more time there – I could spend hours taking photographs of all the cool architecture there.

Its a new year and with it brings the promise of new things, new resolutions, a clean slate – if you would. What are you going to do with that? Do what you did last year? Only if it worked. If it didn’t – then change. That’s what I’m going to do. Push myself to look at things differently. Change the way I handle relationships, fitness, eating, cleaning, blogging, photographing events, and so much more. I don’t have the expectation that I will be able to become a new person overnight, but just having the plan already makes me feel changed.

So what will you do?

(you could make plans to go to Hogsmeade….)

The season is always the busiest for me between May and October and that is typically when I start to fall behind on blog posts. So it shouldn’t be a huge surprise that I haven’t posted in a while. Try as I may – sometimes blogging ends up as a much lower priority to other thigns – like weddings and albums and such. But this year, while the blog did take a backseat to those items, I actually got behind in blogging for another, more personal reason.

It is with great excitement that I share with you all that my family and I are expecting baby #3!!!!! I’m actually due in a few weeks, which is truly why I’m behind in blogging. It’s been 7 years since our youngest (well, she WAS our youngest) was born, so I forgot how much being pregnant changes life. So far it has been a wild ride and I expect that the last few weeks will be too. But I am SOOOOOOOOO excited to meet our little guy (oh, yah, we’re having another boy!!!!!!!).

Since I can’t possibly post without including an image, here’s a shot from my last ultrasound of our little stubborn boy with his arm in front of his face. I can’t get over the 3D technology and how they are able to create images like this – and I can’t wait to see if this is really what he looks like!

First, I’d like to apologize for the blogging hiatus. Technology  being what it is, I was able to set up posts to publish at regular intervals and forget about them for some time while I worked on other things. I just forgot for too long!!!

I’ve been having several meetings/discussions with couples lately either as initial meetings for weddings next year, or consultations for weddings we have together this year. And as the season starts I always get that rush of excitement. It’s because I truly love what I do. I LOVE weddings and all that goes into planning them and watching the details unfold as the day progresses.

In fact, I love weddings so much, I regularly purchase bridal magazines to see what great new ideas are out there. What dresses are “in”? What new floral combinations have been put together for this season? What cool new bridesmaid dresses have they come out with (and have they FINALLY perfected the bridesmaid dress so that it can ACTUALLY be worn again somewhere)? Oh, and invitations! I have this weird, borderline obsession with nice paper and pens – so I love to see what new invitation styles are out there. My current stack of wedding magazines contains my staples – Grace Ormond Wedding Style (her last three issues), Boston Magazine’s Elegant Wedding, La Bella Bride, and Southern New England Weddings.

Since I showed up really early for a meeting the other day, I went into a nearby Borders store (LOVE them, too!) and found a new magazine I hadn’t seen before. I bought it and read it while I waited for the couple I was meeting and though it wasn’t a particularly great magazine (not nearly as detailed as a Brides.com one), it was nice to see different points of view/ideas.

When our meeting was winding down, I realized that we had just spent the last 20 minutes talking about details of her wedding that truly have little to do with the photography (other than the fact that I hope to be photographing all the details next April). What her colors are, flowers, dresses, tuxes, – you name it, we talked about it. And for details she hadn’t figured out yet, I made some suggestions for vendors she can check with to see their availability. It was really a great conversation! And it was then that we both agreed that maybe I should consider becoming a Wedding Planner in addition to Photographer. Of course, I’d have to change my business name, but it could be fun!

As I drove home, though, I realized that I couldn’t possibly be an effective wedding coordinator AND photographer for the same event. The best coordinators are those who are available from before the set up to after the take down of the wedding. They are everywhere at the same time, managing all vendors and guests and timelines and details. And there is no way I could be that AND photograph it all at the same time. So for now, I think I will stick with what I know and love the most – being a wedding photographer. But if ever I could figure out how to clone myself and be in two places at once, I just might then expand my business! Until then, I will continue to read all the magazines and attend dozens of weddings a year, so if ever you have questions on details other than photography, please don’t hesitate to ask – I LOVE to talk about it!

Since I am a photographer, this wouldn’t be a post without an image, so I’m going to share a recent one I shot while doing a site visit to Longfellow’s Wayside Inn in Sudbury, MA. I have two weddings here this year – the first in just a couple of weeks. On site they have this Grist Mill – it’s just so picturesque. So while this isn’t technically a wedding image, it will be when I get my brides and grooms in front of it!

I’ve decided to include a new feature on my blog where I create posts that I think will be very helpful to all my brides, both present and future. Every venue that I have worked at provides certain features and unique circumstances that prove both beneficial and challenging to my task of shooting the wedding. Because of that, I will be writing reviews of venues with interesting tidbits I found while working at each one.

Depending how the rest of this off-season goes, I would like to extend this to other vendor reviews. I’ve had the privilege of working with some of the greatest vendors in the industry and I’m always being asked for referrals from brides.

Happy Holidays!