Love, Mom campaign 2014! {Delaware Lifestyle Portrait Photographer}

Love, Mom 2014

The perfect Mothers Day gift for yourself & the moms in your life

It has been a great success the past 2 years that I have running this, and I am plan on going into it's third year strong!  If this is the first time you have heard of my Love, Mom campaign, you might be asking yourself, just what is it?

Love, Mom is a campaign to have mothers and their loved ones photographed. Plain and simple. I know first hand as a mom how busy life can get, and how fast kids grow up. Before you know it, they aren't the little chubby faced babies that once followed you around, and you find yourself wondering where the time went.  I have priced special sessions so that Moms can come in and have some fantastic images of just themselves, or themselves, their kids, or their spouses.



This year, I am doing things a bit differently! I am offering two types of Love, Mom sessions.  In-studio sessions that will take place with timed slots during Friday April 18th to Saturday April 19th. I am also offering a full session gift certificate that you can gift to the mom in your life and use to set up your own, personal session any time.



Sounds great, right!  Well, head on over to: http://marisataylorphotography.bigcartel.com/ To purchase your time slots for the weekend specially priced Love, Mom sessions, as well as the Love, Mom gift certificates.

Because these Love, Mom sessions have been so popular, I have to put a limit on how many I am offering, as well as the gift certificate specials I am offering.  There will only be 8 sessions per day for the 2 weekend sessions (16 sessions total), and I am only offering 10 of the Love, Mom gift certificates.  Why? Because with the Love, Mom weekend sessions, you receive a $50 gift credit to use towards purchasing prints and products! And with the Love, Mom full session gift certificate, you will receive an $100 gift credit to use!

In-studio sessions must be booked and paid for in full by April 14, 2014.  Gift certificates must be paid for in full at time of booking.  Gift certificates will be available until May 1, 2014 or until the 10 special gift certificates are purchased, which ever comes first.

Once your session is done, be sure to place your print & canvas orders by April 28th to have in time for Mothers Day. 

You can take a look at my Client & Session Guide to check out the print prices and the products I offer, as well as helpful hints for getting ready for your session

Feel free to spread the word, and if you have any questions at all, shoot them on over to MarisaTaylorPhotography@Gmail.com

Enjoy your weekend!

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Travel Bucket List {Delaware Lifestyle Photographer}

I love travelling. I love road trips. One of my favorite things to do is to just hop in the car with Wes and Charlotte and drive to new places, or take a different route home that we never knew about.  And then discovering new things along those routes are definitely a plus.  So it's only natural that I have a travel bucket list.

Some of the places I have already been (and have been lucky enough for my work in photography to take me there) are:

• Virginia Beach
• Upstate New York
• Longport Beach, NJ
• Ocean City, NJ
• Lewes Beach, DE
• Washington, D.C.
  

And of course there are quite a few places that I want to head to, including:

• Disney World (my most favorite place in the world!)
• Hawaii
• England
• Maine
• Connecticut
• California

And this beauty right in South Korea:

Image from: http://www.viralnova.com/camera-cafe-south-korea/

It is a HUGE camera! And not only is it a camera, it is a coffee shop! How amazing is that?  Read about it, and see more amazing images here: http://www.viralnova.com/camera-cafe-south-korea/ .  As a coffee lover and a photographer, me visiting there is meant to be! I hope that one day I can go!

In the meantime, head on over to their website, Dreamy Cafe, to see more!

And if you are having a wedding, or want an amazing family or portrait session in an amazing location, don't forget how much I love to travel! Visit www.MarisaTaylorPhotography.com and email me at MarisaTaylorPhotography@Gmail.com

Have a great Friday everyone!

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Rejected? Keep trying! {Delaware Lifestyle and Fashion Photographer}

Feeling low?  Trust me, as a small business owner who is running a photography business, I know what it's like to put your work, your self on the line and be rejected. I recently entered a major photographer competition, and let's just say, I did less than well. While I scored, which is better than a competition that I entered in 2013, my scores were low.  I admit, I spent a few days being upset, and wondering where do I go from here?  It's like riding a horse. You just hop right back on.

Success does not come easy, it comes with hard work. And if you give up, you will never really know how close you were to making it.  I wanted to share this link with you about famous people who were initially rejected at what they do at first, but went on to become amazing.  You have no idea how close you are, just keep working hard.

http://www.distractify.com/people/famous-people-rejection-letters/

This is one of the images that I submitted to the print competition. Titled, "Let them eat cake".  Styling a Marie Antoinette inspired shoot was a lot of work, and I was very proud of this image. The model loved the way she looked.  I scored very low on this image at competition. But I will not give up. 

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Your own worst critic {Delaware Lifestyle Photographer}

I know a lot of photographers struggle with being their own worst critic, and just trying to figure out where you are in your style and place in business. Here's my tip:

Whenever I am feeling down, or unsure, I look back at all the emails and comments from my comments. The ones where they say how much they love their images, the ones where they say they have tears in their eyes because I captured such beautiful memories, those types, and those remind me that my journey is not complete and I am giving people something amazing.

Being a photographer is non stop learning and growing. I may not be where I want to be, but I am a heck of a lot further from where I was. And I thank every single person who has been on this journey with me and loved the moments I was able to capture for them.

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Recycled Craft Ideas {Delaware Lifestyle & Fashion Photographer}

I love re-using items and making crafts. Love it. A good portion of my home has been made from refurbished furniture and lots of crafting. When I came across this link for 41 Ways to make something new out of something old, I had to share!  Take a look at these cool ideas: http://www.countryliving.com/crafts/projects/green-crafts-0309#slide-1.  Here are some of my favorites:

(Alison Gootee)

(Alison Gootee)

(Kate Mathis)

(Lara Robby/Studio D)

(Adrian Briscoe)

And these are just a couple of the cute ideas that they have. So go forth and craft!

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Milestone Session: Parker is One! [Delaware and Pennsylvania Lifestyle Family Photographer}

As much as I love Milestone collections, I am always said to see them end. It usually means that the baby I have photographed is turning one, and is now entering toddlerhood. I have had the honor of photographing Parker and his wonderful family since he was in his mommy's tummy, when I did their first maternity session at Longwood Gardens.  Since then I have watched Parker grow into an adorable little guy, and his big sister Natalie grow into a smart and wonderful little girl.

Even though this was Parkers 1 year birthday session, I focused on photographing the entire family just loving each other and having fun.  I was super happy to have Parker and Natalie's grandmother available for a couple of images!  Take a look below:

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Maternity Session: Shasta [Delaware Lifestyle Family Photographer}

I still remembering photographing Shasta's first maternity session when she was pregnant with her and her husband Fred's first daughter Elsa. I was pretty new to the photography game, and was thankful that they allowed me to document that special time in their lives. I have since photographed them quite a few times since then, including their most recent maternity session.

Let me first just say how adorable Shasta is, and how awesome her family is. I love them to death, and they are all amazing people. I am so excited for this family!  Take a look at their amazing studio styled maternity session with a bit of a retro flair:

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What do I carry? {Delaware Lifestyle Family & Fashion Photographer}

I get asked all the time when I am out on shoots, what kind of camera bag do I have, because my bag is so cute and doesn't look like a camera bag. I take that as a HUGE compliment! I have a serious purse addiction to begin with, so with all of the options of camera bags out there, I know first hand that it can be difficult to pick one. So here is my review of my two camera bags from JoTotes .  Besides being affordable, stylish, and amazing, these bags are really great quality.

My first bag that I purchased was the Rose bag in teal. I purchased this bag well over three years ago, before I had Charlotte, and it has held up amazingly. I am pretty rough on my gear, and this bag has been through countless weddings, being dropped, being tossed into the car, and my gear is safe inside of it.

(all product images directly from the JoTotes website)

The Rose bag was big enough for me to carry two bodies, two lenses, flash, batteries, cf cards, and my personal items such as my wallet and keys.  When I shoot weddings, I am pretty firm on what I shoot with, and that is my 5dMkii with (at the time) my 50mm 1.2 and 70-300 lenses.  If I rented a different lens, or had more gear on hand, I would keep my back up in my back up bag that was with my second shooter, and add whatever gear I needed.  One of the features that I love the best is that the inside is velcro, and the sections are padded, so you can adjust and move the sides to fit your gear perfectly no matter what you want to carry. Also those metal studs on the bottom keep the bottom of my bag from getting scraped and messed up. I now use this bag as my back up bag which has my two back up bodies, two back up lenses, charger, batteries, and battery grips for those cameras.  For a while, I actually used it as a diaper bag for my daughter.  The fact that it had sections that I can move made keeping the diaper bag very organized.


Now, as a treat to myself in 2013, I purchased a new bag when I went through a rebrand of my business. Of course, I already knew that I was going to pick another bag from Jo Totes, but which one?  After an hour of searching and flipping out, and asking my husband and sister which one I should get, I settled on the Gracie bag in the color Greige. A nice, neutral, khaki type color.  Unfortunately the site does not have the bag in my color, so this is it in Butterscotch and Lilac:

I love this bag because of the size. It is nice and roomy, and fits nicely when slung around my body with the include strap.  Plus the metal feet on the bottom. Also, pockets and zippers!  Since being with my husband, he has instilled in me the importance of pockets, and this bag has pockets and zippers galore. Typically I keep my extra batteries, charger, business cards and keys in the front two pickets.  My wallet and person stuff in the inside zipper section, and I can even fit my ipad into this.  Now that I mainly photograph families, this bag hold my main camera body and my two lenses, with room for my water bottle and snacks.

Both bags are made out of high quality faux-leather, so they are vegan friendly.

The Rose bag was $89, and the Gracie bag was $119. In my eyes, money well spent, and again, the waulity has been amazing.  If you are in the market for a great quality bag, Jo Totes is the way to go!

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