About a week ago a did a photoshoot for these two little twin boys!! They were sooo adorable!! We had a blast! Here is the **slideshow** from it!
Today Sarah came over to work and get things caught up...we(or should I say she!) got soooo much done it was amazing!!! I'm going to have all my things caught up I'm not going to know what to do!! LOL!
WHAT A WEEKEND!!!! Wow!! Well on Saturday I second shot for the awesome Dennis Lee! It was a beautiful wedding in St. Charles! I really learned alot!! I found out that I shoot very "West Coast" apparently! I wonder how that happened???? hehe! It was a blast! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures from that since I shot with his cards...
I got home around midnight and had to wake up pretty early to start heading to the next wedding up in Lake Geneva!! We got off to a great start and were about half an hour early!! About 20 minutes before we get there my car just died...full tank of gas and everything!! It was really strange!! At first we thought it had overheated because it was like 95 degrees and HUMID! But that wasn't it...so after about a half an hour of walking around and trying to figure out what had happened, and doing a little photoshoot we finally decided to call a tow truck....ya think?? lol! Thankfully we were so close to the wedding that one of the guests was able to pick Mark and I up so we could at least get there and start shooting!! Jake was sooooo incredibly awesome and offered to stay with the car and have it towed home!!! MAN!!!
Copyright 2006 Mark Collins
5 hours, 1 water bottle, a hand full of mixed nuts, in basically 100 degree weather the tow truck finally pulled up!!!!
While all this was happening Mark and I were shooting the whole wedding which was beautiful!! Jeannine and Peter are sooo cute together! It was awesome!! I can't wait to get a full slideshow up on my main site!!! Here is the **slideshow** that we showed at the reception:) At around 11 Jake showed up!!! He had driven with the tow truck allll the way home, picked up his car and drove all the way back up here to pick us up!!!! I think he deserves employee of the day, week, year, etc!!! My assistants are sooo awesome and dedicated!!!! Thank you sooo much you two!! You guys rock!!! I have NO clue what I would have done without you guys! Wow!!
Happy Memorial Day everyone!!!!!
So one of the things that I realized after this retreat is that I need to accomplish some of my goals!!! lol! One of my goals that I had before I get married was to write a book, actually two...but the other one is still in the works! I realized that I could keep procrastinating on this book or at least get something started and start writing! So yesterday I started the "Dear Natalie" blog
Basically, a couple years ago one of my sisters friends parents had a party for the girl. The party was basically welcoming the girl into womanhood, a whole bunch of women came and brought words of encouragement for her for the coming years and how to be a Proverbs 31 woman! I decided to write a little something for her and it ended up being 3 pages of notes!! I thought after that that I should write a book for girls from someone who had just been through what they are going through! My sister Natalie is having her "Welcome to Womanhood" party soon so I decided to start this blog for her and other girls around her age just to help them out! Check it out! And even though most of you probably aren't teen girls...well maybe you are!!!...I think some of it will still be relevant for all of us! Have an awesome day everyone!!
Yesterday was incredible!! I took some time to get away and got big time refreshed and REVIVED!! lol! I came back with my priorities straightened and ready for the big wedding season coming up! I went to a gorgeous park called Fabeyn Woods and it has a little Japenese garden that is so cute it looks like it is from a fairy tale! Then last night I just sat in a coffee shop and studied some more, relaxed then walked along the Riverwalk in Naperville. The river walk is one of the most beautiful places around here especially at night! It is amazing!
So this afternoon to add to this awesome day...I had our friend/organizer Dannah come and help me organize my business!!! OMG!! It was incredible!! We took about two hours just going through all my stuff, getting systems set up, and throwing things away!!!! We filled up almost a big trash can full of paperwork!! Whew! Then Mark came over this afternoon to help blast through some color correcting! Which was such a huge help! So I decided awhile ago that I'm getting my business completly organized and systems set up so that I don't have to be so tied to it!! I also just set up a time rule of no work past 5:30 unless something is super pressing! So that I can focus on other things! And have a life!! Simply:)
This past weekend was great! My aunt Annie was in town from the Dominican Republic, where her and her husband are the directors of an awesome youth ministry called New Horizons. They take kids from the states who have alot of issues and bring them down there to get them back on the right track! The work that they do is so incredible and have helped soooo many kids!
On Saturday, we headed over to my cousins house to hang out and got to watch the first rough of their new music video, Never Alone!! It was soooooo AMAZING!!! Seriously awesome!! The first time we watched it we were all freaking out and actually clapped at some parts! That's how good it was!! lol!!
Ok...now for more serious stuff...hehe..
I was reading my friend David Jay's blog the other day and he wrote an incredible post that really struck me! **click here** to read it.
I have been thinking ALOT about how I run my business and how I treat others through it all. I realized that if I don't make time for God, other's, and even myself...then who cares about my business!! Because if relationships don't come first then I'm a failure! So today I am taking time to get away...FINALLY!! To regroup and go over my priorities in life. I think we all need to at some point do this every once in awhile! To get refreshed and renewed to exactly what you want to accomplish in this life and to make plans on how to impact others! I hope you all have an awesome day! And never forget those important people in your life who make you who you are!
Thanks DJ!:)
PS. The picture at the top is of someone so important in my life, Julianna, she is so cute and just started smiling!
On Thursday, I hired my friend Sarah Chellappa to be the Sarah Anne Photography Studio Manager!! I am so excited to have her help out because I have been really behind in some things and she's coming in to take care of all that!! Sarah and I have been friends for as long as I can remember! We met at our church and were both one of the probably 8 other Sarah's that went there!! So it got a little crazy but it was hilarious too! I've done two photoshoot's with Sarah, one for her senior pictures and one for a training photoshoot with my assistants! She is great! And knows how to "work that camera!!" LOL!! Alot of you probably recognize her from the **slideshow** on my website! Sarah is awesome and I'm sure she will be able to help take this business to the next level!!:)
Yesterday, I did photoshoot #2 for my friend Bethany!! It's for her senior pictures and she wanted to have one more normal one and one fun one with her gorgeous dress, she's so awesome to shoot and I love to do seniors, so I agreed:) Here are some pics from yesterday! It was sooo much fun! I brought along my new studio manager, Sarah, which I will introduce tomorrow...and it made it even more fun! We were practicing some things from the "One Light Workshop" and it was awesome to do some of the techniques while they were fresh!!
Enjoy! And have an incredible day!!!!
I'm sitting in a very urban artsy studio downtown Chicago for The One Light workshop!!
It is put on by an INCREDIBLE photographer Zack Arias!! He has shot over 200 bands and his lighting is just amazing!!! He just gets it! So about 13 other photographers and I are down here learning from him and all his techniques:) It has been a blast and I've already learned soooo much!! Here are a couple shots from today....we were shooting a local rock artist, Mer. He was such a trooper out in the cold with tons of paparazzi photographer all around telling him how to pose!! LOL!
Also the skyline shot is from the rooftop of the studio!! It is almost unreal!! I think I'm going to move here...hehe!!
Yesterday we were at my aunt and uncle's house for mother's day(BTW-Happy belated Mother's day to any of the mother's out there!!) and my cousin Sam who is 3 is a huge ham and LOVES to dance!! It's hilarious!! After seeing my blog my cousins wanted to record the dancing and have me put it up here!:) So here it is **movie**
As alot of you know my dad is from a family of 14 so the weddings are enormously huge and crazy!! The biggest highlight of the day is the dancing because almost the whole family gets up and takes over the floor!! I think all the other guests think how did the guy ever pick this family to marry into?? HEHE!! So we are training the kids young for the 30 more Barlow weddings to come!! lol!!
PS..Today was my first time ever wearing high heels!!! Crazy!! I know! But I'm such a flip flop girl....
...Mental note: never run through the mall in high heels to try to keep the elevator door open...
I completely wiped out! And I think sprained my ankle(cause I haven't been able to walk on it right..)!!! ugh! But it was hilarious!! haha!!! To bad I didn't have my camera...:( lol!
Here...finally is the engagement session that I did a couple weeks ago!!! It was a blast!! Tim & Jessica are so cute together!! And they are both really funny too! So it was awesome working with them!! Their wedding is coming up in Michigan!! I'm sooo excited!
Check out the **slideshow**!!!
Today was my dad's birthday! We had a great time! This morning I took him downtown to my favoritist(is that a word?? lol) place in the world to eat, the Four Seasons Conservatory for their Mediterranean table/buffet! It is by far the best place ever! You eat looking out over the city, it is incredible! And it is as if they haven't come out of the olden days because the waiters are like servants!! They pull out your chair for you and practically bow when you pass by! It's hilarious but so cool!! hehe!
Back to my dad...he is awesome and such an inspiration. And I'm glad to now call him my friend:) He has helped me so much in getting my business started and telling me stories about starting businesses when I was 5!! lol! Today on the way home from Chicago it was great! We were just talking and solving the problems of the world!! lol! It is great!
He just started a blog **click here**
And he is also the pastor of our **church**
Check it out!:)
Well I got permission to post the slideshow from the video shoot!!!
So here it is: **slideshow**
Enjoy!!
I just got back from Nashville and the Barlowgirl - Never Alone video shoot! It was awesome!! We went all over the place yesterday including an incredible old abandoned hospital!! It wasn't the safest or healthiest(asbestos everywhere..!!) but it was soooo cool! A photographers paradise!! It looked like it hadn't been touched for like 20 years!! So I got some texture shots:) Experimenting in a different kind of photography!
Back to the photoshoot...it went so well! The video guy was working with a vintage looking camera and shooting with film!!! Can't wait to see it!! I'll be able to post a slideshow of the shoot in June when the video comes out...but for now you'll all have to settle with these!;)
Oh!! And if I haven't responded to e-mails or returned calls...I haven't died!!! I'll be able to catch up on everything tomorrow and in the next couple days:)
I had one of the most incredible weeks/weekend!! It was so much fun!!! A group of us(David Jay[DJ], Lori Creech, Kevin VonQualen, my brother Andrew and I) went to an awesome conference on friday called Maximum Impact!! We learned a ton! But just hanging out was a blast!! I think we went to(and ate at) pretty much everywhere in Chicago!!...well not really but we jam packed every single day! It was great! hehe!
Here is an pretty dorky pic of DJ and I at like 2:30 in the morning...but it was the best one I had!! lol!
So on Saturday I did a wedding for two of our great friends Darnell & Shalita! It was so much fun!! Even though I was up until like 3 in the morning...I made it through the wedding still awake!(well partially!! hehe!) It was a beautiful wedding! And incredible because they saved their first kiss for their wedding day!!! How cool is that!!?? I've hardly ever heard of anyone who does that...so I think that was pretty sweet!:) Here is the **slideshow**!!
Tonight I am typing from Nashville!! I had a last minute trip down here to shoot my cousins(Barlowgirl) videoshoot!!! Today we just totally chilled which was sooo refreshing!! Because we were actually supposed to do the shoot today but found out that it was supposed to rain(which it never did..lol!) but we needed the rest!:) I'll keep you all up to date!!
Well one of my awesome friends is here in town, I don't think many people know of him...David Jay? ;) haha!
He is incredible! I actually don't have any pictures from this weekend..(maybe I'll get some tomorrow..) we are having such a great time that I haven't even gotten a chance to do any fun shooting! hehe!
He is basically going through the hazing process of our family!! hehe!! Cause all my brothers and sisters love him so much that they jump all over him!! It's hilarious!
If any of you don't know who this guy is just check out his site! It's awesome! Also his software program Showit which I use all over my website for the slideshows, is incredible!! If you are a photographer or into photography at all...stop what your doing and go get this software!! It will change your life:)
We are going to the Maximum Impact conference tomorrow!! So that should be amazing!
Wow...well I have been in a whole other world the past couple days!! lol!! The photography season kicked in...and it REALLY kicked in!! hehe!
Last night I did senior pictures for one of my really good friends, Bethany! She is soooo photogenic, there were like NO bad pictures of her!! lol! Here are a couple and she is definetely one that I'm putting up on my updated site...so you'll have to wait for the slideshow til it's up there!!;) I hope you all are having an awesome week!!
