Haven’t posted a picture in a while…so I dug up this one I took a few weeks ago!
I could eat her up!
My photo friend Carol Gibson along with some other talented local photographers are part of a photography fine art show that is displaying some of their work. It is presented by the C.H. Booth Library and the Newtown Woman’s Club and it will be on display February 1 – 29th and there will be a reception on February 7th at 11:30 a.m. It is held at the CH Booth Library on Main Street in Newtown CT. You should swing by to check it out!
Filed under: 1
If you haven’t checked out my blog down below about my photographers lunch that I am putting together then you should! This Saturday there will be a few of us photographers getting together to have lunch and talk shop…only requirement to go to the lunch is to have an interest in photography, no need to be professional. It will be a lot of fun and I am very much looking forward to it…
So just in case you don’t stalk my blog on a regular basis like I hope you do, here is the info again ;o)
Date: Saturday February 2nd!
Where: Sesame Seeds Restaurant in Danbury, 68 West Wooster Street
Time: 12 noon
Requirement: Be there or be square! ;o)
Tonight I made the trip to Norwalk to meet up with Shannon, who is a fan of my work (blush blush) and she is going to be my next model for a Trash the Dress shoot. We are going all out for this and I am soooo excited to be working with her. She is a real cutie — She is going to be one HOT Bride! Yippeeeee!
So Shannon will be getting her make-up done , on me of course, and a day she will never forget! I know this will be a fun shoot to do since she is just as excited as me! I am so happy to have finally met her as we have corresponded from time to time via email and my blog…so it was really great to put a face with the name! I can’t wait to share the pics with you all!
Have a fun night…
meg
These tips are geared towards business owners who work from home. Working from home definitely has it’s perks, like working in your pajamas, setting your own hours, not having a boss to answer to, etc. etc. However, there are things that make working from home just as hard as leaving the house to go to work. If you’re a small business owner like myself, that works from home, I can assure you we have a lot in common when it comes to distractions, epecially if you have children and family close by. So my usual distractions include, the phone, visitors that stop by without calling, children (although I love them dearly, they certainly are NOT quiet), chores that need to get done (I love it when I go upstairs to use the bathroom and think of the twenty things I didn’t get to yet, like the toys scattered around, the floors that are screaming to be cleaned, dishes in the sink, and need I mention the laundry that is like the Leaning Tower of Pisa)
So here are six tips to help you stay focused if you are a work-from-home-business owner like myself!
1. You must keep your reason in the forefront of your mind as to why you decided to work from home. If you forget your reason for choosing to work from home, you won’t be working for yourself for long. If is far too easy to let circumstance drive your activities..and when this happens you are more likely to crash and burn.
2. Remember, your business is a REAL job. When you work for yourself, your salary is directly proportional to your productivity. Therefore it all comes down to the words we have heard over and over, TIME IS MONEY.
3.When you are dealing with family in the course of your workday, it is important to schedule your activities as much as possible. With kids this is extremely challanging. I know from experience, as I have two of them. I have found now that I have a more regular schedule with my children that I have peace of mind knowing that I can get to my work at a designated time of the day.
4.Don’t permit family and friends to visit whenever they feel like it. NOOOOO! Don’t do it. I know, also from experience, that people (not mentioning names) like to stop on over any old time thinking that I am home just hanging out. Not so much. I am actaully working, believe it or not! Make it known to those family and friends that you’re working. ( I feel giving them the list of things on my to-do-list helps with making them realize “wow, she really does work”).
5. EMAIL…need I say more…I am soooo guilty of checking my email way to much and I am working on this. It is a very addictive activity and it sucks me in like a vaccum. Yikes! So make a time to do so and then leave it at that. Twice or three times a day is better than all day long.
6.If you find that you are spending too much time doing all the odds and ends stuff for your business such as running errands, ordering prints, making sure you have this and that, and this has begun to interfere with your actual productive, creative work, then maybe you should consider hiring some part-time help to alleviate that stress.
Hope this helps!
Have a happy Monday!
Meg
Filed under: My Life
I really don’t have a picture right now to blog with so this will be a boring post for all you people like me that skip right to the pictures. You know who you are.
Anyhow…so here is a crazy random fact about me…
I once had a gun shot four times in the air to scare me in the middle of the desert in Arizona by two men smoking something unusual. I was completely alone photographing the scenery, apparantly on someone else’s property. There was also a random helicopter meeting with a truck in the middle of this vast desert land…hmmmmm….not too shady.
Crazy but true and I am truely lucky to be alive today. I still lay awake at night and think about it if I have had too much coffee to drink.
Happy Thursday!
-Meg
Twenty decades ago (not really ;o) I shot a Trash the Dress session with the infamous Talia from Sixpence For Your Shoe . As Jack Black would say, Talia’s in the BIZ. She is the co-owner of the wedding co-ordinating business and I really loved working with her and her husband, Ed! I knew this shoot would go well the second I met Talia. She is a real smart business woman, down to earth, very likeable and also absolutely beautiful inside and out.
I gave her an extra big blog entry because she has been teased badly and waited very patiently to see her pics…
You may recognize her, as she was the pair of eyes on my blog header through the month of Novemeber and December!!!
So here is the lovely Talia…
We shot at Castle Hill Farm in Newtown CT with permission from the Paproski’s, who own the farm! It was so generous of them to allow us to shoot right next to their home!
we were blessed with some serious afternoon glow for some awesome flair shots…
This is Ed…he reminds me of John Cusak.
Talia was envisioning some bales of hay. I love hay! ;o)
I love this shot…I get a very angelic feel from it.
I was going to make my own boquet but then realized I am better off sticking to photography! So I swung by the Flower Corner in Bethel and they did a great job on the flowers! I loved them!
I always love to capture a little body language…
We got cut short of light real fast so I broke out my tiny itty bitty video light for some night shots…
Thanks again Talia and Ed! Now lets go get some dinner and have fun! ;o)
Oh yeah…and by the way…I realized her dress stayed too darn clean for a trash the dress shoot so we are headed out for a PART 2 in some mud!!! Can’t wait!
P.S. you can check out Talia’s blog here. She has posted a little bit about our shoot!
okay…I am winding down with the last of my editing for my 2007 season and will be working on my album designs for the next two months.
I would love to do another Trash the Dress shoot to keep my creative juices flowing and have a location picked out in my mind…it involves some really old, junked up cars in the middle of the woods! I also already have the dress. So if you are about a size 10 or 12 then give me a buzz or leave an email and we can set it up.
Anyone who does a shoot with me, as usual, gets to have their makeup done by the one and only Kristen from MAC. I would love to incorporate some snow in the picture too! so if you are up for some fun in the not so warm sun…then give me a buzz and we can set up the shoot really soon!
meg
By the way…the only requirement for this shoot is to be willing to do just about anything. I always have lots of fun with clients that give me free reign. That is a dream come true for photographers. The sky is the limit when you hang out with me for the day!!! ;o)
totally by accident but kinda liked this shot…
The other day I had a very nice conversation with one of my future bride’s father (I hope that is gramatically correct). He is a very positive person and truely has a great perspective on life. He even told me if I happen to fall at his daughter’s wedding and break my camera that he wouldn’t be upset with me! I got a chuckle out of that! I carry back up gear just for that reason!
So anyway…we had a very nice chat and I noticed while waiting for him in his office that there was a list of 10 Secrets to Success. I told him I need to copy that down and remember it. I was very serious about that. So here are the top 10 secrets to success…which I think can be applied to any aspect of life…not just in business. These are worded a bit different than his list…but the jist of it is the same!
1. How you think is everything. Think Positive at every opportunity. Visualize success, not failure. Avoid negative people and environments. You are what you think.
2. Decide on your dreams and goals. Be specific about your goals. Create a plan to reach your goals and stick to it.
3. Take Action. Goals alone have no meaning. You need to take action to make them real. Don’t let fear hold you back.
4.Never stop learning. Take classes, go back to school, read books, join a discussion group. If you are interested in a subject take time to learn about it. Keep acquiring new skills.
5. Be persistant and work hard. Success is a marathon…not a sprint. Don’t give up.
6.Learn to analyze details. Get all the facts and ask for input. Acknowledge your mistakes and learn from them.
7. Focus your time and money. When you believe in something, put your attention and energy there. Don’t let people or things distract you.
8. Don’t be afraid to innovate; Be different. Be true to yourself, and have your own ideas. Following a crowd is a path to mediocrity. (this is a huge one for photographers in this industry)
9. Communicate with people effectively. Remember that no person is an island. Communicate your thoughts and desires honestly, and encourage others to communicate honestly with you. Practice understanding and motivating other people.
10.Be honest and dependable; take responsibility for what you do. Never cheat or lie. When you make a promise, keep it. When you screw up, admit it.
there you have it! have a fun weekend! -megOne of my twenty new years resolutions is to really focus on the marketing end of my business this year. So today I got the first half of my new marketing materials in! I am really working hard on having everything tie together to brand myself. Everything has the same feel and look to it, from my website and studio to my business cards and marketing materials. I know this is not really anything too interesting to you probably, but I dream about this kind of stuff at night!
;o)
Don’t have much else to blog about today! Happy Friday!
-meg
