As I have the past several years, I am offering a free photography workshop for beginning photographers. Just like last year, the workshop has two parts. First, we will talk about basic photography tips that can be accomplished with any camera. Things like composition, light, etc. We will take a break, and then we will talk about using an SLR camera, including what all of the modes and functions mean, what different lenses do, etc. The workshop is not geared towards professional or aspiring professional photographers, and we will not be discussing business-related things at all.

I created a Facebook event to keep track of who’s coming and to have a way to contact all participants. Click here to view the event and to join us:

Photography Workshop  **Edited to add: The workshop is on Friday, January 27 at 6 p.m. I’m guessing it will last 2-2.5 hours. For some reason, it didn’t show up correctly for someone on Facebook, so I wanted to make sure you were all there at the right time!

As I mentioned before, my website is going through a bit of a server migration and this includes my e-mail. I realized tonight that I am not getting e-mails, although that should be worked out by now. I promise I am not ignoring e-mails–I always reply w/in 24 hours so please try again if I do not. You may also use my family e-mail cjscott@mchsi.com. That one is working!

I’ve also had one client gallery completely disappear from the ordering area (not their actual images–those are on my hard drive), one client’s shopping cart was cleared, and one order was lost (luckily I’d already ordered it from the lab). It seems the main errors took place while my site was actually moving, earlier this week, but that doesn’t explain my e-mail issue. *sigh*

AND I posted two blog posts this week and they disappeared. Boo! They were good ones, too.

I’m so sorry for the inconvenience!

I am not taking near as many snapshots of our daily lives since taking a break from my Project 365, so I am starting it back up! This time around, I’m switching things up a bit by using only black and white pictures and only natural light (no flash). If you are not sure what this project is, I explained it on this blog post: 2010 Project 365 (by the way, I did finish and do all 365 days of 2010).

My new images are on my  Project 365 Blog, and here is Thursday’s!

I am way behind on blogging client sessions, but I just have to hop on here and tell you about an amazing thing that happened in Morrison today.

As a native to Morrison, I am well aware of how small it is. In high school, I couldn’t wait to get out. In college, ditto. I am not going to lie–I still have the itch to live in the city sometimes. But, now that I have children, especially, I really appreciate a lot of things about little old Morrison. One of them is the sense of community. You just do not find this is larger areas. I know they have neighborhoods and so forth, but it’s not the same as the whole town gathering together for a cause. We’ve had numerous instances in my lifetime where this town has pulled together…off the top of my head, when a 5th-grade boy was struck by lightning on the playground last year, several times when someone has had a life-threatening illness or disease, and most recently, today, when a beloved soldier returned home.

Corporal Joseph Brewer returned home today from a deployment to Afghanistan. They say that nothing spreads faster than gossip, but a viral Facebook posting of the good kind, fliers around town, and the local media all helped to spread the word in just two days and hundreds of people lined the streets to watch Joe and his family parade through town.

Joe’s wife, Chelsea, is Evan’s swim coach, so Evan was excited to be a part of the welcome-home parade and to see “BayLeigh’s dad.” BayLeigh, who is on the swim team with Evan, is the oldest of Joe’s four daughters. Shortly before their anticipated arrival, we set up lawn chairs in the shade of a friend’s yard along the parade route with flags at the ready. We were joined by several other kids and their families.

Shortly after the group photo, sirens announced the arrival of the caravan including firetrucks, the patriot guard, the Brewers, and several cars of friends and family.

I know not everyone believes in the war, but believing in it or not does not diminish the sacrifice this soldier made for YOU. He missed an entire year of his daughters’ lives, the birth of one of his daughters, and other events too numerous to list. Gathering together to cheer and wave flags as he drove through town was a very small deed in comparison to what this man and his family all gave for us in the past year.

Back when I started my photography business, I decided against selling digital files. I like handing over the final product. Control-freak that I am, I do not like not seeing the final prints that the customer will be hanging on the wall. It’s like an artist that sells a piece of art that is 95% finished, and he lets someone else add the last few brush strokes. Scary stuff.

But, I know it’s the new millennium, and people want digital files. In 2009 I started selling a digital collection, and it’s been hugely popular. The big worry for me is where my clients will have these images printed. My monitor is calibrated with the pro labs that I use. It’s a delicate process. The files I sell come with a release to print anywhere chosen, but there is a HUGE difference between images printed at Wal-mart, Snapfish, etc. and a pro lab. Most pro labs only offer their full services to people with a business license, but several have a separate branch of their company for regular consumers. A couple of examples are www.mpix.com and www.smugmug.com. I’m sure there are others, but these are two I’m familiar with. When my clients purchase digital files, they receive a custom CD of the files in the mail, but I also upload their images to Smugmug. This allows them to print from Smugmug and use their lab (Smugmug is not free to use; Mpix is). It also allows for things like immediate downloading of files, remote linking, and easy photo sharing.

Until now, my one and only digital collection contained all of the files from the session. Alternately, clients could purchase a single digital file. I realized that I needed something in the middle for those who needed more than one file, but couldn’t afford the whole works. Here are my two new collections:
The Digital Mini I – 10 full-resolution digital files
The Digital Mini II – 5 full-resolution digital files and either a 5×7 or 8 wallets of each of the 5 images

And since no post is complete without a picture, here’s a shot of the start of the Easter Seals 4 mile run a few weeks ago. The guy in the Loras singlet ended up winning. My husband is the one in the red shoes.

Hi all, it’s time for the second annual LOVE special! Desk prints (prints 8×10 and smaller) are 50% off through midnight on Sunday, February 20th. This is a great time to reorder wallets and other small prints from your session! Contact me by midnight on February 19th if you need your gallery re-loaded. If you know the image number, you can just e-mail me your order and I’ll send you an invoice. The image number is on the back of the print and it is something like “IMG_0205″. The coupon code for this special, which you will enter in the checkout area of the online ordering system, is “cupid”. All prints qualifying for this special must be ordered separately from larger prints. Let me know if you have any questions!

I’d love to put a Valentine image here, but I don’t really have one. I do, however, have an image of my daughter wearing a Valentine outfit; does that count?

It’s winter, and I’m getting around to updating some things around here. First off, something easy. Check out my new “Share the Love” linky-do at the bottom of each post.  It allows you to share easily to Facebook, Twitter, and a bunch of other sites that I don’t even understand.

Secondly, check out my new splash page with pictures from 2010 here: http://www.janscottphotography.com/ I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit proud for creating that myself.

And third, what is a blog post worth if it has no picture? Here’s my 8-month-old (!?) cutie, modeling a sweater that was mine when I was a baby.

Next up: an updated website and a blog post of another snowy session. Stay tuned.

Most of you are probably aware of the Alex Cartwright benefit coming up this Saturday. If you are not, you can learn more about the day’s events here: Alex Cartwright Benefit Facebook Event.  Alex is the young man who was tragically struck by lightning earlier this year. He is making progress with his recovery, though, and he will actually be able to come to the event!

I am donating a session to this auction taking place Saturday night, so please come bid!  The winner will receive a session and a $300 print credit. Let’s raise some big bucks for Alex!  I don’t have a picture of Alex to share, but I will share this image, as it’s the image that will be on display for my auction item (but in color):

I am running a LOVE special in honor of my beloved clients and my three years of business! For the next three days (through midnight February 17), save 50% off all desk prints (8×10 and smaller). This applies to a la carte prints only and not packages or wall displays. If your gallery is already loaded, use the coupon code VDAY3 to receive the 50% off. If you need a gallery from the past year reposted, e-mail me by February 16 so I can repost it in time for you to place an order on the 17th. Because you will be using a coupon code, all orders using this special must be placed separately from orders including wall displays, packages, and/or large prints.

And, because no photography blog post should be without an image, here is a shot I took of one of the cupcakes my son took to preschool on Friday.

(cupcake made by Amie Behrens of Edibly Divine).

Next Saturday, I am holding a very informal, very beginner photography class here in Morrison. We will talk about things like how and when to use the different modes on your camera (no manual mode), how to take better pictures with your own camera, and some basic photo editing using a free program. Last summer, I did a workshop for those wanting to use their SLR cameras, but this one is much more basic and any camera will do.

The workshop is at 10 a.m. and is free to anyone who loves cameras and photography! E-mail me at jan@janscottphotography.com if you are interested and I’ll let you know when the details!