She creates the most adorable kids clothes and toys, including aprons, onesies, superhero capes and “I Spy” bags. She’s always up to something new. Contact her for custom designs, perhaps something for Mother’s Day?

This monthly project is the most fun, and certainly the most valuable I’ve ever done.

Happy 4 months baby girl.

Not so happy you say? Well perhaps I can change that.

Do I have your attention now?

I thought so.

I want to take today to feature a friend of mine, the genius behind those yummy treats. Now I don’t mess around and throw praises like “yummy treats” around willy-nilly. I’ve taste tested these and they have my unwavering stamp of approval.

The lovely genius is Jess Robie, the owner, baker and decorator behind Igidagiggida CAKE.

And if you’re wondering about the unconventional name of her company, the story behind it is that when she was a baby, she dove full force into a cake and uttered those very words in her excitement: “Igidagiggida CAKE!”

Another fun fact, is that I’ll be linking up with her on any photo shoot cake needs. For instance, a first birthday cake smash?

We’ve got you covered.

And now, for some fun.

The next five clients who book with me will be receiving their choice of bite-sized cake treats in the form of pops or balls!

That sounded dirty. Apparently I have the mind of an 8-year-old boy.

 Also, a reminder that this month I’m offering an astounding 25% off my photo sessions and $500 off my wedding packages. Your session does not need to be held in April, but it must be booked in April to receive this discount.

For $300 you’ll have a full session (on average 1-2 hours) and receive your final, edited images on archival CD with printing rights.

XOXO Briana

SPRING MINI SESSIONS

2 dates, 2 locations:
Sat. April 7 – Burncoat Park in Worcester, MA
Sat. April 14 – Westville Lake in Sturbridge, MA

$150 for a 15 min session and 5 final, edited images on CD

contact me at briana@wakeupjuliet.com or 508-341-4118 to reserve an appointment between 11-4 on either date.

Yesterday was one of those days.

As you may remember from an earlier post, I went into Boston for Jasmine Star – the Fix. But before that, I had helped arrange a photo walk at the Boston Public Library. I think this was just as amazing as Jasmine’s presentation itself.

We all met at the front of the library and headed into the beautiful atrium, which was teeming with patrons sipping coffee, studying, and enjoying the brilliant 70 degree day. The sun shot a shadow diagonally down into the courtyard, casting ideal open shade over the entire area. We had free range.

Well, except for the dry fountain, which apparently was a ceiling to a room underneath. Oops.

Once in the courtyard, we gathered together and I realized something petrifying. I had just assumed that if a bunch of photographers gathered together, they’d organically start shooting one another and have a grand ol’ time. Yeah, maybe if everyone knew each other.

So I oh so coolly (aka like a deer in headlights) fumbled with questions to get to know each other and feel out what experience levels we had. A couple of us started scouting locations and things began falling into place.

Our lone male photographer, Ryan, newly dubbed “Pittsburgh”, was a sport and let us practice posing a guy, which can be tough.

And that quickly turned into a mock engagement session.

After some initial awkwardness, you know, seeing as they’ve never met before…

They totally rocked it out.

We then moved across the street to the Trinity Church.

Where we all spent some time in front of the camera.

Jasmine was absolutely fabulous, as always, and I’m refreshed, motivated, and ready to “take 2012 by the cajones”.

Like, celebrities.

In the blogging and photography worlds at least.

It’s too much pressure. I can’t do it. I’m going to make an arse out of myself.

On Monday, I’ll be attending Jasmine Star’s The Fix. I love this girl. I’ve met her once before, and she’s a sweetheart. She believes in sharing her story and teaching in the photography community. She also revels in her imperfections, and truly lives the marketing idea that you are your brand.

(image from jasminestarblog.com)

The crazy thing is that I’m kinda sorta leading a photo walk beforehand. I’m not sure how it happened. Someone brought up the idea in a Facebook group we created, and then I picked it back up, arranged times, locations, and created an event. So unlike me, but I like it.

Note to self, take the initiative more often.

I’ll have some lovely shots and lots of new photographer friends to share next week. We’ll be shooting at the Boston Public Library which is crazy beautiful.

Then, on Thursday, I’ll be attending my very first book signing. I’m geeking out. Who will I be seeing?

(image from southernliving.com)

One Ree Drummond, otherwise known as The Pioneer Woman.

Even though she’s become known for her cooking (excuse my drool), it was her photography tutorials that first inspired me to take my skills beyond point and shoot. But she also has a very diverse blog, where she writes about whatever she wants and succeeds marvelously. I crack up at her posts regularly. Oh, and she’s on the TV.

She’ll be in Boston promoting her newly published second cookbook.

I feel my thighs growing just thinking about it.

And little does Ree know, but we’ll be best friends after Thursday night. Because I have a plan. A tricky plan, which is the best kind of plan.

What’s the plan?

I’m bringing her.

As you can see, she has her game face on.

See, Ree’s a mom of four, and she loves babies. And Natalie is squishy and smiley and will be a few days shy of 3 months old, which is totally an appropriate age to exploit for an invitation to the Drummond Ranch to ride horses, take photos, cuddle with Charlie, and enjoy the amazing cooking of my new BFF.

Right?

Well, I’ll be sure to let you know.

Unless I’m on a plane heading to Oklahoma, in which case, well, you’ll know.

But now I need to ponder the important questions of life.

What the heck am I going to wear????

]]> http://wakeupjuliet.com/?feed=rss2&p=406 2 http://wakeupjuliet.com/?p=400 http://wakeupjuliet.com/?p=400#comments Mon, 05 Mar 2012 18:42:17 +0000 admin http://wakeupjuliet.com/?p=400 This has been a long time coming. Ever since I picked up a camera and fell in love with photography, I’ve dreamed of putting all of my energy behind making it a career. I’ve been blessed to work at it part time while I continued at my full time job, but then SHE happened.

Miss Natalie Rose, otherwise known as “My World”. In the last 11 weeks, she’s grown so much, and she continues to grow, learn and figure out new things hourly. I can’t imagine not being present to witness it. So I let go of my safety net to invest more time to my family and dream. I am now…officially…a photographer. Not “oh I do this but on the side I do photography”.

I am a Photographer.

It’s scary. Petrifying really.

But I refuse to back down from the challenge. I want to be a role model for my baby girl. I want to show her what is possible in life. I want to show her how to not settle for less than amazing.

And with something this big, it’s only right to celebrate. I’ll be announcing details later this week about the Wake Up, Juliet Photography Launch Party and Spring Mini Sessions!

Even if she drools right after.

Angles

Background

Cropping

Remember that composition refers to what makes up the photo. It can take a shot from meh to good or from good to great. But it requires looking through the viewfinder and taking a few moments to think about “ABC” before just snapping.

So let’s talk about cropping.

Cropping

Many people think of this as a post processing item, but I like to save myself time and get my images as close to perfect in camera as possible.

So we’re going to play some “Good Crop, Bad Crop” (sorry, bad play on words, but I had to) and talk about cropping when people are involved. This is an instance where you should learn the rules first in order to break them later on. As a general rule, if you don’t want to include a full body shot, think in thirds. Crop for a portrait, a 2/3 shot or go full body. Avoid cropping at a joint, and look for the thinnest parts of their bodies.

Portrait -

Good crop: Crop around the natural waist, or between the breasts and the waist if she’s pear shaped. Avoid the elbow, and if she’s large breasted, it’s  safer and more flattering to crop between the elbow and the wrist.

Bad crop: Don’t crop a woman at her breasts, especially if she’s well endowed. Avoid cropping at the elbows, which will look stunted and awkward.  Chopping a large breasted woman off just below the breasts and above the elbow will weight the bottom of the photo, and create a heavy, boxy body on an otherwise hourglass woman.

2/3 shot -

Good Crop: Crop just above or a bit below the knees. This will elongate the body and allow more body language to be portrayed in the photo.

Bad Crop: Do not crop at the hips, which are usually the widest part of the body. Knees and ankles should also be avoided. Cropping at the knees will look awkward, and chopping the feet off at the ankles seems frivolous…why not make it a full body shot? If you’re avoiding bad footwear, take it up to just below the knees.

EXTRA CREDIT

An amazing type of cropping that allows for freedom and innovation is the close crop. Extremely effective when capturing intimacy, emotion, and details, this effect usually focuses on a single body part, or part of a part. Drawing in close to a couple embracing creates a feeling of love and intimacy. Using a macro lens or zooming in tight can let you focus on tiny baby toes, the anxiously folded hands of a bride, the careworn, wrinkled hands of a great grandparent on newborn baby skin.

So this weekend, take some shots and pay attention to the cropping. Upload them to the Flickr page and I’ll share some on Wednesday!

Angles

Background

Cropping

Remember that composition refers to what makes up the photo. It can take a shot from meh to good or from good to great. But it requires looking through the viewfinder and taking a few moments to think about “ABC” before just snapping.

So let’s talk about the background.

Background

It’s the 4th of July and you and your family and friends are having a great time at a BBQ when your Cousin Jenny wants a shot with her sisters. She hands you her camera and they squeeze together. You snap the photo and kick yourself when you realize a couple days later that they were standing in front of the parked cars…in particular your brother’s junky, mud covered truck. And there’s a bush right behind Jenny that makes it look like she’s wearing it as a hat. If you had taken a moment and looked beyond your subjects when you were taking the photo, you could have avoided those hiccups and made the photo frame worthy.

You want the cleanest, least cluttered “set” to take the picture. Find a blank wall, a fence, a tall hedgerow. Not seeing any? Combine B with A and work with angles. Stand on a chair or picnic table and have them sit or lay down on the ground with their heads in the center. It’s fun, they’ll laugh, and by shooting down, the background is now the grass, a picnic blanket, or the asphalt.

Your assignment this weekend is to take a picture with the background in mind. Whether it’s taking a second to declutter or scootch a step to the right to keep that tree from “growing” out of your subject’s head, or finding a unique background that enhances your image instead of distracting from the subject.