Carrie Bassett Photography {the smileblog}

OK all, it is November and I am SO in the mood for all things Christmas.  Santa has his shopping done and I have tons of new holiday designs for this years cards (not that I have done MY cards yet).  I had to update the music today with some Christmas music.  Tori of course.  I am getting very excited because Tori is releasing an album on the 10th called “Midwinter Graces” and I do hope to be getting this as a birthday gift…so I have to wait about a month to actually get to listen to it…but I will get a good ten days of listening to it before the holiday is over.  So that is why I found a nice song from Tori to put on the blog to put you in that holiday mood.  I am sure I will putting more holiday music up now through the holiday…because you just need to get in the mood :)

I have been working on Christmas since August.  Yep, that is what I do come August…I try to scan the internet for card design inspirations.  I find so many I love that I just need to try to replicate.  That being said, I have tons that need new images to put in them.  So, enter my facebook contest!  You just need to be a fan of my business page http://tiny.cc/myfbfanpage <----just click there.  Then you send me an image or images and I will put it in one of my designs or perhaps I will be inspired to create something brand new for your image.  Once I have all the entries set, I will post them in an album on facebook and then they will be voted on by fans of my page…..so you need to get all your friends to become a fan so they can vote for your card.  More detail on the contest is in some of my earlier posts here.

I did want to share some that I have done recently…so you can see just how it works!  Hope you enter!

You know you all have one….the shot you set up, you tried so hard…but it just didn’t turn out as perfectly as you had hoped.  Well, send it to me and I will fix that horrible color and add the umph that it is missing.  When you send that image to carrie@carriebassett.com, I will retouch the image and put it into one of my beautiful card designs and enter it into my facebook contest. 

You need to be a fan of my facebook business page to enter, and anyone who wants to vote needs to also be a fan of my page.  Click here to become a fan of Carrie Bassett Photography on facebook.

When you enter, you decide what you want your greeting to be as well as what text you want (family member names etc).  You can take the option of getting the 25 cards sent to you with envelopes (a $50 value)  OR you can opt to just take the high res digital file and print it where you wish, you then supply your own 5x7 envelopes.  This contest is FREE FREE FREE, no reason to not enter!

Get started now, if you don’t have an image to send me, GO TAKE ONE!  Remember that you don’t have to have yourself or kids in the image…pets work well on this too.   More information will be posted soon!!!

Enter today! 

I had the pleasure to spend the day on Sunday with a friend I had not seen in YEARS.  We became friends while I was pregnant with my second, and she with her first.  Skye was born in Dec of 2002 and Talia in Jan of 2003.  They have not seen each other since they were about one I believe.  They became instant friends which was so awesome to see.  Skylar even told her class about Talia during share time at school, and I hear Talia is telling everyone she went to see her “first” friend.  So sweet.

Anyway….Miss Talia has gotten crazy big since I last saw her.  She still has that beautiful strawberry hair and pretty smile.  Her baby sister (who I just got to meet) reminds me so much of Talia as a baby I can’t even stand it.  Talia was quite the natural behind the camera.  Nola wanted very little to do with the whole event.  I think I managed to get some great shots of her anyway. 

I am sure I will post some family shots as well as some couple shots of mom and dad soon.  For now enjoy my Talia collage and Nola storyboard.

Oh wait….I finally got around to changing the music on here.  I figured that Pretty in Pink was fitting for Talia for sure.  AND I have been listening to more music like this lately…the Cure etc.  I love this song, always have…but thinking back to when I first heard it, it makes me feel crazy old….I guess I am, oh well.

The rain held off!  We had been watching the weather for two days now.  It looked to almost certainly be raining during this shoot…but I prayed, and it worked.  It was beautifully overcast which made conditions good for me, but my poor model got a bit cold toward the end.  Gotta love fall in New England, you just never know what the weather will do from minute to minute.

It was a pretty easy session for me tonight….I mean, I had a great model, not only is she beautiful, but follows direction so well.  I had so many that I loved, and believe it or not, this is NOT all of them.  Miss J, I will get the proofs to you and mom soon.  I am sure this amount on the blog will help hold you till then.  Thanks for a fun evening…oh and I hope mom gave you extra marshmallows in your hot chocolate…you worked hard for them!

As usual, it was difficult proofing the session from this beautiful family.  I have such a hard time narrowing things down.  I don’t much like making decisions.  I am never sure if the expression I think is not as great, just might be the endearing one to mom.  I usually keep those too and the ones I love.  Anyway, I love this one…the bubbles in the lips, I mean…SHUT UP, he is so cute!Mom was hoping to get some shots of these cuties in their John Deere shirts as a surprise for daddy.  Well, Miss Thing, is TWO…so getting ones of her and her three month old brother….ummm well, not so easy.  I did get one, but it didn’t really show their faces well, so I chose to make a collage.  I searched the net and found out the font that is used in the John Deere logo, well it is pretty close to it…very cute!  (hope their dad doesn’t stalk my blog….if he does…SURPRISE!!! LOL) I didn’t know what to show on the blog.  So, I made up a quick collage.  Some of these are my favorites, and there are others I love, but these fit the layout :)   As for this shot….well like I said earlier I am never sure what expression the parent might love.  Now, this is not the best portrait ever.  But, I have been working with this little girl for over a year now, so I am feeling like I am getting to know a bit about her.  And if YOU knew her, you would know that THIS is HER.  Hair up in a tail on top of her head, binkie in the mouth and the MOST loved on Elmo in the entire world close by.  For those reasons, I kept this image.  To ME, this captures her as she really is. Cute as can be :)

I am so in love with this little boy.  He was just so easy to work with…well except he moved his head constantly.  Just as I got the focus he would totally move.  He was so content.  Oh and he loved his hands.  There are so many shots of him and his hands.  I wanted to put something up tonight, and this one…well I loved how he was looking at his mom.  If you could see this closer up, you can see his mom as a reflection in his eyes.  She can make him smile and laugh and just look at her dreamy like this!  Little boys melt my heart.  I am thrilled that this little man is a part of my baby plan…I get to watch him grow up!  I started to photograph him while he was in his momma’s belly.  Then again at three weeks.  Now he is three months and I can not believe how big he is.  He weighs only a few pounds less than his two year old sister (but she really is a peanut…but still!)

I have been busy trying to find new designs to flatter a really cute set of girls.  Here are the proofs that their mom got to see.  The designs are also available to put your studio images in.  Make you appointment today for a studio session as this time of year fills up quick.  If you can’t make it in, send me your best images and we can put them in these designs! 

I wonder which their mom will choose… This one is one I just made up today after seeing a similar design online.  I am always scouring the web to be inspired by other designers.  I had to throw this into this post because I am so far behind.  This was from an image from a little girl who just loves her stuffed puppy.  This I am told will match her bedroom to perfection!  It will be hanging simply with a 1/4 inch foam board backing…it is going to look like a super cool poster.  SO fun!

So tonight I was playing with making Pop Art for three storyboards that I needed to create.  I was pleased with the results (the last three pictured).  I began to wonder if this would work with snap shots.  So, I put a request out on Facebook for people to send me some snap shots that I could play with.  They did, and I played.  Some images seem to work better than others, but all in all, it works!  I just wanted to show everyone how cool this could be….even with YOUR snap shots.  So, if this is something you are interested in….contact me.  I can totally see maybe four images in a big square and then maybe printed on canvas…super cool.  If printed on photo paper it will give you more of a poster look.  I am for sure going to make some for my kids rooms!  But now…to bed with me.  Oh, and on a side note for my photographer friends…I made an action for this…contact me if you are interested in purchasing it.

OK, so I had a cool idea today as I made myself a little wallpaper for my desktop.  (It is of a shot from last year of my children) How cool would it be to have a custom wallpaper with an image from your session???  Well it would be cool, in my opinion so here is the deal.  Any portrait session client that orders ANY of my packages from a 2009 session (this will apply even if your actual order is not placed until 2010) you will receive a free computer wall paper (digital file will be emailed to you) for your computer from one of your session images!  How fun!  I have to admit this forced me to clean up my desktop icons to get rid of the gazillion ones on there that I don’t even remember putting on there, you know the ones I NEVER use.  Here is my actual desktop.

Holiday time is approaching fast, and I anticipate it being my busiest year yet, which means October, November and December may be difficult to get in when YOU want your appointment.  Book now, take advantage of the current promotion of getting a free 11x14 print with your paid session fee…oh and then the very cool promotion of getting your very own desktop wallpaper created by moi.  Mine is very simple, I am dreaming up some more creative ones for you.

Another reminder.  Holiday cards.  These are best taken care of early so that we have time to communicate back and forth to create the best card for your family.  Holiday cards DO NOT have to be an image by Carrie Bassett Photography.  You can send me one of your favorite images you took this year, I will retouch it and make it as super pretty as I can in Photoshop….then place it in one of my card designs…easy easy, especially if you do not have the time to come in for a portrait session this year.

I know, I know I said I was going to post more from this session the next day.  Well, it is a week later….SORRY!

These are two of their mom and dad’s favorites!  Hope you like them too, very much reflects their personalities :)