Motherhood its a big deal - Raleigh Maternity Photographer

my girls walked out the front door to school today and i just could not get over them. i am so in love with these two, little, almost big, people. no they are not perfect, believe me i'm not one to paint the pretty mom picture. they are kids! they whine, they give me headaches sometimes, they fight, they leave every light in the house on! i have to ask them 700 times to do something. i have nicknamed them my little tornadoes because they make incredible messes for me. but on a daily basis they amaze me with a simple statement, they make me laugh, they have hearts and morals that most adults lack, they tell me i am the best mom (even on my worst days). they represent the good in my world. they are good people. my husband constantly reassures me that being a mom is the most important job in the world. i've been doing it now for 8.5 yrs and i couldn't agree more. there are days when being a mom hits you (in a good way). this article was shared with me on one of mine. it touched me for various reasons. but the moral of the story is as the article is titled, "You're a Mom, you're kind of a big deal" I wish every Mom in the world would read this article and realize the impact they have on their children. I think we can all agree that we need more good people in this world! Do your jobs moms, and do it well, show your children love, teach them to care through your actions, and most of all be proud of your role and the opportunity you were blessed with. Not all of us are so lucky.

Raleigh Cary Child Photographer - Our Visitors

The girls had so much fun this afternoon hanging out with two soft and sweet bunnies. I have lost track of how many times they have asked me how much a bunny costs and if they can buy one for Easter? Funny how they think decisions are made based upon expense. So I exaggerated the truth a bit and told them probably a couple thousand dollars! They finally stopped asking! Luckily these bunnies live very close by so maybe they will settle for another playdate. Two dogs is two too many pets for me right now. They were cute to borrow though for a couple hours. Thank You Julie!

I was in a vintage mood when I edited these.

Raleigh Cary Newborn Photographer - Fixing Newborn Skin Photoshop

As a newborn photographer it is crucial to know how to use Photoshop to touch up baby's skin. Each newborn's complexion is different but overall the majority tend to have milia, dry skin, red blotches, and/or scratching from their sharp nails. Lets face it all these skin issues are real life and truly document what your baby looks like in that particular moment. However I have found as a photographer, parents seem to favor the touched up look. The first thing they often say is "oh just this morning he started breaking out, or he clawed himself on the way over" They are automatically worried about their newborn's photos being ruined by these tiny flaws. As a newborn photographer I have also noticed that my "finished" work sells hands down over the natural look. So it is pertinent that anyone photographing babies and newborns especially, knows how to use the clone stamp, patch tool,heal brush, soften skin. I also use a tool Portraiture that works wonders and saves me from a lot of manual fixes. Here is an example of a recent newborn straight out of camera. For this shoot I spent about 2 hours photographing and probably 6 hours editing skin. Its a time consuming job but the results are worth it.

Carolina Conceptions Fertility - Baby Reunion Marbles Museum

I have worked with Carolina Conceptions for the last few years providing headshots and office photos for their new website .  We also worked together to provide them with some new wall art, photos of their beautiful babies! On April 15th they will be hosting the 3rd annual Carolina Conceptions Baby Reunion this April 15 at Marbles Museum in Raleigh. I am really looking forward to meeting all the parents and adorable babies that CC has helped to create. This event is a chance for the practice to say thank you to its patients as well a chance for parents to show off their little ones to the doctors and staff. Its also a wonderful opportunity for parents to meet other parents with children of similar age. Its especially fun seeing all the multiples(twins, triplets, quads,etc) that are so common with fertility services.

Here is a recent CC set of twins that I photographed last week.

Raleigh Cary Apex Newborn Photographer - Owen

Owen's newborn session was perfect just like his mom's maternity session that we did in downtown Apex. So many sweet photos to fill up his album. Once in his milk coma Owen let me pose him anyway I wanted. Of course its always important to run a space heater to keep them warm and a white noise machine, just adds to the sleepiness. 

Newborn Owen - Raleigh Cary Photographer

Another awesome newborn photography session with a little boy from Durham. His parents brought this sign along to incorporate into the photos, what a great idea. Owen was an eight pounder and all cheeks. A good sleeper and so much fun to work with.

Baby Pyper - Cary Newborn Photographer Raleigh

Trying to catch up on all my session posts. This little Raleigh newborn girl was an angel to photograph. She was petite and slept so well for me. She didn't even make a peep when I repositioned her. Loved the way she constantly curled her lips so cute. Thanks for bringing her over Jen. 

Another Adventure with Avery - Raleigh Child Photographer

We ignored trespassing signs, braved snakes, got covered with pollen and cob webs, laid in itchy weed fields and sweated up a storm last Thursday afternoon. It was all worth it though for these gorgeous photos of Little Miss Avery. She cooperated so well and played along with all my tricks to get her doing what I wanted. We even brought along her super sweet little puppy Mia, an Imperial Shitzu, for her first photo shoot. When we realized she was getting lost in the tall grass and not easy to photograph we took her back to the studio for some closeups. I have been photographing Avery since she was a baby and each session is more fun than the last. 

Referral Program - Raleigh Newborn Photographer

Being a small business owner, I rely heavily on referrals. Thanks so much to all of you for spreading the word about my business. As a thank you I have created a “Referral Rewards” program. This is an easy way for my clients to earn free print credit. When you receive your print order from Creative Clicks Photography, you will also receive a set of referral cards. These cards are customized with two of your session images and are valid for six months. 


Give them out to friends and family members who are not yet Creative Clicks Photography clients. When one of these cards is returned to me by a new client, that person will receive 50% off their session. And you will also get a great reward – a $50.00 print credit! Your credit can be redeemed at your next Creative Clicks Photography portrait session (not valid for prints from prior sessions). There is no limit to the number of referral credits you can earn. For example, if all eight of your cards are returned to me by new clients before they expire, you can receive a $400.00 print credit!


If you have had a recent session be on the lookout for your package arriving in the mail soon. 

Here is a whole bunch that arrived last week. Lots of beautiful babies. 

$50 off for you and a friend! 

Drop 10 Diet - Raleigh Baby Photographer

This photographer is not digging the muffin top that has started baking since I had to stop running the last couple years. Boy its amazing how fast the pounds creep up. My job doesn't help either. Yes I am normally sweating my butt off during sessions, whether its from the heater for a newborn session or earned sweat from chasing a toddler. However when I'm not shooting I'm sitting on my butt in front of this computer most of the day. Not only am I a lot fatter with my sedentary jobstyle but I also have a lot more aches and pains from the hunched over position I spend too much time in.

After continually staring at that flab roll falling over the top of my jeans as I edited my photos I became fed up! This will not be the year I retire that bikini! After discovering the Drop 10 Diet in my Self magazine I knew I had to make some changes. Overall I consider myself a healthy eater. I eat a very balanced diet for the most part, I just have two downfalls, my portion sizes (seconds please) and my preferred late night snack: a big hunk of crusty bread, lots of cheese and a couple glasses of wine at 9:30pm when my hubby comes home from work, bad, bad.

Its been 5 days since I started the diet, a record for me. I finally weighed myself this morning and discovered I lost 1 meager pound. I was really hoping for 5 but I do realize how long it takes. So on the bright side only 9 more to go.

Here is a sample of my meals yesterday. Please do not judge the photography. These were taken with my crappy phone camera, no I do not have an iPhone obviously. In fact I am giving my husband my iPhone upgrade because I am not good with phones, however after looking at these photos I'm thinking maybe I should renege on that deal. I could use a better phone camera huh?

Here are my 3 meals (Breakfast 350, Lunch 450,Dinner 450). On top of that I had a plain greek yogurt with 1/3 c.blueberries (I admit I had to choke that down) and an orange for my allowed 200 snack in the morning. Then in the afternoon I took the girls to the movies so I snuck in a bag of 100 calorie popcorn and 2 york peppermint patties for the 200 anything calories you can use or save.  I also ate about 10 plain m&ms and 2 handfuls of theatre popcorn because it just taste so much better. I knew this was going to happen because I have no will power therefore I ran 2 miles with Sophia before the movie in addition to the required circuit training workout.
So all in all I stayed the course.

Learn to Use Your Camera - Raleigh Cary Photographer

So you own an expensive camera, do you realize you're never going to find the time to sit down and read the manual?

Why not put your investment to good use and start taking better photos. Whether you want great shots of your children playing sports, portraits that really capture your subject and express emotion, or just the ability to take great photos that lack the fuzzy, blurry, dark look you're accustomed to - this class is for you. 

Learn To Use Your Camera Class 

Sunday March 25, 2012

1-4pm

Creative Clicks Photography Studio

$69 

includes class and take home training manual 

small class, one on one instruction 

For more details and to register email christa@mycreativeclicks.com 

Easter bunnies & child mini sessions - Cary photographer

 Happy Spring!

How can it be Spring already? I'm not sure if we've lucked out by the lack of a Winter season or not. Hoping this doesn't mean 90 degree temps for the next six months!

Wow only two weeks away Easter has crept up on me this year! Fortunately I scrambled this week and found two adorable Dutch Belgium bunnies "Boulder" and "Crystal" for our live bunny photos. Boulder looks similar to "Oreo" below and "Crystal" is a brown/white bunny, unique with one blue eye and one brown eye.  The kids are going to fall in love!
Can't wait to capture all the cuddly sweetness next weekend.

the details....  

Easter Bunny & Child Mini-Sessions

snuggle, pet and hang out with a super soft and sweet bunny. let us capture the excitement and those adorable smiling faces. dress in your fancy Easter outfit or Spring colors for photos that pop! 

        Where:     Creative Clicks Photography Studio 

 707 Cambridge Hall Loop
Apex, 27539

         

         When:                Sunday April 1st

                                         4pm-6pm 

             

       

         What's Included: 15 minute photo session
                                       with bunny
                                      1 ~ 8x10,
                                      2 ~ 5x7s,
                                      2 ~ web-sized images for    
                                            sharing online

                                       only $59*


*includes session for one child (9mths and up), each additional child is $20
**if time allows or if child does not take to bunny, session may include photos of child alone so dress in Easter fancy or favorite outfit


AVAILABLE SESSIONS


4pm     4:15     4:30    4:45
5pm     5:15     5:30    5:45

Our Friday Night Out at the Pound - Raleigh Pet Photographer

Yesterday my daughter had to go to the doctor. It wasn't a very pleasant experience for her so while she was going through the procedure I was playing the typical motherly role, bribing her. I told her after we left the doctor she could choose somewhere fun to go. She choose the SPCA! We'd never been to the SPCA but we had talked before a lot about volunteering there. She is a huge animal lover and if she had her choice would be surrounded by animals 24/7.
Unfortunately after we left the doctor and drove all the way there the SPCA was closed, on a Thursday, really? So today after the school bus dropped her and her sister off we raced over to redeem her prize. The SPCA in Raleigh is amazing. I must admit I was very hesitant about going for fear that I may end up feeling sorry for the animals and taking one with me. Already having two dogs a third dog is just totally out of the question.
Luckily leaving the place wasn't that difficult, the animals have a pretty good life there. Most of them have a big room with lots of toys and constant people cuddling and playing with them. The majority also seem to get adopted very quickly which is great.
The people at the SPCA were so sweet and let the girls play with lots of dogs and puppies. We picked up the info on volunteering and are excited to start our training and volunteering together very soon. If your children love animals like mine do consider volunteering, they really could use the help and its a great way to spend quality time with your kids. And of course make a difference!


I am not a cat lover but this was my favorite animal at the SPCA, a sleek looking Persian cat with a very cool hair cut.

 Firefly was a sweetheart we spent a lot of time playing and loving on her. She looked like she had a rough life, lots of babies and of course being a Pit she is automatically labeled. I would have adopted her if I could have. I hope she's found her forever home by the time we return.

 Felt so sorry for this guy, would have adopted him too. One eye and all

This pup got adopted before we had the chance to ask to play with her. She was a cutie. 

Logann's love......luckily she didn't make it into the car

John kept going back to this one, "Tina" I thought he was going to want to take her with us but thankfully someone else swooped her up too while we were there. She was beautiful and had such a sweet personality. 

Firefly asking us to come back. 

Saying goodbye to "Mr.Fluffikins" as Logann called him.