Changes are coming!

In mid-December I announced to my current clients & friends that a few changes were coming to Sarah Shah Portraits. Today, I'm excited to be able to announce those changes to you!

Friday my new blogsite will be launched and it will showcase my new logo!!

The website will be staying at www.sarahshahportraits.com but the look and feel will be different. It will have more of a blog feel, but you will still be able to place your orders and view galleries through the site.

My hosting company said that the downtime should be minimal, not more than a few minutes. If you try to hop over to my site during the switch it will come up unavailable, please try again in 10 minutes.

Since we are expecting ice and/or snow anytime now, I thought this image was appropriate.

2010 Photography Project 3/52

Week 3
Theme: Shadows

This one was a struggle for sure. I tried to go out of the box and I'm not 100% sure I even like this.

My try at off camera flash. The flash directly behind the star. So instead of the shadow coming from my direction it's opposite, and coming towards me.

Lovely dust in the air too.

Asking you to consider this

I don't share too much that isn't photography related here, since this is a photoblog but I feel that I have to share this.

Some of you might have seen the recent Oprah episode on calling/texting & driving. I recorded it had finally had the chance to watch it last night. Oprah has a few of the family members that have been affected by those that were calling/texting while driving and ended up in accidents killing either themselves or others. The whole episode was a slap-in-the-face-wake-up-call to me. I had never thought about how distracted I was if I was talking on the phone or even texting while driving. When I would hear the beep of an email, text, or ring of a call it had become an automatic reaction to reach over and dig through my purse, while driving, to see who it was or what they needed. After watching the episode I haven't used my phone in the car (actually I quit 3 days ago, when I saw the preview for the show); I put the ringtone on silent or just turn the phone off completely. A call, email, or text can wait 15 minutes for me to get home to respond.

I'm asking you to take a step back and consider this.

A link to the numerous stories from Oprah's show here

The link for the No Zone Phone pledge here

Look what we did today

If you know me good, you know I love crafts! Christmas time really brings out the crafter in me and having a toddler I can't help but get her involved and have some fun. If you have any kid-friendly crafts point me to them!

I read a lot of blogs. My Google Reader has probably close to 200 blogs, of course I have to pick and choose which posts to read based on time.

This craft I found on a blog I follow often. Jodie is a photographer and a Mommy that has an art room just for her kids!! She recently re-blogged this craft here. Today I decided we would have some craft fun and get a kick start on Valentine's decorations.

I chose 2 red crayons and Seema 1 picked pink.

Even with only 3 crayons to peel it ended up taking 20 minutes. Then I grated the crayons. Seema thought I cut my fingers with all the red coloring from the crayons.

With Jodie's recommendation, we did this part on our kitchen floor. Much easier to sweep than getting it out of the carpet! Seema put the crayon on the wax paper how she wanted. Then I put another piece of wax paper on top and melted it together with the iron.

Cut out heart shapes.

During Christmas I discovered hanging items from twine across this window as garland. Love how this came out! We added some heart shaped beads between the wax hearts.

2010 Photography Project 2/52

Week 2
Theme: Eyes

Check out week 1's image here.

2010 Photography Project 1/52

I will be posting one themed image a week for 52 weeks (1 year). I'm really excited about working on my photography skills with a abstract style in mind.


Week 1
Theme: Glass

Greetings!

Hopping on here today to announce the winner of the Fall sessions popular vote contest. With 15 out of the 23 votes the Q family (image #3) won!! Congratulations!!

This family won a 5x7 proof book containing all the images from the proofing gallery of their session. I'm really excited to see this product, too. :)

**Note: blog wins are not at the top of my to do list so they may take longer than normal.



I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We had a very nice Christmas, my favorite moment was watching Seema go through her stocking and saying "Oh my goodness gracious". I have no idea where this kid picks up all these phrases but they are adorable.

I hope to see everyone again in 2010. The best part of this business is families returning yearly and seeing how much the kids have changed. Wishing you a very healthy, happy, and prosperous new year!

PUMPKINS | Sarah Shah Wichita Kansas Child Lifestyle Photographer

I love Fall and pretty much everything that comes along with it. Trips to the pumpkin patch, I've been 6 times this month. Pumpkin spice lattes, bought some and made some. Fall festivals, which include craft fairs and bundling up. Scented candles, I love creamy nutmeg from Bath & Body Works. Colors of the leaves on and off the trees. Sweaters, jeans, and boots.

This year I went a bit overboard on the pumpkins, but in my defense I wanted to have them all the up the steps to our front door. I've seen it in so many magazines over the past two years and I wanted that. So I have ELEVEN!! A nice, big round, flat one that cost way more than we should have paid for it but I just had to have it. Then Seema had to get 1 from that same pumpkin patch and 4 minis from the other pumpkin patch. And we ended up with a few pie size ones too.

The Fall foliage wreath was made by me. I like crafts, too.

We went to a pumpkin party earlier this month and forgot our pumpkins! We got halfway there and realized we didn't have them with us. LOL We visited and had fun anyways.

Today I let Seema paint a few of the pumpkins on the porch. She loves painting so this was right up her alley. I had to trick her to get her inside because she didn't want to stop and would have painted all my pumpkins.

She told me the middle one has teeth.

bahama mama

This vacation hit the spot in so many ways. It was just what we needed as a family and as a couple. I know I was just so burnt out of everything and I needed to get away from it ALL! No stay-cation would have done what this trip did.

We went on a cruise to the Bahamas and HAD A BLAST! This was our first cruise and our first time in the Bahamas. It was our daughter's first time at the beach. (We really want to go on another cruise in the future and would love to hear your stories.)

Nothing beats sailing away from Miami and seeing a beautiful sunset.

The stops were Port Lucaya/Freeport, Nassau, and Great Stirrup Cay. Three fun filled days of sun, sand, and smiles. Even though I ended up coming home with a slight burn my baby is so tan!

No matter what was going on or where we were she always got her nap in. Her airplane seat, the stroller on the beach, Mom & Dad's arms at the airport (that one was 2 hours!), in the stroller at restaurants, etc.

I was banned from taking my dSLR on the beach, by my husband. In the end I'm so glad he didn't let me take it. The sand was just like big flakes for salt and stuck to everything. This was different than the sand I remember in CA or FL. These were all taken with our point & shoot little camera.

Unplugging | Sarah Shah - Wichita Kansas Photographer

UNPLUGGING for this whole week! Yep, that's right. No phone calls, no emails, no twitter, no facebook, nothing except maybe a bit of tv but not sure we'll get that much in anyways. I'm so connected that I'm expecting this to be a HUGE withdrawal. ha! Taking this week off from everything to spend some much needed time with my daughter and husband before I gear up for the busy Fall season.

I will be returning any voice mails or emails starting August 30th. Have a great week, everyone!

ProAm Photography Show

I entered two of my photography pieces into the ProAm Photography Show and they are still on display through tomorrow, August 24th. The tulips (left side) is showing at CityArts (334 N. Mead). The coffee (right side) is showing at The Red Line Gallery (at Lawrence Photo, 401 E. Douglas).

They look way better than what these quick snaps show! Both are 11x14 size and mounted on standout board.

Farmer Jane | Sarah Shah - Wichita, KS Lifestyle Photographer

Fresh veggies are the best, but growing them and harvesting them from your own garden in your backyard is even better!

This was our first year to have our own garden. I'm still shocked that I didn't kill it. I kill every other plant I have, but these tomato and green pepper plants, and onions survived me. Thank you, GOD!

Our daughter just loves the garden. She loves to get her sandbox shovels and dig around in it and get her toes all dirty. She's a tomboy in the making, for sure. She likes to see if there's any tomatoes, or as she calls them... apples, or green peppers ready to eat right off the vine.

Yesterday we were just harvesting though. We brought in 7 tomatoes, 3 peppers, and a bunch of onions. So I had to make salsa tonight and it was soooo good.

BOYS! | Sarah Shah - Wichita Kansas Child Photographer

Erin has so patiently waited on me for this sneak peek, and I thank you! I have been dying to work on your boys' photos for the past week.

First we have big brother. He and my daughter enjoy their play dates, well as much as a couple of two years olds can... they pretty much ignore each other while he plays with her toys and she plays with his little brother.

This is the 2nd set of brothers I have photographed, but the first boy under 6 months. I was so honored to have a 1 month old baby boy that I could put my bear hat on.

Isn't he so cute!

Sometimes * Always * Never

Since I'm waiting on some calibration software to arrive on my doorstep I feel I have time to burn today. I can't edit any of baby Trace or his brother Ty session pictures until that software gets here so I feel so BORED and DISAPPOINTED! I get 2 extra days off and I'm bored and disappointed... what's wrong with this picture. lol Hubby told me "go blog or something" so here I sit.

I saw this post on Jodie's blog and had to join in.

I sometimes...
- go to bed at 9 pm.
- cry in the shower.
- make lists just to check the things off.
- don't get to laundry for a week.

I always...
- love the first 30 minutes after I walk in the door and see my daughter and hug her.
- have good intentions, even though they might not work out.
- fill up my wishpot and amazon wish list but seldom buy anything from them
- will love coming home. Traveling is nice, but nothing beats being back in your own home.
- need spell check and proofing help.
- loose things! (keys, important papers, and sometimes my mind)

I never...
- get through a day unplugged.
- get through a week without at least one to-do list made.
- eat mushrooms.
- whistle because I can't do it right.
- host a party without having everything planned out.

Wall Display Ideas | Sarah Shah - Wichita Kansas Photographer

Have you ordered your images and not sure how to arrange them on your walls? I'll be the first to admit that I have stood in front of my builder white walls wondering the same so I want to help you out! I have just added a new gallery on the website that shows you a few different ideas on how to arrange your images on your walls. I currently have the Andrew in 8x8s (just wish I would have ordered 10x10s) over my couch in our living room. We love it. It's like a mosaic of our family.

So go to my website (www.sarahshahportraits.com), click on Enter Site, click on Galleries, and then click on Wall Display Ideas.

Unexpected Addition | Sarah Shah - Wichita Kansas Baby Photographer

Nope, I'm not pregnant again but I made you look! I was having a mini portrait session of my niece AND my daughter decided that she wanted to make an unexpected showing in some of her portraits. I guess she thought it was funny since she knew I wouldn't be able to get up very fast from my crouched down, in a ball, as low as you can go position.

Flying By | Sarah Shah - Wichita KS Child Photographer

Our fairy themed mini portrait sessions were very successful. I am halfway through all the images and am planning to showcase an image from each session on here sometime next week, so stay tuned! Next year I am planning on having these mini sessions over more dates and earlier in June so it's not so hot.

Thank you to everyone who brought a special little girl to experience dressing up like a fairy and having fun with me!

Summer Fun | Sarah Shah - Wichita Kansas Child Lifestyle Photographer

We went to the fountains last night for the first time this summer. To our surprise no one else was there! I couldn't believe it! All these fountains just for my little girl... weee!

Is it that time already? | Sarah Shah - Wichita, KS Lifestyle Photograher

I hope you're enjoying seeing more of my family life. I have enjoyed picking up my camera almost daily to capture the moments of my daughter's every day life.

She sleeps in a toddler bed.
She drinks from a regular cup.
She climbs everything possible, runs, and attempts to jump.
So I guess it's time we give potty training a try. Any advice as we enter this new challenge in toddlerhood would be nice.

Lately, I've been trying to "embrace the grain" as Jodi Allen has once said. To me this is hard; I like crisp, non-grain-y images, but I seem to like the grain in this one. I think it adds to it.

My Favorite | Sarah Shah - Wichita Kansas Lifestyle Child Photographer

My most favorite part of every day is story time before bed. It's just me and Seema and I love it! With being gone from her all day I do feel like I miss out on a lot of things she's doing and this makes up for it and makes me feel all warm inside, even if it's only 20 minutes.

The book limit is 3; otherwise we'd be there all night. We always end with Goodnight Moon. I love that book, and she likes to point out the different things in the room.