ok I’ll be honest. Sometimes ideas for photos just don’t work out. We have these amazing images in our head and for one reason or another- try as you might- it just won’t work. And that really sucks. It makes you feel like a putz, and like you have no idea how you got this job.
But then there are those times when you surprise yourself. Things go perfect and it seems almost effortless. For example- this image of Senior Makayla:

We can’t take ALL the credit though, Makayla was SOOOOO easy to photograph.

#1: DUHH! She’s gorgeous!

#2: No matter what weird ideas we came up with she didn’t bat an eye, and

#3: She was the most easygoing person ever.

Now, while #1 and #2 are pretty awesome – #3 is what really makes a difference. I hear coaches of sports teams constantly talking about attitude and how it makes a difference, and it really does!

Here are a few more of my favorites from Makayla’s session:

 

That’s right. We put her in a parachute in the middle of Berry College, then we smoked up her poor little eyes with stinky colored smoke while she was getting eaten up by mosquitoes, and then in the end we soaked her down with a hose. Hahaha. It was so much fun.

Oh, and also, let me not forget that when we first started at the water wheel it was raining. No biggie- Makayla just smiled and posed!

She even brought along her little pup Otis for a few pictures. So now lets add that it was raining, and there was a young German shepherd in tow as well.(special thanks to Trey for handling that like a champ!)

Rain, excessive heat and humidity, mosquitoes, stinky smoke, climbing ladders, doused with a water hose, puppy control, photographers asking her to do stuff that sounded stupid. She never flinched.

Makayla set the bar pretty high for every senior that comes after her. Makayla simply went with the flow- totally chill.  She never said “i can’t” she never looked at us with the stank eye, and she never seemed to be bothered by any of the million little things that could have been negative. One of my favorite senior sessions so far!

Makayla, we truly hope you enjoyed your senior experience with SHP, and we are SO honored that you chose us!!

Oh, and I can’t end without including a shout out to her awesome family!! Ninja Nana, you were SO helpful, and you fluff a parachute like nobody’s business. Mom Kelly, you are SUCH fun to be around and I love the fact that you think  Lonnie and I are cute- I’m sure there’s a therapist for you some where that can deal with that haha! Dad Mike,  we hope you found a special spot for that ginormous parachute image canvas you walked outta here with! You are all awesome and you’ve raised an equally awesome daughter! Thanks again!

-Karen & Lonnie

On this day, way on back in the late 70’s, I was born. At that time my parents had no idea what I would do with my life, neither did I.
On this day, way on back in the late 80’s, I was awkwardly coming of age and still had no idea what I would do with my life. Of course I was too young to know that answer anyway- I knew I loved the arts, but drawing, painting, playing instruments, singing, etc were not in my little box of talents.
On this day, way on back in the mid 90’s, I had been given my first “real” camera ( a 35mm canon rebel) by my dad. Within the few years following, I finally KNEW what I wanted to do with my life.
Sure, I wanted to “take cool photos”…but more than anything I knew I wanted my very own studio. For me, that was the sign of a serious professional, and I knew that if I wanted to do photography that I had to have it.
A few months ago I cleaned out an old chest at the house and ran across a lot of my old notebooks. I flipped through and immediately my eyes fixated on a page where I was doodling about my future studio name. Flip Side Foto, haha. Here’s the proof:

So yeah, I was pretty dead set on this even back in the 90’s.  I was pretty odd back then, or wanted to be.

Anyway- time rocked on – I went through the stages of life rather bumpily (if that’s a word). I worked dead end jobs for many years. Eventually after I had my first child I got my first DIGITAL camera. It was 3 megapixels and cost me $350 – (my entire Christmas bonus from my Walmart photo lab job). By the way, I worked at the Walmart photo lab for about 7 years. Whew.

So, Here I was. a new mom, with a new camera, and a job that wasn’t aligned with my life goals. About a year later I went through a divorce, and started over completely. Rock bottom became the foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

Although I resigned to never marry again, there was this guy named Lonnie. And he was super cute. He had nice legs, and he was the kindest most thoughtful guy I had ever met. We had a lot of fun together.

He was total marriage material anyway, but the fact that he loved my daughter as his own was my sure sign. Shortly after we married we bought my first “real” camera. My daughter was my model every day. Poor thing. She’s 13 now and wont let me near her with a camera anymore.

So once I had the “real’ camera I immediately wanted to have my studio. I’m not too patient, so with a little elbow grease we made an old workshop on our property into my very first studio. I ain’t even gonna lie, ya’ll. It was a dump. It was infested with ladybugs and just in general was pretty po-dunk. I might have had 15 or 20 sessions here, and most of them were free or $25 lol.

Here is a photo of my parents. I was practicing my lighting and they were the closest victims:

The studio- It fit my skill level at the time, but it was short lived – we moved to a new house in a new town shortly after when I had my second daughter.

After the move I found a local studio photographer in town that let me “borrow/share” his space. He was a really talented photographer and a nice guy that I really learned a lot from. The only problem was that it wasn’t MY studio- I couldn’t put my name on the door or do just whatever I wanted with the place. I stayed there for about 2 years –

The studio owner ended up selling the building and closing up shop, so it was time to move on.  I was still pretty unskilled in a lot of areas, and my confidence in my work kept me from really making a go of things, so I lingered in the shadows of business signs that didn’t bear my name.

Studio #3 came when I was offered a space at large factory-turned- office spaces type deal. It was pretty much a little conference room inside a big ol’ scary (haunted) old mill. Yeah. Good times.

I guess I stayed there for about 2 years or so. It was here that I had my first round of Santa sessions. It was also here that I became a believer in ghosts. Win/lose- it happens. I got the call one day from a good friend with a tip that there was a space opening up in town that i might be interested in, and because I was scared to be in my own space at the time, I jumped on it sight unseen. It was basically a couple of bedrooms in the upstairs of an old house that the city had acquired. There was a really cool staircase, and this place may or may not be haunted also. Just sayin’… Stuff happened. Although this place was cool and had lots of perks- I still couldn’t have a sign, and because the downstairs would occasionally be rented out for a party, it just couldn’t be totally mine to do as I wished.

So…studio number 4 was really good to me. I did a lot of growing here- and so did my kids. Also during my stay there, Lonnie came on board as lead photographer. Our business really exploded during the 4 1/2 years we were at this place.  Leaving this studio is leaving a lot of memories behind. Our business grew so big that there just simply wasn’t enough space anymore. What a wonderful burden.

I’ve been searching for a new space actively for about a year now, and with a lot of help from my friend Amy, I finally found it. Today, on my birthday of all days, I got the present I have wanted for nearly 2 decades…..keys to my very own studio. Studio #5.

No, not my studio inside of another business front, MY STUDIO. (well, OUR studio i can’t forget Lonnie here lol). I can decorate and set up scenes however I want. I can lock the door and know it’ll be just as I left it when I return, and I can finally have a great big sign on the front that says

STRAWBERRY HILL PHOTOGRAPHY

It honestly kind of feels unreal still. There is a whole lot of work ahead of us to get things ready for business, but I don’t dread it. I’ve had 10 years to dream, now it’s time to hustle!

So if you see us in public, excuse the snobby attitude we may have- we are feeling a bit upscale lately- what with our OWN studio and all Tsk Tsk!

Grand Opening coming soon! ( Happy Birthday to me!)

“The free soul is rare, but you know it when you see it. Basically because you feel good, very good,  when you are near or with them.” -Buk

Several favorite quotes come to mind when I think about Cali’s senior session. I think the one above is perfect. Cali is a free soul, and photographing her was as easy as breathing.

When we first met with Cali for her Senior model interview, I knew pretty quickly that there was something special about her. First off, she’s gorgeous. I knew she was meant to be in front of a camera, and I was determined it would be MY camera. Cali was polite, confident, beautiful, – all things we wanted for our senior models. We sat and discussed ideas for senior portraits and in general just tried to get to know her better- and then it got weird. Like, super cool kinda weird. She started throwing out ideas of doing sessions in an old abandoned house, and a junkyard, and showing me pictures of outfits she had in mind. Needless to say- she had me at “junkyard”. It’s not often that you get a 17 year old girl who’s down for getting their senior portraits taken in a junkyard- or wants to wear her “old grandma” shirt downtown with some combat boots while wearing full on glam makeup. Yep. I knew after that meeting that Cali and SHP were a match made in Heaven!

We started off on day 1 at our studio, and we got some pretty awesome shots. Cali is a NATURAL – I loved all of her studio shots! Everyone always says they want “outdoor” shots, but there is still just something special to me about studio images.

 

 

 

We knew after Cali’s studio session that session #2 would be epic. We found the perfect junkyard at Danny’s Motors and they were so nice to let us use the property for the session. I have to say, this is the only session I have ever prepared for by bringing a sledge hammer. HAHA! Cali was up for ANYTHING! She knew exactly how to pose, what facial expressions to make, and wasn’t afraid to get dirty. She never even complained about the mosquitoes that were eating us all alive!  We tromped all over the junkyard and I think we came away with some of my most favorite ever senior images.

Yup. It was pretty magical from a photographer’s standpoint.

After we got eaten up by herds of mosquitoes, we cooled off a while and headed to downtown Bremen. Here’s where her “old grandma” shirt and combat boots came in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We ended the day with a few more shots in downtown with my grandmother’s old suitcase. The sun set on a beautiful day filled with lots and lots of gorgeous images. We could have shot all day with Cali- not only because she was a great model, but she was just plain fun to be around. She’s real. She doesn’t put on a fake front for the world, she is who she is. I liked that about her most. Don’t be surprised if you see a lot more of Cali in the future- we still haven’t locked down an old abandoned house- but when I do- it’s going down for real!

Thanks Cali, we appreciate your “down for anything” personality – I can honestly say your sessions were absolute FUN and I hope your love your portraits as much as we do!

Until Next time…..

-Karen