tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80814609803802777632024-03-12T22:09:08.924-05:00Natural-Beauty Business.... blending with Life....Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.comBlogger35125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-66667947555842044832013-05-17T10:53:00.002-05:002013-05-19T17:40:50.047-05:00Graduations & Promotions....It is interesting how different the students at each school are when it comes to graduations.<br />
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<a href="http://www.natural-beautycandids.com/shopping/shopdisplaysubcat.asp?id=11&cat=HTRS+Titans&Hsubcat=508&level=4&subcat=12&L2=HTRS+High+School&L3=HTRS+HS+Graduation+2013">HTRS - High School Graduation</a> - lots of picture taking with each other before graduation while they're getting ready. I took about 150 pictures before the ceremony. Leaving the ceremony, there are usually at least a few who are acting up doing something funny or giving each other piggy back rides. After the ceremony, they go in front of the school and have an organized receiving line everyone goes through with a few more picture ops, I got about another 125, and everyone is done at the same time, once everyone is through the receiving line.<br />
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<a href="http://www.natural-beauty.com/shopping/shopdisplaysubcat.asp?id=11&cat=HTRS+Titans&Hsubcat=513&level=4&subcat=14&L2=HTRS+Junior+High&L3=HTRS+8th+Grade+Promotion+2013">HTRS - 8th Grade Promotion</a> - before the ceremony is completely different. Almost every year that I have done this, the last few usually show up as it is starting, so the class picture is usually missing a few students. They don't mingle together taking pictures hardly at all. This year, I took 4 pictures, other than the class picture, before the ceremony. This is also the only ceremony of the 6 that they don't have the students walk in at the beginning and walk out at the end - they just take their seats in the front anytime before it starts. After the ceremony they form a receiving line in front of the stage that everyone goes through and there are some photo ops. A few of the classmates pose with each other for photos, but not a whole lot. Some years, they serve cake and drink - some years they don't. I took 125 pictures afterward, including an individual of each of the 37. For the most part, everyone's done when the line is through, but there are a few that stick around to get photos taken with each other or families after the receiving line is done.<br />
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<a href="http://www.natural-beautycandids.com/shopping/shopdisplaysubcat.asp?id=8&cat=Falls+City+Tigers&Hsubcat=507&level=4&subcat=9&L2=FC+High+School&L3=FCHS+Graduation+2013">Falls City - High School Graduation</a> - everyone gathers before graduation, but very little picture taking. I took about 60 pictures, 20 of them being setup groups. Afterweard, it's pandemonium in front of the auditorium as graduates, friends, families and everyone else mingle taking pictures here and there. Lots of photo ops, but they're all over the place and in every direction. I got about 125 photos here too. Some leave almost immediately, some stay around for an hour and anywhere in between.<br />
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<a href="http://www.natural-beautycandids.com/shopping/shopdisplaysubcat.asp?id=8&cat=Falls+City+Tigers&Hsubcat=642&level=4&subcat=15&L2=FC+Junior+High&L3=FC+8th+Grade+Promotion+2013">Falls City - 8th Grade Promotion</a> - very similar to high school graduation, though usually there seems to be a few more photo ops before the ceremony. This year I took the same, about 60 photos, before the ceremony - but this was without any setup groups. I didn't take pictures as long as usual before the ceremony this year, so I would have normally had a few more. After the ceremony is just like high school graduation, pandemonium in front of the auditorium. This particular year, I only got about 75 pictures afterward because it seemed like everyone was taking pictures with their backs towards the building, where I stand.<br />
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Sacred Heart - High School Graduation - quite often falls on the same night as Falls City's 8th grade promotion. I used to say high school graduation trumps 8th grade promotion so I would always go to the graduation, but I wasn't selling much and always had parents of the Falls City 8th graders asking if I was going to be there. This year, I had at least 6 different Falls City parents ask if I was going to be at the promotion and no Sacred Heart parents ask if I was going to be at graduation, so I did the Falls City 8th grade promotion. From years past though, Sacred Heart Graduation and their 8th Grade Promotion are pretty much the same in how they go.<br />
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<a href="http://www.natural-beautycandids.com/shopping/shopdisplaysubcat.asp?id=9&cat=Sacred+Heart+Irish&Hsubcat=514&level=4&subcat=20&L2=SH+Junior+High&L3=SH+8th+Grade+Promotion+2013">Sacred Heart - 8th Grade Promotion</a> - always a lot of fun taking pictures with each other, friends and family and as a class before the ceremony. It's done outside in front of the school. For my 'before the ceremony' photos, I always get the most pictures at Sacred Heart. I got about 215 this year. After the ceremony, we go across the street to the Parrish Hall where they form a receiving line. Everyone goes through the line with a bunch more photo ops. Once everyone is through the line, the students sit down to open cards or have cake and punch that's provided for everyone. After that, they're back up posing with each other, friends and family again anywhere throughout the building. I got almost another 200 photos after the ceremony as well.Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-87376178281921217682013-05-12T12:45:00.000-05:002013-05-12T12:45:33.602-05:002014 Senior Special Day<span style="font-size: x-large;"><i><b>Attention all new seniors!</b></i></span><br />
And all soon-to-be new seniors....<br />
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Congratulations, you're Senior year is starting. You're almost done with high school and you will want to remember this time of your life.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">** We're having a sale you don't want to miss **</span><br />
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For one day only, we're having a senior portrait sale. The lowest price we'll offer all year - FREE sessions. There is a little (very little) work you have to do to qualify. Want more details?<br />
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<u>What is on sale</u><br />
You can get a free <i>Salutatorian Senior Session</i> (a $75 value) or <i>Senior Portrait Party</i> (3- 5 seniors, a $200 value). Want something bigger like our <i>Extreme</i>, <i>Double Take</i> or <i>Seasons</i> Session? We'll give you $75 off any of those sessions.<br />
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For more information about our options and prices, visit our <a href="http://www.natural-beautyseniors.com/">Senior Portraits Website</a>.<br />
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<u>When is the sale</u><br />
It's one day only, this Saturday, May 18th. Call or stop in on from 10:00am - 5:00pm, or you can contact us by facebook or email from 8:00am - 9:00pm.<br />
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<u>How do you qualify</u><br />
It's really simple.
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<ol>
<li>Like our <a href="http://www.facebook.com/NaturalBeautyPortraits">Natural-Beauty Portraits Facebook Page</a></li>
<li>Share our sale information posted on our page</li>
</ol>
That's it.... that's all you have to do to qualify for a free senior portrait session!<br />
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Whether you're a senior or just know a senior, spread the word. It won't cost you anything and your chances of getting a free session won't change because it's for anyone who shares the information.Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-41272257239112045082013-01-03T15:15:00.000-06:002013-01-03T15:15:00.887-06:00Featured Session: Bauman Christmas
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This year, I didn’t get a chance to create a Christmas set
like the fireplace setting we had last year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>My plans are to create a different themed set each year as well as
having some smaller, basic Christmas backgrounds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since I didn’t have a Christmas set this
year, the Bauman family decided to have their Christmas portraits taken at
their home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is always an option
because it’s fun to incorporate your own home in to your pictures – it really
makes them unique.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<a href="http://www.natural-beauty.com/blog/bauman1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://www.natural-beauty.com/blog/bauman1.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">When I got to the Bauman’s house, they showed me their
beautiful Christmas tree they just finished decorating the night before.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was in a wide open room and the golden
color on the tree with the dark red and green walls was going to make a
beautiful background for Christmas portraits.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">I have taken quick pictures of this family before at our Helping Hearts fundraiser in February, so I knew that
the youngest one was going to be a bit tricky, and she didn’t disappoint.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As we started taking family pictures, she
clung to mommy, we worked with it and got some cute pictures including some of
her peeking out between mommy and daddy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>As she was getting a little more comfortable, we got her sitting in
front of mommy and daddy for their favorite family Christmas portrait.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">After getting the family portraits, we moved on to getting
individual portraits of the boys in front of the tree.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At their ages, this went quickly and easily
with great results…. even when we brought the dog in for a few images.</span></div>
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<o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> </span></o:p><span style="font-family: Calibri;">We then moved around the room to a another location where
they had their name hanging on the wall and got a few more family portraits
that weren’t so Christmas themed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
gives them another option to show off their portraits throughout the year
without it looking like Christmas.</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.natural-beauty.com/blog/bauman2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="http://www.natural-beauty.com/blog/bauman2.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">By the time we got done with the last set of family
portraits, the little girl was really starting to warm up to me and play with
me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This was our chance to get some
individual portraits of her in front of the tree as well.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I think we got some of the best portraits of
her that we have ever gotten.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
combination of taking the time for her to get used to me, playing with her
throughout the time and being in her own home environment all helped to get a
several great images.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I want to thank the Bauman’s for letting me invade their
home and get these great family portraits in their own home environment. I would also encourage anyone who's interested in portraits to consider using their home to take portraits. I can come and make some great portraits in places you wouldn't realize.</span></div>
Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-38964351047922660752012-11-12T22:34:00.000-06:002013-01-01T14:34:01.169-06:00Memories... of Easier Times<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVbCHpTEbV16g3W7msm8Yw9igrC-dGKw3MBjVzkz3TTV28JAh_ArEoQHEIntPFxGy9batJxFshM3Hjt4lS-9EauAj5nGTq2Qb3wanD-hEZ1jheq5oSs_4qVZFsOLJlG5VjHd-Modg378U/s1600/Hawaii+283.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="187" rea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVbCHpTEbV16g3W7msm8Yw9igrC-dGKw3MBjVzkz3TTV28JAh_ArEoQHEIntPFxGy9batJxFshM3Hjt4lS-9EauAj5nGTq2Qb3wanD-hEZ1jheq5oSs_4qVZFsOLJlG5VjHd-Modg378U/s400/Hawaii+283.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This past week, I took a working vacation to Moloka'i Hawai'i. What an awesome place to get away to! I figured I would learn a little, but I knew it was more general and landscape photography rather than portrait photography. I figured it would be a nice get-away more than anything.<br />
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A couple of my favorite photos that I got probably mean little or nothing to most of you reading this. They were of the morning porch talks (which I now have that photo as my timeline cover) and the photo of everyone around the table learning. The part of the workshop that I wasn't expecting, was the new family that all of the classmates became in just a matter of days. Unfortunately, I'm sure that family will be the same as my old school family of 13 classmates I grew up with that I never talk to anymore.... but for those few days, it was special.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBtozrfdzCDw4G2GsW44YwSNNs6R0UGVkhFigv0L6l8yi26ehOYxnjwznlyLfmhkoLi6TNoYOWHKr6aWXUYDHWVC7VWFGJfm_g7JLh6z57jMOeUvFQvUJ2THAqBLxMskYWcuMpWaUcSvY/s1600/Hawaii+519.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" rea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBtozrfdzCDw4G2GsW44YwSNNs6R0UGVkhFigv0L6l8yi26ehOYxnjwznlyLfmhkoLi6TNoYOWHKr6aWXUYDHWVC7VWFGJfm_g7JLh6z57jMOeUvFQvUJ2THAqBLxMskYWcuMpWaUcSvY/s320/Hawaii+519.jpg" width="320" /></a>This workshop really did remind me a lot of of my high school days. One big difference, I was hearing "Ryan", "Ryan" instead of "Schutte", "Schutte". In school, there was another Ryan in my class, so I became Schutte instead of Ryan by early grade school. By high school, I always had several classmates whispering "Schutte, what do you have for #5" or "Schutte, where did you find the answer for that", especially in math and computer classes. At this workshop, there were several people sitting around the table, "Ryan, how do you do this". I loved it.... it's so awesome getting to help out with something that I know... something I can help someone understand.</div>
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Although it has nothing to do with the workshop, another memory that came to mind and made me smile.... was the "Schutte" that was very seldom actually said, but implied. Since I always had my watch synchronized with the bell, I started putting my papers and books away about 15 seconds before the bell. As soon as I started, everyone else followed. A couple teachers weren't quite so happy with that habit. :) What fun memories.</div>
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One final memory, although it's an unfortunate one, that came to mind this week is of the person I considered to be my best friend throughout high school. Yes, I heard "What did you get for #...." many, many, many times from him. So many times, it was a running joke with Mrs. Stallbaumer, our math and computer teacher. I may not have thought specifically about him this week, except for the fact that while I was at the workshop, a young man in our small town who graduated just last May, ended his own life. Eddie also ended his own life just a couple years after high school. R.I.P. J D Lunsford & Eddie Fritz, I'll always remember both of you, but especially Eddie who has visited me in my dreams many times.<br />
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Memories... of easier times. When most kids are in high school, they can't wait to get out. They hate going to school. I was always different, I enjoyed school. I also worked throughout high school, starting with a paper route at 13 that I kept for 4 or 5 years and also cleaning and cooking at the local cafe starting when I was 14. Anytime I think back, I still remember how much easier and carefree those times were. I knew it then, and still believe it to be true now. I just never expected a photography seminar to throw me back 20 years. How Fascinating....<br />
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Thank You to everyone from the Creative Photography for the Soul Workshop, classmates, teachers & the Hui Ho'olana staff! <em><u>What Great Memories!</u></em><br />
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For a lot more pictures and information about my trip to Moloka'i, visit the <a href="http://www.natural-beautyescapes.com/Escapes/Hawaii/2012-11/" target="_blank">Natural-Beauty Escapes Blog</a>.Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-88991968088969498932012-10-24T20:08:00.001-05:002012-10-24T20:08:29.917-05:00Halloween Charity Portrait PartyWe're trying to start a new Halloween tradition at Natural-Beauty Photography. We are hosting our First Annual Halloween Charity Portrait Party (at least, we hope it goes over well enough to become an annual event).<br />
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This year, being our first year, isn't going to be huge, but it will still be neat! Each year, we will continue to add more. So far this year, we're spending around $600 - $700 on the party. What does that buy? Not much when it comes to Halloween.... We've created a haunted hall that leads to our new graveyard in our basement. We also have a few new Halloween backdrops upstairs for those who don't want to go to our dark graveyard. Like any of our parties, we're going to have refreshments as well,<br />
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We said charity, right? So, where does that come in? Our session fee for our portrait parties is usually $10. For this party, we're making it even better for you. We're accepting $5 (or more) in value of non-perishable food items or personal care items which will be given to the SENCA Food Pantry. We will post our favorite image to our facebook page. If you want to purchase any actual prints, we are also giving 20% of any additional portrait sales, of our specially priced packages, to the SENCA Food Pantry and will post those on facebook as well.<br />
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Stop in this Saturday, October 27th between 10:00 and 8:00. Get your portrait while helping out a great, local cause. It will also help us create a bigger and better Second Annual Halloween Charity Portrait Party next year! Spread the word!!!<br />
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More details can also be found at <a href="http://www.portraitsforapurpose.com/halloween/" target="_blank">Portraits For A Purpose</a> and also be sure to RSVP on our <a href="http://www.facebook.com/events/483766158321692/" target="_blank">facebook event page</a>.Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-59345581799522944852012-10-09T23:23:00.000-05:002012-10-14T20:53:15.555-05:00Family Portraits at Indian Cave<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvPdsqKkniTESO_BIg0ZBW8kjrlw0728zHB7QIMRdWSPATWKfK51rDBeIH5aMY0YJIQt5_qLc7MhuO7WuS6_GGorPCrKNRfhfuAYHOXCnDrOGx6kQnnkH78xnV_VXoRDoxfE78WVUCgrQ/s1600/family3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" nea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvPdsqKkniTESO_BIg0ZBW8kjrlw0728zHB7QIMRdWSPATWKfK51rDBeIH5aMY0YJIQt5_qLc7MhuO7WuS6_GGorPCrKNRfhfuAYHOXCnDrOGx6kQnnkH78xnV_VXoRDoxfE78WVUCgrQ/s320/family3.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeotNYxsRdN3eFNFbS2jJQwXaEowJVs1RhVEcOFkRrd6UTw4hfpH6861p78Y0P-K2Imxz-C4Ij4s6zqAM1l7XO1NTl6fJ-eH7hp9p6v7cXbBU6NRHSqN5-Iuq0Qe-0xtacVhcKpKOtReQ/s1600/family1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" nea="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeotNYxsRdN3eFNFbS2jJQwXaEowJVs1RhVEcOFkRrd6UTw4hfpH6861p78Y0P-K2Imxz-C4Ij4s6zqAM1l7XO1NTl6fJ-eH7hp9p6v7cXbBU6NRHSqN5-Iuq0Qe-0xtacVhcKpKOtReQ/s320/family1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Last fall, we took family portraits at Indian Cave. We've had requests to do it again this year - so we are!</div>
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This year, we'll be at Indian Cave State Park on Sunday, October 21st. We can start as early as you like - sunrise portraits are beautiful, but typically cooler this time of year. The colors are beautiful right now and there are so many different locations to choose from.</div>
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Not only will we take portraits of your entire family, we'll also take portraits of mom & dad, the kids together, the kids individually or any other combination you would like. Depending on what all portriats you would like, your session will be between 1 - 2 hours. We are also offering this at a special $30 session fee!<br />
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Time slots will fill fast. Contact us today to reserve a time for your family!Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-15953746417817377782012-09-07T22:48:00.000-05:002012-09-08T19:12:28.673-05:00Our Candid Side... is it fading away?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgro_WHUkmXBq3cyxXCf4wkg28mBFZN7MlqxlWvWlLbxPfxCOpFLLaGAUoBgRgekR1W90rlJ6yAN89vlbyt-h-6IQqDFscHIRdGbyH5IPEKht_YxMes2-jLZPJo92_0WhZwXRyRrlokTYs/s1600/Softball.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgro_WHUkmXBq3cyxXCf4wkg28mBFZN7MlqxlWvWlLbxPfxCOpFLLaGAUoBgRgekR1W90rlJ6yAN89vlbyt-h-6IQqDFscHIRdGbyH5IPEKht_YxMes2-jLZPJo92_0WhZwXRyRrlokTYs/s320/Softball.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
I started Natural-Beauty Photography in August 2004 by going to local community and school events. I wasn't sure how well it would take off, but quickly figured out a lot of people really liked it. It grew quickly, but it has fallen even quicker. It's time that I take a fresh look at it and either do something to bring it back to life or lay it down to rest. I've got a few ideas to try, but overall... it depends on you, my customers.<br />
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I really enjoy doing the candid photography that I do, getting to meet everyone and attend & promote events, but I am literally losing money doing it. I realize that we're taking longer to get photos on our website - this is because we can't spend prime time working on our candid photography when we aren't getting orders. We are also taking longer to get orders to our customers because we have a minimum order of 80 photos (we pay for the equivalent of 80 4x6s whether we order 80 or not) plus a minimum shipping charge. We used to get 100 - 250 in a week, now we're barely getting 100 in a month.<br />
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What am I asking? I'm wanting to know if people still like our candid photography well enough to support it. We haven't raised our prices in over 4 years and we're cheaper than most others who do this type of photography as a business. We aren't currently planning on raising our prices either. Maybe you have some suggestions as to what we could do to help improve our sales - what you would like to see us do. Are there any suggestions or comments out there or has our candid side of photography run it's course and is time to call it quits.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFnq4uxoSVgLbYulGS5y2lVNDH5VPgkAztuaOaNdxv3h7YYZTslD2EnuiIFxlWg_bikEDWkXp2O_7RFXpVmIr_IU9lqghJ9ww1HK3SoINkvEAKEsjWwSyK3UgBYv2GpLYDF3NuoMdraek/s1600/Parade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFnq4uxoSVgLbYulGS5y2lVNDH5VPgkAztuaOaNdxv3h7YYZTslD2EnuiIFxlWg_bikEDWkXp2O_7RFXpVmIr_IU9lqghJ9ww1HK3SoINkvEAKEsjWwSyK3UgBYv2GpLYDF3NuoMdraek/s320/Parade.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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Here are my sales:<br />
Aug 04 - July 05 $3450<br />
Aug 05 - July 06 $6600<br />
Aug 06 - July 07 $7850<br />
Aug 07 - July 08 $8475<br />
Aug 08 - July 09 $8950<br />
Aug 09 - July 10 $6150<br />
Aug 10 - July 11 $5250<br />
Aug 11 - July 12 $2425<br />
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In the past year, August 2011 - July 2012, our sales have been lower than ever, even our first year. What did I do to get those $2,425 in sales? I looked through the events I attended in the past year and estimated that I spent a little over 200 hours at events (not including travel time, Humboldt, Auburn, Tecumseh....) On average, it takes at least twice as long to go through the photos, resize, watermark, upload and add the photos to the website. That's about another 400 - 500 hours of work. When orders are placed, I then go through to find the photos, edit them, upload & order them, receive & check them and e-mail or call the customer. All of this also adds more hours.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlIOIFNfKVKEAvIq8PBLT3GjVF0ISwvaWFC6L9qThL8ip5JF4Z7dnKunnUioCS9P5oz0Z1ULAtZLSEbV6fQcOB_PUbc9Gc_ulmHJA7zSsz3Z3687URe4AydALrtUEQtdq7Pe34_aWu3t4/s1600/8th+Promotion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlIOIFNfKVKEAvIq8PBLT3GjVF0ISwvaWFC6L9qThL8ip5JF4Z7dnKunnUioCS9P5oz0Z1ULAtZLSEbV6fQcOB_PUbc9Gc_ulmHJA7zSsz3Z3687URe4AydALrtUEQtdq7Pe34_aWu3t4/s320/8th+Promotion.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
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Figuring just 700 hours for the $2,425 gross sales we had last year, it figures out to less than $3.50 per hour. That does not allow anything for the direct costs of the photos & shipping, entry fees to a few of the events, gas to get to events, or credit card & web page fees. Plus, I have an employee who looks through all the photos taking out the bad ones before we add them to the web site. She also sorts the orders and gets them prepared when they come in. She makes more than minimum wage - I probably actually paid her more for the work she did for Natural-Beauty Photography last year than the sales I made. Then there is always all the other indirect costs - equipment, software, electricity, insurance, etc. I'm not expecting to make a living off of our candid photography, but I can't actually be losing money to do it either.<br />
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What are we doing to try to fix it?<br />
I'm not just giving up. I have a few things in mind to try, but I am always open to your suggestions as well. The first thing I'm changing is that we will start requiring payment when you order - no paying when you pick photos up. We have between $3,000 - $4,000 worth of photos sitting at our store that have never been picked up or paid for. We can't keep purchasing product for people when they aren't actually going to pay for them. I hate to take away the convenience of being able to pay when you pick photos up, but it's something I have to do.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrBsORztzb0XoTdIXa6NI8cj8RX5wHkyyIMFpLRYZLd85ZVrZCc3cEQbCGQfJfP-yMCSsIv8U7iUbxDZn6zyM1N8f7NlueYUiK6ZNd4U_YHoSXHktXVEvznC_LTgF3ZLx6CPFxJAF5sJ0/s1600/Haiden.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrBsORztzb0XoTdIXa6NI8cj8RX5wHkyyIMFpLRYZLd85ZVrZCc3cEQbCGQfJfP-yMCSsIv8U7iUbxDZn6zyM1N8f7NlueYUiK6ZNd4U_YHoSXHktXVEvznC_LTgF3ZLx6CPFxJAF5sJ0/s320/Haiden.jpg" width="207" /></a><br />
Another thing I've just started is trying to bring more attention to our business. When you order photos now, we will use a less intrusive watermark and upload them to our <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/NaturalBeautyCandids" target="_blank">facebook candids page</a>. We encourage you to tag yourself and family in these photos, share them with your friends and family, encourage everyone to purchase photos of themselves or their families. <br />
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Any other suggestions you may have, we're interested in hearing about! If you used to purchase from us and don't anymore, let me know why - other than graduation of course, I realize this takes families away each year, but I would expect others to take their places as other students come up through the years. If we're doing something wrong, I can't try to fix it if I don't know about it.<br />
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Please, if you like our candid photos... consider ordering more pictures. Be sure to tell all your friends about our photos and encourage them to order as well.<br />
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<u>Thank you to all of our past customers... <strong>I truly do appreciate your support!</strong></u><br />
<br />Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-91871804417507952892012-09-03T20:11:00.000-05:002012-09-03T21:23:18.043-05:00Sandy Puc Hands-On Photography WorkshopAs you probably know, I am always trying to learn more when it comes to the ins and outs of photography. I go to classes in person and online all the time. This past Saturday, I had another great class in Omaha.<br />
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I had to take mom to Omaha to catch a plane, so we left home at 4:00 a.m. I had planned on going home earlier Friday night to get to bed early, but of course that didn't happen. I got home about 10:00 like usual, ate supper and got to bed around 11:00 - up again by 3:30. I had dropped mom off at the airport and drove all the way across Omaha to the La Vista Conference Center by 6:45. As I pulled in the parking lot, I saw a big bus in front as though it had just gotten there. I figured it was probably Sandy's bus and later I found out I was correct. I thought about going in and offering to help setup, but I was tired and I had planned on taking a short nap in the car so that I would be awake enough during the day to actually soak in the knowledge. I did just that and woke up about 8:15. I went in and worked on some editing I had to do until class started at 10:00. I felt kind of bad about not at least offering to help earlier since they were running behind and didn't get their registration table setup at all (which was supposed to be up by 9:00). I don't know if they would have accepted help or not, but I could have at least offered.</div>
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I have attended several of Sandy Puc's tours before and they have always been very informative. This tour was quite different from her others - not that it wasn't informative, but that it wasn't just her teaching us. Sandy brought several other great photographers together to show us, hands-on, many different ways to get great portraits.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju9s6RcRfBYwQ9yQahu8gJOnX9Msdj0l61M8mXuKkNF45S3Ir0SDl1EwL0nV5nWYcLyzTBVK8fyXAHcL7krq91b2IfY0yZ2xizUGzKo1yqA427A0Ko4X2w2Rz3kkOelbFYJUiAWJnY7Ks/s1600/Ashley+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" fea="true" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju9s6RcRfBYwQ9yQahu8gJOnX9Msdj0l61M8mXuKkNF45S3Ir0SDl1EwL0nV5nWYcLyzTBVK8fyXAHcL7krq91b2IfY0yZ2xizUGzKo1yqA427A0Ko4X2w2Rz3kkOelbFYJUiAWJnY7Ks/s320/Ashley+1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brian DeMint's Booth<br />
Taken with simple incandescent lights</td></tr>
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The first photographer that I was with was Brian DeMint. If you look at <a href="http://www.eyeworksphotography.com/" target="_blank">his work</a>, you may wonder what he would teach a basic portrait photographer because his work is definitely... different. However, he is a very funny speaker and has great fundamentals and ideas. He uses a lot of things in ways they aren't meant to be used. When he saw our first model come in with tattoos across her chest, he immediately knew he wanted her to model for him and how he wanted her made-up. His wife does his makeup for him and they got their gothic model ready.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDnWrSCPlSBkLxksL-dXGNnbVJdsRSri5YasYwaISjE361AcVDWgHd0HUOd2bIM0BErKQ4volE2Twv9RgjQ4DpgdkLC74u2cbQyYluiTT763QWkwJvBqANFmuGEi7TZEL3r-JhNvwSwkw/s1600/Ashley+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" fea="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDnWrSCPlSBkLxksL-dXGNnbVJdsRSri5YasYwaISjE361AcVDWgHd0HUOd2bIM0BErKQ4volE2Twv9RgjQ4DpgdkLC74u2cbQyYluiTT763QWkwJvBqANFmuGEi7TZEL3r-JhNvwSwkw/s320/Ashley+4.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brian DeMint's Booth<br />
Taken with the exsame lights as the<br />
other just positioned differently</td></tr>
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One of the biggest things that I took away from Brian's booth was that it doesn't matter what you use to get the portrait, it's the end result that matters. Although he had multi hundred dollar lights provided for him to use, we used 3 chicken warmer style lamps with regular incandescent bulbs in them to do our lighting. This acutally worked really well because it is so much easier to control and move the lighting where you want and need it. Do these portraits look like they were taken with $10 chicken lamps? I've already incorporated this idea in to a portrait session I had Sunday - I didn't use chicken lamps, but I did use the general idea and it worked great.</div>
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Brian also gave us tips on working with and talking to the models. Another setup he did later in the day was using some plexiglass he found somewhere in the hotel and making a 'rainy day' scene with it. There are a few other things that he told us about that I plan on trying just to see what they do.</div>
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The second photographer that I was with for the day was <a href="http://www.jordanportrait.com/" target="_blank">Jordan Chan</a>. Jordan was teaching us about off camera flash and using them to overpower the sun. He can take portraits in the middle of the day in blazing sun and still get an awesome exposure with beautiful background and sky color as well as a well lit subject. This is something I just started figuring out how to do a few months ago and have got the general idea of - I first used it for individual / team ball portraits this summer. Jordan showed us a much faster and easier way of doing what I have been doing, plus a few more tips. He also showed me a setting on my camera that I didn't realize was there.</div>
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I didn't take any photos at Jordan's booth, although thinking back I should have just to have them. I'm glad that I didn't skip his booth because it really helped me with one of the biggest techniques I've been working on the past few months. Now it's just more practice, practice, practice! Again, I have already implemented his technique in a second portrait session I had yesterday at the swimming pool. Great color for the pool in the background while still having a well lit subject. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrQ1NWaEBw4_YHia-ws-S_aMeR0tyw_CqVEp5vbstk53emyuAq5T7cIqZUZjbHXyu8IX9eXmu0xa4GNplUqvHTRwYr6tbiAyUETZ6yiHPBOaxim5BRBSpXS6P_BypsRKJVUDR7papAf64/s1600/Danielle+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" fea="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrQ1NWaEBw4_YHia-ws-S_aMeR0tyw_CqVEp5vbstk53emyuAq5T7cIqZUZjbHXyu8IX9eXmu0xa4GNplUqvHTRwYr6tbiAyUETZ6yiHPBOaxim5BRBSpXS6P_BypsRKJVUDR7papAf64/s320/Danielle+1.jpg" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Travis Gadsby's Booth - Fundamentals<br />
Taken with 1 light</td></tr>
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The third and final photographer that I worked with was Travis Gadsby. Travis is the owner of <a href="http://www.silverlakephoto.com/" target="_blank">Silverlake Photo Accessories</a> and also does portrait photography. I'm guessing that he took most of the portraits on their site showing their products. Travis's booth was on the fundamentals of lighting, posing, etc. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKt2SWN0kNYXMpDHXXjDXUM8SeDfSIpZ2DhpkUOyk2zrsPiZ9cWWnserS969ghq-hmtvu1zZYVkc7pHJYnihAbkGTJ1hf5_oKLClPb9mFmVhSHbXLgSleyUPsznfwBPshbHfTqKhkjCnQ/s1600/Danielle+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" fea="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKt2SWN0kNYXMpDHXXjDXUM8SeDfSIpZ2DhpkUOyk2zrsPiZ9cWWnserS969ghq-hmtvu1zZYVkc7pHJYnihAbkGTJ1hf5_oKLClPb9mFmVhSHbXLgSleyUPsznfwBPshbHfTqKhkjCnQ/s320/Danielle+2.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Travis Gadsby's Booth - Fundamentals<br />
Taken with a main light, a reflector,<br />
and a seperator light</td></tr>
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We had a beautiful ballerina for our model at this booth when I got to it. We started out taking portraits of her with just a single light. We then added a reflector in the front and finally we added a seperator light on the opposite side in the back.</div>
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Having a ballerina for a model, we also got to have some fun learning how to catch jumps in mid air. She was very patient and willing to jump over and over and over for each of us to get a chance and capturing her in mid air.</div>
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<em>I believe all the backgrounds that were used on tour were provided by Travis with Silverlake Photo Accessories, so if you like the backgrounds you see, be sure to check out </em><a href="http://www.silverlakephoto.com/" target="_blank"><em>his page</em></a><em>.</em></div>
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Overall, I was not disappointed at all with this educational day. Sandy always puts on a great show and bringing all of these great photographers with her just made it that much better. It's not too often that you find an affordable hands-on workshop - usually it's just sitting and listening. I would definitely recommend this workshop to any aspiring photographers - it runs through October 19th. The schedule can be found on <a href="http://www.sandypuctours.com/?page/65970/the-hands-on-photography-workshop" target="_blank">Sandy Puc Tours</a>, and it includes a stop in Kansas City on September 21st (just as close to us as Omaha was). She has different photographers with her at different stops, so you may not get to learn from the same ones as I did, but I'm sure it would still be well worth the money. If you do go, be sure to tell her I sent you. :)</div>
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To see a few more of the portraits I got during the workshop, be sure to check out my <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/media/set/?set=a.10151038848265079.414576.59485615078&type=1" target="_blank">Facebook Photo Album</a>.</div>
Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-72692633476596680712012-08-23T16:47:00.000-05:002012-08-28T22:56:37.163-05:00School Portrait<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivRGPkoMoz-5qAVWy3m6B7BL3x6q4SVE-7x4_HjPtfwnbW_xoHklipDmwObsvUSHh2fPKa8mBi0OjuQTMjQnHzEtJPp29QlxCZy_9GbbHYr9ADwcRFgN-sVuk4U6_yULleacGOJK8uit0/s1600/Trevor+School+2011-12+copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivRGPkoMoz-5qAVWy3m6B7BL3x6q4SVE-7x4_HjPtfwnbW_xoHklipDmwObsvUSHh2fPKa8mBi0OjuQTMjQnHzEtJPp29QlxCZy_9GbbHYr9ADwcRFgN-sVuk4U6_yULleacGOJK8uit0/s200/Trevor+School+2011-12+copy.JPG" width="133" yda="true" /></a></div>
On September 29th, we're offering 10 - 15 minute mini-sessions for school portraits. We take the time to get several images for you to choose from on your choice of a background. Instead of getting that <em>"sit here, say cheese, < snap >, NEXT" </em>school portrait, let me take the time to get that great smile you love.<br />
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Our session fee for this will be only $10 and portrait packages start at only $20. It is by appointment, so call and schedule your appointment today!<br />
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If you are interested in a full Back-to-School portrait session, we are still offering those through September 14th. For more information about those, check our <a href="http://n-bphoto.blogspot.com/2012/08/back-to-school.html">Back to School Blog Post</a>.<br />
<br />Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-74579812435827238702012-08-22T22:30:00.000-05:002012-08-23T07:27:23.412-05:00Cobblestone RocksThis weekend is Cobblestone. Two years ago, we had a photo area in the front of our store to go with the theme of Cobblestone, <em>"Down on the Farm"</em>. It didn't go over as well as we had hoped, so we didn't do anything last year - but we had several people ask us if we were going to or why we didn't. So this year, we decided we are going to try it again - with a small twist.<br />
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This year's theme for Cobblestone is <em>"Cobblestone Rocks"</em>. We're creating a small 50's diner type set. Two years ago, we charged a small session fee, took a full set of portraits and sold actual portrait size prints and packages. This year, we're treating it more like a photo booth.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWwKHIA3Lz9fkrYCEKWN6t8XLE3x5bm2TQMzdnf3U_a7H5R89KRCG-kWcUKemahAz4fBY9fUSAZbNkTpIhEtaxOd8R2vDTmpU_foBcbUF8bNlR65TO2Kv4y_YI5QmVsi2w3Upq-zvvcJ0/s1600/Cobblestone+Rocks+2012+copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWwKHIA3Lz9fkrYCEKWN6t8XLE3x5bm2TQMzdnf3U_a7H5R89KRCG-kWcUKemahAz4fBY9fUSAZbNkTpIhEtaxOd8R2vDTmpU_foBcbUF8bNlR65TO2Kv4y_YI5QmVsi2w3Upq-zvvcJ0/s320/Cobblestone+Rocks+2012+copy.JPG" width="138" yda="true" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">3 1/2" x 8 1/2"<br />
Strip Example</td></tr>
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This is our first attempt at the photo booth style, so we aren't sure if we're using the timer on our camera to take 3 pictures at 5 second intervals, or if we will actually take the pictures ourselves. But what we're doing is just having the camera setup, taking 3 pictures and then printing them out as a 3 1/2" x 8 1/2" strip for you. The cost is simply $6 and they'll be ready within 30 minutes.<br />
<br />
<strong><u><span style="font-size: large;">Can you help us!!</span></u></strong><br />
We have our basic set almost ready, but we would love more "extras" if anyone has items they would let us borrow for the weekend. We're looking for things like a neon clock or other neon wall art, an old 50's style table and/or stools and other things like this. We would also love to get some clothes of all sizes including poodle skirts, leather jackets, etc. If you would have anything that we use for the weekend, we will give you a free 3 1/2" x 8 1/2" strip.<br />
<br />
I won't be at the studio at all times during Cobblestone because I do still plan on taking some candid photos, but we will be open most of the time. If I'm not at the studio when you stop by, come back in a half hour or so and I'll probably be back.<br />
<br />
Hope everyone has a fantastic time at Cobblestone this year!! <br />
<br />
* * * * *<br />
<br />
Here's a list of the events going on....<br />
<br />
Thursday, August 23rd<br />
5:00 pm FC Fireman’s Youth Fishing Contest - 15 years and under; Stanton Lake<br />
<br />
Friday, August 24th<br />
6:00-10:00 pm Sam’s Amusement Carnival; Arm Bands<br />
6:30 pm Hot Dog Eating Contest; Stage<br />
8:00-12:00 pm DJ Mark Lowe; Stage<br />
Co-Ed Kickball Tournament<br />
<br />
Saturday, August 25th<br />
7:00 am Fun Run - 1 mile, 5k & 10k Stanton Lake<br />
9:00 am Frog Jump Contest; Stage<br />
9:00 am Classic Car and Tractor Show; 18th & Stone<br />
9:00 - 6:00 pm Flea Market/Craft Fair; Downtown<br />
9:45 am Little Miss & Mr. Cobblestone Crowning; Stage<br />
11:00 am Cobblestone Parade; 20th - 14th Harlan Street<br />
1:00 - 3:00 pm “One Way Out” Band; Stage<br />
1:00-11:00 pm Carnival Rides & Games; Downtown<br />
2:00-4:00 pm RC Museum Exhibit Open; 14th Chase<br />
1:30 pm Youth Dodge Ball Tourney; Prichard Auditorium<br />
4:00 pm Singing Sensation Anne Crofford; Stage<br />
8:00 pm “Page 2” Band; Stage<br />
<br />
Sunday, August 26th<br />
10:00 am Sunrise Service Northridge Church Stanton Lake<br />
1:00 pm Little Tuggers Pedal Tractor Pull; Stage<br />
1:00 - 5:00 pm Carnival Rides & Games; Arm Bands<br />
1:00 - 6:00 pm Flea Market/Craft Fair; Downtown<br />
2:00-4:00 pm RC Museum Exhibit Opens 14th & Chase<br />
2:00 pm Falls City Idol; Stage<br />
6:30 pm Area Fellowship of Churches Vesper Service St. Paul’s Lutheran 20th & TowleNatural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-77065457797014172982012-08-08T19:59:00.001-05:002012-08-08T21:45:57.328-05:00Back to School<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">
It's that dreaded time of year for the kids and that long awaited time for parents..... back to school. This is a great time to update your child's portrait.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg53ZKcDvaKS68zpg7GxKk93tVoKxTXJRB04VkhZ_mgVFKpQi2lzYjg0VJP-O8Vh00LCbmwwnBXcdiGK1FN-dVsk8sAKSAG0DTMfczXhgvIld7hWWEWB_WWFPdEkKBIyp80r37v6holydM/s1600/102811PSSP002-8-F+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" kda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg53ZKcDvaKS68zpg7GxKk93tVoKxTXJRB04VkhZ_mgVFKpQi2lzYjg0VJP-O8Vh00LCbmwwnBXcdiGK1FN-dVsk8sAKSAG0DTMfczXhgvIld7hWWEWB_WWFPdEkKBIyp80r37v6holydM/s200/102811PSSP002-8-F+copy.jpg" width="160" /></a></div>
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Just before school starts, or immediately after, kids are really excited about going back to school. They have their favorite new outfit they're going to wear that first day, a new backpack, and maybe even some cool new school supplies. This can be conveyed in the best school portrait you've ever had! We have the perfect session for this. Bring in their favorite new outfit or two, their new backpack and maybe a few of cool new folders or pencils, etc. We'll capture this moment for you like you've never had it before.</div>
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You know that the school will soon be offering their same ole-same ole 'sit here and smile' portrait. While you're here getting these great back-to-school portraits, we'll get a much better standard portrait for you as well. Instead of just saying "sit here, say cheese, < snap >, NEXT", we take the time to get that great smile you love. We have a few standard backgrounds, or we can use some that aren't so standard.</div>
<br />
Now's the time to get those back-to-school portraits. Contact us today to schedule your appointment!<br />
<br />
Session Fee: $25<br />
1 package of your favorite standard portrait: $40<br />
1 8x10<br />
2 5x7<br />
4 4x6<br />
8 wallets<br />
<br />
All additional portraits are at our regular prices.Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-86991778711862272872012-07-25T20:27:00.000-05:002012-07-25T21:08:03.333-05:00Keeping a BalanceOk... I admit, I'm a bit of a workaholic. I suppose running your own business, or 2, or 3.. you have to be. I don't mind it most of the time, but it is so true that you have to keep a balance in your life - even if you do love your work.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmKciMnS7I21bCq12402buX-7nt61nIUFnQqyZi3KALTLQk9kGqHPIZIVIrhCS1mlfJGvZsY-fBM2MxHrkZXlaZkgDp_DKHU3qj7vTlg9UlEYwEGj9HEvtWEAUpuFXrJAflHEp6yhG1lk/s1600/9_20_09-02%23410C.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmKciMnS7I21bCq12402buX-7nt61nIUFnQqyZi3KALTLQk9kGqHPIZIVIrhCS1mlfJGvZsY-fBM2MxHrkZXlaZkgDp_DKHU3qj7vTlg9UlEYwEGj9HEvtWEAUpuFXrJAflHEp6yhG1lk/s200/9_20_09-02%23410C.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Family Portrait taken in 2009 by<br />
<a href="http://www.lindsayernst.com/" target="_blank">Lindsay Ernst Photography</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I still technically live at home with my parents and little brothers. I am home from around 9:30 at night until 7:30 in the morning and on probably a little more than half the Sundays. I do have a full kitchen at my store, as well as a room with a hide-a-bed... so I can crash at work from time to time as well. I do love that hour or so of a night that I get to talk with mom & dad and that 45 minutes or so of a morning cooking breakfast and beith with my brothers. Even though it's such a small time, it still keeps me connected. Plus, mom stops at the store for her break and lunch and usually the whole family comes to the store to pick her up after work - so I see them throughout the day, most days, as well.<br />
<br />
I actually love the setup this way. I look at it as getting the chance to help raise kids without having to deal with them all the time. My brothers are both adopted, one from China in 2006 and one from Guatemala in 2008. We are also fostering a 5 month old girl right now which we have had since she was 3 days old. With having my own business, it does give me the chance to be there when I'm needed to pick them up from school, drop them off at the babysitter or a game or even sometimes watch them at my store. To keep a real balance, I probably should be "home" more with them... but that's the nice thing about them being brothers instead of sons - I don't fell that I have to be.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHmdvlM1ABHmhNxH1BkYx_NRs02RGEn9RWysBdChrGTuC5JlYxcMJutaqjOC45o2sX_rb-2IxO7WGymOoXYRrAbcgeQDB-RD5aasuedz8eW2pTAV9LUPjkVQ3_q7s8CPlQ-cMDb1_hrmk/s1600/blockparty.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" sda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHmdvlM1ABHmhNxH1BkYx_NRs02RGEn9RWysBdChrGTuC5JlYxcMJutaqjOC45o2sX_rb-2IxO7WGymOoXYRrAbcgeQDB-RD5aasuedz8eW2pTAV9LUPjkVQ3_q7s8CPlQ-cMDb1_hrmk/s200/blockparty.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Block Party - photo borrowed<br />
from Sandy Schwarting</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Other than those times with my family, most of my time is spent by myself, with my employees or with customers. I very seldom actually go out just for fun. I'm not a real social person. I don't drink, so bars don't enthuse me. I don't like the loud music of bands or djs. I do volunteer and try to help out with Chamber of Commerce events and things like that - but that's almost more work related. The one thing that I do enjoy as "friends" is the block that my store is on usually has a get-together once a month, we started it about a year ago. We usually just go out for dinner at a restaurant or something like that - about a dozen of us. It's little things like that which I think really help keep a little more balance in life. Not only family, but friends as well.<br />
<br />
I know my life is <em>very </em>different from most people. How do you keep up the balance in your life? Work enough to make a living, spend time with your family and still have time for friends. Any thoughts out there?Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-32765554852359415832012-07-14T23:27:00.001-05:002012-07-15T10:25:25.006-05:00My hard drive died... what to do.....<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: right;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCoMvMRSjiFl3MwWWoeMQOIevqL25mi5v8cCogcR30H-yPA_d9P5gze-p0fHtCAwoIQuFP9EemIlah1G6rh8PIp2xRjXEMppZ3PQHiw6CQbzMTbJQGHGdUT8MikzrTVjLBGXLHS3DnveA/s1600/harddrive.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img $ca="true" border="0" height="140" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCoMvMRSjiFl3MwWWoeMQOIevqL25mi5v8cCogcR30H-yPA_d9P5gze-p0fHtCAwoIQuFP9EemIlah1G6rh8PIp2xRjXEMppZ3PQHiw6CQbzMTbJQGHGdUT8MikzrTVjLBGXLHS3DnveA/s200/harddrive.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
You're working away on your computer, listening to the music you've purchased through itunes, editing the pictures you took at your family reunion a few weeks ago. All of a sudden, everythiung goes quiet and a blue screen pops up. Stupid computer, you just lost the last 15 minutes of work that you hadn't saved!<br />
<br />
You restart your computer, and it comes up saying insert boot disk. What?!? Surprise, you lost more than just the last 15 minutes of work.... your hard drive just died and you lost <em>everything</em>.<br />
<br />
This happened to me today... well... kind of. It was actually one of my data drives that died instead of my main hard drive, so when I rebooted it still came back up, but that particular drive was missing from my computer.<br />
<br />
The biggest difference between what "actually" happened to me and what would have probably happened to you.... is I didn't lose anything important. Anything really important, I backup and backup again! And some, I even backup again... and again.<br />
<br />
All of my business documents, financial files, music and photos are always backed up. First, I configure my hard drive to be in a mirrored RAID system. Any change I make is automatically made to the 2nd hard drive. If one fails, I get a notice that the RAID system has a problem and I replace the bad hard drive. It repairs the RAID system and I'm right back where I was. Never down at all.<br />
<br />
All of these files are backed up again using an online backup service. I currently use (and our parent company, KawreS SuperStore sells) Carbonite. It backs up all of my files automatically whenever a change is made. It also keeps "versions" of the files, so if I change the file and a few days later realize I need the old version, I can get it back.<br />
<br />
Finally, my photos... the heart of my business... are backed up again. I back up all of my photos to an external hard drive and store it at home. It is much faster to get the 44GB of swim meet pictures back from USB hard drive than it is to download them from Carbonite. After 6 months or so, I back all the photos up to a second external hard drive which I keep at the store and take them off of my computer's hard drive. These will also be deleted from Carbonite, but I have already sold all that will probably be sold. But in case the customer does want more, I have them backed up at home and at the store... if there's a fire or one of the hard drives go bad, I still have another backup to get them from.<br />
<br />
So, what do you do to backup your important information? Shouldn't you at least be using an online backup like Carbonite? For $60 per year, in my opinion, it's definitely cheap peace of mind and you don't even have to remember to do it - it's automatic. After the fact, you can send your hard drive off to be 'recovered', but that usually has a minimum price of around $1,000. If you're interested in an online backup subscription, let us know and we can answer your questions and we would appreciate the opportunity to sell it to you - it's the same price through us or directly through them.<br />
<br />
<br />
So, what actually happened to me? I did lose one of my data drives. It stored all my mp3s and my survelliance camera videos as well as a few basic files. My mp3s are backed up (both on an external hard drive and on Carbonite) and I'll copy them back over when I replace the hard drive. The few files are backed up on Carbonite and I've already downloaded them to another location. My survelliance videos.... well... they're lost. I don't back them up because they aren't that important. So, if you shoplifted in the last few days and we didn't catch it - congratulations. But that's the only thing I lost... old survelliance videos. <br />
<br />
What would you lose if your hard drive crashed right now?Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-69111662622384659462012-07-04T15:11:00.000-05:002012-07-04T19:11:28.216-05:00Summer Time Fun Photo Contest<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Ti9OQS18Nq6ICU3-27S7_d5FMIImHOvkVC-TUwUZ0iH2oyBZ-sUdYE0SuzY28GtZ0b3iuuYBQEWVUjktYMa_H-TvRP1FcP_iRxZR3PsUsDiMmDxDDy-VKURboexcp9hQHDt92XXeYTo/s1600/summertimefun.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" sca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Ti9OQS18Nq6ICU3-27S7_d5FMIImHOvkVC-TUwUZ0iH2oyBZ-sUdYE0SuzY28GtZ0b3iuuYBQEWVUjktYMa_H-TvRP1FcP_iRxZR3PsUsDiMmDxDDy-VKURboexcp9hQHDt92XXeYTo/s200/summertimefun.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
It's summer and the heat is making sure we know it. What do you do for fun in the summer? We're having a photo contest this summer for fun!<br />
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<br />
<br />
<strong>How do you enter?</strong><br />
Submit a photo showing us what you do for fun in the summer by e-mailing it to <a href="mailto:SummerTimeFun@Natural-Beauty.com">SummerTimeFun@Natural-Beauty.com</a>. The subject of your e-mail will be the "title" of the picture and the body of the e-mail will be the "description" of the photo. Neither one is actually required. It will show up on our flickr page at <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/natural-beautyphotography/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/natural-beautyphotography/</a> in just a few minutes.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Why use Flickr?</strong><br />
Most photographers do this type of contest through facebook, why aren't we doing that? It is against facebook policy to run a promotion using facebook's like, etc. as an entry mechanism. I know of a photographer who lost their facebook page - and therefore lost all of their followers as well. I don't want to take the chance of losing all of my followers. However, this doesn't mean that you can't post a link to the picture on your facebook page for all of your friends to go vote!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/page_guidelines.php" target="_blank">Facebook Page Guidelines</a> - Section E. v. "<em>You must not use Facebook features or functionality, such as the Like button, as a voting mechanism for a promotion.</em>"<br />
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<strong>What will you win?</strong><br />
We are giving away 2 individual sessions with this contest. These can be in studio or on location and are for the person or one of the people who are in the photo.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>How do you win?</strong><br />
1) The first winner will win by having the most comments on their photo. Simply share a link to your photo on our flickr page with all of your friends and ask them to leave a comment. Only one comment per user will be counted. The photo with the most unique comments will receive a free portrait session. Don't have a flickr account? No worries, you can log in using your facebook account.<br />
<br />
2) The second winner will be chosen by me and a few facebook friends who aren't from around here (and therefore don't know who anyone is). This winner will be chosen for creativity, uniqueness and staying with the theme of the contest.<br />
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<br />
<strong>When can you enter?</strong><br />
The contest starts NOW! It will go through 5:00 p.m. Central Time Wednesday, July 18th. We will announce the winners around 5:00 p.m. on Friday, July 20th.<br />
<br />
<br />
<strong>Bonus Money!!</strong><br />
Go ahead and have portraits taken now. If you have portaits taken before July 18th and you win, we will give you your session fee PLUS an extra $25 in credit towards your portrait order!<br />
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<br />
A great idea for a session right now is a pool session. Beat the heat and get portraits you can't get any other time of year. We'll come to the pool and get great portraits, often you can't even tell they're taken at the pool. We have the ability to get some really fun underwater portraits as well.<br />
<br />
Get your favorite Summer Time Fun photo sent in now and contact us to setup your portrait appointment today!<br />
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/NaturalBeautyPortraits" target="_blank">Facebook</a><br />
<a href="http://www.natural-beauty.com/" target="_blank">Natural-Beauty Phtoography</a><br />
1515 Stone St.<br />
Falls City, NE 68355<br />
(402) 245-3700<br />
1-888-652-9737<br />
<a href="mailto:Cheetahs@Natural-Beauty.com" target="_blank">Cheetahs@Natural-Beauty.com</a>Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-54677139998509688852011-12-26T10:30:00.001-06:002011-12-26T10:30:29.934-06:00Christmas Card CleanupChristmas is over and most of us probably spent more than we wanted to. In the next few days also comes the daunting task of cleaning up. Let Natural-Beauty Photography reimburse you for a little of that Christmas expense you had. Instead of throwing away all of those Christmas cards you got this year, bring them in to Natural-Beauty Photography.<br />
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<br />
This year, through January 3rd, we are paying you for your Christmas cards! We will give you 50 cents per card that you bring tous as a portrait credit towards any portrait session in 2012. Bring in 10 cards, get a $5 credit... bring in 20, get a $10 credit... bring in 100, get a $50 credit - it's that simple!<br />
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Have questions? Find us on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Natural-Beauty-Photography/59485615078" target="_blank">Facebook</a>, send us an <a href="mailto:Cheetahs@Natural-beauty.com" target="_blank">E-mail</a> or call us at (402) 245-3700.<br />
<br />
We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-8613374995175465052011-12-18T20:29:00.000-06:002011-12-18T20:41:53.974-06:00New Year's Profile Portrait PartyWhy not start out the new year with a new Profile Portrait? You can use it on any of your online profiles.<br />
<br />
Our profile portrait party is the perfect way to upgrade your profile from a standard snapshot to a professional portrait. For only $10, this could be the most affordable makeover you've ever had!<br />
<br />
Come enjoy food, beverages and a quick portrait session.<br />
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<br />
The details:<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #990000;"><strong>WHO:</strong></span> You and <u>your</u> friends<br />
The first 6 people who contact us and pay the small $10 party fee. Each of these 6 people can invite up to 3 friends who will be added to our party list with their $10 party fee. If we are not full (24 people) by December 26th, we will open it up for more people.<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #38761d;">WHAT:</span></strong> A party!<br />
We'll provide food and beverages, background and props, music and possibly some games. We'll take a few pictures and you pick your favorite - we'll provide it for you to use on your online profiles.<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="color: #351c75;">WHEN:</span></strong> December 31st from 3:00p - 5:00p<br />
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<strong><span style="color: #bf9000;">WHERE:</span></strong> Natural-Beauty Photography's Studio<br />
in KawreS SuperStore at 1515 Stone St. Falls City, NE<br />
<br />
<span style="color: #741b47;"><strong>WHY:</strong></span> Because everyone wants to start out the New Year in a fun way!!<br />
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Reserve your spot today! First 6 to contact us and pay the party fee are in and can invite 3 of their friends to join them ($10 party fee each)! (402) 245-3700 or contact us on facebook!Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-62335433620160952762011-12-03T17:28:00.001-06:002011-12-03T17:56:56.969-06:002011 Top Holiday Gift PicksIt’s better to give than to receive. Go on—-make them smile with these fabulous holiday gift ideas. These are some great ideas I found on the Internet - some are a bit expensive, but it's still a great list overall.....<br />
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<u>Baby</u><br />
From infants to six months and beyond, these ball poppers are sure to be a favorite.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004S6A1QK/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=olympbooks-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B004S6A1QK" target="_blank">Playskool Poppin' Park Eelefun Busy Ball Popper </a><br />
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<u>Toddler</u><br />
This is an interactive toy that teaches toddlers colors, counting and different sea animals.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004MWJLFC/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=olympbooks-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004MWJLFC" target="_blank">LeapFrog Talk-a-Shoe Talking Octopus</a><br />
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<u>Preschool/Kindergarten</u><br />
These plates make mealtime extra fun and engaging.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003ZUXPWM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=olympbooks-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B003ZUXPWM" target="_blank">Mr. and Ms. Food Face Plate</a><br />
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<br />
<u>Grades 1-3 Girl</u><br />
You don’t have to pronounce it to make her day, just give her one of these adorable dolls. Most come with a cute little pet/sidekick.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/mn/search?_encoding=UTF8&x=24&tag=olympbooks-20&ie=UTF8&linkCode=ur2&y=20&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=Lalaloopsy%20Doll&url=search-alias%3Daps%23" target="_blank">Lalaloopsy Doll</a><br />
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<u>Grades 1-3 Boy</u><br />
Be prepared to bring a huge smile to his face… and get shot in the head, arm, leg, etc.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004SKQNDQ/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=olympbooks-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004SKQNDQ" target="_blank">Nerf Vortex Vigilon Disc Blaster</a><br />
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<u>Grades 3-6 Girl</u><br />
Tis’ the season to be dolly! Give your daughter the gift of reading, history and fun with a timeless classic—an American Girl Doll. Choose from 12 different dolls—each with their own book. They range from 1764 to 1974, and the assortment of outfits, books and accessories is virtually endless.<br />
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<a href="http://www.americangirl.com/index.php" target="_blank">American Girl Website</a><br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/mn/search?_encoding=UTF8&tag=olympbooks-20&ie=UTF8&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=american%20girl%20dolls&url=search-alias%3Dtoys-and-games&sprefix=american%20girl%23" target="_blank">American Girls on Amazon</a><br />
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<u>Grades 3-6 Boy</u><br />
It’s all about LEGOs at this age. Give him this Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars or any other movie-inspired set, and he’ll have hours of engaging fun ahead of him.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/mn/search?_encoding=UTF8&tag=olympbooks-20&ie=UTF8&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=lego&url=search-alias%3Daps%23" target="_blank">Legos</a><br />
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<u>Tween Girl</u><br />
You might not like him, but every tween girl is obsessed with Justin Bieber. Give her one of his CDs, his movie, a poster, tee shirt or even a bottle of his perfume.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005342PEM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=olympbooks-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B005342PEM" target="_blank">Justin Bieber Someday Perfume</a><br />
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<u>Tween Boy</u><br />
At two feet long and three pounds, the world’s largest gummy worm will provide any tween boy with weeks of amusement and sweet albeit unusual snacking satisfaction.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/mn/search?_encoding=UTF8&tag=olympbooks-20&ie=UTF8&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=The%20World%27s%20Largest%20Gummy&url=search-alias%3Daps%23" target="_blank">The World’s Largest Gummy Worms and Gummy Bears</a><br />
<br />
<br />
<u>Teen Girl</u><br />
Victoria’s Secret PINK is every teen girl’s favorite loungewear. Make her smile with a colorful option—the brighter the better!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.victoriassecret.com/ss/Satellite?ProductID=1265646848285&c=Page&cid=1319075842108&pagename=vsdWrapper&redir=true20111118" target="_blank">Victoria’s Secret PINK Signature Crew and Vintage Flair Pant</a><br />
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<br />
<u>Teen Boy</u><br />
These hoodies are stylish and feature built-in headphones, so they can be plugged into a phone or mp3 player for a convenient and machine washable wardrobe essential.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/mn/search?_encoding=UTF8&tag=olympbooks-20&ie=UTF8&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=Hoodie%20Buddie&url=search-alias%3Dapparel%23" target="_blank">Hoodie Buddie</a><br />
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<br />
<u>College Girl</u><br />
There’s nothing like a warm, luxurious pair of UGG boots to keep your little smartie warm on campus.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/mn/search?_encoding=UTF8&x=12&tag=olympbooks-20&ie=UTF8&linkCode=ur2&y=19&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=UGG%20Australia%20Classic%20Tall&url=search-alias%3Daps%23" target="_blank">UGG Australia Classic Tall</a><br />
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<br />
<u>College Boy</u><br />
Just give him money and don’t ask any questions.<br />
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<br />
<u>Domesticated Diva</u><br />
Angelic hostesses everywhere will be in seventh heaven with a beautiful fondu set.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/mn/search?_encoding=UTF8&tag=olympbooks-20&ie=UTF8&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=390957&field-keywords=Fondu%20Set&url=search-alias%3Daps%23" target="_blank">Fondu Set</a><br />
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<br />
<u>Man’s Man</u><br />
There’s nothing better than a bottle of Crown Royal whisky. Add some whisky glasses for an extra touch that he will love!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004D3ITT4/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=olympbooks-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004D3ITT4" target="_blank">Villeroy & Boch Highlands Whiskey Tumbler</a><br />
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<u>Athlete/Outdoorsman</u><br />
A Nike+ Sportswatch GPS is a great gift for any athlete. Powered by Tom Tom, your favorite fitness buff can access plenty of data on up to 50 runs, and chart them on their computer with a built-in USB port.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004WIUDGM/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=olympbooks-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B004WIUDGM" target="_blank">A Nike+ Sportswatch GPS</a><br />
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<br />
<u>Fashionista</u><br />
A large gold watch like this one by Michael Kors will make any fashionista’s eyes sparkle.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006CS88JY/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=olympbooks-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B006CS88JY" target="_blank">Michael Kors ‘Large Gold Runway’ Watch</a><br />
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<br />
<u>Bookworm</u><br />
You can’t beat a reading tablet like Kindle for those bookworms in your life!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005890G8Y/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=olympbooks-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B005890G8Y" target="_blank">Kindle Touch</a><br />
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Don’t forget a card with a personal message!Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-67610858316234166642011-11-16T18:50:00.001-06:002011-11-16T19:03:15.099-06:00Custom Portrait Greeting Cards<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNpNDfHaJ2txTSJdb5EzeTRLmjqZu_F9Xpkt92QyMrYDBlwrpZBvMUOPc1zcBvJp_0Mndg264HRBO-rTCIVAMXotMiWf2RbBohw17ZrqUGRn1ToPsRM783obNBwlebDQ5zY_yY_lzk_kg/s1600/full+card+thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" hda="true" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNpNDfHaJ2txTSJdb5EzeTRLmjqZu_F9Xpkt92QyMrYDBlwrpZBvMUOPc1zcBvJp_0Mndg264HRBO-rTCIVAMXotMiWf2RbBohw17ZrqUGRn1ToPsRM783obNBwlebDQ5zY_yY_lzk_kg/s320/full+card+thumb.jpg" width="234" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our newest 5x7 folding card design.<br />
Top Left (Front), Bottom (Inside), Top Right (Back)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
So, you think custom portrait greeting cards are too expensive? They really aren’t as expensive as you think – plus they’re an awesome keepsake for all of your friends and family. <br />
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<br />
1) If you go to a store to get an individual greeting card, they usually start at $4 - $5 each and they aren’t customized at all.<br />
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2) Our custom portrait folding greeting cards are 4-sided…. That’s usually at least 3 or 4 portraits, sometimes more. Sending 3 or 4 different wallet size portraits to each of your friends and family costs more than our folding 5x7 card.<br />
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3) With our cards, we take the time to edit each portrait we put in your card. You get a custom designed display (card) to show several fully edited portraits all at once. <br />
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4) Think about the price again.... purchase a 5x7 for each of the people you want to send a standard card to. 5x7s start at $6.00 each, 25 are $5.40 each or 50 are $4.80 each. Our 5x7 folding greeting card is only $5.00 each in batches of 25 and cheaper with quantity. That’s right…. a 5x7 custom greeting card is actually cheaper than a single 5x7 and has more than just one portrait on it.<br />
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5) Go ahead…. be like everyone else and just send them that basic, generic Holiday card. They may keep it for a month, but after that – it’s trash. Send them a custom portrait greeting card from Natural-Beauty Photography and they’ll keep your card forever.<br />
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<br />
Get your custom Christmas Greeting Cards today… Order before November 26th and get your second set of 25 at ½ price.<br />
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Sold in sets of 25<br />
<br />
- 4x6 Double Sided Postcard - $3.00 each<br />
- 5x7 Double Sided Postcard - $4.50 each<br />
- 4x5 ½ Folding Card - $4.00 each<br />
- 5x7 Folding Card - $5.00 eachNatural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-63969942124948007152011-10-24T16:00:00.000-05:002011-10-24T16:00:47.594-05:00Halloween CraftsHere are some fun ideas for Halloween Crafts that kids can help create...<br />
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Milk Carton Haunted Houses <br />
Use any size of carton, from an individual sized lunch carton to a half gallon. Cut out a door and some windows and cover entirely with black construction paper. Add some cute halloween stickers and glitter, maybe some candy corn and pumpkins, and you have an adorable decoration that your kids can help create. For an extra spooky touch, add an LED tealight. Create one house, or an entire village! <br />
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<br />
Boa Bats<br />
These would make great porch decorations! Add glitter and use different colors of construction paper for a more playful effect.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://familyfun.go.com/halloween/halloween-crafts/halloween-bat-crafts/boa-bats-669215/">http://familyfun.go.com/halloween/halloween-crafts/halloween-bat-crafts/boa-bats-669215/</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Printable Pumpkin Carving Stencils<br />
Our favorite ones are the goofy faces!<br />
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<a href="http://www.paperpumpkins.com/">http://www.paperpumpkins.com/</a><br />
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<br />
Tie Dye Halloween<br />
Create a fun tee shirt, onesie, pajamas or a trick or treat bag with this adorable craft.<br />
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<a href="http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/pumpkin-shirt-674600/">http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/pumpkin-shirt-674600/</a>Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-86387673205405396572011-10-15T13:34:00.000-05:002011-10-15T13:34:26.704-05:00Family Portraits at Indian Cave State Park<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1V96sHlOszId-NcErE7NNBPasNGBDcghOfXSXOgc34hSYyk30fb1QY9tbsDz9xKOwT3NmBeuDI993MVSdrbHhcV-b5UwUdyjRAoACD8r_DwZzzymgXXhsjLotztbACiFy5cF4vdZXwhg/s1600/2011thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" oda="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1V96sHlOszId-NcErE7NNBPasNGBDcghOfXSXOgc34hSYyk30fb1QY9tbsDz9xKOwT3NmBeuDI993MVSdrbHhcV-b5UwUdyjRAoACD8r_DwZzzymgXXhsjLotztbACiFy5cF4vdZXwhg/s320/2011thumb.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Autumn is one of the most beautiful times to take family portraits in a scenic area because of all the beautiful color nature offers. We're going to be at Indian Cave State Park all day on Saturday, October 29th to take your family portraits.<br />
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We have several different locations throughout Indian Cave to take pictures that offer different looks for your portraits. When you contact us, we'll help you decide where you want to take portraits at and set up a time for your session. We're happy to take anything from your family group only to the family group, smaller groups (the kids, mom & dad, etc.) to individuals of each person.<br />
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Contact us today to reserve your session so we can <em>Capture the Natural-Beauty of Your Family</em>.<br />
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Address: 1515 Stone St. Falls City, NE<br />
Phone: 402-245-3700 or 888-652-9737<br />
Email: <a href="mailto:Photos@Natural-Beauty.com">Photos@Natural-Beauty.com</a><br />
Facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Natural-Beauty-Photography/59485615078">Natural-Beauty Photography</a>Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-28944626794449040382011-10-06T08:51:00.001-05:002012-08-20T07:04:53.460-05:00You never know who someone might become....Some kids who are adopted often feel they aren't as good or as special as the other kids. That is so untrue, but that's a whole different story. Just because someone's adopted doesn't mean anything... they can still have great potential.<br />
<br />
Do you know or remember someone who was a delinquent as they were growing up? You always thought they won't ever amount to anything except being a trouble maker - or they'll be in prison all their life. Maybe they just haven't found their calling yet.<br />
<br />
What about someone who drops out of college? They can't have any drive or be successful in life, right? I personally dropped out after 2 years in a 3 year program. I decided that it really wasn't what I wanted to do the rest of my life and there was no reason to continue on that path. How about dropping out after just 6 months? That's really bad - they didn't even give it a chance... they're really a loser, arnen't they!<br />
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One more sign of a loser.... someone who gets fired from their job - not layed off, but fired. Anyone who gets fired from their job can't be an asset to society, can they?<br />
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Now let's put all of these together? Someone who is adopted.... a delinquent through high school. Drops out of college after only 6 months..... gets fired from his job after doing it for 9 years. This guy has to be a total loser! This guy..... is Steve Jobs.<br />
<br />
Steve Jobs touched everybody's lives. Even as photographers, our lives have been influenced greatly by Steve Jobs. The post process editing we do on our computers, whether Apple or not (in my case, not), came about partially because of Steve Jobs.<br />
<br />
Steve's innovative thinking and products will always be part of our lives.<br />
<br />
Don't judge people too quickly.... they may surprise you!!!Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-60944919015849444832011-09-28T20:59:00.000-05:002011-09-28T20:59:59.661-05:00Education... all the time....This past weekend I went to Grand Island for the Professional Photographers of Nebraska Fall Convention. It started at 6:00 Saturday night and went through 3:30 Monday afternoon. Lots of great speakers that I got several great ideas from. I'm working on implementing some of those ideas... plan on implementing some in the future and learned some more posing techniques.<br />
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<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Monday, there was also an all day webinar that I was able to download with another 11 hours of training. I haven't had a chance to actually listen to all of those yet, but I have them saved to listen to in the near future. They happen to mostly be on marketing, but that's kind of a broad term when it comes to photography. There's almost always at least a couple webinars a week that I am interested in and try to catch - many on posing and new techniques.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Next Monday, I'm going to Kansas City for a 12 hour seminar put on by the Professional Photographers of America. Then the following Sunday, I'm going to Omaha for an 8 hour class designated specifically to Senior Portraiture from two established senior photographers from Omaha. Basically, in a 2 1/2 week span, I'll be getting over 35 hours of live training and another 20 hours or so of online training.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwMAWtLJstXCJsWz-UFwxYpfgFpxVcwRTPhGD9a7skJEOmljFMzqRwfe2mDQZyMnOGjdCf3DUnFSrJOZLrByMaSVx-SVEmK4Mhr8I-fJCS40Rsdnw7iFoztSoz8ZWAu37FzTNYKtY4rBw/s1600/colalge+th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" kca="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwMAWtLJstXCJsWz-UFwxYpfgFpxVcwRTPhGD9a7skJEOmljFMzqRwfe2mDQZyMnOGjdCf3DUnFSrJOZLrByMaSVx-SVEmK4Mhr8I-fJCS40Rsdnw7iFoztSoz8ZWAu37FzTNYKtY4rBw/s200/colalge+th.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">After some great traning, it's best to practice, practice, practice. The first senior girl and first senior guy who contacts me to set up an appointment for senior portraits will get their session fee waived. We'll set the session up for sometime shortly after the 9th (the day I'm doing 10 hours of Senior education). Contact me now to get an appointment setup!!!</div>Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-71518028359455719032011-09-23T22:08:00.001-05:002011-09-24T08:03:57.448-05:00Lots of stuff going on this weekendThere's a lot of community events going on here in Falls City this weekend... Be sure to catch it all.<br />
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<br />
Saturday:<br />
From 8:00am - noon, there's a free Health Fair sponsored by <a href="http://www.cmcfc.org/">Community Medical Center</a> at the high school. I was wanting to be there, but I'm leaving for Grand Island in the morning for an educational trip and won't be back until Monday night. It should be very educational, helpful and fun!<br />
From 11:00 am to 2:00 pm, Sunmart is having a fund raiser for the Dallas Jones Park / Ball Field Renovation Project. For only $2.00, get a boneless pork chop sandwich with a bag of chips and a soft drink!! All proceeds go to the Renovation Project - a Great Price for a nice meal.... for a wonderful cause!<br />
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And finally, from 4:30pm to 8:00pm, Terry Campbell, The Good News Band and One Way Out will be having a 'Hoedown at the Park' at Stanton Lake. They'll be serving Grilled Hamburgers and Hotdogs, Potato Salad, Baked Beans and Chips. Everyone's welcome and it is FREE - no donations will be taken. A great night of music and a free meal, can it get any better??<br />
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<br />
Sunday:<br />
If you're looking for some entertainment, you can watch the Falls City youth playing Flag Football at the Falls City High School football field during the afternoon.<br />
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To finish the weekend off, St. Paul's Lurtheran Church at 20th & Towle will be having a Community Benefit Supper serving an old fashioned roast beef dinner Sunday night from 5:00pm - 7:00pm. It's a freewill donation and all funds benefit the Falls City Area Ministerial Association.<br />
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Take the weekend off - have a fun packed weekend with almost all your meals planned out for you and be sure to hit the health fair for an important health checkup. Hope everyone has a great time and I'll be back Monday night!!!Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-29279070381028401002011-09-23T10:45:00.000-05:002011-09-23T10:45:15.300-05:00Autumn is here“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”<br />
~Albert Camus<br />
<br />
Today is the first day of autumn. Celebrate with your little ones with these adorable crafts and a great, simple treat we tried last night.<br />
<br />
Pumpkin Seed Mosaic Art<br />
<a href="http://naturenest.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/pumpkin-seed-mosaic-art-a-fall-kids-craft/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #007e85;">http://naturenest.wordpress.com/2008/11/11/pumpkin-seed-mosaic-art-a-fall-kids-craft/</span></a><br />
<br />
Fall Leaf Mobile<br />
Create fall leaf cutouts from construction paper, fine cardboard or felt. Tape the leaves to thin ribbons, string or twine. Attach each string to a small branch and hang it where it can spin freely for all to enjoy!<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOLTyICsw-bmbCdoPXJKsVkYbJoDHOxqfU27GPbLOUro8mRFTVYZW7s_tUtEI38mxuWboZr4gppQJt7XvvdPyTVFnghlIPMCGvOqfod8mTHxAy17oTwSzLr2c2P7IH9G__whCmkp7qu_4/s1600/Apple+Dessert+006+thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOLTyICsw-bmbCdoPXJKsVkYbJoDHOxqfU27GPbLOUro8mRFTVYZW7s_tUtEI38mxuWboZr4gppQJt7XvvdPyTVFnghlIPMCGvOqfod8mTHxAy17oTwSzLr2c2P7IH9G__whCmkp7qu_4/s200/Apple+Dessert+006+thumb.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">Peanut Butter Apple Dessert</div> Yield: about 20 servings<br />
Ingredients:<br />
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (approx. 24 squares)<br />
1/2 cup packed brown sugar<br />
1/2 cup peanut butter<br />
1/4 cup butter, melted<br />
1 8 ounce package Cream Cheese, sosftened<br />
3/4 cup sugar<br />
1 16 ounce carton whiped topping<br />
2 21 ounce cans apple pie filling<br />
3/4 cup confectioners sugar<br />
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon<br />
1/3 cup peanut butter<br />
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Directions:<br />
In a large bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, 1/2 cup peanut butter and butter; spoon half into a 3 quart bowl.<br />
In another large bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth; fold in whipped topping. Spread half over the crumb mixture in the 3 quart bowl. Top with one can of apple pie filling.<br />
Combine the confectioners sugar, cinnamon and remaining peanut butter until crumbly; sprinkle half over pie filling.<br />
Repeat layers. Refrigerate until serving.<br />
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<br />
What are some of your favorite Autumn activities and foods?<br />
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Happy Autumn from Natural-Beauty Photography!Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8081460980380277763.post-60428920591514195112011-09-07T19:50:00.000-05:002011-09-07T19:50:39.592-05:00September is National Children’s Good Manners Month!Sit down with your little ones and enjoy these excellent etiquette reads.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0609806378?ie=UTF8&tag=olympbooks-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0609806378">365 Manners Kids Should Know: Games, Activities, and Other Fun Ways to Help Children Learn Etiquette</a><br />
by Sheryl Eberly<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060761741?ie=UTF8&tag=olympbooks-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0060761741">Emily’s Everyday Manners</a><br />
by Cindy Post Senning and Peggy Post<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/081090960X?ie=UTF8&tag=olympbooks-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=081090960X">The Golden Rule</a><br />
by Ilene Cooper<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0764122878?ie=UTF8&tag=olympbooks-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0764122878">Oops, Sorry! A First Book of Manners</a><br />
by Richard Morgan<br />
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0399242171?ie=UTF8&tag=olympbooks-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0399242171">Please is a Good Word to Say</a><br />
by Barbara Joosse<br />
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Happy Reading!Natural-Beauty Photographyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06339119006809287463noreply@blogger.com0