Update: The June 1 workshop is completely SOLD OUT! Another date is being added June 3. Please email info@stephaniecottaphotography.com to reserve your spot!
I feel extremely fortunate that I am able to spend my days doing something I love so much… hanging out with my own little ones AND photographing some down right amazing families and new little peanuts. And now that I’m a bit more comfortable with all of our schedules, I’m excited that I made the decision to take on a few destination newborn sessions (way cooler than destination weddings, right??). And while I’ll have a bit warmer trek to San Diego in a few weeks, traveling to Chicago this past weekend was quite exciting… which brings me to my next point: I feel even more fortunate that I am asked to travel to these locations. Pulling from my facebook wall this morning: “Thanks for visiting and making yourself available to shoot our second baby girl. We didn’t have you up because nobody in Chicago could have taken the photos, it was because we wanted you. You are the best. Thanks again from the Cohen’s.” Ohhhh… melt.my.heart.
Previews from the session are coming but I promised myself to first edit a few others from the trip.
I obviously carry my camera around for many of our days… capturing the little moments in our life. And believe me, we are not always posing and saying cheese… it’s just more about capturing them exactly how they are. Yet with how stinkin’ cold it was this weekend and how many coats/hats/mittens/snacks, etc… I was toting around, I decided to forgo the camera on most of our outings. And I’m not going to lie when I tell you that I kind of liked it. It’s not that I didn’t want to document everything, but I’m often times more behind-the-scenes making sure I capture the moment than be in it. And perhaps this was a good eye opener to me… to remind myself to live in the moment with them instead of staying 50 mm back 🙂
Not that I don’t love always being able to remember these moments….
* Like Jacob and his doughnuts. If there is one food this child really loves, it’s doughnuts. He knows he always has one waiting at his Mimi and Poppa’s house (since I refuse to keep them in our house) and rumor has it he sometimes gets one when he grocery shops with his daddy. But at our hotel, they had the most amazing doughnut shop in the lobby and how can you say no to that??
* Audrey Rose & her observations. It truly is amazing to me how she studies everything, takes it all in and then wants to go explore it all… She does her best to keep up with her almost-four-year-old big brother, has finally starting sprouting some curls on that precious head and was a little monster on the car ride up. Which positioned me for the bulk of the trip in between two car seats feeding her goldfish and singing “Once I saw a little birdy” fifty thousand times. #joysofmotherhood
* Shedd Aquarium. We only stayed for one extra day but we had to make it to this remarkable place.
Jacob literally would bend over laughing every time the dolphin swam right by them.
And though he may act like a tough almost-four-going-on-ten-year-old, he’s the sweetest kid you’ll ever meet…. making sure his baby sister sees exactly what there is to look at.
“You see it, Audrey?? You see it???”
{The birthday party planning has begun… for a sneak peak from his invites and the theme, check instagram – I’m scpstudio. And side note: When you don’t want to lug around a big camera or don’t have one, instagram is just perfect for capturing those little moments 🙂 }
On our to do list for this week?
Print some pictures and order some canvases for the new house. I mentioned it on facebook the other day, but the hard thing about taking so many pictures is having a difficult time deciding which ones to print. I’m finally ready to say the heck with the fact that I might take the most gorgeous picture of them tomorrow, I want to be looking at these precious faces on my walls today.
And the quote that I’ll be finding some way to incorporate among the prints?
I will love you forever,
I will like you for always,
As long as I’m living,
My babies you’ll be.
Hope you are having a wonderful Sunday evening with your own little ones…
Thank you to everyone that participated in the SCP Newborn Posing Guide giveaway!
I had no idea how many people would enter this so I did TONS of research of how to best pick the winner (so that it was done completely randomly!)
So here’s how it went down:
Step #1 – all names and info was entered into list using http://www.random.org/lists. This randomly placed them all into a spreadsheet with a number (some numbers were empty and obviously didn’t effect anyone’s chances).
Step #2 – I then used http://www.random.org/ to randomly choose a number between 1 and 1610. The lucky number was 1338.
Step #3 – I looked at the spreadsheet to see who this corresponded to.
Step #4 – Confirmed on facebook and checked the share!
There you go… Caren Simpson Photography – Congratulations on your big WIN!! You have 24 hours to contact me to receive your posing guide or a new winner will be selected!!
To everyone else.. thank you dearly for entering and for the amazing support you have given me! To purchase your guide and read some of the amazing reviews, go here.
I can’t even begin to tell you about how excited I am about this project. But let me try…
Maybe you are just beginning or perhaps you are more established, but whatever your background, we are both already bonded by one thing – our love for capturing those perfect little newborns. Several years ago, I was like many of you – a mom with a nice camera and a vision to take gorgeous, stunning photographs of newborns… not only did I want to capture all of their perfect little parts, but I wanted to create art… art that families could forever treasure. And by practicing (and making mistakes) and practicing some more, I was able to fine-tune the art of the SCP Newborn Session.
When I started holding my SCP Newborn Mentoring Workshops, I fell in love with teaching others to do what I do (this is probably due in part to my years teaching high school math) and thus began the start of designing and creating the SCP Newborn Posing Guide. Not only does this guide provide you with step-by-step instructions of newborn poses (and when I say step-by-step, I mean I lay out each photograph and describe in detail what to do and how to transition to next move), but it also gives you advice on scheduling the newborn sessions, prepping parents, soothing techniques, shooting strategies, perfecting each pose, posing order, my studio setup and of course, where I get all of my favorite session goodies. This is literally my entire newborn mentoring workshop, all of my secrets, my strategies, my tips, my knowledge on something I am so entirely passionate about…. poured into one document.
Had something like this been around when I first took on this “newborn photographer” title, it most likely would have saved me days and weeks (and months!) of time. And perhaps that is my biggest reason for wanting to share this with all of you… because it’s not that you won’t have to still practice (because you will!) but this guide will provide you with the tools necessary to create this amazing newborn art… it will lay out every detail from when the parent books the session to your studio setup to poses that you will learn to do (in the right way, the right order) so that you, too, can feel confident in your newborn sessions and the work you can produce.
I’m a big believer that dreams can come true (no matter how little or how big) if you believe in yourself and in your ability. Combine this with the proper knowledge and you are taking the first steps to becoming better at what you do. So whether you are new to this whole art and are ready to try your first newborn session or if you are ready to truly take your work to the next level, I do believe in you and I do believe in the power of the guide.
The 58 page guide is filled with the following information:
* studio and lighting setup
* what I use for each newborn session (dimensions of posing blankets, etc…)
* scheduling your newborn session and directions to give parents
* shooting strategies (ideal settings, etc…)
* soothing tricks
* how to perfect the poses
* the exact posing order to follow during your session
* step-by-step instructions (with pictures and a plethora of detailed information) for 14 of my favorite poses
* all my favorite vendors and where I get all of my goodies
Pricing:
* The SCP Newborn Posing Guide is $375.
* The first 50 people will receive $100 off of this price by using code “scprocks”
* Everyone else that purchases the guide by Friday, January 11 8:00 pm csp will receive $50 off of this price by using code “scp50”.
Please note: This is an introductory sale and the guide will not be discounted in the future.
Review Holly T: “Wow Stephanie it looks amazing! I have bought several posing guides but they have nothing that remotely come close. You should be proud. Seriously amazing. Thank you for sharing with me….I can see your apprehension about selling it. It does have everything!”
Review Lucy O – “”I knew after attending the SCP newborn mentoring workshop I had made a great investment into my photography. I learned so much and felt really confident about taking on more newborn sessions… and then I had a newborn session! I found myself wishing I had a tiny Stephanie (if she could get any tinier, right?) sitting on my shoulder telling me to keep calm and carry on. All my prayers have been answered with the SCP newborn posing guide! It’s the next best thing to having Stephanie at every newborn session with you. She demonstrates and explains every detail you could possibly need to get started and perform all of those adorable poses safely. This posing guide is an essential aid for anyone starting to photograph newborns or looking to improve their techniques. I promise this guide is worth every penny!”
(thanks to Donna Harris for all of the background shots of me for the guide!!)
How sweet are my models for the guide??? Much love to Hayven, Harloe & Alizee. …. and to their mommas – for following all of my instructions precisely so that I had three very sleepy, well fed babies to play with!
SCP Newborn Posing Guide
I can’t even begin to tell you about how excited I am about this project. But let me try…
Maybe you are just beginning or perhaps you are more established, but whatever your background, we are both already bonded by one thing – our love for capturing those perfect little newborns. Several years ago, I was like many of you – a mom with a nice camera and a vision to take gorgeous, stunning photographs of newborns… not only did I want to capture all of their perfect little parts, but I wanted to create art… art that families could forever treasure. And by practicing (and making mistakes) and practicing some more, I was able to fine-tune the art of the SCP Newborn Session.
When I started holding my SCP Newborn Mentoring Workshops, I fell in love with teaching others to do what I do (this is probably due in part to my years teaching high school math) and thus began the start of designing and creating the SCP Newborn Posing Guide. Not only does this guide provide you with step-by-step instructions of newborn poses (and when I say step-by-step, I mean I lay out each photograph and describe in detail what to do and how to transition to next move), but it also gives you advice on scheduling the newborn sessions, prepping parents, soothing techniques, shooting strategies, perfecting each pose, posing order, my studio setup and of course, where I get all of my favorite session goodies. This is literally my entire newborn mentoring workshop, all of my secrets, my strategies, my tips, my knowledge on something I am so entirely passionate about…. poured into one document.
Had something like this been around when I first took on this “newborn photographer” title, it most likely would have saved me days and weeks (and months!) of time. And perhaps that is my biggest reason for wanting to share this with all of you… because it’s not that you won’t have to still practice (because you will!) but this guide will provide you with the tools necessary to create this amazing newborn art… it will lay out every detail from when the parent books the session to your studio setup to poses that you will learn to do (in the right way, the right order) so that you, too, can feel confident in your newborn sessions and the work you can produce.
I’m a big believer that dreams can come true (no matter how little or how big) if you believe in yourself and in your ability. Combine this with the proper knowledge and you are taking the first steps to becoming better at what you do. So whether you are new to this whole art and are ready to try your first newborn session or if you are ready to truly take your work to the next level, I do believe in you and I do believe in the power of the guide.
The 58 page guide is filled with the following information:
* studio and lighting setup
* what I use for each newborn session (dimensions of posing blankets, etc…)
* scheduling your newborn session and directions to give parents
* shooting strategies (ideal settings, etc…)
* soothing tricks
* how to perfect the poses
* the exact posing order to follow during your session
* step-by-step instructions (with pictures and a plethora of detailed information) for 14 of my favorite poses
* all my favorite vendors and where I get all of my goodies
Pricing:
* The SCP Newborn Posing Guide is $375.
* The first 50 people will receive $100 off of this price using discount code “scprocks”
* Everyone else that purchases the guide by this Friday at 8:00 pm cst will receive $50 off of this price using code “scp50”
Please note: This is an introductory sale and the guide will not be discounted in the future.
(thanks to Donna Harris for all of the background shots of me for the guide!!)
How sweet are my models for the guide??? Much love to Hayven, Harloe & Alizee. …. and to their mommas – for following all of my instructions precisely so that I had three very sleepy, well fed babies to play with!
I’ll be posting the exact release times tomorrow! Stay tuned!!
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