Valentine’s Day is just around the corner, and we’ve been having a blast with our Valentine’s Day shoots at The Camera’s Eye!

Meet Jackson, a 6-month-old bundle of love, and his big sister Allie!

Hard to believe I’ve done newborn sessions for BOTH of these munchkins 🙂 I’ve worked with this family for ages, and mom Amy shared that this was one of her FAVORITE sets.

Allie was a big help with her little brother during the shoot, and she even got behind the camera for a few minutes!

Thanks to Allie, Jack, and mom Amy for a shoot FULL of smiles!

If you haven’t had a chance to get Valentine’s Day photos done, remember that gift certificates to The Camera’s Eye make AMAZING Valentine’s Day presents!

The Camera’s Eye welcomes little Dexter Henry to the world!  I have been friends with Dex’s mom Sydney for a while now, and even shot her wedding.

We normally do our newborn sessions at The Camera’s Eye at a max of 10 to 14 days old – this ensures that the little nugget stays asleep for most of it, making it easy to move them around as much as we need to.

However, we did Dexter’s shoot at about four weeks old – so we have some great wide-eyed shots of him! And who could beat that HAIR?!

Because he was so awake, we spent about 3.5 hours on the shoot, with frequent breaks to nurse. He probably stopped to nurse about eight times! I always give my newborn clients as MUCH time as they need, so this was no problemo – just say the word and we’ll break so you can set up shop with my Boppy pillow 🙂

Syd brought a few props, including a blanket with Dex’s name embroidered on it, but she really didn’t plan too much. As much as I love using Pinterest boards and bouncing ideas around with my clients beforehand, this approach can work, too! We know each other well and we were both totally game to play it by ear and see how the session progressed.

Congrats to Syd, Nelson and Nora on the new addition to the family!

My newborn shoots and senior sessions often get a lot of attention – babies are universally CUTE. And seniors LOVE sharing their photos on social media, which capture their personalities at such an important time in their lives. But it’s not like there’s just *nothing* between being born and graduating from high school. So I want to share a type of session we haven’t promoted much at The Camera’s Eye – the tween session!

Carli’s mom Traci wanted something that captured her daughter’s personality better than the usual posed school photo. She wasn’t even sure if they had had Carli’s photos done professionally since preschool…probably a common story for many families! This particular age is a great choice for a photo session, because it gives a wonderful hint of the adult your child is growing into 🙂

In this case, capturing Carli’s personality meant including Nittany, the horse that Carli rides. Riding is a huge part of who Carli is right now, and we did this session at the same place where she rides, Meadow Pond Farm in Little Meadows, PA.

As a professional photographer, it’s my job to capture the personality of my subjects – and that includes animals! I  think these photos show the relationship between Nitanny and Carli so well, including when they are being silly and affectionate with each other.

I’m loving doing tween sessions at The Camera’s Eye! This age is a time of big changes, so it’s a lot of fun to capture these young men and women in the moments that show their true passions and personality.

A big thank you to Carli (and Nittany) for such a fun outdoor tween session 🙂

So it’s been nearly….four months 🙂 But I didn’t want to forget to share newborn pictures of Ellie with The Camera’s Eye! You can read Sam’s first-hand account of the session here.

She was nine days old (we did the session on her actual due date!) and, as newborns usually do, slept through almost the whole thing.

And as a bonus…a sample of the birth announcement they ultimately went with, featuring the fall-themed photos from their session 🙂

And as a bonus bonus…her completed canvas cluster, right over the living room mantle 🙂 I made up a few sample cluster arrangements and we worked on it over email:

For yet another bonus…an adorable onesie collage! I love coming up with finished wall art for my clients 🙂

Coming very soon to The Camera’s Eye blog – 3-month photos of this same little munchkin!

At The Camera’s Eye, we’re excited to introduce a New Year’s deal for our customers from 2015! If you had a session and ordered with us last year, you can still get your full CD of images – at a $100 DISCOUNT ($150 instead of $250).

This means that a full CD of processed, finished photos from your session is yours to keep at huge savings!

Call 607 426 6023 or email lisamcqueeney AT gmail DOT com to take advantage before the end of the month 🙂

The deal applies no matter what type of session you had – newborn, engagement, maternity, senior photos, Valentine’s Day, cake smash, and anything in between. If you loved your 2015 session with The Camera’s Eye and ordered with us last year, take this chance to get ALL of your photos on CD at a huge discount!

This CD image deal is OVER on January 31st…when we’ll already be in the middle of our Valentine’s Day photo sessions!

It’s a challenge to stop and focus on something other than our daily routine – our fast paced, gizmo-gadgety, instantaneous lifestyle.  At times a natural catastrophe or two will wake us up, but even after that, our focus gets redirected back to what is going on with US.  I’ll be the first one to raise my hand and admit to this.  For some of us, however, it simply comes naturally to put down our own chaos and reach out to others.  In particular, this sums up Bridgett Kilmer Daggy.

In the midst of the 2011 flood, I was trying to organize a Chair-ity Auction to help others.  Just like today, I was throwing post upon post out there to find artists, brainstorm ideas and network with potential vendors.  I received an email from a woman who was not only enthusiastic – she was a force of nature.  Interestingly, she was also a flood victim in an old farm house in Candor, though she chose NOT to share that at the time.  She said, “THIS is amazing!  I’m helping you!”… and she did!  Think Etsy stamps to authenticate our Chairs, donations, more chairs, colorful tags, and endless ideas.  Because I tend to go “full force” not realizing what I’m getting myself into, one day, she just showed up at my door and said, “You’re gonna need help to pull this off by the weekend…. Sooooo, tell me what you have going on in the office because I’m here to help.”  Who stops long enough to recognize that about someone else and even better, to then do something about it?!?!?!… Bridgett Kilmer Daggy.

As time passed, Bridgett had a child, Eli.  I photographed him as a baby and it was tons of fun to be re-united with Bridgett.  

I kept in touch with her via social media and this summer, I read of her journey to have another child…5 years in the making, and she and her husband were blessed with IVF twins.  They were due to arrive this December, but they came early, weighing 2 lbs 14 oz and 4 lbs 8 oz and earning their tickets to the NICU.  Bridgett e-mailed me alllll along the way.  These were her dreams and she trusted me to photograph them the minute it was safe.  November 27th, I met Willow and Owen.  Willow is so much tinier than her brother and I asked Bridgett, “How scared were you in the NICU with her?”  Her response is the epitome of the energy Bridgett brings with her wherever so goes: “NOT at all.  I knew she was gonna make it.  My sister said to me, Bridgett, she’s SO little.  I said, I’m not worried.  She’s going to be fine.”  Bridgett spoke that fearlessly as I choked up… ha.  The Mom stronger than the photographer listening… really?

I share this story about this woman because tragedy has entered her life, or as I would say,  “Life” has happened.  On December 7th, Bridgett’s husband Aaron passed away unexpectedly, leaving her with the 7 1/2-week-old twins and Eli.   This is the type of person who would STOP her life to help yours and has already done so.  She didn’t know me in Owego.  She didn’t know any of us in Owego, but she rallied behind us to help put our lives back together.  Bridgett’s husband was the same way – not only an ER doctor, he was a volunteer firefighter in every town he moved into.   There’s a trust being created for Eli, Willow and Owen and a place to donate to any of Aaron’s fire stations (information in the obituary, and see links at the bottom of this post). 

This is our chance to STOP and help.  And if helping monetarily isn’t possible for you, I understand.  Simply take a minute and share a piece of your life with Bridgett.  Email your thoughts to me with the subject line “BDaggy” and I will forward them onto her unread (lisamcqueeney@gmail.com).

A magnificent friend once told me… “In the process of death in our culture, it’s all backwards.  We gather endlessly for a few days while the shock is still in the air.  Then the food platters stop coming and the flowers die and the frantic rushing is over… it is then that the sadness and the process of healing begins.  It’s then that we should surround our friends who are coping with their loss.”  If you choose to write a note or send something other than money.  I’ll hold those for several weeks and send them at a time that we would ALL appreciate being comforted.

Trust established at Tioga State Bank, PO Box 125, Candor, NY 13743-0125 (checks payable to Bridgett Daggy).

Locations where Aaron was a volunteer firefighter include:

West Corners Fire

Vestal Volunteer Emergency Squad

Candor Emergency Squad

Candor Fire Department

Fort Allen Volunteer Fire Department (PA)

You might remember our earlier post by blogger Sam about her daughter’s newborn shoot with The Camera’s Eye. Now what to do with those photos? I’ve written before about how much I LOVE canvas and I LOVE wall art. Well placed photographic art can make your home TRULY yours…especially in the case of a newborn photo shoot 🙂

After walking through a few rooms of Sam’s house, we decided that the best place for her canvas cluster would be above the fireplace in the living room. Another place that I find makes a good spot is above the baby’s changing table, but they were already fully decorated in there 🙂

She sent me her image choices, and I sent back a few files with different configurations (using unretouched images)…

We threw around the idea of mixing black and white and color images – not something I’ve seen much at The Camera’s Eye, but a challenge that I loved to wrap my mind around!

Ultimately, she decided to keep the images all color, and did keep a shot of those adorable little baby feet 🙂 Difficult to use up real estate on anything that isn’t that precious little face, but it adds some nice variety to the images 🙂

I love working from initial shoot to finished photo product with my clients!

Big congrats to this year’s winners of the senior canvas contest at The Camera’s Eye, both from Owego Free Academy! You’ve already met Kelsey, a totally down-to-earth senior with a natural beauty.

And here is Kim, a member of the top volleyball team in the state and an overall total sweetheart!

I’m excited to get these images onto beautiful canvas prints for these lovely ladies 🙂 Thanks to them and the rest of my 2016 seniors for a great senior photo season with The Camera’s Eye. Best of luck with the end of this semester and the rest of your FINAL year of high school!