Coming this February and March:

Carrie Weston Photography is pleased to be offering Beginning Digital Photography and Basic Photoshop classes through Fridley Community Eduction.  Beginning Digital Photography starts on February 1st and has limited spaces available, and you have all the way till March to sign up for Basic Photoshop. 

If you are interested in learning anything about composition, the Rule of Thirds, or simply how to take your brand new shiny Christmas present out of the most basic of settings, be sure to check the class offerings out. 

I am also always welcome to suggestions for new class ideas.  I am currently creating my class schedule for the spring semester.

 Meet Al and Barb.  a wonderful couple, great parents and grandparents.  Not that I'm biased or anything, but they happen to be my parents.  On a recent visit I got a few formal portraits of them as well as a few more informal while we were out enjoying a bit of family time.  It has taken way too long for me to get them up here,  but I wanted to share Noah's Gi-Gi and Grampy!

Today I got to do one of my favorite things, have a newborn session.  It was made even more fun by the fact that, the baby was super-adorable and it was a gift session to a coworker of my husband's and his wife.  Little Liam is two months old, and so was able to stay awake for a while and give smiles, but also very kindly slept for us for a while.  It was so great to see a family so happy and to know that Liam will be growing up in a home filled with laughter and love.

It was also great to finally get to meet Erin, Liam's mom.  She and I have had very similar stories for the past few years-- moving for a husband's promotion and relocating without knowing anyone here in MN.  Hopefully we'll get to see you again soon!


Erin, this is one of my favorite photos I have taken, ever.  Your little one is just gorgeous!

Here is a preview of what I am working on for Jason, over at Reveal Design. I am so excited to work with my first furniture client and to photograph such unique and beautiful choices of wood and other upcycled comoponents of his designs.

I am excited to announce another Etsy product photography client-- RevealDesign-- who actually hails from Minneapolis as well, but was found through Etsy.  RevealDesign creates upcycled furniture such as coffee tables using old washbasin legs, and my personal favorite, cutting boards made from Minneapolis trees that have fallen due to storm damage and feature antique collanders set into the piece. 

I am excited to begin working with him. Due to the time that it takes to create each unique piece of furniture, I will be working on a piece by piece basis.  I can't wait to begin work!

I was recently asked by Tracy, the leader of GEMS (the girls' group at Faith) to take the photos for the annual Ladies Christmas Tea.  I had a blast; it was great to get to shoot so many different groupings of mothers/ daughter and friends and of such a wide variety of ages. 

I think for some of the ladies this was one of the few opportunites of the holiday season to sit down and enjoy the presence of their daughters and friends where they were not responsible for food, presents, transportation, relatives, schedules, etc.  It was great to be part of the pampering and to help them feel appreciated and loved. 

I am going to be doing the product photography for a friend and fellow- Etsy-ian, Jess from Little Yellow Knots.  She makes wonderful bath puppets, which my son loves and have allowed me to wash his face without protest when he thinks that I am just playing, rather than trying to remove the last few traces of baby food from his nose. 

Recently I made a momentus purchase.  Previously when I have done more posed photography of my son and other babies I have been left to the whim of whatever natural light was available and the capabilities of my somewhat limited flashes.  However, I have finally purcahsed my first set of studio lighting for the lower level studio that is still under constrction on one half of our family room. 

I finally decided on a Smith Victor 500 watt 2 light kit, primarily because of its ease of use and the fact that it was available in a local camera store rather than online or in a catalogue, which allowed me to lay hands on it prior to purcahse and bring it home immediately.  Thus far I have been pleased with it-- the tripods are excellent and the umbrellas and light units adequate.  My big pet peeve has been the light bulbs themselves- one of which blew within 5 minutes of turning it on for the first time.  However, a simple replacement bulb from the hardware store later, and I was back in business.  I plan on adding a couple studio flashes and a softbox to my equipment, but I want to choose the remainder of it deliberately based upon the needs of my downstairs space. 

To accompany my new lighting we have been looking into a good source for backdrops for the studio portion of our family room, and I found that the easiest source was my local fabric store.  For about half the cost of a finished backdrop for sale I purchased 4 yards of bleached muslin.  I will have to finish the edges and install a pocket for hanging or gromets, but I can manage a simple straight stitch any day.  After we hang this sample backdrop I will be looking into buying fabric dye and creating a large black backdrop as well as other backgrounds suitable for smaller portraits. 

It is exciting to finally be moving ahead with this, and I can't wait to usher in my first subject once everything is complete.  The control and flexibility that this will give me will be so satisfying.