Meet Danielle! {Great Falls Baby Photographer}

So, I come from a family of four kids!  I am the only girl!!  It was awesome!  (Okay, I have nothing to compare it to, but I have to say that I might have really gotten cranky if there had been another girl to steal my thunder! *my brothers are all shaking their heads Uh-huh, yep!!*)  Anyway, all of us kids are now married with kids of our own.  I have the honor of introducing you to my parents' grandchild number 13, and she was the lucky number 13 to be born into such a great family!

Danielle's parents were nice enough to bring her into our JSV Photography Studio the other evening and we were able to get some great portraits of this beautiful little girl!

So, here she is without further ado (okay, and maybe one or two with her parents!):

She actually was more interested in telling us a story than going to sleep!

But once she zonked out, she was super precious!

Thank you, Justin and Rose, for sharing your beautiful daughter with us, she was a pleasure to photograph!!

Working on the Studio

We have been working on our studio, and it is a family affair!  I mean everyone in our family, plus the father-in-law, mother-in-law, brother and brother-in-law!  We have done a little wall moving, a little wiring, a little sheetrocking (including mudding and taping!), and a little painting!  Of course the only thing I got pictures of was the painting (just spaced it out!)

 
While we still have a ways to go, I am so excited to see some of the portraits that are going to come out of this space!

New Studio - Before Pictures!

Scott and I just signed a lease on a photography space!  We are so excited to be moving on to this next step!!

There is a lot of work to be done, but we are getting it done with help from family!  We are going to have a lot of great room for taking photographs!  So excited to see the portraits that come out of this new studio!!

Also, remember if you book a January 1-hour studio session with us before the end of 2011, we're waiving the normal session fee. Give us a call (268-0463) or email (jsvphotography@bresnan.net) if you want to book, or if you need more details!

Our Family's Portraits!

It's that time of year again (*sigh*).  It has been a year since our last family portraits, and we want new ones.  I went shopping and clothes were found that kind of match.  The children are a year older.  Scott has another year of photography under his belt.  We are ready. . . well, as ready as we can be!

So we got to the studio, and 3 hours later (granted that included set up and tear down), we have a few pictures that we are willing to show you!

We must have tried this shot over 20 times.  It's a challenge when you aren't behind the camera to get all the kids to look at the camera and have a half way decent expression on their face!  It was definitely shoot some shots, go check, shoot some more, go check again.  We are very thankful for digital images!  :D

It was a little easier to get pictures of the kids!  Especially since Scott was back behind the camera!

So there we have it, one family picture, a couple of children pictures that are fun, the individual pictures, and even a few with a child and one parent.  

Definitely glad that it is easier to shoot other people's children and families than our own!!  Over all, I am satisfied with the results!

On the Road Again!

Lately Scott has been heading to the western side of the state quite a bit!  While he's not wild about traveling all over the state of Montana, he did take his camera and got some neat photos of some of the sights.

It seems that this winter has been great about making sure there is a snow storm at some time on his drive.

 
But then the roads can be dangerous even if it isn't icy!

As long as the large animals stay off the highway. . .

(Love the snow flakes!)

So for those of you not from Montana, or even some of you (like me) who are, but didn't know, Libby seems to be the City of Eagles.  It is also a great place to take a new camera and play around taking some photographs!  

Scott was informed by a local that the eagles are made by the mayor's brother.  I am impressed with his metal work, and I love the way Scott captured them in these photos!

He did a little photo editing on this one, and the result is a gorgeous portrait!  

Overall, I'm glad that he is home, but he did get some great pictures!

2012 Seniors Giveaway

Hey, Juniors, it's time to start thinking about Senior pictures!  Just think in a little over a year, you are going to be graduating from High School!  Wow, time really has flown.  

I bet your parents keep looking at each other and asking when this happened, or telling you that you are growing up sooooo fast!

Anyway, I'm not here to post that.  I'm here to tell you about an exciting Giveaway!   We are giving away a 1/2 price Senior Portrait Session, and 1 free 8x10 photo print from the session. . .  And it's easy to enter!  All you have to do is "friend" us on Facebook (see link on left side of page) and send a message to Scott asking to be entered into the contest, and you are in the drawing!

We will be closing the drawing at midnight on April 8th, so make sure to get your message posted before then!  The winner will be randomly chosen.  Good luck!!

If you have any questions, please email jsvphotography@bresnan.net, or message us on Facebook, or call at 406.268.0463.

In Passing

It is amazing to me how time can fly.  I'm not sure if it is having 3 kiddos that keeps things moving so fast or if it's that I'm getting older!

Anyway, Scott has been taking photographs, I just haven't been blogging about them (oops!)  So, to break myself in slowly, I'm going to just give you one picture. 

Scott has been on the road quite a bit lately.  Even on a few roads here in Montana that he hadn't been on before.  On his way home last week, he saw this and had to stop and capture the image!

This is the dock at Polson Bay, on Flathead Lake.  Looks kind of wild when the lake is frozen over!

Hope you like the photograph.  I will try to get the next blog up in a more timely manner!
Jamie

Free Photo Sessions, February 5th!

Hello all!  There is some exciting news we are dying to share with you!  We just got some new equipment!!  Yay!  This isn't only good news for us, but good news for you as well, because we want to give the equipment a workout!  We are planning a day of mini (45 min - 1 hour) sessions for FREE!  That's right, if you have been putting off those pictures, now is the time to get them done!  We are going to waive the session fee for a limited number of sessions on February 5th, 2011!

So if you are in need of getting the first special pictures taken. . .

Or watching the children grow up so fast and need to capture a special moment. . .

Maybe it's just time for some special pictures. . . 

 

Or it has been a while since you had family pictures with Grandpa and Grandma. . . 

Or maybe you're just ready for a FUN family portrait!

Whatever your reason, NOW IS THE TIME!

So, how do you take advantage of this deal?  Email us at JSVphotography@bresnan.net, or send a Facebook Message to Scott Vosen JSV-Photography (link on the left), or call 406.268.0463.


Remember, there are only a limited number of sessions!

This offer only covers the things a normal session fee includes.  http://jsvphotography.com/Pricing.html.  The cost of prints is not included.

Santa at Longfellow

One of the guys who works at our office has been dressing up as Santa and visiting local school kids for several years now.  Last year, he decided to ask a few people if they would be interested in helping out by purchasing some little toys and candy to give the kids.  Before he knew it, quite a lot of money was available for the cause, and several hundred kids each got a bag of goodies, including gloves, candy, toothbrushes, and toys.  Seeing how much it touched the children, he wanted to do it again this year.

Thanks to some generous people and businesses, Santa was again able to hand out goody bags for the kids at Longfellow this year.  Some of the kids were a little shy.

Some were definitely not.

But they all seemed very appreciative.

It's interesting to me that so many of us seem to be generous with our time and/or money, but it often takes one individual to get the ball rolling.  Perhaps we occasionally need that one person to remind us of all the other people living outside of our daily routines.  It's not that we don't want to help those in need, it's just that we're usually too busy trying to survive our own lives to notice the struggles of others.

It's good to get little reminders like that.  But it's also good to give them.  Hopefully we can take turns reminding each other, and not just during this time of year.


~~ Merry Christmas~~

Our Great Falls, MT, style 4th of July!

The Fourth was fairly laid back for us this year. We went up to Jamie's Grandma's ranch in the Little Belts, where we caught up with her family for a bit. The boys got to harass a rooster and pet the horses a bit, too. Then we lit off a few of our own little fireworks before watching the City of Great Falls display down at West Bank Park in Great Falls. It was nice and cool, and breezy enough the mosquitos didn't eat us alive.


I love being down on the river for the big display. The huge reports from the City's display, along with the hundreds of smaller reports from all the other celebrators... I close my eyes and try to imagine what it was like that night at Fort McHenry when Francis Scott Key wrote his poem "Defense of Fort McHenry", which of course later was adapted to become our National Anthem.


The wind sort of "smeared" the fireworks photos a bit, but I got a few I like. By far, though, my favorite of the night was a self-portrait of me and the kids. I was in a rush to get the shot, since the display was winding down. I meant to have Jamie come over, too, but I just said "Hey kids, come here," so I think that's why she stayed out of it. Wish I would have been more clear about that. Still a very precious image to me, but how much better if she had been in there too?

My Thoughts

Whether standing amidst the trees on a mountain side, in the tall grass next to a lake, on a city sidewalk, in the midst of a crowd, or at a park with my family, whether the camera is in my hand or not, I can't help but think of how best to capture the moment as it is. How to capture the glorious beauty of creation, the feel and flow of a building, the collective sense of a crowd, or the emotion of an individual. How to reconcile the technical with the aesthetic in order to faithfully represent the moment.

When done correctly, photography blends these aspects in a way that allows a viewer to enjoy the results without considering how they were achieved. Enjoying the emotion without being distracted by the details. Feeling the moment as it was originally felt.