A Million Sighs Photography Blog | Orlando Florida Wedding & Portrait Photographer

{ personal } | you have so many relationships in this life…

Christine — Wed, 02 May 2012 16:24:37 +0000

I would really like to get better about sharing more personal things on my blog, and for my first, I want to introduce you to one of my greatest loves: the band HANSON. Oh yes, MMMBop indeed! I was just 11 years old when they came out and they completely stole my heart from day one. My older brother, of course, hated them. He told me time and time again that it was “just a phase.” And sure, that was true for some of the other bands I loved back in my pre/early teens, but fifteen years later, this band is still number one to me. Two of my best friends in the world are crazy huge Hanson fans as well (in fact, they met eachother in the middle of Hanson hysteria at a grocery store wearing Hanson shirts & reading the magazines with Hanson on the cover! Been BFF’s ever since!), so I always have them by my side on our crazy Hanson adventures. Last October (they always tour in Florida around my birthday.. love that!) they played a few shows in Florida. We went to all of them of course, but one really stuck out to me. After 20+ times seeing them live (oh yes, we are those girls!), I finally had front row. AH! Hanson fans are kind of crazy and stand in line all day to get a good spot inside.. some of them even camp out! We have never camped, but once we showed up to a show at 4am and STILL ended up being at least three rows back. Yeeeeah. While finally being front row really isn’t a big deal, it was just nice to finally make it happen for my favorite band. It also happened that it’s the first time I brought my fancy schmancy camera into a show with me, so front row definitely had it’s advantages! I know that was a lot of babble, and trust me, I could go on and on and on…. but now I just want to share with you some of my favorite shots from that night. :)

{ Senior Rep } | Orlando High School Senior Photographer

Christine — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 00:50:19 +0000

A Million Sighs Photography is looking for some class of 2013 High School seniors that are interested in being a senior rep! This is a great opportunity to earn credits for your full senior shoot, and even cold hard cash for the senior who refers the most clients. There will also be other prizes given out including gift cards and photo products! I am accepting representatives from Orlando area high schools (Timber Creek, Colonial, Oviedo, ect) and even a few from the Lee County area (Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Mariner, Cypress!) If you live in these areas and are interested in being a Senior Rep for A Million Sighs Photography, please use the contact form above to receive more info and an application!

{ He Said, She Said Workshop Day 2 } | Orlando Engagement Photographer

Christine — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:35:40 +0000

Here is my third and final installment of photos taken at the awesome He Said, She Said photography workshop held in Naples, Florida last month. Photographing and watching Jean work and pose with this fabulous couple was a complete highlight for the entire workshop. I learned so much in 45 minutes that will really help me improve and better my work. I feel like I will go into couple sessions (whether it be engagement, wedding day, mom & dad in a family session) knowing that I will get all the shots I need and then some! I think I’ve always gotten “the” shots, but now I know there will be more variety and I will be able to confidently give my clients better direction. THIS IS HUGE!!

I am just so so thankful for this workshop that I was so lucky to be a part of. It has renewed my love for this craft and has inspired me to get working at it again. I have been in such a slump since my dad passed away in January, so it feels really really good to be putting my heart back into something that I love.

Next up in my world… a brand new website! I got crazy creative and designed it all this past weekend. Just waiting on my husband to take my photoshop files and turn them into a real live website! (Have I ever mentioned that I’m married to a web GENIUS? Seriously.. he makes magic happen!) I’m also going to work towards migrating my email to gmail. I am using my host/server email and have been having SO many problems. Not even sure if all my email is sending & receiving.. yikes! I think gmail has a much more reliable track record.

Without further adieu, I introduce you to our fabulous engagement couple models!

{ Chic Critique Forum } | Cover Contest Submission

Christine — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:38:12 +0000

My submission to the cover contest from Chic Critique Forum! Ashley has since moved to New York City… maybe one day I’ll have the chance to photograph her in the streets of my favorite city!

{ He Said, She Said Workshop Day 2 } | Orlando Family Photographer

Christine — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 20:46:04 +0000

The second day of the He Said, She Said workshop was JAMMED PACKED! Not only did we cover every topic under the sun from editing to workflow to marketing to posinge to pricing to ect ect ect, but we also got to accompany Travis and Jean to three live shoots where we were able to observe first hand how they interact with their clients during a shoot. The simple posing tip Jean gave already has me SO much more confident in posing my clients. She proved that with one simple technique you can get so many “keeper” shots in a super short amount of time, which will be especially helpful during wedding days! I am so so excited to put all of these new tips and tricks to good use! I wish I could put into words how valuable I found the entire two days of this fabulous workshop. I learned so many new and valuable things that I really truly believe will bring my business to the next level. Here are some shots I managed during the family shoot. I have one more post to come to conclude my awesome workshop experience!

{ He Said, She Said Workshop Day 1 } | Orlando Senior Photographer

Christine — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:47:23 +0000

Two weeks ago I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to attend the He Said, She Said Photography Workshop put on by Jean Smith and Travis Smith, two extraordinarily helpful, resourceful, and talented photographers out of Michigan. The workshop was held in Naples, Florida and coordinated by Brittni Schroeder. I was so, so, so lucky in that I received a free seat thanks to (Jean & Travis of course!) Shannon J. Dodge Photography & Wardrobe Wednesday. This workshop seriously could not have come at a better time as I have been having a difficult time staying focused and putting energy into my business. (I do plan on making a post about this at a later date. 2012 had the worse possible start with the loss of a very important family member, and I definitely have more than a few words to share about it and the importance of photography.) I couldn’t have otherwise afforded this amazing workshop at this time, so the gratitude I feel to Jean & Travis for giving away a free seat can not be put into words.

The first day of the workshop covered off camera flash. This was the number one thing I was looking forward to because after five months with my Nikon Speedlight I had played with it exactly zero times because I just didn’t know what all the numbers meant. I know I could just pick up a book or read a few articles to at least get an idea, but there’s something about the flash that just completely intimidated me and I just couldn’t make it happen. Travis and Jean had such an easy way of explaining things and making it abundantly clear how to not only set up your flash, but the settings you needed to use on your camera to make it work. WOW!

I don’t really foresee myself using OCF on regular portrait sessions. Perhaps the day will come where I’m super confident in my flash abilities that I will want to incorporate it, but for now, I really, really, really just love natural light and the softness it provides. However, the OCF will do me a WORLD of good when it comes to weddings! Receptions was the big one I was looking for info on and J & T did a great run down on how they use OCF at weddings. I know it’s gonna take a lot of practice (and oh so much equiptment to buy!) but I’m already feeling 100% more confident in my abilities as I move forward thanks to them.

For now I am just going to share a few shots from day one of the workshop. Most of my pictures are just natural light because that’s really just my style, but I seriously learned so much from watching them work. My brain was kind of exploding (in the best possible way!) from the information overload!

I have so much more to say, but I will save that for my next post!

Didn’t we have such pretty models?!

{ HH & KJ } | Orlando Child Headshot Photographer

Christine — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 15:12:51 +0000

I have been getting more and more inquiries for children’s headshots and thought I would just share a few I took for some friends of mine of their darling little girls. They’ve been featured on the blog several times. They just seem to be getting busier and busier, so everytime our paths collide on other projects, we always sneak in a few shots of the girlies to keep their portfolios nice and updated.

{ 52 Wednesdays } | Week 11, Laughter

Christine — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 13:41:20 +0000

This week’s project theme was laughter. I was pretty excited about it because I love capturing that on film! However, this week seriously did not lend itself to any people models, so I decided to settle on my cats. I caught my youngest kitty in a yawn and thought it might be the perfect entry because I just love how cats look like they are cracking up when they yawn! Upon closer examination, I realize that my Lily looks more like she’s about to chomp down on your neck and drink your blood than a kitty that’s a little too happy on cat nip! Oh well.. she may not look like she’s laughing, but she certainly makes ME laugh! I also added two more silly shots I got of her because one just isn’t enough.

Now mosey on to Chicago Photographer, Patricia Anderson, to see her laughter shot!

{ 52 Wednesdays } | Week 10, Green

Christine — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 22:10:40 +0000

This weeks project theme was Green, which was quite an easy one since the husband and I have a St. Patrick’s Day Party every year (six years running!) and it just happened to take place on Saturday. I decided to just take a few shots of some of the decor and props, and add just two from our party because we had a very special guest that is still making me laugh! :)

Now check out Austin, Texas Photographer, Karen Porter and her week ten green photos!

{ 52 Wednesdays } | Week 7, Ruffles

Christine — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:57:19 +0000

Ruffles. I was really put off this week’s theme. While I love all things frilly and ruffly, there’s simrply nothing in my life that embodies that. After a lot of contemplation, I thought that this weeks theme would be the perfect excuse to try this Ruffle Tshirt Scarf craft that I’ve been seeing all over Pinterest lately! Since we had Monday off from school for President’s Day, I had the girls I nanny for find some old tshirts and we set to work! And because I’m a total doofus, I completely forgot to bring my camera. So luckily, The oldest volunteered for a quick session (15 minutes *maybe*)! She put on her ruffliest dress and some awesome knee high socks and we set to work! Since we were limited on time, we took some quick shots in the backyard. I am really loving this project because it’s forcing me to really think about what I’m going to photograph, and then pushes me to *actually* get things done! So here is Ms. K sporting the ruffles!

Oh, and what photoshoot is complete without a crazy shot?!

Now check out Southern California Photographer, Amy Grace of A Beautiful Life Photo and what ruffles mean to her!