ACP on Display

Today is a big day for ACP--my new logo and "look" will be on display at the Wedding Festival. I hope you'll stop by to say hello if you are there! I am so excited--and a little nervous--about really debuting my work and my business...I'm certainly not new to the photography scene, but I've definitely been working behind the scenes, and it's time to bring ACP to the front! 

Here is a quick (icky quality) photo I snapped of my display tonight. I still have a rug and a couple of other things to add when I arrive Saturday morning, so I'll take some more photos and post them after the Festival. :-) I'm looooovin' my display!

See you at the Wedding Festival! (And hey, my booth is in between a wedding cake vendor and a caterer. Yummo.)

Coming Soon...Liam

As soon as Kristen and I began emailing back and forth about her maternity photos, I KNEW they were going to be amazing! Had never met her or her husband, but I just knew. Maybe it was all of her creative ideas, maybe it was her enthusiasm for having the session even though a snowstorm was supposedly on its way (um, no), or maybe it was the sweet innocence of their love story... 

Kristen and Mitchell began dating the summer before 9th grade...yes, when they were only 13 years old. Kristen told me "After all these years of us being in love, for him to tell me that I am the prettiest I have ever been, and see in his eyes that somehow he really does believe that, is hard for me to put into words. Mitchell and I have literally grown up together and have been together more years than we have been apart." 

I don't think anymore words are necessary. Liam is going to be loved so purely, so intensely, and I think these portraits truly express that... 

Out of the bazillion images that I loved, these last three are my absolute favorites. 

Kristen and Mitchell, you are going to be wonderful parents as your love grows with Baby Liam. I can't wait to meet him!

In other news, I will be at the Wedding Festival this Saturday. If you're coming, please stop by my "studio" and say hello! Also, stay tuned for a b-i-g announcement about my new website. Woohoooo!

EDIT: Kristen and Mitchell's proof gallery is now online! To view their full session, go to http://www.MyProfessionalImages.com/EventLogin.aspx?sid=132288 . The password is their last name.

Maternity #1: Super-Sneak Peek

I could not have found a better couple for my first maternity session! Kristen and Mitchell were fun, sweet, creative, and totally not afraid of the chilly weather on Sunday....I actually felt like I was cheating a little, because they had such great ideas! I am so excited to get their whole session ready, but in the meantime I wanted to share this super-sneak peek...

On another note, one of my friends and clients made my day today when she emailed me and said "By the way, I've been following your website like an obsessed groupie." Awww, yay! I am addicted to reading so many other photographers' blogs, and it's pretty exciting to know that somebody (even just one little reader) is out there feeling the same way about mine! If you're out there reading and looking, show me (and my fabulous clients) some love! :-)

Me, MIA

I know, I know, I'm being a terrible blogger!! Please forgive? There is so much ah-ma-zing stuff on the horizon for Amy Clifton Photography--and for you, my amazing friends--but I've definitely neglected my poor blog in exchange for a brand-new ACP. I think the trade-off will be worth it if you can just hang in there with me for a little longer. :-) 

First big news, I have a winner for my contest!! Thank you thank you thank you to everyone who expressed interested and sent in their photos. Drum roll......Holly and Mark have been married for 15 years and have no (I repeat, NO) photos since their wedding of just the two of them. They have two beautiful children and lots of family portraits, but nothing of just them. *Gasp!* They are a hot little couple, and Holly is such a sassy girl, so I can't wait for their session! (She also is my hair stylist, and I would drive to the ends of the earth for a haircut from her. Seriously, she saved me many years ago from a disastrous near-mullet, and I am forever grateful. (Hmmm, do I need to say "disastrous" when I'm also saying "near-mullet?" Seems a bit redundant.) Anyway, send me a message if you need a great stylist!) Stay tuned for their photo shoot and the big ACP surprise that comes along with it! 

Next big news is that I finally selected a logo to represent ACP! It was a much bigger decision than I expected, largely because my designers did such a rockstar job and I liked everything they gave me. I can't wait to debut it along with my new website! The sample I saw of my website completely blew me away...I hope it will have the same effect on y'all!

I shot another killer session with a band in the studio last weekend...those pics are coming soon and I'm crazy about them, and this weekend I'll be photographing my first-ever maternity session. This couple has already gotten me all teary-eyed over their super-sweet love story, and I haven't even met them yet! I'm so ready for their portraits!

Again, I hope you'll forgive me for being super-MIA and that you'll stick around for all the changes coming soon. Also, for my former clients who have completed their surveys--thank you. I am truly taking everything you say to heart. I appreciate both your complements and your suggestions, and I welcome them always--with or without a survey. And finally, because it's just wrong of me to not post a photo, here's a sneak-peek from last weekend's band session!

Contest Time!

Whenever there's a contest, I'm not usually the winner. Door prizes? Nope, not my winning number. Christmas gift exchanges? I once ended up with a teapot and some lady said "Oooh! That looks like you!" Now if you know me, you know I'm not a teapot-kinda-girl. Lottery tickets? Don't even bother!

But you, out there in blog-land, you don't have to follow in my non-contest-winning footsteps! As you've read--you have read, right??--Amy Clifton Photography is getting a massive makeover with new branding, new website, new rockin' attitude. For part of my yet to be revealed plans, I need a fabulous bride and groom to photograph! Since it's not exactly the peak of wedding season, I am recruiting one of YOU to be my b&g. You don't have to be (or have been) an ACP bride, although that would be fantastic. You do have to be part of a real-live couple who is willing to gear up in your wedding dress, your sassiest shoes, and throw your man into (at least) a suit. And you have to be willing to rock it for the camera.

If you or someone you know is interested in a free Amy Clifton Photography "WE DID!" photo-session with your honey, email me a photo of you lovebirds, your contact info, and a little blurb about why you should rock this session and win! If you can't do the wedding gear, then convince me that your diva wardrobe will work! My email address is acclifton@aol.com . 

The deadline for entries is Sunday, January 11, so don't let this chance pass you by!

--Amy

It's Tradition!

As promised, here are the photos to go along with the post!

It seems that every year, Christmas gets busier and more hectic and I can never believe when the day has already come and gone! This is such a special season, so it makes me sad (and a little guilty) when I can't savor it due to the busy-ness. The routine of traditions, though, keeps things sane for me. We used to tease my dad about his love for "tradition," said in the tone of the father in Fiddler on the Roof. :-) As I have gotten older, I have become so appreciative of these traditions and the order, predicatability, and sentiment they hold.

Some of our family's Christmas traditions include:

1) Advent calendars and the Advent wreath, in anticipation of Christ's birth on Christmas. My parents made me a cute felt Advent calendar my very first Christmas, and I still use it at my house all these years later!

2) Hanging the "Clifton Family Ornaments." My dad came from a huge family (9 kids) that moved a lot, and he doesn't have many artifacts from his childhood. He does have 3 antique Christmas ornaments, and each of us hangs one on the tree.

3) Christmas Eve church, pimento cheese sandwiches and soup, and staying up entirely too late wrapping presents. We are a last-minute family!

4) Me (and Pearl, my cat) spending the night with my parents on Christmas Eve and Christmas night.

5) Christmas stockings! Even though I'm officially an adult, I still get a stocking, and I always fix my parents' stockings too. Hello, "stocking stuffers" are some of the most fun gifts! My mom made our stockings when I was a baby...

My grandparents' gift to each of us is always a "portrait" of Ben Franklin, rolled up and tucked inside a little stocking on the tree. :-) Gift-giving from them is all about the Benjamins, baby...

6) Christmas brunch. We have the same breakfast every year...nothing fancy, but it's always yummy. Cinnamon rolls, arranged into a tree or wreath shape (my mom's artistic touch), Pillsbury crescent rolls with "little smokies" inside, and fruit, all served on Christmas plates.

7) BBQ for dinner, and taking allllllll day to unwrap our presents. Yes, we are the family who takes turns opening gifts one at a time. :-)

8) Setting up the tripod (or this year, a step-ladder since I forgot to bring the tripod) and taking a family portrait in front of the tree...me, my parents, and my grandparents. Whenever possible, we also round up the cat(s) to be included...I'm pretty sure my dad has sustained some flesh-wounds over the years trying to hold a feline for the family picture. He's a good daddy!

This one is a few years ago, but I included it because of the squirming cat my dad is attempting to wrangle...

This year's family photo, Christmas 2008...we had a wonderful day!

I hope that everyone in blog-land had a wonderful Christmas and that you celebrated--or created--some traditions of your own! I'd love to hear about them...let me know what you and your family or friends do the same way, every year!

Merry Christmas,
Amy
(I'm still up, so it still counts as Christmas, right??)

In the Studio

Tim, one of the commenters on my last post, wrote about the variety of ways music is captured: via a recording, with our ears, or even in still photos. Recently, I had the opportunity to be present for all three methods. As April Beck recorded tracks with The Peculiar People, I experienced the music firsthand; I listened as the tracks were mixed and produced; and (of course) I captured it in the following images...

 

TJ is also designing my new ACP logo. (Yay!)

Tim is the guru of all things business...and motivation...and music...and who-knows-what-else. This guy does it all!

Don't forget to "Show Me Some Love" and let me know what you think!

Two of My Favorite Things...

No "raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens" here; two of my favorite things are photography and music. (Although kittens are cute and I DO enjoy getting flowers...) I simply love live music. I love bar bands, I love small acts trying to make it big in an intimate club, I love 20,000 seat venues with huge sets. I love live albums. I love hearing an artist cover a song or play a new arrangement to one of their own hits. I am moved every time I hear the crowd singing along with the band.



When I go to a show, I absorb all the extra stuff going on: the crew scurrying around with their walkies and laminates, the FOH sound stage, the switching out of guitars, how the set list is arranged, and the stage lighting. Especially the stage lighting. As a photographer, my eye is trained to "find the light," and while I'm rockin' out to a band, I'm also being blown away by the back-lighting, by the colored beams of light finding their way through the haze, by the single spotlight that illuminates the artist during an acoustic moment. And I'm always wanting to capture that in photographs.

If I could add anything to my own photographic "set list," it would be concert photography! I've taken some pretty cool photos at concerts over the years, some with my point-and-shoot camera, some with my mid-grade digital SLR and a zoom lens, some with permission, some not so much. :-) Ah, how I would love the opportunity to shoot with my good camera and lenses!

I've found that country artists are pretty open to concert-goers having cameras, so when I saw Gary Allan recently in Asheville, NC, I went up front to take some photos with my p&s...

I love the crazy lighting in this one!!

As I'm further developing my photography business, I'm gaining the opportunity to work with some musicians in and out of the studio, and I'm beyond excited to combine these two passions! Stay tuned for more music-related images in the future!

The Majors: Family Session

When we finished our session, Jessica asked me "Do you think we got some good shots?" Holy shamoly, YES! This is my second session with the Major girls, and this time they brought dad along. The girls were completely adorable, the fall leaves were still beautiful, and the late-afternoon light was beyond amazing. I ADORE these photos! I actually teared up a couple of times when I was making my selections, because they are so sweet. To all moms (including Jess) who aren't sure if their kids sat still enough or smiled their "real" smile: trust me, we'll get the shot!! :-)

A little twirling...

Apparently I'm making the "family reflection" a signature shot! This keeps showing up in all my family shoots...

Oooh, I love this!

Two of my favorites from the day...and I don't think they even knew I was still shooting! ;-)

FYI, my last 3 posts (Majors, Nelsons, & Daniel) were all shot at Furman University over a 9 day period...and they all were shot within about 40 yards of each other! My goal was to make each session look and feel unique even though I was shooting in basically the same location all 3 times.

*UPDATE: To view the Major's proofs, please CLICK HERE. The password is their older daughter's name. If you would like to save your shopping cart, please provide your email address when prompted. Thanks!*

Don't forget to show me--and the Majors--some love by leaving a comment below!