I won! Kinda

Chenin Boutwell over at Boutwell studios has been inspiring the crap out of me for the past week or so. I am bowled over, bewildered, and bedazzled by Chenin and her etherial images. Something about her style is soft and dreamlike without losing that crisp tack sharp imagery. Her style is self coined as "delightful" and you will no doubt agree with me that her pictures are simply that...delightful!

Over at Afternoon Delight, Chenin's blog, she was hosting a happy little giveaway in order to name her little logo birdie. Whichever name she chose would receive either an orange i-pod shuffle or her bundle of "totally rad" actions for photoshop at a value of 150 bucks. I put quite a few names in the mix, and as I checked back today, one of the names I suggested was the winning name! Wrigley!

Ah, but imagine my dismay when I realize that out of the three hundred entries or so, Wrigley had already been mentioned. Who has time to sort through all those comments though?! But, to illustrate how super cool Chenin is, she emailed me and let me know that she's going to send me the actions mix anyway. Check them out here! this has made me entire week! I'm still so new, so I haven't had the chance to master any actions, or even purchase any, so this awesome package will really help me edit and kick my images up a couple gears. Yahoo!

So, thank you Chenin! For inspiring and being so generous. :)

The finished product!

Ta da! My logo is completed! It's so fun, and just the style I was looking for. In addition to photography, Mariah is dabbling in design work and you can check out her stuff at the provided link. Mariah is also working on a custom designed Masthead for Render Images, and I'm super thankful for all her wisdom, as she's a few steps ahead of me in this business process. To see more of her super-talented work, check out the link I provided with her name. So, I'll be using this logo when I get around to getting some print work done! Look for it!

I have plans to incorporate this into letterhead, business cards, and perhaps even some fun things like mugs, tshirts, messenger bags, etc. It's amazing how affordable marketing can be if you look around for good deals, and do some bargain shopping. I'm still planning on going with Bludomain for the website, but having to save a little moolah to afford the more versatile site template. I'm having SO much fun taking pictures, editing, and planning for the future! Never would have fathomed that I would become a Small business owner, but sometimes God has greater plans for us than we even have for ourselves!

A very bloggy giveaway

Okay, I couldn't resist! I just had to join in and giveaway something photography related, because I'm all about promoting the wonders of the camera!

My giveaway for Render Images is: *drumroll please*



I got these free for buying my rebel xti, and just haven't gotten around to printing any out, but I have about forty more prints left...so I'm happy to share! I'll send two coupons out to whoever the winner is. All you have to do is send your photo files/film to the processor, and they'll send you your pictures. :) Yay!

choices, choices.

Here are some of the revisions Mariah did for the logo. I am leaning towards options 2 and 4....

You're so vain...I bet you think this post is about you, don't you?

It's Self-Portrait Saturday on my favorite site, Flickr! Here's the little gem I snapped up. The great thing about self portraits is that you are the BEST model ever. You know exactly what to do to get what you want out of the model. HAH! Try it out. Set your camera on it's self timer mode (easy peasy way to get rid of camera shake due to slow shutter speed!) and step back and make some funny faces. Or, better yet, grab your best girl/guy friend, your honey, your kids, your pet, your great aunt bruinhilda, and have a silly session altogether. It's great to make memories, or art, or scrapbooks, or whatever your little heart desires. String them together vertically, and you have the photobooth effect.

Inspiration.

Sometimes when I'm lacking inspiration, it's therapeutic for me to browse through other photographers/artsits portfolios and see what they've been creating lately. Not only is it great eye candy, but it can trigger a flurry of imagination and creativity and spur on some great sessions.

Right now, I'm really in love with an artist by the name of Natasha Wescoat and her whimsical paintings. I first discovered Natasha while I was looking at the "new artists" section of art.com, and stumbled on her tree paintings. Her colors are so bright and pretty and she uses great shapes in her work. This one makes me smile:



and although this one isn't quite as typical of her work, it's still darling, and reminds me of myself. There's nothing I love more than curling up with a great book, a snack, and my furry friend Mischa.



And then there's this one, which is a series that she has done of various swirling abstracted trees, which happen to be my most favorite.



A photographer I've mentioned before, but is worth mentioning again is Irene Suchocki. You can find her on flickr and at her site. Her images are dreamy, and full of impact. I'm hard pressed to pick a favorite, but I love these:







So, these are just a few of my favorite pieces of inspiration in the last few weeks. I find as time goes by, I'm in more need of surrounding myself with beautiful things. Things that are bright, or emotive, or things that cause me to think.

At any rate...what inspires YOU?

Render Images new logo

What do you think?! New Logo design in progress....will post more soon!