Be the Trend, Marketing help for Senior Photographers

This blog is for all my fellow photographer readers. After being asked for months about selling my high school senior photography marketing kits, I decided to go for it! Have you ever wanted to break into the senior market, but you just can't figure out how to start? Hear about other photographer's success with utilizing social networking and blogging but feel too overwhelmed to start?

Be The Trend: Reaching Generation Y via Social Networking is your solution!

For a limited time, get our Facebook Marketing Kit AND Blog Marketing Kit for 20% off when you purchase them both!

Email us for details:

Jessica@JessicaEdwardsPhotography.net

2010 Summer Specials {Senior Photography}

Class of 2010, if you're not already, after graduation, you'll be a Senior... the top dog, the king of the hill. What a better way to start off your senior year than with some awesome senior portraits?!

Avoid the rush and book your session early. The sooner you do so, the more you save.

We're also giving away surprise freebies for the first 5 seniors who schedule their session!

Ready...

Set...

GO!

Miller Family Portraits, Southwest Missouri

Most families don't have family portraits taken often enough. It's not easy to coordinate everyone's schedule with your photographer's, decide on a location, style, and clothing for the image. However, whenever it finally comes together, it is SO worth it. We had a really great time setting up these images despite the sun, wind and buffalo land mines at Prairie State Park.

We began our family day with family portraits then we headed to the bowling alley in Lamar to celebrate Michael's birthday. I dominated (won by 1 point, with Matt taking 2nd) even with 7 broken nails! We finished the night with a fancy dinner at Denny's where the mango tea rocks! On behalf of Hayley and Marcus, I have to apologize to our server for the iFart incident. haha I'm still laughing about that one! :)

The whole crew:



A couple of the brothers:




And a couple of Matt, Hayley and myself:

Melanie, Nevada High ~ Our Last Street Team Member

Melanie is the last of our 2010 Senior Street Team members. I still can't get over what a great bunch of seniors that we have! I don't think I could ask for a better team. :)

I tried out a new background on Melanie, and I have to admit, I really like how it turned out. I can't wait to photograph Melanie's full senior session this summer!




My name is Melanie Ann Messick.

My nickname is Mel.

I go to school at Nevada High School.

My favorite class is chemistry, not because I like science but because the teacher is amazing.

My biggest accomplishment has been surviving high school and living with my family.

This summer I will play volleyball in my spare time.

My dream vacation is going to the beach with a bunch of my good friends and having the time of my life.

My dream job is a model, but it's most likely never gonna happen.

All time favorite movie the Lion King. The good ones last forever.

I love to listen to music I can relate to.

My all time favorite food is pizza. Who doesn't love pizza?

My favorite website is facebook. Duh!

My favorite place to shop is out of town? I don't have a favorite store really.

My favorite TV show is Family Guy.

An unusual talent I have is somehow being able to get lost in the town I've lived in my entire life.

The person I'd like to meet the most is my true love. Corny I know.

My favorite possession is my friends. I don't really possess them but I still have some!!

I never leave home without my phone.

A random fact about me is I play sports year round, volleyball swimming and track.

I chose to have my senior portraits taken at Jessica Edwards Photography because she let me model as a junior!!

Sarah, Carthage High Street Team Member

Sarah's shoot was so much fun! It had been raining earlier in the day, so that that inspired me to use some new props. I purchased some matching rain boots and umbrella in a couple of different styles. Along with Sarah's great attitude and style, they helped us create some awesome images!

Check out what we came up with...




My name is... Sarah Goolsby

My nickname is... Super Sarah

I go to school at... Carthage High School

My favorite class is... AP History

My biggest accomplishment has been... Becoming who I am.

This summer I will... Attend a Ben Folds concert, go to debate nationals in Alabama, go to a two-week debate camp at MSU, go on a road trip with some of my friends, go to a service-oriented church camp and turn 17.

My dream vacation is... Going to Italy.

My dream job is... To be a social worker, or just to help people.

All time favorite movie... It's a tie between The Godfather and Fight Club.

I love to listen to... Graham.

My all time favorite food is... Coffee, if that counts.

My favorite website is... Postsecret.com

My favorite place to shop is... Thrift stores, or Romancing the Stone.

My favorite tv show is... I like pretty much anything on HGTV, but my favorite TV series is Invader Zim.

An unusual talent I have is... I'm pretty good at explaining things, though I don't know if that counts as unusual.

The person I'd like to meet the most is... Jesus. Think about how many questions He could answer for you. It blows my mind.

My favorite possession is... My Converse or my backpack.

I never leave home without... Pens.

A random fact about me is... I'm a chocolate milk fanatic.

I chose to have my senior portraits taken at Jessica Edwards Photography because... I thought it would be a good opportunity.

Thanks, Sarah! I love postsecret.com too! :)

Hayley's Joke of the Week

With 2 almost-tornadoes, American Idol finals, and senior Street Team retouching and design, I totally dropped the ball on Hayley's joke of the week. Oops! I'll try harder...promise!



If April showers bring May flowers, what do May flowers bring?

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

wait for it...

.

.

.

.

.

wait for it...

.

.

.

.

.

...Pilgrims! :)

Charles, Parsons High Street Team Member

Charles and I were definitely on the same page for his photo shoot. He brought in nice jeans and shoes, a tie, white button up, and a skateboard. I love that combination! We had very similar ideas on backgrounds, poses, and the general style of the image. Charles has an eye for style and design!

Check out what we came up with and meet Charles!




My name is... Charles Gross

My nickname is... * Chuck G *

I go to school at... Parsons Senior High

My favorite class is... Media or Forensics

My biggest accomplishment has been... Figuring out that I need to be the best early and the only way to do that is with practice.

This summer I will... be spending a lot of time with Tyler and friends

My dream job is... To be an Oscar winning Actor

All time favorite movie... would have to be pretty much all Will Smith movies and much more to many to decide.

I love to listen to... all types of music. Pop, hip-hop, rock, rap, gospel, acoustic, soul, jazz.... I love it all. ;)

My all time favorite food is... BBQ and Mexican and Italian

My favorite website is... facebook, myspace, picnik

My favorite place to shop is... pretty much Hollister, and were ever there’s nice clothes.

My favorite TV show is... MTV and BET pretty much all of them but mostly “Taking the stage”

An unusual talent I have is... being so good looking ... haha not really

The person I'd like to meet the most is... I think that would have to be J.e.s.u.s

My favorite possession is... My friends and family

I never leave home without... Clothing haha ... and most the time my phone

A random fact about me is... That’s my skateboard ... and I love to play the drums and had been playing since the age of 3...

I chose to have my senior portraits taken at Jessica Edwards Photography because... when you're like Chuck G you can do that. Have good a photo taken by a pretty lady ... and Tyler said I could haha ... NOT

Aww...thanks Charles!

Mpix/Millers Lab Shootout

On Saturday the 9th, Mpix and Millers Lab sponsored a shootout for local photographers. Scott Plauche and I were mentor photographers for the event. Scott taught how to shoot couples on location and I taught shooting senior guys and girls on location.

This is the first of these types of events sponsored by the lab, but we had a great turnout! There were 30 local photographers and photography students in attendance. It turns out that Pittsburg is a fantastic place to shoot! Every corner we turned was a new, great location.

I'd like to thank our models, Daniel, Rachel, Megan and Marshal. They were awesome and helped us create some beautiful images!

Meet Dan...








Meet Rachel...










Rachel and Dan were very good sports. Although they are not a couple, they let me talk them into posing for some images together. Thanks guys!



and meet Marshal and Megan...




These are a few I took of the group...




Matt...


Scott photographing Megan and Marshal






Here are a few the others took of me teaching and also of the group....










I look forward to the next one!

Friday's Storm

I survived my first Tornado Alley severe storm! Yay!

Before I moved to Missouri, I loved thunderstorms...especially sleeping through them. However, now I worry about having my bedroom ceiling disappear while I sleep through storms here.

So, on Friday, I was woken up by loud claps of thunder. Matt was getting his daughter, Hayley ready for school, so I woke up and joined them in the living room to check on the storm. It seemed to get better and we thought that Hayley would be safer at school than in our house with no basement, so he went on his way to drop her off.

While he was gone, the storm got worse, our satellite went out, and we didn't have a radio. I opened the blinds so I can keep an eye on the storm, but I couldn't see a thing! The rain and wind was so strong, all I could see was solid gray...until tree branches from the neighbor's yard broke off and started hitting our house. Since I'm a little freaked out about Missouri storms, I started getting my things ready in case it got worse and I needed to go to the photography studio, which is pretty close and much safer than our house. Before I could even finish, the tornado sirens started blaring.

Not wasting a single second...I made up my mind that I was getting out of there! I put my shoes on, grabbed my phone, my purse and my laptop. That's when it hit me... I didn't have enough arms to take everything that I needed to take with me. I put down my laptop and looked at it, my camera with my new rented lens, and my cat. I'll tell you...it was like making Sophie's choice! I pushed the photographer in me aside, and threw my coat over my 15 pound cat and ran out the door.

It was like a scene from a movie. I could barely see a couple of feet in front of me. Tree limbs, trash cans, and I think even a couple of cows flew past my car on my way down the street. Despite the winds, flooding, and my nerves, I made it safely to my studio. Although it wasn't much dryer IN my studio than it was outside, I felt a bit safer.

In the meantime, Matt had been in his SUV in line waiting to drop Hayley off at school. He realized that although he was in gear with his foot planted on the brake, that the wind was pushing him backwards toward a van! Obviously, it was time to get out of there. Before too long, they had joined me at the studio.

Luckily, the storm passed soon after they got there. While we were cleaning up, I noticed that everyone who drove by had their window rolled down, with their head hanging out of the window looking beside the studio. I went outside to check it out, and this is what I saw:



The building across the street had collapsed. Talking about scary!

After life started to get back to normal, Matt had to leave for work. School had be called off early, so I got to hang out with Hayley all day. I had rented a new tilt/shift lens that I hadn't found a chance to use yet, so like any photographer would do, we went out to take pictures! I gave Hayley my back-up camera, a Canon 20D and a 50mm 1.8 lens and we went out shooting!

Here's what we came up with:



Hayley's image


There were so much debris in the road, they got serious about the clean-up!


Our beaver friends came out to play...


Just down the street from the studio...


The city park...










The shot that Hayley got in the above picture... (Oh, and don't judge me, I was barely awake! haha)


Another one of Hayley's masterpieces...where the Subway sign used to be before the storm.


So...thats it! My first storm story. I don't think I'll get used to this weather, so stay tuned for more blogs like these!