Heather Swanner Photography

A look at the rest of last week

Wow!  To say that last week was crazy for me is an understatement.  I don't even know how to describe my past week, except that it is over!  :)  Last week entailed 2 days of mini-sessions, plus a number of regular sessions, plus some very sick kiddos, plus the start of my 2 new assistants (which I will talk about in detail a little later - so excited!).  For right now, I'll just give you a picture of what the rest of last week looked like for me.  I'll talk later.....

 

Two down, three to go

Mini sessions, that is.  Yesterday was the second of my mini-sessions for this season, and I have a few, no, lots of, pictures to share.  We had a lot of fun, but I was EXHAUSTED afterwards.  Since I had a sick child at home today, I had a little bit of extra time to work on proofing (although I am still not quite done).  I went a little crazy playing with colors just because we were at a different type of location that I felt called for some funky colors.  For those of you scheduled for the mini-session on Saturday, I will get in touch tomorrow with all of the details about where we'll meet, etc.  I'm looking forward to it.  Until then....

A little bit of housekeeping

Okay, first things first....For those of you who've been asking to see the jewelry samples/pricing, I have some online in the client gallery along with the pricing.  However, I am having a terrible time getting all of the images to load up, so not everything is there.  I am still trying to get that figured out.  To view what I have up, go to the client gallery, find "photo jewelry", and type in the password "jewelry".  If you want to see the missing pieces, email me & I'll send you some jpgs with all of the images.  

Second, I am officially booked for 2008 (although I will be accepting a limited number of newborn clients in December).  If you would like to be added to a waiting list, then I am happy to do that, but I can't guarantee a spot (but sometimes things do open up).  If I have promised you a spot but you haven't been given a specific date, then you will have a spot (once I get childcare completely worked out!).  I am so grateful to all of my precious clients for wanting to use me.  If I was not able to get you in this year, I hope I get to work with you next year!  On that note, I am currently booking for January, but I will not open up my calendar for Feb, Mar, April & May until November (once I get over my pre-holiday rush!).  

Lastly, I just wanted to share a few more pictures from the past week (it's hard to post w/o pictures!).  There are a lot of them!  

   

Ward

I have been photographing Ward and his sister for quite some time now.  It was a pleasure last week to be able to photograph him again.  He has turned into such a big boy!  Ward reminds me very much of my own son, who is pensive and a little serious, yet very sweet and super smart!  Here are a few pictures from our time together.

Gorgeous Red Heads

I know I've mentioned this before, but I really love red hair....

Crazy week (again!)

This week began the first of my many crazy pre-holiday weeks to come.  This afternoon as I looked over my list of things to do this week, this was how I felt....

This past week in the midst of all of my craziness, I was able to reconnect with a friend from college and her beautiful children for pictures.  We had a great afternoon hanging out at Mount Laurel.  Her kids were a hoot!  It was fun seeing their mommy again and getting to meet her children.

Here are some of the more serious pictures from our session together.

Holiday Cards!

Okay, okay, I know I have been promising these for quite some time, but I can't seem to stop for long enough to get them all put together.  I have LOTS of samples online right now, but I still have about 20 more designs that I need to add & will be doing that little by little over the next couple of days.  However, if you just can't wait, you can check out what I have by going into my client gallery (click on client link on my website) & finding "holiday cards".  You'll use "cards" as your password to get in and view the cards.

I have a lot of the same designs as last year, but if you scroll down, most of the new designs are at the bottom.  Some of them are a little jumbled - the back of the card might go before the front of the card (you'll see what I am talking about when you look at them), but you should be able to figure it out!  Like I said, I will be adding to these as I can, so there will be more.  Please make sure to view the instructions on how to order (in the gallery).  For those of you who order before October 10th, I will waive the $30 set-up fee!  

I have not decided whether or not to do the photo paper cards this year or not, so I did not include that in my pricing.  I have had color problems with them in the past & they end up being a lot of trouble!  :)  I'll decide on that this week as well.

Let me know if you have any questions.  I am still slow in my responses, but I will eventually get back to you!

Beautiful light (and child) in Oxford, MS

It seems like all we have done this summer is travel (I'm not complaining - it's just been crazy).  We wrapped up our summer tour this past weekend in Oxford, MS, where we visited some friends from my husband's residency and attended the Samford-Ole Miss game (Samford got creamed, but it was still fun!). I had intended to get pictures of both of our friends' children, but Ike messed up our plans a little bit this morning.  I did, however, have the chance to take advantage of some beautiful light on Friday with one of their kids.  I just wish that her brother had been there to join in on the fun!  Maybe next time we visit...Until then, here is beautiful Julia in my very favorite kind of light!

Even with her eyes closed, she's still beautiful...

I am hoping to be here for a while, so it should be business as usual on Monday!  :)

P.S.  My home phone is still messed up, so try to catch me on my cell if you need me!

P.S.

I will be out of town Thursday - Sunday.  I still have not quite gotten caught up from my last trip out of town.  If you are waiting on an email from me, please hang tight.  If I have internet access this weekend (I did not last weekend), then I will try to get caught up.  Next week begins a long stretch of time at home for me.  Hooray!  This summer has been a little out of control....

More twins!

It seems like I have had a lot of multiple sessions lately!  I have to be honest.  When their mommy called me to do this session, I broke out in a cold sweat thinking of chasing around not just one, but two 17 month-olds.  After all, they have just become independent, they want to practice this new walking thing, and there is just not a whole lot of negotiation that can take place at this age!  However, I knew that it was a good sign when 30 seconds into the session, one of the twins reached out and wanted to be held by me.  I had her at "hello", and the other wasn't too far behind! :)  There was definitely some running around that took place during this session, but surprisingly, the twins were very cooperative and happy throughout the whole morning.  They were a blast to photograph.  I am still not done proofing their session, but I did uncover a few initial favorites.  I'm sure there will be more!

Phone troubles!

I just wanted to let you all know that I am having trouble with my phone line, so if you've been calling & it's been busy, that is why.  I am still here & didn't take it off the hook!  If you need to reach me, try my cell phone (listed on my contact page) or try emailing me.  AT&T is supposed to be out Friday to fix the phone, but we are leaving town again on Thursday, so hopefully they can fix it without me!  Guess the same squirrels that are eating my cable wires have moved on to the phone wires!

Weekend at Watercolor

This past weekend, my husband and I went (without kids!) to the beach for a long weekend with several friends.  We were celebrating one of our friend's 40th birthday, and her husband decided to surprise her with a trip to the beach, where they then met up with several of her friends (another surprise) at an incredible house in Watercolor!  We have just returned, and I am getting caught up on emails right now.  I did not have internet access while I was there, which maybe was a good thing.

Another good thing is that three of the couples did bring their children, so I still got to enjoy having some little people around!  Since I can't seem to get my own friends on my calendar to take pictures, we decided to do our own little "mini-sessions" at the beach.   Although we never actually made it to the beach to take pictures, the house where we stayed was a photographer's dream - TONS of windows and lots of white.  If only I could have a studio like this (or even better, a house!)....  There were also a bunch of cool spots just outside the house, too.  

Here are some highlights from my time with the three children (sorry, there are a bunch!).  All three of these children have amazing blue eyes - none of them are related!

Camilla and Charlotte

I had so much fun meeting Camilla and her little sister Charlotte earlier this week.  Here are a few sneak peaks for mommy!

I love Daddy & baby pictures!

And her reward for doing such a good job...

 

Bundle of Joy!

Little Andrew was so much fun to photograph!  His expressions were priceless.  I love this age!

Bling!

For those of you looking to impress or just find that perfect gift for that special someone, I have got it!  For the past couple of weeks, I have been faithfully wearing my sample of my new "bling" around, and boy, have I gotten lots of compliments!  People everywhere have been stopping me to take a look at my "Fiesta Couture" necklace, which I am now making available, along with several other really awesome pieces.  Here's a little look at some samples of my bling - (for all of my family members, stop reading!  These may just show up under the Christmas tree in a few months!).  Please guys - I am not a product photographer, so forgive my horrible presentation!

Dowl

I will upload some info on pricing along with some other pictures in my client gallery in a few days.  There are tons of options to choose from, and the jewelry can even be custom-designed to match your picture (s).  I just thought I would give you guys a little taste of what I will be offering  - just in time for the holidays!

I will also be posting Christmas card samples in a few days, so stay posted!

2 posts on Labor Day...

means there is a whole lot of laboring going on! :) I had a pretty busy week last week - that seems to be the theme these days! I thought I'd share a few more pictures from last week from a few different sessions...

Happy Labor Day!

Back home from the lake and the labor begins! (Or did it ever stop?). Last week I met up with Anna Stuart, who is 17 months. Usually when I photograph a 17-month old (or 2 or 3 year-old!), I put on my running shoes and know that a lot of my photographs are going to be action shots. Anna Stuart was an exception, though. She was very cooperative and sweet, and we got tons of awesome shots. Usually I count a session with a toddler as one of my workouts for the week, but I still needed to work out after this one (but of course, I didn't!). I so enjoyed getting to see Anna & her mommy again last week. Here are a few of the very many pictures we took during our time together: