blogs of photogs

Came across this great Pay-It-Forward project today: Roadside Families and knew I had to share it with all my readers on Blogs of Photogs! I’ll excerpt the “rules” below from their website, but the basic premise is this; photographers taking photos of other photographers family and then paying it forward, all with no money exchanged~ a beautiful idea!

Rules for Paying-It-Forward (note from Mary, this is from their website)

1. Once you and your family has been photographed, you have 30 days to photograph another photographer’s family. Don’t be that person that holds up the line because you procrastinated!
2. A photographer and their family (defined) can be any family group that consists of a photographer and his/her family. This could be a regular nuclear family, distant cousins, twin siblings, or conjoined twins. Whatever.
3. Be creative. Let loose! Free your mind!

Rules for Submissions

• Nudity or vulgarity will not be acceptable. Keep it family-friendly.
• Images can be no more than 900 pixels wide (including your watermark).
• Yes, you may watermark your image.
• To keep the chain going, you need to link to your own family post here on roadsidefamilies.com. This is called a permalink, and the url is shown on each post. For example, if JMC shot Joe’s Family and Joe shoots Kelly’s family, then when Joe posts Kelly’s photo on RoadsideFamilies.com, he needs to link to the one JMC shot of him.
  Example (at the top of the post):  Photography by Joseph,     Click here for Joseph’s family photograph
• IMPORTANT! Follow the step by step instructions below for submissions.

So, check it out and find a photographer to photograph your family and then you get to go shoot another photographers family. Love to hear about those that have already done this! Great idea!

best,

Mary

Katie Campbell, of the Portland, OR area, is a newcomer to professional photography– only “doing it full time since September”  as she mentions in her blogsite. Although her portfolio isn’t as fleshed out as photographers with much longer established careers, her captivating images don’t reveal her “newbie-ness” in the least. Things I especially like about Katie’s site are her writing style; you really feel like you get to know her after just reading a few of her posts, her obvious love of photography, and the clarity and feeling in her images. I love how Katie has customized her blog-site to encompass everything, including the flyout links to twitter and facebook on the side.

I enjoyed Katie’s blog and also liked reading about her travels to Africa too~hope you will as well!

~Mary

Nicole Mlakar works out of the Austin, Tx area, specializing in photographing pets and their people with fabulous results. Her blog features loads of adorable furry friends and their owners, showing so many wonderful expressions and playful moments. Nicole does an amazing job in making photos that really capture all the different charming facets of her clients and showing the deep connections with their pets. Enjoy!

~Mary

Megan Borders (Photography by Meg) works out of the Tri-Cities area of Kennewick, Pasco and Richland in WA. Her blog and site have a mix of beautiful candid portraits of toddlers and children, and highly styled and posed images of newborns, families and seniors. Most photographers seem to excel at one or the other, documentary style, or the gift of working with people and arranging them just right for an almost commercial look and feel; Meg seems to have talent in both these areas. I know you’ll enjoy her blog and the alluring images within.

best,

Mary

Uniquely You Photography Blog features Sarah Ulrich’s gorgeously clean, fresh and bright photography. Sarah has both a photography and a design background which are evident in her work as well is in her amazing design offerings to photographers (here) Sarah works out of Lincoln Nebraska, specializing in babies, children and families. Her work is equally amazing on location, or in studio for newborns and maternity. Enjoy!

Audrey Woulard, has been working out of Chicago as a portrait photographer for about 7 years, near as I can remember. Audrey and I were friends online on a parenting board for many years before either of us ever pursued photography as a career, so I got to see her go from starting out to skyrocketing to fame in a fairly short period. Audrey’s work has a very distinctive style, a commercial feel that caught the eye of national campaigns such as Pottery Barn Kids a few years back. Audrey is an extremely successful business woman as well, offering many variations of workshops over the years that have brought her as many aspiring photographer fans as she has photography clients. I’m convinced that if Audrey writes about a product on her blog, or uses a hat, blanket (remember that?) etc in her work, then you ought to buy some stock in it~ her cult following is that strong. Her work has been featured in many places, including the cover of Professional Photography magazine and is the inspiration for many photographers who are just starting out. If you haven’t checked out her blog before, I know you’ll enjoy it.

On a personal note, please forgive my neglecting Blogs of Photogs. Its crunch time for finishing up all my client work. I hope to share a freebie card I designed within the next day or so, hopefully you can use it for last minute orders, or maybe even for your own neglected card! Happy Holidays to all!

~Mary

Jodie Otte works out of the Black Horse Studio located in Northern Baltimore County, Maryland. Her blog can be found here, where you will see a beautiful sampling of her work with clients ranging in age from days old to families. Jodie is equally comfortable and skilled at using both studio lighting and natural light, and her blog also features lots of slices of life from the nature surrounding her home in the cornfields. Aside from being an accomplished and talented photographer, Jodie is also excellent at self-promotion and marketing and has a thriving workshop business and book offerings for photographers as well. I first met Jodie on a parenting forum nearly 10 years ago now, and though I don’t often get over to her blog, it was such fun to see how her kids have grown, and to find that she also keeps chickens (!) as we entered into keeping chickens ourselves this year! You’ll find lots of photographic inspiration here!

~Enjoy!

Mary

Grant & Deb Perry of Virginia (Hampton Roads and surrounding area) specialize primarily in gorgeous lush wedding coverage, but their senior work, families and traditional portrait work is also superb. I really enjoyed their blog and site, which are both beautifully designed and also very informative for clients without being too wordy. Enjoy!

Laureen Carruthers works out of a small town in central British Columbia, Canada. She serves the areas of Williams Lake, 150 Mile House, 100 Mile House, Bridge Lake, & Quesnel. Laureen’s work has a clarity and richness of color that I really admire… her blog showcases a wide variety of subjects, from slices of her own life with her three boys to some weddings, senior photos (called grad photos in BC I guess!) family work on down to babies and toddlers. On her main site, (here) there is also some amazing birth photography in the births gallery. Gritty, emotional and beautiful ~ reminds me again to wonder aloud why more people don’t hire a pro photographer to capture this truly once in a lifetime event… (?)

As always, hope my readers enjoy the inspiration of another fabulous photographer! And, I love to get your emails or comments on past features or photographers you think I should shine the light on next. Keep in touch!

best,

Mary

Patrice Gaspard-Nelson of LaBellaVita-Beautiful Life Images works out of Southern California where she specializes in photographing families and children. Patrice has lovely crisp clean and vibrant images, great locations, and her clientele represents a refreshing and delightful range of diversity, which is always a joy to see. Check out her blog for info on her workshop (held jointly with 3 other photogs) for photographers as well, looks interesting!

Enjoy!

~Mary