my people

I met these guys a million years ago when they signed up for one of my fundraiser sessions. I liked them immediately. No, that’s a lie. I liked her immediately and he confused me. But many people confuse me, so I was at least intrigued. Plus their kids were really cute.:) We went through the motions of a photo session—the picking up of disc and such—and I knew that I would have to become friends with them somehow, so I invited them to one of my little shindigs. I throw a sweet little shindig by the way—I mean, we own a bouncy castle and firmly believe that alcohol should be heavily served at children’s birthday parties, need I say more?:) They came and my evil plan worked out and they are stuck being My People forever. And he still confuses me a bit, but I have learned to rather enjoy it. And when I was looking for people to drive 2 hours to Dooce’s book signing with me….and when I needed someone to sit next to me and hold my hand at a friend’s “slumber” party…….and when I want homemade pumpkin muffins……she is right there.:) And I love all four of them to pieces.

Sadly, when you are on the “inside” with Lynsey Peterson Photography, you sometimes get your session when it’s freezing cold because you have been waiting for 2 months for me to get you scheduled…but, hey….you get invited to bouncy castle tequila parties.:) It was ridiculously cold out and still they were troopers. And when the kids couldn’t take it anymore (wimps….not wanting to play with me in 17 degree weather….darn kids…:), we took advantage of their car DVD player and got to take the first pictures of just them since their wedding. So, it all works out.

word of mouth

I’ve been fortunate enough to work almost primarily on word-of-mouth for the last 6 years. I have never had to do a big marketing campaign, and thank goodness because I am certain that is something I wouldn’t be great at. Marketing and cleaning bathrooms—two things that will never make it onto my skill set list.:) But I have been very lucky to have some fun opportunities come my way that have brought me business, and beyond that, I have these amazing clients/friends who introduce me to new clients/friends. This almost completely ensures that I don’t have to work with any of those really difficult people that would come from advertising to complete strangers. You know….the ones that don’t read this blog.:) Even the clients that show signs of being challenging and crazy early on, typically don’t end up being half as bad as promised.

Having this internal marketing team made up of volunteers has it’s perks. It’s cost effective for one.:) But mainly it means that I get to spend my “work” hours meeting people that I would have wanted to meet anyway. Then they are stuck being my friend forever…….because even if they don’t like me, there will come a time when they will need someone to scan an image or something and guess who has a fancy scanner? Me. Oh internet, how I kid. It’s never the scanner that people are interested in…it’s the Photoshop.:)

This gorgeous family is exactly the reason I like to work with friends. And now they are stuck with me.:)

Love to start things out with a good jump.....

Now, I am firm believer that, much like a good joke, if I picture needs explaining, it’s not worth looking at. But I’ve gotten to a place where my eye appreciates the little things more…..sees what’s happening, instead of just seeing what I could have done different….or better.:) Finally I am able to take such a sweet account of the details. The way she is grabbing on to his sweater for dear life. How adorable her Mary Janes look flying haphazardly. And enjoying her main-man with all her might. :)

home for the holidays

It's truly an honor when you are asked to photograph the entire family. Even bigger honor when you the shots you are taking are Grandma's Christmas gift. And there is where the intimidating part comes in. :) I was supposed to get this sneak peek up on Wednesday, but I hit a bad case of writers block. And editing block. And....just general block. OH THE PRESSURE! Luckily they have been nothing but adorable and kind and nice and I sort of want to just carry them around in my pocket. I would need bigger pockets. :) And no chance the teenager of this crowd would allow that anyway--he tolerated me for a session, but my lollipop offering was LAME. He didn't say as much, but I could tell that was what he was thinking.

I liked him anyway. And I think deep down inside, he thought I was amazingly hip and wicked cool. You know, for my age. :)

Mom and her babies :)...the baby on the left is like 6'6" (and single! and very fun! Just sayin'....you know, for my adorable single girl blog readers. ;)
I think they said they have been married for 38 years. I like this image with all it's flair.....'cause it's their place in the sun. :)

And my favorite--all the kids being their own little kidself. :)

Black Friday sale :)

I was totally going to get up at 4am this morning and go buy TVs and DVD players and toys at rock bottom prices. Didn't work out. :) Instead I'll celebrate Black Friday with a sale of my own.

Today through Cyber Monday (November 30th) regular session gift certificates are $300--a savings of $125. Sessions include your high resolution images on DVD and all printing and usage rights. Gift certificates will expire in November 2010. Give them to the person on the top of your list or save them for your own 2010 session. You can use the paypal button on the side or email me for more information. This sale is limited to 5 gift certificates to allow for time slots that work for everyone--should they sell-out prior to Monday, I'll take this post down.

Here is a family I am finding pretty darn fresh and juicy right now.......

Always asking you for something, aren't I? :) But I'm a giver too--I swear!

Let me just tell you right now, that if you get through this whole thing, there is a contest at the end. I would never make you read all of this and not offer you up something good. :)

I am thrilled to have had a shot in the Vail Valley Charitable Fund UnDressed calendar for 3 years now. It's truly an amazing organization and I am so proud to have been able to play a small role in their fundraising efforts.

This year the beautiful Carol Conger agreed to let me photograph her. She's been asked to do it before and turned down other photographers, so when she said yes to me......well, let's just say that it always feels good to have a beautiful woman agree to get naked in front of you. Am I right, or am I right? :)

Carol is a bit of a celebrity up there--she is a......no wait......she is THE midwife in the area, oversees the Mommy & Me classes, and provides prenatal and post-partum care to hundreds of under- and uninsured women in the Vail Valley. I love her to pieces. :) If she looks familiar to you, it's because she is the gorgeous and proud Mama here.

The theme for the calendar this year was Historical Landmarks. They gave me gondola cars. I mean, seriously. Gondola cars. Do you know how hard it is to work in a gondola car into a naked shot? One that is downtown? Luckily she is gorgeous and I could have shot her in a parking lot if I had to--she could pull off anything. :) Next year will be the last year of the calendar. They will be doing a Best Of, letting people vote for their favorite 12 images. I would love to have an image in the final calendar. I'd like to think that I am not such a brat that not making the last calendar would kill me, but let's be honest: not having an image in the last calendar would kill me. Absolutely kill me. Please help me! I want to live! Each vote is $1--a donation that goes straight to the fund which helps people in true need. And you could vote as many times as you want! And you can paypal it! What if someone just came around and voted for one of my images 100 times and sent a $100 check and my image got enough votes to be in the calendar? I'll tell you what--I would take that person to dinner. And they could order anything they want. Even the lobster. :)

So, that's my plee. Yet another favor I ask of you. You can find more information about the VVCF on their website at http://www.vvcf.org/. Votes with your donations can be done on paypal, or by mail. You could vote for any of the images in this post (I mean, I guess you could vote for any image in the calendar for the last 7 years, but we're talking about me right now people--stay focused. :)

Here are my beauties:

Karen...
The Sutters.....

and of course, beautiful Carol at the top. :)

Did you make it? Did you get all the way to here and want to know what the contest is? Let's reward your efforts. Make a donation (or any size) and vote for one of these images and win stuff. Notify me that you did (I'll take your word for it, but I can totally find out if you're lyin' :)--I'll collect all of the names and on Monday pick one.

What do you get? A lobster dinner? A calendar? A naked photo shoot? Nah--I want to make your life easier.:) 25 custom designed holiday cards. Complete with envelopes. Maybe I will even make you labels for them. But no stamps, people--we have to draw the line somewhere.:) You don't need to have had a session with me--I'll make you something awesome with whatever images you want to use for your card this year. It's a value of like $50 at least. Plus I'm saving you the headache of actually having to figure it out yourself at The Wal-Mart photo booth this year. :)

Happy voting and thank you, thank you!!

2nd base

In general I am not a big fan of maternity sessions. Never have been able to put my finger on it, but maybe some sort of combination of the fact that I don’t like to shoot indoors and that I didn’t like being pregnant myself. I remember someone telling me that they had never felt more “like a woman” to which I said “when don’t you feel like a woman?”. If you have never been pregnant, I’m just going to go ahead and tell you the truth—it ain’t all roses and lollipops and unicorns and puppies. And it certainly didn’t make me feel more like a woman.:)

When sweet, lovely Sherrie contacted me a while ago to do her maternity session, I knew that I couldn’t say no. When another photographer asks you to photograph them, it’s truly an honor. Plus, she is a delightful little gem and a really cool chick so I figured that it would be fun, even if there were no lollipops or puppies. I talked her into trading me so that I could have my own family session done for our holiday cards. She took beautiful, adorable images of my family. And I got to take these.

I have to say that it’s the only time I thought “oh, this is what people like about maternity photos!” because it was great fun. Neither of us are "huggers", but I had to get all up in her business to make these image work and I am fairly certain that I got to second base in the first 10 minutes of this session. Luckily she was cool with that. Almost makes me want to do maternity sessions exclusively…..almost. :)

It's only a matter of time before I get a reputation as The Naked Photographer. The one that makes you take off your shirt and lay on a tree at a public park. But before you judge, let me just tell you she was all for it. :) She is ridiculously beautiful. And it's a new favorite.....And a sneak peek of her note for Notes Girls Write....

going on faith

I have always prided myself on not be the “flaky artist” type. I tried hard to be as respectful to the business side of this whole thing as much as the “art” side. Lately I have been failing. I get behind every fall, but this fall I have hit a whole new level of flakiness. I’ve been busy—and that is good. But quite honestly I am still learning the juggle of it all. How to fit 10 hours of work into 3 hours, and yet still have enough time to feed and bathe my children and work on Farmville (it’s important to have priorities :). The first thing that always slides is email. I read email literally every couple of minutes. If I wake-up at 2 in the morning for a drink of water, I check email (you guys would be amazed at how many great Viagra offers I get in the middle of the night. In fact, I am told that I am being offered the absolute lowest price—much lower than anyone else-- so if you need a hook-up, just let me know :). It’s the returning it that gets tricky. I always intend to, but it’s always the thing that overwhelms me. The one thing that I save for “tomorrow”.

This mama got real acquainted with my flakiness this fall. She became one of these names that I wake up thinking about in the middle of the night, wondering if maybe she had finally given up on me because another day went by without me getting back to her. But, each time she kindly responded, and yesterday had her husband take a half-day off and drove her family over an hour to my turf for their session. It was cold and no doubt they went home in the worst rush hour. When I asked if she had brought the contract, I realized that I have never even sent her one. She said “we’ve just been going on faith”. And boy have they. And I am incredibly grateful because they were absolutely delightful. And I would have hated to miss out on that due to my extreme flakiness. :)

I would love to tell you that she wasn't this beautiful in person and this is just the work of my amazing abilities, but the truth was that she was drop-dead gorgeous and I just hope I did that justice. And being that beautiful, I have no idea why she needs to be sweet and fun too, but she was. I could easily find that really irritating--her being so wonderful--instead I sort of just want to hang out with her and hope that maybe it's contagious. :)

Easily one of my favorite shots of the year.......
And this is what it is like to be a mom of 2 boys. It's full of love and laughs, but there you are....still flying blind. :)

These two have the sweetest little connection.....

new family session slideshow

Oh, how I love these guys. :) Link is here. Song is Can't Help Falling In Love by Lick The Tins. One of my favorite songs for some of my favorite people. :)

the hills are alive

I’ve written this blog post about 27 times, each time to decide it wasn’t quite right. Not enough. Too much. Too serious. Too light. But to put into words my thoughts on these guys would be like organizing earth worms, as my sons teacher says. It can’t be done—there is no starting point and no ending and no method to go about doing it.

So, I’ll say this: I love them. Every single piece of them. If they were a plate of food, I would gobble it up and then lick it clean until it shined enough to put it right back in the cupboard. There is no way to be in a room with them and not feel how alive they are. No way to not feel alive when you are around them. They are a big huge ball of the absolute best kind of energy. They are real and honest and soaking in sweet wonderful.

I met them a year and a half ago. I’ve photographed them here, here, and here. And, now I have finally gotten my chance to soak up the newest member. And she is mighty delicious. She fits right in.:)

I am looking into building a small cottage just under that first fold. I can't imagine a more cozy place to reside. :)

This beauty is head over heels in love with The Sound Of Music. She has amazing taste. She picked out this outfit, inspired by the movie--not kidding.

She also has an evil eye. A mean, nasty, Lynsey-if-you-don't-give-me-my-lollipop-now...... sort of eye. :)

Meg who has a way with works like none other, also did a note for me for Notes Girls Write. I didn't know what it would say until I got there and I was so very excited about it. She did not disappoint. These are the words of her mother, who passed away 3 years ago, almost to the day, we shot this. As Meg said "These were her words, and now they are mine. How incredibly lucky can a girl be?"

My thoughts exactly. :)

And never one to be too serious...

fresh babes

Also last week I photographed this sweet family--just as fresh and juicy as they come. :) Mom set this up LONG before he got here and I was thrilled I got to meet him as soon as I did. Big brother is a doll baby as well! :)