{baby cameron}

Baby Cameron is here! He made his appearance in the early morning of December 19! He's beautiful and he looks kind of like his big brother (who doesn't seem to know what to make of Cameron). We did a few photos of him the other day; he's a wiggly little model. He was completely content with the camera, just not sitting still for it! In another week we'll be doing Donovan's one year portraits and I'm so excited my little nephew is almost one! Anyhow, here are some of my favorites of baby Cameron - congratulations Des, I love you!

♥ Elly B ♥

{my go-to girl}

Cassie is my go-to girl, this year, at least. She's my model for me to try out new ideas and such. Which is what we did yesterday, we tried out a downtown look in Ybor City. I really like Ybor, it's a beautiful place. We had a lot of fun and the photos came out even better than I had hoped and I even got her boyfriend in a few of them. So, with little else to blab about, here they are. :)

♥ Elly B ♥

{thank yous}

I haven't posted an update post in a while so I wanted to make sure to keep you informed on everything going on over here. First, I want to update about the special I have going on through Christmas: If you book children's portraiture session with me, I'll discount your session by 20% PLUS give you a free 11x14 print. I've decided, though, that I want to extend this offer until New Year's Day. So you've got about two weeks to book a session. It's a really great deal and I just love photographing children so don't miss out!

I also want to send out a massively huge thank you to every one of you. I've got new, really great equipment, I'm booking shoots at least 2-4 per month (and being a full time college student, that's a lot!) and the word of mouth advertising is such a blessing. I've taken so many steps to make this dream of mine come true and I'm so glad it really has. I've made some really great connections with other photographers and prop businesses that I'm really feeling overwhelmed with happiness about this all. In less than a year I went from photo-enthusiast to professional, licensed photographer serving the central Florida area. So thank you all so much for your support, I really wouldn't be anything without you!

In other news, I am booking for 2011 and I'm so excited for what the new year will bring for me with this business. 2011 will be a busy year for me both personally and professionally in many ways and I'm getting antsy in a good way!

Again, thank you all for your help and love and support and I hope the new year will bring just as much good for you as it will for me!

♥ Elly B ♥

{lisa and joe}

First I want to say a little something about a special I'm running due to the fact that I just love photographing children. If you book a children's portrait session by Christmas I'll discount your session by 20% and throw in a free 11x14 print. I'm so excited for the bookings! :)

In session news, this cold weekend, I had the pleasure of shooting a fellow photographer, Lisa of Lisa B Photography. She and her husband, Joe, wanted some portraits together and wanted a few with their babies for Christmas. Considering the overcast and temperature, I must give them both kudos because I'm quite pleased with the way the photos came out! Anyhow, here they are! :)

♥ Elly B ♥

{shasta's family portraits}

First, I wanted to be sure to blog that the winner of my 500 fan appreciation giveaway is Miss Shelby Patton. So I'll have a session up here for her in the new year. Thank you all for participating, I really appreciate your support! :)

This weekend though, I had the pleasure of doing two photo sessions, one was experimental and the other was for Shasta and Jesse - a mini family portrait session. Their daughter, Hailyn, turned 2 in September and she's the most adorable little girl! I don't have to tell you though, just look at these photos!

♥ Elly B ♥

{desiree's maternity}

My very best friend, Ms Desiree, is on her second baby and everyone's so excited! She's due in early January but we all expect him to arrive in December - the sooner the better!

Anyway, we had her shower two weekends back and we had her maternity photos this weekend. We were at Venetian Gardens and for once it all looked like fall! Florida was so beautiful to us this weekend! I'll share a few photos here now.

I hope you all have a great week!! Don't forget about my giveaway for a free photo session - that ends tomorrow night at midnight!

♥ Elly B ♥

{500 fan giveaway!]

First I'd like to say to anyone who has an opportunity to go to Miami: visit the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens and you will not regret it. It's absolutely breathtakingly phenomenal, I mean it! I'll close this post with a photo from there. :)

Now, to the real juice! I said a few months ago on my Facebook fan page that when I reached 500 fans, I'd give away a free photo package. Well, that mark was reached yesterday and I am so happy about it! So the PRIZE, in all it's glory, will include:
- a styled portrait photo session of your choice (wedding packages excluded)
- a licensed cosmetologist for hair and make-up and
- three (3) 5x7 prints from the session.
All you have to do is show up and smile.

As with any giveaway, there are RESTRICTIONS, as much as we don't like that part. There aren't many, but alas, here they are:
- must be able to travel to the Venetian Gardens in Leesburg, FL OR the USF area in Tampa, FL and
- must bring a 2gb or larger flash drive

RULES: The session will take place in early 2011 (Jan-March), depending on schedules. Now to entries! To enter, you must go on Facebook and share a link to my photography page. Then, you must go to my website and fill out the contact form completely, checking off that you're entering the giveaway. In the "How can I help you?" box, you must link me to your Facebook account so I can verify that you've posted a link to my page, and give me two reasons why you think you deserve a free photo session. Blog comments and messages or comments on my Facebook personal or fan page will not be counted.

JUDGING: Myself and two other judges will choose the top 20 entrants with the best reasons for a free photo session and a winner will randomly be drawn from there. Family is not allowed to participate.

The DEADLINE for submissions will be Tuesday, November 30 at 11:59pm EST. All web forms are timestamped and sent straight to my email and no late submissions will be accepted. you have one week, so hurry on it! :)

So, good luck to everyone! I'm so excited and I want to send out even more thank yous to all of you! You're the best fans I could ask for and I'm so excited we've come this far in less than a year!

♥ Elly B ♥

{alexis' maternity}

Firstly, I'd like to thank you all so much for your support and remind you that when I reach 500 fans on my facebook page I'll be giving away a free photo session as a thank you! I'm so grateful for everything you all have helped me with all year, I can't say thank you enough!

In the work department, I got to do another set of maternity photos this weekend for Miss Alexis - such a cute mommy-to-be! Alexis is due December 2nd for her first boy, to be named Chance William Lafate, but if he has his way he might make an early appearance! I'll close this with a few of my favorite photos until I can get the rest edited! I hope you all have a great week! :)

♥ Elly B ♥

{linda's portraits}

This was such a fun photo shoot! We intended it originally to be a maternity shoot for Linda's first daughter, due November 15. It turned into basically a family portrait session, for the most part. I got some amazing shots of her sons Jayden, 2, and Zachery, 1. The more photos of children I take, the more I absolutely love doing it!

It was also much harder to do a photo shoot (and edit the photos after, of course!) with a broken finger than I'd anticipated! It's still kind of fun to wear my finger splint so I don't mind much, ha!

I don't have much else to say about the photos except that I'm really happy with how they came out. I can't wait to meet Baby Girl Jones (her name is going to be a surprise to all of us!) next month! :)

♥ Elly B ♥

{nicole and aaron's engagement session}

So I had the honor of photographing Nicole and Aaron for their engagement photos earlier this week! They are so cute and even when they claimed to look so awkward, they definitely did not! I had fun and I was so glad to see them happy together.

I asked Nicole a few questions so I wanted to put those up here too. :)

When did you and Aaron meet?
Aaron and I met in October of 2005 through our church... but we didn't become friends until that February 2006 (or so). He took me to my Senior Prom (still as friends) and after that, our friendship blossomed. We started dating New Years of 2007.

What are your three favorite things about Aaron?
My three favorite things about Aaron are his creativity, his dry sense of humor that makes me laugh, and his eyes. I get lost in them.

What are you most excited about once you tie the knot?
I'm most excited about having a home with Aaron... We can't wait to do everyday things with each other in a place we can call OUR home.

And with that, I'll post a couple of my favorite photos from their session! Congratulations to both of you, I know you'll have a beautiful wedding and a wonderful life together after that! ♥

♥ Elly B ♥

 

 

{october}

...is one of my favorite months of the year. I also love April, June, September and November but that's besides the point. I love October mostly because of Halloween! My favorite holiday (Thanksgiving is second)!

It also happens to be one of the busiest months of my year, repeatedly. Firstly, I am attending USF full time. Secondly, I work weekends at Howl-O-Scream at Busch Gardens (which is so much fun). Now, I also have so many photo shoots booked and planned and I have to make trips home and that's really hard to do when you're only free one day of the week!

But mostly coming up I have maternity and newborn photo shoots because so many people are pregnant! I'm doing my first official wedding either late this year or early next so I'm also excited about that. Then I have like... 15 photo shoots planned with no set date. We're just all so busy or we don't have the right everything else going on. It's aggravating that I don't have dates set for everything because I'm that kind of person, I need dates set. But it's also cool to know that even if there isn't a set date for it, it's coming soon.

I'm doing a themed shoot with my cousin soon (hopefully) for a magazine. I think it'd be really cool to be published like that and even if not for a huge one like Southern Brides or Real Simple or something, it's still really cool. Which also reminds me! I'm giving away a free photo package (including 2-3 styled sessions) once I reach 500 fans on facebook, so please, if you haven't already, suggest my page to your friends! I'm getting close, last I checked I only need a little more than 100!

Other than that, I have taken on a few other personal projects one of which will be started very soon to make myself some seat covers for my car because I can't find any yellow ones that I like, so why not make them myself? And in what little free time I do find myself having, I tend to be setting more and more Lightroom presets. I haven't used it too much since I got it a while back but I'm getting used to it - it's hard to switch software!

I hope everyone else has a productive October as well, I've got so much planned even into November, I'm so excited to do it all but I don't want any of it to be over! [Oh! And I absolutely love how "Elly B" is catching on in my everyday life, everyone's calling me that now! :) ]

♥ Elly B ♥

{cassondra's maternity photos}

Last weekend I had three photo shoots and I finally finished editing the last of them tonight, finishing with Cassie's maternity photos! We had loads of fun - I love how easy it is to really get "into" it when a session begins! I am particularly in love with this session though because we had the advantage of the sun setting on the lake with no obstructions. I love sunsets and what you can do with the photos. Cassie should have her little man at the end of October. So here are a few favorites from the shoot!

♥ Elly B ♥

{jerica's family photos}

I am falling so far behind! I did this photo shoot last weekend also and it was a great time. Jerica wanted some photos with her brother and sister and though Glen wasn't always completely cooperative, it went very well. They are a fun group, apparently in love with the Gators (booo!). Glen plays football and soccer; Jocelynn is a cheerleader, she plays soccer, and she's on her school's yearbook staff and Jerica is a full-time college student and she makes it a point to go to all of her brother's and sister's games.

So on that note, here is a preview of the session. :)

♥ Elly B ♥

{amanda's maternity photos}

This Saturday, I had a photo shoot with Amanda for her baby! She's having a boy, Uriyeh, due on October 10th. She's been having some contractions quite a bit lately so he'll likely be here a little early! We had a good time and I'm so excited to do his newborn photos. I don't really have much else to say, so I'll post a couple of the photos here now, and I'll update the rest on Facebook and my website by the end of the week!

Congratulations, Amanda!!

♥ Elly B ♥

{holiday sessions}

I love Halloween and Thanksgiving, but the end-of-the-year holiday season is fast approaching! I'm offering a special for $100 for family holiday photos! Included with the photos will be 25 holiday cards with photos from the session! I really want this to go well, but I'm not sure how often I'll do this. Be sure to book soon to allow time for editing, printing and shipping. So, on that note, I simply want to share the six 5x7 photo cards I'm offering. Contact me if you're interested in a session!

♥ Elly B ♥

{logo}

I've recently been working very hard with my favorite graphic designer, Whitney, and we've finally come up with a logo that we both really like. I'm very happy with how it turned out and we even made a separate pattern stamp for photos I post online, so those will be different as well. I'm so excited that we finished and I'm so very happy with the results. All of my shirts and magnets and my next business cards will also have this logo, hopefully if I don't change my mind.

I wish I had more photos to update you with but I guess this will do, it's been taking up lots of time so it deserves it's own blog. I hope you are all having a wonderful month and remember to tell your friends about me!!

♥ Elly B ♥