I was so ticked when these last few blizzards kept my new canvases from arriving on time!  However, they finally came, a day late.  The sweet FedEx man parked at the top of my long street & walked down through piles of snow & ice to deliver them to my door.  Thank you sweet FedEx man…you are my hero!  I quickly opened the huge box to find two 16×24 canvas wraps delicately packaged with much love and care (& one sweet rubber duckie).  Ahhhh….I just wanted to snuggle up and lay my cheek against their awesomeness!  I’ve been wanting sample canvases to show clients and I finally bit the bullet and ordered 2 of my lil’ darlings.  Pixel2Canvas rocks!  I ordered these from them a little bit ago, messed up on the sizing, & got an email quickly.  I also had trouble with getting my payment to work and got another email with a number & an actual person to talk to!  They were so prompt, so courteous, and so freakin’ awesome!  I think I’m in love!  And they are always coming out with new products!  Oh, and the rubber duckie with each order is also a bonus.

I’ll now break my “photo a day” rule and show off the rest of the canvases:

Brooke on the wall

Close up on the wall.  There are little rubber pads that come with the canvas to protect your wall.

Some of the “canvas” texture

More “canvas” texture on Emma’s

You can see some of the depth as it sits off the wall

Nice, tightly wrapped corners

Come ready to hang.

Photos: Asim Soofi.  Occasionally I’ll run across names on Twitter that keep popping up via others in the area that I follow.  Asim’s name is one of those that’s been popping up.  Then I saw on my Facebook newsfeed that several of my photographer friends had become fans of his page.  So, I checked his stuff out.  First word that came to mind:  smooth.  This guy has smooth, cool, relaxed images.  They are real, they are true, and they are great.

I just finished reading It’s Sharing Day to my oldest daughter Emma.  But right before that, I was actually benefiting from what Dora preaches in her book…SHARING!  I just got off the phone with Ryan Swigert from Darkroom Branding.  Wanna know how I found out about Ryan?  Through Twitter!  I used to think Twitter was for techie nerds like my husband, but not so! (or I’ve just become a techie nerd, too)

Anyway, back to the topic of sharing.  Ryan offered, via his “tweets,” a 15-minute consultation for FREE on marketing goals and the business side of photography.  It was totally awesome and I am indebted to him for his knowledge, friendliness, and honesty.  He had me fill out a quick questionnaire and then we set up a 15-minute phone call to talk about his ideas for my business and my personal goals.  Basically he just pointed me in the correct direction.  Thanks Ryan!  I know how to take the photos, but Ryan reminded me that I want my photography to be an experience, not just a service.  He helped me realize that to set myself apart from others, I need to be offering photo sessions where I am real with my clients, where we connect, and where they and I both feel we’ve become friends, rather than just client & photographer.  He’s dead on!  We chatted about a few other things as well, and I will definitely be incorportating them into my business plan.

And lastly, I just had to throw out there a book that he mentioned reading.  I haven’t had the chance to read it yet, seeing as I just got off the phone with him 30 minutes ago, but the book is called Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi.  From the small amount I’ve read about it, this book is about the importance of networking and connecting with people and it’s vitality to success.  I’ll let you know what I find out when I read it.

So come look me, and Ryan, up on Twitter.  Happy Tweeting!