Fresh Seniors to start the Senior Season

This week was a great start to the new Senior portrait season.

APPA convention

What a wonderful week spent with my fellow Arkansas Professional Photographers Association members at our annual convention and print competition in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
We got an early start on Sunday morning to get to Hot Springs in time to help set up the print competition equipment, and check in prints. It is always interesting, entertaining, but most of all educational to listen to the judges talk about the prints and come up with scores.  I used to be terrified to enter prints and even more terrified to listen to the judges, but not anymore. Even when I don't get as high of a score as I would like, I always get an idea of how I could make it better.  I have heard speakers for years tell us that print competition drives you to be a better photographer - I am starting to believe that now.
The program speakers were great.  I think some people don't think they can get anything from a program if that is not exacty the kind of photography they do, but that is just not true. For example, I do not photograph weddings, but learn alot from wedding photographers that I can use in senior and family sessions. You just cannot close yourself off.

Convention ended with me getting my APPA Fellowship degree and being appointed the NW Arkansas director. Plus a chance to get some fabulous images downtown Hot Springs of my favorite 2012 senior - my daughter Natalia. Good Week!

First 2012 Senior this year

So most of the 2011 Graduates are done, out, finished, and graduated - leaving the Class of 2012 as Seniors.  And officially starting the Senior portrait season, well at least at our house. Natalia wanted senior pics taken before she cut her hair, before she goes off to Girls State, before...  So we scheduled the date, made the plans to shop for a new outfit, figured out how to squeeze everthing in, and as plans go everything fell apart, we decided it would not be a good day to do them blah blah blah = disappointed kiddo.  Tornado warnings loomed, humidity was horrible, and we then decide to go spur of the moment and do some night time senior portraits. Had so much fun!

Now the problem with having two parents that are photographers with two different styles, her Daddy is taking her this afternoon to take her second senior session this week. LOL.  She says she is going to make a book called "All the Places You Will Go......to take Senior pictures" :)

We are booking Seniors for June which is a great time to get the best specials.

Have your Senior portraits taken in June and get a free 5x10 storyboard PLUS a full length music video from your session with a Senior Collection (or equivalent) purchase.
Also be entered into the drawing for a $1000 Scholarship with every image from your Senior Collection or Love Em All albums.

It's Just the Beginning! $1000 Scholarship

It's Just The Beginning!  $1000 Scholarship Offer

WHERE - Hardgrave Photography

WHY - First, we are big believers in furthering our own education when it comes to our craft.  Second, we wanted a chance to give back to the seniors that trust our studio to create wonderful senior pictures.  Third, our own daughter is graduating in 2012, so we have been in the scholarship hunt and know that a $1000 will help someone out a lot with college expenses.

WHO - 2012 Graduates

HOW - Just buy a Senior Portrait Collection (or equivalent), and every image from your purchase will be put into a drawing for the $1000 Scholarship to any college or trade school you attend.

WHEN - The drawing will be held January 1, 2012  by a law firm.

The Mayan Calendar is not predicting the end of the world 2012, but the start of a new era. It is definitely going to be a new era in the lives of our seniors graduating in 2012 and going on to start their adult lives. It's just the beginning..

Baby K'shayla is registered with Hardgrave Photography baby registry

Sha is due to bring baby K'shayla into this big world on April 9, 2011. Family and friends may purchase gift certificates for any amount or product from Hardgrave Photography by just giving us a call and we will get it set up.
479-885-3835http://www.hardgravephoto.com/babyregistry.pdf

Love 'Em All Albums

I had waiting on my desk this morning a wonderful surprise - the first sample of our new line of Love Em All albums. Sharon has outdone herself in the beautiful design she put into this album!
Okay, so I think I am getting ahead of myself...

One of our biggest complaints is that there are so many awesome images from a session, it is hard to leave any behind. We have wrestled with this problem for a long time now and have considered several options, one being selling all the images on a disk and letting our clients finish up the work. Let me tell you my own personal opinion on that - most people have good intentions on "someday" doing "something" with those images. What I am seeing happening over and over is that people are getting a disk of images from us or other photographers and they just sit there, not doing anything.  I don't think of a disk of images as being a "finished product". In 10, 20, or 30 years who knows all the ways we will be viewing images, but I can bet we will still be wanting to hold them in our hands.

So... we came up with the Love 'Em All album collection.  In three different sizes to accomadate any session from 48-180 images, the Love 'Em All's are custom designed to fit the color, mood, and attitude of the subjects. The images are printed on photographic paper and mounted to a durable backing. The covers are premium leather with imprinting to match.
It solves the problem of how to get all the images and be able to enjoy them without wall papering your home with images from the same session.