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I am currently re-doing all of my pricing and packages, which will go into effect pretty soon. If you already have a session booked with me, you will still be given the old prices of course. Anyone thinking about booking me at my current prices needs to hurry and get on my calendar before the big change! :)

One of these changes will be a session that includes 2 hours at the Dresser Mansion here in Tulsa! Keep an eye our for my changes and come exciting things Im going to start offering!

411 cards are becoming very popular! These are basically business cards for YOU! They have your contact info on them (Phone number, email, website, facebook, myspace, whatever!) They are uber fun to pass out and great for giving people your contact info when you don't have a pen handy, plus they just look WAY better!! These cards will include 2 images from your session. I have many styles to pick from. These are my newest ones, but any style from my previous cards can be made into these awesome 411 cards as well! These also are available for my senior rep cards, for those who want a smaller, easier to carry version!!

I am re-vamping my Senior Rep & Spokesmodel cards! I have been working on these all week. My seniors who are doing this with me will get to chose from these 4 awesome templates for their cards that they hand out!

I had gotten in touch with an old friend from school (8th-9th grade, to be exact!) and it just so happens that his beautiful girlfriend has done some modeling, so I jumped on the chance to do a shoot with her! She was a lot of fun, and even laughed at my sad pathetic jokes, which made me like her even more! ;) She was super easy to shoot, and was pretty at ease in front of the camera, which is always a plus! Here are a few of my fav's from her session!!

I am getting booked quickly between seniors and Christmas sessions, so book your session ASAP! I just have a few more slots open for Christmas shoots. Get your pictures done early for Christmas cards so you can get them out on time!! My cutoff date for Christmas photos is the first week of December, after that there is a premium you can pay to get a last minute session and rush delivery during the second week of December.

I am also still looking for Senior Spokesmodels/Representatives from many of the Tulsa area high schools. Even if you are homeschooled, you can be a senior rep! Earn a little extra money, and get a free session and some free prints!!

Cheers!

I had a very busy night last night! The coordinator of the Tulsa Chapter of Mended Little Hearts contacted me, wanting a group picture done. As some of you know, my son was a heart baby. He had Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA) and had pretty major open heart surgery when he was 12 days old, and only 3 lbs. To say the least it was a very scary time in out lives.

So it was totally by chance that Susan would contact ME of all people, to take a photo of their group!

Lets just say trying to get 25 kids, most of them 4 and under, to stay in a group and have their pictures taken is far from easy. Bless their hearts, its hard for ME to stand around and get my picture taken!!

So, it didn't go quite as planned. :) We got a shot out of it, but we are going to try for a park or some place like there, where we will have a better background, more room, and where the kids can get worn out a little before we try to keep them herded for a group picture. :)

If you know anyone who has a child with or who had a heart defect, this group is the place to go! I wish it had been around when we were going through everything with N. It would have been so great to talk to other parents who were experiencing the same trials, emotions, and confusion as we were at the time, and to know that we weren't alone. I am planning on joining the group, so if you have any questions feel free to email me and I will pass them along to Susan!

My son will be 3 in less then 2 months! :( It makes me sad that he is growing up so fast!

So after bribing him with some Cheerios and Oswald, he actually sat still for me for a little bit and I got to take some pictures of him. :) Plus, he thought the umbrella on one of the lights was really neat and kept talking about it.

I just finished up my baby announcements and added them to the "Cards and Announcements" section of my website! Go look and tell me what you think! When you book a newborn session with me, you will receive 5 complimentary announcements! They are printed at my professional lab, and are the best of the best when it comes to quality! Plus they are hand-designed...and can be changed up a little to suit your taste!

DAY: October 25th (yes, this year ;) )

Time: 8am-1pm

What: MINI-SESSION DAY!!!

Details: I am doing a day of mini-sessions!! You get 20-25 min for the session, and get a 15% discount on my one of a kind, hand designed cards and normal prints, PLUS a promo card with for 25% off your next session!!! (can ya tell...I like to give ;) ) I will be hosting this at Woodward park. It should be beautiful weather by then...and will be a lot of fun! (we can all jump in the leaves!!)

This is GREAT for those out there who need to get their Christmas pictures done, need a new family photo for the home gallery, or need some new pictures of the kids...but don't want to go through a whole 2-3 hour session. This also works great as a sweet gift for someone else who might not be able to get professional pictures done this year!

Cost: $45

Contact me soon, I already have 2 of my spots reserved. When you contact me, I will send you further details (all the boring stuff that I don't need to write here ;) )
sarah@sarahmansurphotography.com

I am going to start doing portrait parties! What are portrait parties you ask?

Portrait Parties are kinda like any other "party" you may have gone to, but WAY more fun! ;)

When someone wants to do a party, they are the 'HOST'...we then plan a day, where they invite all their friends, family, anyone they want, either to their home or to a outdoor location and we take portraits! Everyone will have a appointment time, and will get 20-25 minutes in front of the camera! There is no need to hang around for the whole party (unless you just want to!) Just come 10 minutes before your appointment, enjoy some snacks and drinks, and get some pictures taken! Its as easy as that!

Within 2 weeks after the party, your images will be hosted online, where you will proof and order them. You will then give your order/payment to the host, and he/she will deliver them to you when they are ready!

So basically you get a FREE mini-session! How cool is that!

FOR THE HOST: So...why would you want to host one of these awesomely cool parties? Well, as the host you will get a free full 2-3 hour session, $50 in print credits, and a free magnetic fridge calendar with an image or two from your session!

Its a win-win for everyone! So email me if you are interested! These are super fun and you can earn some free stuff!!! sarah@sarahmansurphotography.com

I just added my Christmas section to my website. It includes a few samples of my cards, that are fully customizable, and my Christmas Special that I am running.



Go check it out!

So on my trip to Pennsylvania, I got to do a little session with my friends sister and her boyfriend! They took me to this beautiful park in Grove City. It was a lot of fun...and Becky and Zach were a lot of fun to work with! Zach also saved me from a Daddy-Longlegs Spider that was trying to eat me alive! (did I ever mention my utter hatred and childish fear of spiders?) If he hadn't helped me I might still be standing there in the ferns, covered my leggy creepy spiders!

I LOVED these ferns! They probably thought I was nuts...but we don't have ferns just growing like this in Oklahoma...at least not around here! They only ferns I have seen were in pots hanging around my moms house!!!







And...just because I can...and they are too far away to kill me... ;)



And one of my beautiful friend Stephanie who was such a great host and is such a good friend!!

Just wanted to say hey! I am in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, visiting a friend of mine. Just me. Alone. No kids! Let me tell you, this has been one of the most refreshing trips ever!!! I really needed it!

I have a ton of pictures to go through and edit, but wanted to post a couple from yesterday. We went and drove around Amish country...totally BEAUTIFUL!! I saw some little amish kids playing, they were so stinking cute in their blue shirts and overalls and bonnets!!

Anyway...there are a lot of black and white cows here....we dont have a lot of these type in Oklahoma...most of ours are brown or black or Texas Longhorns. They cows here are really friendly too! lol! I think they WANTED their picture taken!



and...a fuzzy catipillar! How cute is he!!




Alrighty...we are about to head out to Ohio to a state fair to see Josh Turner in concert!!! WHOOHOO!!! See ya!!

So I felt like cooking a nice lunch for...well...ME today. :) I too often just have PB&J or Cheese & Crackers or Mac & Cheese with the kids. So I decided to make something new and yummy. I knew my hubby wouldn't like this, either, so It was a good excuse to make it for just me! (plus I have to try things out before I make them for my girlfriends! I love them too much to make them my guinea pigs!)

So I had some gnocchi in the pantry, and some sauce...and threw together this:


Strobist Info: Speedlight bounced off of couch (yes, I said couch) to warm up the picture. EV +1 (my couch is a light tan and works pretty well at reflecting light ;) )



Strobist Info: Speedlite shot through umbrella, camera left 45 degrees, and up 45 degrees. EV +1

OK, here we go. :)

Gnocchi: You can either buy it prepackages at the store in the pasta aisle, or make it. Recipe: HERE
Boil them for a minute or two in boiling water, until they float to the top, then drain. They will stick together so don't let them sit too long.

Chicken: 4 chicken breasts, sautéed in olive oil over medium heat. I season with some Greek Seasoning I have, but you can just use salt, pepper, oregano, garlic, and thyme if you like. :)

Sauce: I totally cheat and buy jar sauced, but only Gia Russia's Alla Vodka sauce. Its about $7 a jar, but its so worth it.

Boil or steam some asparagus to your liking....this will go underneath everything else when dish is assembled.

I got some Asiago Cheese bread from a local grocery here, but I am sure you can find it anywhere. I just slice, butter it, and then sprinkle some garlic salt on it, and put it in the oven on broil for a minute or two. It doesn't take long, so watch it or else you will have black croutons instead of crusty toasted garlic bread!

To Assemble...its pretty simple. Asparagus goes on the bottom, then add a chicken breast and some gnocchi. Then spoon on warm vodka sauce, and add some parsley for garnish!

...since I last posted!!! I have just been SO busy lately.

I thought I would share some more of my kids (since they are my favorite subject!!!) My daughters birthday party was this past Saturday! I cant believe she is about to turn 1!! I am going to be doing her "official" 1 year pictures here in a couple weeks when I have a free weekend, but until then, these will have to do.

Oooo, and I got the most fabulous cupcakes from a new bakery that is about to open here! They were SOOOOOOOOO yummmmy! I am going to be doing cupcake pictures for her store and website here in a few weeks! Im excited!








And cant forget her brother...hes actually letting me take some pictures of him lately!!

This weekend was busy. My sister was in town, so we headed over to Loops to look at yarn for my baby cocoon/wrap that she is making me for my newborn sessions. We found some wonderfully soft, yummy Plymouth Earth Rainshadow baby Alpaca yarn in a couple of their new fall colors. I can't wait to see how it turns out. :) What's cool about this yarn is that its not dyed, so the color of the yarn is the actual color of the baby Alpaca that is came from. :)




We also went to the Cherry Street Farmers Market here in Tulsa. Did you know that its not light out at 6am??? I cant remember the last time I voluntarily got up that early!! It was a nice little market, with lots of things to choose from! Next time I will have to buy more there. This time I came home with a yummy, crusty baguette, some yellow squash, some new red potatoes and some apples!



We also found what we thought was a dead lizard in my moms house, but quickly discovered it was not quite dead. I took it outside (after screaming and feeling pretty silly after it tried to rub its lizardy little head on my finger)It was the neatest looking lizard ever! We looked it up, and it is a Blue Tailed Lizard and is a type of Skink (not SKUNK...SKINK) It was a baby...as they are about 9 inches long at adulthood, and lose some of their color. We set it free and it hopefully will go on to live a nice little lizardy life, and stay out of my moms house. :)


So there you go...Alpaca yarn, blue tailed skinks, fresh produce at 6 am...just a normal weekend! (Yeah....right)

Well, this sneak peak is a little late, as the session was Thursday...but I still wanted to post it. :)

I'm learning I love maternity shoots. :) Maybe its because I am done having kids myself, and so I can live vicariously through them for a few minutes during the session. :) I just think pregnant women are so beautiful. I know when we are huge and pregnant, we feel far from bit, but there is just something so natural and simply gorgeous about them.





As I post this, all I can think about is my friend Bonnie, who is going through her fourth miscarriage. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers. Her blog can be found HERE

Yesterday we had our monthly OK Strobist Workshop. We had a fantastic studio that we rented (Gobo Creative), fully equipped with studio lighting and backdrops, and we had 7 models! We all had a great time, and I learned a lot...including that I really want some AlienBees now!

Our fearless leader, Corey Lack, put all of this together for us, and did a wonderful job teaching us more about studio lighting.

Here are a few of my shots...I cannot tell you how much fun I had!!







You can see more, and some 'behind the scenes' shots on my Flickr

I found a wonderful website that explains what Custom Photography is all about, and why it is what it is. If you ever wondered why so many people are choosing custom photography instead of the one-size-fits all chains; If anyone ever wondered why custom photographers charge what they charge, do what they do, and why you get beautiful, personal images vs. the shots that you would get an a place who pushes you in and out as fast as you can say "Cheese", then read this:

The Consumers Guide to Custom Photography

Here is a little excerpt.

....Custom photography is about finding someone who will photograph your family, give you devoted 1:1 attention without worry of the next ‘in line’ or the feeling of a crowded portrait studio. A custom photographer will typically show you a fairly extensive gallery culled to only show the good images that meet the photographers’ creative sensibilities. Often the images are fully edited images-color corrected with blemishes and undereye circles removed. Custom photographers are also known as boutique studios, offering a range of products and unparalleled service. Think Lexus vs. Hyundai, think Nordstrom vs. WalMart.

Another adorable little guy! He was such a good sport!

...my website is up!!! Yay! I will be doing some tweaking in the coming weeks, and adding more galleries and pictures. Now go tell everyone you know! :)

www.sarahmansurphotography.com

I am currently looking for 2009 Senior Reps! I need one guy and one girl from each high school to be my "spokesmodel" and get all their friends to book me for their senior pictures! For their help, they will get a free senior session, 8 free wallets, and 50% discount on any further prints!

I am currently looking for Reps from:

Tulsa
Bixby
Broken Arrow
Kiefer
Glenpool
Owasso
Sand Springs
Sapulpa
Claremore
Catoosa
Metro Christian Academy
St. Augustine Academy (got 1 guy, just need a girl!)
Lincoln Christian School
Bishop Kelly High School

Please contact me if you are interested, or know anyone who might be interested!!!!

I had a session tonight with a beautiful family! They had 3 gorgeous girls and the cutest little guy with the curliest hair! Even though it was hot and we were getting eaten by bird-sized mosquitoes, we still managed to have a little fun and get some great shots!