Photography Expo--April 5, Caldwell Community College

I have the honor of speaking at a Photography Expo at Caldwell Community College regarding wedding photography with my buddies Joe and Shane. We will be showcasing some of our work, speaking about it and our profession, and putting on a live demonstration on how we conduct bridal portraits.

The Expo is open to the public; David Hessell from CCC invited us to speak, along with several other photographers. Joe, Shane, and myself will speak first and will talk about wedding photography from 9-10AM. The other speakers will talk about their respective specialties. Speakers include:

Joe Young, Cathy Yount, Shane Atkinson, David Prewitt, Bill Aldridge, and Jack Daulton.

Come out and support local photographers, and see me in action! Here are the particulars:

When: April 5, 2008, 9AM-2PM
Where: Caldwell Community College, E-Building, Room E311, beside the library
Who: Everyone! The public is invited.

We hope to see you there!

New photos in gallery

Hi everyone!
I was up late last night posting several new pictures in the gallery on our website. Go check out the following galleries:

Bridal
Wedding
Couples/engagement
Models/headshots
Children and family (children)
Retouch

Also, be sure to check us out on Facebook...I just updated my profile with several new pictures from our recent weddings. As always, feel free to let us know what you think, and feel free to pass our names around if you know someone who is getting married. Thank you to everyone who supports us, helps me to remain challenged and drives my thirst for knowledge, and to all of you who have constantly believed in us. Email us some time and say hello!

Wiley-Padget wedding

What a way to start out Wedding Season '08! We had a blast with Audra and Rob...the wedding was beautiful, eventful and fun. Audra is about to take the BAR exam to become a lawyer, so we wish her the best with her career and only the best with her marriage! Good luck guys!

UPDATED-Spring Special: 10% off wedding packages $1500 and over

June bride with no photographer? We have one date that recently came open that we are including in this special...see date list below for details.

Are you getting married in the spring? Ready to have a beautiful spring wedding with gorgeous photos? I'm very excited to announce a new special that Seize the Photo is running from 3/3/2008 until 5/31/2008:

For anyone that books a wedding scheduled for March, April, or May of 2008 (see applicable dates below), you will receive 10% off of any wedding photography package $1500 and above. Weddings must be booked during specified dates and the special will not apply to previously booked weddings and will not give a discount to previously booked weddings. Offer expires 5/31/2008 and does not apply to any weddings booked for June-December 2008. Here are the available dates applicable for this offer:

March 15, 22, 29
April 12
May 24, 30
Just added: June 14

**Canceled** Hickory Wedding Show - March 30, 2008

**Due to lack of vendor participation, the 2008 Hickory Wedding Show has been canceled**

To everyone who has been wondering where Lee and I have been, we've been spending the winter holed up in our lovely house thinking of cool new ways to market our business. This will be our third year in business, and I feel like something big is going to happen for us soon. It's really exciting!

The first new thing that we've done over the past few months is to revamp the website, our packages, and a lot of other things. Lee has done some really great things to the website, and I'm really proud that I have such a slick looking website representing my business. We're also proud to say that 95% of our weddings will be held in the Hickory area this year! That sure does beat an hour drive to Charlotte. My father is also getting back into photography after a decade or so, which is also really exciting to me. He taught me so much of what I know and it is so cool to shoot alongside him.

Our most exciting event coming up this year (so far, at least!) is the Hickory Wedding Show. It will be March 30, 2008. Please come out and support us and feel free to drop by our booth, booth 400. Guess what! It's the VERY FIRST booth you will see as you walk through the entrance. We will have a lot of surprises up our sleeves for the wedding show, so be on the lookout! Believe me, you won't miss us!

I'm really looking forward to what the wedding season will bring this year, and I can only imagine the possibilities in store for us.

Playing around with off-camera flash...

Every now and then, a girl's gotta have a little fun, right?

My new creative venture is learning what kind of funky and creative things I can do with wireless flash transmitters and off-camera flash. Here is my attempt to see what I can do in waning sunset light:

http://www.seizethephoto.com/photo/albums/fredmiranda/IMG_2529.jpg
http://www.seizethephoto.com/photo/albums/fredmiranda/IMG_2554.jpg
http://www.seizethephoto.com/photo/albums/fredmiranda/IMG_2565.jpg
http://www.seizethephoto.com/photo/albums/fredmiranda/IMG_8463b.jpg

I also had an awesome shoot with Chandra last Friday, but I can't post her pictures yet until she gets married! Bummer, because they really turned out fantastic and the way I combined gold reflectors and flashes made it look like sunset light. More to come on that later...

Sipe-Bottoms wedding, 9/1/2007

I got to know Cat at her bridal portrait session in Lenoir. We had such a blast that day, and I even got to eat dinner with her family. I really enjoy doing things like this with my clients, because it bridges the gap between professionalism and just having fun, and it really helps me to get to know them more. There was never a dull moment at her bridal shoot...Cat and her family are a riot and I had a blast with them. I like to refer to Cat's style as classic Hollywood, with a little bit of modern twist. Cat always reminded me of the classic Hollywood actressses of the 1930's and 1940's, always showing elegance, class, and beauty. I must say that this really jives well with my style because I've always loved everything about that era, from swing dancing to jazz to the glamour of it all. Because we share a similar propensity toward the same style, every single photo we took of Cat and Eric was always full of life and emotion. Yes, all of our photos were like this, but Cat and Eric were different. They share that love for life that adds that extra edge and personality in their photos. They love to have fun and they aren't afraid to show it. The whole Sipe family knows how to have fun, and they know how to show it too (great toast TJ!). Yes, I loved this wedding, and yes, it was one of my favorites. Every wedding is my favorite, but there was something different about Cat and Eric that added something special to this one, a sort of fun spin on that "je ne sais quoi." Needless to say, I'm sad that it's over, but I'm so happy for both of them. They are a wonderful couple and I wish them only the best in life. Want to see what I'm talking about?

Cat's bridal portraits
Sipe-Bottoms wedding, 9-1-2007