*Sneak Peek of Josh and Corey's E~Session*

   Forgive me! I am a bit behind on the blog. We have settled back into our normal routine from having family in from out of town for Thanksgiving. I can't believe it is already almost Christmas. This year has been busier than normal, thanks to my AWESOME clients! THANK YOU!

   Meet Josh and Corey. Can you tell that Josh is the brother of another client of mine? The family resemblance is very strong! It was an honor for me to be able to accommodate this couple's session. Josh is in the Navy and was able to come home for Thanksgiving. So I was very glad to be able to clear this day for them. And a COLD day it was! They were both great though, no matter how cold it was. What a great couple!

A new venture for me...sort of.

I have had animals of various sorts, all of my life. All of my "womb time" as well. My family has had animals, always. They are part of our family, they are part of who we are. Being as such, we have many. Our furry family consists of 3 dogs, 1 cat (Sneezy McCreepy - my pet name for him) 3 bunnies, and 2 hermit crabs. They are absolutely a huge part of our lives. We plan around them, just like we would with our kids. With the addition of our standard poodle, Angus, we've had to step up our game. When he came to us, he was shy. He has been with us for 2 years, and he is just now warming up decently to my husband (who is a huge softy). So that has left us with extra planning on his part. His extra work on our part has actually been a blessing.

It is because of Angus, that I have had to learn more about photography. He is black. Inky black. And as you can imagine, black dogs are HARD to photograph. You just lose detail plain and simple. He has led me to meeting people that have been a blessing as well, on many levels. Thanks Googah!

Long story short, I am adding the option of pet photography for my business side. It is something that I have always enjoyed. Just like my children, I have giggled and felt warm and fuzzy when I look at puppy pictures. To see how far they have all come, how much they have grown, it just does my heart good. And isn't that the point of photography? Regardless of whether it is a snapshot or a professional portrait, a child or a pet. Photography sparks our memories, our emotions. It is a dear gift, actually. I am humbled to be able to offer it, and be a part of it.

I like to have fun, and this will be a very fun addition for me. It is a natural branch off. It's what I know. They are what I know. I know more about animals than I do about kids! Funny though, how a lot of things are pretty similar. Got to say though, never had a puppy eat a glass christmas tree ornament (ahem, middle child!). Love my family, both two and four legged.

* And the WINNER IS! *

Random Integer Generator


Here are your random numbers:



7

Timestamp: 2010-11-11 13:36:19 UTC




Comment number 7!

Jaime Fazekas! Congratulations! I am very excited that this is my first contest, and it went smoothly. Get in contact with me soon and we will book your session!

Thanks everyone for participating! Much love!

*****EXTRA! EXTRA!******

  Read here! I am going to offer my very first contest! I am very excited already, if you can't tell. Are you ready for it?

   I will be giving away a FREE SESSION - a $75.00 value!(read details at the bottom).

  To be fair and just, I will be using a random number picker - provided by Random.org .

   Times: Starting at 12:00 am Wednesday November 3rd, 2010. And Ending at 12:00 pm Wednesday November 10th, 2010.

   What you need to do to enter:
1)Become a fan of Brooke Bikneris Photography on FaceBook.
2)Leave a comment on this here blog :)
                                         THAT'S IT!


   This session will NOT cover:
- Families over 4 (a $25.00 per person charge on a group of 5 or more)
- Newborns
- or Birth Events

Session can be booked at any time, but must be completed by Feb. 28th 2011 and is not eligible with other specials or offers.

Spread the word, and please, by all means, spread the blog love!

it's just me

   It is just me today, no photos. It is my most favorite time of year. And don't get me wrong, I love living in the south...but these autumn seasons are just not the same as they are up north. I love a crisp fall day. You do get them here, just not as much or as consistently. A lovely trade off though, for comfortable shooting weather. So I am not complaining.
   I love entertaining. Over the next couple of weeks at our home, we will be very busy with visitors, parties, seasonal festivities. Hopefully we will be doing something worthwhile, but it is not a guarantee:) I have been working very hard to get my business plans laid out properly and get things where I want them. It is really hard work! I never would have guessed it, but there you go. I am feeling a much needed reward and celebration coming on. Of course, I am really good at avoidance...a handy little skill from time to time. So I like to fill up my days and time with stuff (and stuff is one of my most favorite words, because it covers so much) this way I do not have to face the reality that we live states away from all of our family. And this year on November 6th, it will be a year that we have said goodnight to our baby Vivian Jane. There is a season for everything. And even though I am sad on lots of days, I am always knowing and feeling blessed. I am trying to figure out something special to do for her birthday. I don't want it to be silly, I want it to mean something. Chances are it will not be about us at all, but someone/something who needs something. I feel like she didn't come here just for us, but much bigger than that. So it would be fitting to not just have it be about us.

   My oldest child has been in a play - Narnia, The Lion, The Witch, And the Wardrobe. She is a "water goddess" along with her best friend. How much fun! It is a beautiful set, and beautiful costumes. Really, really fantastic. And it is community theatre! She has had a blast, and I have enjoyed getting to know more people who nurture their artistic side, it is so refreshing.

   We are on a cookie frenzy. It usually starts in our house at the end of October, along with carmel corn, then it carries all the way past Christmas. Last week I made Koloche (or something like that) cookies, with raspberry and apricot jams. A wonderful little polish cookie. I ate them until I made myself sick. Top all those sweets with a cup of coffee, tea or hot cider, and you have yourself a recipe for a wonderful fall evening. It is officially blanket and movie night weather! I LOVE FALL!

Ok. So I did grab a couple of snapshots I took of the girls - and you will most likely not see photos of my middle daughter...she doesn't like to have her picture taken. Go figure. This one of the baby girl I love, not because it is techinically a great photo, but because it is a real little shot of her day. She was with me while we were waiting for a client. She even has a little smudge of dirt on her nose lol. And the one of the other girls is just Narnia makeup, no costumes.

"B's Senior Session"

  What a beautiful day for a Senior session! I absolutely love living where I live. It is small townish, with a fabulous downtown area. And nothing goes together better than seniors and downtown! This is my friend "B". I don't think that he or his sweet momma knew how much walking we would be doing. But they did GREAT! Thanks so much you guys! And congrats on your senior year "B"!

{it is that time already!}

   Can you believe that it is already that time of year again? You know the one, the holiday season. What do you get for the person that has everything already, or is very hard to buy for? I'll tell you! You get them something that is completely them, that is custom made, and that they will cherish forever. You get them a full, custom lifestyle photography session.

   Whats in it for you? Well, not only will you give a very unique gift that they will think of you everytime they look at it. But YOU will get a gift from ME :)

   Who doesn't like to get a little gift for themselves? I love it! For your gift, you will receive 3, yes, 3 identical brag books! They are wallet sized (2.5"x3.5"), or square (3x3)! These are custom designed, and contain several images from the session. They are perfect sized for purses, and wonderful stocking stuffers. Keep one and gift the other two!

Now for the nitty gritty. The session must be booked and completed by December 1st, in order for me to have the orders back in time for Christmas.  Session fee due at time of session.

Happy Giving!

Oh hoppy day!

  Well let me please start off by saying that I have not been able to hear hardly anything for over a week now. It started in the middle of the night, and bam! I couldn't hear. I am already deaf in one ear, so when my good one had this happen to it, I was a bit panicky. I realized that I would HATE to go deaf. BUT, I would hate to go blind worse. I am so audio and visual, that it would be hard for either of those to happen. I came to the realization of all of this in about 5 minutes, and then resigned myself to being ok (but not liking it) with being deaf. Alas, it was not meant to be (at least not at this point). And today, after much flushing of the ear, I am able to hear! Whoopee!

   Last but not least, the title isn't a typo. My family has acquired 3 new family members. Recently our two sweet mini rex passed away. So pretty much all summer long our hutch has set empty. Saturday my husband (who I have taken to calling Javier) found some rabbits that were going to be sold for butcher. He came home and had me go and pick them out, one for each of our girls (although we tried to con him into letting our "4th" daughter get one for herself too...he said no). I had to wade through several bunnies who were running rampant, and had to catch them and find out who were boys and who were girls. We do not want babies, so we decided all would be girls (or "does" for the technical term). Three rescued buns later, and we are happy as can be with our newest additions. They are Flemish Giant and Checkered Giant crosses. And these sweet babies were headed to someones plate! Mona and Nolie, are both 6 weeks old, and Ms. Jenni is 3 months old. Mona and Nolie are already as big as Luke and Sophie (our prior buns) were!

 

   These girls are sweet sweet sweet! And NOSEY! We are getting them used to being handled and around people. Ms. Jenni is the tougher sell of the three. The babies are already gentle. Ms. Jenni was named after our youth pastors wife. LOL. I hope she is flattered. The buns will be appearing in some photography when the time is right. But it won't overshadow their day jobs as pets. Here they are!

)cool people make for cool couples(

 I am a little late posting this engagement session. The pretty lady in the photos is the daughter of a sweet friend of mine that is a regular at the HHTC (Happy Hot Tub Club for those of you not in the know). They are just the coolest couple! Very down to earth, and you have to love that they were very generous with their time, considering a big college football game was coming on, and I still had them tied up :) While they were getting ready for our session, her dad had me try a "ghost" chili pepper (which he was eating A LOT of ). Have to say, it was very warm. But this girl is SMART. I just swallowed it. I probably would have died if I had actually chewed it. And it was a tiny little piece!

  Each of the settings in this session has a lot of sentimental meaning to the bride to be. Especially the truck (which was her grandfather's, and he used to take her riding in it). She and the groom to be have loads in common, and are matched quite beautifully. It was a pleasure for me, and I hope it was for them.

Baby Z at home...

  When baby Z was born and I first saw him, his eyes were wide open. I was delighted to see them, and then the realization hit me that his newborn session would be very interesting. LOL. He didn't disappoint. I have to say, he is SO good. And I personally, would rather see his eyes in photos. Needless to say, he was precious and sweet, and awake for most of the session (sleeping great when he was held :) . Can't complain...he didn't cry! So a happy baby is a good baby, whether awake or asleep.
   We ended up going with a more non traditional newborn session. Yes, I had baskets and blankets and hats, and all sorts of other stuff in tow. But we got the sweetest, and genuine photos of this cool little family just doing what they do. In my opinion, this session was a success, and I was so happy to not be tied to the trendy props and ideas. Twenty years from now, I hope this family won't be looking at these portraits and saying to themselves "Why did we ever do that?" So hopefully these will never be outdated, and will be cherished always.

   I might just mention here that I love this family. They have put faith in me to capture their most precious moments, without having anything else to go on. That is huge to me. Can't wait to see more special milestones with Z and his family. I am blessed!

"C's" senior session peak...

I have known this guy for 5 years. He is my best friend's son. And he was super willing to take direction. We had a good time! He is full of all sorts of knowledge, for real. 

I did some of these in vintage, and 70's rock comes to mind. :)

(And baby makes 3)

  After a long, hard labor and a c-section, baby Z made his big debut. It was an absolute honor, and a humbling one at that. I first photographed the fabulous Mr. Z during his beautiful mama's maternity shoot. And just as I had suspected, he is a very handsome baby. He couldn't help it if he had tried. He was the most wide eyed baby I have ever seen. Even with all the flashes going off from the masses (yes, there were loads of people there to welcome him) he was wide eyed and just took it all in. Which is giving me an inkling as to what I will be up against when we do his newborn shoot lol. And that is ok, because he has lovely eyes.

   It is incredible to witness people go from a "married couple" to a full fledged family in a matter of minutes. To be able to see someones priorities change from self to child in a breath...deeply touching. So WELCOME baby Z! You are LOVED, sir! And congratulations to mom and dad...it was a fight fought well. And the prize is certainly spectacular (and has that nice new baby smell :)

Mini Sessions...what are they?

   I am totally tickled to be offering a mini session soon. August 28th I will be at Noccalula Falls, in Gadsden Alabama for mini sessions. What are they though? What do they include? My mini sessions are 1/2 hour long, they are a short and sweet, fun little shoot. I will take approximately 30 images (conservative estimate, as I am quite shutter happy) that will be previewed on this blog, and on FB. Then you can order as little or as much as you want. Check out my "Investments" page for pricing and sizes.

    The scheduled times for this mini session are 9:30-11:30 a.m. and 4:00-6:00 p.m.
    $25.00 per child ($15.00 for each additional)
    $50.00 per family

You're a photographer?

  Who would know? If you visit my house, I have loads of photographs everywhere. BUT, the portraits of the girlies are not done by me. I had a little party at my house not too long ago, and someone I didn't know well asked who did the photos of my daughters. Of course they are beautiful, and done by my sister. When I was finished pointing them out, I realized that none of the professionally done portraits were done by me. Lol! I figured that I probably NEED to have some of my own work, in my own house. Granted, I just started this photography trip recently. Sooo, I have been working on three new portraits of my sweet girlfriends. I have two of them (begrudgingly) completed. I only have one more to pin down. Our last portraits were done when we first moved here. I treasure those, because they show my girls so little! And the fact that they were done by my sister is a bonus! Here are the middle and youngest girls...