• I’m hungry ALL the time. You’d think it would be great to get to eat a lot more, but it’s actually really exhausting. Just when I finish cleaning up the kitchen I’m hungry again and have to start all over. Not to mention the slight embarrassment of having to get back in line (i.e. at Rubio’s) to order just one more taco.
• I’ve had approximately 12 zits my whole life, 8 of them were in the last few months.
• Feeling the baby move is the coolest and strangest feeling ever.
• Watching my husband’s face feeling the baby move is the sweetest feeling ever.
• We are super excited to find out the gender of our baby! So much so that we thought we’d spread the joy by letting you in all the fun…

So here are all the giveaway details:

First things first…

THE PRIZE:

• A FREE session. Yes, completely free
• Your favorite 20 high-resolution images on a CD!

HOW TO ENTER:

1. Go to my facebook page: www.facebook.com/cristiowenphoto

2. Click the Like button

3. Leave a comment on the wall with your guess if we are having a girl or a boy

One entry per person. Yes, you and your fiancee can each have a separate entry. And if your mom, neighbor, cousin and co-worker want to help you out, they can each have an entry and if they win, they can give you the prize. Or keep it for themselves ;)

Entries must be received by midnight on Valentine’s Day (Feb 14, 2012) AZ time.

WINNERS:

All of those with the correct answer will be entered into a drawing.

Winner will be announced Feb 15 on my blog and on Facebook.

A FEW OTHER RULES:

The session must be booked at least 10 days prior to the session date

Sessions cannot be rescheduled

Session must take place by April 1 2012 (based on my availability at the time session is booked)

Sessions will last one hour

Session must take place within 30 miles of Chandler, AZ

Anyone can enter. Past clients, new clients, current clients, family, friends, other photographers. There are no rules here :).

So tell us! What do you think? Boy or Girl? Click here: www.facebook.com/cristiowenphoto

Pinterest is a website where you can organize images of things you like into different categories (or themed boards).

Here’s a screenshot of one my boards full of images with ideas on how to display images in your home:

You can pin any image that you find online or upload from your hard drive. You can also follow boards that you find interesting and new pins from those boards will pop up on your “home screen”. If you see something you like, you can simply “re-pin it” to your own board.

If you are planning a wedding, pinterest makes it SO easy to keep your ideas organized and help you envision how everything will look together. It also makes it super easy to find clever and unique ideas to make your wedding feel personalized.

Here’s a screenshot of a wedding board:

On my last post I mentioned I was working on renovating the kitchen a little and pinterest.com has been a huge help! You can go see what my kitchen board looks like and I will be posting photos of our new kitchen soon. (I’ve been anxiously awaiting the handyman who’s coming to hang some lights and the microwave in about 2 weeks from now).

After you check out pinterest.com, let me know what you think and I look forward to following your boards and great ideas! Once you are there, you will see that you can leave comments on pins, “tag” friends, like pins, share it on facebook, twitter, etc. It is super simple to use and oh-so-much fun!

Happy pinning :)

I hosted my last workshop on April 2nd and (as you can see from the photo above) it was such a fun group! Jenny was our lovely model and a blast to photograph. Here are some images from the “shooting” portion of the day:

A few shots of everyone in action:Jenny thanks for being so great. I better photograph your wedding some day and we’ll put you up on a tree in your wedding dress :)

To everyone who came THANK YOU. I hope that you left inspired to create and learn more.

What is the workshop all about?

This workshop is for anyone and everyone who has a fancy camera and a love for taking photos. We will take your images to the next level.

Camera settings, lens choice, focal point and compositional elements will be discussed at length during the morning portion of our day together. After lunch (provided by the workshop), we will spend a few hours practicing what you learned. I will be shooting too, sharing my camera settings and my thought process behind each image and answering your questions.  We will then look at our images together and answer any final questions. I will briefly share my favorite photoshop techniques as well.  You just can’t miss this opportunity!

Here’s an overview of our day together:

9:00 Introductions
The Technical Stuff (exposure, camera settings, focal points, focal length, etc)
The Fun Stuff (compositional elements)
Equipment: What’s What
12:30 LUNCH (included) and Review
1:30 Assignment/Hands-on Practice Outside with “models”
4:30 Post Processing
5:30 Sharing of Images/Critique/Q&A

Who is it for?

Anyone who has a fancy camera and wants to take better pictures.

When is it?

April 2nd, 2011 | 9 am to 7 pm

Where is it?

Chandler, AZ.

How many people?

maximum of 12

What do I need to bring?

• Notebook and something to write with
• Any digital camera will work as long as it has a manual (M) mode
• Your Camera’s Manual
• Don’t forget your camera’s digital memory card (CF, SD, MMC, xD, MS, MD, SM)
• Don’t forget to charge your camera’s battery
• A card reader or your camera’s cable to download photos
• A laptop (very helpful if you have one, but not mandatory)
• If you don’t have photoshop, you can download a free trial version prior to the workshop at www.adobe.com

Want to more details?

Email me at cristi@cristiowen.com

Morgan has such an easy going personality. Plus she’s really funny, sweet, and has great style.  If I was still in high school I’d want to be her best friend too!
Doesn’t Morgan remind you of Lauren Conrad?

Morgan, best of luck next year! I know you will do great!

Here are the details:
9:00 – 9:30 ~ Introductions
9:30 – 12:30 ~ Technical Stuff (how to use your camera) and Fun Stuff (compositional elements)
12:30 – 1:30 ~ Lunch (provided)
1:30 – 3:30 ~ Photoshoot outdoors (everyone will get a chance to take lead of the photoshoot).
4:30 – 5:30 ~ Downloading images and a little on post processing
5:30 – 6:30 ~ Critique of images
6:30 – 7:00 ~ Q&A

This is a one day 10-hour workshop. Yes, it’s intense, but it’s also a lot of fun!

The workshop will take place in Chandler, AZ. Other details will be provided after sign up.

Email me now if you would like to reserve your spot (cristi@cristiowen.com). You can also buy a seat at the workshop as a gift to someone else and I will mail you a gift certificate. This is the best Christmas gift for the photographer in your family.

There are 12 spots available.

I really wasn’t sure what to expect when I wrote that last blog post, and having 22 comments probably isn’t an indicator to give me a green light to keep blogging, but the comments were so meaningful, that there’s no way I could let those 22 people down. Who am I to mess with Irma’s morning routine :)

So, yes, I will keep blogging and I’m gonna owen it :).  It may not be the smartest business decision, but I will work to make it better and hopefully it will become a really big asset to my business.  And yes, I will follow Melissa Jill’s advice and make it more personal because I believe it is smart to learn from other’s experiences and Melissa’s blog is a huge asset to her clients and her business. And if there’s anything you would like to see on my blog, please let me know :). Let’s make it awesome!

And for all of you who commented on my last post. Thank you so much for taking the time to do so, I meant to reply to each and every one of you, but some of you didn’t leave an email address. So, from the bottom of my heart: Thank you!

And here’s a funny picture of me at 5 years old reading the business page of the newspaper. hahaha :) Thanks, Dad, for teaching me early :)

Last week I was so excited to host yet another Fancy Camera Workshop. I’m so lucky to have so many wonderful photographers chose to spend an afternoon with me. As per usual, we spent the morning talking about the technical elements of photography as well as all the fun compositional elements. We took a break to eat lunch and then headed out to meet our models for the photoshoot part of the day. I had never met Jessica and Rob before, but they were so wonderful! It’s not easy to have so many people pointing a camera at you, but they have incredible personalities and made it look easy.

I’ve changed the structure of the photoshoot part of the day to give each participant time to direct the models. I started the afternoon by shooting and explaining what I’m looking for, sharing my camera settings and then allowing each participant to take control of the shoot and also to take photos of each other. For this reason, I didn’t shoot much, but here are some of my favorite images:

And here’s a peek at the behind the scenes. Thanks everyone for making it special and so much fun!If you are interested in attending the next Fancy Camera Worshop, email me to reserve your spot now!

*NEXT WORKSHOP DATE: October 9th, 2010. The last one of 2010!*

Here’s an overview of our day together:

• Introductions
• The Technical Stuff (exposure)
• The Fun Stuff (compositional elements)
• Equipment: What’s What
• LUNCH (included)
• Assignment/Hands-on Practice Outside with “models”
• Post Processing
• Sharing of Images/Critique
• Q&A

Who is it for?

Anyone who has a fancy camera and wants to take better pictures.

When is it?

October 9th, 2010 | 9 am to 7 pm

Where is it?

Chandler, AZ.

How many people?

minimum of 10 people, maximum of 14

What do I need to bring?

• Notebook and something to write with
• Any digital camera will work as long as it has a manual (M) mode
• Your Camera’s Manual
• Don’t forget your camera’s digital memory card (CF, SD, MMC, xD, MS, MD, SM)
• Don’t forget to charge your camera’s battery
• A card reader or your camera’s cable to download photos
• A laptop (very helpful if you have one, but not mandatory)
• If you don’t have photoshop, you can download a free trial version prior to the workshop

Want to read about the other Fancy Camera Workshops?

Click here

Want to more details?

Email me at cristi@cristiowen.com

Krista and Kelby, once again, thank you for the honor of photographing your beautiful wedding.

If you would like to see more of Krista and Kelby’s wedding, click here.