Some of our recent newborn work….. <3

Because Facebook quality is so poor sometimes we wanted to showcase some of our favorite pics from recent newborn work here.  Lately, with our new camera’s in tow and TONS of new props we have been reaching outside the box, trying new poses, new setups, and also perfecting the simple newborn goodness images.  We hope you like what you have been seeing and will continue to reach outside to keep our style fresh….. Here are a few of our favorites.

Adorable Hat by Jerribecca Hats ~ Find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/jerribeccahats
(AS always this is a composite shot – baby safety always comes first at DNA!

This amazing hat is available at KT and the Squid – find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KTandtheSquid
(As always this is a composite shot – baby safety always comes first at DNA)

This is the simple newborn goodness we love ~

Sweet baby girl wrapped up snug as a bug….. This was the first time we tried this pose – a difficult one at that – but absolutely are in love with the results – you will be seeing this a lot more from us!

 

And the second time ~ Love Love Love ~ this image even received recognition from one of our newborn photography mentors as perfection!!!! Was an amazing feeling to get that feedback!

Absolutely love the simple sweetness here!

Another simply sweet newborn image ~ AHMAZING headband from Delfina K. Photography ~ She can be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DelfinaKPhotography

 

There are so many more we would love to share ~  These are just a few of our favorites….. ~ A

 

 

 

 

FaceBook “Share to 1000″ contest

Hey everyone – well, as promised we have a contest to announce!!!!!!

We are not *too* far away from 1000 – and would LOVE to get there by the time (or before) our one year anniversary that’s coming up this fall!

How can you help us?  Share us!!!!  SO many images get so many likes and comments from all of your friends and family – imagine if they all just stopped by our page and clicked like!!!  If all of them did – jeez – we would be at 2000!!! (read on for the rules and how to’s)

What’s up for grabs?  A $100 Gift Certificate good for one year from the date of issuance!!! YUP – That’s right – $100 towards a session with us!!!!

Ok – here is how you can enter!

First SHARE OUR PAGE and ask people to like us!  Say something like “dna photography ROCKS – go like them and help me win $100 gift certificate!  And then enter yourself!  You will NOT regret it ;) “

Pic a photo you love or a status (maybe the status linking to this contest) and make sure you set it for “Public” so we can check!  Need help finding the share button or how to set your share to public?  See the images below for help. (If you need to see a larger version of the images just click on em to enlarge)

How to “share” an image on fb

How to make your share public!

Tell them what they need to do!

Second – come back to this blog post and leave a comment that you have shared us!  Make sure you leave a link back to your FaceBook page so we can check that you shared!  (If we cannot see your share you’re entry will not count :( so make sure you set it for public as shown above! – and don’t worry I will say that again later too)

Once we have hit our target of 1000 likes on our FaceBook page we will then total up the comments (1 though how ever many enter) and use random.org to randomly select a winning comment!!! We MUST hit 1000 likes on our Facebook page to give away the prize!  So get creative to get us likers!

RULES & REGULATIONS & MORE INFO… ~

  • Blah bitty blah – this contest is in no way sponsored, endorsed or guaranteed by Facebook…..  there I said it – :) -
  • If we cannot verify your share your entry will be deleted from the contest….
  • Only one entry per person – so if you want more entries get your friends, families, husbands, wives, sisters and brothers to like us, share us and enter and if they win tackle them for the gift certificate ;)
  • Entries on our Facebook page will not count – you must enter here.  With your entry you must leave the link back to your Facebook page!
  • As you leave comments you may notice it will say “comment is waiting for moderation” – we have the blog set so that we can check and approve all comments left – Don’t worry, we will approve them in the order they come in as to not mess up your placement.
  • The certificate can be used towards any type of session – please see our investment page for more details on the sessions we currently book,  And yes. mini sessions included!!!  And don’t worry – even those those (and our new upcoming family sessions) are offered on a limited basis – we will amke sure you get a spot if you are the winner – now that’s a total BONUS!!!!
  • Certificate cannot be redeemed for cash.

And lastly…… what good would a blog post be without a pic of an oober cute bebe?  Sweet Kamden again….. *sigh* love….

Happy Sharing!  And here’s hopin we get to 1000 fast!!!!! ~ D ‘n A

Lots of info…..

Hey everyone, Angela here – As the title of this blog states, there’s lots of info in here…  So scroll through!!!

First – we want to STRESS – we love all of you and your little’s….  We love what we do and we are overwhelmed by the support and the demand for bookings with us….  I was saying to Danielle the other day “remember way back (a whole 8 months ago) when we were hoping we would have one shoot a week…” Then we chuckled and just about fell to the floor from exhaustion.  Our hoping for one shoot a week has turned into FIVE shoots a week with a demand for more….  And Danielle has a REALLY, REALLY, REALLY hard time telling people no – or “I’m sorry we just can’t fit you in…”  Truth is, we really want to fit everyone in but just simply can’t.  We thought we would solve the problem by eliminating kids over 1 and limiting those shoots to mini session days…  We were wrong.  We have cut back and are busier than ever.  Don’t get me wrong - we love it – we love “dna” and wish we could spend every waking moment of our lives doing it!   Although, we would have to clone ourselves to be able to do all the other things we love, like our family’s and other professional responsibilities.  And quite honestly, we are being really sucky at those other things right now…  :(

As a few of you know – I have been skipping some of the actual sessions in an effort to lighten my personal workload (editing, editing, editing) and Danielle – who I must say seriously ROCKS the camera – has been doing some of the sessions on her own and then giving them to me for the editing.  This has helped  me handle the workload tremendously…  And as you all know, I do not to the scheduling – Danielle does – and honestly… I don’t know how she is keeping her head above water with it.

All of these things – aside from the hours we spend every week photographing your beautiful little’s - that takes up a tremendous amount of time.  Checking messages, returning calls, checking emails, returning those, sending out the shoot checklists, making sure the deposits are in, making sure we are getting our newborns in (as you know they usually like to come when they want to – not when we have them scheduled to be photographed) moving people around to fit in our newbies who decide to come late or early. Then there are the Facebook posts and questions and messages through our page…..  Like I said I don’t know how she does it.  (Insert applause for Danielle)

Then there’s me…..  me and my computer…..  sometimes I actually talk to it I spend so much time with it ;) …  My non-husband was kind enough to buy me a monster computer with not 1, not 2, but 3 monitors to help me juggle the shoots I have to edit. (I’m thinking of naming them… haha)  And thank goodness my best friend owns an IT company (MVP network consulting – they ROCK – use them if you ever need anything for your home, office, business, etc…. they do it all for your computers, networking, sound systems, wiring, websites, etc etc.) And he has been able to set me up with countless external drives, burners, programs, everything I need to make sure your photographs are perfect in every way and saved and stored 3 times over.  The sharing and prepping to share – the oh so loved private slide show to view all of your finalized images – the personalizing of the cds and the burning….

All of the above comes to this point – although a shoot may take only 1 – 3 hours – Danielle and I each put it another 4 plus hours (or more) working on it from beginning to end.  From her handling the scheduling and all that comes with that and me spending the countless hours editing your babes photos to perfection…. I guess I’m telling you all of this so that I know I have put it out there that we devote way more time to a shoot than just the actual shoot….

So – in an effort to not be so “sucky” at being moms, and non-wives, and friends – we have decided we are making a firm schedule of our weekly “jobs”.

Our weekly schedule will be this….

Mondays – shoot/edit days (only photo shoots will be done on Mondays - and editing – no scheduling will be done – you can call or email and leave a message but Danielle will not be booking on Mondays)

Tuesdays – shoot/edit day, cd days (same as above but Tuesdays will also be the days I personalize and burn all shoots that have been finalized)

Wednesday – Shoot day / CD ready for pick up days  (Danielle will be on her own to do photos on Wednesdays – which means only babes 3 months to 1 year can be scheduled on Wednesdays – newborns we must do together)( Also – your finalized cd’s will be ready for pickup)

Thursdays –  *Scheduling days /  (Ah yes, here it is – the day Danielle will be returning calls and emails and scheduling all sessions – of course,  if Danielle finds time other than Thursdays to return calls and emails – she absolutely will – but just know – if you have not heard from her come Thursday you will!) (and I will not be editing photos on Thursdays – As many of you know I also have a salon and that is my loooooong day there)

Fridays - shoot/edit days (same as Mondays)

Saturdays & Sundays – Family Time!!!!  No shooting!!! Now, this doesn’t mean we are not working, but we would like to reserve our weekends to spend time with our families and work as we have the time available – we just won’t be doing photo shoots on the weekends.  Sorry everyone – we just simply can’t do it.  (and ps – please don’t try to get Danielle to bend the rules – it will just make her feel bad) ;)

……….

Deposits - BONUS!!!  We have finally decided to link dna up with PayPal and will be able to now invoice you for deposits and session fees!!!  Yes, yes, this means credit cards!  This will make things easier on you all and on Danielle….  when you book a shoot now she will invoice you via paypal for your deposit…..  and we have made some deposit changes….  see our investment tab for all the info…. no more wondering if we got your check or not – phew! You’re booked, you’re paid, you’re in!!!  Yay!!!

……….

Checklists for sessions – anyone who has used us in the past knows that Danielle always sends a checklist of things for you to know, go over, etc, prior to your shoot.  We will be making the checklists readily available here on our blog for everyone to see.  As some shoots have specific themes or requests Danielle may send you a “personalized” checklist for your shoot.  Otherwise, the standard checklists will be here for you to see (just as soon as she gets them to me to put up here….  ;)

……….

Pricing for 2013 – our new price list will be out later this week!!!

……….

Prints - Yes, we are now offering print ordering directly through dna!  We have teamed up with a professional print house to be able to offer you this option.  You will now be able to order your prints directly from the slideshow of your finalized images!!!!

I truly hope that everyone understands why we must do this whole scheduling thing to keep our heads above water – our first love with photography was photographing our own little’s – because we love them – it is painful for me to hold my babe away because I am terrified she is going to move the mouse on my computer while I am cloning (Photoshop lingo) or Danielle has to explain to her son why she is on the phone all the time when she could be helping him with his homework, etc…. I (and Danielle) have read and re-read this post over a dozen times to be sure that it all sounds ok…  This will all just make it so we can work more efficiently and enjoy all of the things we love – all of you – and all of us!

~ Angela (Danielle approved)

Summer MINI Sessions!

Well, I know we have been promising you the MINI Session dates since Friday….but we are very busy ladies (and Momma’s).  And since it was a Momma’s weekend…here we are to give you those dates on Monday… oops.   So we are very sorry about the wait!

We have chosen July 3rd and July 16th as the dates!

On July 3rd we will be taking pictures at Glen Falls Park. 

On July 16th we will be at Clarence Town Park. 

There will be 4 sessions per day…times for the sessions will be 9:30am, 10:30am,  11:30am and 12:30pm.

Of course, these dates are weather permitting…and will be rescheduled if need be.   Please choose your date and time carefully as I know they will book up quickly!

Since deciding our “speciality” is going to be newborn to first birthday,  as Angela said in our last post…we still don’t want to miss out seeing the bigger kids!  (Also…when the kids get older it’s a little harder to schedule because school comes into play.   Late afternoon and weekend shoots were starting to have us working 7 days a week…and as much as we love your babies, we miss ours too!)  We will be doing the MINI sessions three times a year.  Summer, Christmas, and Spring time.  We will do our best to have the dates well in advance (and also try to work them into school vacations when we can), as many people have already been inquiring.  As we have mentioned before, we know everyone may not be able to get in…but we are having 24 mini sessions per year…so act fast!

The mini sessions will be 30-45 minutes long.  You will receive 10-15 final images on a disk.  These sessions are only available to children OVER one year in age.   The cost will be $ 75 for one child and $ 100 for two children (although for multiple children the amount of images will not change…if you are looking for more images, I suggest booking back to back sessions).

Due to no shows on previous mini days we are requiring payment in advance to book your spot and session fees are non refundable.  Once your session is booked, I will send out more information on clothing recommendations etc.

We are really looking forward to these days and all the smiles, laughs and giggles we get to see!  <3

Thank you again for all the love and support!

Please call me (Danielle) at 716-572-7237 to schedule.  Thanks!

Where we are today – dna….

Hello all – Danielle and I have taken some time to look back at what we have accomplished in this very short time (thanks to all of you and your beautiful babes) and reflect a bit – go over what we loved, what we didn’t love so much, where we want to go from here….  Things got a little hectic back in March when we realized we were, um, “popular”. Honestly, we started doing this because we LOVE it – never thinking that we would come so far so fast….  I know – I’m rambling….  The point of all this is that we had a little sit down (well a few…)  and decided what we really want to focus on in our company….  we do not want to dis-include anyone and we think we have come up with a solution that can work for all – where we can avoid getting so crazy booked with shoots no one can get in and we can focus on what we want our “specialty” to be….  all the while being able to stay focused on what we love even more – our familes…

March was tough – I was moving – we were booking 4 -5 shoots a week – I have another full time business to run – and we have our families which combined equal 5 children under 13 and then the 2 men (who sometimes whine more than the kids – lol – but not really kidding)…  The shoots take up our day time – the scheduling even more – then the editing, the hours of editing…  It was just too much.  Too many shoots.  Too much time for our kids to spend with babysitters. Too many age groups – we were going from newborn to siblings to maternity to toddlers and back to newborns all in one week – that’s a lot of kids….  plus dealing with our own.  So for April we cut back a bit – Well, we cut back a lot – and had our sit down….

Newborns – Newborns – Newborns – WE LOVE <3<3<3 NEWBORNS!  Yes, they take more time… on average we spend about 3 hours photographing a newborn – but they are our passion….  It’s what we love….

That being said – we have decided to focus on Newborn to First Birthday – it’s always been our “plan” as we only have ever advertised for that with our “packages” – but now we are kinda sticking to it….  Some have recently called to inquire about older children, multiple children shoots, ages ranging all over the place, and although we love to photograph the big kids too (as our own kids fall into the “big” kid category) it will not be our “focus”…..  and sadly we have said no to bookings as of late…. :(

Now – all that being said – we do NOT want to NOT photograph BIG kids  - we would like to keep some things open for kids of all ages – because frankly, although ages over 1 will not be dna’s “focus”…. we love them just the same.  And anyone who already has a shoot booked with us for over the first birthday mark we will of course keep the appointment – no worries there!

Mini shoots – ah yes, mini shoots – they are perfect for the big kids….  and the most requested session for older age groups I might add.  So, we propose to open 2 days at least 3 times per year for strictly mini shoots – where we will take 4 bookings per day for a total of 8 appointments….  open to all ages!

Our first mini shoot days will start in July – we will post on our Facebook page and probably also here on our blog all the info once we have decided on the dates, times and  a location.  The shoots will be booked on a first come first serve basis and will require prepayment to guarantee the session.  We will enforce this rule so that everyone who really wants to get in with us can.

I truly hope you all understand and we realize that 8 shoots 3 times a year may not get everyone in – but we have to stick to what we know will work for us and our families.  We love you all, all of your support, all of your beautiful babies…..  we wouldn’t be here today or made it this far, this fast without you all.