Calling All Vendors!

Hey guys and gals

I'm starting a new vendor page with my favorite vendors on there.  Please remind me of yourself if you are reading this.

Also, my brides and grooms, of past, present and future - do you have some other vendors you LOVED!?  Please let me know so I can talk with them and consider adding them in.

Whew! It has been a busy spring!

Seems like every time I sit down to write a blog entry I remember something else that needs to be done!  I didn't want to let it go much longer, though so here's a short recap to let you know what we have been up to. 

If you haven't heard, we have lots of new and exciting props and products we are offering!  I blogged about our new "antique" wooden floor prop - it's been getting A LOT of attention- seems everyone likes it as much as we do!  It's great for baby sessions - set a wooden bowl on it, fluff a soft cozy blanket inside and baby gets to relax comfortably while getting his/her picture taken.  These make great sepia toned images as well as natural color - the skin tones contrasts beautifully with the brown tones.  Here are a few examples of our favorites:

Recently, I had asked Melissa and Heather to come up with some ideas for session props and while the collection keeps growing (they are shop-a-holics!) some of our new props include adorable baby cocoons, hammocks and slings for newborns, knit caps, angel wings, baskets, and fabric backgrounds.  We are working on getting more cute hats and clothing props for older kids.  Melissa and Heather have some great ideas and are thoroughly enjoying the task of giving the studio a more "womanly" touch!

One of our new favorite products is Metal Prints - I have to admit these are REALLY neat!  You can have your image printed on brushed aluminum in either matte or glossy finish. We offer them in all our standard print sizes from 4x6 to 24x30, as well as circles, squares and decorative shapes.  We used circle metals to create a wall display in our studio:

 

 
The standard metal prints come mounted and ready to hang.  They stand about 1" off the wall.  Specialty shapes come as is, or you can have holes drilled and a ribbon laced through to hang it on the wall or use it as an ornament or gift decoration.  To get the full effect of how cool they are, you really need to see them in person - the pictures just don't do them justice!




We will be having a new promotion starting in late July or August.  To be one of the first to know, sign up for our newsletter using the form below.

I hope everyone has had a wonderful summer so far and I look forward to sharing more exciting studio news with you in the coming weeks. 

Easter Cousins

It doesn't get any cuter than four little cousins all prettied up in spring dresses and posing for the camera!  Madalynn, Morgan, Skylar and Jenna certainly were not shy for their Easter portrait session!  Their brightly colored dresses were a nice contrast to our new wood floor prop, and they had fun playing, laughing and getting their pictures taken.

New Hardwood Floor Photo Prop!

Being inspired by his friend and colleague, Steve Seebeck’s hardwood floor prop, Tim decided he needed one of these gorgeous floors for the Artisan studio. 

You can buy these floors specifically made for photography, but seeing as Tim is an artist in many regards, he couldn’t help but build his own! Growing up having a father gifted in carpentry as well as fine arts obviously rubbed off on Tim – the floor looks fantastic and it’s not even finished yet! While he had fun constructing his new prop, it was a lot of hard work – he spent hours cutting, scoring, scraping, adding raised pieces and sanding it down again to give the floor character and it’s one of kind antique feel.

Of course, I thought it was only appropriate that I sneak out to snap a few surprise pictures of the craftsman hard at work!

 

The floor is almost finished and when it is, Tim is going to be giving away a few sample sessions – if you would like to be one of the lucky few to receive a free sample session on the new hardwood floor prop, give us a call. We will only be doing 2-3 sample sessions, so don’t wait!

 

Clients get creative with our work!

Julie and Andy came in for a newborn session with their adorable baby girl, Claire. They were a fantastic family to work with, and we were impressed with their creative display of their final images! They sent us a picture of how they used alternating black and white mats to make a more interesting composition of the frames. We would love to see more examples of how our client's display their photos, so send them in to us and we may feature it on our blog. Thanks Julie and Andy! We love it!

Senior Session - photographed by Melissa

We have finally gotten around to posting some samples of Melissa's photography! These are from recent sessions, and as she does more for Artisan we will update the blog and facebook so you can get to know her style.  If you like what you see, call us to schedule a session and take advantage of our introductory pricing for Melissa!

Meet our New Associate Photographer!

We are excited to introduce Melissa, our new associate photographer! Melissa has interned with Artisan since August of 2009, helping process orders, design albums and artwork images. She has an extensive background in the creative arts and over 5 years of professional experience in portrait and wedding photography, working on her own as well as with several St. Louis area photographers.


Melissa enjoys photographing kids and families, and especially loves senior sessions. “Seniors are always so into the session - they really enjoy the process which makes it fun for me too. Being young at heart, I tend to connect with and become fast friends with my young clients, chatting about popular music, movies and of course, clothes!”

Melissa has been taking pictures since the age of 14, and has studied in the areas of art, graphic design and photography. Being a mother of four, it wasn’t until just recently that she’s been able to transform her passion for the arts into more than just a part time endeavor. We are pleased to be able to offer her services to you, and know you will be thrilled with her work!

We are now offering an introductory pricing structure for portrait sessions with Melissa. In addition to the lower session fees, we will be offering special discounts on prints as well. Please call the studio today to schedule your session with Melissa! I promise you will love your images!

Special Introductory Pricing

1 hour studio session - $75

1 hour location session - $100/$200*

All sessions include online slideshow and proofing.

CALL TO SCHEDULE A SESSION BEFORE FEBRARY 28, 2011 AND RECIEVE A FREE 8x10 PRINT WITH YOUR PORTRAIT SESSION!

*within 10 miles of Ballwin, MO/outside 10 miles of Ballwin, MO

Madden - January, 2011

Is YOUR child North America's Cutest Kid?

Artisan Photography is participating in the International Charity Model Search to select North America’s Cutest Kid and to raise funds for the non-profit Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep Foundation. (NILMDTS.org)

Is YOUR child North America’s Cutest Kid? We’ll give you the opportunity to prove it! The grand prizewinner will win a $2500 savings bond, a $2500 travel package, and a $100 Target gift card. The second and third place runners up each will win a $500 savings bond and a $100 Target gift card.

Model Search Portriat Specials:

Finalists will be determined by online votes. Each vote is $1 (no limit on the amount of votes you can cast), and all proceeds from votes benefit Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep (NILMDTS.org). Every family member who registers their information on the Charity Model Search Website will also receive 1 complimentary vote. The top 5 paid votes, and the top 5 complimentary votes in each region will move on to the final judging round for a total of 50 finalists.

Grand prize international winner and runners up will be determined from the 50 regional finalists. The winner and runners up are selected by photography experts.

Call 636-207-7883 now to enter your “Cutest Kid” in this exciting contest.

*Contest open to residents of the US and Canada ages birth to 18 years. Contest ends March 31st, 2011. For more information, visit http://www.charitymodelsearch.org.

Artisan Chosen as WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011!

I am truly thankful for all my current and past clients who obviously think so highly of my work! This came as a complete surprise to me (I had no idea they even DID awards!) Thanks to everyone who gave me such great reviews! I am flattered, honored and blessed!





Saint Louis, MO – January 27, 2011 - WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, is thrilled to announce Timothy Pastor of Artisan Photography has been selected to receive the prestigious annual WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 for Wedding Photography.Recognition for the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011 is determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 750,000 WeddingWire newlyweds. Our past clients are among those that shared their experiences on WeddingWire, the largest wedding review site in the nation. Artisan Photography stands among the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire community, representing quality and service excellence within the wedding industry. Awards were given to the top wedding professionals across 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, and were based on the overall professional achievements throughout the past year. “WeddingWire is honored to celebrate the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire community,” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “With the annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program, WeddingWire has the unique opportunity to recognize the best wedding professionals across the US and Canada. We applaud Artisan Photography for their professionalism and dedication to enhancing the wedding planning experience last year.” We are happy to announce that Artisan Photography is among the very best photographers within the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Martha Stewart Weddings, Project Wedding and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for nominating us to receive the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011. For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at http://www.weddingwire.com/biz/artisan-photography-ballwin/9f5358679e0900a0.html For more information on the Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2011, please visit www.WeddingWire.com