very rarely do I mix and cross over these groups with each other.  So…since I thought it might be interesting to push everyone into one slideshow (read:  laaazzzyy ::laughing::) — so that there’s a record of 2009 visually all together in one place.  It’s pretty cool.

Some images you’ve seen…some you haven’t.  And no, this isn’t EVERYONE who I worked with this year — that slideshow would be about 4000 hours long (not really — but I wanted to fit it into one song – -so this is my best shot)…so I pulled images that appealed to me TODAY.  If I worked on a slideshow tomorrow — it would be completely different.  So…gather what you want about my mood today — here is 2009 in 4 minutes.  Put your seatbelt on please.

Click on the image.  Ra ra ah ah ah….

Busy.

Twins.

Nutritionist.

Dogs.

Weddings.

Seniors.

Maternity.

Engagement. Wait. no. no engagement shoot this week. ::laughing:: I must be delirious!

These are seriously fun to put together. You should see me in front of the computer peering at all of my images from the week. It occurred to me that it might be good for you to understand my workflow (right? cuz you’ve been laying awake at night thinking…I wonder…what Tammy’s workflow is…yeah. I know.)

When I photograph a person…or a wedding…or a dog…I have to immediately go home and look at the images. Sometimes I get so excited about images that I want to leave the shoot and go home and immediately start working on them! Just kidding (sort of). ::laughing:: I always give my clients a sneak peek. Digital has made us all immediate gratification junkies. I see everyone (me too) peering at the images on the back of your cameras — I so get that. So I edit up one or two images and post them. Usually on my facebook first…or email (if it’s boudoir, obviously) if the client prefers that instead…or doesn’t…have…a…facebook…account. Did I just say that outloud?That doesn’t really happen, right?

So. Sneak peek done — my lovely and efficient assistant Jess contacts the client and puts them on the calendar for their proofing appointment. Yep. I do it all in person. Because I like to SEE you react to your images. It means a lot to me — so I make this a priority. So my point being — that I work on images twice — first time is the sneak peek — second time is in preparation for the client seeing the images — so sometimes you’ll recognize a person (or dog or wedding) you saw two weeks ago. Sometimes I pull out old images and work on them just for the fun of it. Those might show up too. I just can’t promise that all my stuff is chronological. It’s more “tammylogical” which makes way less sense but is much more fun. (at least…in MY opinion. ::grin::)

But first…lest you think ALL my work is perfect (because it’s so easy to show only the GOOD stuff) here’s a moment that I LOVE actually, from my session with one year old twins — (happy birthday AJ and Sophie!)…this makes me laugh every time I see it:

haha  — funny right?  I love everyone’s mouths in this image.  I should add speech bubbles!

Here’s the pretty stuff:

So…I reached an interesting point where I got so busy that I um…ahem…got a little behind.  And I looked long and hard at where I wanted to be compared to where I was and decided I needed to make some radical changes in the tammyswales.com world.

I needed help.  Serious help.  (Now…those of you who are my FRIENDS can stop laughing and saying “we’ve been telling you that for YEARS Tam” — not THAT kind of help.  ::laughing::)

So.  I created a “help wanted” ad.  And I heard from some AMAZING people who would have been awesome additions to the Tammy Swales brand.  (I love being a brand…it sounds so…cool.)  But once I received Jessica’s letter and resume — really — there was no other choice.  She was made for me.  She….completes me.  ::grin::

So — Jess is my new addition to Tammy Swales Photography and if you are contacting me about photographing you or your wedding or your child or your dog or your fiance or your mother  — you will likely be contacted by a very cheery, sunshiney person who has all the answers, is very organized and basically keeps me on task when I show signs of being distracted.

An upside and maybe..possibly a downside of working for a photographer is that it is almost an OBLIGATION to be photographed.  Repeatedly.  In different scenarios and settings.  I mean…I think I have to add it into the job description.  “Must be guinea pig for any and all photographic ideas for Tammy Swales”.

Today — Jess got her first taste of that.  I wanted some Kick Butt pics of her to announce how cool I think it is that she’s working with me.  And somehow…her boyfriend wandered into some of the images…which possibly means I have to expand the job description to include all relatives of said employee as well.  ::grin::  Of course I am just kidding.

We have a lot to do and a lot to share, Jess and I — so stay tuned — I have been SUPER BUSY and the images — OMG the images are AMAZING.

Without further ado — meet Jess.  She can be reached directly at Jess@tammyswales.com — and I’m sure you will adore working with her as much as I do.

And here’s the part where John jumps in…how can I resist these two?  Cuteness personified?  Seriously?

(Hey.  How’d that jumping shot get in here?!)

Then I asked Jess to demonstrate how working for me “looked”.  I think she’s going to fit right in around here.

So last night night I got to see Emily.  Emily who I remember being BORN is now an amazing actor and aspiring Broadway star.  (well.  not YET.  but soon.  don’t tell her mom I said that.)

Her school is performing Seussical the Musical and I went to see it last night.  I can honestly say the kids and the organizers completely blew me away with their professionalism, energy and talent.  I was soooo proud!

Ever the DORK!  ::laughing::

Being in client meetings can be stressful.  Because you are presenting your work (yes, I did just start a sentence with because…deal with it.  ::grin::) and you want people to be REALLY impressed with you…your skills as a photographer…your image…the whole package.  Because (there it is again.  this is really a long run on sentence.) photography is very personal — it’s YOUR viewpoint you are showing people…so sometimes when they don’t like an image it’s hard not to get to wrapped up in feeling it personally.  But that’s a WHOLE OTHER BLOG POST.  And has absolutely no relevence to this story.

Let’s just reiterate the first sentence:  being in clients meetings CAN be stressful.  This meeting wasn’t — I was relaxed — which is usually dangerous as you will see…

So I’m at this client meeting today.  He’s looking at the photographs…he’s liking them, blah blah blah.  I put together two separate storyboards for him to look at. (for the uninformed – storyboards are multiple images printed as one. )   I am going to share them both with you right now because…well…I love one of them to pieces and the other is completely critical to this blog post.

LOVE:

Relevant to story:

He’s looking at the second one and saying — “…you know.  I think I’d like to put that over by the guitars.”  I nod my head wisely.  And then I say…in my most sophisticated Tammy way:  “You know.  That would look great in this room.  The colors would be PERFECT.”  (or some variation of that.  but you get it.)

Um…we were sitting in the room this picture was taken.  And he was talking about hanging it over on the wall nearby.  So yeah.  DUH.

Of COURSE THE COLORS WOULD BE PERFECT TAMMY.  ::laughing::

….

Now.  GOOD CLIENTS would just nod their heads in agreement and move one.  But oh no.  Not JR.  He looks at me with his eyebrows up and says:  Thank You Captain OBVIOUS!

::pause a moment while I crack up laughing all over again::

Captain Obvious.  Who SAYS that?!  ::laughing::

Go ahead.  I know. Those who really know me are thinking “classic Tammy moment”.  My best friend saysthat  my life is a series of Seinfeld episodes.   I’m okay with that.  At least I’m laughing a LOT!

…Captian Obvious.  ::shaking head.  still laughing::

Thanks for letting me share.  Later I may share more pics…

Ours was really nice.  I try really hard to get gifts that are silly — especially for stocking stuffers.  The trend has caught on in my family — leaving us many many hours of hilariousness and joviality.  We try to out match each other for goofy things.  This year — screaming superhero flying monkeys were cool.  At least the dog thought they were cool… ::grin::

And the hat.  My mother bought it.  We all loved it.

And my mother.  She’s ALWAYS resistant to photographs.  She has this one face she makes…I should probably just get a photograph of it so I can show you — but really — it’s not a nice face.  Today, for some reason, she was willing to play.  And I have more pics coming — but how much does this rock?!

Now.  Some of my brides are including a photobooth from me at their wedding.  Imagine…just imagine how COOL those photos are going to be?!  More about that later….

This one might be my all time favorite for the holidays though…it’s so darn cute…

How fun is this?!

Shimelle.com offers crafty scrapbooking classes for people and she has an annual “journal your christmas” class going on right now.  It looks seriously cool.  I was reading about one person who did this last year and treasures her journal because her life is so different (and not in a good way) this year.  Shimelle has all kinds of ideas and advice and inspiration in this class — so if it sounds good — it’s not to late to sign up!

Woo!  Fabulo!