Over the past year I’ve been approached by a growing number of small business owners in the area who are looking for headshot photography for their websites. These professionals are actively seeking to create that first memorable image of WHO they are and what they stand for and to give potential clients a clear picture of what they can expect when they call.

This is exactly what Jeannie Michalski and Adam Militello had set out to do when they came to me. And can I just tell you…these guys…

COOLEST. LAWYERS. EVER. Seriously. They are hardworking…

They are smooth and no-nonsense…

They are down to earth, genuine, warm and caring…

And…and they are hilarious. I don’t remember the last time I laughed so much during a shoot! OMG. It was so wonderful to see two people who believe so completely in what they are doing, who are striving to create an incredible company and who still LOVE to laugh!!!!

Classic.

Jeannie and Adam…You ROCK .

Wait. What? You mean you don’t know what this is?! ‘Cause you got to open it, Silly!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  You still don’t know what it is? Let’s open it a little more!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!! And along with images and other sundry necessities, there are also a few little surprises. No. I’m not telling you what they are. You’ll just have to wait to find out. ::wink wink::

So, for starters, I love this. Actually, I love everything in her entire store! So purdy.

I am currently OBSESSED with the Creators Project. If you have not checked this out yet, then DO IT! Do it now!!! But be forewarned…once you’re hooked there is no going back.

Any greeting card company that organizes its cards by the subjects of Food, Drink, Educational Sort Of, Work, Cheer and Pessimism gets my vote. Fomato has some amazing cards. Some super cute illustrations. And some seriously exciting salutations.

I am constantly calling Jess “Martha Stewart,” especially those mornings like today when she shows up with still-hot, crusty homemade bread. Seriously!!! And Martha/Jess is head over heals for these aprons right now.  She just bought this one, and apparently is threatening to either not take it off, or go back for more.  (And no. She hasn’t worn it to work yet. Thank God.)

All that said, I’ve had a MAD number of engagement shoots lately. What an amazing way to start off the summer!!! I am PSYCHED beyond belief to shoot every one of these weddings.  I am overwhelmed by how each of my couples “get” me and how I work..which is the MOST important thing in getting great photographs.

Sometimes crazy fun engagement shoots take a little extra maneuvering, and my couples really step up to the plate. Literally! Valerie had to do some serious pre-planning to get us into Frontier Field so she and Keith could incorporate their love of baseball into their engagement images. But what a great experience that was!!! And Jessica and Clark impressively managed to get their ENORMOUS (and gorgeous!) dog all the way up to my forth floor studio without event! Talk about hard core…

And Stephanie and Micah were right there when I started yelling  “AH! There! Light! Underpass! Run! Now! Go!”

And we NAILED it!!!!  We make a great team. ::grin::

I love my couples and I am SO excited for this summer.

The great thing is, it just so happens that this year I have A LOT of couples from New York. Some are getting married in the NYC/Long Island area. Some who live down there now are getting married in Rochester. And one couple is holding their wedding in an AWESOME old bank in downtown Albany!

Lots of NY couples means…lots of NY engagement shoots! WOOT WOOT!!!  It also means some very strategic planning and a good deal of heated negotiation with the weather man.  All of that has paid off, though, ’cause this last trip down was SUCH a success!  Allison and Gregg and Leslie and Brad were totally fantastic and, let me tell you, between the lot of us we have some ROCKIN’ scheduling skills. What better way to spend a gorgeous spring day than marathon-shooting two adorable, fabulous couples in Manhattan?!?!

There really isn’t any. I mean seriously. SO much fun!!!! Allison and Gregg, Leslie and Brad, you made my day.

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!