These little clips are not new — there are some AMAZING artists who are creating some absolutely INSANE stop motion clips.

Check this out.

And this.

Cool, eh?

How could I NOT want to make one?

All I needed was some victims…erm…willing and wonderful clients who wanted to try something completely different.

Enter:  Melanie and Mark.

Lesson:  Stop Motion takes A LOT LONGER than you will ever expect it too.  Plus, since we hadn’t tried this before — we faced a lot of “unexpected” challenges…nothing a good roll of duct tape couldn’t fix — but still — we were problem solving ON THE SPOT all day long.  ::laughing and shaking head::

Here’s our final product.  To put it into context — Melanie and Mark watched fireworks on their first date…and our challenge was to incorporate that experience with the theme of their wedding “Van Gogh’s Starry Night”.  Yeah, right?  FUN!!

Hope you LOVE this.  It was AMAZING to put together and thank goodness I have an amazing team working with me!!

I did my best to embed the link here — but being less proficient that I thought and VERY IMPATIENT — you have to click the picture.  But then it will be awesome.  I promise.

Stop Motion Save the Date

Shannon and Kieran’s beautiful wedding was featured on Hot Pink Brides wedding blog yesterday!!!!

Shannon planned the entire day on her own…and did an incredible job!!! From their ceremony to their wonderful reception at Oak Hill Country Club Shannon and Kieran’s wedding was gorgeous, stylish and so much fun! She even climbed these steps in Manhattan Square Park in bright red high heels!!!!

Shannon and Kieran, we are so excited for you!!!! And we’d like to send a special thank you again to Hot Pink Brides!!

One can never be too careful about their identity these days. That is why we should all have Secret Identity Eyeglasses. Clark Kent was actually spot on.

Jess has apparently been obsessed with this scarf for about a year now. And still hasn’t bought it. Which is silly. Because I can totally see her rockin’ a lobster.

She is also completely infatuated with Chuao Chocolatier’s Spicy Maya chocolate…dark chocolate with pasilla chili, cayenne pepper and cinnamon. Delectable goodness…

Going from delectable to delightful, I LOVE these canvas prints from Gemini Studio. Click the link to see all of his whimsical designs.

And lastly, I wanted to introduce you to a couple of photographers who have all-around fascinated me lately, Kevin Cooley and Chris McVeigh. If you have a second, take a look through their portfolios. SOOOO much color and such unique interesting takes on the world. And SO much fun! Love.

But that’s not the important part of the story.  The most important part was the ENTHUSIASM Colleen and Mark displayed for Sugar Mountain Bake Shoppe (on Alexandar St).  They insisted it was amazing and could not believe I hadn’t been there.  Colleen even went so far to post today’s special cupcake on my facebook!

So I had to go.

I brought my mother.

And guess who was sitting on the porch eating cupcakes?!  Yup.  Sugar Mountain’s BIGGEST FANS IN THE WORLD! ::laughing::  Here’s what they look like without cupcakes:

So.  Then I had to try them myself.  One of the owners approached us with a sample of their vanilla cupcake…

Oh.  Em.  Geee.

So…SIX cupcakes were purchased.  And they are so beautiful I had to drive straight home and document them for all time…

Say hello to today’s dessert:    Rootbeer Float.  Very Vanilla.  Caramel Apple.  Lemon Raspberry.  Pink Lemonade.

They are sweet.  yummy and Colleen and Mark were absolutely right.  They are DELISH.

Here is my unbiased foody review:  They.  Are.  Yummy.

(My mother likes them too.  Her opinion is worth more than mine.  She cooks.  I don’t.)

Also — I didn’t tell anyone I was writing this.  I wasn’t paid to promote Sugar Mountain.  I just liked them.

Now I have to go walk around the block 158 times.  Cuz.  That’s. a lot. of.  sugar.

Here it is:

My dog HATES the black clicky thing.  Anytime I try to photograph her in any significant way she LITERALLY will not look in the camera.  And then she barks at me.  Loudly.  Obnoxiously.  Until I put that annoying camera away.

Today was a sneak attack.  She was distracted by Jess paying attention to her.

haha.  Gotcha.

Lulu. Is.  The.  Best.  Dog.  Ever.

And well fed.

Obviously. 

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.)

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….

First — trust is important.  You should like and TRUST your photographer with your wedding day.  I was thinking about this while I was editing Shailer’s dress images.  See…I stole this dress.  Maybe not “stole”… that is a harsh word…but “borrowed” may be more like it.  And I took it outside.  (I told them I was taking it outside in my own defense.  ::laughing::)  Now.  Outside has A LOT of different interpretations…it could mean…oh…just out on the porch…or it could mean…”I’m going to hang it from that tree”…or…it could mean “do you think they are looking?” and a mad dash across the street carefully carrying the dress to the absolutely GORGEOUS field down the road.

Trust.  There should be no doubt about what your photographer wants to do — because you are paying them to BE your eyes…you hire them for their viewpoint.  And creativity.  And technical skills.  And experience.  But this is not about those things (lalala).  This is about pushing your comfort level to be able to believe that your photographer gets you….gets what you are about…what you like…how you feel….and is still able to delight you and surprise you.

Sometimes being a photographer is HARD!  ::laughing::

So back to the mad dash across the street.  Yes.  I am careful.  SUPER careful.  But here’s how I think:   if you don’t take a few risks…push a few boundaries…you miss opportunities to have images that NO ONE ELSE has.  I always think…your wedding is unique.  It is about YOU.  Why do you want the same images everyone else has?  Shouldn’t it be as unique as you are?  Do I sound like a commercial?  ::laughing::  I don’t mean to.  I really think about these things.  I sit in front of the computer for a gazillion hours…and it gives one LOTS of time to think.

So.  Just so you know…I confessed to Shailer  immediately after her dress had it’s own private adventure.  She laughed in the amazing way she has and just told me she trusted me.  And that my loyal blog reader (hi mom again) THAT is what it is all about.

Thanks S.

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.