GRAD DAY!!!

My daughter graduated from 8th grade yesterday and I'm so happy for her even though she has so much more ahead for her. I look forward to trying to help her get through high school even though it is going to be tough. Here are some pict from the day.

Busy weekend

So I have been very busy trying to get my daughter everything that she need for her 8th grade graduation. We were at the mall and I'm not big on mall shopping. Even when I was growing up I just didn't care for shopping all that much, but when I was out over the weekend I did pick up a new lens for my camera. I must say I'm liking it a whole lot. I love being able to get the things that I need when the money is there. I will post picts of some images shoot with the lens and picts of my daughter after tuesday.

memorial day

I have been very busy alot lately. I'm ding freelance for a newspaper so I had to shot some photos for the paper on memorial day. Here are just some of my favorites.

My 35th B-day

Today I celebrate my 35th birthday. I'm not doing a whole just had to work today. I celebrated my birthday over the weekend on friday and saturday. My family got together and got me a cake. It was nice.

New website!!

have been working on getting a more professional looking site for along time and I happy that the day is finally here. My new website is harrisphoto.net and it is live now. check it out

First Maternity Session

I want to start taking maternity photos and introduce that to my clients as another photo session. A really cool co-worker of my Becki and her husband Jeff were really nice to let me practice on them. So here are some of my favorite:

tough times

The month of april has gotten off to a rough time. My car was falsely repo and then returned. After that i received a letter that I own over a thousand dollars in tolls which in the end I got fixed. After all that I got a call at work that my mother was rushed to the hospital because she fainted and come to find out that she has a tumor in her heart that needs to be removed. I'm trying to hold it all together and not fall apart. I praying that everything will be ok. My daughter is turning 15 years old and that is another challenge in itself. I just know that there is a light at the end of this very long tunnel.

Snapshots from WPPI08

I had the best time in Vegas. It was my first time attending WPPI and it was great. I learned so much and have so much to do to put some of the info that I learned into practice. The photos are a quick snapshot of some of the people and places i visited and meet while I was there.

New toy!

So since I off to Vegas in about a week and needed to get a camera that I can carry easy. I didn't want to take my more expensive cameras with me so I got something light. I wanted something that had the ability to shot photos in all different lighting without haven't to do much but turn a dial. I went with the nikon coolpix L14. It is a really great camera and I will take plenty of photos for my trip to Vegas.

Going to WPPI!

I'm very excited that I will be attending the WPPI convention this year in Vegas. It is a huge convention, workshops, classes, vendors and so much more. I have been wanting to attend but could not afford to do so at all. I attended a workshop and a won a pass to attend. I look forward to this trip and know I will learn so much from all the photographers who will be there.

Meeting my mentor

So, on feb. 7th I meet a really nice man. The person that I'm speaking of is Bruce Hudson, he is a photographer out of seattle. He is touring the states with his son Josh. He is teaching other photographers about how to market to certain kinds of clients. It was filled with so much great information that I walked away with alot. He was also a very nice person and easy to talk to. In all I had a great time.

meeting great women photographers

Yesterday was a really nice day because I meet some really nice ladies. I'm part of a group of women photographers who get together and talk and share our love of photography. Some of the women are professional and own their own businesses and it was great getting to know everyone. The goal is get together and set-up photo shoot, meet and have fun. Here are just some of the photos that I took there.

Hoping for a better year.

The last six months of the past year was very hard for me and I'm looking forward to having something better to happen for me. I moved and that did not go the way I wanted it to but it was ok. Then two days before xmas my car got hit and that was 1,500 worth of damage done to my car. At least with that the boys father paid for the damages to my car. Then I took the metra train to Rockford, IL to see my aunt and her kids and got sick for 2 days. Now that is all behind me and I will getting something better out of these year then last year. I will differently get more weddings this year that is something that I'm praying on and know that God will find favor in me so that I can get my business up and going for myself. I will also do more networking these year also I meet with a lady who is a wedding planner and maybe we can work together and I can get more work that way.

Here is what my car looked like after the accident:

Free Photo Session for a good cause

Well at my job were I make the money to pay my bills (barely) we had an auction and I decided to donate a free photo session to help raise money. In the in the lady who won the prize is someone that I know. I'm looking forward to taking her photos she is very beautiful. It will be fun. We were raising money for the organization Starlight Starbright Children Foundation. The goal was to raise 4,500. I hope we reached our goal.

Business Fair

Here is my lastest post from an event that I did on Nov. 10 It was a business fair and I was able to showcase some of my work and meet people. I also was able to network so maybe something good would come from that. Anita Jefferson is one of the vendor that I meet there. She is a wedding planner and event consultant. Hopefully in the future we can work together.

Photo Session w/ Laura

Today I did a photo session with Laura my co-workers daugther. She did not like her photos from school so I decided to give a free photo session. Maybe if she likes these photos she will share them with her friends and I can get some photo session out of it.

Here are some of my fav's:

Photo session with Maya

These is the lastest photos of my daugther. She is 14 and she is getting older so I figure she needed more photos taken.

Promo Cards

Here are some post that I created to get more business

Meeting Paul Rogers

Last night I attended these senimar and it was wonderful. The guest speaker was Paul Rogers and he was the nicest man I meet in a long time. The seminar named "Illustrating Love" was about wedding photography and how to market yourself. It was fun he gave great advice for the real world. He was not on his soapbox and a true gentleman. It was a pleasure meeting him.

Day at the Zoo...

My Daugther and I spent our time at the zoo on labor day. It was alot of fun and I haven't been there in a long time.

Here are just some of the photos we took at lincoln park zoo: