The most wonderful time of the year

When I was growing up I wanted to be an artist. Trouble with it is that the word starving too often precedes the title of artist. Well, I'm happy to report that I think at this point I qualify as being "grown up" and I made it to being an artist but I'm much more a WORKING artist than a starving one.

The type of artwork I do is not necessarily the stuff that hangs in fine art galleries. (Well... I hope that someday my studio art endeavors will take me to a place like that!)  Just the same, my artwork is still hanging on walls all across the country. The images I help create are beloved family portraits taken just in time for holiday send outs, snapshots of those tender moments right after a couple betroths themselves to one another or just before a mother delivers her beautiful baby, and preservations of the incredible bliss that is being completely in love and newly engaged. I absolutely L-O-V-E doing the work I do because it's the kind of stuff that even after it does get changed out to make room for the next year's portraits, it always stays in the hearts and memories as a thing of beauty to be cherished and treasured.

This time of year is just about my favorite not just for the obvious reasons of the Christmas season but also because I get to see the fruit of my investment in creating images of true beauty come back to me in the way of seeing it pop up in the profile spots of facebook pages OR within annual holiday send outs. Nothing gives me quite a joy like that of opening up some good ol' fashioned snail mail to see my own handiwork staring back at me with well wishes for a merry Christmas and happy New Year from my wonderful clients.

This portrait was taken in the Baltimore area in the Fall of this year! What better way to wish someone a warm holiday than with the beautifully warm color palette that an autumn color palette offers.

Something unique I offer that goes far beyond photography is graphic design expertise!  I can snap gorgeous pictures of you and your loved ones just as much as I can pair them up with tasteful and polished graphic elements that make them more than suitable for holiday cards, birth announcements, save-the-dates, and invitations. I walk you through the design process from start to finish and provide you with an image ready for printing and MUCH cheaper than some of the big names out there that have only a catalog of templated designs that everyone else has. Just as the portrait work I do is commissioned artwork to me, the graphic design pieces are also ART in my book. I love using the gifts that the Lord has blessed me with to the fullest extent and you need only ask me how we go about creating something unique and wonderful for YOU and your needs.

Today puts us just barely 10 days from Christmas but don't let that deter you from dropping me an inquiry to get your annual family portraits done at the tail end of this year or at the tip top of next year. Ever heard of happy New Year cards?  We can get your portraits done and then wish your friends and family a beautiful start to their 2012 with your gorgeous portraits!

The Erdmans :: Baltimore family portrait photographer

I have known the Erdmans for quite sometime now.  Lisa (the Mrs.) and I actually graduated from high school together but we never really become friends until long after graduation happened one summer when we both worked at the legendary Mattapany Day Camp together.  Since that summer I have counted Lisa as one of my dearest and most cherished friendships.  It's been well over ten years since we first came to know one another and oh how time has changed things!  Nowadays she's happily married (to THE guy predicted she would end up with - I actually did their engagement pictures long ago!) and she is an adoring and doting mother to two handsome little boys.

I got together with all of the Erdmans the other day and we all had a grand ol' time laughing and carrying on despite the frigid temperatures. They are such troopers that you can barely tell how cold it was to be outside on the day we were...

Eventually we took the operation inside by the fire were it was much more reasonably warm and with the addition of lollipops into the mix, everybody was in much better spirits.

As an extra bonus to help minimize the holiday schedule crunch, Lisa enlisted me to do a customized graphic design for their holiday mailings this year to be sent out as New Year's greetings instead of Christmas ones.  (New Year's greetings are a personal favorite of mine and I always encourage my customers to do them instead of rushing to get them out before Christmas making the holiday season more of a headache than the joy that it can be.)  Didn't know I was a graphic designer in addition to being a photographer?  Check it out. Can't beat one-stop-shopping with me and I'm much cheaper than most of the retailers out there who use templates and just make you and yours look like everybody else and theirs...

Didn't get your holiday greetings out?  Let's do a New Year session and we can take care of a custom-designed New Year's mailing for you, too!