The Buzz October 2008

The Buzz! Honey Bee Photography Newsletter Oct 2008

Yes… I know it’s late this month! It’s been a crazy couple of weeks and every day, I’ve thought of you and I knew you were wondering… “Where the heck is this month’s newsletter?” Hahahaha!

Did you see the snow this afternoon? I was so excited to see it and so glad that it didn’t quite stick.. Noah went outside and went crazy… He even brought a snowball in and stuck it into the freezer!

The autumn colors were really beautiful this year. The trees have been an awesome gold with just enough of an orange tinge… and here is an image of me-a self-portrait done with the timer and my dh Jim shining the reflector on my face. The mountains have just enough snow on them to show the hint that our winter is just around the corner.

I’d like to thank all of those who asked me to do their portraits in September. Here is a sampling of their images.

Before I forget, because for sure I don’t want to let anyone not in on my party invitation… I’m hosting a Gold Canyon Candle Open House this coming Saturday, Oct 11 from 1 pm to 5 pm. You are welcome to come and go as you please. My good friend Wendy is the consultant, and we’ll have samples of all the yummy smells for the fall and winter season! I’m giving away as prizes to 5 lucky people 5 different 5 oz candles! You get tickets for the following:
Get a ticket just for attending.
Get 2 more tickets per friend you bring.
Get 3 more tickets for purchasing over $50.00.
Get 4 more tickets for bringing a snack to share.
Get 5 tickets for booking off of my party within 60 days.
The more you do/bring, the more tickets and the MORE chances you get to win your favorite scent! You can contact me through my phone number or email me for more info!
These candles are absolutely one of my addictions, I simply cannot live without these! LOL.
If you need to bring your kids, you are welcome to do so, as it’s an Open House rather than a traditional party. I hope you can come! Check out Wendy’s website: http://www5.mygc.com/Default.aspx?alias=www5.mygc.com/wendyfarnsley

Tips and Tricks: Photographing the Big Day: Halloween!
HBP’s Special of the Month
My new Holiday Card Session Package
Referral Program
Portrait Parties
Bringing Home Baby
Big News! What’s New with Honey Bee?

Tips and Tricks: Photographing the Big Day: Halloween!

So your little goblins and witches, fairies and super-heroes are planning their costumes with great gusto and you want to preserve the memories! Have you tried in years-gone-by to capture the perfect snapshot with only mediocre results? It’s not easy getting little ones to listen to you long enough to freeze for just one second so you can take the picture! LOL
It’s a psychological thing, getting these kiddos in their costumes and then getting a photo of them. The thing is… you gotta distract them! But how?

1. Get them used to their costume by trying it on a couple of times and play in them a few minutes… take their photos so they get used to the idea that you actually want photographs… NICE ones… ones without being out of focus, or not looking at the camera, or catching the wrong moment…
2. After about 3 times with that, on the fourth, state that your gonna have a fashion show and take photos. Put up a white sheet on the wall, and a white sheet on the floor, and have them prance around for you. Tell them to play statue… when you yell “Freeze” they have to freeze like a statue. Get interesting angles while they are doing this, and make them laugh! Memorize some knock-knock jokes or get them to repeat silly words… Go to Wiki and look up The Secret Show… the one character’s name changes daily… so phrases like Dunky Juice-bottoms or Lammy-Whammykins are introduced and are pretty funny. Please! Please don’t tell your kids to say cheese… because then they are performing and give the worst-est expressions EVER! Unless you like grimaces and fakey smiles LOL…

3. Ask them what they like about their costume. As they are pointing to something, photograph them as they are looking down, and try to remember what they said, so when scrapbooking, this is what you can enter next to the photo. I love detail shots like these because it shows their faces interested in what they are talking about, plus it shows off eye-lashes and I think that eyelashes against cheeks is just lovely!

4. Ask them to play peek-a-boo! Grab a dining room chair and put it in the middle of your “studio”. Ask your child to duck behind the chair and when you say “1-2-3” have your child peak around the side of the chair in their costume. Make sure you zoom in to get rid of distracting stuff… really this should be a fun shot of at the most, waist up.

5. Please turn off the red-eye button… that’s another thing that makes you miss your shots. All basic photo-editing software has some kind of tool for eliminating red-eye.

6. I hope these tips make your Halloween shooting so much easier, and that you’ll be pleased with the results. I suggest you do this “shoot” with your kids at least a week before Halloween, because all your kids will want to do on Halloween is go out and get candy, not take pictures in their costumes. Happy shooting!

HBP’s Special of the Month
October’s Special is: Early-Bird Holiday Portraits!

What are you talking about Megan? We haven’t even gotten Halloween costumes let alone put together our Thanksgiving menu… and you want to discuss Holiday Portraits?

See, I can understand your problem. It *is* early… but being in Alaska the way we are, planning is the key. I am about 10 days out, meaning I am full for the next ten days and the next available session is the 15th of October. It takes up to 3 days to do sneak-peeks, and up to 3 weeks to finish your images. Of course, as we get closer to the holidays, I’ll be rushing your images, but of course there is only so much time to do these. All of my vendors are in the lower 48, so shipping does take time as well, and I’ll be bunching orders in 3’s to help you save on shipping.
So… my special of the month is: Schedule your session for the last 2.5 weeks of October, and save $10 on your session fee (payable in advance, nonrefundable) and save the $25 design fee for your cards! (Minimum of 24) I custom-design your cards from scratch, infusing them with colors and designs from the outfits you wear the day of your session; both the outside front and back of the card, and the inside area as well. Up to 4 photos are used from your session. The paper that I’m using this year is linen, so it gives an elegant feel and your friends and relatives will be very jealous that you got such a great deal on your beautiful holiday greeting cards! The first set of cards is $48 for 24 cards, after that, each set of 24 is only 39.00. Envelopes are included. Oh… and save a WHOPPING 18% off your total purchase (not including the cards. The cards do have a separate shipping fee.) When you call

Holiday Portrait Sessions
There are 4 different sessions that I’m offering this year.

The first is a regular studio session with lights, backdrops and camera. I’ll be adding some holiday-style props, but encourage you to bring out YOUR very favorite ornaments and other fun things… and we can also do non-holiday as well. Black and white, color, special effects, you name it, I can do it! Special request? I can do it! Just make sure it’s legal and modest!

The second is a home environment session with your lovely home for the background. Sure we might have to move some things around, but it’s fun and homey and definitely NOT like a snapshot. If you decorate early for the holidays, that’s a big plus because we can work that in to your surroundings.

The third session I’m offering this year is an urban tour of downtown Anchorage, specifically 4th and 5th streets. The city starts to decorate fairly early and so we can do urban shots starring your family! And as a treat, you will get a gift card for hot chocolate at one of my favorite places in downtown Anchorage… details are coming. This session is most likely going to start in November. Your outfits should reflect the weather, but try to have casual outfits with nice coats/hats/gloves/scarves. I will help to stylize your outfits before we get started, and definitely consult with you on preparing for this session.

The fourth session that I’m offering is a quick session, one that will require a family to be ready at a moment’s notice. Generally done in the morning, after snow-fall and perhaps even during (hopefully not!), with snow softly blanketing the trees and branches and the air as quiet as a whisper… we’ll put you on a mailing list and call you when it’s snowing to schedule for the next day. You’ll need to be prepared for this and please know that for this session to be perfect for your family, layers are required, outfits need to be matching, and *no jackets* please. This session will NOT take longer than 20 minutes and blankets for between the shots are supplied. You will receive a gift card for hot chocolate at a favorite place downtown to be enjoyed after your session.

For more details on all of my holiday session ideas, please feel free to call 753-1050 or 575-2020, or email me at meganmartineau@acsalaska.net.

Referral program
Honey Bee Photography has a great referral program! For every person you refer to me, YOU get a $5.00 credit for regular sessions. If you refer someone to have a portrait party or do senior portraits, you get a $15.00 credit. If you refer someone to have a wedding photographed by me, you get a $25.00 credit! How awesome is that?

Portrait Parties
With the flurry of kitchen tool parties, candle parties, gourmet mix parties, and all kinds of other parties that are coming up, please consider hosting a Portrait Party. Here are the reasons why YOU should host a Portrait Party with Honey Bee Photography!
1. The hostess gets a free mini session and earns free portraits, plus you can earn a free full session and portraits from that session, also.
2. Your guests get a free mini session PLUS I give away a FREE 16x20 to one lucky guest.
3. Spend time with your friends practically one on one as kids are getting portraits done.

Here is the way a Portrait Party gets organized!
It’s almost winter... and it's time to think about having a portrait party! These are so fun and help the hostess earn FREE portraits and products. Your guests get to have a free mini session (up to 15 minutes) and I have a 16x20 giveaway. This is the perfect way to do those fantasy type portraits. You just need at LEAST 6 guests/families to participate.Here's how to do it.

1. Figure out what you want your theme to be. Do you have all girls? Then invite your friends who have girls and we can do a tea-party theme for each guest. Have all boys? We can do a construction worker or cowboy theme. Have all babies? We can do all babies! Outside or inside, we can make it happen for you. We can even do just families!

2. Figure out when you want to hold it. I would suggest in 2 weeks after you have decided to have one.

3. Contact ALL of your friends and let them know about your party. Direct them to my website and blog and let them get some ideas together. You can even email your ideas to them about which theme you are thinking about. Have them contact you within a few days to say yes or no.

4. Put together your list of who wants to come and give me their names, phone numbers and emails. I call to schedule their reservation so you don't have to figure it out yourself. Organization is the key to success for your party.

5. Where to do this? Well, I photograph on location, so we can open up your home for studio style portrait sessions.

6. On the day of your party, I will come early to set up at your home. You should plan to be ready before I arrive with furniture out of the way. I will discuss the schedule for the day with you and also the easy paperwork. I call your guests the night before to answer any questions they may have and give them some instructions for the next day, such as arriving early for the session since we are on a schedule, etc.

7. We can schedule your session somewhere in there... however, it works best as either the first session, or the last session.

8. Your friends' names go into a pot to win a free 16x20. I will contact that person after the party.

9. I will send out a sneak peek within 72 hours of your party, and it will take up to 3 weeks to get the rest of the images out. After the images are out, you are responsible for collecting orders (everyone gets an order form and a price list at the party) within 2 weeks after the images are out. Depending on sales, you will get free and reduced priced portraits and products.10. When I receive the portraits and products, I will sort them according to the orders and bring them to you. It is then up to you to deliver the portraits to your guests.

See how easy it is to do a Portrait Party? These are so fun and easy to do.
This is PERFECT for the holiday season to help you and your friends save $$$ on portraits for gifts and cards!

Bringing Home Baby!
This 3-session package is going to be more starting January 1, 2009, so if you are expecting and want this package… please consider pre-paying your sessions before the price goes up! With this package, you get a Maternity session, a hospital session (day after your baby is born) and a newborn session (to be done by the time your baby is two weeks old, we want them to be sleepy, curled up and easily shaped into yummy little poses). Below are some images that I know you’ll love, and I’ve been told by so many that this is sooo worth it!


Here’s what you get with your sessions: an 8x10 from each session (3 total) plus a 10x20 collage featuring a couple of images from each session, plus a 5x10 mini-mount. Generally, these are ordered at the completion of the newborn session images, so everything is ordered together. A value of $368, you can purchase this for only $275. This offer expires December 1, 2008. It will go up Jan 1, 09.

Big News! What’s New with Honey Bee?
After several months of trying to convince my loving hubby, we’ve decided to turn the front room of our home into a studio! This way, if you don’t want to use your home or you don’t have enough room for me to build my studio in your cleared-out room, you can come to my home for your session. I do have pets, that will be kept either upstairs or in the garage, and of course, vacuuming will be done prior to your visit, plus I’ll have the air purifier running, but if you have allergies, I do recommend that you opt for the on-location shoot.
So now you really do have an option of what to do for your sessions! Following are my prices for non-refundable session retainers/fees. I am also including prices for mileage for on-location shoots.
Mon-Fri My home studio Your home (studio or nat light) On-location other spot
1-3 people $30.00 $50.00 $65.00
4-6 people $50.00 $70.00 $85.00
7+ not available $95.00 $125.00

Please add $50.00 for Saturday shoots. Sorry, Sundays are our family day, I do not photograph on Sundays.
Mileage will be charged starting at 10 miles away from my home. Mileage will be $.59/mile…. With a minimum of 5 mile increments… so if the total mileage happens to be 27 miles round trip, you will be charged for 30 miles.
I do highly recommend for new-born sessions that they are done at your home. Of course, if you purchase the Bringing Home Baby package, it’s automatically all done either at your home, or at the hospital.

Thank you for reading this month’s The Buzz! If you want to be taken off my mailing list, please send me an email with the subject: Please unsubscribe, and I will remove you from my mailing list. However… if you LOVE my newsletter, please feel free to forward it to a friend!
Happy October!
Megan Martineau