I’ve known Scott probably since he was about 4 years old. We were in the same 4-H club, his sister Tara (hi Tara!) is a really good friend of mine, and his grandma was my kindergarten teacher. Oh man, as I’m typing those things, I’m realizing that list goes on and on because we also showed cattle together and I have some great stories about Sid his dad. LOL… oh, memories. I don’t know Ashley quite as well, but it seems like she and Scott have been dating FOREVER, so I have hung out with her a few times.

My friend Shelley tagged along for the shoot as she wanted a behind-the-scenes look at a portrait session with Holly Birch Photography. Thanks for coming along Shelley! I hope you learned a couple things.

It’s so cool to see people you know falling in love and taking the plunge. I know I have a VERY anxious Ashley waiting to see these, so here they are, in probably the longest set of favorites I’ve posted yet.

This pose was Shelley’s idea:

I had them do “serious” a few times and they rocked it! I have a feeling Ashley uses her sexy pose every once in a while. Or when she’s mad at Scott.


This was a new pose that I tried. I think it turned out alright!

Then we had Ashley pull Scott, to which Ashley said “This is more like it!”

I love shots of grooms looking at their beautiful brides.

Kissing on the dock

Swings!! Are you serious? Yes, please!!

Then there was the covered bridge, which we took full advantage of. How can you pass up those red walls? Really, you can’t.


This is hot. I think I might order a 16×20 for my office.

This is Ashley working my lens. Oh my goodness.

Thanks you guys for a great session even though it was kinda cold, there weren’t many leaves, and we saw some snow flurries!

I have a really exciting post to show you all tomorrow… TONS of favorites! It’s not quite ready yet though so I can’t post it until tomorrow. Be sure to check back, you won’t be sorry!

I couldn’t wait to share the excitement with all my blog readers!!

So, Mindi is wanting to do some sort of save-the-date thing for her wedding and I think it will either be bookmarks, magnets or magnet bookmarks. She hasn’t fullly decided yet, so I went ahead and did some mockups for her to get an idea of what we could do. She’s also interested in a guestbook, so I did a sample spread of that too.

Bookmark:

2 2×3″ magnet designs:


Guestbook spread:

Here are prices for some of these items that aren’t listed elsewhere on my website:
Magnets: 2.5×3.5 (business card size) come in sets of 8 for $9.25. For every
100 you order, there is a $25 discount. So 320 magnets would cost you $295, for example.
Bookmarks: $62 per 100 ($5 discount per 100 bookmarks)
4×7 slimline cards: $120 per 100 ($10 discount per 100 cards)
4×6 photographs: $59 per 100 ($5 discount per 100)
Leatherette 8×8″ 24-page guest books: $85 (with different sizes and page quantities available)

Also, a heads up, individual portrait session fees and standard print prices are going up slightly on December 1, so get your orders in before then!

Lori said I didn’t have to put her family on my blog, but I can’t resist! We met up in Washington Park in Springfield before Ann & Mary’s shoot for a quick family shoot of Lori and her three children, Patrick (whose senior pictures I did a while back), Clayton & Rachel.

You might know that song line from the movie “White Christmas,” or not if you’re not a dork like me!

I’ve known these two ladies for a LONG time. I went to jr. high and high school with Ann and she’s been one of my closest friends since we met in 7th grade. She now has a master’s degree and is teaching college English (hey, Dave, if you’re reading this, she still needs to email you!!). Ann aspires to someday be a famous author. She has some GREAT ideas, one of which I’ve been pushing her to write for at least 2 years (*hint, hint* Ann!!).

Mary is a few years younger than Ann but is equally amazing. This girl is an avid runner and is really into a healthy lifestyle. They’re both fashionistas, dating way back to when I was still wearing corduroy and flannel (I’m serious!) and they were hard-core GAP followers. Now I shop at the GAP while they’ve graduated to, oh, I don’t know Banana Republic and AnnTaylor or something. Ann also has an adorable dog named Audrey and two kittens, Josh & Ella. It would’ve been fun to have Audrey at the shoot, but then the kittens would have felt left out.

Without further ado, I give you the photos:
Mary

Ann (doesn’t she look sassy here?)

I of course brought my favorite chair again!


Serious shot in case she ever needs a photo for her book dust jacket.


Together for Mom (Hi Kathy!)

This one’s not the greatest shot, but I love it anyway.

Illinois beat bitter rival Iowa 27-24 on Saturday. The game started out bright and sunny but it was almost dark by the time the clock ran out. Matt Eller kicked a field goal with less than a minute left to win the game.

Juice

Juice is all smiles after a long TD pass to Fred Sykes

TD Jason Ford

Juice gets taken down by 2 Iowa defenders

Martez Wilson

The game-winning kick by Eller

It’s becoming a tradition for the team to go and celebrate with the students after a win at home.

Zook is interviewed by ESPN immediately following the game.

Any orders you want in time for Christmas must be emailed to me or ordered online no later than Nov. 30th at midnight!

I’m going to try to keep the online Google calendar updated more frequently on my Contact & Info page. November is busy!!!

Lastly, anyone want to be on call for a session in the snow? Obviously we don’t know when this will be yet, but I think it’d be fun to do an individual or family session in a winter wonderland.

Oskee, Joanne and I set out one afternoon to get a bunch of pictures for a book Joanne is writing. They used to live here on campus and has many interesting stories from his time here. He cooperated for the most part, but by the end of our 2-hour shoot, he was tuckered out and kind of mad that we kept teasing him by saying “Grandma’s” and “ice cream.” He did get a lot of treats though!!

CONTEST
Upon further review, I feel that some of these photos need LOLdog captions. Leave a comment with your best idea (you can get ideas here)! I’ve numbered the photos for you to reference in your comment. Winner will receive a free individual or family session ($55 value!). Out of towners can participate too, and if you cannot redeem your prize, I’ll figure out something else for you of similar value.

Isn’t Oskee just the cutest thing?
1.

“So truuuuuuuuuueeeeeee…!!”
2.

Here Oskee plays “dead” on a bike path on the Quad.
3.

“No, you can’t throw shade on the corn.” (I think this was my favorite from the whole shoot.)
4.

Dee for Three!
5.

Joanne and Oskee pose in front of Foellinger Auditorium with a Petsmart toy (she knows someone important there, but I can’t remember who!)
Sorry, no LOLdog comments here.

Holly Birch Photography is available for pet pictures!!

Chelsea’s mom Sheila called me a few weeks ago anxious to get Chelsea’s senior pictures done before the weather got too ugly. The first scheduled date we were rained out, but I think it was meant to be because we ended up with a absolutely goregous & perfect day yesterday. We met up first at Meadowbrook Park in Urbana and then moved on to Curtis Orchard, where Chelsea works. Man, there are some great photo ops there!

Here’s my absolute favorite of the day:

I’m getting better at posing, I think.


A little drama in the CO shop. It was Sheila’s idea to do it in black&white.

We’re off to see the wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz!

This is Chelsea’s cat Charlie, whom she “adopted” from Curtis Orchard.

But, never fear, faithful HBP followers… I have 5 shoots in the next 4 days!

I do have something to post today though! I got Jen & Chris’ album in a couple days ago and I snapped some shots of it last night.
Beautiful packaging…

Closeup of the metal cameo on the front

Text on the last page

Foil-stamped logo on the inside back cover

Top view/spine

This is the one thing I would change. I’m not a big fan of the really sharply square corners.

Front view (10×10″ album… this is the size I include in my top wedding package. I can always add more pages or make the entire thing a larger size or a rectangular size. There are also different colors and textures of leather. Ask me about all the options!)

One of the pages