Belly wear challenge

This past week I posted the Belly wear mini guide for our students, advising them on how to shop for their pregnancy clients. We decided to add a challenge to the mix by asking our students to shop for items under $25.00. The entries are starting to come in. Here’s one by Angela Krol. If you are a student, download the guide and join the challenge.

“Top Wal mart $7.00 (bathing suit cover up I think) worked great!”

Angela Krol

My Lifes Moments Challenge

This Mothers Day we brought back a campaign that we want to take nationwide. Our photographers are already joining us in this crusade from around the United States, into the U.K and down under in Australia…to ask us all the one question: “Why do we have our images captured?”

To learn all about his movement, visit the website – http://www.mylifesmoments.com

If you would like to join us in this campaign, there are two ways:

1 – if you are a student, login to the forum and download the files and see how others have implemented this program.

2 – if you are not a student, you can purchase the marketing materials in our store and join us. We will be updating the My Life Moments website with the photographers that decided to join us.

In just moments of sending this out once again this recent Mothers Day, responses started flooding in. As we read them and gather them together for a second coffee table book, it shows us that our job is much more than photography – it’s preserving a legacy.

____________________

“My hallway of beautiful family pictures mean the world to me.  A little over five years ago, I sat crying in the middle of our big hallway looking up at the empty walls where I had imagined all our family pictures would grace.  I cried for my miscarraige…the pain so deep that I couldn’t stand it anymore.  When my husband came home and found me helpless, he gently picked me up and held me as the tears of anger and loss flowed out of me.   We realized we needed to build our family in a different way.  We knew in our hearts that our babies were out there and needed us as much as we needed them.  Our journey of adoption began.  Six months later we came home from the hospital with a beautiful baby boy and exactly two years eleven months later, we adopted our precious baby girl.  Talk about a light at the end of the tunnel.  My heart is full and my hallway walls are full of incredible moments captured by our photographer.  Every night when I check on my babies and kiss them and thank God for blessing us with these sweet children…I walk down my hall and trace my finger over their little darling faces and smile and say to myself  “lucky, lucky me.”" JB

____________________

in loving memory of Karla Galeano

www.mylifesmoments.com

Baby News

Our challenge this month to our students is to modify our Baby News newsletter and send it out to their clients. Each month our students will be given a sample Baby News newsletter chock with tons of fun stuff for their clients. All they need to do is edit and go!

We also want to thank our amazing sponsors who provide prizes for our challenges. We will be providing a full list later this month. To all of our students just visit the Prize Patrol forum to claim your prizes and see the sponsors.

Not a student but want the news?YOU can now purchase TheBabyNews or sign up for a yearly subscription. Each month we will send you the latest Baby News that you can use for your clients.

If you are a student, login to download.

Personal Challenges

Recently the students were overwhelmed! In just a few weeks we had worked on a marketing calendar for the year, began portrait party programs, worked on product guides and the list was still a mile long. The students told me they needed a break and I needed one! So the challenge was on. Everyone – including me – was challenged to spending two hours alone and at least one hour with someone else. Many of the students signup and some have completed and some are still working on them. Here are a few excerpts and images from the challenge. If you are a student get going on this! Aimee is working on great prizes for you all.

Chris L…”I spent last year in treatment for breast cancer. I was blessed with a fairly easy time of it (not simple by any means, but God got me through it) and I’ve been thinking of a way to commemorate it. So, I went today and got…..A Tattoo!!!!!!

Karen…”went out to dinner by myself and my trusty laptop! I have such fragmented and limited time during the day to do any business things that I often feel I’m jumping from thing to thing or whatever is inspiring me at the moment. …. I was so absorbed and being so productive and around 8:15 one of the workers came over and asked if I wanted to take home some of their leftover bread that they were getting ready to throw out. .. I had been sitting there for 45 minutes after closing in my own world…”

Carmen…”I had bought a new program that I have wanted for a long time and finally sat down alone and started entering information into My Family Tree. It was great, I had a stack of papers from my parents, grandparents and aunts who have all passed away and I started shuffling through them and was so engrossed it what I was learning that before I knew it 4 hours had passed..”

Lori..”. I stayed in a hotel overnight alone with out my whole family! I had to be out of town (100 miles) for a photoshot two days in a row, so I decided to stay in a hotel instead of doing the grueling commute! Wow… I got more than 2 hours… smiles! What I learned? It was so amazing to be on my own schedule…”

Leandre…”a STUNNING sunset, one that makes me smile. Just spent time sitting and thinking about where I want to end up, I am at a bit of a cross roads at the moment and contemplating a move that requires me making a huge leap of faith…

Jessica…”We live about an hour from Vancouver, home of the olimpics. I decided on Saturday to take the sky train, something we’ve never done before, in to Vancouver to walk around town with my family. We’ve never been in a city where the olimpics where taking place before. Everything on Saturday was a first. It was really great to see everyone walking around with there countries proudly displayed on there shirts and seeing all the diffrent flags on the street. Everything was really wonderful…”

If you are a student, logon to read the rest and participate… LOGON HERE

Marketing Calendar

Our students received a download of a marketing calendar stock full of tips and promos. They were given a challenge to personalize it and make it their own. We were so excited to see Rachels sample less than a week later.

Students – login and download the calendar. Not a student? JOIN US

NOW even if you are not a student, you can purchase our Marketing Calendar. Click here to purchase.

Here’s what she said:

“Here’s what I have done…I printed then put it into my studio bible…this baby holds everything including all my “masters” I then went though and colour marked the days for each promo and what not, then I counted back and listed when I needed to shoot it as well as email blasts etc…At first I thought I could do more, but when I started to organize it the days filled up rather quickly. I am so glad that I finally sat down to do this. Thank you Ana!”

http://www.madchenstudios.com/

Texture Challenge Winner

Awhile ago we had a challenge for Textures – things were crazy and we never really closed the challenge or picked a winner. I did a shout out to Lori Nordstrom to see if she could pick a winner. She loved Nyloras as Nylora submitted several. We piced the best of the bunch and here it is. Awesome job Nylora, prizes coming!

Here is the after

 

Here is the before

Nylora said she used the Flood Filter in Photoshop – awesome job~!

Photography by Nylora
www.BelliesAndBabiesPhotography.com
www.RealKidsBlog.com
wwwPhotographyByNylora.com

Club 21 Day Members

This past Fall our students were challenged to 21 Days of Marketing. We know that it takes 21 days to make a true habit and we had several students that were up to the challenge. The challenge was that for 21 days they had to do some type of marketing effort.

Some suggestions were:

-Talk to someone about the business, network
-work on sample materials
-updated website – portfolios – marketing materials
-ordering samples of products
-writing down ideas
-etc etc etc -

We had many step up to the challenge and we had wonderful vendors donating prizes.

Our current list of 21 Members are:

Stefanie Carlson – http://www.stefaniecarlson.com/
Lynette Bradshaw – http://www.lbradshawphotography.com/
Angela Singleton – http://www.asinglephoto.net/
Melanie Anderson – http://www.andersonphotographs.com/
Nylora Bruleigh  – http://www.BelliesAndBabiesPhotography.com
Jen Carl – http://jencarlphoto.blogspot.com
Michelle Dubois – www.michelledubois.comhttp://
Aimee Lashley – http://www.aimeelashleyphotography.com
Jessica Mezzadri –  
Brunilda Monnig – http://www.brunilda.me/ www.michelledubois.com
Chris Leiter – http://www.teenybeanphotography.com Shelly
Shelly Hood www.bragaustralia.com.au

And many of our photographers are still working on their 21 days -
Rebekah Pope – http://www.rebekahpope.com/

$50.00 certificate from Wild Sorbet
Press cards, accordion books and a standout from CPQ
Of course mama gowns from Thredz

Student Challenge Winners – Angles

Our angles challenge was a ton of fun. The entries were amazing. Thank goodness we had judges who could take a moment and choose. The two winners were:

Grand winner – Julie Melka – image of family shown left

Runner up – Naomi Claire

Kudos – your prizes were listed in the forum

To see the rest of the amazing images – visit the post in the forum.

 

 

 

New Student Challenge

The Textures Challenge is offically open. PLEASE READ RULES>

When submitting your images you must put in the Topic Title – YOURNAME: TEXTURES CHALLENGE

This way we can properly judge. Do not reply to others and put your image in or it won’t be judged. Do not put it elsewhere or it won’t be judged.

YOU CAN NOT BUY A TEXTURE. Sorry peeps. You have to make your own. I went around the house and photographed things the other day and they are in the forum and it was used in the pregnancy image shown to the left.

If you have tech questions such as how to do a texture, let me know.

IT NEEDS TO LOOK REAL. So make it great!!!

Read and submit to challenge.

Marketing webinar challenge

Last week we had a CM2 webinar. We had a great group and as I was tossing out marketing ideas I was surprised at how many people hadn’t done many of the items I had talked about. So I threw a challenge out there.  The challenge was to implement or create one of the ideas that I mentioned in the webinar. They had to email me within a week. Two stepped up to the challenge and each person won a diaper cover of their choice.

Congrads to the following marketing challengers who stepped up!

Aimee Lashley
www.aimeelashleyphotography.com

Challenge product – mama cards

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