Mini Sessions are such a great way to quickly update your photos — family photos, couples photos, head shots, etc! I’ll have two locations to choose from — urban or natural. Contact me for times and to set up your mini-session (see details below)!

See previews of past mini-sessions here.

A big thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway to win a free session and prints! It was a big one for sure and will probably only happen once a year at the most! So thank you for participating! And remember, if you didn’t win, you still receive $50 off your session fee if you schedule a session before July 1, 2010. So send me an email or give me a call to set that up!

And the lucky winner is…

Congratulations, Jessica! And congratulations on the baby arriving this month too. So exciting! Good timing on some updated family photos since you’ll have a new member soon!

Oh. My. Goodness. Can I just say, I am incredibly jealous of this family’s photos. You hear that, Ginger? It’s not fair! I absolutely adore all of them for different reasons, including all the ones from Part One that we did indoors. And even better news for them? These aren’t even all of them! They have even more to choose from in their gallery.

Let me take a few minutes to talk about my sessions, something I’m sure I’ll probably say again on this site because they’re just things I feel strongly about. I want to say it here though because they’re all visible in this one shoot.

1 Creativity. Before each of my sessions, I set aside time to brainstorm just for that session. I think and think and think, and I come up with new things for each family. One thing that really sets me apart from a lot of family photographers — even a lot of on-location photographers trying to do what I do — is that I hate using the same location twice. So far, I have yet to do that. I also don’t have a lot of go-to poses I run all of my clients through. I think about your family individually and come up with new ideas just for you. I don’t want any of my clients’ photos to look just like another clients’ photos.

2 Spontaneity. While I spend a lot of time planning for my sessions and show up with ideas in mind, I don’t let that stop me from catching other moments or improvising when external forces aren’t going perfectly, like the weather for the first half of this session. Whether it’s a ladybug crawling on someone’s clothes, a father comforting his daughter after she fell in the creek, a wrestling match between a mother and her son, or kids stopping to check out a dragonfly (below), I don’t want to miss it. It’s all a part of your family’s story, and my goal is to capture a story during our sessions. This is exactly why albums and books are such ideal products for my clients, so they can flip through and see their story — all the details, all the memories, all the laughs we had together during our session.

3 Perfectionism. I am a perfectionist with a capital P. I notice every tiny detail of every one of your photos. I will never forget a conversation I had with one of my clients a few weeks ago after her session. As we were chatting, I asked, “What does your husband do for a living? I was editing out a small tanline on your husband’s face from sunglasses, and while I was doing that I was wondering what his job must be.” The look of surprise on her face was priceless. There have been times I’ve had a family all set up during a session, looked through my camera, noticed something wasn’t right, and said, “Okay, let’s move over here. This isn’t going to work.” Sure, it would be easier to leave everyone there and pretend nothing’s wrong, but I wouldn’t be able to stand it.

While I never think to myself, “I’ll just fix this in Photoshop,” (with the exception of zits and scrapes and things I can’t fix with my camera) I am a perfectionist when I edit my clients’ photos as well. You have no idea how I agonize over every photo. Although it would save me a lot of time, I don’t just run everyone’s photos through standard or purchased Photoshop actions. Each one is scrutinized and dealt with individually.

And it’s pretty much guaranteed that after I post photos here or in your gallery, I’ll go back through, fix something minuscule no one will ever notice but myself or another photographer with an acutely sharp eye, and re-upload it without anyone being the wiser. If it winds up in your final photos, it was meant to be there. I am insanely critical of my own work, which I hope I never lose because it means I get better with every single shoot. The day I find a photographer who’s as much of a perfectionist as I am and remotely in my price range is the day I can actually have family photos taken of us. It’s a blessing and a curse, I suppose.

4 Fun. People always tell me that my clients look like they’re having fun in their photos. That’s because they are. I don’t think most people realize how many technical and creative thoughts are constantly cycling through my brain throughout their entire session for all the laughing and joking and running after children I do. But I also know when to step back and shut up — sometimes I don’t want to interrupt a child playing or a romantic moment. One of my favorite moments from this session was hearing Ginger and Paul say as they were sitting underneath the tree, “This is really relaxing.” How many people describe getting family photos as relaxing?? I considered that mission accomplished.

5 Professionalism. I handle my business very professionally. I provide my clients with luxuries that they won’t get with part-time, on-the-side, cheap photographers. Everything offered and delivered to my clients are of the highest quality, no expenses spared — from my welcome packets to boutique packaging on orders to unparalleled quality of prints and products from professional imaging labs that don’t work with the general public. At the same time, I do not nickel-and-dime my clients with hidden fees that they’ll be surprised by when they receive their invoices. I want my clients to feel spoiled, not only with beautiful final images but with their whole experience working with me as their photographer.

Having said all that, you do not want to miss out on my current giveaway of a photography session, one 8×10 print, and two 5×7 prints. You only have a few days left, and it’s a $250 value! This opportunity really won’t come along too often, so don’t pass this up!

Want some more good news? I’m offering you more opportunities to get your name added into the drawing even if you’re already entered. Write a blog post about me and my photography before noon on Tuesday linking to this post AND the giveaway post and get your name added TWO more times into the drawing. Make sure you leave a comment on this post with a link to your blog post.

This is big one, people. This means that you could potentially have your name entered FOUR times – once for a comment, once for a Facebook link, and two for a blog post linking to this post and the giveaway post. Umm…yeah, that will increase your odds by quite a bit! Good luck! I can’t wait to see who wins!

Well, hello there, daughter of mine. What do you have there?

Hey!

Put those cookies down!

Don’t even think about doing what I think you’re thinking about doing….

Okay, fine you can look at it, but don’t you dare eat those!

……hey!…….

Oh, fiiiiiiiine. How could I be mad at a face like that??

Okay, enough about my fattening grocery store impulse purchases and the cute baby who’s sneaking them behind my back… now on to the exciting news for you! Welcome to my first giveaway post!

Leave a comment on this post below to win a free full session + one 8×10 print + two 5×7 prints with Shannon Hunt Photography. Update your own family photos and capture this moment in your lives or give it to someone you love as a thoughtful gift!

PLUS! If you don’t win, you still earn $50 towards your next full session just by entering this giveaway!* Woo-hoo!

Now for all the fun rules, details, and disclaimers.

Rules, Details, and Disclaimers:

• Giveaway covers the session fee, one 8×10 print, and two 5×7 prints only. All other prints and products can be purchased separately.
• Session must be redeemed by July 1, 2010.
• Enter once by commenting on this post (only one comment per person).
• Enter again by updating your Facebook status about this giveaway (if posted multiple times, only one post will count toward a second entry in this giveaway) (see instructions on how to do this specifically below).
• Session can be redeemed within 120 miles of Temple, TX (including most outskirts of Austin and Dallas, TX).
• Giveaway will end next Wednesday, May 5th, at 11:59 PM and the winner will be chosen at random.

How to Enter with Facebook:

• First of all, make sure you “Like” Shannon Hunt Photography.
• Click this icon:
• It will bring up a new page with a status update and a link back to this post. Before you post it, be sure to change the privacy setting (the lock at the bottom) to ‘Everyone’. Also, tag my page by typing the @ sign and beginning to type Shannon Hunt Photography (then select it from the list), and write a message about this limited time giveaway. (This allows me to verify the entry even if we haven’t become personal Facebook friends yet.)
• Then post it and come back here to leave a comment saying you told your Facebook friends about the giveaway!

Crystal clear? Good! Good luck to you! On your mark, get set, GO!

*(This discount is non-transferable, cannot be used with any other promotion or giveaway, and also expires July 1, 2010.)