Hello Everyone! After a pretty chilly Chicago weekend we’re finally back in the office answering Emails and returning phone calls. Although it’s bright and sunny outside right now, I can still feel the chill through the window as I work! Bring out those heavy jackets, scarves and hats! And maybe the gloves too…

We’ve got some important information for everyone to take in as the holidays are literally right around the corner, the weather is changing and ringing in 2009 isn’t too far away!

• Any remaining 2008 sessions booked for an outdoors location will still be held outdoors, weather permitted. We love, love, love photos in the snow and aren’t afraid to bring our equipment out if you’re willing to brave the cold! In the event that there is rain, heavy winds or sleet on your session day, please be prepared to have the session take place in your home. Don’t worry - we don’t take up too much space!
• Precious Things Photography will no longer be offering digital files of any kind to our clients due to an unfortunate occurrence of copyright infringement which was brought to our attention. We will provide, upon request, 3 digital files with our studio watermark for use on the internet in a non-printable size to our clients. Reproducing copyrighted work without the consent of the photographer is a no-no and editing copyrighted work without consent of the photographer is an even bigger no-no. We aren’t just photographers because we love cameras. We’re photographers because we love the art form…And we must protect our art.
• As everyone knows, we are smack-dab in the middle of our busiest season of the year. We are booked throughout the remainder of 2008 and have begun booking sessions for 2009, when new and exciting things are taking place around here. Please allow a minimum of 24-48 business hours for a reply from Precious Things Photography after contacting us to ensure that we have received your message. 
• And one more thing! If you’ve been watching the news or reading the newspaper, you know that there are some pretty icky viruses going around. If your child or any family member who is supposed to be present for the photo session is ill, even with a common cold, please contact us immediately to reschedule your photo session. 

We see Miss C every three months or so to take photos for her first year album and we’re surprised each and every time by how big she’s gotten! We last saw her at six months and although that adorable little face is the same, she’s turning into quite the little girl. Watching her clap made me so happy and that smile…Oh, that smile!

Look at that tummy. Seriously. Mr. L is the cutest little Santa I’ve ever seen. When we photographed him as a newborn, we couldn’t believe how aware he was of his surroundings. And now, just a few months later, Mr. L is a flirty little man who just loves the camera. We hope that he keeps this belly for awhile!!

During the month of October, Precious Things Photography elected to be involved in Family Portrait Month benefitting Operation Smile through PPA Charities. A portion of each session fee from each session booked was to be donated to this cause…But we took it one step further - we also donated a percentage of all sales from each of those sessions.

We are incredibly proud to announce that Precious Things Photography raised a substantial amount of money for Operation Smile through PPA Charities and will be recognized at the Imaging 2009 convention taking place in Phoenix in January during the PPA Charities Celebration Event!

Thank you to all of our clients who booked their sessions during the month of October. Without your participation, we would not have been able to donate to this incredibly important cause. 

Welcome to the world, Baby G and Baby M! We were so, so, so, SO excited to finally meet you both and cannot believe how gorgeous you are. It’s pretty rare that we have the opportunity to photograph our brand new friends at the hospital which makes it even more exciting. Can the both of you even believe that you’re finally here? Of course you can’t. Thank you to Baby G for finally allowing me to experience what happens when you change a baby boy’s diaper and forget to cover his boy parts…

I absolutely love meeting new friends…So when I was introduced to Miss D, I was pretty excited! I had so much fun watching her grab at her plastic golf clubs, look up at me and say “Golf!” … And I had even more fun when we brought her outside with us. Why? Her comfort level immediately skyrocketed and watching her have fun made me have fun! I can’t say that I’m jealous of her bubble eating…Because I’m not. But I’m sure that if I were her age, I wouldn’t have even noticed the difference.

2008 was the first year that Precious Things Photography entered any type of photography competition and we’re proud to announce that we’ve been the recipient of five (yes, 5) award titles…Including the two above that we were awarded as of last night in the WPPI 2008 8×10″ competition. They haven’t released the total number of entries as of yet, but considering the fact that it’s an international competition, two Accolades of Excellence titles are a pretty big deal! 

Meet the twin pack: Miss G and Mr. C! These two little ones are absurdly cute…Especially when they decide to become cranky at the exact opposite times! They have one of the cutest nurseries we’ve ever seen, one of the most well-organized closets we’ve ever seen, and two parents who dote over them like it’s nobody’s business. If they were ours, we would too…Many thanks to Miss G and Mr. C for allowing us to stuff them into boxes, lay them naked on the hardwood floor and shove them into the bottom of a grandfather clock. This was one of the first sessions in awhile where there were no poopy or pee-pee accidents. Talk about well-mannered little ones, huh?

IMPORTANT STUDIO INFORMATION!

During one of our busiest seasons of the year it is important to keep everyone up-to-date on our timelines. If you haven’t already read this post, definitely do so to get some basic information. But to add…

Today is an office day and we are so happy about that. It’s windy and chilly outside and we’re glad to be in the warmth, watching the trees sway out of the window! We are currently going through and responding to our 100+ emails from this weekend, in addition to returning phone calls. If you are waiting on a response from us, don’t worry - it’s on the way! 

Nothing makes us happier then when kids get all goofy in front of our cameras. As a matter of fact, we look forward to that moment during every single session when the kids finally let loose and we capture photos like the second one above. Meet Mr. J…Adorable big brother to Miss K, featured in the previous post. He loves his trains, he loves finding squirrels running on the ground and he loves his Teddy Grahams. We loved pulling him away from Mom and Dad for a few minutes to play on the wall, being careful not to step in the mosquito puddle. Now Mr. J…We’re not posting the amazing picture of you scratching your tushy on the internet because we don’t want to embarrass you when you’re a teenager. But we’ll be sure to give that photo to Mom and Dad to show your future girlfriends…