my first attempt at fusion.

What is it? Fusion is an integration of video clips into picture slideshows. I think the inclusion of audio and video clips helps to elevate the photos and bring out the beautiful emotions that special day held. It just brings your photos to life!

Jay and I have recorded video at two recent portrait sessions. We used an SLR camera (just like my regular camera for photos) which not only gives crisp shots but is also less intimidating than a large professional video camera. We had a lot of fun working together at the sessions and I think the video footage will make for an amazing finished piece! I'll post fusion videos from each of them on the blog soon... stay tuned!

The fusion piece below has just a couple of video clips (snuck) at my beach session with the Zolt family a couple weeks ago. It's not one that I worked with Jay on but I wanted to try shooting video while I was also shooting photos. It's a very early attempt but I thought I'd share it anyway.

This is a start of a new direction for our studio! If you are interested in having video clips taken at your session just let us know when you book your portrait date.

Press play then pause while the video loads.

that we're mobile!

Life and Love Studio is now mobile! Access us from your iphone at lifeandlovestudio.com/mobile. Of course, there's also a link on our opening splash page at lifeandlovestudio.com.

You can view almost everything that the full site has, including your proofs!

the new interactive guest book.

The sample just came in yesterday and it looks amazing! I'm looking forward to showing it off at my next meeting :)

moving.

Actually I'm not a fan of moving but I am happy to be in our new place. We have a new home-studio in downtown St. Augustine. After lots of renovations we are finally in! We thought it would take 3 months but it ended up being 6. It was a labor of love and I'm so happy with the new location. Now we just have to get unpacked and set up.

Also since I last updated a few other exciting things have happened.

1. Jay had a big birthday! I won't say exactly how old he is (he was not excited), but I think you can figure it out. I invited some of our friends from Miami and Atlanta over for the occasion and we had a beach weekend celebration. We grilled, we boogie boarded, and before we knew it we said goodbye. But it was SO much fun!



2. We went to New York City!! It was my first time there and Jay had only been there as a little kid (doesn't count). We know two couples that live in Brooklyn and we got to spend a couple nights with each. In 5 days we got the grand tour with highlights that included: the statue of liberty, dinner at the Meatball Shop, giving and getting "keys to the city" in Times Square, hotdogs and rides in Coney Island, shopping in Chinatown, walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, a surprise Cheesecake for Jay at Betty Bakery, and lots of subway rides. We also walked our butts off! On our last day we took a bus to PA for my cousin's wedding and more fun with family. I'm including some pictures below from the NY trip... way more to come on facebook!









And on another note, I'm very excited about some new paper products I ordered for the studio tonight: Post-it notes and custom address labels. The address labels are from one of my favorite printing companies VegasColor.net. I've also used them for other mailing labels which turned out perfect. I'll post pictures when they come in. I will also post some pictures from the many family portrait sessions from this summer. So much to do, so little time!

custom wire hangers.

I saw one of these on Kara Pennington's blog. How sweet. You can buy them from the LilaFrances etsy shop.

design!

Design excites me. No, really... my heart beats faster when I see a well thought out magazine ad or when my own marketing designs come together even better than I had imagined.

Marketing materials and album design are the "finale" to my work. I just love to see the pictures come together as a final product. It makes me feel like I've created my own brightly-colored world of images.

Here is our new business card design!

This is our new gift card.

**new note** They just came in today! Here is a picture.

Wedding Wire Bride's Choice Awards

WeddingWire.com just announced that Life and Love Studio has been selected to receive the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™ for photography!

The annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ recognizes and celebrates excellence in quality and service within the wedding industry, as determined by recent reviews and extensive surveys from over 500,000 newlyweds.

This award means Life and Love Studio is among the top five percent of all vendors in the WeddingWire community, which includes WeddingWire and Martha Stewart Weddings. Awards were given to winners across 19 different service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers.

“We are excited to recognize and honor the success of the top wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community” said Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “The annual Bride’s Choice Awards™ program has given us the unique opportunity to highlight the best wedding professionals in each region as reviewed by brides and grooms who have utilized their services in the past year.”

We would like to thank our past newlyweds for nominating us for the 2010 Bride’s Choice Awards™!

For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at www.WeddingWire.com/LifeAndLoveStudio.

Our new splash page and contracts.

I am very excited about finishing the new splash page on our web site!

Also worth noting... we have new (matching) wedding photography and videography contracts for 2010. Download a copy to view our package information.

Photography Videography

Our "ugly Christmas sweater" contest entry!

Blue Water Jewelers is having a contest for the Ugliest Christmas Sweater. You are supposed to submit a photo of your husband wearing the sweater for a chance to win a $250 gift card to the store. They are going to have a vote this Thursday at their Men's Night event to determine the winner.

I searched the likely places, the Betty Griffin thrift shop and Goodwill but didn't find a single Christmas sweater! Someone suggested I look at Wal-mart and that's where I found our lovely outfit...footy PJs! I hadn't told Jay about the contest but called him from the store with a description of the ensemble to see if he would be a good sport about it. He agreed to play along. Did you know they made these for adults? It's not exactly a sweater but I'm hoping our creativity will not disqualify us.

The PJs reminded me of Ralphie in his bunny suit from a Christmas Story, so we recreated that scene from the movie. What do you think?

The Wedding Authority

The Wedding Authority is a wedding planning company located downtown in the Lightner Museum. They do it all; Sandy, Carla, and Barbara plan the events and Carla's husband Bill performs the ceremonies. They also have their own chapel, the Amore Wedding Chapel, right off the courtyard of the museum as an option for smaller wedding ceremonies.

I met Carla and Bill when I shot my very first wedding in March of 2006. Carla has a very southern accent, "Hi darlin', I'm Carla." I'm not sure that she actually said this... but I wouldn't be surprised if she had. She was so welcoming and helped me feel comfortable right away. She told me where to stand and where the wedding party would walk in from so I didn't feel lost... little did she know how nervous I felt that it was my first wedding. And Bill performed the ceremony. He has a way of commanding attention, a presence that is very fitting of a minister. His service always feels like it was made just for the couple. I teared up when this brie and groom exchanged their vows... I did this for probably the first 20 weddings I photographed. It still happens sometimes when a couple has a really personal ceremony. I'm sentimental like that.

Anyway, the folks at the wedding authority said they were redecorating their office and asked if I would like to put something up. "Mmm, yes!" So I made a collage from one of the last weddings I shot with them and had it printed nice and big. It was the first time I got to use our new logo.

Our new blog!

Jay and I are making the switch from Alison Miller Photography and Simply Wed Videography to our new, combined business name: Life and Love Studio. Soon, you will be able to find all of our information in ONE place! The new web site is in progress and I'm excited to get it online hopefully in the next month.

Since this blog will take a while to get more updates (it's a little empty right now) you can get caught up on my old blog here. Thank you for visiting!

- Alison