More of Alyssa and Matt's engagement session!

Here are some more of my favorites from my super fun session with Alyssa and Matt!













Alyssa has such an awesome smile, it's so infectous, if you see it, you'll smile too.










They literally jumped onto the train for about 3 seconds, I took some pictures, and they jumped off. I in no way suggest that you trespass on train property. :D

Two weeks!

My dear blog readers.. today marks the two week point until the end of the school semester. I'll be honest with you, it's been a tough semester. I've got one year left after this, and as my business continues to grow, my school load gets even worse! I hope to implement some things over the summer to help ensure that all my wonderful clients continue to get top notch service during the Fall semester, which will no doubt be the worst yet! But, let's not think about that yet.. :)

Two weeks from today and I'm going to be celebrating another semester over. Yay!

And just so this post is not picture-less, here is a LOL-inducing school photo of me from kindergarten I believe. First grade at the latest, but I'm pretty sure it's kindergarten.


This image is probably still copyrighted to whomever took it almost 21 years ago, but hey.. I don't know your name, anonymous school photo taking company!

Enid and Casey's Arlington Wedding with BeDazzled Photography!

First, let me say that the real rockstar for this wedding (other than the awesome Enid and Casey) was Ayesha from BeDazzled Photography! I was just honored to be able to sing backup for her during Enid and Casey's wedding.

Be sure to visit her blog post to see all the amazing photos she took!

Here's a few of my favorites from the day:


I hung out with the guys before the ladies go to the church.


Enid's mother and her sister. I just adored the amazing ensembles that everybody wore.


The beautiful Enid just before heading into the sanctuary. Down on the bottom left is her adorable grandmother and her two brothers.


Getting married!


I love ring shots.


Still love them. :)


Reception details.


A train of dancing led by Casey's Mother.


Enid and Casey dancing into the reception. I am pretty sure it'd be awesome if all couples danced in for their intro. I loved it.


Reception moments - the first dance, and the toasts. The best man pulled out a roll of paper that had all the reasons that Enid was wonderful. :)


It was a fun day full of people who loved one another - the reason I love weddings! Thanks again to Ayesha for inviting me out. :)

Ask Me! Episode One..

Welcome to the very first episode of Ask Me! Here's the first set of questions... I got some good ones!

Are you registered? I realize you don't have to be to work, but I wondered if you went that far right away.

The first thing I did was get a tax ID number. I didn’t want to be caught in a tax issue with the government, so this was official business step number one. I did do this almost immediately upon deciding I would accept money for my photography. You will want to check into the specifics of your local tax laws to know exactly what you should be charging tax on.

I didn’t actually get a DBA (doing business as) through the county until a long while later, when I was setting up a business checking account. You don’t need a DBA to operate as a business, but it is cheap and super easy to do, so don’t let the idea of having one overwhelmed you.

How did you go about setting yourself up and marketing online? I know you used a Google Ads sort of thing and a blog, but do you have a website particularly for your information and online ordering; like an e-commerce site?

This is a big question! Let me see the best way to structure it.

1. Website and blog. These are the two biggest things. I think anybody who doesn’t have a blog set up is making a big mistake. Blogs are a great way to show not only your most recent work, but show your personality as well. I have had so many clients mention things they’ve read on my blog, that they’ve connected with me on. My current website is a template from bludomain.com, and I honestly chose it because it was inexpensive and fast, two things that were important to me at the time that I set it up. I hope to make some changes to my site in the future, but with my schedule currently, I don’t have the time! My blogger is set up on blogger.com, and I’ve customized a layout to better fit what I wanted. I find it extremely easy to set up and to use.

2. I currently self-fufill all print orders from my clients. My website has a shopping cart that clients can use while viewing their proofs, and the orders are sent to me, and then I place an order with my professional printing company. There are many, MANY, options out there for print fulfillment and basically it’s ‘different strokes for different folks’. I am actually investigating a few options right now, and hope to make a change soon! I will definitely post about it once I make the switch.

3. As far as paid advertisement online, I have done very little in the scheme of things. I have dabbled a little with facebook ads, but found them to be pretty unsuccessful for me. I also advertise through weddingchicks.com, and offbeatbride.com, two sites that I felt were hand in hand with elements of what I offer with my photography style. I want to be selective in where I advertise, because I want to stay true to who I am and my art form. A large portion of my business comes from word of mouth referrals and Google searches.

How do you host your pictures? Do you have server space, or do you use a separate website? And do you use a Lightroom web function?

I do have server space. I have used godaddy.com as my hosting space for years, and I’ve always been happy with their service. I host my blogger pictures on my webspace through godaddy and I use an FTP client to upload them. I haven’t used any of Lightroom’s web functions.

To ask me a question about photography techniques or business, shoot me an email at brandi@brandithompsonphotography.com!

Roses are Pink

Kids will be kids...

So, yesterday, it was planned that I'd meet up with my awesome sister in law, her husband and their son (our adorable nephew) for some family portraits. Well, everybody was on board with this plan except Barrett. But you know, he's 18 months old, and I know how kids that age are. You just have to capture them as they are.



Barrett has like the best hair ever. I love it.


Weeee!


:D


Barrett giving mommy a kiss.


Now, honestly I would normally never keep a photo like this because there is such a bad blow out on the top of his head, BUT, it's so stinking cute and it shows you another shot of his AWESOME HAIR, which was all staticky from coming down the slide. Plus, he's my nephew, so I still like photos of him, even if they aren't technically sound. ;)


Barrett gets some air time from Daddy.


Kisses from Daddy too.


We're going to try again later on for family portraits.. so we'll see if we get lucky next time! :) I don't get tired of taking pictures of my adorable nephew, so I'm looking forward to it!

Music Video Friday - Red Hot Chili Peppers

I like a lot of RHCP songs, but this is definitely one of my favorites - and this video is super rad too.

Red Hot Chili Peppers - Otherside

Vintage Wedding Goodies

For some reason I hadn't yet visited this AWESOME blog chock full of goodies. Check it out:

http://vintageglamblog.com

It's all about sweet vintage themed weddings and has TONS, and I do mean TONS, of DIY stuff on it. I adore sweet personal touches in weddings, and this blog has lots of great ideas.

Also, you can check sites like Etsy for awesome vintage finds!


Adorable 60s wedding dress!

What about some cool 40's wedding photos from the amazing Fashion-Era website? (PS: If you've never been to this site.. check it out.. it's awesome!)

Cool photos and fashions from real 1940's weddings!

I even have a cool 60's vintage wedding gown myself, that I bought at Goodwill! I have several vintage dresses, just because I love that kind of thing. You never know what you'll find at your local thrift stores. It's fun to go exploring with a group of girlfriends and see what kind of treasures turn up!

Until next time.. :)

Happy Earth Day, and other random things.

Today is Earth Day. Although honestly, shouldn't we be remembering to cherish and protect our planet EVERYDAY? I think we should. :)

You can find the official Earth Day site HERE if you're interested.

Speaking of the Earth, today is supposed to be 87 degrees. It's about time for swimming pools and snow cones. What's your favorite thing about summer?

And, lastly, here's a random picture of Dante:


Awww, isn't he cute?

Have a happy hump day!

2009 FGI Dallas Career Day Fashion Show

Friday was the 2009 FGI Dallas Career Day. Once a year fashion majors from all over the country gather to go to seminars and then watch a fashion show at the end. Of course, I took some pictures, but just a few. I thought I'd share a few I liked.

I took all of these sitting down quite a distance from the stage, hence the heads in the pictures. ;)





This was made by one of my friends at school, she actually won a big prize for it.








This was also made by a friend at school. Take a guess at what it's made of! :)


I have an absolute jam packed last few weeks of school. If I take time to get back to you about an email, please forgive me.I am not taking anymore bookings for dates between now and May 17th, unless I've already offered you a date in that period. I am almost completely full for May weekends as is, I believe I have May 31st open and that's about it.

Hope everybody out there is doing well!

You ask... I'll answer!

Okay, I regularly get emails from people asking me how I do something in particular; camera settings, photoshop questions, and more. I also get a lot of requests for mentoring. Unfortunately, right now that's really not something I have time for, as much as I'd love to! My schedule is crazy. But, I would love to do some Q&A for those people who have been emailing me questions.

If you have a question for me - anything you want - just send me an email with your question and I'll include it in a future post.

Engaged: Alyssa and Matt are ready to rock!

Actually, they already rock. They rock my crazy printed socks right off. Today we shot their rad-tastical engagement session and there are so many favorites it's hard to choose what to post first. Here's a few of my favorites, with more to come!



Too cool for school.


Willing to risk having their eyes gouged out by rouge branches for the right shot, that's pretty darn awesome in my book. Thank goodness, we all left with our eyes intact.


Supermodels? I think so!


Children, hide your eyes!


So sweet.


This one just speaks to me for some reason.


Pretty as a .. oh wait.. :)


The most wintastical shot in the history of ever.


Awesome ring + awesome shoes + random mirror = This shot.


Alyssa and Matt are so hot they can make your head explode.


It's a beautiful day.


I had a blast with you guys today and I've got lots more goodies coming soon! I can't wait until the wedding in September.

Adopt Cats and Kittens in Dallas, Plano, Allen, McKinney,TX

Today I actually had a little time to go out and shoot the rescue kitties with the North Texas Cat Rescue! It'd been a little while since I'd been able to go out there, since I've been so busy. They had quite a few kitties up at the PetSmart in Allen for me to photograph. As always, they are the sweetest group of kitties you've ever seen! Gorgeous to boot.

Anastasia

Look at those amazing eyes!

Penelope

I found Penelope to be very unique looking with pure white fur and yellow-green eyes.

Sam

You can tell Sam and Penelope look very similar, except Sam has amazing blue eyes!

Butter + Scotch

This is Butter, wanting very much to jump down on the floor, but he was denied. :)


Scotch was less interested in going anywhere.


Two cute kitties together.

Blu

Blu was an adorable little guy..

Riley

His sister Riley was also adorable.


Blu and Riley together.

Raisin

Raisin has glamorous long hair, which I always love (not that I'm bias.. ).

Jewel

Jewel was a sweetheart but wasn't too keen on coming to the edge of the cage, so I just let her hang out where she was comfortable.

Milo

One of my faves for today - isn't he gorgeous?

Bradley

Sweet Bradley.

Ashton

I always LOVE black kitties, they're so sophisticated.

Molly

Molly was a playful kitten, here she is being cradled by one of the volunteer's sons who was helping me out. :)

Gizmo

I was totally head over heels in love with Gizmo today. I was so tempted to smuggle him out in my purse, but of course I didn't. Look at that baby cat fuzz and sweet pink tongue!


Gizmo playing in my lap. So sweet.


If any of these kitties strike a note with you, be sure to contact the North Texas Cat Rescue to talk about bringing them home!

As I was there photographing the kitties, one kitty, Michelle, was being adopted by a very excited little girl and her Daddy. Here's a picture of the new happy family: