Photog Friday: Love Birds and a Giveaway!

April 15, 2011

People often wait until special occasions to book a photo shoot. Although I think that is VERY important, I think it is equally important to do keepsake annual shoots. Imagine a bookshelf full of professional albums – one for each year of your life. Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to look through your life and have the ability to share your memories with children and grandchildren? Life isn’t all about the big events, it is about the “in-betweens”, the tiny moments, the relationships you have made along the waythat help define who you are today.

This week I had the privilege to shoot a couple that I am growing increasingly close to. I first met Becca at my church almost a year and a half ago. She is part of the reason why I look forward to attending church each Sunday. Her voice is amazing and anyone who attends CenterPoint Church is fortunate to hear her lead our worship team with her God given talent. About eight months back we noticed a very quiet, but confident man showing up with her at church. And, as the weeks and months passed we would come to know Dave (and all the creative talents that exude from his pores) more and more. Dave and Becca have the original Nintendo game system to thank for bringing them together. Although their paths crossed many of times because of mutual friends, the sparks didn’t fly until Becca was able to help Dave by finding a functional Nintendo console. They instantly clicked over a game of Mario Brothers, and have been a couple ever since.

Giveaway

In celebration of the in-between and very important small moments of your life, I would like to do a giveaway. The giveaway is a one hour session with digital rights to 30-40 edited pictures for a total value of $200.00! Here are the rules:

– Giveaway photo session must be used in Delaware, Maryland,or Virginia and can be used for a family, engagement, maternity, newborn, bridal, trash the dress, or portrait session.

–1st step: become a follower or a facebook fan by hitting the “Follow” button or the “Like” button on the sidebar

–2nd step: Enter your name by commenting on the blog post (on the comment link below) and by telling me about a moment in your life that has brought you great joy that you would love to have captured in memory forever.

-Once I have at least 25 comments, the contest has begun. So send this link to as many friends and family that can enter according to the entry locations stated above.

-Winners will be announced on next Photog Friday post and my facebook link two weeks from now, provided we have atleast 25 entries.

-Winner can book a session any time within a year of the winning announcement

-People who have already booked a session with me for 2011 cannot use their winnings toward their current session, but if they win, I will extend the expiration date for use of an additional session

Happy Friday!

+ COMMENTS

add a comment

jpennjr says:

April 15, 2011 at 1:16 pm

First of all, I love the Dave and Becca pics! They are a pretty cute couple to begin with, but you did an excellent job with the shoot! What a talented friend I have! Now, as per your instructions, here is a moment that brought me great joy (there are so many that, to keep it simple, I chose one from today). Most mommies would tell you that the moment they first held their newborn baby- looked into his eyes, touched his cheek, kissed his lips, smelled his head- brought her great, almost indescribable, joy. And I am no different. That moment, for me, will be forever burned into my memory. But that newborn baby is now an almost 8 year old boy. His eyes are rarely looking for mine, his cheeks are often crusty, his lips would choose a lollipop over a kiss from me any day, and his head is usually pretty sweaty. And as much as I would love to just hug, and hold, and kiss and love all over him, he just isn't into those warm and fuzzy things. Well, this morning I visited my boy in school for recess and lunch. He barely noticed me on the playground, and spent most of the lunch period being silly and showing off in front of mommy and friends. Typical behavior for these sorts of school visits. It was time for his class to line up and return to the classroom, and therefore time for our visit to end. I bid him goodbye with a casual side hug, so as not to embarrass him, and reminded him that I would be picking him up after school. I walked across the lunchroom, towards the exit as he headed off to the end of the line. Then I heard it, "Mommy, wait!" I looked up to see him running over to me, throwing his arms up in the air. What a surprise!!! I received a great hug, got to kiss his head (sweaty as it was), and say one last sweet goodbye. A moment of true unexpected joy in the middle of an otherwise frustrating day! What a gift it was!!!

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Shannon0921 says:

April 15, 2011 at 6:18 pm

The pictures are just gorgeous!

Although there are many moments in my life that have brought me immense joy, one that has recently brought me a true sense of peace is having you re-enter my life. I have learned more about myself in the past 6 months than I have in the past 10 years….all thanks to your friendship and watching you and Steve and finding a true understanding to something I could never before find. Because of that, I have been able to take more true joy from the other aspects of my life than I ever knew possible…not only in my husband and my sons, but in myself.

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Arianne says:

April 16, 2011 at 5:35 pm

You continue to amaze me, Stacy. Great job! One of the momements that I will always cherish is a beach trip with my brother and his friend, Brett. We went to Queso Island (inside joke) over my spring break. It was one of the happiest times of my life that I will never forget. If only I could do it over again.

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Amy says:

April 16, 2011 at 10:11 pm

So, while I was trying to figure out which amazing moment I wanted to post, I went back and re-read the 1st paragraph of your blog. I deceided to change it up a bit and write about an amazing moment NOT caught on film. A big, special, once in a lifetime moment. I was reading about how many people save professional photo shoots for the "big" occasions, instead of trying to capture all the in between times that really make up our every day lives. I definetly agree, and one of my biggest regrets is not getting our family's picture done at least once a year. In fact, until recently, we had not had a family photo taken since my oldest son (now 9) was a year old.

My biggest regret though, is not having a single photograph of the day me and Jon got married back in 1998. It was only planned 24 hours in advance and we literally wore shorts, tee's, and flip flops. It was at the justice of the piece, and I walked down the isle (aka, hallway) to a tape (not cd) version of here comes the bride. It was cheesy, and only about 10 minutes long, but it was the day I got married. Married, bound to this other person forever and as much as I can
remember that day like it was yesterday, I don't have anything to look
back on. We did renew our vows 10 years later and I have beautiful photographs to look back on, but its just not the same. I wish I had something to show our kids and future grandkids. They could laugh because we look so silly in our flip-flops while getting married, and at how absolutely petrified we looked (we Were only 18 afterall). And then they would turn up their noses and say ewwwww at how absolutely in love we look.

So for me, I guess this is more about how right you are in just how precious and important these pictures are. All of them too, not just the professional ones. I really hope you get a lot of response on this contest. I know there are a lot of people our there who would love to get professional pictures of their family but maybe can't pull off the expense at the moment. This is really very generous of Stacy. But then again, I wouldn't expect anything less. :)

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Amy says:

April 17, 2011 at 7:03 am

And I definetly typed that on my iPhone as you can probably tell. Justice of the piece? Sorry… Peace. And for any other glaring spelling mistakes :)

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Katie says:

April 17, 2011 at 3:44 pm

When I first thought of a moment that I wish I had more pictures of the first moment that came to mind was when Kaylee was born. She was the first baby that I was actually able to hold after delivery and those first moments of bonding were so incredibly special. I did not realize what I had missed with Drew and Nate until I had those moments with Kaylee. I will never forget the way my heart melted as she laid on my chest. I will never forget the look in my husbands eyes as he fell in love with his baby girl and the tears of joyed I cried!
But then I thought of just last month when I surprised Drew by showing up at his school to have lunch with him. As I waited in the hallway for Drews class to come to the lunch room I wondered if he would even notice I was there… but he did and the look of of excitement and love on his face when he saw me I will hold forever captured in my heart. His eyes lit up and his smile was so big! He ran to me and gave me a big hug and said "I was hoping you would surprise me for lunch". I know that he won't always want mommy around at school for lunch so I will take in every moment of that I can capture now!

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danellel says:

April 17, 2011 at 6:26 pm

I remember walking into a friends house and seeing the beautiful and touching collage that u had created. One of the photos actually brought me to tears and it was one that didn't contain adoring eyes or happy smiles….it was just the innocence and love of two children holding hands…from that point I have been a fan of your work. You had asked what memories we would have liked to capture but hadn't the opportunity, I would have to say a family portrait of my mother and I. I moved from connecticut to maryland about 11 years ago and at that time left my best friend. We had never had a picture taken together and with the distance between us it is difficult to do now. I know we are not getting any younger and a picture like that would let me hold onto our memory of being best friends. Anyway, I look forward to seeing new pictures and a chance to maybe seeing you in the future. Thanks danelle

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Denise T. says:

April 18, 2011 at 8:00 am

First, I love you blog and your photos (but you know that), you are very talented. When I log onto your blog every time I remember why we were friends so long ago. Your true personality comes out in your writing and pictures and it’s a fabulous one. That along with the emotions that I have experienced while reading and viewing are the reason why I visit at every chance. I love the idea of capturing a memory forever – these days it seems like our little ones are growing up so fast and as soon as I try to commit one Eddie-ism to my forever memory bank he comes up with another crazy adorable twist. I have tried for a few days to come up with just one of these memories that I would never want to lose and I just have too many to commit. Rather than go into all of the little things I decided to go with our favorite mommy/Eddie time activity. We dance and sing. In the car, in the house, in the front yard, while cooking dinner, even in the grocery store… It’s something that is for us and while others join us sometimes most of the time they just look on and laugh at the hilarity of our antics. I never want to lose the closeness that I feel with him at those moments. One of my favorites is in the car, I look back at him while stopped at a red light and he grabs my hand and wants to dance and sing to whatever is on the radio. The joy in his eyes is astounding; it grounds me, makes me the happiest mommy in the world, and makes me thank God for everyday we have together.

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Darcy says:

April 18, 2011 at 9:59 am

Ah! I wrote a comment yesterday and it's not showing up… was on Dave's computer so I must have done something wrong… I'll try to recreate it today.

So in honor of you and the theme of your blog, my joyful moment is one from our friendship.

The day of your wedding, just moments before you were supposed to get married, you were a little frantic. Not cold feet or anything… just overwhelmed, nervous about remembering/saying your vows, dealing with lots of people and details, etc… I remember sitting in your bedroom at the beach house, just us, and we started practicing how you were going to sign your married name and talking about all the reasons you loved Steve. We've had so many joyful moments in our 13 years of being best friends. We've lived together, worked together, went to school together, cried together, laughed together, celebrated milestones and mourned each others heart aches. But that moment – just us – remembering what the day was really about – remembering what LIFE is really about – was one of my all-time favorite memories of us.

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Erratic Dawn says:

April 19, 2011 at 9:17 am

I am tearing up over all of these moments that people are talking about – I had no idea that I could show up at Derek's school (when he finally goes in a year and half!) to have lunch! What a great moment to capture – and to have in the future.

Thinking about my own life, I love my children and I whip out the camera as often as possible (or the iPhone if I've forgotten the camera). But there is a severe lack of family pictures. I wish I could capture more moments of all of us (but someone is usually behind the camera) besides at Christmas.

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StacyHartPhotography says:

April 19, 2011 at 10:22 am

Roxanne contacted me and said she was having issues commenting- she sent me the comment on my facebook page so I told her I would paste it into an entry on here.

we have so many wonderful things to be thankful for, I think the place jeff and I always start is the day we saw our son walk off the plane at Ft. Bragg, carrying the flag, tears stream down my face as I even type this. he had been gone for 16 months, and to finally see him and to see him carrying the flag for the entire plane, no words can describe. of course on an airforce base you can not take pictures of the plane, but I must admit I did sneak 1 or 2. Six weeks later to watch our second son come home!! to get off the plane, to have his brother there waiting in that hanger as well! to have our family all together for the first time in 18 months. home safe!! then to watch them both be married to two amazing women, standing in front of us all in there very gorgeous dress blues! amazing!! But today! All I can say is God Bless!! For how often are two brothers serving in the Army stationed within 30 miles from home? and two Army Reservist wives all stationed right here, so rare and so treasured. we were able to be there when our grand daughter came into this world, watched her take her first breath, and now we are about to celebrate her first birthday, as a Military family we miss so many things, so many holidays, birthdays, special moments, and soon they will go away again, but for now!! our special moments are for sure our family time.. we never know what the next week, next month, or next year will bring, we live for today!! God is Good!!!

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Elizabeth says:

April 19, 2011 at 12:01 pm

I have been lucky enough to stumble across the best friends a girl could ask for! I think it would be wonderful to document the love, laughter, happiness, and sillyness that is my relationship with my best friends! While it might be a little different from your other shoots with families and newly engaged couples, I think we'll still be able to expose the love of friendship through film :)

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Devon says:

April 20, 2011 at 11:48 am

I love stacy's work including the pics she took of Harley… i wish she had been doing weddings when we got married in October.. For me one of our most incredible moments was not caught on film..actually there are two.. One is the night that jason proposed to me.. We have pics from right before and right after but none during and i wish I had some to remember the look on both of our faces. the second moment is the toast that my dad gave at our wedding. He spoke about how we were becoming a real family by joining in marriage.. He told me he was proud of me and he told jason that he was a lucky man, but not because he was marrying me. He told him he was a lucky man bc of the little boy that calls him Daddy. See my Dad knows a little something how that feels.. He and my mom met and were married shortly after I turned 3. so my dad has been in jason's shoes.. not a dry eye in the house…

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Jennifer says:

April 21, 2011 at 8:35 am

Hi Stacy!! My sister reminded me to enter the contest…so here I am!

I think that my most memorable moment has actually not occurred yet. I think that moment will be after I give birth to my baby boy in August. I cannot wait to hold him with one arm and hug my daughter with the other, with my husband looking on in pure admiration for the beautiful family God has given us. At that very moment I will know that my family is complete. I don't think there is any greater blessing in life then your children, and I can't wait for the Russ Family to be complete!

Oh, and I'm sure I will be in touch to have you take some newborn/new family pictures thi fall :)

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nidena says:

April 25, 2011 at 4:32 pm

I think the best moment to capture on film that has never happened and may not ever any time in the near future either, would be one with my children and my mom. When I gave my son up (OMG, nearly 17 years ago), she said it was too difficult for her to handle and she was in and out of my hospital room in about ten minutes. Even when my daughter (who is now nine and whom I had for the family who adopted my son) was born, she didn't really acknowledge it. She has slowly come around and will listen to me talk about them and their family but I don't think they'll still be children when she does finally meet them. A family photo with my whole family–mom, dad, stepmom, bro, his kids, me and my kids–that would be awesome!

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Clarissa Jane says:

April 25, 2011 at 4:42 pm

first of all, i am loving the photography! stacy, you are so talented!

secondly,i think the moment in my life that brought me the greatest amount of joy is when my cora jane cried for the first time. i had an extremely difficult labor and cora and i were having difficulties, so the doctors finally decided to pull her out with forceps. i was terrified she may be injured. when she came out, all i say was a purple, floppy baby and i just knew she hadn't made it… but she was fine. luckily she hadn't swallowed the meconium (as they thought she had), they sucked her lungs and she cried. it was the most wonderful sound in the world, the most wonderful feeling in the world and the most wonderful moment of my life. i couldn't stop myself from crying. i wouldn't exchange that memory or that moment with any other.

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eric's kids says:

April 26, 2011 at 7:04 pm

Oh My gosh Stacy you have alot of great post comments!! I am so blessed to have you , steve and addy apart of my life at church when I get to come haha!

My special moment in my life has 3 parts. ! is when i was down at my low point in life, God brought Clara into my life, she also brought alittle man into my life Zachary my now 17 year old son was around 1 1/2 years old then, he blew me away with his love for me, even though he is a teenager and we have our moments I still check on him when he is sleeping and have stayed with him over night in the hospital. Clara said she gave me her and zach on April 8th as a birthday gift and also for me not to forget our anniversary ( 4/8 and birthday 4/9 ) Wives are really smart! : )to complete my love for my family Clara and I had Jared 1/15/06 and Lorena 8/2/07 they were both NICU babies and yes made me cry like a baby the day they were born! : ) God has taught me alot the past 16 1/2 years with Clara and 11 years married, and I am still amazed how I still learn , grow and stumble today. being a father and husband has been great and alot to learn day in and out being that my childhood was was full of neglect and abuse, so the Gift of being a father and husband has been about alot of prayer, beig humble and learning from my mistakes and and God Gave me a Wife with alot of patience sometimes worn thin when i stumble but still manages to love me and support even when times are rough, my job closing in baltimore, bills , stress, life! Clara gave me a homemade card for our 11 year anniversary this past April 8th, saying 11th years say alot and it was a tough road for both of us and that she appreciated my day in and day out back breaking hard work that helps her be a stay at home MOM for our 3 children. When Clara and I have a quiet moment before I fall asleep next to her after a 16 hour day, just the quiet calm in that moment I see my babies being born, kissing zach's first boo boo, me crying as she walks down the aisle on our wedding day, that small moment makes every sweat and tear all better and I am ready to create a new day and thanking God for my wife and kids, friends at church and Damon and Michael. My attitude when my day begins is who can I smile at to make someone having a bad day better….. you are all in my daily prayers to and from work as I jam to reach fm 89.1/97.1 God Bless – Love Eric Tripoli

To the World you may be just one person,
But to one person you might just be the world!

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G Family says:

April 27, 2011 at 9:23 am

So since I am a mommy of 2 and have a fabulous hubby…its hard to pick one moment so I'm going with an overall theme of I AM SO BLESSED!!!! This past year has been one of the most difficult in my life and so far 2011 has made up for all of the difficult times of 2010! I have a devoted hubby, a healthy spunky little girl, and a baby boy that I am ABSOLUTELY IN LOVE WITH!!!!! God has been SO good to us through the bad and during the good!

This summer Kris and I are calling it the summer of…get back to our pre-Miyah healthy selves :) SO we had already decided that by September we plan to be back to it…so look out Stacy Hart- you will be photographing some HOT parents this fall! LOLOLOL!!!

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StacyHartPhotography says:

April 28, 2011 at 7:02 pm

This one is from Toni Loper (she also had problems posting) Sorry guys! I don't know how to make the commenting easier, but I know it can act up sometimes.

As I approach my 20th wedding anniversary I find that I am reflecting back
to a lot of those small moments in life that I wish I had captured, but it
is difficult to look backwards with three growing girls. I find that in the
frenzy of raising these three amazing girls I fear I might miss what they
are right now. Recently we were at a chorus concert for my eldest and I was
brought to tears by the voice she had during a duet she sang. I realized
that my girls give me so many of those moments every day, at dance, soccer,
softball and more and I just hope that I am not rushing through those times
to get to the other side and miss it.

We as parents look forward to what our kids might be some day, what
profession will they enter, will they find true love, will they be happy? A
friend of mine recently told me "to enjoy this season with kids, they grow
and change, don't miss it because you are too busy to watch them". I find
this is so true, you go from infancy and changing diapers to the teens and
running around and before you know it you are sending them out the door to
the rest of their lives. I would capture that moment, this moment, the
people we are together right now. I love my husband and my kids with all
that I am and want to remember that forever!!

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Angela C. says:

April 29, 2011 at 6:20 am

I have drug my feet until the very last minute because I am finding it so hard to pinpoint only ONE moment that has brought me great joy. My life, since I have been married, has been daily filled with great joy.

I am married to the love of my life, my soul mate, the absolute most perfect man for me. And after almost 11 years, I still love him as passionately as I did when we first married!

I have three beautiful little boys who I have the privilege of full-time mothering. While my oldest two are in school all day, my 18 month old and I spend our days playing, hugging and kissing and eating a lot! There is nothing else I would rather do in all the world than be at home with my babies! It has been the MOST fulfilling job I've ever had, or will ever have.

All of my immediate family lives close by. We are intimately involved in each other's lives and truly enjoy being together. My Mom comes over every Wednesday just to hang out with me and the boys. It's one of the highlights of our week!

I have deep and meaningful friendships that have carried me through all seasons of life so far. One friend in particular has been my rock and soul sister since high school. The relationship we share is unlike any other that I know of.

My husband, who is the pastor, and I are part of a Church that truly takes care of each other and handles the Word of Truth without compromise. We are daily encouraged by this body of believers.

My God has been so good to me! I am richly blessed in every area of my life. I am left wanting for nothing. I realize that it is not a picture that I need to capture all of the great joy I experience, but a very long and extensive video. Praise be to my Lord, Jesus Christ, from Whom all of these good things flow!

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Cara Clucas says:

April 29, 2011 at 6:40 am

I read your and Steve's blog this week about what it means to be a parent…I cried reading both yours and Steve's take on it. I totally get exactly what you both were saying. I'm sort of in that same spot again with this pregnancy. How am I ever going to love another child as much as I love my daughter? It's quite scary actually. I know from experience with my daughter that the love will definitely just appear out of no where. But I can't imagine it right now. I think our brains trick us into not believing the love and joy God can give us. Logically, we think there is only "this much" love possible and I'm already giving that to my husband. Then my daughter comes along and BAM…there's all this extra, deeper love for my husband AND my daughter that I can't explain. Now there is going to be a second child…how can God possibly let me love even MORE? In my heart I know He will. Stacy, I would LOVE for you to come capture those precious memories of our second daughter when she arrives. I love the work you did for us the first time around, I can only imagine how wonderful the pictures will be for our second blessing.

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