First, some old business: I have a couple of orders that were placed recently that have come in and will be delivered this weekend. Holidays really mess with my schedule. Be looking for an email from me to set up a good time for delivery. Also, if you had a portrait session this year and want to order any additional prints, please let me know right away. This weekend I start archiving all of this year’s client galleries. I will waive the re-upload fee now through Sunday, January 2nd for those who want to place an order. Your gallery will be available to you for one week, and I must have your order in that time period. Call or email me as soon as possible!

Good news! I finally have a working answering machine on my home phone. I hope that everyone has been using my business number (308-1567) which has voicemail that works. If you have tried my home number in the past few weeks (592-2356) and have left a message, I haven’t received it. But I got a new phone for Christmas and everything should be good on both numbers now! Also, I have a couple of emails that I need to return, but I am forcing myself to be truly on vacation this week, so I will get back to you after the first of the year.

New items of note: Those of you who have been following this blog for a while know that in 2009 I did Project 365, which involves taking one picture every day for the entire year. (If you’re interested in seeing the whole year’s pictures, click here: Project 365.) I decided not to try that again in 2010, because I felt it was too much for me to handle. The pressure to come up with a somewhat interesting picture every single day was killing me. But in looking through this year’s image files, I see I have almost no personal pictures at all. A couple of soccer games, some swim meets, and the pics I took of the boys when we were in Princeton over summer vacation. Oh, and some of our new puppy. That’s pretty much it. So, in order to force myself to take more pictures of my family and my personal life in 2011, I am starting up Project 365 again. It will have a new name this year – One Frame a Day – and will have a goal of maybe 300 pictures total for the year. That way if there’s just nothing interesting to shoot on a given day, I won’t have to stress about it. I will be posting my pictures here daily (or almost daily). Feel free to leave comments. The more comments I get, the more likely I am to stick with this project!!

Scheduling: As I mentioned, I am on vacation this week. I have been thoroughly enjoying loafing around the house, reading books, watching the boys play the Wii, and eating good food. But all good things must end eventually, and I will be going back to work at school on Monday. I will also be winding up the late December orders, the book designs, and the other loose ends from 2010 next week. At that point Jen Marriner Photography will be CLOSED until April 1st. Yes, you read that right. I am closing up to give my batteries a chance to recharge and to be prepared for a great 2011 season. However, those clients who are enrolled in my Baby’s First Year plans who have a session scheduled during January, February, or March should not panic. I will still be doing those sessions. Also, I may accept a very limited number of maternity/newborn clients during those three months. But any newborn sessions must, must, MUST be held in the baby’s first two weeks. If that’s not possible, the session will have to wait till I reopen in April. Please contact me if you or someone you know might be interested in grabbing one of these few newborn spots.

Big Changes: There are a few big changes coming this year, most of which I will tell you about later on. But perhaps the biggest change will be the way in which I handle session scheduling. Because I got so overwhelmed with portrait sessions this past summer (and because I forgot how to say “No”), I am going to be limiting the number of sessions that I do each month. Over the next few weeks I will be going over my 2011 calendar and determining which dates will be open for sessions. Current Jen Marriner Photography clients will get first dibs on these dates. After they have had a chance to choose their dates, I will release the remaining session dates to everyone else. If you wish to be notified when these dates are made available, please email me and I will put you on the list.

OK, I think that’s about it for now. It’s late and I need some sleep. But I will leave you with a little look at Christmas 2010 in the Marriner house. Pictures taken with my brand-new Canon S95 point & shoot. Thanks, Mom!

I have a whole bunch of sneak peeks coming up for you today. I apologize to all of you who have been waiting so very patiently for your sneak peeks. A couple of these are so overdue that the whole galleries are almost done!

So, what’s been going on the past few weeks that I’ve been too busy to blog?

In a word… life.

This is always a very tough and very busy time of year for me. But this year has been especially difficult. I’ve learned a couple of important lessons, the most important of which is to learn to say “no.” I need to say it more often so that I don’t end up doing over twenty shoots in one month, like I did in August. It’s just too much for one person who is trying to balance family life with business life. So expect some changes in my scheduling next year. There will be fewer sessions available per month, and the dates that are available will be set at the beginning of the year.

Another change that is effective now is that I will be doing most of my Jen Marriner Photography work on the weekends, and spending less time on it during the week. This is to preserve my sanity. Now that I am back to work at my tutoring job, and now that the boys’ activities (soccer, swim team, Scouts) are back in full swing, my weekdays are just jammed full. I will still be doing editing in the evenings when I can, but emails and ordering will mostly be done on the weekends. If you have an urgent matter I will of course respond as soon as I can, but in most cases it may take a few days for me to get back to you.

Changes in my ordering system: Orders will now be placed on the Sunday following the receipt of your payment. Prints will be available for pickup or delivery on the following Saturday. Canvases, photobooks, albums, and other specialty items will take a bit longer and you will be notified when they are ready. Doing all of my ordering at one time each week will help me maintain a more orderly work flow.

In other news, I am now completely booked for the rest of 2010. If you are interested in a portrait session for the spring of 2011, please let me know and I will add you to my list. Once I have set my session dates for 2011 I will contact you so that you can pick your date.

OK, I think that’s it for now. Be looking for some sneak peeks later this afternoon. But for now, enjoy this little preview of the fall foliage…

And if you need more information on the benefit, click here: Tim Conners Benefit. You can also show your support by joining the Tug For Tim Facebook page, and by following Tim’s updates on his CaringBridge site. I hope to see everyone tomorrow at Lakeview Lanes!!

SICK!

I ended up in urgent care with severe bronchitis last week. Well, at least that explains why I’ve been coughing for over a month.

But after a round of antibiotics I’m feeling much better, and gradually digging myself out from under the mountain of work that’s accumulated. Fortunately today was my last of work at school, and I am now officially on vacation!! I got caught up on all of my emails today, and I only have one gallery left to finish. Then a few book designs, and I’m done! Just in time for the summer rush to begin.

Speaking of summer, if you are planning to schedule a portrait session in July or August, contact me right away!! I was checking my calendar earlier today, and things are booking up fast. While I still have several dates to choose from in July, there is only one remaining weekend session in the month of August! Go here to check my availability for the summer months. And please note that the website with my calendar on it is still under construction. I’ve set it up for client proofing and the calendar, but none of the galleries have been added yet.

I’ll be back soon with a couple more posts, but for now I’ll leave you with a picture of our puppy, Otto, discovering that he does NOT like to swim in our pool.

Mini Sessions: This month’s Mini Session theme is “Rock the Frock.” Have a prom dress in your closet and don’t know what to do with it? Don’t just let it hang there, let’s have some fun with it! Not sure what a Rock the Frock session involves? Well, first check out Taylor’s session from a few weeks back. Then pick a location that you’d like to rock, and give me a call! And if you want to take it beyond just rocking and into full “trash the dress” we can do that as well!

The cost of a Mini Session is just $125.00. You get a 30-minute session, 2 free gift prints (up to 8×10), and 20% off all other prints that you order. Call me today to schedule yours!

Clicks For Conners: This program has been extended for the month of June! Details of the program can be found in this post. Anyone who schedules a Rock the Frock mini session this month will automatically have 10% of their session fee and their print order donated to the Golisano Children’s Hospital. Want to help donate but aren’t interested in rocking a frock? No problem. For the month of June you can call me and let me know that you’d like a Clicks For Conners mini session. It can be any kind of session you want – family, just the kids, senior, whatever. But due to time constraints, no newborn sessions please. Contact me soon if you want to take advantage of this offer. I only have a few session dates remaining for June!

June Session Dates: To help me maintain my sanity while I get through the rest of the school year, I am going to be limiting the number of portrait sessions that I do this month. And if I find that this works well, I may do something similar next month, as I try to balance my photography work with my home life. As I mentioned earlier, the boys have a number of summer day camps that they will be involved in this year, and Mom’s Taxi Service will be working overtime!

Here is what I have available for the month of June (I will update this post as the dates are taken):
• Saturday, June 12th – 8:00am
• Sunday, June 20th – 8:00am or 5:00pm
• Saturday, June 26th – 8:00am or 5:00pm
• Sunday, June 27th – 8:00am or 5:00pm

I am not going to be starting my weekday sessions until July, with one exception: if you live in the Fayetteville-Manlius area and are interested in a portrait session the week of June 28th, please contact me. Grant will be attending MPH’s summer program that week and I will be looking for something to do while he is there. I don’t relish the idea of driving from Fulton to Manlius and back TWICE every day, so if I can book some portrait sessions in the area during that time, it would be great! He will also be at MPH the week of July 12th, so contact me if you are interested in doing something that week as well.

Gift Registry: Expecting a baby soon? Want to create beautiful portraits of that precious little one that you will cherish forever? Then you need to get on my Gift Registry! This has been a hit with expectant moms since I launched it at the beginning of the year. Call or email me for details!

That’s about all the news I have this month. I’ll end with a more personal update on the newest member of our family…

Otto: People have been asking about how our puppy has been doing lately. He is growing like a weed, and we have determined that he is going to end up being one big dog!! He is now housetrained, and he likes being in his crate, so life is pretty good. He loves having his sister living next door and they love to play together. But if for some reason he isn’t able to have his “play date” with her on a particular day, watch out! He gets very hyper and whiny. He’s also not happy when the boys get on the bus to go to school. He used to just sit and whimper, but now he totally freaks out! Running around, jumping up on the door, barking like crazy. He misses his boys during the day! Here’s a recent picture of the Otto-bot:

On this Memorial Day, please take a moment to remember who have given their lives so that we may live in freedom. I will be remembering my grandfather, Harry Powers. He survived the hell that was World War II. When it was over he came home and raised a family and lived long enough to see his great-grandchildren. He was an amazing man, and very special to me. I miss him greatly.

“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.” — General George S. Patton