Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Thank you all for a wonderful year and I wish all the best blessings and joy in 2010!

Busy, busy, busy

It's been a while since I've been able to post from my sessions. I've been spinning basically since September but am looking forward to the start of 2010 with the hopes that things will slow down, will calm down, and will let me get my feet back on the ground.

December has proved to be a successful month for me and even with giving myself a deadline for pictures, I still ended up scrambling to get all my edits done. This morning I delivered my final CD for 2009 to my good friend who's be kind enough to let me photograph her adorable little girls, not once, but twice this year!

I also had an influx of baby shots which was a nice change from the usual toddler and family shots that I've been having- not that I don't like those but rather that as an artist, I crave variety and as a mom with my youngest being out of the baby stage, I also crave holding and cuddling those babies :-)

Here are a few of my favorites from this past month!

Thank you to all my clients who have helped me be successful this you! You all are awesome and I feel so blessed to be invited into your homes to capture some off these precious moments you experience with your children.

Kodak Picture of the Day- Dec 7, 2009

I was very excited to get an email from a fellow photographer telling me that my picture had been chosen for Kodak's Picture of the Day yesterday. It's an ongoing contest, open to anyone. Each day they select 1 photo to be published on their webpage. I've entered a few times but never got a response and got discouraged. This image was taken and entered back in May so it looks like I need to work on developing more patience :-)

Contest Winner #2!!

Back in September I ran my first contest with the prize being a free family photo session. I thought I would be clever and have my kids pick the winner from a hat but I have 2 kiddos and so we had to have 2 winners.

Meet the Taluskies. They came all the way from Maryland to get their photo session and they were so much fun. We ended up taking 2 days and visiting 2 parks due to lighting complications (sunset was quicker than I anticipated). They were good sports about it and I think everyone had fun.

Here are just a few of their shots!

3 and a half (almost)!

Things are beginning to pick up around here and with the kids doing well in preschool, I'm finding more time in my schedule to fit in pictures... hmm, it hasn't, however, seemed to allow for more time to clean :-)

Here are some images taken at Highland Park of my friend's little guy. He turned 3 back in July but his mom and I just haven't been able to coordinate our schedules until recently. He's just adorable and is always a lot of fun. We were able to discover some new interesting places on our little walk and I've had such a hard time picking out which shots to share. Hope you enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

Last Sunday we took the kids out to Shenot Farms in Wexford, PA to pick out pumpkins. This was our second trip out there and again, it was a lot of fun. The farm provides a hayride out to the pumpkin patch, with an apple for a treat on the way out. Then at the patch, they have cider, hundreds of pumpkins and a corn maze to keep you busy, not to mention the gorgeous scenery!

Hope you all have a safe and fun Halloween weekend!

The Milbrandts!

I had the pleasure to photograph this family for the second time. I've known mom for a few years and they are such a fun, easy-going family. Last year we visited Frick Park but this year we decided to go to Mellon Park and hit my favorite tree!

More to follow soon!

Catching Up

October started out slow and easy but quickly became chaotic. I had 3 sessions scheduled for the first week in October but had to cancel one when my stepmother became very sick and needed hospitalized. She went home to be with the Lord on October 14th and my family and I are still adjusting day by day to life without Grammie. Thank you all who expressed your sympathy and prayers for my family as we've being mourning and adjusting to this loss. Thank you especially to the Milbrandts and the Hursts who have patiently waited for their edited sessions. Photography is still an art form and as an artist it's hard to produce work while grieving the loss of a loved one.

I've been working hard this week to get caught up on all my editing before the influx of Christmas pictures begins.

Here are some images from my October sessions to give an idea of what I've been working on...

September 2009 BetterPhoto Finalist!

Congratulations! You have placed as a finalist in this month's BetterPhoto
Contest! Over 19000 photos were entered into the competition; it is an honor
to have your image selected among the top 764 finalist photos.

This is my first finalist in the People category!

Contest Winner #1 !!!

The Eisamans!

If you follow my photography on Facebook, you might recognize this name. Aimee Eisaman is a talented photographer and owner of Digital Darkroom Photography. And as photographers, we know first hand that it can be a challenge to get a family portrait. The tricky part is taking the picture while also being in it. :-) Add to that her 3 energetic little men and Dad... well, I was happy to step in and put together a family portrait for them.

Here are some shots from the afternoon!




I also snapped a couple of her and her sweetie :-)




Thank you so much for participating in the contest!

Sadie's Tree

A couple more of Sadie in the tree :-)

My Sadie-girl

As I'm sure many of you know, getting pictures of a very active 2 yr old can be next to impossible. My baby-girl is no different and being a photographer it drives me crazy that I struggle so much with getting a nice picture of my daughter. I've practically given up on trying to do an actual "photo session" with her and have just managed to get some nicer snap shots here and there. However, last week I had a couple of ideas to coax my little one into being a model for me.

#1- I put her in a tree.

Now, when I was little, my parents gave me the nickname "Monkey-woman." I apparently loved to climb and there were stories of my climbing out of my crib, up in trees and up onto my bedroom window sill. They even got me a t-shirt with the name on it. Well, looks like my daughter has inherited not only my love of climbing but also the nickname.

She absolutely had a blast being in the tree and lovingly called it her "monkey tree."

#2- I bribed her with a lollipop (and a rather large one at that)

The child adores candy and especially lollipops. What more can you say?





One final note- the last photo session I did with her was back in Mar of 2008

Playing Catch Up

It's been a rough few weeks here which has made it a real challenge trying to balance my time and I haven't been very successful at it. Hopefully things are starting to turn around and I'll be able to be back in the groove before I get hit with Christmas sessions :-)

To catch up, I just had to share a few shots that I did from a session at the end of September. These were the daughters of a really good friend of mine (known her since kindergarten) and her little girls are just precious.

If you follow Jodi Walsh Photography on facebook, these should look familiar... :-)

BetterPhoto Finalist - August 09

wow! 2 months in a row! I'm so excited and happy to share with you my finalist in the Betterphoto Monthly Photo Contest. My entry was one of 22,300 photos entered during the month of August and one of 886 finalists selected to go into the final round of judging. Professional and amateur photographers from around the world compete on this site.

Check it out!

Contest Results

So the deadline came and went and we have 2 winners! I decided I couldn't pick just one, or rather I have 2 kids and they each wanted to pick :-) Thank you very much for entering and keep checking on the blog for future updates.

*hint* Sadie's birthday comes up in Nov so there could very well be another contest on the horizon :-)


So the winners of my first give-a-way are...

Alicia Taluskie



and

Aimee Eisamen



I can't wait to get together with you all!

September Changes and Contest!

The Birthday Boy!!

Summer is ending and a new school year is beginning! There are also some changes for Jodi Walsh Photography...

As of September 1st, my session fee is increasing to $60 this price includes tax. I find it very difficult to raise prices but a necessary evil in order to make this a viable business. Thank you again for all the encouragement in this adventure!

Also September is very special to me because years ago my life thoroughly changed when I became a mom. So in honor of Caleb turning 4, I'm offering a contest for a free session! To enter, just send me a picture of whoever you want in the session through email or Facebook. Entries will be excepted from now until midnight September 9th! The winner will be chosen at random and announced on September 10th!

Oh and this contest is open for anyone (not just little kids) :-) Email pics to jmwalshphotos@gmail.com.

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Free session is not applicable to sessions already scheduled for September or October. Winner has until September 30th to schedule their free session. Prints or photo CD are not included. Locations are limited to Pittsburgh, PA, Latrobe, PA or Derry, PA. Winning entry will be published online.

Time to Catch Up :-)

Wow, August has blew by and now it's time to start school once again. These past few weeks I've been trying to keep up with all of my shooting (professional and not). In August, I got to photograph my cousin's baby girl. She has got to be one of the happiest babies ever. When she wasn't smiling, she was sticking out her tongue and blowing raspberries. Such a cutie! I was also able to get some nice photos of the family together. Amy and Kris are in the process of moving into their first home and will now have some happy family shots to decorate their walls!

BetterPhoto Finalist - July 09

I was so excited this afternoon to find that I've gotten my second finalist in the BetterPhoto monthly context. This was 1 of 21300 photos entered for the month of July and 1 of 464 selected to be a finalist!

Washington's Landing

Here are a few from yesterday's session down in this little neighborhood on the Allegheny River. The family recently moved but wanted some to capture some memories of their first neighborhood. The kids were great to work with! Lots of fun and lots of energy. Such a fun morning!