Adorable Mason and Logan

We had a blast photographing these little guys yesterday. Mason has been one of my favorite clients and he now has a new baby brother. Cuteness obviously runs in this family!

PP of WV

This weekend I had the opportunity to go to the Professional Photographers of WV's convention. It was so fun to hang out with my WV friends and hear some great speakers as well. I really enjoyed meeting David Schwartz from Springfield, VA and his buddies Sam Hughes two very talented wedding photographers.

I also learned a ton listening to Dave Junion's program on photographing high school seniors. Dave is a very energetic and creative individual whose work is so inspiring.

Perhaps the best part of the weekend was hanging out with two of my very best friends, Cheryl Campbell and Becky Homich. I love you both!

Check out our new website!

We are very excited to launch a brand new website, check it out and tell us what you think. http://www.londonwolfe.com

Craftsman Degrees

If you follow our blog you know that Tamar and I recently attended Imaging USA, a.k.a. the Professional Photographers of America's annual convention. While we were there we received our Photographic Craftsman Degrees. This is a degree earned by teaching photography to other professional photographers at PPA affiliate organizations. Tamar and I have been traveling around the country for the past two years giving programs on marketing, thus earning the merits required for this degree.

What does this mean to you, as a client? It shows you our dedication to the profession of photography. While photography is a hobby on the weekend for some people, it is a career and passion that we not only continue to study ourselves, but also share what we have learned to help other professional photographers as well.

So when you see our awards and degrees, know this: we are competing, studying and teaching photography because we want to rise to the top of this profession. We are not content to sit back on our knowlege that we possess today, but we strive to continually grow and become more creative so that our images will be powerful and unforgettable.

Five more trophies for LWP!!!

It was a great weekend for London Wolfe Photography at Triangle's winter meeting. Tamar and I took home five trophies in the folio/album competition, including first place for BEST WEDDING ALBUM and BEST WEDDDING FOLIO. Here are a few images from my wedding folio:

More Images from Sedona, AZ

Sedona

Just a few images I captured today in Sedona. It was so beautiful and the people in this area are so very friendly. We have made so many new friends. I'm too tired to write all about it, but Tamar will be posting details of our day on her blog shortly.

Itty, bitty, teeny, tiny...

And oh so sweet.

Another Super Model Party!

We had a blast with these girls today. It wasn't even anyone's birthday, just a party for fun.

Daddy and baby

During my trip to NC last week I photographed my nephew with his new baby. It was very special to photograph them and see the bond my nephew has with his son. He's a great daddy.

Einav's Birthday Party

So this was our first Super Model Birthday Party at the studio and it was a huge success! These girls had SO MUCH FUN! We did too, and we can't wait to do another one.

Our float in the parade

Can't wait till next year!

Spirit of Christmas Parade in Downtown Altoona

We had a blast last night at our first downtown holiday parade. It was so much fun to see the little kids with their bright faces lining the downtown streets as they watched the parade. I can't believe how many people came downtown braving the bitter cold to join in the festivities! It was so much fun! Our entire staff worked really hard decorating our float which won FIRST PLACE in our division!!! A very special thank you goes out to the Sollenberger family for letting us use their haywagon and Patrick McCloskey for donating his time to help us all day Thursday. We are already planning for next year's parade. Here are a few photos from last night and a short video (above)...

A great new discovery

So Tamar and I ventured out to Hollidaysburg BEFORE the freezing rain this morning to have lunch at the coffee shop and see ART 4, the new art gallery in town. OMG, this is the most fabulous gallery I've ever seen in this area! If you haven't yet discovered ART 4 you have to stop in and visit Jody and Sue in the diamond area of downtown Hollidaysburg. It's so unique and so fun you will absolutely LOVE it. I wanted to buy everything. The cool thing about ART 4 is that you can buy items for as little as $3. They have everything from fun pen holders made from stone to furniture that will be the conversation piece of the room. I especially loved the scarves that were unlike any I've ever seen and the really cool pottery.

If anybody reading this wants to buy me a gift for Christmas, go there!

And for the record, they are not really open on Mondays but Jody took pity on us as we peered longingly through the windows and she let us in to look around while she was working on stuff in the back.

Katie

My new little fashion model, Miss Katie.

Just "monkeying around"...

As if he isn't cute enough already, Grant's mom made him this adorable monkey suit for Halloween. Since I can barely sew a button on, I'm totally impressed that she could make this outfit! And he is just so sweet.....all we needed was a banana.

Grant was pleased as punch to be eating this lollipop. He had us all laughing as he went to town on it as if it was the best thing he ever tasted. That is truly the face of a "sugar high". Thankfully he didn't scream when his mom took it away. That just shows what a great baby he is. It's always a pleasure to photograph this little guy.

Our Open House was a success!

If you were not able to join us last night for our open house, you missed a great time. We had about 40 people throughout the evening. It was so nice to see our regular clients who stopped by as well as meet some new people. We reminisced with some people who had not been in our building since it was Westfalls Men's Clothing Store in the 70's. Boy, have times changed since then!

Thank you to Joe Servello for spreading the word at your coinciding open house, lovely meeting your friends.

Thank you to Michael from Michael's Cafe who provided our fabulous food for the evening!

I meant to bring out the camera and take some photos to post here, but I got so caught up in socializing that I completely forgot. Maybe next time.

Here they are again....you gotta see the video!

Two cuties with attitude!

Kyara and Morgan are my new favorite models. Expect to see more of them here!

What about the economy?

People keep asking me "does the economy seem to be affecting your business?". Well, it's hard to say for sure since we are a very seasonal business and we book our weddings 12-18 months in advance. However, we are taking steps to prepare for hard times. One of the things we are doing this winter is closing our studio on Fridays. Since Fridays are our slowest day of the week, we are hoping to cut down on our expenses a bit by shortening our work week during the slow season.

Another thing we are doing is holding a monthly Open House at our studio so our clients can stop by and enjoy a glass of wine and refreshments while they check out our new products, our studio and meet our staff. Our first Open House is this Monday, Nov. 17 from 5:00pm - 7:00pm. (Servello's Art Gallery next door to us is also having an Open House during the same time.) The big advantage to our clients during these events is that they can purchase our gift certificates at HALF PRICE! These gift certificates can be used anytime throughout 2009. Hopefully this will help our clients when money is tight as well as boost our sales during our slower season.

Other wedding vendors I have talked to seem to agree that the weddings for 2009 are coming in a bit slower, but people may be waiting to book closer to their date. This year we photographed just under 50 weddings and our bookings for next year are not far behind where they should be at this point. I'm not sure photography would be the first place a bride would look to save money on her wedding. When the most special day of her life is over, she still wants those memories captured in beautiful images she can keep and pass down to her children.

Some brides and grooms I have met with lately have decided to make payments throughout the year towards their wedding package so they don't have to come up with a large amount at once. Those who are good at budgeting are finding ways to get the things that are important to them.

I think if we plan ahead and be thoughtful about our spending, we can help ourselves in this tough economic time.