NWABride Premiere Showcase

I just wanted to share a few pics with you from the NWABride Premiere Showcase that took place on January 16. The fair was so fun and I really enjoyed getting to meet a few of the brides that are planning 2010 weddings. Also, a bit of good news:

I HAVE DECIDED TO EXTEND THE 15% DISCOUNT THROUGH FEBUARY 28!!!

That's right, any bride booking a wedding with Kristin J. Portraiture  will receive 15% off their package through the end of Feburary! Please give me a call (479-586-1980) or e-mail if you are interested in learning more about my wedding packages. I would love to talk to you!

Beautiful floral arrangement from Pam and Allison at Flora.

My awesome assistants Matt and Kara (they're excited that their engagement pic made the back of the handout).

Have a great day! Stay warm!

Announcing Kristin J. Portraiture

I've been a little bit behind this week after being on vacation, so I'm very late in telling you about my big project over the last month and a half. As you may have noticed by now, Kristin Hartness Photography has undergone a facelift and a name change. Kristin Hartness Photography is now Kristin J. Portraiture. This name change came out of necessity and the desire to develop a brand that reflects my personality and the style of my photography as it has evolved over the years. I'm very excited about this new name change, my new website, and overall look. 

To kick-off this process, I turned to Amy Hannon with Sincerely Yours to design my logo and business card. Amy was the perfect choice because, not only is she a super-creative designer, but also an awesome role-model as a business-woman, amazing mother, and godly wife. Amy was a pleasure to work with as we met together in her darling home to brainstorm a new logo and overall "feel" for this new brand. As I spoke to Amy about my love for classic photography with a fresh and modern twist, I could see the wheels turning in her brain and I started to get excited. Amy and I share a love for "beautiful-looking" words, and she had the brilliant idea to use the word "Portraiture" to develop a design. Inspired from a magazine, a color scheme of blushy pinks, corals, and warm grey was chosen, and the concept was born.

Amy, thanks so much for your hard work and for putting up with my indecisiveness.  I love the look that you have created and feel like it's so "me"! I'm so happy to have a business card and logo that I can be proud to show off!

P.S. I loooove the typeface definition on the bottom of these. Such a fun idea!

Canceled flights, Mad Dashes, and Jet-Lag

Today has been one of those strange kind of days. I'm home, and glad to be. I also miss Spain. A lot. Today has seemed exceptionally long to me, probably from jet-lag. I know my sense of time is a little crazy right now. Yesterday was a full day of traveling. I've traveled quite a bit in the past and have decided that I'm pretty lucky, overall, to have avoided most of the problems that you hear of when being abroad. You can imagine my surprise when we arrived at the airport yesterday (3 hours early), to hear that my flight had been canceled. Not delayed, CANCELED. After a quick moment of panic, I was told that I would be switched to a flight on a different airline that left in just under an hour. Then the rush began. After a very quick good-bye to Jess, the mad dash was on to check my bags, get through security. I ran though the airport, got through immigration, caught a train to another terminal and then really RAN through another security checkpoint (with a pat-down, awesome.) and finally arrived at the end of the line of people boarding the plane. The switch turned out to be a great thing. The trip was wonderful and I actually arrived 2 hours ahead of schedule with my luggage! Just in time for bed :)

So, for any future traveling that I do, I decided to write down some tips that I hope to remember:
1. When in Europe (or anywhere else I suppose), look for the escalators and be glad for them. Lugging a suitcase up and down stairs is not fun.
2. Fill up your water bottle in the airport. I forgot since I was so rushed and I regretted it for hours.
3. Don't pack one single thing you won't use.
4. Leave extra room in your suitcase for any shopping or souvies you might bring home. I needed all of mine :)
5. Prep for jet-lag. Tylenol PM is a good friend.
6. Pack a sandwich for the airplane. Just in case the food on the plane lives up to its reputation.

I'm planning to post pictures from my trip later this week. There are so many that it's going to take awhile to sort through! For now, I'll leave you with one of my fave view of the Alhambra and city of Granada. You can't beat this view!

Spanish Adventures

I'm sitting at the computer tonight, so thrilled to be saying hello to you on my fourth day in Europe. I can't wait to share some pictures from Spain with you next week. Granada is a beautiful city surrounded by snow-capped mountains, filled with beautiful people and customs. Jess and my day's have been spent walking the city streets, shopping, sipping cafe con leche in small cafe's, shopping, sightseeing, me trying out my Spanish, and... shopping. We have managed to do some serious purchasing and I have discovered a new-found love for Zara. European fashion is the best.

So, funny story. Tuesday night, we went to a Flaminco dance at a local pub. The owner there took a liking to us and really tried to help us out for the evening. We arrived very early, so he recommended a wonderful place for us to go have a drink and tapas. When we came back, the room was packed with tourists. Most of the tourists were on a group tour and were exhausted. Throughout the show, they were falling asleep, which was a huge insult to the dancers. One of the dancers, an older woman, had a smile on her face the whole time, but was picking on the sleepers. When she sat down, she said in Spanish to the other dancers, "Everyone here is really ugly and I cannot get that one girl to stop taking pictures of me (not me, but another tourist who was pestering her)". Since Jess speaks Spanish, I got the inside scoop and we both had a good laugh as this woman was no spring-chicken.

We have been dealing with jet-lag and are short on sleep, but the company is sweet. We are staying with an American family that has been living here in Granada for 4 years. We have been well taken care of and I have truly been enjoying the new friendships of Garrick and Ziu and their children Evelyn and Mathis.

Tomorrow, we head to Madrid to finish up our time. Jess has been an awesome tour-guide this week. She has not spent much time in Madrid, so tomorrow will be a bit of a new adventure for us. I can't wait to post some photos of this amazing place next week!

Have a great day!

Trade-Off

Hi Friends!

I just wanted to share my latest read with you! Last week, I picked up Trade-Off, by Kevin Maney. I had heard about this book from one of my favorite photogs, Jasmine Star.  I admire her and her business model so much, so I thought that if she had read and enjoyed it, that it would definitely be helpful to me!

This is a book that explains reasons for why people do the things they do and the trade-off between convenience vs. quality in a business. Even if you're not running a business, it's an interesting read, similar to Blink or Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell. I'm halfway through this book and it's giving me a ton of food for thought about the way I run my business and how little decisions now can make a huge difference for me in the long run and how every decision is an important one. If you decide to read it, let me know what you think!

Have a great weekend!

January Happenings

So, we are 5 days into the new year and I’m not off to a very good start with my blogging! First, let me wish you a very happy new year! I hope that the holidays brought you much blessing, rest, and refreshment. For many people, 2009 was a difficult year, and so, we look forward with great hope to what 2010 will bring. I, for one, have been pretty lazy the last two weeks and it’s been glorious! Today is my first official day back in the office and I thought I would give you an update on a few things happening with me this month:

A new detox/get healthy program. Yes, new year, new diet. This week I jumped on the bandwagon with several friends and began a detox program designed to remove the bad stuff from the body and get us healthy. Thankfully, this is not one of those lemon juice, cayenne pepper, and maple syrup programs. This is designed to give us all we need by eating lots of fruits, veggies, lean protein, and nuts. Of course, the milk, cheese, and sweets have to go for 2 weeks, but that’s okay. They say the first three days are the hardest. Today is day two, so I’m very ready to power through to the other side. Hopefully by then, I won’t be craving every bad food in the universe. I’m glad for the accountability of lots of friends to help keep me on track :)

A bridal fair – I am going to be a vendor in the upcoming NWA Bride Premier Showcase. The show takes place Saturday, January 16, 2010 from 10a-5p at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Springdale. September’s bridal fair was a blast and I definitely learned a few things to help make this showing even better! I’m in the process of thinking up some cool prizes and giveaways so stop by my booth and say hi!

A trip to SPAIN!!! – Last month, I was talking with my friend Jess, when she mentioned that she was going to Spain in January to visit some friends. As we talked about her trip and how much fun she was going to have, we began brainstorming about whether or not it would be possible for me to go too. I love to travel and am a little bit impulsive so it took me about 5 minutes to decide that I wanted to go and start hunting down plane tickets. Fortunately, I was able to find a great deal on tickets, and so… we’re off to Spain for a week beginning January 17! I’m so excited!!! The best part is, Jess used to live in Spain, so she gets to visit her old home and knows all the good places to see, eat, and shop!

New changes to Kristin Hartness Photography - I am so excited to announce that there are some new changes coming to Kristin Hartness Photography in the coming month and year. Change is always a bit hard for me, but is necessary in order to grow and develop. I’m learning this to be crucial when running a business and, so, I’m excited to see what these new changes bring. The last three years have been spent learning and just trying to get my feet underneath me. A lot of this was about developing technical skills and the confidence to market myself as a photographer. As this has begun to fall into place, I’ve had the opportunity to begin thinking about the kind of business and brand that I want to develop, one that will allow me to continue to learn and create a better experience for my clients and be true to who I am as a person and a photographer. Several changes that will be implemented soon to reach this goal are:

1. A NEW NAME! Kristin Hartness Photography will be Kristin J. Portraiture within a few weeks. With a new name comes a…
2.  NEW (fancy-schmancy) WEBSITE and, in the near future, A NEW BLOG, better designed to keep you posted on what’s happening over here.

As I said, it is my hope that these will be just some of the beginning changes  to bring cohesiveness and create a fabulous experience for you, my WONDERFUL clients. So, stay-tuned!!!

And, because every post is better with a picture, a few of the things I'll be munching on the next few weeks...

Great-tasting? I wouldn't go that far, but it's not bad... :)

Happy Tuesday!