New Blog!

Blogger has served me well for quite some time now, but I've decided to move up to a new Wordpress blog. My wonderful husband has worked hard to help me customize the blog, and I am excited to announce that future blog posts will be found at:

http://blog.veralana.com/

In addition to allowing me to post larger images, the new blog has the option of using the "sliding door" menu to search posts easily by topic, such as newborns, children, modeling, etc. It also have convenient links to Veralana's Facebook page and website. If you have subscribed to this blog, I will be contacting you in the next few days about how to move your subscription to the new blog. Or if you prefer to subscribe to the RSS feed, the option is already available on the menu of the new blog.

Thanks again to my loyal readers, and hope to see you over at the new blog!

Smiles for Mommy

This morning we did a session celebrating the adoption of this sweet little girl. She is nearly 2 years old and talking up a storm! I was excited to get outside for my first outdoor session of the year, and she was such a sweet subject.


If you have also recently adopted a child and would like more information about the Celebrating Adoption program feel free to contact me, or check out the national site:
http://www.celebratingadoption.org.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Just a little holiday fun outside after the rain cleared up. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Summer Fashion

We have been having nice weather on and off, so we managed to do some outdoor modeling for thats*so*addie. This set is currently listed on eBay. I just love the colors.

Daddy's Serenade

I had the pleasure of working with this family earlier this year for maternity portraits, and now again after the birth of their precious baby girl. We changed things up a little from my normal black background and tried out my new Damask wall and yummy knit hats.

Little Cinderella

We have been waiting for the weather to warm up so we could head outside and do some photos of this gorgeous cotton princess dress by Ollie Girl. I love her calico princesses, and this is one of her special line of "pixie dust" dresses.

Gallery Wrap Special: 2 days only!

In honor of my upcoming 33rd birthday, I am holding a 2-day 33% off sale. Order any image from a past session in gallery wrap canvas (11x14 or larger) and receive 33% off! If you have been mulling over one of the images from a past session and wanted to take that plunge, now is the time! You can also pre-purchase canvases for a future session. This offer is only good until 5pm on Friday March 6th. Drop me an email you are interested, and I will work with you to select your image.

Snowy Macros

Today's snow inspired me to pull out my macro lens (which allows me to take extreme closeups/magnified images). Snow seems to make anything, even a dead leaf, look fresh and clean.

Mastering your DSLR

I get a lot of inquiries about teaching moms how to better use their cameras. So I have been working on putting together some information to maybe offer a course on getting to know you camera. While I was looking for resources that are already available, I ran across this fabulous informational site created by Canon.

I think it's a great starting point for moms who have just purchased a DSLR (Canon or not), and want be able to use it more than just in automatic mode. Part 2: Using Camera Features for Better Photos is very informative, and even through the camera dial information is more specific to Canon cameras, can easily be applied to other brand cameras, since most have similar features under slightly difference names. Like the Mode dial for both Canon and Nikon use "P" from Program mode (automatically exposure, but you set the white balance, ISO, etc). But Canon uses "Av" for aperture priority and Nikon uses "A", Canon uses "Tv" for shutter priority and Nikon uses "S". The basics of photography like depth of field, shutter speed, apertures (F-stop), white balance, ISO, and matering will apply regardless of the type of camera you are using. The more you learn how to use the features of your camera, the better the results you will get. It's not the camera that makes the picture, it's the photographer.

Part 3: Choosing Lenses for Different Types of Photos is a good section for those who understand their DSLR, and are frustrated at the limitations of the lens the camera came with. When moving from a nice point and shoot digital camera to a DSLR, you give up the convenience of a wide zoom range in a lightweight package. To get a closeup of that bird at the zoo you'll need to invest in a telelphoto lens. And to get a picture of the whole group of kids at the birthday party in your tiny dining room, you need a wide angle lens. To more you come to understand, the more you realize that you could spend thousands of dollars outfitting your $600 camera!

I love Etsy!

Since my girls were babies, I have enjoyed outfitting them in handmade and custom clothing. I have done commercial photography for many designers, and although the custom boutique communty used to be very strong on Ebay, it seems that Etsy has taken over as the "place to be" for custom clothing. I love shopping there for hand-knit caps that I use as photography props, as well as unique gifts. Just tought I would share some of my photography that I've run across on recently on Etsy (and the great designers we've worked with):

Boutique NRF NY


Ollie Girl!


SugarbelleChic

LullabyLamb hats

Blu Moon Design

Sweet Digital Package

While the weather outside is unpredictable, my studio is cozy and the perfect place for your winter portraits. And to sweeten the offer, I have decided to offer a special winter digital package. For only $475, you receive a 1 hour portrait session in the studio, a CD with 20 full resolution digital images, and the rights to print them up to 8x10 in size. The offer only applies to children's and baby portrait sessions in the studio (outdoor, newborn, family, and Celebrating Adoption sessions do not qualify). This offer will end on March 31. Contact me to schedule your appointment, spaces are limited!

In Print!

Last winter I took some photos for some authors of a children's book--for the "about the author" page. I was excited to find a copy of the book in the mail today. And even more surprised to find that my image is huge--the whole top half of the back cover.

The story was written and translated by a Russian-American grandfather, and edited by his granddaughter. It tells a traditional Russian fairy tale, adapted for American audiences. Check out the book on Amazon. I am excited to see it published, and I hope it does well for them!

2? I don't believe it...

This little cutie was the very first newborn I photographed... and now she is two years old! I can't believe how quickly time flies. Here she is enjoying some peaceful outdoor time, without her big brothers ;)

Warm Winter Days

Yesterday was one of those surprisingly warm winter days--the ones I always believe fool you into thinking spring is around the corner, but really are just the calm before the big blizzards. The kids were playing outside and the setting sun made for beautiful natural light, so I grabbed my camera and snagged a few closeups.

Baby Grand

I am always excited when clients come with ideas on how they would like to incorporate something personal into their portraits. These new parents suggested we do their newborn session at their house to make use of their 1928 Steinway piano--how fun is that, a "baby" grand? The light was so nice in their home, I was able to do the entire session with pure natural light.

"Baby makes the belly go round"

This fun couple were such good sports about waiting for me to return from my trip, and I am so glad that despite my crazy jet-lag, we were able to meet up and do their maternity session last week. I got to meet their new addition (the four-legged one) and I look forward to meeting their baby girl in a few weeks.

New Year's Baby

My studio-mate's little one was born right after the turn of the new year, and I'm glad I got back in enough time to catch some newborn portraits of her with her mommy. Isn't she just the sweetest little thing?

India, Part 4: The Culture and History

After spending time in the big city of Mumbai (India's New York), and then at the beach in Goa, we took a tour of the state of Karnataka aboard the new Golden Chariot luxury train. The historic stone cities were simply stunning, and the culture that we encountered along the way was always intriguing. Above you see the work animals painted and decorated in honor of the pongol festival. The day we arrived in Mysore, we were surprised to find pink and yellow cows all over the city.

The ruins of the city of Hampi were definitely one of the highlights of the tour. It is no wonder that it's a UNESCO World Heritage site. Not only the intracately carved temples and buildings, but the actual landscape it was built on make for a breathtaking view.

The sculpture carved into the granite in the cave temples has withstood hundred of years of weather and war.

Fishing boats--I loved the colors.


The temple complex in Hampi lit up just for our group. For my fellow Nikonians, this was ISO 3200 on the D300, handheld.

The government of Karnataka has a policy of getting schoolchildren out to visit their historic sites. We encountered many of them along our tour. These are at in Pattadakal.

This was one of the "menace monkeys" we encountered on the way to the cave temples. They will steal even your water bottles are you walk by.

The stone temple complexes not only served as cultural centers, but also stored literature in carvings on the exterior walls.

And finally, one of the few Asian elephants we encountered on our trip. This one was at the Bandipur National Park. We spent an evening at a safari resort there, and got to go on a short safari tour. We saw some elephants, peacocks, two different types of deer, an eagle and many kingfishers, monkeys, and warthogs. We looked hard for a tiger, but no luck.