Friday, February 15, 2013

Lydia Class of 2013

Wow it's been a long time since I posted a session on my blog! This one goes all the way back to a warm and sunny day in October. Lydia was one of my super sweet Class of 2013 models, and because she was awesome with sharing about Laurajane Photography with her friends, she won her own individual photo session. I loved getting to photograph her more than once. She has such a lovely personality and it's so easy to capture all the different aspects of who she is in photos.

We started off her session in downtown Bethlehem on the walking path behind Hotel Bethlehem and we walked around the old buildings down there and she also insisted on walking around in the creek (which was pretty cold already since it was October). Then for the second half of the session we headed up to the gorgeous Lehigh University campus and her mom brought her adorable little dog, Lacey, to join in on some shots.

I love how I get to become friends with my senior girls and their moms (even though I knew Lydia long before either of her sessions, we've been able to talk more now). It's so fun to have it start as a photoshoot and end as a friendship. Lydia, good luck with the rest of your senior year (don't stress!). You're one awesome girl and I can't wait to see what you will do with the rest of your life. :)

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Thursday, January 24, 2013

Closet Remix- Noonday Giveaway!

If you've been following along on the Noonday Collection blog train and ended up here for the first time, welcome to my blog! I'm glad that you're here. Unlike all of the other wonderful ambassadors that have blogged before me, I'm not much of a writer (I'm a photographer. Pictures are my words.) Nor am I a mother, a wife, I haven't been to a foreign country, and I haven't ever held an orphan. Noonday captured my heart because I value and understand fashion. It's my biggest hobby. I also understand what it means to pour your heart into your art and to have someone value what you've created enough that you can earn an income creating it. It's one of the greatest feelings to know that someone supports what you create. God is the ultimate creator and I love that He's given people the ability to create and enjoy beautiful things and make a living doing it. You can read more about my journey with starting Noonday here, if you haven't already.

But today I want to show you how you can remix your wardrobe with 11 basic clothing items and 11 Noonday items. (p.s. Each clothing item (not the shoes) comes from a store that received no lower than a "B" from the Free 2 Work website, which is one of my personal goals for when I go shopping now.)

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Jewelry Items:
1. Bone Carved Polygon Necklace 2. Stacked Arrows Necklace 3. Minted Necklace 4. Zoe Necklace
5. Bengali Sunsets Earrings 6. Chevron Dangle Earrings 7. Pelotas Bracelet 8. Ripple Bangles
9. Tagua Seed Bracelet 10. Angelica Infinity Scarf 11. Watercolor Belt (sorry it's sold out. you can easily substitute in the Embellished Belt.)

Clothing Items:
1. gold glitter skirt (H&M.  similar skirt)  2. hot pink skirt (H&M)  3. purple dress (LandsEnd) 4. stripped sweater (Banana Republic)  5. LOVE graphic tee (Sevenly) 
6. jeans (OldNavy)7. khaki pants (OldNavy)  8. grey blazer (H&M)  9. chambry shirt (OldNavy)
10. red heart sweater (gift)  11. gold sequin top (gift. similar top)

p.s. please ignore my awful photoshop job and wonky shadows. i just really wanted to have a chalkboard wall behind me instead of my simple grey walls.
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Now here's your chance to win a $50 Noonday gift voucher so that you can start your own collection of beautiful fair trade jewelry. There are plenty of options to gain entries to win. Just do as many as you'd like in this super easy to use widget. The winner will be chosen at random on February 7th. If you're interested in seeing these beautiful pieces (and many more) in person, hosting a trunk show at your home with a bunch of your friends, is a wonderful way to spend an evening. I'll share stories from the artisans who created the pieces, help you pick out the perfect Noonday pieces to add to your wardrobe, I can even help you with some outfit styling if you'd like. And if you book your show to take place before February 28th, you'll receive 15% of the show's total sales in free jewelry! Just email me at: laurapensack@gmail.com if you want more info.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to head on over to Shannon's blog tomorrow for another giveaway: www.andthensometwins.blogspot.com

Saturday, December 29, 2012

keenan & trevor

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Right now I'm photographing the wedding of these two cool kids (hooray for the magic of scheduled blog posts). I don't even know where to begin to tell you about this wonderful couple. I remember the night that Keenan said that she didn't like Trevor (which really meant she liked him a lot). But at that time he was a youth leader and she was still in high school; not exactly the greatest recipe for a love story. Fast forward four years (I think that's how long it's been, I'm bad with time), and I'm photographing their adorably hipster wedding. They were one of the first couples that I photographed, and at that time they were just newly dating. I almost didn't let Keenan bring Trevor along for the photoshoot because well I didn't know how long they'd be dating and I didn't want to be awkwardly left with photos of them if they broke up. But I agreed anyway, and I saw just how much they were absolutely perfect for each other.

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Then I photographed them the following year at the carnival because I had always wanted to photograph a stylized shoot at a carnival and they were just the perfect couple to fit the look. After that photoshoot, I called dibs on photographing their wedding. And today is that day!

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I'm just so happy for these two. I can't wait to see what the rest of life holds for them. Congratuations Keenan and Trevor!!!! I love you guys!!!! :)

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

2012 in review.

2012 was a year of growth. It was kind of weird, with a lot of different changes in my thinking, the way I live my life, my business, and just life in general. It was a year of challenge and sometimes struggle. But it was still good. I changed churches in February, and that was one of the best decisions I made all year I think. The way that God has used that church to turn my thinking towards Him and live a life with more purpose, is really amazing. The list that I keep of things that I'm thankful for consists mostly of things that have happened since being a part of the Hopesprings family. The friends that I've met there have truly changed my life. It's also been a year of increased boldness. In January, I traveled to Nashville for a photography workshop, which pushed me out of my comfort zone where I learned how much God really is caring for me and He doesn't want to leave me where I am.

2012 was also a tough year for business. I went through all of the spring and summer without any photoshoots of my own, just second shooting weddings. I'm so thankful every day that my parents let me live with them and continue to provide for me while I'm chasing after my dreams. But thankfully business picked up once school started in September and I was able to photograph some wonderful high school seniors. Through second shooting weddings, I learned that weddings are not where my passion in photography is. And I realized that it's okay to not want to be a wedding photographer. It doesn't make me any less of a photographer if I choose to just focus on photographing teenagers. Also, I learned a lot about fears that I had and how much they controlled me, you can read about that HERE. I also learned that all of the time and energy that I was putting into marketing and promotion and business ideas, that it sucked all the passion I had for this business that I had when I started. I don't how many days I wished that I could just quit. Thankfully I never really let that thought go very far.

In July I joined a group of women at my church who were reading this crazy book called "7: A Mutiny Against Excess" by Jen Hatmaker. We experimented with getting rid of clothes, taking times out of our day to pray, recycling, and shopping fair trade. This is when I discovered Noonday Collection and a true passion was born in me for promoting fair trade fashion. You can read more about that HERE on this post.

Now, onto my favorite photos from the year. As I looked back on my photos, I realized that I spent way less time photographing personal events with my dslr and took mainly iphone photos. And I kept my dslr for photographing jobs. This may or may not have been a good idea, but like I said before, I felt burnt out on photography and taking pictures with my iphone was the only way I felt I wanted to document things. So there will be a separate post with iphone photos coming later. Or earlier, whichever order I decide to schedule these posts in.

January 22nd. The workshop in Nashville.
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January 31st. James' birthday. His girlfriend Liz wasn't able to be with him on his birthday so she skyped with us while he opened presents and ate dessert.
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February 22nd. I channeled my inner Martha Stewart.
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February 27th. Annie came over and she dance in the street and I also took some accidentally abstract photos with film.
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March 8th. Kasey is one of my new friends that I met at church and we went on a photo adventure in Jacobsburg park. He's also a great photographer.
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March 17th. My cousin's son turned one. Kids covered in icing is always cute.
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March 19th. I helped Paola photograph a brand new baby.
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April 3rd. I spent an afternoon with Hilary taking photos just because we felt like it and these happened to be my favorite photographs I've ever taken.
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April 22nd. I second shoot my first wedding with Paola. It was gorgeous.
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May 5th. I went a little crazy and planned a party photoshoot with my senior models.
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I practiced a little bit with film on that shoot as well.
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May 19th. I second shot my second wedding with Paola. I fell in love with the bride's dress.
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June 5th. I decided that I finally liked strawberries, so Annie and I went strawberry picking.
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July 2nd. I did a little free lensing experimenting during Quentin's senior session.
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July 28th. My cousin Livie got married. This may not be the most technically wonderful photo, but the fact that my cousin Jack is smiling with one of the most genuine smiles I've ever seen on his face, makes is this one of my favorites. He was so proud to walk Livie down the aisle.
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And bubbles always make for a perfect photo.
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August 31st. My friend Lauri is so gorgeous. We swapped photos that day. She's also a fabulous photographer.
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September 9th. Kourtney was the first girl to find me from one of my senior models. And she was a natural in front of the camera.
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September 16th. For Kimberly's senior photos I experimented with some night photography.
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October 14th. Lydia was one of my senior models. We spent a gorgeous afternoon wandering around downtown Bethlehem taking photos. And she brought her dog along with her. There's nothing quite like the love between a girl and her dog.
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November 17th. I photographed Liam's family before his Bar Mitzvah, but my favorite part was when we got to go into the temple to take some photos. There' just something so beautifully sacred about these images.
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December 15th. I just finished editing these yesterday. And Priscilla hasn't even seen her photos yet, but I just had to post this one because how can I possibly leave it out of my favorites.
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2013 is going to be a year of increased boldness and a year where I learn to say "yes" to what's in front of me. I'm working on not making excuses to get out of things just because of fear. It's also going to be a different year photographically. I'll be joining forces with the wonderful dreamer, Tassia, at Twinkle Photo Studio. I'm not entirely sure what all that will include right now, but I know I'll be editing a lot of photos for her and others, teaching and training new photographers, and photographing family sessions. Laurajane Photography will still exist, but now I'll be focusing on working solely with teenagers, fashion and editorial style shoots, and film. Yes, I'm going to be pursuing film photography this year as more than just an occasional hobby. And it excites me so much!

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