Studio Closing

As of 2pm today....Katie Mathews Photography is closed for the holidays!! I'm so excited. I've been working every. single. day. for the past 6+ weeks! My brother and sister in law are coming in from Minnesota tomorrow and will be here until New Years. So I will officially be back in the office on January 5th, but I'll be checking emails here and there.  All the sessions have been edited, posted and all the prints that were ordered have been delivered - thank you! Unfortunately I still have 2 weddings to finish up, so if I get some time over the holidays I'll work on them a bit..otherwise it will be when I get back.

I will make some blog posts as time permits to share my sessions from the past month - there were a ton of them!

I want to thank all my clients - you are the best! I've been in business less than a year and it has been absolutely amazing. I hope 2009 is even better! So once again, thank you to all of you and I hope everyone has a safe and Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!

Ho! Ho! Ho!!

Oh and be sure to check out the 2 posts (from today) below this!

A Hero's Homecoming

I am so blessed to be a part of an organization called Operation Love Reunited. Photographers around the country volunteer their time and talent to photograph the departure of a soldier and his/her family or the homecoming. This past weekend, I was able to capture the memories for a beautiful family. Their son, husband, uncle, and brother got to come home from Iraq for his R&R. He's been in Iraq since April and has to go back until July, but in the meantime they get to spend Christmas together. His wife was so excited to see him that she ran past the security checkpoint and jumped into his arms! His nieces were there dressed up so pretty and waiting patiently. Too cute. My own brother came home for his R&R from Iraq exactly 5 years ago. We were lucky enough for him to come home at Christmastime too and to meet my son for the first time.

So, to Schuyler, my brother, Dave and all the other men and women who are serving or have served this country....THANK YOU & God Bless You!

Contest Winner

I apologize for being late in announcing the winner...I'm so bad about that...

I want to thank everyone who commented during the contest period and I hope you'll continue to post even when I'm not doing a giveaway. It was fun to find out some of the "new" people who have been checking out the blog. I had a little over 100 comments during the contest period. I went online and used a random integer generator. I sorted the comments in a random order too. Soooo.....here we go...

Then I went to my email box and the comment in the 8th place was.....

So, "The Cornwalls," email me to claim your $20 Target Gift Certificate!!

Thanks again to all who participated. Sometime soon after the first of the year, I'll be unveiling my new blog and I'll be sure to do a giveaway then too!!

Games??

Next week, my baby brother and his wife are coming from Minnesota for Christmas. They'll be here for a week and we are all off from work to spend time with them. (By the way, the KMP office will be closed :)) Anyway, we love to play games, but we don't have a ton of them. So if anybody has a game they would be willing to let us borrow (just for the week), I would be happy to come pick it up and return it. Shoot me an email or leave me a comment. We already have a few games, so let me know what you have. Thanks!!!!

The Harley Kids

Back in November, I did 2 days of mini sessions. I did some at the beach, some a the park and some at my house with a little "snow/presents" set up. I had quite a few families participate and since Christmas is next week (how'd that happen?) I thought I better start sharing some of these sessions!

Don't forget....today is the last day of the comment contest. I will draw tomorrow for a $20 Target Gift Card. If you have any last minute shopping to do - this will come in handy!

I've photographed the Harley family before - so the kids might look familiar. I just loved how Mom had these two dressed - too cute!

I've got a picture of that...

I have some blogs that I check on a regular basis - most are other photographers. I love to get inspired and to learn on a regular basis.

When I saw this post on another photogs blog, I knew I had to share it here with you. It's beautiful.

Davina Fear is an awesome photographer and she speaks at a lot of different conferences, etc. During one of her presentations, she shares this awesome video that she made. It's a great reminder to take pictures of life - you'll never get any days back so remember them by taking a picture. You don't have to be a great photographer - your kids won't care. But how awesome to have those memories. Anyway, if you have a moment, check this out. It's short and it's awesome....I love it!

I've got a picture of that, by Davina Fear

P.S. I'll be back to share some sessions later today or tomorrow

Playing catch up

I've got a notebook where I jot down the sessions I need to edit and the sessions I need to blog. The sessions I need to edit are almost all crossed off the list (woo hoo), but the list of sessions to blog is quite long and they go back quite a ways. So, I thought I'd do one big long post to show you the rest of my Fall/Halloween Mini Sessions (I told you they're "old").

Remember to leave a comment and you might win the Target gift card! The contest ends on the 18th.

Also, there are only 4 more days to order...so get those orders in. I know quite a few of you have said you're working on it, but we're almost out of time (it's not my rules...it's the printing company)

Here's little Alex....

Here's Gunner....

Here's Katie....

Here's Lexie....

Here's Owen...

Here's Caleb & his big sister Samantha...

  

And finally...here's Spencer...

There's a few more of these that I had blogged about a month ago, so if you haven't seen them, go to the right side of my blog and look under the October posts.

Thank you to everyone who participated in my first mini sessions.A lot of people have been asking me when I'm going to do more - most likely I'll do something for Valentine's Day or Easter....more on that to come.