Mama & Me Mini Sessions to Benefit Moments House

Cancer can be a very scary word but cancer is just a word. However, the disease and what it does to people who have it, and how it effects them, is very real. Moments House is a organization that was formed to help those who have been diagnosed with cancer.

Some of you may know and some may not. In October of 2015 I was diagnosed with Non-
Hodgkin’s Aggressive B Cell Lymphoma. The lymphoma was in my chest and had grown so large that my life was being immediately threatened. After a few months of treatment I  found out that I was and still am in remission. During that time of treatment life changed in many ways. Moments House was there to help me, along with a few other organizations including my church. Moments House helped me pay my car insurance and bought Christmas presents for my kids. (That is something that is hard to admit as a very independent person.) They have also helped so many others in Berkshire County in so many ways.

I am forever grateful and I want to give back to them.

The things I have always known, but feel even more now, is that you need to never take the moments in your life for granted, never stop making memories and cherish the moments that have shaped who you are today. So as we approach Mother’s Day,  I thought of a way that we can all help Moments House and capture a few moments with the people that we love.

Often moms are the ones taking the pictures of their kids and the only images they have with their kids are selfies. Other times moms are too self conscious to get in front of a camera. I am here to say that I can help with all of that. I know how to make everyone look and feel their best in order to capture the best portraits for you to cherish for years and years to come.

 

 

I will be hosting Mama & Me Mini Sessions this month with 65% of the proceeds going directly to Moments House to help them secure their forever home. One of their members, who recently passed, had a lovely home that would fit their needs as their current lease ends in December. They need help to purchase this house and eliminate their biggest expense, so they can continue to do even more in our community.

We are booking session for April 29th & 30th. Click her to book your session or contact us at info@hcachat.com to get a certificate to give to your mom for Mother’s Day. (Certificates must be used in May or June only.)

All sessions will be held at 128 Fenn St. Pittsfield, MA. You can schedule your in person viewing and ordering session on the day of your session or by calling or emailing us. Images will only be available online in your gallery after your in person viewing session.

Thank You all for your Help!

Love & Admiration, Heather

P.S. Packages available are below.

The Glamorous Jenn B!

I had the great opportunity to photograph the Glamorous Jenn B the other day. Now I have to admit…. I am a bit bias. Let’s just start there.

Jenn is the girlfriend of my “Not So Little, Little Brother.” (Whew I got that off my chest.) I had Facebook messaged Jenn a few weeks back asking if she would be interested in doing a glamour session with me. She herself is a student of photography and a beautiful woman with hair that makes me jealous.

Jenn was so willing to model for me that a few days later she sent me a picture of a “little black dress” she was thinking about purchasing for the shoot. The dress looked amazing on her! It hugged her curves in all the right places. I was excited to hear she purchased it even before I had been able to respond to her.

On the day of Jenn’s shoot she arrived with her 2 outfits she brought and with a “naked” face. She was ready for her make-up. Whitney, the professional make-up artist (and a client of mine), chatted with Jenn letting her know what her plans where for the make-up and asked Jenn and my opinions. We all agreed in a “natural” look. We all laughed and smiled as we chatted, as women always do, and had a great time getting ready for the session.

When  her makeup and hair were ready to go, Jenn changed into her black dress and we began to shoot. We took lots of pictures, with different angels and posing and I moved the lights to flatter her. There were times when Jenn was thinking she might not look the best  at the angle I was shooting at and was a bit self-conscious but when I showed her the images she was amazed.

Before the shoot I had arranged with Garden Blossoms Florist, on First Street in Pittsfield, for a floral headpiece for Jenn. She did an amazing job and Jenn looked like a goddess with the beautiful head-wreath on.

After the session, when I showed her her pictures I was so happy with how much she loved them. Jenn told me, “I am in LOVE with my pictures; the lighting, the poses, they’re just beautiful!” But just as I am bias about how glamorous Jenn is she may be a bit bias on her opinion of me. I promise though, I didn’t pay her or bribe her in anyway.

 

We strive to always be ourselves and happy during a shoot, because of this our clients feel comfortable being themselves and have a good time. “The best thing about doing the shoot was that it was so fun and care-free, I didn’t feel awkward or uncomfortable, and was able to enjoy myself even if I don’t like being in front of the camera! There wasn’t anything I would have changed about doing this shoot, and I would absolutely do another one!”

“To anyone that is considering doing any kind of shoot with Heather, I highly recommend it. She is so charismatic and amazing to work with, she made the shoot silly and enjoyable. I can’t wait to do another one!”

If you are interested in learning more about booking a Glamour or Boudoir Session we would love to talk to you. Don’t forget to opt int and follow our blog to stay up to date on all the happenings around here then email boudoir@hcachat.com so we can customize a session for you filled with pampering and fun.

 

I’m Giving into Change. How about You?

Some people like it and some people are afraid of it. Yet change is, and always will be, inevitable. Here in New England, the seasons bring many changes to our weather and our ever beautiful surroundings. I have to admit, I don’t like the snow, but the leaves changing in the Fall are incredibly beautiful. I do know that when the snow comes that it too will change and bring Spring and flowers and warmer weather.

“It doesn’t matter where you are, you are nowhere compared to where you can go.” – Bob Proctor

In life, lots of things change for us. Our jobs, our relationships, the people in our lives, children… the list goes on. My life is ever changing and I embrace that. I can only learn and better myself with each new experience and each change in my life. I know that some changes bring on sorrow but most changes bring me closer to where I need to be.

“By changing nothing, nothing changes.” – Tony Robbins

I have decided that my business needs to change, I will be changing the name of the business to reflect my core values. I got into photography because I love people, I love the raw emotions and the true spirit that photography can capture. I most of all love photographing children. They are who they are without sugar coating it, I plan on not only changing the business name but how I market and brand myself. I am working on finding out who I truly am as a business woman and following my dreams. This change that I am bringing forward will help me provide nothing but the best to all of you.

I am giving into change and embracing it. How about you? I encourage each of you to make one small change that will get you to where you are going. Please share with me what that change is and what it is going to do for you.

Family Portrait Session Questions

I recently came across a blog filled with great ideas for Capturing Joy at each of her family portrait sessions. I want to share with you the questions that she asks each of her clients before their session.

1.        IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOUR FAMILY LIKES TO DO TOGETHER THAT WOULD BE FUN TO INCLUDE IN OUR PORTRAIT SESSION?
2.        WHAT DO YOUR CHILDREN LIKE TO DO, EAT, GIGGLE AT?
3.        ARE THERE ANY PROPS FROM YOUR HOME THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO USE?  ANTIQUE CHAIR, TRUNK, CRATE, VINTAGE CAMERA OR PHONE. (MAYBE GRANDPARENTS HAVE SOMETHING MEMORABLE).
4.        WHAT ARE THE CHILDREN’S FAVORITE TOYS (LEGO’S, TINKER TOYS, BUILDING BLOGS)?  BOOKS (VINTAGE COVERS)? TREATS (CUPCAKES)? FRUIT? COLOR? FAVORITE BOOK?
5.        DO YOU KNOW YET WHAT COLOR SCHEME YOUR CLOTHING SELECTION WILL BE?
6.        ANY MUSICIANS, PAINTERS, OR SOMETHING FUN AND UNIQUE THAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO REPRESENT?
7.        ANY FAMILY INSIDE JOKES, GAMES, ACTIVITIES THAT WOULD BE FUN TO REPLICATE?
8.       WHAT ON MY WEBSITE STOOD OUT TO YOU AND MADE YOU WANT TO CONTACT ME?

By asking questions like these I get to know you and your family better in order to capture your true personality and character.

Local Feature Friday – Sugar to Go

Welcome to my new blog segment. Every Friday I will be featuring a different local business or organization on my blog.

It will consist mostly of pictures. A few words will accompany each set of pictures…. but lets face it, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Sugar to Go Pittsfield, MA

Sugar to Go is located on Elm St in Pittsfield. Although they have not in been in business for much more than a year they have already been voted Best in the Berkshires.

Sugar to Go is the place to go for Barrington Coffee in Pittsfield and has the best Champagne Cake around.

207 Elm St. Pittsfield – 413.822.5504

Local Feature Friday – Cachats for the Troops

Good Morning and Happy Local Feature Friday Everyone! As my second installment to the Local Feature Friday I have decided to feature The Cachats for the Troops. This cause is very near and dear to me as 1. They are my family and 2. The Cachats are raising money and awareness for the Run to Home Base and helping veterans with PTSD.

Please take a moment to go to http://www.homebase.org and share with your friends and family what it is all about. We are all closer to someone suffering with PTSD than we know. The Home Base Program helps the families in addition to the vets.

Creating the Wedding Magazine

There are times when you tell yourself “You can do it” and “you got this” and you know you do and can. Then you have moments where you know you can do it but aren’t sure how well it will turn out.

Creating my wedding magazine filled with pricing and information for engaged couples… was a moment like that. I went to school for graphic design in addition to photography. I know that I know what I am doing most of the time when it comes to things like that. When I saw someone else’s wedding magazine online I told myself I could do it.

My journey started Saturday morning. I went through pictures that I have taken over the years and just a few from some of the other photographers that work with me at times. Once I compiled some of my favorites I started my document in adobe illustrator.

My first thought was to find an image that would really make a great cover. Then I needed to come up with a color theme that would help me tie my entire document together. I thought about pink, and purple but decided pink was just too girly and purple… I didn’t like the look of it. In order to stay cohesive with my website I decided to try teal. I truly loved the look. Got it!! I have my color theme!

I started into the document placing pictures into each spread before coming up with the content that would fill the pages. That is probably backwards but it worked for me. The images gave me a bit of inspiration. I did have an idea of what each spread would represent, just not that actual words that would go on the page.

After a few pages I started to look back on what I had started and thought…. “Wow I can do this!”

 

I changed my back cover because the look just wasn’t right. I am 8 pages into my design and pretty impressed with my work so far. I started to feel more confidence and more enjoyment in what I was doing.

I believe that I might have been addicted at this point. I could not walk away from my computer for very long. I would get up to get my son a snack (of apples and peanut butter) or to have some lunch, but I would sit right back down. This was my drug for the day and I was going to finish it!

One of the greatest parts about creating this magazine is that it represents who I am and my style of photography. It is most definitely a better representation of me and my work than a slideshow on my website or an album on Facebook. I am very happy to have done this magazine

The other thing that I love about this is that it gave me a chance to look back on some of the images I have taken over the last 10 years. I love being a part of each wedding that I am there for. I love being the one trusted to capture the moments of the very special day.

 

I spent more than 13 hours, I think it was daylight savings time, working on this project on Saturday. All I had left to do was spell check and proof my document. At this point, I was by no means ready to proof it. I was exhausted and had to force myself to go t bed.

 

Part way through I started to think that creating magazines for couples about their wedding day could be a lot of fun. It is a really cute alternative to the standard wedding album. I mean, how much fun would it be to take out your own magazine, all about you. There are no models, just you and your friends and family.

Now that I have completed my wedding magazine, I will be creating a template or two so I can create magazines for each couple that I photograph. Maybe, I should get up from my computer for a little while first.

Photobooth!!!!

I was having fun “testing out” the photobooth and making sure I have the kinks worked out for the Hair and Spa Bridal Show I am attending this weekend.

A Little Bit About Me!

 

Websites are great, but don’t give you a true feeling for the person behind the website. I decided to create a short video to allow everyone the opportunity to get to know me a bit more.  Hope you like it!

Love Is In the Details

Back in February I was part of the local Artwalk. The theme for the month was Love and I choose a collection of images from weddings that I call “Love is in the details.”

I wanted to take a moment and share a few images with you from a wedding I just photographed that represents the same idea. I truly feel that the details of your wedding day are important. Each little detail says something about you. There is a reason behind every choice you made. Behind every choice there is a story. In that story is where you find the love.