oh :)

(sorry for the poor picture quality on this post! i used my little compact camera, oops!)

(made by lee. soooo adorable.)

the open house for the little princess bowtique was really fun!

i made it home with lots of cute things, and an empty wallet :)

here's the merch i picked up:

my pretty jewelry!

cute flower from amanda's shop.

sweet headband also made my amanda, of the little princess bowtique.

another cute headband, made by chloe (my twin sister) of ellaphantsy

loove this charm!

another purchase from amanda's shop.

it was a really enjoyable day hanging out over there, giving out business cards, shopping it up . . . if anyone is local, she's planning on another open house in august!

*****************************

so, i think the first photo challenge was a success :) i know not very many people participated, but it was still a blast, nonetheless. lee and mckenna's posts were wonderful and it made me feel good that they went for it. check them out by clicking on their names!

mckenna is one of my best blogger friends, and also a lovely girl who lived just a block away from me all of my life, but for some reason, we never discovered how much we have in common until now . . . when she lives thousands of miles away in germany!

her personal blog and photography blog are both darling, and she takes such great pictures . . . you'll regret not checking them out :)

her post today has inspired me to challenge you all again!

maddie's second photo-challenge!

for this challenge: your favorite hang-outs!

i am going to go to places around town, to my boyfriend's house, my favorite coffee shops, favorite boutiques, antique stores, thrift stores, the park, any place i go to, or hang out at, and take pictures of them!

it will be a fun way for us to peak a little bit into each other's lives and see the fun, cute, local places that show a little bit about who we are.

plus, it will be fun to keep these pictures of things to scrapbook, journal, and show your future/current children when they are older . . .

so, i'm going to have my pictures posted by next friday.

anyone who's interested in participating:

when friday comes, you can email me your pictures or post links and i will get you linked up on my blog so we can all share! comment or email me for any questions or tips.

ready. set. go! :)

open house tomorrow!

tomorrow, there is an open house for the little princess bowtique and a few other vendors!

tomorrow from 11-4

2685 north 850 west

provo, ut 84604

if you get lost, call amanda at 801-318-9052

the little princess bowtique is composed of super cute hair bows and flowers for little girls and baby girls, as well as a variety for adults.

ellaphantsy, created by my sister chloe, will be featured at the open house, and this little shop is chalk-full of gorgeous hair pieces, head bands, etc.

there will also be hand bags, makeup, jewlery, and other surprise items, including some awesome crafty items made by lee!

i will be there with some business cards and large prints i'm having made today. soo excited to see how they turn out! :)

note for anyone attending the open house: try to bring cash if you can! :)

tonight we will be going to trasnformers 2 and perhaps dinner at chili's. gotta say, wasn't the biggest fan of the first transformers, but shia labeouf is easy to look at for a few hours :)

anyone else have any fun plans tonight?

-m.e.

taking care of business.

so, a while back, i asked lee if she would design me some business cards, etc., and let me tell you, she came up with the CUTEST ideas!

these are my new business cards!

they're mini polaroids :)

the front of each business card says:

maddie e. photography

maddie thomas-photographer

then the back of the cards lists my information and the different types of photo shoots we offer.

-portraits

-engagements

-bridals

-weddings

-families

-advertising

and then my blog address is typed at the bottom.

i loove them!

most of my nights in the past little while have been spent editing, but also researching what i need to be doing at this point in my photography to get where i'm headed.

i'm grateful to have lee, who has been helping me BIG time with everything, despite what she says/thinks. she'll never know how valuable she is to this developing business.

also, jeremy, my bf, is interested in joining our team :)

i took him on a few wedding photoshoots a few weeks ago, and he said he had a blast AND he actually got some really great shots using my other camera!

i think we're going to have a killer company soon!

hopefully, in the next few weeks, we will launch our first official price list!

for now, we will be charging:

$150 for 1-2 hours for the photo session

30-40 of the best shots, high resolution, fully-edited images given to the client on a disc

until we can get a proofing system set up, we will be choosing the best images (don't worry, you will get the BEST of the images, promise!).

call maddie at 801-735-8059 or email to madelynethomas@gmail.com for pricing on wedding days, etc.

there will be a much more detailed price list soon, when we work out all of the packages, add-ons, etc.

anywho, enough of that :)

this has been a really good week.

work at the mortgage company has FINALLY slowed just a bit.

and each of the nights this week have been quite enjoyable.

last night, jeremy gave me my birthday present which is an AWESOME camera/equiptment back-pack that holds pretty much everything, including the kitchen sink. it's so big, i could probably sleep in it.

it's going to be SO helpful.

also, i made him go outside and take pictures for a while with me, which was really fun,

then we went inside and made homemade pizza, leftover from the party on saturday (best party EVER by the way! i will post pictures soonish).

well, that's all i have for tonight :)

goodnight!

-m.e.

akasha rabut . . .

has amazing photographs. check it out here. seriously drooling over it!

tree challenge. and, coincidentally, my 100th post!

because my life is pretty "on the go", i ended up taking all of these pictures with my point-and-shoot camera (my little guy).

this is not what i planned on.

i planned on taking out my 5d mark ii (my big guy), but things got so hectic last week that i just had to take the tree pictures as i came across them!

my little guy did a good job, however, for the next challenge i will be more prepared and set more time aside to get pictures with the big camera, because, really, that's the only way i can get practice on exposure, lighting, settings (and all of the other things i listed in the initial post), right?

anywho,

lee and i had to go up to the canyon today to get some twigs and branches for a little project she's working on, so i decided that it was a good time for me to finish getting my tree pictures.

they ended up being lots of wilderness pictures, rather, but it was so much fun!

a picture lee snapped of me (below), she's getting soo good!

i had a little bit of fun getting more detailed shots :)

if anyone else happened to participate, i would love to see how it went!

i know i will be much more prepared for the next challenge, but this was a good way to ease into it, i thought :)

we have some fun challenges for the future. oh. so. excited!

checkout:

lee's tree challenge pictures

and then we turned 23.

chloe and i turn 23 today :) it's been an awesome year, and i love having a twin sister to celebrate my birthday with.

i also have wonderful friends and family, and a terrific boyfriend who make these occasions just so special.

the above photo is me and chloe from last year's bash! (also pictured is our cute cousin tara).

lee threw us the most AWESOME birthday party last year. she's a genius party planner and just puts so much of her heart into every little detail. she should do party-planning for a living, she's that good.

she's throwing us another party tonight, and so far we don't know any of the secrets, but boy are we excited!!

also another thanks:

mom, dad, somehow you brought us to our 23 years of age. i don't quite know how you did it, having two daughters, the same age, experiencing every agonizing stage girls/teens/women go through (thus far), but you are amazing parents and we love you so much!

so let part of this celebration be in your honor, you deserve it! :)

i have some pictures from earlier today and then i promise to take lots at the party and post them soon!

i hear tonight will be quite the shindig!

take care!

-m.e.

getting caught up.

back in may, lee, ashlee, and i had the opportunity to shoot this super fun couple! meagan and jim climbed up hills, into a barn, pretty much anything we asked. they were so adorable :)

we even had this awesome red balloon, well, two of them. the first one flew away! ashlee saved the day by getting us a new one hehe.

because they're green and leafy.

i'm so happy to hear that some of you are interested in my photo challenge! it might have seemed odd to have a photo challenge in which you are going to photograph trees. because trees are boring, right?

wrong.

i have an unhealthy obsession for trees. i watch for them everywhere i go.

i'm not sure why, but they are so fascinating to me. i have several favorites of mine all around town. i plan on driving to all of them to take their pictures.

(photo credit) (<---p.s. what a fun blog that is!)

if you need tips, here is what my main focus will be (for my own personal practice):

-to practice perfecting my light settings

-color temperature

-and gain better control of the focus on my telephoto lens

if there are any skills you feel you want to work on, maybe list some, and use the tree photographs to practice that.

if you are just doing the challenge for fun, try to capture a mood.

i have many more challenges in mind, i'm super excited for what's to come! :)

on monday, when you have your pictures, if you want, you can email them to me, post them on your blog and comment to me with your link, or just comment about your experience. anything really.

i'm really looking forward to what you can come up with!

jeremy has already agreed to come on a tree-photographing-adventure with me, so i'm excited about that. maybe we will find a good one for picnics!

also, i need help from anybody who reads my blog: any good music suggestions for the summer? i'm trying to create a summer music playlist, or even a variety of playlists, so any suggestions are wanted and welcome.

tata for now!

-m.e.

p.s. click here for a list of totally magnificent trees! :)

rainbow.

through my dad's sunglasses.

because i felt inspired to do so.

as i was waking up from a nap, i sat up and turned on my little desk lamp.

i loved the mood from the light, so i wanted to capture it. i didn't have a camera right there in bed with me . . . so i used my camera phone.

i must say, i'm quite impressed with the quality of this picture, considering it was a camera phone AND dim lighting.

i should probably clean off my nightstand, eh?

so, i'm thinking of starting a little photography challenge. anyone who is interested in taking pictures, challenges, or just wants to participate for fun, here it is:

maddie's first photo challenge!

i am going to challenge myself, and you (if you're interested) in taking 5 pictures this week. and i want them all to be pictures of your top 5 favorite trees in your neighborhood.

i have already photographed my top two, and by next monday, i will try to have my 5!

this project will get you (and me) out and about, taking pictures, and taking notice of your neighborhood. i will try to do monthly (maybe even weekly) photo challenges to keep the ball rolling.

who's with me?

little girls, bows, and flowers, oh my!

had SOO much fun with this shoot :) it was so easy and light, and i just got to follow little girls around all evening and capture their silliness, playfulness, and their adorable

personalities.

the great thing about little kids, i decided, was that they are not self-conscious in the least bit when getting their picture taken. at first, they were a little bit confused, going "cheeeeeeese. i'm ready, cheeeeeeese", but after they realized that's not what i was looking for, they all just started playing and blowing bubbles, picking grass, just things little girls do in the yard.

they were all so well behaved and made that night incredibly easy for me. amanda's hair bows and flowers are sooo cute and i think all little girls should have something from her shop!

thanks again amanda! i hope we can work together again!

(check out ther blog a.s.a.p. for sooo much adorable-ness, you will hardly believe it!)

yesterday was a lot of fun. jeremy and i drove up to the salt lake city temple to photograph two groups of families coming out (about an hour apart from each other). i started out the morning with a huge migraine (which seems to be typical on saturdays for me lately), and jeremy showed up at my house RIGHT on time, dressed to the nines, WITH lattes :) i fell in love with him all over again, it was so cute. i didn't even ask him to bring me one. he just said "i knew it was something you would be worried about having time to stop and get" (because YES. i DO need my coffee in the morning. i'm that kind of girl. and fortunately my man knows it!).

the brides and grooms in both groups were absolutely stunning and this was my first time photographing groups larger than 4 or 5 (there were like 35 in one group! maybe. it looked like a lot.), so i was really nervous, but the families were all so cooperative in getting the pictures done quickly so we could avoid getting rained on.

i had a total blast, my adrenaline was just pumping and it was all so exciting. i loved every minute of it!

but seriously, not 2 minutes after jeremy and i finished up and got to it his car, it was just a HUGE down poor. almost unbelievably so.

we were going to stop somewhere to eat, but we didn't even dare face the monsoon. so we headed back home to orem and went for some del taco (something we eat all too much), and then jeremy was really sweet and told me to take a nap, because my migraine was still obviously killing me. i took a long nap then felt pretty good afterwards so i went to jeremy's house and we watched movies and chatted with friends until about 3:30 a.m..

it was a really enjoyable saturday.

today, i'm taking the day off! NO editing! :)

i will start editing more tomorrow.

hope everyone has a wonderful sunday!

-m.e.