Danielle's Troop - Bella.

Beautiful Bella is the middle child of the Tassin clan. She is always prepared for any photo with a cute pose. She is not camera shy in the least. She was definitely the easiest of the children to photograph.

Below are my faves, minus the Christmas shoot. Notice in the last photo how much she adores her baby sister!

Danielle's Troop - Zack.

Zack is the second youngest child. Our first shoot was on his second birthday. He has a spunky personality and keeping up with him is a difficult job. He never stays in the same place long enough to pose, so most of his shots are candid. He is too busy exploring to have his picture taken!

Below are my faves of Zack from our shoots, as well as one with his brothers:

Danielle's Troop - Emma.

Danielle and I were introduced through a mutual online friend. She had just had Emmaleigh a mere six weeks before our first initial shoot. We decided to meet at Lafreniere park in Metairie, Louisiana on October 6, 2007 and I shot with my W7.

The shoot was fantastic and I left feeling confident in my photography but also happy to have made a new friend. It also didn’t help that I held little Emma and she just made my heart melt. We decided to meet again to do a pumpkin patch shoot closer to Halloween. This was done on October 20, 2007 in Metairie, also with the W7.

Thrilled with the photos again, we decided to commit to a Christmas shoot. The shoot took place on December 10, 2007 and I shot with my mom’s H2 in my home in Metairie with my own tree and presents as props. Below you can see two pics from that shoot, but I will post more when I display the holiday portion of my portfolio.

And now, here are my faves of Emma:

Kateland.

Kateland is the daughter of my friend Kylee. When I decided I was going to branch out into photography, Kylee agreed to let me do photos of Kateland. This was my first official shoot. I was so excited I had my little brief case containing consent forms, a pen, and pink tulle.

We did the shoot on September 1, 2007 at their home in Marerro, Louisiana. We had to wait out the rain and of course once we were out there, Kateland wanted nothing to do with having her photo taken. I didn’t stress though, I just kept shooting and pumped out a few great shots. She eventually took to the camera and became a little ham. I am of course referring to my W7. Without further adieu, here are some of my faves from her shoot.

Babies, Toddlers, Children.

I have had fun (and lots of exercise!) shooting little ones over the past year. I am in the process of uploading the babies, toddlers, and children section of my portfolio. Enjoy the next few posts from past clients.

I am going to offer the same promo on babies, toddlers, and children as I am on maternity portraits. I realized I need my portfolio spiced up a bit in this area.

Being a Bride is Hard Work.

I am so overwhelmed. It’s a good feeling though, but I wish I’d get through these edits and move on. I’m still stuck in NOLA when it comes to my photography. We have been living in Colorado for three months now. Working a full time job puts a strain on my photography, just as it did in Louisiana, but when you’re still playing catch up it’s even worse.

I wanted to be shooting by now. Technically I did. I did a teacher picture day at the preschool and then I did pumpkin patch pictures with the Kindergarteners. I am going to put together a comp book for their graduation next June. I figured I’d get all sorts of pictures of them throughout the year. So I guess I have started shooting.

It’s supposed to snow tonight which means winter is rapidly approaching. I want to get these edits finished so I can advertise for holiday portraits! I had so much fun last year, though I did a minimal amount of sessions. I am so giddy this time of year.

So the reason for the title – I’m sure everyone knows I’m a bride-to-be by now. Our wedding is in less than six months and I feel like I’ve gotten nothing accomplished. Of course that is not true; I have my dress which is one of the biggest things. I’ve had it since April! Plans will slowly fall into place, I just wish I had it all put together now. Anyway, I am here to attest to the fact that being a bride is definitely hard work. The following photo is from what I lovingly refer to as my “mock bridal shoot” in which we had a real bride but fake bridesmaids and a fake groom. Elise is a friend of a repeat client of mine and is getting married in the next few weeks. I am going through these photos as we speak and came across this one and had to giggle:

See, we were using Amy’s [Jazzy Photo, NOLA] sister-in-law’s home and they are still renovating from Hurricane Katrina. There were three photographers, two makeup/hair artists, and six models in one cramped room. Pair that with studio lights and you’re in for a hot mess. Elise was in a very heavily beaded bridal gown and got very hot very fast. We thought she was going to pass out for a minute but after some water and pulling her hair up, she was once again radiant and back to shooting. She was such a trooper – the shoot lasted five hours!

I will have more photos from Elise’s session when I post the bridal part of my portfolio hopefully sooner than later. For now, back to editing the session.

Amy.

Amy is a former co-worker of mine from New Orleans. She and her husband are expecting their first baby due October 7, 2008. They are going to find out the sex once the baby is born, so our shoot was more gender-neutral. The shoot took place on June 27, 2008 in Audubon Park in New Orleans, Louisiana with my new and lovely H9.

Amy if you're reading this, good luck in the next few weeks! Also, we can change the cream ribbon to blue or pink once we find out the sex of your little one :)

Cassandra.

Cassandra and I have been friends since 2004 and I was thrilled to find out she was expecting. She knew she was due with a baby girl to be named Kinsley Elyse, so we really concentrated on a personalized shoot for baby Kinsley. The shoot took place on November 10, 2007 in Lafreniere Park in Metairie, Louisiana and was shot with my now retired W7.

Maternity.

I adore maternity portraits. While your subject is a large, round belly, there is so much room for improvisation and creativity. I have done two maternity shoots thus far which really saddens me as they are my favorite.

From now until December 31, 2008 you can receive a maternity session for $35!!! This will include a proof CD of your one hour long session. You can order proofs from your proof CD.

So you pay $35 for the session and CD of web quality watermarked images and pay for what prints you wish for! Sound good? Fill up my calendar!!!

Long Overdue Update.

Well hello, it's been awhile! I have reloacted to beautiful Centennial, Colorado and am working fulltime as an assistant teacher in a private preschool Kindergarten class. I am using my Spanish degree and teaching the kiddos espanol (no accent marks on the laptop!) and am loving it.

So what does this mean for my photography? Well one, I am still editing shoots from NOLA as sad as that is. I have very little free time these days. Two, once I get these shoots completed I plan to begin shooting in Colorado. I will only be available on weekends however as I end my workday at 6:30pm and daylight savings time is just around the corner. Three, with rebuilding my photography and establishing clients in my new hometown I am reformatting this website as well as the MySpace I have built for Digital Danielle Photography. I will be posting examples from various shoots as well as my rates, packages, and promotions.

Keep your eyes peeled!

Upgrade.

For my birthday, my parents surprised me with my beloved H9!

I am amazed at the color difference in my shoots. I look at the images straight out of the camera and don’t want to touch them. Of course there is always the need for extra oomph and glamour in a portrait so I have to edit them. But the clarity is stunning. I am hooked.

I played around with the more professional cameras in Best Buy before considering the H9. I really looked into the Canon Rebel XT and the Nikon D50. I compared the two to the H9. The Canon was pretty impressive, but the lenses were a little pricey for my liking. The Nikon was not that spectacular. I tried different settings and focused on a white balloon. The balloon was yellow on the LCD! I know you have to automatically adjust the white balance on a DSLR, but the Canon’s was dead on with no adjusting on my part. Plus, I would eventually like to have a Sony DSLR anyway. I hear they still need quite a bit of work, but by the time I’m ready for that step they should have the kinks worked out.

So now I wonder why I waited so long to get this camera! One of my favorite things is the large (and tilting!) LCD. I experimented with this feature at a recent shoot and it was very convenient. I love my camera.

It also makes me feel more professional since I have a fancier camera. I know that’s silly and doesn’t really make a photographer who they are, but in all honesty I felt I wasn’t being taken seriously with the compact W7. One of my clients said, “Such a small camera for a big job,” and although she was making light of the situation, I felt a little less confident in myself from that point on. Now I can look like a serious up and coming photographer and my pictures are coming out fabulously. I am so content. I really feel like this was a giant step in the right direction.

I will start to chronicle some shoots in the near future. To comment on the above picture, that was taken on February 3 with a model named Angie. Angie was actually on the TV show America’s Next Top Model. She was one of the 20 girls who went to Los Angeles for casting but did not make it into the house. It was phenomenal working with such an experienced model, especially one who has met Tyra Banks!

Fashion photography is very interesting. I feel like I have an opportunity to see things on a more artistic perspective, and that provides me with an entirely different level of creativity. However, I much prefer my portraiture “up close” kinds of shoots. Even with my fashion sessions, I do plenty face shots. I can’t steer away from it. I don’t dislike high fashion photography, it’s just like saying I bake all kinds of cookies. Peanut butter ones (portraiture) are my favorite but I do like to whip up a batch of sugar cookies (high fashion) every now and then because variety is the spice of life.

I’ve rambled long enough here. I am just way too excited about my new camera. Be on the lookout for photo commentary very soon.