Megan Lane Photography

Christmas Claire-isms

2010-12-24T09:25:00.000-07:00

While out Christmas Shopping….

“Dis is wha I want, Mommy! Ooohhh, dis is wha I want! Mommy, oh! dis is wha I want!” In response to almost every single item in the toy aisle, when I was silly enough to ask “Claire, what do you want from Santa?”

But then she very happily put every single toy back on the shelf and we went merrily on our way:)

Pretty much all day long last Friday… (and it cracked me up every single time!!!)

“Claire, what does Santa say?”

“Hohoho, Merry Kismass Tee!” [hohoho, Merry Christmas Tree, ahhahhhaa]

After meeting Santa for the first time….

“Claire, who was that?”

“Santa!!!” (very excited, not at all scared) but then, “Santa dint bing me any pwesants…?!” Said in the cutest little confused two-year old voice, not terribly upset [yet], just genuinely confused. So it is explained that Santa will bring gifts, just not until Christmas. After several days of Santa distress we were able to adequately reinforce the concept that the presents will happen on Christmas, but not before, and all is right with the world again.

However, Santa does realize that he had better deliver on Christmas morning or he is going to be in BIG trouble:)

While playing last night….

“Les go see Santa a Dary Keen!” [“Lets go see Santa at Dairy Queen!”]

Oh. Of course. Santa at Dairy Queen—what could possibly be better than that!?

“Cummon Mommy! Les go see Santa!”

Claire then marches over to a corner of our family room (that has been dubbed “Dary Keen” by our imaginative toddler) and crouches down before shouting at me “Der he is!!!” and pointing to a spot on the ground in front of her. She then carries on a “conversation” with Santa, still crouching down and staring at a spot just above the floor. Apparently Santa has shrunk to ~6 inches tall. Who knew?

In response to anything Claire likes or wants….

“Oh! Iss pwerfict! Iss pwerfict for me??” (while trying on her new belt, or Mommy’s bracelets, or putting on her new mittens, or…well, you get the picture:)

So, now you know what we’ll be hearing Christmas morning: “Merry Kismass Tee! Merry Kismass Tee! Oh, dis is wha I want! Oh! Iss pwerfict for me? Is pwerfict for me! Tank you Santa! Tank you! Les go Dary Keen!! Yay!”

Oh, through the eyes of a child—such wonder and joy….

Merry Christmas from the Lane Family!

"Whes Johnnie???"

2010-11-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

So we’re making dinner the other night and Claire is sitting on the counter playing with some spoons and chattering away when all of a sudden she says “Hey, whes Johnnie go?” [translation: Hey, where did Johnnie go?]

At which point I am rather confused. We don’t know any Johnnies…or Johns for that matter. So I reply “Johnnie? Who’s Johnnie sweetie?” And apparently that wasn’t the correct response so Claire repeats her [totally reasonable and obvious question] “Johnnie! Whes Johnnie go!?!”

Well, I’ll spare you the next few minutes of back and forth questions (this is a story about a two-year old, after all, so those questions get rather repetitive, rather quickly) but finally I struck upon inspiration: “Claire, where was Johnnie?”

Triumphantly Claire points at the refrigerator and declares “In da fwidge!”

Oh. Of course.

I open the fridge and Claire shrieks “OH! Dere he is!!”

I didn’t jump straight up in the air – I might have startled a little, but I didn’t scream or anything ridiculous like that.

As my heart rate returned to normal I ask “He’s in the fridge?”

“Yeah! Right dere!”

So I hold her up to show me Johnnie. And she points behind the cheese, past the sour cream, to the SALAMI.

Oh. Of course!

Salami.

Silly Mommy.

Stage Meltdown

2010-11-17T20:49:00.000-07:00

I took Claire to her first ballet on Saturday—at 2:00 in the afternoon—and we had to make it through the whole performance, no leaving early.

Now, if you don’t have a 2-year old that may seem like a completely sane and reasonable way to spend a Saturday afternoon. If you do have a 2-year old (or experience with a 2-year old) you may already be chuckling to yourself or shaking your head wondering “what the…?!” Because there are two dark forces at play here:

1. Claire still takes an afternoon nap—and this nap is essential to her mental health (and the mental health of her parents) because without a nap…well, let’s just say that it gets ugly. Real ugly.

2. Sitting still, especially for extended periods of time, is not exactly part of a 2-year old’s skill set…. Nuff said.

Now, in my defense, there were extenuating circumstances: we couldn’t go to the evening show because we already had plans - and one of the lead dancers is a former student of mine, a current student of Scott’s, and I took her Senior pictures this fall. And she really really wanted us to see the show and she was also really really looking forward to meet Claire at the end. So, the 2:00 pm show was the only option, and we had to make it through the whole thing.

Ooookay.

We did pretty good…. We sat way in the back so Claire could dance in the aisle to her heart’s content and no one would yell at us for bringing apples and cheese into the auditorium (gotta have snacks). There was her [loud] “oooohhh, pretty!” exclamation as the lights came up for the second half (but everyone laughed at that one, because it was pretty, and that tiny 2-year old voice is pretty dang cute). She did say “oh! All done!” after every single song in the second half [and she wasn’t exactly whispering]. She also got her boot stuck in the seat in front of us at one point which caused some tears (thankfully no one was sitting in that seat). And then there was the one really bad moment when she was maneuvering out of her seat (for the 4,000^th time) but this time she miscalculated and smacked her little noggin off the seat in front of us. Hard. That was bad. Real bad.

But as I was comforting her I said something magical that made the owwie go away “Shhhh, sweetie, it’s ok! The show is almost over and when it’s over we get to go up on the stage and say hi to the dancers!” That made the howling stop and the tears go away. Like magic.

Now, I never would have said that if I didn’t believe it to be true. At almost every other performance I’ve ever been to we go up on stage to say hi and congratulations and give flowers to the dancers. But ~20 minutes later I got to find out that today it wasn’t one of those performances. This time the curtain stayed down, we got to visit with some of the dancers down on the floor, but there was no going up on the stage.

Uh. Oh.

Claire has an elephant’s memory: once a promise is made she never forgets. Mommy had promised the stage—and Mommy soon realized she wasn’t going to be able to deliver.

Uh. Oh.

We made it outside before Claire realized that we weren’t going up on the stage. And then…well, she had a meltdown. The kind of meltdown where you’re afraid people think you beat your child because what else could possibly be the cause of such a scene??? The kind of meltdown that comes after "I only had half a nap and I was so quiet and we watched all that fun stuff on the stage and Mommy said it was our turn next and now we're outside and I WANNA GO UP ON THE STAGE!!!!!!"

And I only had myself to blame. I mean, who promises a 2-year old something that has even the slightest possibility of not coming true??? [after 2 hours of "quiet time"] A dumb mommy that’s who. *sigh*

But, thankfully, it only took ~10 minutes of thumb sucking and blankie time in the car to stop the tears and by the time we got home she couldn’t wait to tell Daddy all about the “girls dancing!” And by Sunday she was modeled her version of “girls dancing” with pirouettes, leg kicks, hops, and jumps. So, in the end it was a successful venture.

Whew.

I've Fallen...

2010-11-16T18:47:00.001-07:00

I have pretty much fallen off the face of the earth…the blogging earth that is. The last time I posted was…um, July? Yikes.

Facebook has just become such a better place to share Sneak Peeks and quick little updates so blogging has just been…neglected. Sorely neglected.

I have actually been considering just getting rid of the blog entirely, but I realized something over the weekend. I have many fellow photographer friends from around the country that I follow on Facebook and read their blogs regularly and the blogs that I really enjoy reading are from photographers who blog about their personal lives, not necessarily their photos. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE seeing all of their new work and photos on Facebook, but it is really fun to also get a glimpse of the person behind the photos through their blogs.

So, I’m going to try it for a while and see how it goes! Let me know what you think!

Stay tuned for my Saturday Ballet Adventure :)

Whew.

2010-07-06T13:06:00.001-06:00

I knew this summer was going to be crazy. Insane even. And has it lived up to it's potential? Oh yeah:) But in the best way possible! I mean, how many photographers do you know who can say "Not only can we take some rockin pictures of your wedding day, we can also change the flat tire on your limo!" [ok, to be perfectly honest, I couldn't say this either...but that's why I have the bestest hubby in the whole wide world who has skills as varied as quick-draw-lens-changing while perching atop tall ladders, to supplying the tools AND the muscles/skills for changing flat limo tires! Wow:)]

We have photographed two weddings in one weekend. We have celebrated our daughter's 2-year birthday party surrounded by family and friends. We have almost been struck by lightning. We have been junk-sale-shopping in Bozeman. We've entertained the neighborhood playing backyard football. We've photographed new babies and old friends. We've found new ways to share our images with clients (whoohoo for pictage.com!). We've slept in a few times and we've gotten up early a lot. We've kissed owies and swung on the swings. We've been "real" swimming for the first time and howled into the warm wind while racing fast across the lake in Grammie and Papa's new boat. We've read lots of bedtime stores and watered the flowers. We've drank some beers and laughed a lot and...whew...I am just so incredibly, fantastically, awesomely blown away by how blessed we are.

I can't really express how amazing it feels to work with our clients to capture their memories - those forever moments that are sometimes so big and other times so quiet and small - but I do know that I thank God for the opportunity to continue this journey each and every day.

Life is wonderful - and all I can say is thanks to all of the people in my life who make it possible: my hubby, my baby, my mom and dad, Scott's mom and dad, our friends & family, our clients, our fans. Thanks you guys.

~From this completely saturated by blessings Mommy-Wife-Photographer

Do You Know an Amazing Mom?!?

2010-04-21T19:20:00.000-06:00

Mother’s Day will be here before we know it—and in honor of moms everywhere I am excited to announce the first ever MLP Awesome Mom Award (AMA) contest!

I think it is incredibly important to honor the work that all moms do, all the time, every day, without being asked, and often without being thanked…. So here’s your chance: I want you to tell me about an amazing mom who you know. It could be your own mom or grandma, or a friend, sister, aunt (etc) who’s a mom or mom-stand-in and who you think is amazing! Type up your story on the Megan Lane Photography page on Facebook and be sure to explain why she is the bestest mom ever and why she deserves to win the AMA contest.

Then, you need to get people to vote for your submission by “Liking” or Commenting on your entry (this is where you spread the word to your family & friends!!). The mom with the most votes (Likes + Comments = Total Votes) will be presented with an MLP gift certificate for a FREE family or child photography session and five free enlargements!

The contest starts today and we will take submissions and voting until 11:30 pm on Saturday May 8th. I will announce the winner on Mother’s Day, May 9th!

I thought this would be fun because I can’t think of a better way to thank your mom than to write her a personal “why you are awesome” note. The gift certificate is just icing on the cake because what mom/grandma doesn’t love pictures of the littlest people in their lives? Win/Win all the way around:)

I would like to kick off the AMA contest by telling you about a truly amazing woman in my world: my mom, Tobi Sandiland. My mom has always been there for me: cheering me on, supporting me in every adventure and endeavor, being a shoulder to cry on, and an incredible strength to lean on. We laugh together, cry together, shop together, and do kick-butt dump runs together! I consider myself incredibly, wonderfully blessed to have had her guiding presence in my life from childhood through to my own motherhood (and everything in between…). Basically she is one of the most amazing women that I know! I try to tell her thanks as much as possible, and I try to be appreciative of all that she does…but sometimes it just feels so small compared to the vastness of what she has done for me. SO, I would like to dedicate this AMA contest to my mom. (Mom - I love you, I thank you, I hope you know how much. Always & forever M)

I can’t wait to read about your mom stories—warm fuzzies here we come:) And don’t forget to spread the word to your friends & family to vote for your submission!!

A Few Notes: Each entry needs to be its own separate “post” so people can vote for your mom, so please don’t fill in your entry as a comment to someone else’s story! Start a new “box” for each new mom. You can only vote once for each mom (but you are welcome to vote for multiple moms:) Only positive stories and comments will be allowed. Anything ucky or mean will be deleted – and I am the person who decides what is ucky or mean.

Whew. I hope I explained that ok…! If you have any questions please feel free to give me a call or shoot me an email (406-431-6452 or megan@meganlanephotography.com).

And to all of you who are moms and are awesome: thank you—and may God bless you with patience, laughter, & loads of sticky kisses!

Click here to visit the MLP page on Facebook to

start your entry now! :)

Sweet Baby S

2010-03-26T22:35:00.001-06:00

Baby S is almost exactly a year younger than my own baby girl--and it is just incredible to think that last year this could have been Claire...! But isn't nine months such a fun, cuddly, chunka-monk age?! They are really starting to develop their personalities and let you know what they think - and this baby girl shared some priceless expressions (she had the cutest "smoocheroo" face ever--but to see those pics you'll have to visit the website www.meganlanephotography.com and check out the rest of the Baby S slideshow:). She was also quite the mover and the shaker--you had to be fast to catch her sitting down or she'd be off on a mission to explore! Such fun:)

add extra info here

Two Tiny Teeth

2010-03-12T08:19:00.002-07:00

There is just something about those first two bottom baby teeth - when those poke through in a grin you'd have to be pretty Grinch-y not to grin back! So you've got to check out Baby C and his brand new chompers - which he was generous enough to share with us during his session this week:

I mean really, how cute is that?? And have I mentioned how much I love photographing babies through our Baby's First Year series? [oh, only a half dozen times already? heehee] It is just so neat to see these babies grow through the year and watch them develop into these little people with daddy's eyes and momma's smile and their own unique personality....

So, this was Baby C's second session in his BFY series and he is such a happy go lucky baby. He loved his rings, he loved to get naked, and when Daddy brought out the tools he was soooo excited:) Here's a sneak peak at some pics (and to see the whole slideshow just visit the Clients tab on our website www.meganlanephotography.com and click on Baby C).

OK, that last storyboard is my favorite - Mom was tickling his toes and he was full-on belly laughing. *sigh* There is NOTHING on earth as wonderful as baby giggles (and to catch it on film was pretty cool too:).

Three times the fun!

2010-03-07T15:28:00.001-07:00

You have never seen entertainment until you have witnessed an 8-month old, a 20-month old, and a 4-year old getting their pictures taken together! These three cousins were treated to this MLP photo session by their grandma and this was a very...active session, no doubt about it! But who can resist two tiny redheads and a curly towhead? Not me, that's for sure, these girls are just too darling!

But, I should let the pics talk for themselves... :)

See? So darling! To see the whole slideshow, visit the MLP website www.meganlanephotography.com and from the Clients tab choose "P Kiddos."

Baby Cakes

2010-03-05T19:46:00.004-07:00

I promised pics of little miss N's 1st birthday shoot last week - and I would never want to disappoint so check out this cutest of cake sessions! (to see the whole slideshow visit our website www.meganlanephotography.com and choose "NF" under the Clients tab:)

And that's how you turn one in style!! :)

Baby K - can't get much cuter!

2010-02-17T21:18:00.001-07:00

The new studio has been getting quite the work-out since we finished it a couple weeks ago (makes me wonder how I went so long without one:) and Baby K got to check out the new digs at her 7 month shoot. Baby K is another baby in our Baby's First Year Series and I always love seeing our First Year babies because they grow and change so much in the short months between our sessions! At our last session Baby K was...a little on the grumpy side (those were her mom & dad's words--not mine!!:) but this time she was all smiles (hey - she must like the new studio too! heehee). Anyway, here are some fun pics from her session:

To see the rest of Baby K's pics visit our website www.meganlanephotography.com (click on the client's tab).

300 by 30?!

2010-02-15T15:45:00.001-07:00

Back in January we launched a Megan Lane Photography page on Facebook and since then we've been messing around and figuring stuff out but we haven't devoted any time to promoting that page.... Which is probably why we only have ~18 fans, heehee:) That is a fine start—but I’d really like to have lots and lots of fans because it is such a fun way to connect with people!

So, in honor of my 30th Birthday (coming up March 14th!) and the 1 year anniversary of MLP (also in March) I thought it appropriate to set a huge goal for the business: to have 300 fans by the time I turn 30!!

On March 15th, for every 100 Facebook fans we have I will draw the name of one fan to receive a $100.00 MLP gift certificate! This gift certificate can be used towards any of our portrait sessions &/or any portrait session images, and the more fans we have, the more names I’ll draw!

If you are not already a fan of MLP on Facebook, use the link in the left column of the blog to visit our page on Facebook or use this link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Helena-MT/Megan-Lane-Photography/248043992446?ref=ts (then just click on the box "Become a Fan" next to our name at the top of the page:)

We would love it if you would also spread the word to your family and friends to help us reach our goal!

Thank you so much for your help--and please feel free to call or email anytime if you have any questions!

* Note: If you are an MLP client or fan you should be getting the MLP updates via email (I just sent one today--Monday--so if it isn't in your Inbox check your Spam folder. Then be sure to add megan@meganlanephotography to your Address Book so our messages will always come through:)

If you aren't on our mailing list and would like to receive MLP updates via email please just shoot us a message at megan@meganlanephotography.com with "Add me to the mailing list" in the subject line and we'll get you added to our list!

Mara & Cale

2010-02-08T11:00:00.002-07:00

Here’s another one of our wedding couples who are getting married this summer! I got to hang out with Mara & Cale last Saturday and take their engagement pics (after TWO weather postponements—I’ve never had to re-schedule a shoot for weather and then we had to re-schedule their shoot TWICE—crazy!). But everything finally cooperated Saturday and it was a really fun session because these two are up for anything and they are just so dang cute! It was a special treat for me because Mara picked out a cool spot that I’ve had my eye on for a while but hadn’t yet gotten to shoot. It also let me play around with some different editing for a bit of a more “edgy” look. At one point we even had a spectator (one of the Helena Feed Lot workers who was around back)—and boy did he ever give us crazy looks—but I think we won him over with our enthusiasm…or something…because he came back out a bit later & offered to take us inside and let us use some feed bags for some pics:) Oh, the adventures!

Anyway, here are a few of my favs from Mara & Cale’s session (as always, check out the Clients tab on our webpage www.meganlanephotography.com to see the whole slideshow!):

Aren't they darling??? Thanks for the great shoot you guys!:)

New MPL Studio Space!

2010-01-28T22:39:00.002-07:00

After four crazy days of moving stuff stuff and MORE stuff around our house, out to the garbage, into storage, and to Goodwill...drum roll please...the spare bedroom to studio transformation is complete! The new space may be small--and I still have some decisions to make (how exactly I want to rig my backdrops, for example)--but it is AWESOME to have a dedicated room for all of my equipment. And it is even more awesome to be able to offer clients a space that is ready to go for a great photo session!:)

Now, I've been promising pics of the Before, the Chaos, and the After for almost a week, so here you go!

Now for the In Progress pics....

And after all the shuffling and organizing and moving around: here is the long-awaited After!!

Well, not quite the end because I can't resist sharing one sneak peek pic from my first session in the new studio:

I have lots more of Baby H but those will have to wait, dear reader, because I'm only half-way through editing that session and it is time for bed at the Lane household! So I'm off for sweet dreams of finished studio space...mmmmm:)

Vital Energy

2010-01-26T21:24:00.000-07:00

Ironic that the title of this entry is Vital Energy...since the fact that I have absolutely NO energy is the reason that I'm not dragging my butt off the couch to take the After photos of the big studio "reno" to share with all of you:) Have no fear, though, the studio is complete! In fact, I had my first shoot there this afternoon (Baby H--oh, so cute! but I'm getting ahead of myself...). In the mean time, I thought I would post some pics from a fun commercial session I did last weekend.

The shoot was for Vital Energy Chiropractic which is owend by very good friends of mine. They wanted images for their waiting room and patient rooms that showcased them working with babies and kiddos and their own two darling kids were our "models" (and such great sports!).

Here's a sneak peak from their session (to see more check out the "Vital Energy Chiropractic" slideshow under the Clients tab):

We rounded out the session by taking a quick family pic for their website:

And even their dog Sadie got in on the fun:)

I must be crazy...!

2010-01-22T23:09:00.053-07:00

OK, so those of you who know me know that I'm a little tiny bit on the organized side--just a tiny bit, mind you, nothing obsessive or compulsive or full-blown crazy.... Oh, who am I kidding? I may not have clinical OCD, but I definitely like my stuff right where it should be!:) I'm one of those people who derive great joy from an organized closet, hanging files with everything labeled, books arranged by height (not alphabetized as some may argue--height organization is so much more aesthetically pleasing, heehee:). For instance, all the clothes in my closet are arranged by color and it is just divine:)

So, what in the world (you may ask) does this have to do with...anything?! Ah, if you could only see my house right now, then you would understand.... In fact, as soon as I'm done with this rambling post I'm going to go and take some pictures to add into this blog and then you will really understand!

The reason for the chaos is that I am converting our spare bedroom into a studio & office for MLP!!!!!!! If you can't tell, I'm really really excited about this:) Having some studio space will give me a lot more flexibility (for babies, toddlers, and maternity sessions especially!) and it will give me somewhere to put my exponentially-growing collection of equipment (something of which Scott is very much in favor:). The only problem with this plan is that I'm having to deal with the masses of oh-so-important-yet-never-used STUFF that I swear has been breeding in my closets (because we couldn't have amassed all of this STUFF on purpose...right?!? *sigh*).

And as much as I love organization, I also can't bring myself to throw much stuff away (I mean, someday our kids might really like to see their dad's old football jersey...right?). So the ladder to our crawl space has been getting a serious workout. Oh, and did I mention that the light in the crawl space also went on the fritz just at the beginning of this little project. So I grabbed this honkin big flashlight of Scott's thinking "oh, this is why we have this ridiculously big flashlight!" only to have the honkin big flashlight burn out not 5 minutes into this 3-day process (seriously, I couldn't make this stuff up!). So now I'm bumbling my way around the crawl space by the light of a mini flashlight thinking "why did I never think to appreciate the light before it burned out" (and trying not to think about all of the deep connotations that thought has for life in general...whoa).

As if this "project" wasn't ambitious enough, I decided to swap around 3 other closets in our house too (I would try to explain but if I started in on a tour of the craft closet, office closet, spare bedroom closet, and Scott's old closet--and then launched into what moved where and what swapped with what I do believe your eyes would roll into the back of your head...that is, if they haven't already:).

Aaaaannnyyyway, suffice to say I have a huge project on my hands. So why am I wasting my time writing about it? Well, I started this entry when Little Miss was eating breakfast, I pecked at the keys while scarfing down lunch when Little Miss was napping, and now I'm finishing up while everyone else is in bed for the night. And, to be perfectly honest, the thought of posting Before and After pictures is VERY motivating:)

On that note, it is time for me to head to bed but I'll add in pictures tomorrow so you can ooohhhh and aaaahhh over my colossal mess. And let's hope that very soon after that you will be able to ooohhh and aaahhh over my colossal progress when I post my After pics!!:)

Brrrrrrr!

2010-01-15T07:22:00.001-07:00

Erin & Josh are one of our wedding couples for this summer and even before Christmas we had set a date to get their engagement pics done. That day came around last week--yeah, that week of sub zero temps--but the weather man kept promising that by the weekend we'd be up in the 30's (ok, so I know you can't actually depend on the weather guy but I just kept thinking "It has to get warmer...it just has to...!").

So Saturday morning I woke up expecting it to be...warmer (not warm, mind you, just warmer). Alas, the weather gods were not in on the plan and it was *$@#^ cold, yes, that was *$@#^ cold - a.k.a. really really really really not warm. But Erin & Josh are true Montana troopers and we shot right through the cold! Which made me think to myself: this couple is awesome:)

Weather aside, we had a fun little session and got some great pics (if you want to check out the rest of their slideshow check out Erin & Josh in the Clients tab)! I can already tell that we are going to have so much fun doing their wedding this summer:)

See, you can't even tell they are half-way to popsicles! Erin & Josh - thanks for being such great sports!!:)

Oh So Sweet Baby E

2010-01-13T16:40:00.002-07:00

Get ready to say awwwww...because Little Baby E is just as cute as can be!

Baby E is one of our little ones on the Baby's First Year series and this was our second shoot in her series. (In case you don't know, Baby's First Year is a sequence of four shoots over a 12-month period where you get a serious discount on the photo sessions! It is for babies newborn - 18 months and can be started anytime--contact us if you're interested in learning more!:).

Baby E just turned 3 months and she is getting those fantastic little rolls and dimples everywhere--so different from the newborn I took pics of a couple months ago! She was such a trooper too: she was sooooo tired but she stayed awake long enough for some open-eye shots and then she conked out and we got some precious sleeping-baby pictures.

I had so much trouble picking just a couple pics from her session--so here are several (and to see the whole slideshow head to http://www.meganlanephotography.com/ and check out Baby E under the Clients tab).

...I seriously have the best job ever!!!

$50 Photo Credit!

2010-01-11T07:56:00.001-07:00

To kick off the new MLP pricing (see “New Pricing Schedule for MLP” entry below for all of the new pricing details) we would like to offer you $50 in FREE pictures for your next MLP photo session! To be eligible for this credit, you just need to schedule a photo session with MLP to take place on or before March 1st, 2010!

To get started just follow these three easy steps:

1. Visit the Megan Lane Photography website http://www.meganlanephotography.com/ and click on the Contact tab.

2. Fill in your contact info (but leave the date blank).

3. In the Message box paste the following “I want to schedule a session on or before March 1st to get the $50 Photo Credit!” Please also include the type of session in which you are interested (Baby, Family, Engagement, etc) and any other preferences or information that may help us schedule your shoot (you may want to give us some potential dates, for example).

We will then call you to schedule your session—and just like that you’ve made $50! It doesn’t get much easier than that:)

(If you prefer to call us instead of using email you are still eligible for the $50 credit! Just call 406-431-6452 to schedule your session and be sure to mention this special.)

To see the new MLP sitting fees and photo prices please visit our website http://www.meganlanephotography.com/ and click on the (completely updated!) Pricing tab.

We look forward to scheduling your shoot!

Please Note: The $50 Photo Credit applies to the purchase of images from your session; it cannot be applied to a photo session sitting fee. Thank you!

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New Pricing Schedule for MLP!

2010-01-10T22:49:00.004-07:00

We know that you love Megan Lane Photography for many reasons—and we also know that our policies and prices are a big part of that love! We want to continue providing you with all that you love about MLP (without completely burning ourselves out:)—so we are starting out the new year with a policies & pricing overhaul!

We have worked very hard to keep our services affordable with the new pricing, while maintaining our commitment to delivering your images on CD-ROM. In the new pricing structure you will pay a flat sitting fee for your session; and then after the images have been professionally edited and re-touched you will get to choose the number of images that you want to purchase from your session.

You will have the option to buy individual images or to buy “packages” of images at a significant discount (one package includes all of the images from your slideshow, for example). You will still receive your pictures as full-resolution digital images on CD-ROM, and we will continue to provide you with a copyright waiver so you can make all of your own enlargements, copies, and photo gifts! The biggest change is that you are now in control of the number of images you receive from a session.

To see the specific sitting fees and photo prices for each of our sessions, please visit the completely updated Pricing tab on our website http://www.meganlanephotography.com/, New to the Wedding and Portrait information pages are PDF links for each of the photo sessions we offer. The PDF documents include all of the pricing details for the sessions so you can print or save the information to keep as a handy reference.

YOU are the very most important part of our business here at MLP, and we hope that you know how much your interests were considered in this overhaul. We recognize that price increases are never exactly welcome, so tomorrow we will be posting a way for you to earn a $50 MLP photo credit! That means FREE photos!:) Consider it a thank you for your continued support and a discount to make the move to the new pricing a little easier.

Check back tomorrow for all the details on the $50 credit and please let us know if you have any questions about the new pricing or packages!

***Please note: if you have already signed a contract with us the new pricing has absolutely no impact on your event/session pricing and your agreement/contract/pricing will NOT be changed in any way! :)***

R Family Shoot

2010-01-06T22:16:00.004-07:00

Just before Christmas I was lucky to do a really fun family shoot with the R Family. It was not a very nice day at all (sort of a theme for us lately around Helena!) and with two babies and a toddler, an exclusively-outside session was obviously not a great option! Luckily we had the back-up option of the awesome 3rd floor space of the Barrister Bed and Breakfast. Nick – thank you thank you thank you!! (If you ever need a great B&B in Helena, definitely check out the Barrister. I worked there for several years when I was in college and it is such a great place!:)

Anyway, I thought I would share some of my favorite pics from their session—enjoy!:)

This shoot was a great way to the 2009 photo season. All the families were so easy to work with and their kiddos were darling. To the whole R Family: I hope you enjoy your pics! Thanks for the fun shoot:)

And the winners are...!

2010-01-05T22:59:00.002-07:00

The results are in for the winners of the 2009 Favorite Family Portraits promotion!

Congrats to: Rita Pikkula, Jennifer Wagner, and Melody Wall!

I know I said there would only be one winner…but so many people sent in votes! So I thought, hey, I’m in control here! More pictures for everyone!!:).

A big thank you to everyone who participated—it was really fun to get your feedback and to see what pictures everyone liked! I have to share one funny story: a good friend of mine and her mom both sent me emails with their votes only minutes apart from each other—and both chose the same picture. So the next time I talked with her I said, “Were you and your mom together the day you voted?” She had no idea what I was talking about: apparently she and her mom voted for the same picture (practically at the same time) completely independently of each other! Which begs the question: nurture or nature…? Well, I guess one can say good family taste at the very least!:)

Anyway, I will be contacting the lucky winners later this week to let them know they won and to schedule their photo shoot.

In the mean time, keep the feedback coming--we always love to hear your comments!:)

Some Tips for Taking Great Holiday Pics

2009-12-21T13:33:00.003-07:00

With all of the family & friends gathered together over the next week, this season is often a chance to take lots of pictures--and inevitably someone will think it is a good idea to get a big group picture of everyone. While this usually provokes groans (and sometimes outright mutany:), we all have to admit that years later we are always glad the pictures were taken!

However, when looking back at family pictures from my childhood I see the same classic photo mistake over and over again: we always tried to take the picture in the evening, in the living room.... Which meant that we ended up with dark pictures, red eye issues, and kinda weird-looking skin tones (not to mention freaky shadows). Sound familiar? If so, here are some tips for making the end product look great:

Best Scenario:
Take the picture outside! If you move the shoot outside you will immediately improve the end result.
At this time of year in Montana, the best light for shooting outside on a sunny day is 3:00-4:00 pm (or in the morning before 11:30 am). Cloudy days are great because you can shoot almost anytime and not worry about dark shadows and squinty subjects. However, if you do need to take the picture when the sun is bright and overhead find somewhere in the shade to take the picture.

Next Best Scenario:
If you must take the picture inside, try to take the picture during the day in a room with lots of natural light. You may still have to use the flash but the shadows will be less harsh because the room will be filled with ambient lighting. Note: If your subjects are standing in front of a window ALWAYS use the flash! (otherwise their faces will be dark with the light from the window making them a silhouette of sorts:)

Last Resort....
Sometimes it just can't be avoided: if the picture must happen at night, choose a room with LOTS of lights and turn them on ALL on (and if this picture is really important to you or there's still not much light, bring in lamps from other rooms). Use your flash on the red-eye setting and warn everyone that there will be multiple flashes before the picture will be taken.

Some Final Thoughts

Make sure you take several pictures of each grouping. While most people do take multiple photos, they don't often warn everyone beforehand. If you tell the group right from the beginning that you are going to take 5 pictures there will actually be less grumbling (and less chaos:).
Our natural desire is to have some "personal space" between us and the person next to us, but this makes pictures look stiff and uncomfortable. Get everyone grouped together and then tell them to squeeze together (literally!). It will be uncomfortable for a few minutes during the pics but it will make for MUCH better pictures in the end!
Always group people in layers--even if you're only shooting 2 or 3 people. If you line everyone up on the couch, or have everyone stand in front of you in a line, it ends up looking like a line-up--which is typically not a great look:) If you need ideas for posing groups or if you're wondering what "layers" look like, feel free to check out the Families Gallery on our site: http://www.meganlanephotograpy.com/ (click on the Portraits tab to find the Families Gallery).

So, whether you are the person prodding everyone to gather around and "smile!" or the person who would rather visit the dentist than go through another self-timer-from-[you-know-where] experience, remember that you do love everyone in the photo (even if you don't necessary like the way they are behaving at that precise pictures-taking-moment:). And know that even if Uncle Joe has his eyes closed (again!), you have still preserved memories for years to come--which is always a worthwhile endeavor! (of course, I am a bit biased on that perspective:)

Merry Christmas everyone and happy shooting!

Enter to Win!

2009-12-18T09:05:00.001-07:00

Whew. Has it ever been a crazy whirlwind November packed FULL of family portraits! We’ve done moms and daughters, tiny tot sisters and brothers, full extended families, and portraits of the littlest newborns. Such fun! But in all the craziness we’ve taken quite the extended absence from our blogging—sorry!:) So, to reward our loyal blog readers (and to encourage you to share our website with your friends and family:) we’re running our first ever Favorite Family Portrait promotion!

We are offering you the chance to win a MLP portrait session at half price! All you have to do is vote for your favorite family photo in our new Families Gallery. Just follow these four easy steps:

1) Visit http://www.meganlanephotography.com/ and check out the new “Families” gallery (under the “Portraits” tab).

2) Choose your favorite family photo (voting for your own is completely legal!) and make note of that picture’s number (found in the round purple thumbnails beside the slideshow).

3) Click on the “Contact” tab of the website, fill out the email form, and include the following text in the Message field: “Please enter me in the Favorite Family Portrait promotion! My favorite family photo is number _____.” (fill in the blank)

4) Click Send!

You are now entered to win the portrait session of your choice at half price!*

You can only vote once, BUT if you would like additional chances to win simply pass this blog on to your family and friends!

For every person who types your name in the “How did you hear about us?” section we will enter both of your names in the drawing (have them include your first and last name please:). If you send this email to 10 friends and they all vote for their favorite (and include your name in their entry) you will be entered an additional 10 times in the drawing. There is no limit to the number of “referral entries” you can have!

We'll take entries until 11:59 pm (Mountain Time:) on Jan 1st, 2010 and we will announce the winner on our blog (and contact them personally, of course:) by Jan 5th.

So visit our website today to get entered for your chance to win! And be sure to pass on this email to any friends or family who you think might be interested in our work &/or a chance to win their own MLP portrait session at half price!:)

Happy Voting!

* Please note that only portrait sessions are open to this promotion (baby, maternity, family, etc). Wedding and event photography is not eligible. Your half-price session must be scheduled to take place on or before February 12th, 2010. Thank you!

Back at Blogging!

2009-12-16T17:17:00.002-07:00

Wow. Time flies when you're taking pictures! Blogging had to take a back seat to accommodate the packed shooting schedule of November--but with Christmas 1 ½ weeks away we have a nice holiday lull coming so we can take a bit of a breath:) And there is so much to share with you guys!

First, we're so excited to be part of the Helena OBGYN office renovation! We started working with their office manager, Trish, and Dr. Huntley back in September to incorporate some of our baby and maternity pictures into the updated office design. Now there are 25 original MLP prints up around the waiting room, hallways, and patient rooms at the clinic! So, if you happen to be a patient at Helena OBGYN, the next time you're in for a visit check them out and let us know what you think.

Another great development is our very nearly full bookings for weddings next summer! We do have a couple of spots left in June and maybe one in August but other than that we are FULL. Wow. I am SO looking forward to working on all of these cool weddings! We will be all over the state from Polson and Virginia City to Helena and Highwood. Such fun:)

Our last announcement is a “stay-tuned” of sorts: I’m working on a fun little promotion to end out the year so come back Friday to find out how to win an MLP portrait session at half price! I’ll also be emailing details out to everyone on the MLP mailing list, so if you’re not on the mailing list (or don’t know if you are) shoot me an email at megan@meganlanephotography.com with “add me to the mailing list” in the subject and we’ll get you hooked up.

Blessings to you all in this busy busy time of year!

Brook & Shane - Part I

2009-10-28T09:09:00.003-06:00

Brook & Shane got married in the coolest little courthouse ceremony—totally chill, totally intimate, and very fun! I just felt lucky to be there to document their day—from all the excitement (can anyone say “flying ring…”?!?) to all the laughter (because wearing bright blue shoes is a baby boy magnet)—it was obvious that these guys are an awesome match. One of my favorite pictures is the “goofy faces” family pic—your twins are just too cute!:)

And here are a few more from their day:

These guys were SO much fun to work with--and I got to spend another evening with them documenting their reception! So, stay tuned for Part II next week to see pictures from Brook & Shane’s party.

Jaidyn & Evan

2009-10-26T08:16:00.001-06:00

Well, if these two don’t just melt your heart perhaps you have a severe case of Grinch-y-ness. I mean, really, it’s hard to get much cuter! I did Jaidyn’s 3-month pictures a couple years ago and I have done several other shoots for this family but I felt especially honored to be asked back to do Evan’s 3-month pictures because it kind of brought it all full circle:) He is such an easy-going baby—and look at those huge blue eyes! And then little Miss Jaidyn—oh, my—it’s almost like she poses just so for each shot. Too stinkin’ adorable! These two made it SO hard to choose my favorite pics but here are a few to look through (and if you want to see more, just visit the “J and E” Slideshow on our website:):

Thanks you guys--your shoot was so much fun!

New Website Layout!

2009-10-23T09:31:00.000-06:00

So, I just finished a little overhaul of our website last night--what do you think? We've got a new signature line on the top, new font for the menu items (hopefully they're easier to read now!), and a whole new layout for the Galleries because we seperated Weddings and Portraits. The Wedding section is all new too with updated pictures and new categories to organize the pics. What do you think?

Stay tuned for updated Babies & Senior galleries--be sure to check it out to see if any pictures from your session makes it in to the Gallery:)

Helena Bridal Showcase

2009-10-21T21:50:00.002-06:00

I'm excited to report that our first bridal fair was a huge success! It was a crazy couple of days getting everything ready but it was definitely worth it: we have booked 3 weddings and a couple engagement sessions already, and I expect we may book a few more weddings/photo sessions before we’re through! The response we got from everyone was really positive (we had one bride who'd already chosen a photographer, but after she saw our services and prices she and her mom wrote us a check on the spot! so cool:).

My sister Erica came over from Missoula to help me get ready (thank goodness! I COULD NOT have done it without her help—you rock Bug!:) and we were really happy with the way everything turned out.

We have drawn for the free Engagement Sessions and I’ll be calling those folks later this week to tell them the good news but here is a sneak peak at the winners:

Dawny & Derek

Jordyn & Kevin

Erin & Ryan

Danielle &Geoff

Congrats you guys!

I also have to thank my hubby—without his constant support this dream business of mine would still just be…well, a dream, and not this crazy exciting wonderful actually happening and thriving business. I am so blessed.

Facebook...?!?

2009-10-13T22:03:00.002-06:00

OK, so I consider myself relatively tech-savy, but somehow the whole social networking thing (Facebook, myspace, etc) has completely passed me by. Completely, utterly, and entirely.

I guess I have been on Facebook one time—a friend had just had her first baby and she told us all to look at the pics on Facebook. So, I created a login, was put through to my new “homepage” (or should I say “wall”…?), was confused by all of the options (and the random people that Facebook thought I should know), and then immediately went to look at my friend’s baby. I haven’t visited since.

I can’t even say that my lack of interest is a generational thing because I know lots and LOTS of my friends who are on Facebook all the time—and they love it! I’m not really sure how I got so behind the times…. (though I think as Claire gets older I will get more and more used to feeling “out-of-it” :)

The bottom line is that until recently I was happy to let the social networking revolution pass me by—and I think I can continue to do that on a personal level:) However, I am beginning to realize the HUGE huge impact these sites could have on my business. I have had two clients put our link on their Facebook page and I have seen traffic to our website increase three-fold! WOW. Love, love, love that!

Which brings me to The Big Question:

I’m toying with the idea of creating a Facebook page for MLP…. But (and this is where I show my complete and utter ignorance!) with the website for our pictures and this blog to communicate with everyone—what would be the point of also having a Facebook page…? (I’m cringing even as I write this because I know it sounds so clueless and lame!!!) I guess I’m asking [begging] for feedback from those of you who are Facebook veterans. Do we need this? Help! Please!

OK, now that I’ve bared my ignorant soul I will sit back and hope that some of you truly tech-savvy individuals will take pity on me and give us some feedback! :)

Helena Bridal Showcase Oct 18th

2009-10-11T13:24:00.000-06:00

MLP will be participating in its first bridal fair next weekend! What drew me to this event was the “non-traditional” approach that this Showcase takes to a bridal fair: this is not your normal wander-around-and-stare-at-bored-vendors bridal fair! The Helena Bridal Showcase puts an emphasis on an interactive experience for the brides and other attendees.

So, come visit us at the Showcase! It will be held at the Red Lion Colonial Hotel on Sunday Oct 18th from 11:00 am – 3:00 pm. It is $5/couple or $3/person to attend and there will be lots of fun prizes and give-away’s to make your entry fee worthwhile!:)

MLP will also have several opportunities to win free engagement sessions and earn discounts on wedding photography.

If you know of any engaged couples or brides-to-be we would appreciate you spreading the word about the Showcase. And be sure to tell them to stop by our booth to sign up for the MLP drawings!

Maggie's Senior Pics

2009-10-10T15:15:00.002-06:00

Maggie was one of my first senior picture shoots this year. We had scheduled the session to take place at her house—which is always fun because that means a fresh location and some personal ties to the pictures. But this shoot stands out in my mind not because of the new location, but because I showed up at the wrong house. Not only showed up, but knocked on the door, wandered around the [wrong] property, basically went on a little inadvertent trespassing adventure, all in the name of photography…. So glamorous. [sigh] Add to that the no-cell-reception complication (so when I finally figured out “oh, wrong house!” I wasn’t totally sure how to remedy the problem!)—and this shoot had the potential to get rather—ummmm—complicated…. Luckily we got it all figured out fairly quickly (basically, Maggie came to rescue me) and we were off and shooting.
Maggie lives in a beautiful house and we got to use the rock work and gorgeous surroundings to our advantage. She was also up for anything during our shoot—including jumping on the trampoline for a few ultra-unique shots! I’ve included a few highlights of our shoot. Maggie – it was a pleasure! I hope you had as much fun as I did:)

Austin - Senior Pics

2009-10-09T16:54:00.003-06:00

Well, this was by far the coldest shoot of the year (so far)! Austin, his parents, and his girlfriend all braved the cold on Sunday to get his senior pictures done in time to make the HHS yearbook. I was just barely warm enough with all my gear on (t-shirt, turtleneck, fleece, hoodie, outer fleece jacket, and ski socks…yeah, I looked like an overstuffed marshmallow—and I considered throwing on a hat too) while Austin just hung out in his shirtsleeves for all his pictures! Maybe it’s the football training…? My camera was even protesting the weather with the cold battery taking extra time to charge up the flash in between pics. Needless to say we didn’t mess around and we were done in record time.

Austin was a great sport (he didn’t even look cold…!?! Maybe I’m just a wus…) and we got some great shots. All in all it was a very productive (albeit cold) afternoon. :) Austin – good luck with the rest of the football season and I hope you enjoy your pictures!

MLP October Special

2009-10-08T08:45:00.001-06:00

Family Portrait Special

Schedule a Family Portrait Session ($75) in October and receive a FREE 8x10 of your favorite shot and eight FREE wallets to share with your family and friends (can choose up to two different shots/poses for the wallet prints).

* To be eligible for your free prints you must call to schedule your Family Portrait before November 1st and the shoot must take place on or before November 21st. Space is limited so please call early to reserve your session.

You must mention this Special to receive your free prints!:) Regular deposit/payment required: 2/3 the session fee due within one week of booking appointment (or one week before session, whichever is sooner); the balance is due when you receive your CD of pictures. Your free prints must be ordered within 2 weeks of receiving CD-ROM or they will be forfeited:)

Megan Lane Photography Blog Launch

2009-10-04T18:21:00.000-06:00

Welcome to the new MLP Blog! We are excited to launch this additional feature to connect with our friends, fans, and clients. We love our website but it does limit our ability to share and editorialize about our shoots, business, and just fun day-to-day stuff! The blog format allows us much more freedom AND we get to incorporate feedback from you. Please let us know what you think—we always love to hear your thoughts and ideas! Check back often because we will also use the blog to announce our seasonal specials and post limited-time offers and coupons.

As always, feel free to shoot us an email (megan@meganlanephotography.com) or give us a call (406.431.6452) if you have any questions or want to discuss scheduling a shoot!

Looking Back….

2009-10-04T16:59:00.000-06:00

September was AWESOME! We were really really busy with portrait sessions and event shoots—and it could not have been more fun! But because we were so busy, the blog idea I’ve been tossing around for a while now had to sit on the back-burner…. However, I did jot down notes after each shoot in August and September so I could eventually incorporate them into the MLP blog. Now that we’ve launched, I’ll be highlighting some of these shoots over the next month or so.

If you were an August or September client stay tuned to read about your shoot from my perspective!