We’re celebrating moms today! These smiling, beautiful, fabulous women are the crazy glue of our lives — they keep us together and stick to us when we need it the most. (Think about it. She does, doesn’t she?!) I admire so many amazing women and moms in my life for their incredible multitasking and ability to laugh in this journey we’re all on.

So often moms are caught behind the camera as the ones who document our families but are rarely seen in front of the lens. If you’re a mom yourself, and took a quick count of portraits you had taken in the last twelve months, could you count them on your two hands? Instagram doesn’t count! (I fall into the group of people who can barely count them on one hand… let alone two!)

Let’s honor our amazing moms this year with a short and sweet mini session for her and the kiddos. There are only a handful of these sessions and they will sell out crazy fast! You’ll receive a lovely gift certificate just in time for giving this Sunday, and we’ll schedule her mini session in the next few weeks. These sessions are only for mom and the kids; family fine art portrait sessions are available year-round.

Here’s the details:

20 minute session on location / 10-15 images in preview gallery / 5 printable images to 5×7 / 1 gift portrait (8×10 or 5×7) :: $250 (session must be paid at time of booking and scheduled before August 1, 2013)

Use the contact form to reserve your session because these will be gone in a snap!

I haven’t featured any products lately, and I’m absolutely in love with this one :: a wedding guestbook, created from your unique engagement portraits. Kelsey and Brendon’s just came back from the lab, and I’m thrilled with how it looks! Imagine, a lovely book to have of your engagement portraits, and the love of your family and friends who are present to celebrate the beginning of your life together and their words and well wishes, all among the same pages. It’s like M&M’s and popcorn–separately, two things that make you happy, but together, have a whole other dimension to them.

Just like all of the products I offer, this album was custom-designed with the couple’s favorite images from the session. What I love are the big blocks of space throughout the portraits for guests to write advice, stories, or just a simple congratulations.

The pages are lightweight, and on a smoother paper than the other books or albums you’ve likely seen from us, to make it easy for writing without smears. I love the hinged paper so that the pages lay nice and flat–a total bonus.

If you’re interested in creating a custom book like this with your portraits, use the contact form at the top of the blog or email me at info {at} cathymoresphotography {dot} com for pricing and other information. Isn’t something like this better than pictures on a disk?

It’s our big day! Photography for a Cause goes live…and while we’re all terribly excited, we’re holding our breath a bit too, crossing our fingers and hoping that you enjoy our work and want to help support our chosen organizations.

I’ve chosen two charities that directly impact the quality of lives in our community and halfway around the world. Shepherd’s Crossing is my chosen local organization. Their work began with the ministry of several local churches involved with the Manhattan Ministerial Association who wished to support individuals in our community who needed assistance with rent, utilities and prescription medications. With services offered to residents of Riley County and St. George, families are able to receive budget assistance, counseling and financial support for basic necessities.

The other organization I’ve chosen to benefit is Thirst Relief International. One BILLION people lack access to clean drinking water — something that you and I might take for granted as we let the water run while we brush our teeth or watch the kiddos run through the sprinkler on a hot summer day. Over 2.5 million people die each year because of lack of access to clean water. For less than $5, we can provide clean drinking water to a person for life. Thirst Relief is the concept of Jim Davis-Hicks, wedding photographer, and with the support of Mike Colon and other photographers, has gained support in Grace Ormonde Wedding Style magazine. A team of photographers visited Tanzania for two weeks in 2009, built water filters, photographed a story for Grace Ormonde :: you can read participant Melissa Jill’s story about it here. After seeing their presentation at WPPI last spring I have known in my heart that this would be an incredible organization that makes a huge impact.

(image provided by Thirst Relief)

It can take so little to lend a hand to another. So little. Which is why Photography for a Cause is an awesome reason to give! Your portrait purchases from our fine art galleries support these causes and can help others to have some of the same basic necessities of life as you and I do. Take a peek at the galleries (and a big bonus — you can order right from them!) and help support these worthy causes!

And here are a couple of images in my galleries ::

Happy Friday–and happy shopping!

Holidays are a great big deal for the Weaver family, especially now that their three beautiful daughters live around the Midwest and across the country — so their time spent together is so precious. And when they get together, there’s bound to be lots of fun, laughter, and a couple of really cute pups around!

The girls had a fabulous idea for their mom’s birthday this past fall :: a portrait session for the whole family! With their Thanksgiving turkey in the oven, we gathered in their beautiful backyard and a few points on the Kansas State campus, with amazing fall colors all around us.

See what I mean about adorable furry friends?

A lovely portrait of just mom and dad…

We stopped in front of Hale Library with its soft, warm light and lots of happy faces on the green.

This one is a GORGEOUS, beautiful gallery wrapped canvas for mom and dad’s home. One of my favorites!

One more of just the girls ::

Weaver family, it was an honor and a delight to photograph these portraits for you! Thank you for including me in your time together to celebrate Thanksgiving!

There, I said it…. the holidays are coming, faster than we can all blink. How about making things a lot easier on yourself this year and get your cards ordered early?!? If you’re like me…it’s a novel concept.

I’m thrilled to present this year’s designs–each can be customized to your images, wording and come on your choice of pearl (my favorite) or smooth card stock. Just like previous years, the details are the same :: and just as a tip, when ordering, please indicate collection name and the corresponding letter that you’ve selected (Heritage Collection A, for instance)

• Cards are available only as a 5×7 vertical or horizontal—a flat card with full-color digital printing on both sides.
• Comes on pearl shimmer or smooth finish.
• White envelopes are included.
• Price includes shipping (but not sales tax for KS customers only).
• Photos must be submitted as 5×7 jpeg, 300 dpi, emailed to info {at} cathymoresphotography {dot} com.
• Custom orders are available :: please inquire for more information.
• 2009 designs are also available.

Drumroll, please…here they are!

So I feel like I’m not the only one who stands on the soapbox anymore about gracing your walls with not just one portrait, but the impact of several in a grouping.

Me Ra Koh had a perfect example on her blog this week. Her home. She hired a local (Seattle) designer to help her create a bigger impact with her portraits :: and after the arduous process of narrowing down to her favorites (just like we do in your viewing and ordering appointment!) she decided on several large prints to define her space. I love these before and afters — it’s the perfect, perfect way to illustrate how just a few pictures, properly sized for your space, can make a huge difference.

And the after::

Individually, they’re beautiful portraits. Together, they tell an amazing story of their time in Thailand. Imagine the conversations that those images can spark…remembering adventures, bringing up the emotion and excitement of discovering something new along their journey. The peace and happiness that comes from spending time together as a family. Not only all of that, but you don’t find yourself squinting at the little images to say “oh, who/what’s that?” Big images = big impact!

The next day, Me Ra featured several people who had shared ways to display their images–some of them, simple and budget friendly, and others, more elaborate collections. I was thrilled to be among the displays she featured from this session and this wall gallery in the client’s home. You can read her whole blog post here!  Me Ra is taking photography to a whole new level lately with her features on the Nate Berkus show (I won’t get overly link-happy, google it if you’d like to learn more about the show) and is a regular contributor on his show blog. And there’s more big things to come from her!

I’m back in the land of the living (and still catching up) from a wonderful, relaxing, rejuvenating week at the lake. Oh, and you better believe a wrap-up post is coming…

A while back I wrote in a previous Behind the Image about some of the fun and unconventional ways that you can display your family’s beautiful artwork in your home. One of my favorite products for displaying images are canvas gallery wraps! In our ordering meeting after your session, we’ll have the opportunity to view and arrange your favorite images to fit your decor. They’re custom-tailored and sized to appropriately fit your space — so your family’s artwork truly becomes part of your home and shows your unique personality.

Here’s a recent sample of this lovely family’s fireplace arrangement :: how cute are they? Individually, the canvas wraps are lovely, but together, they are stunning…

(photo by iphone)