Tanya collected her prints and DVDs yesterday, and sent me this stunning email which I just had to share I LOVE getting compliments like this because it means that I’m doing something right… I also love the fact that she likes my packaging, and not just the images

I collected my photo’s yesterday and I just had to send you a note to compliment you on the beautiful packaging – I almost didn’t want to open it The care you take in your packaging of the prints and DVD’s is something not often seen today and the love you have for what you do is so apparent with the little personal touches that mean so much!

The prints I ordered came out beautifully, better then I ever thought and I cant wait to have them up in my home to be admired constantly.

Our photoshoot was really an investment and I recommend you without a second thought to anyone I speak to that is looking for a photographer.

I look forward to the next time I can have you behind the lens taking photo’s of my family.

Regards,

Tanya

I’ve finally done it! I’ve organised my first photography workshop – The Moms with Cameras Workshop.

This workshop is aimed at moms that consider themselves novice photographers, and who want to learn to take better photos of their kids.

Date: 21 March 2011

Time: 1pm to 5pm

Venue: Honeydew in Johannesburg

Who should attend: Beginners with any type of digital stills camera who would like to raise their photographic game.  Limited to 10 moms.

What to bring with you: Your camera (DSLR or point and shoot) and one child

What it includes:
1.  Lunch for you and your child
2.  Crafting for your child while we learn (there’s plenty for the kids to do and a choice of 3 supervised crafts)
3.  Learning about how your camera’s buttons actually work
4.  Simple tricks and tips that help me take photos of kids
5.  Concepts:  Aperture, Depth of Field, Shutter Speed and ISO
6.  Basic rules of composition that make all the difference.
7.  Q&A time
8.  Practice time with your child, and the other kids that are there, while I explain how you could make your shot better.

Because this is my first workshop, I’m charging R650 for everything (Extra children are charged R135 each to cover food and crafts)

If you’d like to book a spot, please send an email to jeanette@jeanetteverster.com and include how many kids will be coming with you, and their ages.  Bookings will be confirmed on receipt of 50% deposit.

The workshop is limited to 10 moms so hurry

**EDITED TO SAY THIS IS NOW FULLY BOOKED!!***

If the workshop goes well, I’ll be organising more

I received my photobook today… the one I designed for myself (and for use as a sample to show clients).  It contains my favourite photos of my kids from 2010… which was another reason for my Project 365.  In fact, I’ve decided to print a book every year.

Photos lying in digital format and never seeing the light of day are a complete waste in my eyes!

Here’s the layout of all the pages, which include some photos that haven’t been on my blog before…
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I’ve also had a similar book done with some of the weddings I did in 2010, and I’ll post that next week.

Last year, I actually planned the photos of my kids.  You may have thought that all the photos of my kids that you were seeing were just because of my Project 365.  But that wasn’t the case.

You see, I was planning a calendar for my mother – it was going to be her Christmas present.  I told my brother about it a few months before Christmas because I wanted to include photos of Erin in the calendar too… and ended up using photos of her that I’d taken.

And my mom loved it

It was such an awesome gift to give her, and in fact, I made a different one for my mother-in-law that only included the boys.

What was so awesome, was that Cat had planned the same thing with the photos I’d taken of her family (as Christmas presents for her parents).  When she posted photos of her calendar on her blog this afternoon (and I like that hers looks completely different), and I noticed that my mom had actually blogged about the same topic, I decided it was about time I showed you what I’d done.

The calendars I did are A3 in size, and each photo is an A4 landscape photo with date blocks underneath.  I chose green blocks because the colour went with the photos, but I could have gone with plain grey too.

I’m definitely going to do it again!

I’ve had a quite a lot of requests for photobooks recently, and today I finally got the chance to take some photos of some of the books before I delivered them to my clients.

I received 2 orders of books today, but I’m going to only show you the one… because the other one is for a party and should really be kept a surprise

The Mayat family had their photoshoot a few weeks ago, and as soon as her full gallery was up, I got a phone call from naQiyah asking me to design albums… 3 in fact… one for them, and 2 as gifts for the grandparents.  Such a cool gift!

Anyhoo, I love them, and I’m sure they’ll love them too.  The photobooks are A4 portrait and have 30 pages in them.

In other news… I’ve decided to give the 365 Project a bit of a break… I may start another one from my birthday. Instead I’m doing an i365! It’s a photo-a-day taken with my iPhone4! I got the idea from Lotus (aka SarcasticMom), and think it’ll really test me cos it’s a simple, yet awesome camera.  I’m not going to be posting the photos on this photoblog, but instead will be making use of my Tumblr blog.

In case you’re disappointed about not seeing stuff on this blog daily… don’t fear!  I have other plans!

I’m going to be doing a 52 Project… that means taking a photo every week… and the subject will be my kids.  They’re the reason I’m giving the 365 a rest, they’re getting tired of being my almost-daily subjects… so I’ll subject them to that torture weekly now   In addition, I’m going to be doing some of the meme’s I’ve been eyeing out but until now never had the energy or time for

Oooh and I have another idea up my sleeves too!! You know a lot of you mommy bloggers and tweeters have been asking me to put together a simple photography course… well… I think I’ve discovered exactly what would work for me… and for you… so stay tuned for details