Birthday Special for August and September 2012

Here is the Birthday Special that was mentioned yesterday. The date will be August 30th at NSA Naples Support Site. Contact me to book yours today.

Upcoming Promotions and Giving Back....

Yes it has been awhile but I think things are settling down and I have a few moments to breathe. 
 
Since this post is about "giving back" I thought it would be good to start with a quote.

 “There’s always an opportunity to make a difference.”
~Michael Dell

Don’t miss out on these exciting upcoming sessions and promotions!

Birthday Sessions:
Attention September birthdays! We have a special just for you! Call for a free portrait session and 8 keepsake wallet-size portraits.

Senior Facebook Parties:
I am excited to host senior Facebook parties. The last 2 Wednesdays in October I will be celebrating my seniors and future senior clients with a complimentary mini portrait session, one portrait to use as a profile
picture, and of course a little music and fun. Profile pictures will be retouched and then posted to my studio
Facebook page, where you can tag yourself and update your profile quickly and easily. No purchase necessary, so come on down and bring your friends! Sessions are by appointment only between the hours of 3:30pm and 7pm (or dusk) on the last two Wednesdays in October, so be sure to RSVP today!

Home for the Holidays
There’s something special about gathering your family together in the warmth of your home. Celebrate that magic with our Home for the Holidays portrait sessions. Whether you have a gorgeous fireplace, staircase or back yard setting in mind, I will create the memory of your dreams. Sessions are available through November, but spots are booking up quickly! Call to
reserve your session today!

Santa Paws Charity Event
I am pleased to announce my first ever Santa Paws charity event! With your help, we are raising money and pet food donations for AWL (Animals witouth Limits). More details to come.

Together we can make a difference!

Availability for these exciting new sessions is limited, so call or email to reserve yours today!
+39-342-362-4584
Breezy@BreezyCranfordPhotography.com

16 years and counting.....

Hard to belive that Gary and I have been married for 16 years. We celebrated our Anniversary with a trip to Roccaraso in the Abruzzi region of Italy. We rented a little place just on the east side of the mountain in a little village ( I will update with the name and more photos). We went to ski, and had a fabulous time. It is a bit different than the skiing we have done in the Poconos but fun none the less. Here are some photos I took with the Canon underwater camera that I have. And it is a good thing that it is waterproof as it was burried in the snow a couple of times lol. You know a photographer can not leave home without some sort of camera haha. Hope you enjoy the photos. I will post more hopefully tomorrow.

The kids all bundled up. We were told we would freeze, but by the time we got to the top we were sweating lol. Maybe because we were so close to the sun?

Gary and I with about 5 layers of clothing haha.

In case you can't see the writing in 2nd photo, I circled the building and wrote that those are buildings. They look like little hills until you realize that the little black speck is a builing! These are the same photos.

Just another view from the top of the mountain.

I swear we paid for the view. And these photos don't do it justice. 

Let the skiing begin....

Gary and Sommer ready to hit the trail. And those are mountains in the bottom of the blue too.



New Props!

Check out my new rugs/blankets that I have for sessions. These will be awesome for Seniors, Newborns and yes those Boudoir sessions!

Got all 3 from vendors at a market here in Napoli. I will definitely be purchasing more! They are all so soft, I can't wait to use them. Who is up for a session?

Boudoir and Glamour

OK I have decided to make add a video with some of my clients boudoir and glamour images. I do not like posting individual photos to Facebook so videos of images it is.

I have been privileged enough to photograph some beautiful women over the years. These are just a few of the many. Many requested that I not use their images for advertising and such, and being a professional I will honor their requests.

 

If you are in the Naples Italy area and interested in tasteful, sexy images please contact me. I will be here until 2014!

I offer boudoir parties. You can earn your session for free! Just get your friends together have some food and wine and we can have a boudoir party! I also have a post a couple of years back that has great ideas of what to wear and what props to bring.

I hope you enjoy! I think my work speaks for its self.

If you like my work please like my facebook page here

Breezy Cranford Photography Facebook

or my website here

http://www.breezycranfordphotography.com

Send your friends my way! Prizes to be had :D

Today I reached 600 likes on my photography facebook page: Breezy Cranford Photography Facebook

Thanks to Chad Thompson, a hometown friend. He won a print from me from our trip to Paris. I just haven't decided which photo yet. Thanks again Chad!

Now I am offering another contest for my page. This time I have to get to 750 likes. This contest will be for the most referrals to my page. So if you like my photography and would like to win some of it, then please pass the link along to your friends. You can keep up with my blog from Facebook as it will let you know when I update the blog. So no need to subscribe or stalk my page lol.

If you refer a friend please have them post your name in a thread on my page so that I know who sent them.

I am sure it will take a little while to reach the 750 since we just broke the 600 mark earlier today. So if you are in Naples the prize could be anything. And for those of you in the states it could be just about anything too as I plan to be home mid Jan. 2013 for a couple of weeks. I will be in VA, NC and GA if all goes according to plan.

Start sharing my link now and get your name on my list.
They can go directly to my facebook page here

facebook

or

they can go to my website and get to the facebook link or back to here.

website

Thanks for all of the support!

I will announce the price the closer we get to the 750 and can also post the referals if you guys would like.

He sure is a handsome young man....

If I do say so myself. I can't believe he is 14. Time sure does fly by. Austin's birthday was Saturday. We spent a quiet day at home per his request. He requested dinner and a cake lol.

Yes those are snow capped mountains behind him, along with an orchard and vineyard. Love the view from our balconies.

Austin is a chocoholic to say the least. We were at the NEX early last week and I told him to go to the Ice cream store and tell me what he wanted on his cake. We always do ice cream cakes for them. He came back and said they didn't have anything but plain chocolate ice cream and chocolate cake.
So he asked me to make him a cake. HAHA. I am crafy with a camera but when it comes to baking and decorating yeah um not so much.
Any way here is his chocolate cake um I mean brownie cake lol. Thought I had a cake mix but didn't so we improvised and make the "cake like" brownies instead of the usual chewy ones. He requested the chocolate ice crean, crushed oreos, semi sweet chocolate chips, M&Ms and chocolate icing.

It was so sweet even he couldn't finish his slice lol.

Here are a couple quick snaps of his cake.

And yes I know that is an ugly cake. I think it is the ugliest cake I have ever seen. But he was totally happy with it and that is all that matters :D

Man that sure is a lot of fire!

Yeah he blew them all out.

Thank goodness we didn't set off the smoke detectors.

Just a few images from our trip to France.

Well I decided while I had a little time today that I would process a few images from our trip to France. I think they turned out great. They are just random photos from the coast line around Cherbourg France. There will be more to come.

This one is the river front in Cherbourg.

These 2 are both from the plane as we were leaving Naples, destination Paris.

Just a cool view of the water.

And those who know me know that I like to photography lighthouses :D

What to wear for the Mini Valentines Day Sessions

I have had a couple of people ask me what to wear for the photography sessions I am offering on Jan. 14th 2012 at the Market Playce. They will be held at the Community Center onboard NSA Naples Support Site.

I was referred to a photographer that offers up these great templates by my friend Shakyra Canchaney who is also a photographer down at NSA Sigonella, Sicily.
I know the photo says November but I think it would work great for the Valentine photos here in Naples now that it is starting to get colder. Hopefully this gives you a few ideas and you can put your on twist on these. I would be happy to offer my opinion  as well.

Over View of what to wear for any session

All in all you should Coordinate outfits. That does not mean everyone in white shirts and khaki pants or black shirts with jeans for casual portraits. You want everyone to pop in the photo, not blend together like a blob with a few heads.

Colors and Patterns are a natural part of life. So use them to your advantage, but do not use every color of the rainbow. Again you want to make sure that you coordinate the colors together. Patterns are ok as long as they are not distracting and taking the attention away from YOU the SUBJECT. That would mean smaller ones and only use them sparingly. Just like with the colors, don't use competing patterns, it will only distract the viewer. Avoid large logos and graphics again too distracting. The best way to do this would be pick someones outfit first, usually the patterned person and then play off of it. Find everyone elses clothing by matching up the color schemes to the pattern. Just make sure that the color you choose for each person goes well with their complexion.

Layering is a great way to change up similar portraits. It provide a more visual interest, and it will allow a lot more variety in your shots and poses. Great ideas would be a scarf, hat, sweater, tie, belt etc.. The ideas are limitless.

At Breezy Cranford Photography I want your portraits to speak volumes about you and your family. Have a family meeting and discuss props that represent your family. It could be anything, I just want to capture YOUR family or childs personality in the portraits I take. Bring collective props for the family and also individuals for each family member. If you all enjoy your time at the beach or lake why not hold your session there? What about the snow and skiing? We can do that too.

MakeupLadies if you normally wear makeup then apply just a tad darker than you normally would. It will enhance your photo. Do not go overboard, don't apply it heavy like the models on the run way do. Just bump it up a notch. If you don't normally wear makeup then at least apply a little mascara, blush and lip gloss. A little goes a long way. And another tip for you ladies who don't wear much makeup, the ladies at the NEX makeup counters will gladly give you a "mini" makeover for Free! And then you don't have to worry about the makeup.

Changes of Clothing are allowed for all sessions minus the "mini" specials that I offer from time to time. And that is just because of time constraints. But normal family, newborn, boudoir, bridal sessions etc... all allow for clothing changes.

Plan accordingly. Give ample time to have everything in line before the session. You don't want to be rushing around last minute trying to get haircuts or coordinating outfits etc...

Most importantly is BE YOURSELF! Don't wear something just because someone else said to. Don't put your kids in uncomfortable clothes. If they are uncomfortable the portraits will not be as memorable as you had hoped. You want the express your personality or your families personality, not someone you aren't.

Remember what your home Decor is like. If it is very casual and "liveable" then you normally want that to be the style of your photos. If your house is very elegant and everything is in its rightful place then you may very well prefer a more elegant and glamorous session. On this note also think about where you have bare walls or where you want to hang your portraits. We can incorporate that into your session. Especially knowing you want a landscape orientation style portrait over a portrait orientation to fill the spot above the mantel etc... is very helpful.

Also for those of you who are interested in the boudoir sessions I am holding in a private location on Jan. 15th 2012 you can search boudoir here on my blog and I have a HUGE list of ideas for clothing and props!

These outfit ideas come from http://corinanielsen.com . Thanks for sharing your talent with fellow photographers!

When in France, do as the French!

We did the best we could with our non English speaking waitress and our non French speaking selves lol. We knew what this was before ordering, but Sommer said bring it on.

Then when it came out this is the look she gave lol.

Still debating on it. Do you know what it is?

OK I might as well give it a shot she said.

OK that wasnt too bad. I will try the whole thing now.

Back Off! She said to Austin lol

And incase you hadn't guessed, it is sea snails lol. All of those were an appetizer.

She finally let Austin try one.

He wasn't too sure about it, but in the end he said he liked it.

This is what the little boogers look like out of their shells.

Hey mom try one she said! I was very skeptical, can't you tell haha.

OK better just get it over with or I won't do it.

It wasn't too bad, not as bad as I had expected that is for sure.

And Gary tried it, he put a little of the mayo mixture on his though.

He liked it too.

Sommer asked to take the rest of them home with her and the waitress thought she was crazy or something. Her and Gary both agreed they were better hot than they were cold. And yes Codey refused to try them at all.

Any way this was a cute little place on the river in a little village between Juno and Sword beach I think. I will know specifics when I look for the papers that we brought back. There was a fresh fish market right beside of it. Pictures to come soon from that too.
Sorry mom hope it didn't make you sick. Sommer just said we had to share them with ya'll. HAHA.

On this Veterans Day

Our family would like to thank all verterans today.
Here are 3 photos from our trip to Normandy, France earlier this month.
My husband and 3 kids were honored to be able to raise the 2 American flags that fly over the NORMANDY AMERICAN CEMETERY.We were there early to capture the fog which you can see in the distance and we were asked if we would like to help.
The last image was taken at the La Cambe German Cemetery also in Normandy. I love the colors in this one.
To all Veterans of the past and present we thank you!
MA1 Cranford we are proud of you and thank you for everything you have done for our family and our Nation!

Paris!

These are as we watched night time fall.

This one is my favorite I think.

We went to France on the 25th of October. Spent 5 days in Normandy and then headed back to Paris for an additional 4 days. Here are a few night images of the Tour Eiffel (Eiffel Tower) that I took on our last evening there. I love the beautiful sky in these. Most had nothing done to them at all but cropping. I did boost the colors just a tad on the first but the majority are straight out of camera.
Hope you enjoy and I will post more about the trip soon.

Decided to play with this photo today while on break from my creativelive class and while waiting to hear back from a client about some birth announcements.
I took this image while in Sicily. We had just entered NAS Sigonella when it started storming. The light was bright and no rain yet so I jumped out of the car and started tracking the lightening. I was fortunate enough to catch one strike. Unfortunately within about 2 minutes of getting out of the car the bottom fell out. So it is nothing spectacular but I am happy that I finally captured some lightening. I have tried off and on for years. I hope with the rainy season upon us here in Naples that I can practice this even more.
So tell me what you think!

Mt. Etna

Man I can't believe it has been just over a month since I have posted anything. There has been lots going on though. G had surgery, the market playces oh and yeah our week long trip to Sicily. Here are just a couple of teasers from Mt Etna. We got to see her burp on the 28th of Sept. It was really a great thing to witness. I only wish I had gotten more shots. Unfortunately she started while we were having dinner in Catania apparently. As we were heading to our room, my middle ones said the mountain was on fire. And sure enough she was burping. By the time we got back to our room, which was a "perfect" few she was almost finished. But that was the one thing I had hoped out of the trip, and I got it so all in all even with the bad weather it was a pretty good trip. I will post more soon.

This was the view of her the morning she errupted. It had been raining and cloudy up until then so we weren't able to see her peaks until that morning.



And this was the only shot I got of the actual erruption. The rest are of the lava flow. These were taken from the balcony of the apartment we rented.