So excited to announce my first Basic Photography Workshop that will take place January 27 and January 29th in Gainesville, FL. This workshop will consist of two days, four hours each day.

DAY ONE will take place in a classroom and will cover the following:
- intro to your digital SLR camera
- ISO
- Aperture
- Shutter Speed
- White Balance
- Depth of field (how to get that blurry background in your images!)
- Basic posing and lighting with natural light

DAY TWO will consist of taking your camera on location and practicing the techniques learned on day one. We will return to the classroom to look over your images and have a question and answer session.

Session Includes:
- the two day workshop
- copy of Sweet Serendipity’s Intro to Photography workbook
- access to a private Facebook group where you can post photos and ask for constructive criticism from Jaime and other members.

Workshop space is limited to 8 people. This is the perfect class for beginners or those who have a DSLR camera and would like to learn how to shoot on Manual. The price for future workshops like this will be $200 for the two day workshop, but since this is the first one I am offering it for $150 per person.

Day one will be Friday evening from 6 – 10. Day two will be Sunday morning from 8:30 – 12:30.

Space is limited…. info@sweetserendipityphotography.com to reserve your spot!

I wanted to post this much, much earlier this morning but I have had a hard time determining how I was going to announce the winner of the contest today. You see, I woke up this morning to an email from the company who does handles the voting for the contest. Their email was to inform me that not one, but TWO of my contestants have had friends and family members who were cheating for them to win the prize. I was immediately saddened because the point of the contest was all in good fun and it was so nice to see family members and friends of the contestants reposting the link and encouraging others to read their story. The point was not for people to hack the voting system and falsely inflate the votes so that the honest entries had no chance to win.

In good faith I cannot announce a winner for the contest because I do not believe in cheating. However, I know the contestants were all looking forward to trying to win a free engagement session with me, and I did promise a prize for everyone who entered. I do not believe that the newly engaged couples were the ones specifically responsible for the hacking of the votes, and I hate for them to be punished because of the actions of those who they may not have known were cheating.

I have struggled with this all day…. back and forth on what is a fair decision for all involved. I thought about doing a random drawing, about canceling the contest completely, about offering everyone a credit towards a session, so on and so on. This is what I came up with….

There will not be one specific winner. Everyone who entered the contest is going to win an engagement session with Sweet Serendipity Photography. I am really looking forward to working with everyone. When I do the session for the couple I will include their story with their sneak peek, and of course a pro photo of that gorgeous ring!

A few conditions….
- the session must take place before August 31, 2012.
- it is better to book your session early because weekend availability is extremely limited as we enter wedding season. Weekday evenings are always a fantastic option for a session!
- if you were thinking of using Sweet Serendipity for your wedding you will receive a credit for your engagement session if one is included in the package you choose. This credit will expire after 8/31/12.
- the session must take place in Alachua County. I am more than willing to travel to alternative locations however the winner will be responsible for a small travel fee.

Brides and grooms- send me a message at info@sweetserendipityphotography.com for info on how to claim your prize! You can also use the contact form on this page. I look forward to hearing from you!!!

Super excited to announce the details of this year’s Black Friday / Small Business Saturday / Cyber Monday sale!

I am so very excited to finally be able to get this information out! I have been asked many times if I offered any workshops or mentoring sessions and it has been something I have been toying with for quite some time. I hope to be able to have at least one workshop before the end of 2011 and will schedule another in January of 2012. The one on one mentoring is available at any time.

Here is more information, and if you or anyone you know is interested please send me an email at info@sweetserendipityphotography.com for pricing and availability.

And special thanks to all of those who encouraged me to do this!

The first weekend in July was a whirlwind of wedding activity around the Gainesville area. I had my friend Brie from Brie Homer Photography fly down from Pennsylvania for a mini business mentoring session and to help second shoot at my THREE weddings that weekend. We kicked off Friday with Ashley and Jeremy’s wedding at Parkview Baptist Church with reception at the Best Western Gateway Grand. Saturday was Olivia and John’s big day at the historic Thomas Center in Downtown Gainesville. Monday we were up bright and early for Mallori and Dan’s ceremony and brunch reception at the Sweetwater Branch Inn. Needless to say I have been working like crazy to get these all edited, so please bear with me as I break up these weddings into several smaller blog posts. I know all of these couples are anxious to see their photos so the smaller posts will enable them to all see photos much faster then if I did one large post per wedding.

And as always, become a fan on Facebook to see these photos before they hit the blog!

I am so very, very excited to introduce you to Sweet Serendipity Photography’s newest team member. Adrianna is an aspiring photographer who has come on board as my new intern for the Summer and Fall of 2011. She shoots a Nikon D700 (I’ll forgive her for that one!) and loves everything to do with babies and weddings. It has been so wonderful having her around at sessions and weddings and I can’t wait for you all to meet her.

While at Flagler Beach a few weeks ago for a family session we took about 5 minutes to snap some quick photos of her. Isn’t she adorable?!

So lucky to have you on board Adrianna! Thanks for letting me feature you on the blog!

This was by far the craziest weekend that I have ever experienced! It started Thursday with a trip over to Saint Augustine for a large family session for some very dear clients, then back to Gainesville to pick up my friend Brie from Brie Homer Photography. Brie came for a working vacation this weekend- I had three weddings in four days and she was nice enough to come second shoot for me!

Friday was Ashley and Jeremy’s wedding at Parkview Baptist Church and the Best Western Gateway Grand. Saturday Olivia and John were married at the Thomas Center in Downtown Gainesville, then Sunday we got to rest! Monday morning we were up bright and early for Mallori and Dan’s wedding at Sweetwater Branch Inn.

This weekend would not have been possible without the help of an awesome team! We were joined by my intern Adrianna on Friday, Saturday and Monday. Saturday and Monday Misty also helped us out and it is oh so much appreciated!

The next few weeks will be filled with many, many sneak peeks! I am so excited to share these images!

And what would a day off be without a mini photo session? Sunday the light was just so gorgeous that I had to take advantage of it for some headshots of Brie!

I also took advantage of having Brie around to tackle Nicholas’ 6 month photos. Yup- he is SIX MONTHS! Here are two favorites from our quickie session.

And of course we had to get one with big sister!

It is with a very heavy heart that I am writing this post. It has been brought to my attention recently that several clients have been purchasing prints with the intention to scan and reproduce them for friends and family. In some instances clients have been purchasing a small print with the intention to scan the image and have it printed as a larger print. In other instances clients have been taking images from Facebook, cropping out my watermark, and using those images for print purposes.

In all of these instances the client is stealing. What they are doing is illegal.

Photography is an art form. It is a product of many long hours- spent both on location with the clients taking the photo and in the “digital darkroom” editing and perfecting the image. This art form involves skill, vision and artistry. Photographs- both the digital and printed version- are protected by United States Copyright Law. By violating this law clients are not only doing something illegal, they are also negatively affecting the livelihood and reputation of the photographer. As a photographer I have invested tens of thousands of dollars into equipment, software and training to produce the best images possible for my clients. Prints purchased through me are printed at a professional lab for which my monitor is color calibrated. Scanned images do not print well and are not an accurate representation of my work. Images that are loaded onto Facebook are low resolution, non printable files. When a client crops out the watermark and reprints this image it be a subpar print and again, not an accurate representation of my work.

I am lucky enough to have hundreds of wonderful clients who would never even think about stealing an image, and I hate to punish the good for the doings of those who have disrespected my work. That is why it saddens me greatly to even address this issue. The facts are simple, however. If images continue to be stolen from my blog and Facebook then I will no longer post sneak peeks for my clients. The sneak peeks are intended to be used and shared online and I welcome people to tag themselves in a photo and share them with friends an family. If you do use the image as your profile photo, please do not remove the watermark or crop out the logo.

For those who have purchased prints and scanned with the intention of reproducing- there is nothing different from doing this and walking into your favorite store and shoplifting. I offer a digital image with print release for sale in your online gallery. This print release gives you the rights to make unlimited copies of any sized photo. Included with your print release is information on high quality print labs that are both affordable and near professional quality. It is disrespectful to me to have my work replicated without permission.

If a client is caught stealing any images taken by Sweet Serendipity Photography all future photography sessions will be cancelled.

And for all of my wonderful clients – please do not think this is directed at everyone. I love and appreciate all of the people who have helped me get to where I am today and please know that this had to be said but is directed at a select few.

Some photos from the weddings I captured this year. Thanks to all of my wonderful brides and grooms for having me there to photograph their day!

All of the little cuties I had the pleasure of working with this past year….