Photography by Amanda Wilson

▣ Signs of Spring | Leechburg Floral

March 14th, 2012

Have you been outside today? If not - get off the internet and get out there!!

It's definitely spring. (I risk snowstorm karma by saying this, but I took the snow shovel off my porch today so I'm feeling good about it.) Last week just before daylight savings time I got to usher in the spring by spending the whole day in a greenhouse photographing beautiful plants and flowers for Leechburg Floral Co.

Leechburg Floral Co. is a full service florist with everything from fresh and silk arrangements to live plants.

They are also the BEST florist in the area for weddings and events and their work is featured in many weddings that I have on my blog. Recently, we collaborated to work up some new promotional materials for the shop and give the website lift.

The new logo looks great - check out their website at www.leechburgfloral.com

I think this arrangement of violets and greenery was my favorite for the day :)

Thanks ladies for a great day!

If you're looking to update your promo materials or the website for your business with some fresh photography - give me a call! Spring is time for starting anew!

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▣ Take Better Pictures! | Photography Class

March 7th, 2012

I'm happy to say that the photo workshop I've been planning is now a GO !!

Here are the details :-)

WHO: Any interested digital SLR photo enthusiasts that would like to learn how to use their camera better and enhance picture taking skills. It's time to finally figure out what all those buttons do and use your camera the way it was intended!

WHAT:

Care, cleaning and maintenance of your digital SLR camera
Nuts and Bolts of your camera
Basic functions
Exposure
Focus, Autofocus and Manual Focus - how to make your photos come out in focus everytime!
White balance
When and how to use flash
How to shoot in different lighting situations
Creative and artistic camera skills
Composition

*This will not be a class to learn how to create your own photography business. If you are interested in that type of class please contact me individually.*

WHEN:

March 25th from 3pm - 5pm and April 1st from 1pm- 4pm

This will be a two-part class starting on the 25th and continuing on April 1st where we will share photos from the first week's assignment.

WHERE: The meeting room at Panera Bread in the Miracle Mile shopping center in Monroeville

COST: $80.00

PRE- REGISTER:

Please pre-register with a $20.00 deposit to hold your place so we can get an idea of attendance by March 19th.

** If you have friends that are interested please have them email me directly at photosbyaw@aol.com so I can send them more information and how to pre-register**

I will be sending a "what to bring" list to all registered attendees :)

Please let me know if you have any further questions and I can't wait to hear from you!

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And because all posts are better with photos! Here are some shots from a cute ballerina that was the first client to grace my brand new home studio! After the "official photos" I was happy to get some more organic photos of her just hanging out. They were some of my favorites :-)

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▣ Jackie & Andy | Lingrow Farm Engagement Photos

March 4th, 2012

Today I'm bringing you a few snapshots from Jackie and Andy's engagment session last week at Lingrow Farm. Originally hoping for snow for their session, we made the best we could of the chilly february landscape.

Looking forward to their fall wedding this October!

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▣ March

March 1st, 2012

March 2012 - I thought we needed a BIG expansive photo to snap us out of our ho hum winter. See that snow waaaay back on those mountains? That's about as much snow as we've seen this whole winter. And at the risk of jinxing us with a St. Patrick's Day blizzard, I think winter is over - it's just going to drag it's feet getting out of here.

Just to give you a heads up on PhotosbyAW news, we are currently booked for 31 weddings this year and I'll only be taking a select few more depending on the dates. That being said - bring on the 2013 events!! I've already booked one for february next year ( Hi April and Tony !! ) and I'm excited to get this show on the road! Keep an eye out on the website for new changes, I'm in the process of updating all the photos in the galleries and slideshows. Also ** PRICES will be going up over this weekend looking ahead to the 2012 and 2013 season so call now to lock in the 2011 rates !! **

I love this photo that I shot at St. Mary's Lake in East Glacier, Montana this past September. It's the first photo from that trip I'm sharing on the blog and I hope to share all the photos soon! (You know my pesky chronological blog disorder is holding me back though.) This was one of the first ~~(hundred)~~ (thousand) places we stopped on our drive through the Big Sky Country. As a photographer, I was crushed that the day we were there the sky was overly bright and cloudless. Just the grey haze hanging over from the smoke from the wildfires one mountain range over made things less than optimal. I remember wailing pathetically to Sean that I needed ALL of the equipment that I had left at home on the office floor deciding it was too big and too heavy for our luggage (tripods, super telephoto lenses, countless filters, etc) and not only that but that it would take me weeks to scout an area like this just to research and plan the right angles and times of day to shoot at each location - and I only had one day. ONE DAY..! that I could be there on this trip. I raged on indignantly, how was I supposed to accurately capture the total AWE of this place and take it home and show it to people when I was there at the wrong time of day, had inadequate equipment, and was there under completely unfavorable weather conditions?? I was being a pretty big grouch until Sean stopped the SUV on the side of the road and turned to me and said that he understood how frustrated I was, but could I just try to enjoy just being there on the trip with him anyway? And I realized I was being pretty unreasonable. Sometimes I get caught up in the drive to capture life inside my camera and lose sight of the fact that life - my life - is still going on outside my camera and I need to be a part of that too.

So I resolved to just take the best photos that I could on that day with the equipment that I had.