2014 is a year of trying new things. In that spirit, I did a ton of work to build a portable wall to display my art on at my very first trade show  – the Northwest’s Biggest Baby Shower put on by Kidfest NW!

Here I am contemplating the finished setup in my studio

Here I am talking to a really sweet family at the show!

I learned so many things through this process, and met so many amazing people. I owe a debt of gratitude to my husband, Chad Hadsell, who helped me construct the walls, set up the space, interact with show attendees, and clean up again at the end of the day. He is amazing.

Free Consultations

One of the things I did to add benefit for my guests was to offer up a free consultation along with a chance to win a free session and 3 accordion mini albums!  I had 107 people sign up for this opportunity.  Wowzers!  That is a lot of consultations!  I’m excited to see where this leads, and hopefully get to know a lot of these beautiful mamas and their families better over the next few months.

Sessions are picking up quickly!

We’re getting some fast results from this event! Among the scores of beautiful women I met, one of them brought her 7-day-old son with her and we pretty much fell in love on the spot.  I’m so excited to say that I’ve already taken photos of him!  (10 days is my ideal cut-off time for newborns, so we were super close to that already!)  Stay tuned, he will be on the blog in the next couple of days along with his super adorable parents and proud grandma.

Getting to know families and helping find the threads that really tie them together is certainly one of the most exciting parts of my job. Before the session, this family sent me photos of their nursery, which features two black and white framed images – one of each of the grandfathers playing football as young men.  I commented on how special it was to have those images of their dads as young guys, and how inspirational it would be for their little guy growing up knowing where he comes from.  To complete the picture, I suggested it would be fun to include a family photo, or one of dad and son, as part of the series.  Well, mom did me one up and brought dad’s football helmet!  We took a really great series of images with dad holding his brand new son curled up in his helmet.  I even managed to get an amazing family image while the little guy snoozed away peacefully.  I can’t wait to share these images with the family – they really tell the story of this family in such a unique way!

See a quick teaser from this session

And the winner is…

And now I’m pleased to announce the winner of our show contest, Adilene Arevalo!  Congratulations Adilene! You get a free session and set of custom mini-albums–perfect to stick to the fridge and to give to friends and family. I can’t wait to talk more with you, and help you preserve the most important moments and emotions in your life so you can have them with you every day!

And remember, even if you didn’t win, if you picked up one of the “show special” postcards you have the opportunity to get a sweet deal on your next session. Interested in learning more? Send us a message!

And be sure to act soon! The session schedule is already getting filled up by all the great mommas we met at the show!

Did you attend the show? What was your favorite part? Did you learn anything interesting at a booth, or a workshop? Let me know in the comments below!