Stefanie and I headed over to Tampa, FL a few weeks ago to photograph Brady and Melissa’s downtown wedding. Stefanie and I are so blessed to have such fantastic clients, and Brady and Melissa are no exception to that. Melissa is a teacher, which explains her kind and patient nature. I left the wedding wishing we could spend more time with them.

If you have checked out www.heatherahrens.com recently you might have seen a few of these photos already. I did a site update last weekend after I realized that it had been eight whole months since the last update. There are about 30 new images up.

I really like smiles!

During the dances I almost lost it. I have been to enough weddings in the past few years that normally the musy first dances do not get to me. When Melissa started dancing with her father, I felt tears welling up in my eyes. Thank goodness none of them came out and I was able to keep photographing (also, that is why I bring a second photographer, in case those tears come). The love between Melissa and her Father and also between Brady and his mother was touching. I know Brady is a good man by the way he treats his mother. Brady and Melissa really lucked out in finding each other.

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Do you ever have self doubt? I know I do. When the photoshop work takes longer than it is supposed to, when the calls aren’t coming in quite as much as I would like, or when the office is too messy to work in, that is when I question why I do this. Then I get a thank you note from a bride or a email from a groom who is so excited about their photos, and it makes my heart skip a beat. I love that moment, the moment you know that you have made a client happy. All the happy moments make this totally worth it. Some moments that have happened in the past year that have made it worth it:

- getting an email from an editor who wants to use your photo in a magazine

- seeing a photo in print in a national magazine for the first time

- a thank you note from a bride

- a comment on the blog

- 20 comments on the blog!

- a text from the bride the night after their wedding just to say thank you

The little things are what keeps me going… oh yeah, and I absolutely love photography! A couple of my past clients reviewed my business on Wedding Wire this week. These reviews made my month! Thank you so much for being such wonderful clients, and friends!

Read these wonderful wedding wire reviews below:

When it comes to wedding photographers there are a lot of choices to choose from, Ha Photography absolutely exceeded my expectations in every way! I knew that I absolutely did not have to worry about a thing when it came to my photography on my wedding day. My guests raved at how amazing they were, and well I have the pictures as proof. I couldn’t be happier with my choice.  – Yvonne

Heather is an incredible photographer. She makes you feel comfortable behind the camera and takes beautiful shots! – Tracy

Finding the right phogotrapher for my wedding was one of my top priorities once I began the planning process. Heather at HA! Photography was the photographer at a friend’s wedding and when I saw her pictures, I knew I had to have her! Heather is very easy going, friendly, and flexible. She and an assistant (Stefanie) traveled to Key West for my wedding and actually covered the rehearsal and the wedding day. The pictures are unbelievably beautiful, and I am having a hard time deciding which ones to display because there are so many to choose from. I highly recommend their services to everyone I can. My wedding coordinator in Key West was so impressed with the photos and with how easy Heather and Stefanie were to work with, she added HA! Photography to the preferred vendors list at the resort she is now working at. Not only are the prices avaiable on-line (which does not seem to be that common), a type of “menu” has recently been added so you can essentially build your own package depending on what your coverage needs are. I cannot say enough about how wonderful Heather and Stefanie were to work with, and how talented both of them are.
~Leslie, Florida

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It’s Friday! You know what that means, time to break out the film camera. I have been photographing with a Mamiya c330 TLR camera. I took my fun medium format camera with me to Malisa and Brian’s wedding last weekend. I shot one roll of 12, and these are my favorite photos. Making each shot count on a roll has helped to slow down and compose images. enjoy!

Want to get in on the fun? Participate in Film Fridays! I’d love to make this a community thing, so feel free to join in!

1. Take out your film camera or buy one on ebay!

2. Take a roll of film.

3. Have it processed at your local pro camera store. I take mine to Colonial Photo and Hobby.

4. Tell the lab  to process the film and scan it to CD. I don’t get prints back. I get a lovely CD that has the photos on it sized at 2000 pixels on each side.  Each roll of film for me costs about $9. It’s really not so expensive.

5. Post the finished photos on your blog!

6. Link back to www.heatherahrens.com/blog with your post, and comment below saying you are participating in Film Fridays.

7. I will post a list of people participating each week along with my post.

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Stefanie and I had a wonderful session with Zander and his family last week. Stefanie and I are tag teaming kid portrait sessions and it is working out wonderfully! Stefanie has a daughter of her own and is naturally fabulous with everyone. I get to hang back a bit during these sessions and really focus on taking great photos. Working as a team has so many advantages.

Zander is such a happy baby. During the ordering session with Heather yesterday, Zander was just fascinated just with looking at us and wondering what we were doing. He had no idea we were looking at photos of him!

Somehow we managed to wrangle up the whole family in the photo. Even the dogs got in!

Heather, Zander’s mom ordered these next five photos as metallic prints to hang over his crib. I think these are going to look great in his nursery!

Thanks for letting us be a part of your lives!

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Hi, do you photograph events?

This week we have had a few requests for event coverage, not our normal wedding coverage. I will be photographing a birthday celebration in the next few weeks and it got me thinking about the next phase of HA! Photography. We are growing. As our past clients are having kids and their families are growing, we want to grow too.

So world, I am putting it out there to you. I want to photograph more events. Things like, Bridal Showers, Bar Mitzvahs, Birthday Parties, you name it. If you are looking for someone to photograph your next event, please contact me here.

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When I saw Malisa’s veil, I knew this would turn out to be an amazing day. Brian and Malisa were married in a beautiful garden in Winter Park, FL. The Albin Polasek Museum was the perfect place for their early morning outdoor wedding.

Malisa was absolutely stunning in her gorgeous dress and custom veil. I will tell you more about Malisa’s veil and hair clip next week.

Brian looked at his beautiful new wife with such great love. Being around these two generous and kind people, it was hard not to want to be as loving and kind back. They ooze kindness… really, they do. Their quiet spirits complement each other well.

Thanks Chad for helping me out with this wedding!

I hope you enjoyed the preview! Feel free to leave a comment below, I love comments!

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