Archive for the ‘promotions’ Category

fotofafa and $50 (times ten)

March 25, 2013

There are just not enough hours in the day. Emailing, shooting, culling, editing, blogging, designing, ordering, packaging, shipping, and that’s just part of it. There just isn’t enough Jean to go around.

You’ve probably heard me mention this before, but there was a time in my photography career that I just couldn’t possibly do one. more. day. No sleep, very little eating, no exercise, no time for my Love and my Babies. I love my job so much, but in order for me to keep loving it, keep my business running smoothly, maintain my sanity, and get my life back, I had to give parts of it away. I needed help.

Enter outsourcing.

Enter freedom, happiness, and extra time. Exit near mental breakdowns, guilt, and stress.

It is no secret that outsourcing is essential for running my business smoothly. I tell my friends, I tell our workshop attendees, I tell anyone who will listen. However, I must disclaim that I am a picky one. If I am going to give up pieces of my business and entrust them to others, they dang well better do an amazing job. That is where one of my favorite companies comes in…Fotofafa. Fotofafa is an image editing and album design company, and I have worked with them for the last few years. I had tried two or three other editing companies in the past, and just felt frustrated and unsatisfied. I decided to try one more time, with a company called Fotofafa, and was instantly hooked. Amazing customer service, great proofing system, and awesome quality of work. As with anything, it took a few weddings for us to get our styles meshed, but now it is as simple as sending my images in, approving them or requesting changes on their proofing system, and getting the images back for me to upload to my clients in a quick turnaround time.

Thanks Fotofafa for helping me get my life back. AND, thanks Fotofafa for offering TEN $50 gift cards to my readers! If you would like to try Fotofafa, enter a comment on why you would like the gift card, and I will randomly choose 10 people to get a $50 gift card off your first order with Fotofafa!jeansmith_fotofafajeansmith_fotofafa2

 

Posted in contests, products, promotions | 51 Comments »

2013 travel dates

March 19, 2013

First come first serve! I am offering a very limited amount of travel sessions this year, but they will be AWESOME :)

jeansmith_traveldates

What: Child, family, engagement, or just because sessions available.

Cost: $1500. That includes your session fee, 40-50 full edited digital images in color and black and white, and an 8×8 softcover album.

Session: We will discuss and finalize locations and times once payment is received. Each session will last 1-2 hours.

After the session: Your images and online gallery will be ready for viewing approximately 2 weeks after your session.

Posted in personal, promotions, travel | Comments Off

mini madness anyone?

May 6, 2012

*Contest is now closed. The winner of the gift certificate and hat is….AIMEE MAUGHAN!!!!!! Please email me at jean@jeansmithphotography.com to redeem you prizes. Thank you to everyone else for entering!***

The giving has been abundant over here lately, and it’s not about to slow down! This week’s giveaway with Lisa’s Mini Mad Hattery has been a long time in the making. I have been so excited to showcase these to-die-for hats ever since Lisa’s Mini Mad Hattery was a sponsor at our September workshop.

Lisa’s Mini Mad Hattery is an online store selling a variety of UH-MAZING hats, headpieces, wrist cuffs, and now apparel. You can find the store HERE, and the happenings on their Facebook page HERE.

What’s to win?

$50 gift certificate to the Lisa’s Mini Mad Hattery store AND the hat you see in the photo below

How to win?

Enter up to two ways (please leave a separate comment for each way entered)…

1. Go “like” Lisa’s Mini Mad Hattery Facebook page, and come back here and leave a comment, letting us know that you did.

2. If you already “like” their Facebook page, you can tweet, blog, or share on your Facebook page about how fabulous the store and/or products are, and come back here and leave a comment, letting us know what you did.

When does it end?

Contest ends on Thursday, May 10th. Winner will be announced (chosen via random.org) on my Facebook page at 3 pm (EST).

Posted in products, promotions | 37 Comments »

the shoppe…giveaway!

May 1, 2012

*Contest is now closed. The winner of the $150 Gift Certificate is JEAN RIHM!!!  Winner was chosen via random.org…not because she has an awesome first name*

Let’s just say it how it is. We love our workshop sponsors and support their products and businesses 100%. That is why we love to shout their praises…and…we have an AWESOME giveaway from the Shoppe this week!

The Shoppe is an online store featuring an extensive library of design templates and elements made specifically for photographers. You can choose products a la carte, or subscribe monthly to gain access to everything in the entire store.

It’s a genius idea, really. And their stuff? Truly awesome. Time to go check them out if you haven’t used their templates or aren’t familiar with them.

What to win?

$150 gift certificate to the Shoppe’s store!!!

How to win?

Super easy.

Win one of two ways…

1. Go “like” The Shoppe’s Facebook page, and come back here and leave a comment, letting us know that you did.

2. If you already “like” the Shoppe’s Facebook page, you can tweet, blog, or share on your Facebook page about how awesome the Shoppe is, and come back here and leave a comment, letting us know what you did.

When does it end?

Contest ends on Friday, May 4th.  Winner will be announced  (chosen via random.org) on my Facebook page at 12 pm (EST).

Posted in contests, products, promotions, workshop | 36 Comments »

melissa davis designs giveaway!

February 1, 2012

CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED.  CAYCE WEGMAN IS THE WINNER OF THE $75 GIFT CERTIFICATE AND KRISTIN WILKERSON IS THE WINNER OF THE VALENTINES TEMPLATES!  CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNERS AND THANKS TO EVERYONE ELSE FOR PLAYING!  PLEASE EMAIL MELISSA AT M@MELISSADAVISPHOTOGRAPHY.COM TO REDEEM YOUR PRIZES!

Awesome products are priceless to our photography business.  We’re so lucky to have so many of our favorite product companies working with us and sponsoring our workshops.  One of our favorite template design companies and workshop sponsors is Melissa Davis Designs.  You’ve heard me rave about her before because, well, she…and her templates rock.  In honor of awesome templates and awesome Melissa, we’re doing a giveaway!  Two giveaways, in fact!!  The first winner will receive a $75 gift certificate to Melissa’s store, and the second winner will receive her 2012 Valentine templates.

Super easy to enter.  Choose one of the following for one entry, or do both for two entries.

  1. Go to Melissa’s online store, come back here and leave a comment with your favorite template.
  2. Sign up for Melissa’s email list.  She’ll keep you updated on sales and other information.  She offers a month a month, surprise 75% off sale and email subscribers are the first to know, AND she will be doing random drawings for $100 coupon codes for email subscribers.

Winners will be chosen randomly via random.org.  Contest starts NOW and ends Friday, February 3rd at 2 pm EST.  Winners will be announced on my Facebook page.

GOOD LUCK!!

Melissa Davis Designs on Facebook

Melissa Davis Designs Store

Posted in contests, products, promotions | 47 Comments »

winner!

October 3, 2011

We have a winner for the $150 gift certificate to the Totally Rad Actions store!  I was surprised at how close many of you were to my “action recipes” used to create these images!  But, one person was extremely close…and that person (and winner of the contest) is JENNIFER BULLY!!!  Congrats!

The actions I used for the top image (of the little girl) was

  • Claire-ify 50%
  • Punch Out 80%
  • Get Faded Summer 40%
  • Get Faded Autumn 20%
  • Cut like a razor 50%

The actions I used for the bottom image (of the couple) was

  • Sparta 50%
  • Claire-ify 40%
  • Grandma’s Tap Shoes 30%,
  • Wish you were here 50%
  • Dirty diana 50%
  • Cut like a razor 50%

Jennifer, please email me to claim your prize!

Posted in contests, promotions | 1 Comment »

totally rad giveaway!

September 28, 2011

One of the coolest things about our workshops is the chance we have to work with some of our very favorite companies. We have been long time users and lovers of Totally Rad Actions and are thrilled to have them support and sponsor our workshops.  We just held our last 2011 workshop last weekend and I have been uber excited to share some of our experiences, thoughts, and images.  With that in mind, we are giving a big shout out to our rad friends over at Totally Rad Actions and the totally rad products they create to make our job easier and images really rad (I REALLY love it that they brought back “rad”  from the 90′s and I am going to overuse it).

What’s that?  You want to get straight to the giveaway of $150 to the Totally Rad Store?  Keep scrolling down to find out how you can win!

I love recipes.  I use them on almost all images I edit in Photoshop.  This is where I combine several actions and/or steps in Photoshop to come up with a “look.”  I decide on the mood or feel I want for a particular shoot, and start combining actions to create my recipe for that entire shoot.  Here are a few images from our September 16th and 17th workshop edited with Totally Rad Actions.

Oh yes…about that winning part.  In order to win the $150 to the Totally Rad Store, we are going to play a little recipe game.  It’s called Take-Your-Best-Guess-At-The-Recipe-I-Used-For-Either-Of-The-Two-Edited-Images-Above-And-Whoever-Is-Closest-to-the-Real-Recipe-WINS game!

To make it easier for everyone, here are a few rules and hints…

  • Make a list of the actions you think I used to create either one of the two edited images above (please only submit one recipe for one image)
  • Contest ends Monday, October 3rd at 9 am (est)
  • To make it easier for you, I used only actions from TRA2 – The Revenge Set.
  • I used 3-5 actions + one sharpening action on each of the two edited images.
  • You can see all actions from TRA2 and examples by clicking HERE to help you see what the actions look like and what effect they produce.
  • Please leave your recipe guess in the comment section of my blog.
  • An example of what a recipe guess might look like…
  1. Claire-ify 100%
  2. Acid Washed 25%
  3. Select-0-pop 100%
  4. Pool Party 50%

Want to see what else Totally Rad has to offer?  Go check out Travis’ post on his blog for RADLAB…a newer product, that is well….freaking RAD.

If you would like to see all that they have to offer and purchase some rad products for yourself, click the image below!!!

Posted in contests, promotions | 23 Comments »

workshop news and door 2 studios

September 7, 2011

Hey hey!  The countdown to our workshop is on…only 10 more days!  We are so, so, so, SOOOOO excited!  The workshop has been full for a while, but we have decided to open up 2 more seats to the September 16th and 17th workshop.  Waiting list folks have been emailed, but the seats are available to anyone, so please contact me (jean@jeansmithphotography.com) or Travis (travis@bokastudios.com) if you are interested.

Speaking of the workshop, check out the location of our workshop below…the old LaSalle Winery building in Farmington.  EEEEK…I love it!  I wish I could tuck it in my pocket and call it my own, but alas, our friends at Door 2 Studios hold that honor.  They have been amazing to work with and we are so thrilled to have them as a workshop sponsor and hold our workshop there!  Door 2 Studios has recently announced that they will be renting out their studio space to local photographers.  That is a huge bonus as local studio space rented out on an hourly basis is hard to come by.

In celebration of their opening and in honor of our upcoming workshop, Door 2 Studios is giving big.  For every 50 “likes” on their Facebook Page by Monday, September 12th, they will be giving away a free Point ‘n’ Shoot Membership, along with a free 4 hour block of studio time in Studio A.  Not a photographer?  You can still join the fun!  Out of those who “like” their Facebook page, they will be randomly choosing someone to receive a free photo session by one of the three photographers who own Door 2 Studios.  FREE STUFF ROCKS, so go “like” our friends on their new Facebook page!

Posted in promotions, workshop | Comments Off

him

March 15, 2010

Sometimes I forget how lucky I am.   Lucky in so many ways, but mostly lucky to have him.

And by him, I mean Travis.  My husband.  My best friend.

Back to the lucky (with minimal mushiness).  We have always had the same interests and loved doing things together.  But, I believe we have found the ultimate.  Photography.  Together.  I never thought in a million years we would be able to do what we are doing now…sharing the same passion and calling it work.   We used to talk about it and dream about it, but it wasn’t until the opportunity arose last year, that we just decided to go for it.

Six months ago, we started a partner photography company, Boka Studios.  While I have been busy with Jean Smith Photography, he has been heading up Boka, where he photographs high school seniors, weddings, and commercial work.  And I’m not going to lie.  He is freaking awesome.  But, I have given him the warning…if people are saying he is a better photographer than me, then we are in a serious fight.  Just keeping it real.

The past six months have been crazy and awesome as we’ve launched this new company.  To mark the six month anniversary, we are giving away THREE FREE SESSIONS!   You can visit the Boka Studios blog for all of the details.

GOOD LUCK!

In a recent interview, I was asked:  What’s one thing that everyone should know about you?

My answer… My husband and I are both super passionate about photography and we have this nerdy dream of being able to travel all around the world photographing people and places. Someday…when the kids get older…and we have lots of money…sigh…

Posted in contests, misc, promotions | 6 Comments »

sale! and a maternity session!

March 9, 2010

Hands down, canvas gallery wraps are my most popular product.  They are are beautiful, unique, and contemporary.  However, I also understand they can be pricey and therefore a lot of people miss out on their awesomeness.  Soooo, for the first time EVER, I am offering a gigantic ol’ sale on canvas gallery wraps.  From now until 8 pm on Thursday, March 11th, all canvas gallery wraps are 50% off.  Um, yeah, that’s huge.  This sale is good for anyone with a current pending order or anyone who has had a session with me in the last two years.

Sale is only good until March 11th, so contact me asap at jean@jeansmithphotography.com if you are interested.

Moving on to a recent shoot with a most beautiful momma to be and her beautiful family! 

Posted in maternity, promotions | 8 Comments »