Jenna Cole Photography-Chicago, IL » Lifestyle and Wedding Photographer

A big thank you to Chantale of La Belle Bride for featuring Mary and Opie’s wedding. Click here to see the full post!

I thought about doing a 2009 year-in-review post (as I love scrolling through my google reader and seeing similar posts from other photographers), but I think I’ll wait and save that post for Jenna Cole’s one year anniversary coming up in March. Hard to believe I’ve been in business for almost a year now! I still have a few sessions from 2009 to blog, but posting will be a bit slower in the beginning of 2010 as I prepare for the next big adventure in my life — motherhood!

Don’t think that I’m going to let this baby make me give up on the business I’ve worked so hard to build up over the last year. I won’t be doing any weddings until June, but please feel free to contact me about any portrait sessions you have in mind. I’m excited for the bluebonnets to appear again and I hope to have the chance to shoot in them at least one more time! (My bluebonnet bridal session, which also happens to be my first bridal session ever, can be found here).

I was home for 10 days over Christmas and in the middle of all that celebrating we managed to squeeze in a quick family portrait session. Between my mom, sister, and myself we own an overabundance of professional camera equipment, but it’s still surprisingly hard to make a family shoot happen for us (not to mention we have to find someone to hold the camera and depress the shutter!). We took our pictures Christmas day, after presents were opened and a delicious brunch was devoured. It was a little bit darker than we had hoped it would be, but sometimes it’s not about achieving a certain “look”. It’s about freezing those moments that will make you look back and smile for years to come.

A very happy New Year to all of you!

Tuesday is my last day in office before Christmas, so if you are a past client thinking about ordering prints, those orders will need to be placed no later than Tuesday, December 15, 12:00 pm if you would like to receive them before the new year.

Merry Christmas to all, I hope you get some time to rest and relax and enjoy your time with family and friends. (I’m not taking my work with me, so I know I certainly will! )

I recently revamped my slideshow showing the difference between Basic and Fine Art Edits. I think it’s really fun to see the comparison and I hope it helps past and future clients better understand what those two terms can really mean. I always try to make my clients look good, but I think turning a Basic Edit into a Fine Art Edit makes them look really good!

I wanted to show you some of the basic things that can be done with Fine Art Edits, but I didn’t want to hurt any of my clients feelings by showing their before and afters. So I decided to use myself as an example instead! The photos below were taken by Kelli Nicole, but all editing was done by myself.

The most common question I get is whether I can “make someone look skinnier”. I can’t make you look like a different person, but I can make small adjustments to help you look slimmer.

The photo on the left is a Basic Edit, on the right is the Fine Art. For the Fine Art Edit I slimmed my waist down, took in my thighs a bit, smoothed my skin, and made the photo richer and sharper overall.

I also have clients frequently asking about their skin, as they would like to know if I can help them have brighter eyes and clearer skin (who doesn’t want that?).

This first photo is a Basic Edit. Although I hate pointing you toward it, go ahead and look at my chin. Isn’t that bump awful?

In this Fine Art Edit the spots on my forehead, chin, and cheeks are gone. My skin is brighter and smoother overall. I sharpened the eyes a little bit and removed a distracting light spot just to the right of my head. The photo is richer and sharper overall. I liked this one so much I ended up making it my new profile photo on Facebook and Twitter!

Want to see more before & after photos like these?

Click here to view my Basic v. Fine Art slideshow

After 6 months of running Jenna Cole Photography, photographing every kind of session imaginable (I even took pictures of a cat once, although never again!), it’s time for me to narrow my focus a bit and continue to work on making my product the absolute best it can be. For this reason I’ve decided to eliminate certain sessions from my repertoire, including children and families.

When you hire a photographer and make such an important investment you want them to be as thrilled about taking your photos as you are about having them done. Some photographers manage to do that without specializing, others realize that focusing in on what they love keeps the fire burning and the skills improving. I’ve found myself to be in the latter group.

Currently I am accepting inquiries for:

Newborn

Maternity

Senior

Duet (meaning, any two adults)

Bridal/TTD

Engagement

Weddings

I want to take a moment to thank all of my past clients for both their positive reactions and words of encouragement regarding the photos I presented them with, as well as all of the nice things they have said about their friends and families. Word of mouth marketing is the best kind, and there are so many of you I owe my gratitude to for that. I look forward to all of the new people I’m going to work with during the next 6 months and beyond!