Here are the winners from our relationship contest. The two families have been friends FOREVER…. the two dads went to elementary school together and the moms told me that the kids have all been friends since they were born. They acted like family too! Everyone was cutting up and having a great time. We changed our location at the LAST minute. I pulled up at our meeting place and said “Are you up for something different?” I saw this spot on the way to our session and I HAD to use it. Awesome location, more awesome family!

We have talked about it for a long time and now it is time to announce our big contest to celebrate our children’s birthdays. Our kids have birthdays 5 days apart and we want you to get a gift! We want to celebrate relationships because we pray our children grow to be very close. I really think that is what our photography business is all about, capturing relationships of families, couples, siblings, etc. At 3 and 1, our children are just starting to really play together. The other day I was in the other room and I heard Sarah laughing harder than I had ever heard her while playing with her brother. At 1 year old, she was taking his blocks every time he stacked them up. I love that I am starting to see such a beautiful relationship!

So, that was my inspiration for the contest! First let’s talk about what we are giving away…

1 session fee to the winner ($100 value)

1 session fee for a family or person the winner chooses ($100 value)

Digital Disk with ALL portraits from both sessions ($800 value), AND

1 11×14 wall portrait for each family ($150 value)!!!!!!!!

Why are we giving away two sessions??? I want you to tell me who you would love to have a session with! Tell me about your sister and how awesome she is and how you want to thank her with this session. Tell me about your best friend that has stuck beside you for YEARS. Tell me about your co-worker that is always there to lend an ear. Tell me about your mom… you get the idea! This is two full sessions but I want to schedule the session where the two families have a few shots taken together. I want to celebrate your favorite relationship!

Now, here is how you win:

1. You must leave a comment here on the blog or here on our fan page wall on Facebook. Tell me about why you want to win and who you would give the other session and 11×14 to as a gift. The contest isn’t about someone in need. Remember, I am interested in the relationship!

2. If you enter on Facebook, tell your friends about the contest on our fan page. You can have it say whatever you like this time, but include a link to our fanpage. The last contest went so well with so many entries that I felt very generous and gave away MORE stuff to other winners! I seriously have a hard time not giving everyone something that enters!

3. Session must take place in the greater Birmingham area (some exceptions made on the case by case basis).

4. The person you choose to give the session away to must agree to the session and both families must schedule the session on the same day. This will allow the portraits of everyone together.

5. The sessions is for up to 10 people total.

6. Session must be booked and completed by December 31st, 2009.

And to celebrate some my kids’ relationship, let me show you the picture from 4th of July. I have to admit, it is hard to get picture of my own kids at this age. They are not interested in my camera (Sarah is lately… maybe there is hope!) and we all know how our own kids don’t listen like they should…lol. So when I try to sit them down for a posed picture, it is often comical. Cory is in the background making funny noises (ask him about “Moose”) and I am desperately trying to get both of my toddlers looking my way…lol. But, I love to see both of them in the same print, it makes my heart smile.

 All entries must be received by August 25th, 2009. Winner will be annouced on August 26th.

So things are rocking over here for seniors! We have started having more seniors and I have to say we arehaving a blast! So, while we are coming up with the details next super big contest (our kids birthdays are 5 days apart at the end of August), we decided to throw in a senior contest in between it all. We want to meet more of the awesome high school students in the area! If you want something completely different from your best friend or anyone else… SIGN UP NOW. We are not a big box senior photograher, we are a small business that can only take so many seniors a year and I want to keep it that way. WHY??? Because we want to take time with each senior, get to know who they are and give them totaly original pictures. To celebrate our senior contest, we have also decided to release packages JUST FOR SENIORS…details coming this week!

Now on to the contest…. I know that seniors love Facebook as much as we do! I love to upload senior portraits to facebook pages because the friends are able to see them NOW. You don’t have to carry about a box of proofs or send a link to your friends because it shows up in the news feed! AND it gives you an awesome profile picture! So this contest is for Facebook. Add me as your friend, HERE and make sure you are FAN, HERE. Then go to our wall and tell us why you want the session AND what kind of session would you want (city, nature, rustic, crazy…etc). Last but not least…. change your Facebook Status to:

Check our His Hands Photographs for something completely different for senior portraits! I am trying to win a HUGE contest and you can win too!  http://www.facebook.com/reqs.php#/pages/Birmingham-AL/His-Hands-Photographs/34442204574?ref=share

And here is the LOOT….a FREE session fee (up to $200) with up to 5 outfit changes we pick our AWESOME locations(yes, more than one!), a Digital CD of ALL of your session with RIGHTS TO PRINT ($400) (Imagine you printing out unlimited pictures to share with your friends), and a 8×8 20 page brag book ($275) of your ENTIRE session in a press printed album designed by Cory. One person is going to win all this stuff! Someone will be VERY happy. Go sign up now…seriously….don’t you want to win???

AND the Rules….

1. Only one entry per person.

2. Session must take place in the Birmingham Metro area.

3. Seniors must have persmission from parents to book a session and must sign a model release for me to post the pictures on Facebook and my website.

4. The winner will be annouced on August 1, 2009..

5. Session must be booked by November 30th, 2009.

Now a few more from one of our senior reps! We have several sessions set up with more reps in the next few weeks… just wait until you see them!

I can’t even tell you how much fun we have had with all of the entries on Facebook. There are so many great DREAM locations that GREAT reasons why you would like to win, that we are just humbled that you would have us to capture your family! So, we put all the names in the hat and we had our Elijah pull the names out of the hat…. WAIT… Did I say names?? Yes, plural! We had such a great time getting to know everyone entering the contest that we decided to give away 3 free session away to random entries. I really wish I could give everyone a free session but if you didn’t win this time, just wait until our next contest. We want to start holding contest where you win a totally cool and unique prizes. You could be next… now on with the show!

Let me first say I am so glad I didn’t have to pick and this was random…. I have NO idea how I would ever pick from all the awesome stories and incredible families.

To our three free sessions ($100 value and includes a $25 print credit):

Cynthia Moss

Kellie Vaughn

Emily Leiter

Contact me for details! I look forward to meeting you guys and your families!

Our grand prize winner is….. Rebecca Harris!!!!

Here is what she wrote about her dream session: My husband and I have been married for 13 years. We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of our first child, Ava Rae Harris. She is due August 17, 2009. I cannot even imagine the joy Ava Rae will bring to our life. God has truly blessed us with such a wonderful blessing and a very healthy pregnancy. There will be so many moments to be captured of this precious little girl and just the thought of seeing her overwhelms me with emotion.

I mean, come on… how cool is that! This baby will be so loved and I am super excited to offer them this prize! Email me for details.

And because I think it is rude to have a post without pictures since we are photographers…you will be subjected to our family snapshots from the beach. Enjoy or not…

So, tomorrow is my (Sam) 30th birthday and Monday is Cory’s 33rd. We love July around here and we thought the best way to celebrate our birthday is to give someone a prize… and since it is such a significant birthday for me, we are giving away the farm! One person is going to walk away with a huge prize. Between 7/10 and 7/13 we are giving you a chance to with a FREE session fee ($100), a FREE DVD of all the session with a release to print ($400) AND a handcrafted (By Cory himself!) fine art album, 20 pages, 5×7 size ($450)… yep.. you read that right… we are giving it all away to one person!

How do you win? You have to be on Facebook. Did you know you are missing all the fun? I upload more pictures on Facebook. I post contests on Facebook. I ask for your opinions on pricing, packages, contests… all kinds of stuff. And, we are talking about pictures over there too! So, to win this contest you must be a fan: HERE. You must be my friend; HERE. (This sounds a little like grade school where you passed notes around that says “Will you be my friend? Circle YES or NO). And…. You must change your status to:

I am a fan of His Hands Photographs and I want to tell you about a contest I am trying to win. I want to win a session fee, a DVD with all my pictures, and a fine art album! Check it out, you could win too! http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Birmingham-AL/His-Hands-Photographs/34442204574?ref=ts

And then head onto our fan page to tell us you changed your status, why you want to win, AND where would be your favorite pick for a location. (You can leave the last part out, but I really want to hear about where YOU want to have your dream portrait session!).

And so you can see an example of our fine art albums and what you can win. Here is an example of a wedding album. Isn’t it beautiful!? Every time we put one of these albums together I want to keep it for myself! It is something that will last for years to come. Imagine flipping through this when your kids are teenagers and telling them about their first family session, the three year old portraits, or your wedding. There is no better way to preserve your portrait session or wedding then in a fine art album… seriously! These are not your typical photo albums, they are art. It is YOUR family in art.

Now for the rules:

Only one entry per person.

Session must be booked within 30 days and session must take place before October 31st, 2009.

Must be in the Birmingham area or be willing to travel to the greater Birmingham area.

Winner will be chosen at random on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009.