Please join me for a day of mini sessions at one of my favorite local spots: the JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh, NC. Mini sessions offer a cost-effective way to capture mid-year photographs of your family. Plus they're really fun! Here are a few reasons it's time to get in front of the camera:
Birthdays or other milestones Gifts for family and friends Seasonal/Easter portraits Outdoor headshots The details: Saturday, April 26, 2014 JC Raulston Arboretum Raleigh, NC Investment: $175 Includes: 25-minute session Online viewing gallery of 7-10 professionally edited images 5 professionally edited digital images (with print release) 20% off additional la carte products (artwork and digital images) Rain date: April 27 (Overcast conditions and even a few sprinkles are just fine, but please reserve this day in case it's pouring rain or storming on the 26th.) To schedule, email julia@calmcradle.com or call 919.996.9407. Full payment and signed contract are due at booking. Appointments are limited, so please book early. To view more of my work, check out my portfolio here, as well as portraiture blog posts here. Hope to see you in April!
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My, my it was another busy year. I'm tired just thinking about it. But I'm also proud of Calm Cradle's growth and looking forward to all the projects and adventures to come in 2014. 2013: A year in review Personal: I began 2013 with a newly minted 2-year-old and an 8-month-old...and I'm still alive and standing! Watching the girls grow into a preschooler and a toddler this year has been amazing, mind-boggling and exhausting. One friend who also has kids 17 months apart told me that during the early years, every day brought the "highest highs and the lowest lows." I second that. Last year was indeed filled with ups and downs, but we've come out the other end with two little girls who love to play together (before the playing turns into tackling, hair-pulling and crying), jump off anything they can find to climb, work busily on art projects and explore the outdoors. Their increased independence and fewer completely sleepless nights (thank you, ear tubes x four) left me more time to create, photograph and write than I've been able to do in the last few years. It felt good to develop ideas and then actually be able to follow through on them—with many interruptions and on a different timeline than I might have imagined several years ago. But still. Travel: We took 10 family trips this year, which I documented in Adventures. (Most of them were working trips for Jeff, and I don't even want to tally up all his additional business travel or I might cry). Our family trips included: Blue Ridge Mountains (here and here), Orlando (here, here and here), Charlottesville, DC, Denver, Boulder/Summit County, Naples, Outer Banks (here, here and here), Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Asheville. We've flown so much with the girls I decided to offer up some tips on flying with young kids, too. Travel with kids is tiring, but we can't help ourselves. Exploring the world around us is a major part of who we are, and we want to instill that value in our kids. Plus we get bored if we stay home too long. Photography: After years in the making, I officially launched Calm Cradle's children's photography division this fall. I also began migrating my nature photography shop to Society6. And, of course, I took an overwhelming number of photos of our family. Writing: I wrote a novel! No biggie. I also wrote nearly 70 blog posts. (I bill myself more as a photographer on this website, but really I've always considered myself a writer first and photographer second.) Design: This year was busy on the design front. I rebranded, redesigned my website (and just updated "Popular posts" on the right-hand sidebar), learned how to design fabric patterns (here, here and here) and created my sister's wedding invitation package, which I'll share with you soon. 2014: A look ahead Personal: Perhaps my most important goal for the new year is to continually re-balance—and give myself a break when things don't go the way I planned. More than three years as a parent has taught me that "finding balance" is a constant process. Kids, routines and the rest of life change on a dime, so finding balance means constant readjustment. I'm a creature of habit, so this realization has been a difficult one. Instead of setting my expectations for tomorrow based on today, I need to accept that flexibility and shifting expectations is not only okay but necessary to survive and enjoy the next few decades of family life. As part of that flexibility, another goal is to focus more on my girls when I am with them. I remember seeing moms at the park spend more time playing on their phones than engaging with their kids. I vowed I would never be that kind of mom. And now I'm glued to my phone, for no good reason other than being addicted to it. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge believer in free play and letting the kids entertain themselves, but I fear that I'm too distracted these days. I haven't come up with any brilliant strategies to accomplish these goals and am looking for suggestions. How do you re-balance and manage your distractions to live in the moment? Travel: We have a two big trips coming up early in the year and then will probably make our usual family visits, plus one or two extras. Our family travel felt a bit excessive last year, so this year we plan to be more deliberate about trip planning. For example, we used to plan back-to-back trips. Over the last few years, we've learned that travel disrupts family life quite a bit (time changes, plane-contracted illness and getting out of the routine are all rough on kids). So we'll try to build in more down time between trips to re-charge. Photography: I'm in no rush to grow my children's photography aspect of my business too quickly, since I'm still a full-time mom. I plan to offer mini sessions in the spring (April/May) and fall (October/November) and take full sessions as I can fit them in. As always, I'll continue to build my nature photography portfolio and migrate that work to my Society6 shop, as well as document our daily adventures as a family. I'd also like to build a larger following on Instagram. Any suggestions on how to do that? Writing: At some point, I'll pick the novel back up, do a serious read-through and define a strategy to tackle the next draft. But I'm not sure when that will happen. Working at the NanoWriMo pace was not sustainable given our other commitments, so I need to figure out how to move forward in a more manageable way. I'd also like to write a few more informal essays this year. Design: I plan to continue to learn new design skills, software and sewing techniques. (My sewing goals are embarrassingly basic: learn how to choose the right stitch for a project and sew a straight line). I'm also considering adding a dedicated design category to the blog. Business: When I have a good week—defined by these things: the girls are healthy, happy and independent; Jeff is in town and available to help with wake-up and bedtime routines and I feel a sense of accomplishment with Calm Cradle—I become overly ambitious. I plan to take huge steps forward with my blog and business. I think I can squeeze more and more projects into my day. And then, inevitably, the next day or the next week, the kids get sick and swear off sleep, my husband hops a plane for a business trip and I get crabby and stressed and fall behind on everything I had planned. I lose confidence and momentum. So my most significant business goal for the year is to go with the flow. If advertisers approach me, I'll consider them for the blog. If the children's photography aspect continues to pick up, I'll consider stepping back a bit from blogging to focus on portraits. And if things get too crazy with family life to make much progress on either front this year, then there's always next year, right? This week Calm Cradle Photo & Design turns 2 years old. It continues to amaze me that people out there are interested in hearing what I have to say, seeing how I view the world through photography and even hiring me to document a part of their own lives. Thank you for playing a role in this grand adventure. I look forward to spending 2014 with you!
Happy New Year! Let's talk about wood prints. They're one of my latest obsessions, and I ordered three for gifts this year. Since the photo is printed directly onto the wood, the texture and tint from the grain produce a vintage effect. It was Jeff's idea to transform the Matterhorn image above into a wood print as a wedding gift for a dear friend I studied with in Switzerland way back in the 90s. Since I took the photo on 35mm film and the 90s is quickly becoming vintage, a wood print seemed like a nice touch. Here's what it looks like from the side. A wood print seems like a natural fit for an image of an old barn, too. You may remember the photo below from this post about our friends' farm. My sister-in-law and her family recently moved, so I thought a wood print of this photo—the view from their former backyard—would make a pretty housewarming gift.
Shopping for gifts? Visit the Calm Cradle nature photography shop on Monday, December 9 to get $10 off framed art prints.
This fall has been packed full of exciting projects. In addition to my usual writing and photography and participating in NaNoWriMo (I'm closing in on 50,000 words!), I've been doing some design work. I am so honored that my sister asked me to design her wedding invitations. They are just about complete, and I'm dying to share them with you. But I'm going to wait until after the wedding. (Wouldn't want to accidentally invite any jilted lovers to the wedding now, would we? Just kidding. Sort of.) So today I'm sharing with you my new business cards, starring Nora's trademarked floppy-armed, hugely smiley run. The silver tray pictured above was given to me by my grandma. She has traditionally selected a piece of silver from her collection as a wedding gift for each of her grandchildren. I've used this calling card tray to hold different things over the years, but it's time to restore it to its original purpose. I'm making the switch from DVDs to flash drives for larger client orders, which means I get to play around with new packaging. What do you think?
I'm still a believer in handwritten notes. Sure, email is more efficient. But most of our communications arrive electronically these days, so opening the mailbox to find a note from friends or family, instead of just stack of bills, makes my day. Do you have notes to write and people to thank this fall? I challenge you to write them by hand. You'll make someone smile. Here are a few of my favorite fall photos, which are now available as 5x7 stationery notecards (blank inside). A set of notecards would make a great gift for the host of your Thanksgiving celebration, too. (These images are also available here as prints, framed art, stretched canvases, pillows, tote bags or iPhone/iPod/iPad/laptop cases or skins.) Above: Yellow leaf against blue sky Below: Fall berries in orange Below: Let's pick apples
Thank you for all your support and encouragement on the children's photography launch! It's going to be a busy and exciting portrait season around here.
If you book your fall session by Sept. 20, you'll receive a complimentary desk print (your choice of size up to 8x10) from your session. Session must take place by Nov. 20 to qualify. And please help spread the word! For every referral, you will receive a $50 artwork credit toward your next session. (Just have your friends and family mention that you referred them when they book their sessions. When you book your next one, let me know you'll be redeeming your credit on your artwork order.) Happy fall! It's time to make it official: I am thrilled to announce that Calm Cradle Photo & Design is now offering children's photography (including newborn, baby, family and maternity portraits) in Raleigh, Cary, Durham, Chapel Hill and surrounding areas of North Carolina. I specialize in using natural light to create documentary-style (sometimes called lifestyle) images.
Please help spread the word! For every referral, you will receive a $50 artwork credit toward your next session. (Just have your friends and family mention that you referred them when they book their sessions. When you book your next one, let me know you'll be redeeming your credit on your artwork order.) You can find details, including pricing, session information and a portfolio, in the new children's photography section of the website. Want to get to know my work? Checking out this blog, my bio and portfolio are great places to start. Fall is a busy season for portraits, so please book early to ensure session availability. I'm so looking forward to working with you and your little ones. Let's get started! Need to find a baby shower, birthday or holiday present? Calm Cradle Photo & Design gift certificates are available here. You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest. Introducing this new image today, Early spring berries, which is featured in my board book, Counting at the Museum.
From now through 8/11/13 you'll get free shipping on most products in the Calm Cradle Photo & Design Shop. Click on any shop link in this post to receive the discount. (You must order through one of these links to activate the discount. This offer excludes framed art prints, stretched canvases and throw pillows with inserts.) My first sewing machine arrived a few weeks ago, and things have turned quite domestic around here. It took me an entire evening to figure out how to spin a bobbin and another to thread the needle. (Those diagrams are a nightmare!) Then I got to work on the most basic project I could think of: tea towels.
But let me back up for a moment. Remember that sweet little lavender farm we visited a few months ago? Well I bought a few lavender-themed birthday gifts there and decided to design a tea towel to go along with them. I sketched the design on my iPad, finished it in Photoshop and uploaded it to my (new-ish) Spoonflower shop. To make your own lavender tea towel: order one fat quarter of the design here in cotton-linen canvas (27 x 18 in.), trim and hem the edges. |
My new book is out! Click to learn more about it.Hello thereI'm Julia Soplop, writer and photographer. I believe there is something profound in bearing witness to moments of joy and pain in others’ lives. My husband, three girls and I live outside of Chapel Hill, NC. You can read more about me here.
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