These photos are over 6 months old! I have SO many old shoots to blog before I took my 6 month medical leave. I can’t wait to get them all up-and then all the new family photo/portrait sessions I have been doing lately. AND maternity, AND births. Oooooh, how I love photographing births! So, more to come. You may get multiple blog posts in one day, which is a leap for me.

As a side note, I have so many AMAZING projects I am working on right now, and can not wait to share them all. For starters, I am creating a new photo portfolio site AND a workshop website. I have been teaching every day of the week-and love it. I think my passion really lies in not only taking beautiful photos (there is nothing like captureing that PERFECT image for someone-especially if it is of their children or baby), but also teaching other photographers-especially moms.
So, I had to hire a new office manager for Karma Baby and Stacey Potter Photography, and I found THE perfect person for the position and Kellie is busy training her right now. Kellie, who has been with me for what? Five years? Has to leave to work for her husband’s new business (boo), but I am really happy for their successes. He runs a non profit called Teens for Oceans and kellie’s new job description includes weeks of snorkeling in the Cayman Islands. I just can’t compete with that,

But I did post the job on Boulder Rock’n Moms (if you are not a part of this group you MUST join-it is 3000+ Boulder-area mothers and the info and support on there is invaluable). Anyways, I got a ton of responses. I chose not to post on Craigslist or Monster.com bc I really wanted to give the job to a mom that needs to work and needs to stay at home. And over the years Kellie and I have really perfected our system whereby she has been able to do everything for both businesses on her own time (even if that means at 2am in the morning) and in her own house (which means pj’s for sure, yay!). So, I feel like it is a nice offering to make sure I hire another mom to work with. And I found Denise, who is perfect. It really was a tough choice, I interviewed so many great mamas.

So, if your order is behind or if you are emailing me and I am slacking, it is because I lost my office manager and nanny in the same week. We did find the most wonderful nanny in the world though, so now all is good.

Anyways, can’t wait to share  all these great photo sessions I have been doing and tell you all about the workshop ideas and the other two things I am working on. Oh yeah, and if you are a web designer and want family photos done, I really need a revamp of karmababy.com. It is super easy-I have drawn it all out and it mostly just color changes (that hot pink is SO 2005). So contact me if you want to trade.

xoxo stacey

Reg is a dear friend but also the best sales manager I could ask for.  And what is a better bonus to the employee of a family photographer than photos of their own family? I mean, besides more money and travel and good benefits. I peronsally LOVE and truly value beautiful photography. *Especially* when it is of MY own children. Check out the photos here and here. That is my little family, compliments of Jinky Art. That was MY dream come true a few months back.

So, anyways, Tommy (Reg’s husband) had the kids ALL weekend, bc Reg is now into her own beautiful photography and starting her own photography business and did the workshop I taught a few weeks back (or was it last week? I can not remember, things are becoming a blur again-uh-oh).

And so Tommy spent all week with the boys (all 4, yes FOUR of them four and under). and by Sunday night he was wiped. So I got some quick shots of the boys, more like outtake photos but really the type of photos I LOVE. So here they are. Reg, I love you! You are fabulous in every way and I love your stylie family. I was gong to suprize you with prints but couldn’t wait to show you because they are all so freaking cute. Jett grew up so fast!

xoxo stacey

So, I am not sure if I shared this, but I ALWAYS wanted a little white haired (with lots of curls) baby boy. Just like Ayden here. But I married a red head, and, to tell the honest-to-god truth, my hair looks blond but is really very dirty blond or you *could* even say brown. If you had to, you know. But I don’t have to, so I say dirty blond.

When I was little, everyone in my family had this gorgeous, long blond hair. And I was the only one with brown hair. I felt so left out. Because of that, AND because they never replaced the family photo above the living room sofa after I was born, so I grew up with the ONLY family photo blown up huge in the house being that of my four siblings-and not me.

Poor stacey, right? I always teased my brother, who is just a year older than me, that the baby in the picture was indeed ME, and our parents did not love him enough to have him in it. How cruel is that? Really, that is how I felt. I thought my parents did not love me enough to have me in the photo. (Insert crying smile-circle-guy here). But that *could* have contributed to my going in the direction of family photography versus something else, like say fashion or even non-profit photograpahy. I doubt it, I really just am one of those over-the-top baby lovers so it makes sense that I do baby and family photography.

Anyways, I always asked my mom why I could not have yellow hair like the rest of the family. Her response was always “Oh honey, one day, you can have yellow hair, too, if you want.” And so, at age 16, I got me some yellow hair and it has been that way ever since:)

But, the wonders of family genetics-I DID end up having a sweet, white, curly haired little boy. Check out the photos on the blog I kept for Elijah when he was a baby/toddler. Was he not the cutest little boy ever? He contends with Ayden, that is for sure. But Ayden is just so sweet, I can not stand it!

The other baby I always dreamed of having was half Asian. Maybe for my second marriage, lol.

xoxo stacey

ps, taking off work now to go picnic with my babies at the park, such a beautiful, perfect picnic-day here in Boulder! Hope you are all enjoying it too. Please post to my da@* blog already,and tell me what YOU are doing today.  I see my stats, I KNOW you are reading this. Comment, pretty please?

pps, do any of my photographer friend followers know how to make the sky blue in photos like the family portrait at the bottom of the post? I would love a link to a photo shop tutorial or just an email…my clients and I would love you forever. I think the below portrait would have THAT much more impact if they sky were not blown, kwim?

Taken at my workshop for photographers on baby and child lifestyle product and commercial photography at the Scott Capenter Park In Boulder just off 30th and Arapahoe. Great location to take “urban” looking photos.

I *love* this company. I have been working with Urban Baby Bonnets for years-since they were just an itty bitty Etsy store. The other day, I walked down Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, and saw THREE babies wearing Urban Baby Bonnets. That is a sign they are about to become BIG. I know that some big stores are taking interest in them, and I really believe these lifestyle product photos are going to help them reach the next level with advertising, magazines, blog exposure, etc… I have a bunch more photos to share, but here are just a few. More to come. And I *do* want to do a post some of the awesome photos my photographer participants took. I am so proud of them, I feel like a mama bear.

Anyways, Urban Baby Bonnets are the best hats EVER. They protect your child perfectly from the sun, then you flip it back when indoors. And they are reversable. Worth every penny. We have a million of them, but that is a perk of being a baby product photographer:) This was the last shoot of the weekend, and I did NOT organize the baby models very well, so if you have a 6 -10 month old and you want them to be a super model, please contact me asap so I can get a few more photos for this wonderful mama.  I work mostly with mom-owned companies -in case you don’t follow my blog and haven’t heard me say that ten times in the last month. I guess I repeat myself all the time because you all don’t comment enough on my blog and it is hard to believe that you all follow it, so comment on my blog already! But when I meet you, you tell me all about my kids, and you recongize them in public, and you know me, even though I don’t yet know you.

So, today we had to buy a new car, because yes, I totalled my car a couple of weeks ago. We were all ok, just some whiplash-I need a massage-bad-so if anyone out there is a massage therapist and LOVES my photos and wants to trade for family photography, let me know asap. I just need to REST. Well, I have been having this problem where I can’t wake up to my alarm clock and am oversleeping, I guess kids are a natural, built in alarm clock. But I have been sleeping a lot. I gotta get well.

Anyways, we did buy a new car-our FOURTH Subaru Impreza-the 2012 gets 36 mpg, which is great for Adam as he drives around all day long (he works with autistic and develomental disabled children and adults).

We went to the Boulder store first, and they were RUDE and expensive. If you are going to buy a Subaru, take my advice and go to the Longmont location. They are courteous, give you a great price, and the treatment is outstanding. They washed our 2011 Impreza while we were waiting, and gave us a great loaner car until our new car arrives in a week or so.  And free oil changes forever.

I am still in shock that the Boulder Subaru guy walked away from me mid-sentence when we started to say we were going to shop around, and didn’t even shake my hand or say good-bye. He just walked away. Seriously? I would highly recommend the Longmont store. We worked with Todd, and he was fabulous-ask for him if you go.

So…I have been putting so much time and effort into really perfecting this workshop, and I am excited to take it around the country! I am building the workshop website right now and partnering with Portfolio Sitez, which I love (so easy to use and they have gorgeous templates and excellent customer service-you can tell I am all about good customer service??.

The workshops are one of those things that give me fire in my belly. In college, I volunteered for a group that provided water filtration systems for villages in Haiti (this was pre-earthquake). The leader of the group was a chaplain, and he was always talking about doing the things that “give you fire in your belly”. Like helping the people in Haiti.

So, even though that was 12 years ago (dating myself, yes-I am), I have tried to live by that motto, and it truly has lead me on incredible path. I do what I love for a living as a photographer because of him. I created Karma Baby, my own small label baby product company, because of what he said. And now I am pursuing teaching other photographers because I feel that passion in my belly.

I am still sick, I still have two kids (which is WAY harder than one, not double hard, more like 4x as hard, not to discourage my clients-I still want to photograph your next newborns, but realistically it is harder, just say’n), I still struggle with my husband (we are both naturally fiery creatures), and the day to day struggles don’t ever really go away. But there is this FIRE is my belly, and I am following it. And I feel great. Happy.

xoxo stacey

ps, sorry this post ended up being a critique on everything. I am in one of those moods. I need to sign up for Yelp and get my Yelp on.

Gorgeous family. Beautiful Boulder day. I was *supposed* to do Amanda’s maternity photos but the day of our session she went into labor with baby Quinn.

Ok, well I am so, so, so excited about my friend Jaime, moving here to Boulder from New York. She is just the most amazing, creative, beautiful photographer I know, and she will be living here. In Boulder. Where I get to see her every day. She is such a brilliant artist, that I wanted to share some of her work here on my blog.

What Jaime does is breathtaking. I asked her if I could purchase the photo below as a piece of art work for my home. As is. I did not realize that she does this thing where she puts YOUR child into the photo. It is called her Daydream Series.

I may have mentioned before, that one of my favorite artist/photographers is Gregory Colbert, and he does something similar. In 2002, while I was traveling around Europe, I saw his first exhibition (Ashes and Snow) in Venice. It was an incredible experience. They hung his photos from strings from the ceiling in this old (like hundreds of years old) artillery building. And it was dark, and cool, on a hot June day in Venice, and when I got half way through the exhibit there were just a bunch of people sitting on the concrete floor watching a screen with a movie playing of a beautiful man and woman swimming with whales. And when that part was done, I continued to walk through the old building looking at these images-and it was just awe-inspiring.

Even though I was back packing through Europe, and had no money, I bought a print anyways (my biggest expense on my trip). But by the time I got home it had been bent and ruined. I should have shipped it right away. I was so sad, but thought I could get another one down the line. Later I did purchase one of his books, teeny tiny, just to gaze at it, but the poster I loved so much is no longer available.

I must have an affinity for elephants, because Jaime has created so many beautiful photographs with different animals, and the one I wanted was the elephant. I will be commissioning Jaime to do one of these when she arrives in Boulder at the end of the summer. If you want to set something up with her ahead of time, you can call her at 516.769.3709 or email her at jaime.bley@gmail.com. She will be a huge success in the Boulder/Denver area.

She also does family photography. It has a totally different style than mine, and I can not wait to collaborate with her on projects and see what we can come up with. It would be interesting for us to shoot together and see what totally different kinds of photographs we create.

I will see you soon, jaime! Best wishes on your journey to Boulder.

xoxo stacey

Calling all Boulder Colorado baby models! I have such a great group of models already lined up for my April 28th and 29th lifestyle baby product photography workshop, but really, really, REALLY need some ethnically diverse babies and toddlers. Mostly babies though.

So, if you have a beautiful baby (they are all beautiful to me, I am not kidding, I am THAT woman in line at the supermarket who is obsessed with talking with and cooing and making silly faces at your baby and you give me weird looks but I keep doing it anyways), that is of a different ethnic background and you want him or her to have a ragingly successful career in baby modeling, please contact me.

The “payment” for modeling is the product your baby models (and we have some really great ones lined up), the digital negatives from not only ME, but 6 other truly fabulous photographers that are participating in the workshop, and then of course the fame and glory that goes along with your baby being in national magazines, ads, product packaging, etc…

I am ALWAYS so thrilled and proud when I see my Amelia on the cover of a magazine or in some random ad as I am flipping through Baby and Child Magazine. Or, when I am strolling through Real Baby on Pearl and spot her on the packaging for some product I shot for. I know I should not be proud, because I am the commercial photographer in charge and CHOSE her, rather than her earning it because she is the cutest thing EVER, but still, that feeling of pride wells up in me.

So, all I am saying is, that if that appeals to you too, please contact me at boulderbabyphotography@gmail.com

Here is a little write up I did last year on getting your child or baby into professional modeling. It is a short write up and is worth reading to see if your baby is right for modeling. Hey, they ARE all cute, but some just don’t love the camera, and take a little longer to warm up.

We also need hot moms and dads, any ethnic background. So if you consider yourself a hot mom or dad, and want to model and get a bunch of awesome free baby and kids products, please also email me. It’s ok if you are just not ethnically diverse. Am I being totally politically incorrect in this blog post? My husband always says I am. If I am someone email me right away to take this down! Please!

So, anyways, we lined up Marisa, the cute little girl in this video to model. She is half Puerto Rican and half Japanese. I just happened to go back to this video of her two years ago to show the owner of the product we are photographing her in how darn cute she is, and just fell in love with this video again. So I wanted to post it. I want more of my photography clients to do videos. If I run some kind of special with video included, would that appeal to you? “Like” me on Facebook and let me know. I will see if i can start a poll or something. Can you do polls on FB?

Isn’t this the cutest freaking video ever? And I love how the photographs are randomly in it, and you can see me at least once off to the side “in action” photographing her. Wish I could make the video bigger, but I don’t have the time right now to figure that out. I think if you click on it it is a link and you can see it bigger. Be sure to turn up your volume on your computer-the song is the BEST.

Ok, please contact me about the multicultural baby modeling and the hot mom and dad modeling in Boulder 4/28 and 4/29.

xoxo stacey

ps, here are some of the other photos that were not really in the video from that session, just to give you an idea of what a video/photography session with me produces. I can not believe this was OVER TWO years ago, time goes by SO quickly!

pps, I just have to be honest and say I was lazy and just copied the photos here from the blog post I did two years ago. So if it looks familiar, that is why.

Not gonna write a lot today-not feeling well. I’m ok, but just not up to talking about photos and photography and being sick and my family nitty gritty and all that. Amelia has been sick for days and then the stomach flu was in our house. But here are some beautiful portraits of the most beautiful family!

xoxo stacey

So this sweet boy I met through an organization that I volunteer for as a photographer, The Tiny Sparrow Foundation.  The foundation connects families who have children with serious medical issues with photographers that are willing to do free portrait sessions for them. I know, you have all heard me whining about being sick lately, but as someone who grew up in a house where all five of the kids had crohn’s, I know that medical bills add up and there is NO extra income for custom photography.

It makes me so happy to have a talent that I can share with other people. How fortunate am I that I can give a gift like this? I feel like the lucky one getting to meet you guys!

So, Noah has Cerebral Palsy. He is doing well, but can’t hold up his head and it is hard for his eyes to focus. He love Elmo. A lot. He has the most beautiful crystal clear eyes. And his favorite thing to do is swing, which is why I am posting this happy swinging photo with dad.

To read Noah’s mom’s blog, go to http://noahsmiracle.blogspot.com/. You can also donate by going here. I just donated myself. $1, $5, $25 , whatever! I know that at least 300-500 people read my blog every day, so even a dollar from each person would make a huge difference.

They have stem cells from Noah’s little brother, and need to save up enough money to get the medical treatment that he so desperately needs. The sooner they can do the procedure, the more likely it is that he will improve. So, if you can, a dollar or two? It could make the entire difference in Noah’s quality of life. Go here to donate.

Anyways, I am feeling much better! I think my new therapy is working. We shall see. I still am on predizone and a ton of other meds and that is really hard, especially in the mornings, but overall I am doing much better.

xoxo stacey

This is one of my sweetest families. If you have had an in-home proofing session with us then you have seen the beautiful album from when Mom was pregnant with Scott and Riley had just turned three years old. Then, 6 months ago I had the honor of doing baby “socks” newborn photos. I LOVED those newborn photos, I hope dad is over the fact that we put babylegs on his baby boy in his birthday suit.

Anyways, update on health. I felt awful yesterday-almost just went into the ER. But took mega doses of steriods and felt better this morning! Life is good! Get me on some new experimental drug and let’s go. I am ready to be healthy.

Can’t wait to photograph 21 month old Lincoln tonight! It is a beautiful day in Boulder and perfect for photos. Here are his newborn photos if you are curious, wasn’t he the sweetest? Look at that face! Those eyes! His expresssion! Can’t wait to see him again after all this time.

xoxo stacey