Amy Sandoval Photography Blog

Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk Portrait Photographer, Wedding Photographer: Newborn, Maternity, child, family and wedding coverage.

Monthly Archives: October 2008

Give the gift of a polar bear: The gift for someone who has everything!

Tuesday, October 28, 2008 Posted in Blog and Web Goodies, Personal Notes

My mom is known for Christmas shopping year round. I wish I had her organization skills. Even as I type this, she has gifts wrapped beautifully and tucked away in anticipation of Christmas. I feel good about things if I get going in September, but realistically I really start looking in October.

One idea I’ve embraced as part of our attempt at economizing and adding meaning to Christmas this year - is a donation in someone’s honor. I wanted to support an organization that would be universally appreciated, relevant to today’s issues and one that offered some nice material to go along with the donation.

I decided on adopting animals from the World Wildlife Federation. The WWF is the largest multinational conservation organization in the world, and has been around long before the environment was a buzzword – for 45 years. As part of the adoption options, you have your choice of 90 animals to choose from – and a range of adoption kits and prices.

I chose to adopt Polar Bears for my donation/gift. For family members with children, I also ordered (separately) the Polar Bear Webkinz to go with the adoption packages. The WWF offers stuffed animals with their $50 package, but of course with Webkinz being all the range, I decided to go that route. The adoption kids all come with an adoption certificate and a photo – the higher level packages come with additional goodies.

Another idea would be to adopt an animal and get a great children’s book that covers that animal as well. There are sorts of fun ways to make this more than just another gift that gets donated the following year to make room for more. And there are tons of worthwhile missions out there who also offer packages for gifts given in honor of an individual or family.

I’m also looking for other ways you’re making the holidays unique this year. Do you have a family tradition? Are you planning on downsizing creatively? If so, leave a comment with your ideas!

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» Amy Sandoval Photography Blog » Give the gift of a polar bear: The … »Digital PhotographyOctober 28, 2008 - 7:17 pm

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Amy Sandoval Photography: The “Shake It” Maternity Session

Sunday, October 26, 2008 Posted in Uncategorized

I knew the moment I spoke with Brent and Denise on the phone that their maternity session was going to be fun. Sure enough, this maternity session in Suffolk was an absolute blast. We took the maternity portion of the session photos while their blue-eyed cutie son was finishing his nap. Mom and dad were a trip, sharing love taps and laughing heartily together throughout the entire session.

Later, their so woke up in the best mood I’ve ever seen on a 2-year-old post-nap! He joined right in on the fun. The pre-family photo warm-up? A dance session to Metro Station’s “Shake It,” of course! You’ll notice below that I included two versions of the same photo of him (look at those eyes, that smile!) – sometimes I just can’t decide which I prefer and I post both. Whenever I create two different versions of a photo, clients receive both so the choice is in their hands.

We then headed to a neighborhood park – we actually had a choice of several, which was so nice – and I got some photos of the three of them in action. Check out the one of them going down the slide together as a family!

Denise and Brent – here is your sneak peek. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed taking them!

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~ f o x ^^ .October 27, 2008 - 1:46 pm

That’s our Godson!
Handsome fella!

Great eye and technique, Amy!

- The Fox’s

» Amy Sandoval Photography: The “Shake It” Maternity Session »Digital PhotographyOctober 26, 2008 - 10:02 pm

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Amy Sandoval Photography: The “Shake It” bMaternity/b Session | Motherhood MaternityOctober 27, 2008 - 1:22 am

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» Amy Sandoval Photography Blog » Amy Sandoval Photography: The … »Digital PhotographyOctober 29, 2008 - 10:14 am

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Quick Decorating Note: Fake the Pottery Barn Beachy Look For Less!

Friday, October 24, 2008 Posted in Uncategorized

A copule of weeks ago I mentioned a great source for all things paper. I also talked about ordering a beautiful calendar full of vintage bird prints to frame them on the wall. Well…I did a little more searching and found a shell-themed 2008 calendar by the same company as the bird-print calendar – the company is Cavallini & Co. and I found the calendar at www.calendars.com .

I framed six of the shell prints with off-the-shelf mats and frames from A.C. Moore and saved lots of dough. I really like the final result – hanging in the dining room. Here are a couple of photos (taken the day of Olivia’s Halloween-themed birthday party!). This was an easy way to get the Pottery Barn beach look (or Ballards or any number of other places) look – without shelling out the big bucks!

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» Quick Decorating Note: Fake the Pottery Barn Beachy Look For Less! »Digital PhotographyOctober 24, 2008 - 10:00 pm

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Pre-Thanksgiving Activity for Kids: The Grateful Chain

Thursday, October 23, 2008 Posted in Decorating, Personal Notes, Web Goodies

Here’s an idea that you can start now and do through Thanksgiving!

Sometimes I get a little overwhelmed when I sit down the read my monthly copy of Family Fun magazine. I am not the mom who can whip out a craft project on demand or make a creative Halloween costume.

But the magazine has some great ideas this month for Thanksgiving. I know a lot of parents, like myself, are struggling with how to exemplify the spirit of gratefulness. I love the idea of creating a list of things we’re grateful for and then using that to decorate later. Family Fun magazine mentions cutting out strips of construction paper and writing a grateful note on it each day. On Thanksgiving Day you read all of the items and use the strips to create a paper chain to then decorate your Christmas tree.

Another option is to write something each day on these “I am thankful for” leaves (PDF file) and then create a link of leaves by stapling them together. Or, if you want to get a little fancier, punch a hole in each leaf and string it on some yarn. I think we’re going to try that this year, so we’ll have a nice chain of leaves to put together and hang on Thanksgiving Day.

There are also a lot of Thanksgiving printables that will make what may seem like the longest dinner ever – go a lot faster for younger children. I’m looking forward to coloring the pages with Olivia!

Note: I’ve added updated photos of our Grateful Chain – we went with the printable leaves and decorated our mantle with them.

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» Pre-Thanksgiving Activity for Kids: The Grateful Chain »Digital PhotographyOctober 23, 2008 - 7:40 pm

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Amy Sandoval Photography Newborn Session: The Online Experience!

Thursday, October 23, 2008 Posted in Baby, Child, Family, Newborn

I met Shanee online over 6 years ago on a mailing list for women who were pregnant and due around the same time. The list was made up of moms all over the US and the world. We happened to live only a few minutes from one another. Fast forward to today – we still run in similar online circles and bumped into one another online again last year. So what an honor it was when she asked me to do a newborn session with her second daughter, born just two weeks ago. Meeting people in person that you’ve known online is such a thrill - you’ve seen photos, feel like you know them so well but haven’t met face to face!

I love newborn sessions – I hate to play favorites, but they might just be my favorite thing to photograph. There’s a quiet thrill in the unpredictability. It’s all about the newborn. Will they sleep? Will they stay awake? Will they be content? You never know! This sweet baby girl was awake for nearly all of our session, but was surprisingly cooperative most of the time. (Don’t let the second photo fool you – she was asleep for about….one minute….when I got that one!) We found a beautiful wooded spot just next to their home and captured wonderful photos of her with mom and dad and with their 6-year-old daughter. And while I’m gushing, check out the photos of their 6-year-old beauty - you can’t resist her bright eyes and fabulous smile!

So… to Shanee and family – thank you for the pleasure of meeting you in person and photographing this memory for you! Here is your sneak peek - enjoy! (I will try to post a few more peeks of the new addition here as I am working on them, too. I have lots more of her to finish but wanted you to see some of the family shots here as well!)