NEW BLOG IS LIVE!

Friends, please join me at my new blogsite!

www.stephbarber.com

See you there!

leaving the blogspot world

well friends, the time is nearly here, www.stephbarber.com is almost ready to go live. i cant believe its here! im so excited for my new and completely customized blog but at the same time, a little sad to be leaving the blogspot world. blogspot has been good to me, real good. since february of 2008 i've been logging in and creating posts in an effort to document life. ive made this place my home away from home... a place to share stories, memories, laughs, and to share in the joys of others through photos and designs. ive customized it more times than i can even remember and tried to create a space that truly represented who i was.

it is because of these reasons that i had a difficult time deciding to move on to bigger and better blogging, part of me questioned "does it really even exist?" blogspot has always just done the trick, its just what i know. but what if something was out there... blogging that would actually make my life easier, display my images better, and still offer really cool customizable settings. so now, 22,300 views later (say whaaaaaaa??), i've found the answers to these questions and im ready and excited to launch my new .com blogsite! im inviting, no BEGGING, for you to stay with me for the ride! the stories, projects, memories, photos, designs will all continue and hopefully even get better! i will just be at a new location.

i know a lot of you have followed me from the very beginning of this blog and i really cant say enough how truly truly grateful i am that you've kept coming back. im so excited for the new blog and everything that it will offer us! stay tuned and be ready for when the new site goes live and you can check it out for yourself!

in the mean time, i'd absolutely L-O-V-E it if you faithful readers would leave me one last blogspot comment?! i feel its only right.

alright, love to you all!

(ps, sorry if this seems like a way overdramatic post. i know its just a blog, but it really is more)

some happiness

gettin ready to send out jessica & steve's photos and just had to share these little pieces of happiness with you. seriously, i dont know how i miss this stuff when im blogging. i seem to just skip right over what end up being my favorite shots two weeks later.

i also wanted to give you fair warning that the blog is about to start blowin' up, two weddings in the next two weekends! im getting excited just thinking about it.

oh! and one more important thing... are you having a good day? sure hope so friends!

emilie & a pocket full of sunshine

one of my favorite photographers, stephanie fay, recently wrote a blog post on how to use the light while shooting. after reading her post, i decided to find a model and go out to practice some of the tips she gave. luckily emilie was around and willing to model for me! she will be assisting me at this weekends wedding so i asked if she'd start the job a little early and model for these shots. i really wanted to focus on back and front lighting with these shots and i ended up getting some of my favorite lighting shots ive ever taken! keep in mind im still practicing and trying not to be scared of light... its a tough thing to master and something i am far from doing, but relaxed and low key sessions like this help me take my time to figure it out : ) thanks to steph fay for such a thorough post on lighting!






and thanks to emilie for being so willing to help me out with this! our "session" basically consisted of chatting, laughing, trying to change clothes without random strangers seeing, and a HUUUGE oreganos meal afterwards. love it.

kristin & zack's wedding paper suite!

quite the little treat arrived in the mail today! over the past few months ive been working with kristin & zack to create their custom wedding invitations! kristin is a good friend of my sister in chicago so when she emailed me asking if id design their wedding invitations i was so beyond excited. kristin and zack came to me with some key ideas they had in mind and i was READY to make those ideas come to life. i really love teamwork. zack had drawn the incredible tree graphic you see on the main invitation as well as the "zk" symbol located on a few of the pieces, and it became my job to translate those images to computer and work with them to create the design pieces for the big day! kristin & zack are going with a teal and grey color scheme for their wedding and i must say i love the simple and clean look of it. i absolutely LOVED working with these two to create something totally customized, totally fresh, totally them. below are some shots of the 3 front and back design pieces we created: the main invitation, rsvp postcard, and general information card!

[fronts]

[backs]

here's that tree graphic up close... the heart inside the branches, yes you guys

postcard back, love the type setting on this one

postcard front, love the consistency we're getting with the repeat of the verse and "zk" symbol

and the general information card front and back, again love the typesetting of all the information

and are you wondering what the happy couple looks like? i thought so. do these wedding invitations not just completely fit them?? LOVE IT.

oh goodness i love this stuff, i really do.

like what you see? all of the above was printed by d&l press! im telling you, its an easy process, give me a call and lets make something!

mirror mirror invitation!

my grandma is retiring after 35 years with the same company! she has worked for a mirror & glass company so her retirement party in june will be decorated with all sorts of mirrors and glass. i was in charge of designing some invitations for the party and this is what i came up with, using purple (her favorite color) and silver (to represent the mirrors/glass)

once again, printed by the fabulous d&l press!!

yay grandma!

maternity session anyone?

two summers ago i did my first maternity session with the lovely and glowing amanda. its now been 2 years and i have yet to do another one! i'd like to think that ive learned more and gained more experience since that session 2 years ago and i would LOVE to revisit maternity portraits.

so... is anyone interested? $75 for a 1.5 hour session. just you, me, some cute outfits, and some great memories to show your little one some day!
email me at stephbdesign@aol.com if you or someone you know is interested! cant wait to hear from you : )