Going to the Chapel...for family Pics!

Bethesda by the Sea may have been a damp place for pictures on this particular outing but it was completely worth it (and between you and me, I think the green of the grass glistened more after having been fresh-flushed with rain!).  This family was the best!  So playful, loving and smiley!  Trying to limit myself to which images to share was difficult but I've broken it down to "sharing compartmentalization" and it seems to have helped:

Moments = (P)ink Locale BLOG

Quick Share = WP inks Facebook Page

Overall Best Quality =  WP inks Website

So the WP inks website is in need of a "facelift" and it is in the works!  Two thousand eleven is right around the corner and, hey, revitalization and fresh-starts are what a New Year is all about, right?  After a year of testing, shuffling and ironing the kinks (since I'm human and ever-learning, let's assume this will always be happening!) it will be exciting to begin Year Two of WP inks existence.  Cheers and enjoy reveling in the moments that I was honored to experience first-hand with The Inza Family!

I call this the "Listen to what Erica says..." moment.

The littlest one looking back at me...

That's love, folks!

Beach Boys!

This is the most bloggable moment in my eyes!  While maintaining a textural appeal, the shells almost look like fallen petals laid across the sand.  And the thrill of running screams of delight in the faces of these two brothers.  If every photo shoot could exude such fun energy then it would make for the WP inks ideal!  Could this be why WP inks is inspired by photographs of both Children and Engaged Couples?  I think this maybe so...

Capturing Life!

...More to come on WP inks first Wedding Shoot!...

But in the meantime, I'm still photographing life for a living (and loving it!)...

Children's Tumor Foundation Walk

What a beautiful morning for a walk!  And any morning that is devoted to helping others makes for it's own kind of beauty.  Combine the two and you have a great start to your day, much like today!  Fortunately the chilly 50 degree weather didn't stop anyone from bundling up and joining to support the Children's Tumor Network.  It was great to see the Jupiter High School teens gathering to create different activity stations for the children, New Path Chiropractic set up with a prominent adjusting tent, the clowns bouncily making an entrance after much horn-tooting and to have a local deejay from Wild 95.5 megaphone everyone together for a panoramic picture (stay tuned for that as there were so many people in attendance it will need to be patched together to get everyone in!).  Thank goodness my shutter was up to speed for all of the families buzzing about.  Below are just a few images from today, the album can be viewed  via the "Buy Prints" link on www.WPinks.com.  Enjoy!

p.s.- Yes, my favorite pic happens to be of a balloon.  I know...

Boo! Happy Halloween!

While I'm sure that most people might find themselves drawn to the "'Lil Pumpkin" images above, I must say that my favorite are the private moments like these.  Between outfits, Daddy cuddled with Baby .  Nothing beats a grown-up thumb-sized hand curling around a finger.  Love at it's best!  

...More to come soon since playing hooky across the pond in England for awhile!..

Love is in the Air!

What a cute couple- full of energy, smiles, throw-your-head-back laughter and oh-so-fresh in their white coordinates!  All of the elements were just right for an Engagement Shoot at the beach.  So the little story for this couple's photo session stems back further than just that day:

Intro text on September 1st from the Bride:  "I just got back from Rome and Piotr and I got engaged!!"

Talks begin and a September 19th Photo session is planned.  The bride cannot wait...

Thursday, September 17 text to Bride:  "Yay!  If the sunrise and sky is anything like today on Sunday then we'll have some fab backdrops for your photographs!!"

Thursday's response:  "Yay I hope so!"

 Good communication with the bride, moralle is high...

Saturday, 8:00p.m.- Socializing at our HS Reunion with my husband whilst I don't know:

Husband says, "Congratulations!  I hear Erica is taking your pictures."

Bride says, "Yes, Sunday morning."

Husband says, "Yes, early.  Very early time, huh?"

Bride responds, "Well, Erica told us that was the best time of day..."

Husband informs, "Well, Erica is not much of a morning person! (insert rum-and-coke laughter!)"

Brides face...well, I can only imagine her face.  Actually, I lay awake until 4a.m. that night contemplating how to rebuild said bride's presumed wavering confidence.

Sunday, 7:00a.m.: alarm goes off, it's time to do jumping jacks to revive my spirits and shake up the juices (well, I did mental jumping jacks, if you will, but the thought was there!).

Sunday, 7:32a.m. text to Bride: "Morning!  See you in a few- get excited!!  It's beautiful out!!!"

Response from Bride is a "Yay!" so confidence is restored.  Whew!!

So all previous worries were quickly pushed to the wayside when the couple arrived, the camera came out and the joke about how early in just happened to be was stated.  Thank goodness for all of the giggles along the way from kissing in front of a camera, running-start leaps into arms and the ocean washing away our pretty sand declaration of coupledom moments after completion!  It was such a marvelous experience and I'm proud to say that the pictures prove it.  Here's to a happy life together that's forever as playful as today's images (Congratulations Genevieve & Piotr!!)!

 

And if I may add, for those of you wondering about the status of my husband, he is fantastic and made strides toward betterment in my eyes by empathizing with the Gator graphics on their form of payment today.  I believe his words were, "well I hope she was charged more for that...".  All words of camaraderie aside, I love him to pieces and am beyond thankful to have experienced my giggly engagement moments with him.  Cheers!  ...and Go 'Noles!

Calligraphy 101: How to Avoid Mishaps

Mistakes happen.  You live and you learn.  What doesn't kill us makes us stronger.  Every artist was first an amateur.  Thank goodness for these quotes and the last one, a Fortune Cookie unfolded.  I've found that not only with the progress of WP inks but also in other aspects of my life that keeping perspective and being taken back a step once in awhile is important for growth.  So, with a recent manageable blunder in mind, I've decided on sharing a few pointers with those of you who choose to take on a task of writing out pretty letters and seeing through to the end-user in proper etiquette fashion:

1.  Start at the end of your client's Address List and work your way to the top.  I find that the nerves are a little bit calmer as the last of the list is less daunting than the newness of the first page.  Perhaps this theory stems from daunting marker-drafting projects in Interior Design school?  Being able to erase pencil is one thing, starting a complex multi-day requiring floor plan that builds off of each pen stroke and must be restarted from scratch with one slip of the pen definitely causes one to analyze the approach!

2.  Know how to spell out your numbers before you begin with One hundred... and continue with ninety-ninth.  It's embarrassing when your client ends up being a former English teacher and advises you that a letter "e" isn't used in the spelling of 9th (Thank you to those of you who don't live on a numbered street, it has helped me to save face!).  

3.  Ask your client if their Invitations include the use of Ribbon.  While ribbon is positively gorgeous, it's an embellishment that takes time.  We all know that "time is money".  So when you're hired to inscribe, assemble and stuff it helps to know if you'll be looping the bunny ears around the tree (or however the shoe-tying rhyme goes).  Not to mention snipping frayed edges and plumping a good bow afterwards.  

4.  Be mindful of the spacial needs of your letters.  As an architect once told me during my Florida State drafting class, "Spacing is everything".  Much like a drawing, the layout affects how the eye perceives the balance, and therefore beauty, of the writing.

5.  Keep it consistent.  Once you curve the bottom of your "H's", curve all of them throughout the job. 

6.  Know how to saturate your paper.  It's taken me time to get used to the different paper weights and texture.  This totally affects which writing utensil I use for the task. 

7.  Label your Client's List.  This is was sparked the "Calligraphy How To".  It's one thing if you know that you're practicing the list before you begin to put ink on the real envelope.  It's another thing altogether when you don't realize that you're writing the wrong names on the wrong paper.  Two unlabeled lists can do that to you.  Here's to having multiple jobs...now they just need to be kept in-check! 

Wishing all of you just enough hiccups in your everyday life to be able to work past them and have much better overall experience in and with life because of it! 

  

Florida State Colors, Cleaning Cat and a Christening

Folks, football season is upon us and I AM GIDDY!  Just a couple more weeks and college football will  be kicking off (pun intended!).  The anxiety had a chance to subside and re-focus when the head of the South Florida Seminoles Booster's Birthday Party invitations needed addressing.  Boy, oh boy, creating alphabetic swizzles over my Garnet & Gold print-job creation made for some fun!  I always put forth my best handwriting-technique but playing a segment on the great Bobby Bowden in the background prompted a particularly personable pen.  Can't wait for football season and can't help but cheer, "Go Seminoles!" (and Happy Birthday Paul)! 

Between a weekend photography session with a three month old and the aforementioned calligraphy project, I found our cat sneaking about the house.  A laundry helper?  Perhaps.  But let's not be so quick to give Riley the benefit of the doubt.  He's been known to scout new sleeping nooks...

Last week a preview of a photography session with a bitty baby and a pretty family was posted.  Upon further review, I wanted to share some of my favorite moments that were captured while the faces were fresh and the sky wasn't quite ready to release rain.  It was extra special as these images were directed with the influence of her Christening for this weekend.  So with a Grandma, Godmother, and parents all around, the process was smooth and you can't ask for anything more than that!  Please enjoy:

                     

  

Baby Blogging

Feeling Blue? I hope it's Prussian!

When a bride comes in knowing every detail dream wedding invitations, then it's just natural for her Calligraphy expectations to be just as exact and coordinated with the blue of her Starfish motif.  Once Prussian Blue won the debate of which hue was going to be the  chosen one, the next task at hand was for WP inks to start out on a quest for an existing ink to match.  After many-a-search it was found that Martha Stewart's Archival Quality Indigo Pigment Ink worked the best.  Once the bridal approval was made, the marker strokes began mimicking the casual typestyle.  If the perfect outcome from this project is any indicator of what this couple's Jupiter Beach Resort festivities will be like then, flawless  and pretty it is (Congratulations Rebecca!)!       

Well, it is quite Green on this side...!

Ah, a batch of wedding invitations for what's sure to be a lovely Wedding on Singer Island (Congratulations Nick & Jessica!) were written out with ease!  They say that the "Grass isn't always greener on the other side" and in this case I think that that just isn't so.  When a couple is planning their wedding then the marriage that's "on the other side of it" is certainly like a patch of plentiful green grass that is just begging to be skipped through and played on continuously!

The Doctor is In!

Dr. Steve Muscari is working on getting his practice, New Path Chiropractic, on-her-feet in Jupiter.  So when he needed Professional images of both he and his on-staff Massage Therapist for marketing materials, WP inks was ready for the job!  While the New Path office is located within an impressive marble-bound doctoral suite, the sun seemed to seep in from the outside in such a cheery environment staffed with friendly faces.  This made my task all the more easy for staging their head shots and place of work.  Congratulations Dr. Steve- best wishes are being sent your way!  You too can view some of the images from this photo session being used on     www.newpathhealth.com

Good morning

Surfer's Paradise

Points of Inspiration- i.e.:  that which forms an "inspired life"...

...these make me smile.  A surfer's paradise is almost guarantee-ably not Juno Beach, Florida for most.  This entry isn't about the beliefs of those seeking big surf or consistent rideable waves.  My mantra on surf bliss is not as "Whoa!" as the lovable sea turtles in Finding Nemo nor is it as harsh as the fight-inducing Bodhi in Point Break.  My solace is the ocean and the powerful feel of sometimes floating o'er top calmness and other times being thrashed around in the swirl.  Being "Marmaduked" by the board being swung away with a set may be hilarious for the shore dwellers, but for me it's perfect fun.  There's nothing quite like being pushed around by nature just enough to know that she's apart of a picture much bigger than you or I.  This week I had the pleasure, and I mean pleasure, of feeling as if there wasn't a concern (except maybe for sharks) in the world  besides my husband, my longboard and the thrill of the wind-chop waves!  Even if only a small window of time was devoted to carefree ocean romping, it made my day.  

Naturally, the weekend ended and the work week began.  While there are zero professional complaints on my end, a focused day, in its own right, is a deterrent from playfulness.  That having been noted, my husband came home with most-wonderful news this evening!  The story line went like this:

Me:  "I love you!  Are you ready to eat ravioli?"

Husband:  "I love you too!  Yes, I'm starving!"

Me:  "Great!  Why are you red?  Are you sunburned?"

Husband:  "Uh, I dunno.  But I did go to the beach...

And the man and wife conversation ended with me booming: "Cool!  I can't believe that your client took you surfing!!"

While I didn't experience being coaxed into the good Melbourne surf at the end of a 9 to 5 day by a cohort, I'm nothing less than giddy about such a perfect concept and good tidings all around.  This hype for me was a Point of Inspiration.  I vow to always look forward to this kind of a Monday.

Cocos Palm Logo!

Here it is!  After one one fine tennis match and many French Class doodles this is your local West Palm Beach Calligraphy and Photography company logo!  While the color swapping and rearranging my still ensue, this image equaled contentment at the end of the night.  It would be great to hear your opinion or suggestions so please feel free to leave a comment on this post or on the WP inks Facebook Page.  Until then, have a wonderful week!

Babies & Storks

Storks are infamously associated with the arrival of babies and this week's Baby Shower Invitations were no exception.  Each card donned a pastel safety pin adding greatly to the cuteness!  So it was the job of this West Palm Beach Calligrapher to top off this sweetness with color-coordinating ink strokes, stick the King and Queen of Hearts Stamps in the top corner and send these Ohio bound invitations on their way!  

Another's Thoughts

George Washington's Bookplate (beautiful!), courtesy of Thornwillow Press

My inspiration for the week until I have the latest Calligraphy images ready to post:

"Most of our thoughts and concerns, our passions and our beliefs, our understandings and our misunderstandings die with us. Like a read email, they get deleted. Yet some ideas survive. They evolve. And they continue to inspire those who have capacity for dreams and inspiration. Some ideas can survive us and inspire the yet unborn. "

-As written by Luke Ives Pontifell for Thornwillow Press

Seeds of Love

June in Florida is a known bridal month.  That being said, calligraphic wedding work is well under way!  Thanks to Katie and her mother for the opportunity to configure table cards for a new and different product.  It was important to this family that the paper products be environmentally friendly in whatever way possible.  So the decision was made to retrofit plantable heart-shaped cards with wax paper envelopes into table cards for her wedding reception.  The slick wax surface demanded acute attention be paid to the envelopes until they were dry and the randomly placed wild flower seed-filled paper made for bumpy pen strokes.  All that being said, the cards turned out looking quite beautiful!  Saturday's festivities will be here soon, here's to a great day being had in Colorado!

Beauties & Blushing Brides

When a beautiful Mother and Daughter show up in coordinating pink sundresses and the sun is shining eagerly it's a sure thing for a photographer's day in picture-taking moments.  Add a blushing bride-to-be in the mix one day, plus a career girl on her way up in life and a wonderful family the next and the weekend of work couldn't have been more full of photographic excitement!  Sure, there were rain clouds and morning dew that scattered their presence throughout the past few days, but isn't part of life being able to find the "goodness" and appreciate it while it's there?  Please enjoy some of the loveliness: