A Preview of Coming Posts... Eugene Oregon Photographers

I've been hunkered down, devoting oodles of hours to getting into a new routine, since we're tackling our first year of home schooling with a full curriculum. Thankfully, we're LOVING it!!! I'll be sharing lots more from each of these sessions as the newness of our routine eases up, but thought I'd share a little preview of coming events in the meantime.

There will be more of Kendra's 6-years-old pics, as promised/warned. ;0)

There will also be some pics of my family, thanks to my incredibly talented sis-in-law, who is the genius behind Fourthlight Photography in Coos Bay:













I've also been working on helping my hubby with some updated images for our church's website. Corey is naturally gifted in graphic design, and just launched a new version of the ESBC site. Some of the links and images are still old, though, so we're systematically going through and spiffing it all up. Here are just two of my favorite images from a recent mini-session with the staff... My handsome hubby:


(He's using this one as his new blog header. I really, really love it!)

And I just love this one of Phil, our Discipleship Director. This comfortable, laughing smile is so him:


Here's one of the whole crew:


I also had the opportunity to squeeze in a few minutes with Dan (our Youth/Creative Arts Director) and Liz. She's working on a scrapbook page of sorts for the preschool where she teaches, and needed a couple snaps. I can never get enough of shooting couples, even if only for a few minutes!


To book a wedding or high school senior girl session, e-mail me at jamie.zanotti@gmail.com

ESBC VBS 2010 ... Eugene Oregon Photographer

My girl looooves hats, so she was elated to learn this year's Vacation Bible School theme was "Saddle Ridge Ranch", complete with cowboy hats for all the kids to wear... ;0) I love roaming throughout our church, catching all the kids in their element:


We have so many talented and hard-working kids' ministry volunteers at East Side! It's pure fun to "see" the results of their effort and compassion through my lens.

To book a wedding or session, e-mail me at jamie.zanotti@gmail.com

Giving Back: Lane Pregnancy Support Center

I have had the divine privilege of working and volunteering for the Lane Pregnancy Support Center (LPSC) since 2000. The annual fundraising banquet was this Thursday, and I was honored to donate a JAZ Photography Package this year. If you'd like to learn more about LPSC, click here!

Giving Back: VBS

Another summer project I had (but hadn't gotten around to blogging yet) was covering our church's Vacation Bible School again. SO fun! It was the "Boomerang Express" this year, and my daughter is still singing the songs...

(There are more VBS pics on my hubby's blog, if you want to check them out!)

Giving Back: Candlelighters' Family Camp

I had the great privilege of doing family portraits for Candlelighters' Family Camp again this year, alongside Kim. It was especially fun this time, getting to catch up with many of the families we met last year. It was raining, so we set up under the Craft Shack, and it became a bit of a hang-out. I so enjoyed my day of gabbing it up with Kim and all the other fun Candlelighters' Families and Staff that came and went through our makeshift "studio".

Candlelighters is an amazing organization that serves families of children with cancer. Having worked and volunteered for a non-profit myself, for the better part of the last decade, I am super impressed with their stellar planning and coordination. And the camaraderie among the volunteers is a beautiful thing. How could it not be, when the Volunteer Coordinator just oozes kindness? Jenny Lambert (pictured above with her husband and son) is the Family Events & Volunteer Coordinator, and is based in Portland. If you'd like information on volunteering for Candlelighters, contact Jenny at candlelightersvolunteers@gmail.com.

Giving Back: Easter Portraits

I always love it when other photographers share tips and tricks, so I plan to do the same from time to time here on the JAZ Photography Blog. Not at ALL that I think I have it all figured out! But from the land of "what I think I know", I'll try to share some information and inspiration now and then. ;0)

Volunteering is important to me, and there's a silver lining with doing volunteer photography work: you get all kinds of experience! I've done things like family portraits for Candlelighters' Family Camp, event coverage for Lane Pregnancy Support Center and Wild Ones Youth Ranch, and all kinds of projects at church (from VBS coverage to staff pics for the web site to brochure pics...). Today I thought I'd share an idea that some of you, my fellow photography obsessed people, might want to try...

Easter Portraits! I teamed up with another photographer at church, and we gathered a crew to do Easter Portraits for guests at our church on Easter. We thought, "Hey, everyone's already all dressed up, so the timing would be perfect!" We took over the conference room and turned it into a "studio" for the day. No special lighting or anything, other than wax paper taped over the overhead fluorescent lights. ;0) We just borrowed furniture and decor from here and there--the Parent's Sitting Room at church, some people in the church, etc., and created a neutral living room-esque background so everyone's beautiful Easter outfits could take center stage!

If you're a photography enthusiast looking for some experience, and especially if you're interested in portraiture, you could try this out in your own church. Depending on your skill level, you may want to team up with another photographer. Maybe you could do portraits for Mother's Day, or Father's Day, or Christmas! Our church printed an 8X10 as a gift for all of our guests. My biggest piece of advice if you decide to try this out: Do a trial run!

Stay tuned for lots more ideas on giving back while simultaneously getting experience, and also for some "how to" posts and such, like how to use a reflector, how to elicit that perfect smile from ten kids under five at the same time, etc. ;0)