Archive for 'personal'
I just got back from Orlando, Florida to attend Images for a Cure Workshop (IFAC) . It was a great couple days learning and listening to how I can be a better photographer! As if my arm had to be twisted to leave the colder days of New Jersey to head to the sunshine state, I was honored that I received sponsorship from one of my favorite east coast photographers, Kristen Weaver! As soon as I found out that I was picked, I was determined to book my ticket right away!!! IFAC is an Orlando based charity that has raised over $28,000 to benefit The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. It was awesome to finally meet the creators behind this great charity! To find out more about how you can help through Images for a Cure, check out more here or contact me at itsjustchristina@gmail.com !
Check out photos from the candy bar set up at the workshop! Yum! I think I have ten more pounds to lose from the workshop alone! I also loved the decor at The Mezz, which is in downtown Orlando and it’s an awesome location to have a conference! I highly recommend the workshop for all levels of photography! I walked away with new friends and a great new appreciation for those in the industry helping others to succeed!
(Image Courtesy of Images for a Cure)
Left to Right: Innovative Memories Wendy Dixon, Laken E-Photography, Britanie Wagner Photography, Christina Watkins Photography
Christina Watkins Photography Wins Two Bright Lights Editors’ Choice Awards!!!!!!
As a testament to my outstanding clients, and my commitment to producing the best-of-the-best portrait & wedding photography photos, I am thrilled to announce that I have been selected as a winner of the 2012 Two Bright Lights Editors’ Choice Awards!
The award is given in recognition of the those whose number of published features in 2011 placed them among the top 5% of TBL members . Winners were published across many of the most respected lifestyle, wedding and other print and digital publications in the United States and worldwide.
I am honored to be part of this group of talented photographers and creative professionals. My features this past year have enabled me to increase exposure for my work, and I am thrilled to have been recognized for my endeavors.
In 2011, I had the privilege of being published in the following publications:
Thanks to all of the other creative professionals who made these features possible!
To see more of my work, or to get in touch about my services, please visit www.christina-watkins.com or www.christinawatkinsphotography.com
When I first moved here, I saw this photo making it’s way around all the photography forums and social media sites that I am on endlessly. I instantly looked up who actually made this cake and was determined to have this very same cake made for me before I leave here. I mean, it hasn’t happened yet, but there’s still time if anybody wants to send it to me…The cake was made by Granny Schmidt’s bakery in Emmaus, Pennsylvania ! That’s not too far from me! Unless someone is REALLY good at cakes, you could make it and I could taste it! 
It just so happens that I am a Nikon shooter ANNNND this is the same camera that I use !
and if you are feeling less of a challenge….you could always use these awesome cookie cutters !
Happy Tuesday!
We got our first snow!!! I was going to take pictures of it but then it melted before my battery charged up all the way. Yeah, that was like a dusting compared to last year! This is my daughter all snuggled up in her winter gear. The sweater was made by her great grandma who I’m about to take knitting lessons from and I can assure you that my goals are not that high! LOL. I am just happy with a little square to go around my cofffee mug. Yes, I’m an overachiever. No. Not really. And can we just talk about the size of these amazing marshmellows? They are vanilla marshmellows from Williams Sonoma. YUMMMMMMMMM!
Well it’s safe to say, things around here have been all too quiet. However, I’ve been busy, I promise! This winter weather is perfect because I am forced to sit inside and get things done that I probably wouldn’t normally do (like organize my kitchen pantry which I am goobed out about more than a normal person should be) . I am now learning that 80% of having a photography business is sitting behind a computer working on the business side. When I first started, I remember sitting behind a computer for hours just trying to edit photos. Once I started to master my camera more there was a lot less editing and overtime editing was the least of my worries. I still manage to be a mom and multitask my days away. I finally set a schedule so I don’t intertwine the two and that took a longgggg time to do. However, I will say that having both kiddos in school really put that push into a reality. Sooooo much easier now. Anyway, I’m one of those who likes to keep moving and unfortunately so does my brain. So I have been taking this time to brainstorm new ideas and I’m excited to share them! I’m not going to stop taking pictures but i realized that this year I want to have more fun and see where I can go with this! I’ve always been creative and I WAASSS nominated Most School Spirited in high school (even though I lost to my sweet friend Kendra, who I never stood a chance against) so when I get excited about things, I kind of get all cheerleader like and say READY, OKAY. So while the snow might continue falling up here in New Jersey…I will keep on working! These next few months I’ll be working on getting a new look for this blog (bare with the changes) creating a new blog and playing with my glue gun. I have a lot of shoots coming up so be prepared to check out the cutest little ones coming to CWP.
Today I posted that we were getting ready for Christmas in our house on Facebook (click + LIKE). I was trying to get everybody in the spirit and Josh was fighting with the icicle lights. You know, the typical situation where you pull the lights out of the box , plug them in, and only half of them are working. We were hoping to decorate the outside of the house first but that’s been put aside until next weekend now. So we worked on the inside & pulled out our advent calendarSSSS instead. Every year we get an advent from someone in the family so we have about 4 now but we love them so, it’s cool. My daughter was running around the house with her first Santa hat and it was so small that I decided to put it on one of our dogs. I quickly grabbed my camera and she was pretty good about having the hat on. She wasn’t happy but she knew the drill. If my camera is coming out in this house, I mean serious business. Okay, not really. She’s just old and lazy. But I took the shots, put the camera away, did the standard car shuttle run to & from school, errands, and made a delicious recipe for dinner that I got off of the amazing Pioneer Woman. After dinner, I got back to my camera, transferred the photos, and realized I had two copies of the same photo. When shooting my DSLR, I always shoot in RAW. People always have different opinions about whether or not it’s beneficial but I just do what works for me. Like I’ve said before, I’m self taught. I don’t really follow the rules because I never really knew them! 
Anyway, when I loaded the pictures and had two copies, I realized my settings had changed somehow to RAW + JPEG. You can see the difference in these two photos. Both of these images are straight out of camera (SOOC), for reals.
I personally think the first photo has too much yellow in it but as you can tell it’s a lot sharper than the RAW file on the right. Shooting RAW gives me better control on how the photo can be edited so if you don’t edit, you probably don’t want the ridiculously large photos & you definitely don’t need to shoot both JPG+RAW. One of the reasons I love shooting in Raw mode is because it allows me to batch process my images and ensures that I have consistent images that are ALL consistent in color and I can quickly edit them in the preset first.
Putting photos out there Straight out of Camera to a photographer is like Oprah coming out with no make-up. Seriously. I’m opening up a whole new world of criticism. I’m definitely not ready to start a series of “How to” but I thought this might help even one person starting out see the difference. Even if you’re not a photographer and you just like looking at my pictures, you might find this interesting. I guess if SOMEONE is reading this than I guess it was worth my time! So below is my final edit. I honestly didn’t do a whole lot to this Raw image. I lightened it up, played with the contrast, and sharpened the image! Voila!!!! OH and I almost forgot, I removed that skin tag on my dogs eye and some spots around her snout. This edit took about 2 minutes and because I’m pretty critical of my own work…I would probably go back and fix the overexposed white in the hat. It’s so white that you can’t see the texture! Gosh darn it, now that’s going to bug me!
That’s it for now! Thanks for visiting!!!! Feedback is always welcome! Happy Monday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sometimes in between entertaining kids and letting the dogs out, my brain starts to talk to me. I take advantage of those rare moments of down time and start asking myself where I’m going with these ideas that just kind of surface amongst the chaos of shuttling the kids to school, running errands, dinner, and laundry. I’m pretty sure I’m not alone in this and so I thought I’d share where my brain took me today! There has been many times where I just wanted to put my camera down. When I say down, I mean, down in it’s original box and shipped off to a new owner. YES, it happens and more often than one would think. When I was just starting out, I took pictures of my kids and others for practically nothing. I never imagined that I would be photographing weddings, families, or commercial stuff. As I get more invested into photography, I realize how much work is involved and if I am going to do this, I need a plan. For so many years, I didn’t have one. I still don’t have a concrete plan but I do have goals. With my husband in the Air Force, I know our lives will always change so concrete plans don’t exist in our world. My military friends can relate. If I can create small goals for myself, I do believe that all good things accomplished will lead to better things. Right?
So many people have asked me how to get started in photography and the truth is…I feel like I’m just beginning. I can’t bring myself to teach workshops or mentor someone when I am still looking for answers too. I don’t know when I’ll feel confident enough to actually bring myself to that point but I hope when that day comes, I will remember writing this post. I quickly learned that having great friends and support from others who share this same passion with me is HUGE. I use to feel like I had to compete not only with myself but with other photographers around me. The past year or so has taught me that my peers will only help me grow as a photographer and it’s safe to say that I owe these people a ton! I can’t even name them all because it would take forever. The good news is that I am not going to quit. I’m going to put the Ben & Jerry’s away and keep on shuttering & blogging ….
Thank You Mary Veterano for introducing me to this…I finally found it at WAWA . It’s good but I kept waiting for white chocolate pieces to appear!
My little model has turned 4 years old today and it seems like yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital in Charleston, SC. It doesn’t take long before those baby days are over and even when I look at her first year of pictures, I am still in disbelief that my baby is gone! She is growing up wayyy too fast!
Happy Birthday to my sweet little Katelyn!
hair accessory by XOXOTOVA
dress by Matilda Jane Clothing
She wakes up in the morning in her ruffled bed with the worst case of bed head you’ve ever seen and the only thing on her mind is what outfit she’s going to wear first. This girl goes through 4 dresses a day and if she gets an ounce of water on it while brushing her teeth, we are on to outfit #2. She sings, she dances, she laughs like an old man, and it only took 3 years for her to find her own passion for shoes! Meet my daughter, Katelyn.
I tend to talk through my photo shoots so that I can capture the true personality of my subjects. However, I don’t think any other client will ever tell me to stop talking because I’m giving them a headache! 
Starting in June, I will be taking sessions again!!!! I’m going to offer a huge discount for the first few sessions so LIKE my Facebook page to look for the promo coming soon! Every summer is full of traveling for me and I currently have dates to Florida, Washington State, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and South Carolina! If you or someone you know would like a session with me, please email at itsjustchristina@gmail.com . Thanks for stopping by…….
Is it safe to say that our snow days are over? Oh thank goodness, I thought it would never end!!! I am finally getting around to explore the area. My camera is starting to warm up and I’m so excited to see my new surroundings. I drive by Fort Dixx Army base all the time, it reminds me of my brother who served in Desert Storm. I was a lot younger and never gave him the appreciation he deserved for all of his hard work. Now I understand the amount of courage, sacrifice, and determination that goes into protecting your country, family, and the friends who stand beside you.
This was our impromptu photo shoot. I wasn’t going to stop because we had just come back from the med clinic where he was diagnosed with Strep Throat. Apparently, he wasn’t going to let that stop him from playing for five minutes!!
I don’t normally use textures on my photos but since it was an old army vehicle, I felt like adding a little vintage look to the first photo.
This is my military brat. I can say that because I’m one too! He’s pretty awesome. 
There’s nothing like an old fashioned pair of Adidas Sambas to complete an outfit!
The next post you will see of this guy, he will be missing his two front teeth!!! He has not just two, but 3 loose teeth right now. The tooth fairy needs to start a savings account !!!
