Happy Friday everyone!

First, have you entered to win one of those cool prizes I announced yesterday!?
You've got until Sunday night, so CHECK YESTERDAY'S BLOG post if you missed it.
A few seconds of typing & clicking will enter you to win something fun!

NEXT, I'm making my plans for FALL IN NEW YORK CITY!
If you live in or around the city & you have a camera you're dying to learn about,
this announcement is just for you!

I'll be having a myFUNcamera workshops in Central Park the morning of Friday, October 23rd!
If you have a DSLR camera, and you're stuck on Auto mode, wanting to venture into those
"creative modes" but are intimidated by all those settings, this morning is for you!

We'll go over camera settings, different equipment (lenses, cameras, sensors),
composition, light, finding great shooting angles, and lots more!

I'm working on a bigger announcement for this workshop
(with sponsorship announcements, prizes & giveaways, too!),
but if you SIGN UP TODAY OR SATURDAY, you'll get $50 off!!
The workshop is normally $250 (lunch included -- that's always a blast!),
but I'm launching this workshop with an "early bird special".
So, if you sign up today (Friday) or tomorrow (Saturday),
you'll get the workshop for $200 instead of $250!click that button to sign up!

spots are limited!

CLICK HERE to sign up!

Happy Friday, and I'll see you in NY in October!!!

~Carey

PS: If you are interested in a session in Central Park the weekend of Oct 24/25, email me,
and you can get on my schedule!

I've got to leave to pick up my kids from vacation bible school soon,
but before I go, I thought it would be fun to give something away!

This is simple...

wanna win something cool?

like these corked-backed coasters with rounded corners maybe:

or square coasters with rubber backing:

perhaps a square (or round) porcelain magnet:

got carpel tunnel? need a mousepad with a gel thing for your wrist? choose this:

All you have to do is GO TO MY ZENFOLIO SHOWCASE GALLERY HERE and post a guestbook entry.
Just say hi, post something funny, a knock-knock joke, haiku, be creative... or not.
Or, comment on your favorite picture in there. That'll work, too.

That's it! On Sunday night, I'll randomly choose ONE comment or guestbook entry,
and I'll announce the winner on my BAREFOOT MEMORIES FACEBOOK PAGE HERE!
I'll announce the winner on Twitter, too.

The winner can choose one of those cool prizes. I'll order it for you with your favorite picture!
(doesn't have to be a picture I took, either!)

There ya go!
You've got the whole weekend to post a comment on a picture in that gallery,
or post a "guestbook" entry on the whole gallery.

(one entry per person, please)

Check that Facebook page Sunday night to see if you won!

Happy Friday!

~Carey

Last July I caught one of my favorite pictures of the year in Balboa Park
when these two cuties went splashing in the water near the Science Center.

CLICK HERE to see it.

Those twins are one year older and one year funner (yes, that's a word. I said so!) now,
and I met their family earlier this week for their annual birthday session.

The session started on a trail WAY up high in the sky.
I loved the clouds, so I squatted down low to make sure I could get as much of those clouds as I could:

Then there was some rock stacking (3yr old style)

and some family lovin'
(Kyle was a big fan of the 'leg up' action that day)

Then we went down the trails to the water, and OF COURSE, if there are pepples,
they need to be TOSSED!

It's hard to pick a favorite picture from that day, but this one is up there for sure! I love Kyle's follow through!
I also think the grainy black & white enhances the pic rather than just laying over schtuff on top of a picture.

Even at the beach on a BRIGHT SUNNY HOT morning, it's possible to find shade sometimes,
and find shade we did!

Just because we were chillin' in the shade, the giggles & fun didn't stop, though.

In this case, they were upside down giggles:

Then we got some true personality shots to finish out the session:

This is fun, too...

Check out this shot from home!
That's the 16x20 canvas that mom & dad got from their very first Barefoot Memories session
for the twins' FIRST birthday 2 years ago!
See the blankee? So does she!

Enjoy!

~Carey

Hi there!

I have some cool announcements for you!

FIRST is that I have an opening for a session this weekend!
Some calendar confusion happened, and the session I was going to have on Sunday morning got moved to
later next week, so I have an opening for a coveted WEEKEND PRIVATE SESSION!
(no minis, unless you can find a friend to take another mini slot with such short notice)

If you're interested, email me at barefootmemories@gmail.com and we can work out the details!

NOW, for the next thing I have to show you!
I've been using ZENFOLIO for my online galleries for a while now,
and because I was in that online gallery system business for so long,
I'm picky when it comes to features & whatnot.

I have constantly bugged the folks at Zenfolio for new features that I've seen around
or just cool stuff that pops into my spazzy brain.

TWO of those features were:
EMBEDDABLE SLIDESHOWS for blogs & websites
and
GLOBAL shipping with multiple currencies

Wouldn't you know it, those guys worked hard and made them happen!
Oops! I can't say GUYS any more because they finally added some much-needed estrogen to their crew
(I'd been bugging them for a while about being a dude-only office! Can't do that any more!)

Check out this awesome slideshow that I created with just a few clicks:
(email subscribers, go to the blog online to see it)

Isn't that gorgeous!?!?

They've also added global shipping & many many currencies!
I recently had a client who said,
"My mother-in-law lives in England. Can she just order from the gallery herself?"

I busted out a big smile and said "ABSOLUTELY!"

If you hover on that slideshow and click "visit gallery,"
you'll can go into that gallery and pretend (just pretend!) you're shopping.

When you add something to your cart, you can choose where you want your order shipped
and which currency you want to use.
Based on those choices, the gallery system will show you what's available!

If you're a photographer and want to get set up on a system like that,
you can get $20 off by CLICKING HERE.
If you go to Zenfolio.com, you can also use the promo code barefoot-80 for the same deal.
Zenfolio is already a rediculously low $100/year, but with that link,
you'll get a year for $80.

Gotta go figure out what on Earth I'm going to make for dinner... wish me luck!

~Carey

Summer vacation is in full swing, and the kids are having a BLAST!

My work hours are really cut short, but I don't mind.

Summer is all about playtime, not work time, RIGHT?

(Hence no blog posts since Fathers Day -- man, that's some serious blog neglect!)

I have to share these photos with you, though, while my kids finish up watching an iCarly re-run.

Last week I met my annual playgroup in the park.
I've been taking pictures of these kids for a very long time!
Many of them are featured on my website (like HEREand HERE, for example).

This playgroup is a large group of super fun moms whose kids were all born within weeks of each other.
There are older and younger siblings, too, which makes for a big fun pile of crazy photo fun!
It's fun and not insanity because the group is led by a super organized playgroup leader who
keeps this photo day running SO SMOOTHLY I can hardly believe it!

It seemed this year was the year of the GIGGLE.

I was even giggling looking at the photos a few days later on my computer!

Here's one brother and sister giggle pair:

Here are the captain's kids being very goofy on the grass together:

and one more from the grass when I told them they could finally make silly faces (they'd been begging):

Apparantly, a silly face for a 9yr old is impossible without silly hands, too, but I love how
you can still see hints of everyone else's silly faces, too!

And one last goofball duo:

Can you just hear them laughing at each other??

It is impossible for me to pick a few favorite pictures from that day,
but those are among the top.

I think I hear the closing credit music for iCarly, so time to wrap up the typing!
During my next mommy break (AKA Hannah Montana or Spongebob),
I'll be getting this group's gallery online so all the mommies and daddies can see their photos!

Have a great day!

~Carey