Big changes are coming to the Barefoot Memories blog.

I'm hoping to show you soon, and it's gonna be really cool!

As I get that blog stuff ready to show you, I have other exciting stuff to tell you!

Mpix has agreed to sponsor the New York City myFUNcamera workshop on October 23rd!

Every attendee will get a free expo pass to the AMAZING PhotoPLUS Expo
AND a $25 Mpix gift certificate!

Check out the myFUNcamera site for more info & signups!

There are a few spots at the sale price of $200 if you hurry!
After the $200 spots are taken, the rest are $250.

Portrait sessions for NYC have sold out, but a few of those workshop spots are still there for you!

Have a great afternoon!

~Carey

Every weekend included a game or a tournament.

The challenge I gave myself for their last tournament
was finding some way to really show the boys in a creative way.
After taking hundreds of pictures over the summer, I needed to do something different!

A great action shot or a good picture of the team
would just blur into the massive number of pictures I'd already taken,
even if it was a fabulous capture with perfect timing & focus.

So there they were, waiting to get their trophy for making it
all the way to the CHAMPIONSHIP GAME of their last summer tournament.
I took that (blah) picture of the entire team you see up there,
but I felt the need to tell their story a bit more.

I noticed that they were sitting on a bench together,
but since they're still young boys,
their 10-yr-old legs wouldn't let their feet touch the dirt below.

Ten-year-olds are full of dreams, excitement, and potential.
How appropriate that their feet were hovering above the Earth.
They've got their adults lives to be grounded!

For that image, I squatted down very low and used my 24-70 lens in Av mode at f/2.8
(ISO 200, and the camera chose a shutter speed of 1/200sec).
There were lots of parents standing around taking pictures at the same time
making the space very crowded,
so having that lens instead of my 70-200 lens allowed me
get that team image & their hovering feet without backing up a lot.

Here's one last shot I captured from the post-tournament party at Islands.
The boys were enjoying some desserts,
so I held that 24-70 lens up above them at the table
at the widest possible zoom and told the boys to look up into the camera.

For that image I increased the ISO to 3200 because the restaurant was very dark.

They barely agreed to stop grazing on the ice cream & chocolate
to look at the camera for a half a second
(some, including my son, didn't stop at all!)

Enjoy!

~Carey

If you're a professional photographer or an enthusiastic camera owner,
you need a great way to show off your images online!

I started working with Zenfolio earlier this year, and it is an AMAZING system!
First of all, those tech-brainiacs up in San Jose are GENIOUS,
and they actually LISTEN to what photographers want!

Second, the galleries & the layout of the Zenfolio system is CRAZY AWESOME.
And, it's so easily customized that you can make it suit your own style with a few clicks.

THIRD, you get prints from the radest print lab on URF -- MPIX!

Compared to other online gallery systems, I think Zenfolio is the beezneez,
and it's only $100 a year, BUT NOT THIS WEEKEND!!!

THIS WEEKEND ONLY, through MIDNIGHT on Labor Day,
you can get a membership for an entire year of Zenfolio for only $60!!!

So, as you celebrate this Labor Day weekend,
decide to save yourself some hard Labor, and SIGN UP FOR ZENFOLIO.

This is a price I've never ever seen before, and I'm SO STOKED that the guys at Zenfolio
are letting me offer this to you!!

Use the code barefoot-60 to get your $100 membership for $60!

Start creating your galleries, and you'll be blown away by how easy it is!

Drag & drop your images that you want in a gallery, and click a button... SIMPLE!

Then you've got a gallery that ROCKS and makes your images look as amazing as they are!

That code is barefoot-60

It's valid on NEW MEMBERSHIPS only, and it expires at Midnight on LABOR DAY.

Have a great Labor Day weekend everyone!

~Carey

Families always ask me, "Where should I take my CD to make great prints?"

My answer is always the same: MPIX! Mpix ROCKS!

Have you seen the framing option when you're checking out at Mpix?
It's AWESOME!

When you have a print in your shopping cart, press the "add a frame" link,
and this cool tool comes up:

That was a 10in x 10in print that I put in my cart,
and I had fun playing around looking at all the different frame options.

The Mpix frame tool even shows the frame to scale, so you see how big the frame will be around your print.
You can add a white mat or a black mat, and the tool will show you exactly how it will look!

By the way, when you add a mat, the print doesn't get smaller. You'll still get your 10x10 print,
with a mat beyond that, and a bigger frame.

A nice frame like that would cost a pretty penny from Target or a frame store,
and Mpix still ships the order for $5.95!
(Unless it has glass, then you have to use FedEx. They are more careful with glass,
and you don't want the glass in your frame broken, right?)

I was playing around with that image because I thought it would be cool to make a square framed print,
then put it on the wall on a diagonal, like this:

That would look nifty, wouldn't it?
I could see it in a bathroom or on a small wall where there's not much room.
It would be a different cool way to fill up a small space on a wall instead of a
same-ole-same-ole framed picture.

So, go upload some pictures to Mpix and play around with that frame tool!

~Carey

PS: Are you following me on Twitter? My twitter name is @CareysHair
(silly name, I know. HERE's the story behind it)

You also need to follow @Mpix!! They are always announcing contests and COUPONS on Twitter!!
That's a twiiter feed worth following for sure!!!

Have a great weekend!

~Carey

Yesterday was a wonderful day!

I met with Autumn for a few hours of camera & photo talk.

Autumn is well on her way towards success in photography,
and it was so great to talk with her for hours and answer her questions
about cameras, business, lenses, light, and more!

Her story is a LOT like mine.
If you were to go back in time about 6 years,
you'd find me at the beach with a camera and lenses a lot like hers.
Just trade the digi for film, since my first SLR camera was a 35mm Canon Rebel.
She's been discovering her skill for capturing expressions, moments, and personality,
and she's working really hard at incresing her technical knowledge so she can
feel more confident with her equipment and move beyond shooting in AUTO modes.

A lot of us have been there -- am I right???

While I was talking with her, I kept remembering myself at that point in this photography journey.

I was REALLY self-conscious, and I would spend HOURS looking at photographers' websites
crying about how my photos sucked in comparison.

I was excited about learning more and improving, and I felt like I had the potential
to do really great things with my skills and my camera,
but then I'd sabotage myself by getting stuck in a funk of self-doubt.

I think self-doubt is a good thing in moderation.
The arrogant and over-confident opposite would be even more detrimental to a photographer's growth!
I'm not sure if this is a female issue, but it sure seems like women are
much more likely to fall into that self-doubt funk.

If any of this sounds familiar to you, please know you're not alone!!
My advice: give yourself a LITTLE bit of self-doubt and "I SUCK" time,
but STOP YOURSELF and go practice more with your camera so you can improve!
Also, remember that every photographer suffers from "I-SUCK-ITIS,"
probably more recently and frequently than you'd think!!!

OK, I'm done preaching for today ... time to hop off this rickety soap box!

Thank you, so much, Autumn for coming to La Jolla yesterday.
It was WONDERFUL meeting you and spending the morning together.

Also, thank you to Judy & Greta's mommies for bringing their princesses
to the beach yesterday so Autumn and I could practice!

I've been taking pictures of these families since before these princesses were even born,
and it was great to see them again!

Happy Friday!!

~Carey