This is it!  Today is the LAST day to submit your photos for Book 2.  We’ve recieved a few hundred photo submissions!   But it’s not to late to send yours!  The deadline is tonight at midnight PST. Details here!

Unsure of whether or not to submit?  Just go for it!  Take that leap!

xoxo,

Me Ra

p.s.  Special shout out to Kelly from CA who submitted this photo as example of #6.  Don’t know what #6 is?  Click the details link above! (Kelly you rocked it with this photo!)

Two more days to submit your photos for Book 2 and have the chance to be published!  Send them today!

This summery photo is from Shelby in Oregon!  Thanks Shelby! It’s an Awesome shot with the band-aides and all!

Deadline is this Wednesday!  Details here!

xoxo,

Me Ra

Have you always dreamed of coming to a CONFIDENCE Workshop, but don’t yet have the budget for it?  Are you a beginner when it comes to using your camera, but have a BIG heart for taking photos?  Do you feel like you keep hitting a mental road block with your photos, and just wish you had some one-on-one private lessons?!  Are you in desperate need for an upgrade on your camera, or maybe you don’t even have your own camera but you do have a photographer’s heart?  Do you wish you could take all the private lesson time and keep practicing it with award winning DVDs?  Are you a mom living in Seattle and/or the greater surrounding Seattle area?  Are you and the kiddos home next weekend, July 24th and 25th, for me to pay a personal visit?  Do you think I’m crazy yet?   

If you answered “YES! Me Ra, you are DESCRIBING ME!”, this is a SPECIAL, SPONTANEOUS opportunity for YOU!  It’s a way to thank you for being a faithful, beautiful blog reader!  If you happened to tune into today’s blog and answered YES to the above questions, this could be your lucky summer! 

Here’s the deal, you’ve got 48 hours to post your story in today’s blog’s comments.  All of you have to do is tell me why you are the one I should come see!  I’m looking for moms who are beginners when it comes to using their Point-and Shoot or DSLR, but also CRAZY, passionate about capturing photos of their kids.  And they don’t mind letting the world know how serious their passion is by posting their story in today’s comments!  I’m looking for moms who have been praying for a lucky break and in desperate need of one!  I want to help you bloom! 

What am I going to bring you? 

1. For starters, I’m going to show up at your front door like I did with our SOAR! Recipients and bring a whole lot of CONFIDENCE just for you! 

2.  I’m also going to bring you your own set of our Award Winning DVDs, Refuse to Say Cheese and Beyond the Green Box! 

The list keeps going! 

3.  Yes, thanks to Sony, I’m even going to bring you a NEW Sony camera!  It’s my FAVORITE, sexy, copper brown, easy to use DSLR!  And it’s not just my favorite, but a whole lot of other women’s favorite too!  I’m actually working on a blog post of their photos so you can meet our latest copper brown Sony A330 owners that live from Alaska to Italy!

4.  And I’m going to set aside FOUR hours of my private time, so you can throw your camera manual away and learn hands-on with me!  I’m going to teach you some of my favorite, summer sizzling, Photo-Recipes, plus lots of Photo Tips and Tricks to turn all those “Happy Accident” snapshots into consistent, beautiful photos of the kids! 

All you have to do is post your story in today’s blog comments before Friday morning, 9am PST.  It’s really that simple!  Remember to include your name, the age of your kid(s), whereabouts you live, how to contact you, and most important, your story of passion!  Tell me why I should come see you this summer in Seattle! 

I can’t wait to meet you!  Get your story posted today!  Deadline to submit your story is in 48 hours (Friday morning at 9am PST)!

Let’s help your photos and creative spirit bloom this summer!

Much love,

Me Ra

p.s.  If you are not comfortable posting your contact email and phone number on our blog, no worries.  After you submit your story to the blog’s comments, send an email to info@merakoh.com with your personal contact info.  But please remember, you must post your story in today’s comments to qualify! 

p.s.s  The summer fun and opportunities just keep growing!  You’ve got two weeks from today to submit your favorite images to be published in my new book with Random House!  CLICK HERE for details on how to submit!

We’re just fresh from our first workshop since Thailand. What an AMAZING group of ladies! Truly blessed to be with all of you. And can you believe it? We’ve got two more coming right up!

Our upcoming New York area CONFIDENCE Photography Workshop is almost SOLD OUT! The weekend is May 29-30.   We are so excited! We LOVE the east coast! The women have already started emailing the group their stories, why they are coming, what they hope to get out of the weekend, their fears, insecurities and enthusiasm. Brian and I are loving reading their stories. It’s so funny, we even have official, self-proclaimed ‘blogstalkers’! Looking forward to meeting you all! Whether these women live in Washington DC, Chicago, San Diego, Seattle or Minneapolis, they are excited and ready to take their creativity and photography skills to the next level. (Yes, they are nervous before the workshop, but they never let that nervousness stand in their way. And their courage brings beautiful results.)

Do you know a mom who needs this kind of group and weekend getaway? Do you know a mom Running on Empty? If so, nominate her today. Let’s turn her day around and let her know we are rooting for her!

If you know a MOM who is;

A. Running on Empty

B. Lives near Jersey City, NJ or has mileage to spend

C. Can arrange for a sitter and get the weekend free, starting Friday (May 28th for Meet & Greet night all the way through Sunday night (May 30th. Yep, that’s right, Memorial weekend. You’ll still catch the kids at home one day of the long weekend.)

D. Most importantly, has a PASSION for photography

Nominate her TODAY! Nominations must be in by Thursday night, 4/29 (two days from now at 6pm PST).

We will announce the winner in time for her to jump in and make all the arrangements. So make sure your nominations are all in by Thursday at 6pm PST. If you are not familiar with this contest, read below and see what it’s all about! Moms are one of the most beautiful parts of creation. This contest is all about acknowledging their beauty, even when they are Running on Empty.

Here’s how it works!

In honor of how wonderful moms are and all that they do and give, Brian and I keep one spot reserved in every workshop for a special mom like YOU! That’s right, you (or she) will get a free pass to the upcoming CONFIDENCE Workshop in the New York area! (Please note, we don’t provide room/board and travel.)

To nominate a mom, you must post a comment telling us about the mom who you think deserves a big break in life! If you are a mom, you’re probably laughing because we ALL deserve a serious break. But the moms we’re looking for are the ones who have had a ridiculous amount of stress in their life whether from trauma or things just not going her way this year. She is a mom in your life that needs a serious blessing to come her way. She needs a serious surprise that gives her empty tank some fuel. If she is a woman that has miscarried, she is still a mom in my mind b/c I know her heart became a mother’s heart the moment she found out she was pregnant. Don’t hesitate to nominate her too.

I’m proud to say that our previous winners stepped out on a limb and nominated themselves. Take courage in them and feel free to nominate yourself if you know you need a serious break. Who knows, you may have your house remodeled by Oprah!

We’ll collect all the nominees, have a committee of wonderful moms vote, and then announce the winner in the next two weeks!

Nominate her today and turn her day around! Oh, wait! Don’t forget to let her know you’ve nominated her too! If I was a mom nominated I’d love to know my friends were thinking of me whether I won or not! Deadline for ALL nominations is Thursday, April 29th at 6pm PST. Nominations MUST be posted as a comment on this blog post. Either your email or the nominees email MUST be included on the blog post to qualify. Nominations emailed or posted on other blog posts may be overlooked. Please post all nominees here. Thanks!

For more details about the CONFIDENCE WORKSHOP, CLICK HERE!

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Do you live on the East Coast or are you closer to the Seattle area? We have just a couple seats left for our New York area and Seattle CONFIDENCE Workshops!  CLICK HERE to get your spot!! And I know we’ve promised before to announce our fall workshops – we will soon! Working out details…all new cities and we may need your help.

Our Refuse to Say Cheese DVD series are now AWARD WINNING! Read the press release HERE ! If you haven’t ordered your own copy yet, check out our popular Instructional DVDs Refuse to Say Cheese and Beyond the Green Box , and our 101 Kits for starting or expanding a business in photography, click on the titles of your choice!

We have a winner to announce! As many of you know, we ask a handful of women to be the judges for our Running on Empty contest. A number of these women are also former winners. We enlist their help because there is no way Brian and I could ever choose. And even with this contest, every woman emailed a message of struggle on picking one winner. Every story was amazing. Every woman nominated deserves to be recognized and we can only choose one. So again, I want to thank all the beautiful women who were entered or entered themselves. I am amazed at your strength and love. Thank you for sharing your life with us here. Thank you for being so strong and not giving up. You continue to inspire me more than words can say.

The votes were collected, and we have a single winner. The winner for the April Orange County (CA) CONFIDENCE Workshop is Paige S.! Paige, Brian and I want to welcome you this weekend to the Orange County CONFIDENCE workshop. Your brave and positive heart is uplifting and inspiring, and I would love the honor of lifting your creative spirit even higher this weekend. We hope all the logistics can work for you. Can you email Genie (genie@merakoh.com) by Thursday at 12 noon to confirm your coming? (I know you sent your address to her, but email her first) If it doesn’t work for you, we have beautiful Runner Ups. Thanks Paige, and I hope we get to meet in person in April!

For those of you who missed Paige’s story, here it is from her own words;

Honestly, I can’t think of a mother who DOESN’T deserve something like this! I also can’t think of a person who doesn’t have hardship in their life to further merit this gift. For that reason, I don’t think I stand out in the crowd when nominating myself. But I will say this, hardship begets growth. And thank goodness for that!

My husband is deploying to Afghanistan next week for 6-12 months (gotta love the ambiguity of the Marine Corps!) for his first combat tour. We have a 2 and 1/2 year old and a 6 month old at home. My family and my home town is across the country, and we just moved here. Like my garage is still full of boxes. And we bought a fixer-upper of sorts. But I don’t want sympathy. I’ve gotten enough of that. What I want is to do something! I want to really make something of myself while he is gone! I absolutely LOVE photography, and that fact excites me because I’ve seen a loss of passion in my life since becoming a mother. But I want to LIVE again! I want my children to have a full-time mom who loves herself. I want my husband to see me self-sufficent with that fire back in my eyes. He certainly deserves it. Thank you, Me Ra, for creating this safe haven for women like me to feel empowered!

Really, we can’t think of moms who don’t deserve or need this either. If you didn’t win, your welcome to nominate yourself again. Congratulations Paige!

xoxo,

Me Ra

_____________________________________________________________________

EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION has started for the next Seattle CONFIDENCE! Workshop. Yep, you got it right – it’s May 15-16 at the beautiful Hotel Murano in Tacoma!

If you register between today and April 1st, you get to pay the Early Bird fee of $799 instead of $999! Pretty great savings for all of you who jump on board fast! After April 1st, the registration goes back up to the normal price of $999. But we must warn you to not wait until then. One CONFIDENCE Workshop was sold out by the end of the first day for Early Bird! To take advantage of the Early Bird Registration, REGISTER HERE!!!

If any of you missed The Wisdom Connection call on “What to do when Procrastination Wins?” last week, email Genie (genie@merakoh.com)  and she’ll happily send a link for the audio recording of the call. The post was late that day so I want to make up for it!

“It’s peculiar, to reach your destination,” he told me.  “You think you’ll arrive and perform the thing you came for and depart in contentment.  Instead you get there and find distance still to go.”

-So Brave, Young and Handsome by Leif Enger

This quote couldn’t sum up the last few weeks of my life any better.  Yep, I could probably just leave this blog post right now and feel like you got the picture—Me Ra reaching her destination and realizing she has only begun her journey. But I miss all of you and this blog, we’ve had the WORST internet in Thailand, and now that I’m in Cambodia and have it, I have a smile on my face as I type because I get to connect with all of you again!  That is a gift to me!

What has been going on over here, on the other side of the world?  As you remember, Pascaline and Brian were sick the whole week.  So I plugged away on my first photography book and got it turned in on time!  Yes, I really did!  What a huge burden off my shoulders.  And then it was time to go to Koh Phi Phi, an island near the home we stayed in last year.

Going to Koh Phi Phi showed me how much I love this side of Thailand, where the limestone cliffs jet out of the ocean standing with pride as if they are welcoming you back to this land of enchatment.

Where the humming of the long tail boats lull you to sleep and wake you up.

Where the locals embrace the kids as their own, and all of a sudden the kids go from two parents to twenty!

The place we stayed in Koh Phi Phi is the BEST family vacation ever.  And I’m working on a blog post all about it, with all the details, so that if you ever decide to venture to the Far East with your kiddos you can go there.

But I found myself at Koh Phi Phi, and finally felt myself start to let down inside.  An unwinding of sorts.  I think Brian caught the beginning of it here.

And yet, it’s amazing how we want ourselves to just hurry up and be to the destination we expect to be in.  We envision the unwinding to look a certain way.  I soon realized my vision was not going to be my reality. The first sign of life being different than what I expected was the difficulty we had getting online.  Drove me nuts the first two days.  All I could do was get online for a short time before my connection crashed, but just enough time to know that our website was not working for all of you.  And I felt myself twist up with stress instead of unwind.  Then I couldn’t get online at all, and a quiet voice inside said “Me Ra, I need you to let go.”  It was that quiet voice that only has to say seven words, and you know it’s the truth and feel yourself go undone.

So I walked away from trying to figure out our Internet, knowing we’d be in Cambodia in a week to try again.  And I took the kids on a hike through the jungle.

We started out with Brian and lost him to a scuba diving invitation, so that we were alone.  (yes, if you missed it—that’s my moment of saying “It was all Brian’s fault.”  )

There is an hour hike you can do from our isolated beach to the other side of the island where town is—sitting on a small stretch of land that takes your breath away.

Thirty minutes up into the hills, and then thirty minutes down.  Getting there was work with the intense heat, but the four of us did it.  Once in town, we met up with our scuba instructor.  Brian decided to go diving with him, and the kids and I wandered the town together.  It was a great afternoon together, we found a pub that had lunch for $2 each and a TV playing the Olympics.  We got a good, cheap meal with a fan blowing on us and a moment to feel connected with home as we watched Michael Phelps swim his heart out.

Then we decided it was time to head back.  And somewhere along the path, mom took a seriously WRONG turn.  We ended up on a road that was nowhere I remembered.  We had been going uphill for an hour, and the heat was hammering down on us.  Two local Thai men on scooters came by, and I flagged them down to see where we were.  They said we had another 40 minutes to go up hill before we starting climbing in the jungle.  I almost died.  And the kids, they were going to faint from heat exhaustion.  We were a sorry sight.  So the men offered us rides on the back of their scooters to get up the hill, to the entrance of where you start the jungle leg of the hike.  But that meant me and Blaze on one scooter, and Pascaline on the other by herself.  I just wasn’t sure.  The kids had never been on these type of scooter/motorcycles, so I asked Pascaline what she thought.

Okay, I was SURE my daughter would say “no” because the idea of holding onto a shirtless stranger would maybe make her nervous. But I underestimated my daughter!  She said, “That sounds PERFECT!  I’m sick of walking up this HILL!” and literally hopped on the scooter, wrapped her arms around this sweaty stranger, and off my daughter WENT!  I had no choice but to throw Blaze on the scooter and say, “Okay GO!”  The man asked if I could not hold his shoulders so tight as he caught up with Pascaline, and Blaze said “Mom, just relax and enjoy the ride.”  Oh, the things my kids teach me.

Needless to say, that little hitch hiking episode got us to the top of the paved road and cut off 40 minutes.  Now we started the hike through the jungle.  We walked through three hill villages, feeling as if we’d stepped back in time.

When we bought some bottled water, the kids gave the woman a tip.  They told me they had to because her hut, this humble home, was so small and broken.  How could they not.  She offered us a bundle of bananas, and we politely said no.  The kids and I are convinced that the decision to NOT take the bananas made all the difference.

Why is this so?  Well, after 30 minutes of hiking through the thick jungle having left all villages behind, nothing but jungle shrub in front and behind, with the sun setting soon and things getting a little darker—we hear a loud crashing sound.  It’s the crashing of branches being broken through leaves being ripped.  I learned from our time in Thailand last year, that there is only one thing that makes this type of explosive sound through the trees—very LARGE monkeys!  I turned and saw the giant coming at us from  my right.  Part of me wanted to stand still in sheer shock.  He is the biggest monkey I have ever seen.  Think my size, bent over on all fours with a long, orange nose, deep dark eyes, and about fifty pounds heavier than me.  Picture this coming at you.  Yes, you stand still for a split second as your eyes meet.  You are in plain shock of the beauty, mystery and intimidation of this wild beast.  You know that you are not supposed to run but quietly walk away, but TERROR sets in when you see him coming at you and your kids.  That’s when I turned and yelled “RUN!” to the kids.

We ran down the side of that mountain like nobody’s business.  Thank God for Tivas that day and not our flip flops.  I started praying out loud, my whole body shaking from sheer fear, wondering what the heck I was doing, hiking through a jungle with my two kids.  And somewhere in the midst of all my praying, Blaze suddenly stopped in front of me and said “Listen mom.  The trees are quiet.”   The monkey was either gone or hiding.

We kept up a good pace, but we never saw that big guy again.  We caught up with a couple who said they had seen a similar monkey sitting in the trees, just watching them pass through.  Who knows if that guy was still near, just watching us. The only thing we knew for sure is that we were so GLAD we did NOT accept a bunch of bananas from the woman!  Can you imagine!  We would have been running with bananas hanging off of me.  Good Lord, that would have been a real nightmare!

Needless to say, we made it back to the beach in once piece.  I wanted to kiss the sandy shore.  We jumped in the water to cool down, laughed at our crazy adventure.  I plopped my painted toes into a chair on the beach, ordered a drink and felt myself finally EXHALE.

Somehow mom took a wrong turn, and the hour hike home turned into lasting two hours!  We hitchhiked on the backs of motorcycles and ran from a monkey (that I am convinced was an ape!).  Sure, dad saw 6 turtles while scuba diving, but was he chased by an ape?  No.  We topped his day without a doubt.

When something that frightening happens, it shakes up your insides.  I can’t explain it, but up until this point I felt a bit numb inside.  The longer we were at Koh Phi Phi, the more I started to unwind—come alive again to my senses and the jungle around me.  But after running for my life with my two kids, I am definitely feeling alive, wide eyed, and awake.

I’m not a thrill seeker or adrenaline junkie by any means.  I just know that I will never forget turning around, and making eye contact with that monkey. He was so big, so fierce and yet so gentle looking and powerful, full of mystery, so out of my control.  And all my illusions of being able to work hard enough to control certain things fell by the way side because the world was so much bigger all of a sudden.  And the reality of having very little control at all set me free from the numbness I’ve been feeling.  I still have a distance to go.  But it is good to taste the rawness of life again and feel it’s embrace.

xoxo,

Me Ra

p.s.  It’s the FIRST Monday of the month which means we’ve got a new Business Coaching Exercise from Karen and Fay, SOAR! Partners and amazing business coaches!  Don’t miss it! It will go up today!  CLICK HERE!

And if you know a mom Running on Empty be sure to nominate her NOW for our Orange County CONFIDENCE Workshop coming up April 23-24! Tonight’s the deadline at 6pm, don’t miss this either!

Our upcoming Orange County (CA) CONFIDENCE Photography Workshop is almost SOLD OUT! The weekend is April 23-24.   We are so excited! The women have already started emailing the group their stories, why they are coming, what they hope to get out of the weekend, their fears, insecurities and enthusiasm. Brian and I are loving reading their stories. Whether these women live in Washington DC, Chicago, San Diego, Seattle or Minneapolis, they are excited and ready to take their creativity and photography skills to the next level. (Yes, they are nervous before the workshop, but they never let that nervousness stand in their way. And their courage brings beautiful results.)

Do you know a mom who needs this kind of group and weekend getaway? Do you know a mom Running on Empty? If so, nominate her today. Let’s turn her day around and let her know we are rooting for her!

If you know a MOM who is;

A. Running on Empty

B. Lives near Orange County, CA, or has mileage to spend

C. Can arrange for a sitter and get the weekend free, starting Friday (April 22nd for Meet & Greet at the home of our one and only Roxanne Benton from Pixel2Canvas ) night all the way through Sunday night (April 24th)

D. Most importantly, has a PASSION for photography

Nominate her TODAY! Nominations must be in by Monday night (this Monday night at 6pm PST).

We will announce the winner in time for her to jump in and make all the arrangements. So make sure your nominations are all in by Monday at 6pm PST. If you are not familiar with this contest, read below and see what it’s all about! Moms are one of the most beautiful parts of creation. This contest is all about acknowledging their beauty, even when they are Running on Empty.

Here’s how it works!

In honor of how wonderful moms are and all that they do and give, Brian and I keep one spot reserved in every workshop for a special mom like YOU! That’s right, you (or she) will get a free pass to the upcoming CONFIDENCE Workshop in Orange County! (Please note, we don’t provide room/board and travel.)

To nominate a mom, you must post a comment telling us about the mom who you think deserves a big break in life! If you are a mom, you’re probably laughing because we ALL deserve a serious break. But the moms we’re looking for are the ones who have had a ridiculous amount of stress in their life whether from trauma or things just not going her way this year. She is a mom in your life that needs a serious blessing to come her way. She needs a serious surprise that gives her empty tank some fuel. If she is a woman that has miscarried, she is still a mom in my mind b/c I know her heart became a mother’s heart the moment she found out she was pregnant. Don’t hesitate to nominate her too.

I’m proud to say that our previous winners stepped out on a limb and nominated themselves. Take courage in them and feel free to nominate yourself if you know you need a serious break. Who knows, you may have your house remodeled by Oprah!

We’ll collect all the nominees, have a committee of wonderful moms vote, and then announce the winner in the next two weeks!

Nominate her today and turn her day around! Oh, wait! Don’t forget to let her know you’ve nominated her too! If I was a mom nominated I’d love to know my friends were thinking of me whether I won or not! Deadline for ALL nominations is Monday, March 1st at 6pm PST. Nominations MUST be posted as a comment on this blog post. Either your email or the nominees email MUST be included on the blog post to qualify. Nominations emailed or posted on other blog posts may be overlooked. Please post all nominees here. Thanks!

For more details about the CONFIDENCE WORKSHOP, CLICK HERE!

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Do you live on the East Coast? We have just a few seats left for our New York area CONFIDENCE!  CLICK HERE to get your spot!! And soon we’ll announce our May Seattle CONFIDENCE plus one other location from the votes we got from all of you!

Our Refuse to Say Cheese DVD series are now AWARD WINNING! Read the press release HERE ! If you haven’t ordered your own copy yet, check out our popular Instructional DVDs Refuse to Say Cheese and Beyond the Green Box , and our 101 Kits for starting or expanding a business in photography, click on the titles of your choice!

It’s Genie. Thank you for emailing and letting us know. We’re working on it – not so easy from Thailand but Brian’s on it! So stand by,  – the deadline will be extended once we know the problem’s resolved. Promise…I know a couple people high up in the organization.

If any of you who emailed us have since been successful, will you let me know? Send me a note: genie@merakoh.com. Stay tuned! We’ll also have another contest to announce once we know things are in order again so don’t go far!

Are you ready for a NEW round of Five Inspiring Finalists?  Here we go friends!  We had two Photo Contests run simultaneously.  Both Photo Contests had a theme of COMFORT.  One Photo Contest challenged you to focus on using BLUR/Low F-stops = buttery, blurry backgrounds.  The other Photo Contest challenged you to use the theme of COMFORT combined with a BACKGROUND that has PURPOSE.  This second focus is what our Five Finalists have accomplished at INSPIRING levels!   Coming to you from a remote island in Thailand, where I only have electricity from 6pm to 6am, here are your FIVE beautiful, inspiring Finalists! 

but wait!  There is a second chance to win a CAMERA for voting??!!

Yes, you heard me right!  It’s the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W220/P 12.1 MP Digital Camera!!! And it’s PINK!  Can you get another color?  I guess, but why would you! 

We almost did it last week, and so here’s the deal for this week!   If we get 600 plus votes, yes 600 by this Monday (at midnight PST), we get to give one of the Random Voters a hip, new, Sony Cyber-shot!  Not to bad for taking the time to cast a vote, huh!

Can you believe that?!  I’m so pumped!  But that means you’ve got to tell ALL your friends, family, even wake up Granny, and get them to post their vote in TODAY’s comments! I know this contest is going to get crazy real fast with the voting, so we are going to close the voting this Monday night, February 22nd, at midnight PST.  That means you have from now until midnight on Monday to vote!

Q:  How do you vote?  What do you win? See the FAQ below! (It’s super easy.)

Q:  What does the winning Finalist get?  Ooooh, that’s good and juicy!  See below for those details!

Q:  What are we voting for?  Check it out…

Without further delay, I’d like to introduce you to the TOP FIVE FINALISTS for the COMFORT and Background Photo Contest! Notice how they specifically used the background to enhance the overall story of their images.  You were also asked to put our Depth of Field conversation into practice with an overall feeling of COMFORT in your theme.  And wow!  Your images are amazing!

1. Turning Three! by Keilah Engstrom in Washington state.

The background action around this little birthday girl is CLASSIC!  Every kid wants a chance at blowing out those candles, and it’s all over the little guy’s face behind her. And then I love the framing of this image.  I’m assuming Keilah got down to eye level with her birthday girl because of the adults we see in the background. It’s such a classic image that deserves to be celebrated for the timing, the framing, and more!  Thank you for inspiring us Keilah with this image!  Click on Keilah’s name to see more of her work!

2.  Everyday Beautiful by Ashley Julian in Washington state.

And then I got to Ashley’s image.  Her baby in the highchair, and the word Beautiful written above him…it made my heart go “ahhhhh”.   She said in her email that the word beautiful just happened to be there, and she saw the shot.  Everyday beauty brings her comfort, and this is her everyday beauty. I’m inspired by this image to see the Beautiful in the every day around us.  Ashley wasn’t tight framed on this shot, but everything in the image enhances the story of this lovely little one and this, particular moment.  Thank you Ashley for this image.  We loved it!  Click on Ashley’s name to see more of her work!

3.  The Sweetness of Girls by Summer Davis in Great Falls, Montana.

The power of this image is in the background.  It’s those two heart cut outs right above the girls’ heads.  I just love how those hearts make this moment so sweet.  It sends me back to memories of childhood when summer afternoons were spent with my girlfriend, our dolls, and talks on the daybed.  Framing this image so that the hearts were above the girls is genius!  I also love that Summer made this image black and white because it adds a timeless feel to this moment so we can all remember our childhood memories.  Thank you Summer for this image.  The sweetness just oozes out!  Click on  Summer’s name to see more of her work!

4. Grandbaby by Amy Schuff in Sacramento, CA.

At first glance, I’m caught up by the new grandma’s joy at seeing her grandbaby.  But the story keeps going when I see the background.  The background enhances the story of this image with such power.  Talk about incredible timing!  The proud dad smiling, about to be embraced and patted on the back.  You can almost hear the joy in this image.  Amy, timing is everything on this type of image, and you nailed it!  Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful moment with all of us.  It is truly inspiring!  Click on Amy’s name to see more of her work!

5.  Sleeping with His Two Buds by Sara Kelly in Seattle, WA.

This is another image that drew me in to surprising depths.  At first I see this sweet little toe head asleep, and I’m caught up in all that beautiful hair he has!  And then I see dad’s feet blurred in the background.  And THEN I see the dog’s pointed ears in the background, and I’m thinking “Oh my goodness!  There is so much to this story that it keeps going and going!”  This is the type of background we strive for in our images.  Background that doesn’t distract but enhances the story to surprising depths.  And wow, Sara, you did an AMAZING job!  Thank you so much for sharing this with us!

There it is!  Your new Fabulous Five Finalists! Didn’t I tell you they were AMAZING!  Click on their names to see more of their work!  But vote before you go b/c whoever gets the most votes will WIN!!

And all of you, plus the winners, have the opportunity to win a Sony Cyber-shot Camera! All you have to do is post a comment and vote for your favorite finalist. Leave a few words about why they were your favorite, and you are entered into the Sony Cyber-shot Camera drawing!

Let’s go!  We got over 600 last week!  We only need 600 this week!   HERE WE GO!

PHOTO CONTEST FAQ:

FAQ #1: How do you vote?

Answer: Just click on the pink word “Comments” at the end of this blog post. Put the # of photo your voting for first (it makes counting the votes way faster), and then add a few words about why you like their image the most. Remember, your comments and feedback give to the Five Finalists more than any prize from us. Please be kind, encouraging, and share all that you can with these wonderful Five Finalists! Your feedback on their images is priceless! That’s why we do the Random Voter Awards, because we appreciate your voting and feedback so much. So spread the word to family and friends! And ask them to vote! We need 750 VOTES to give this camera away!

(Please vote one time for one image. Thanks!)

FAQ #2: Is there a new Photo Contest happening right now? And when is the Deadline?

Answer: Not yet!  After we finish the voting for these two contests, we’ll announce the next Photo Contest Theme.  It’s one my favorite Photo Contest Themes so far!

FAQ #3: What are the prizes for the Random Voters and the Finalist?

Answer: Scroll on down!!

Prizes for the Winning Finalist and the Random Voter Winners!

In the last couple of contests, we’ve broken our record for votes received!  You all spread the word, and the votes came rolling in! If we clear 600 votes on this contest, we are going to pick a Random Voter (not necessarily #600, but a RANDOM Voter) to win the Sony Cyber-shot camera!!!

And then we’ll keep going and pick one more Random Voters to win a $25 customized, cool looking Starbucks card! So that’s one Random Winner of a new, slick Sony Cyber-shot camera, and one MORE random winner of $25 customized Starbucks cards, if we clear 600!

Deadline for all voting is this Monday night, 4 days from now, 2/22, at midnight PST!! That means we have to clear 600 votes by that time for two Random Voters to be picked and win a pink (or different color) Sony Cybershot Camera!

Prize for being the Winner of the Five Finalists!!!

Now what about the finalist’s prize! What will they get?  Well first, each finalist should vote too so they get a fair shot of winning the Sony Cyber-shot camera!  And then the Winning Finalists gets THREE SPECIAL PRIZES!!!

1. Get Girded Up with Award Winning Resources! Their choice of one of our popular 101 Kits: The Essentials to Starting a Photography Business OR the Downloadable version of our Award Winning Refuse to Say Cheese/Beyond the Green Box DVD series.

2.  Continue Your Creativity After the Shooting! Their own copy of Adobe’s Lightroom 2.0 Software!!!!  (thank you Adobe!)

3.  Don’t Hide Your Winning Photo!  Show It Off!!! And the newest addition to our Winning Finalist prizes, their winning photo will be printed on a beautiful canvas!  Our SOAR! Partner, Pixel2Canvas, has joined the Photo Contests as of this year!   And we are so excited b/c now your winning image will be on a BIG, Beautiful Canvas for the wall!

So get all your friends and family to jump on here and vote before this Monday at midnight!

VOTE AWAY!!!

Hey friends!  What an insane weekend!  We thought we were flying to Thailand at noon today, and thank GOD we realized it was midnight last night!  So as you read this, we are somewhere en route (if all has gone well ).

I have a wonderful team of women helping me keep our blog fresh for each day this week.  Genie is going to make a little appearance and so is Mamabloo with a new Photo Tale!  So don’t think we’re going to leave you for the week.    Nope, we’ve got some great stuff up our sleeve.  And I’m going to do my best to get the Five Finalists live this Thursday, but if for some reason I can’t get internet soon enough, we’ll be sure to have those Finalists live within a few days of Thursday.

We are closer than ever to our goal of 750 votes!  Maybe 200 more votes, if that!  Isn’t that AMAZING!

Today is the LAST DAY to vote!  The Five Finalists have captured amazing moments, like this one below!

To see all Five Finalists and submit your vote, CLICK HERE!

If you know anyone that would love a spiffy, new Sony Cybershot Camera, get them to get over here and vote today!

Deadline is at midnight TONIGHT PST!

To the SOAR! Recipients and all of you wonderful dream builders that are following along, we’ve got a SOAR! Photography Exercise today!  Check it out at the SOAR! Blog!  It’s going to be fun!

xoxo,

Me Ra