Ciao 2009!!!

Hello, friends! Welcome to a brand new year!!

I love the new year. I leave all the junk from last year behind but get to take the good along with me into the next. It is a great feeling. I hope that you get to have the same kind of liberating and refreshing experience!

Big changes are coming for CYE Photography this year. New products, new pricing and lots and lots of new clients (right? )! New pricing will be going into effect January 31, 2010. If you are considering a session and book prior to 1/31/10 you will get to take advantage of 2009 pricing!

CYE Photography will continue with our commitment to giving back 10% of our annual profits in 2010. We are donating two photo session packages to Seattle University’s Professionals Without Boundaries big fundraising auction in February (I’m sure they could use your help if you have something to donate!), OpLove sessions for deployed and deploying mililtary, sessions to various MOPS groups in the area as well as photo sessions to families in the community who may not normally be able to afford it or who need a little pick-me-up.

If you have, or know of,  an upcoming auction for a school, person, cause, etc and are looking for more donations, please hook up with us at info@cyephotography.com and we can chat. 

We think goal setting is important on an annual basis. This year, we gave up the ‘lose more weight’ goal (because, really? Does it ever come true?) and came up with some things a little closer to the heart, and a lot more important. As we are very visual (duh, right?) we commited our goals to .jpg and you can check them out below:

Thanks for a great 2009. Here’s to ‘10!

Yes. The weather outside is frightful.

Wouldn’t the gift of custom portraits be delightful?

Maybe even more so to a family who wouldn’t even dream of the experience of the stop-and-shop drive-thru portrait experience, let alone the magic of a custom photo session?

I have so many blessings in my life, so much to be thankful for. This is due in large part to other people, friends who have become family, who have gone out of their way for me and my family.

This Christmas season, I want to pay those blessings forward by offering a completely, 100% free photo session and print package to a family who truly needs to be blessed. Do you know of such a family?

Maybe this family has a parent who is deployed or deploying. Maybe this family has experienced financial hardship, an illness or an untimely death. Maybe life has just thrown them a curve-ball that has been difficult for them to handle. All of us can remember a time in our lives where we were down and just a little kindness made all the difference.

Here is the plan; you know a family.

Now let ME know about them. Submit a comment to this post. Tell me in five sentences or less about the family you know and what is going on in their lives. Make sure you leave your contact information in the comment fields, an email address would be perfect. Please be sure not to leave any information that could be potentially embarrassing to the family you have in mind. Also, this family should be in my local area: Seattle north to Arlington and Mukilteo east to Snohomish/Monroe and the Eastside. Please submit this information by December 20, 2009, that is 10 days from now.

I will select a family at random the week of Christmas who will be given the gift of custom portrait photography from CYE. Also, the person that submits that family’s information will also receive a 50% session discount on a photo session of their own.

Help me bless a deserving family. Submit the info. Then, feel all warm and snuggly inside knowing you did a good thing for someone else. After all, this is what Christmas is all about.

WEEK THREE INSTALLMENT

of Project 365: CYE Style

Welcome to week three!

I’m glad to be here as I fully expected to be unable to complete this week’s installment in anywhere near a reasonable timeframe. CYE debuted our fall Mini Session sale this week and we have received a great interest. We still have a few sessions available for those still wanting to book: info@cyephotography.com.

Also this week, CYE joined, and is participating in, two causes to help give back. The first is Images for a Cure. Click the link for more info. All session fees for shoots completed on October 11, 2009 will be donated to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation®. Will you be a doer for cancer with us?

The other cause is Operation: Love ReUnited (OpLove) for deploying, deployed and returning military families. If you are a member or family member of the United States Military, and are interested in having very special and touching images with a patriotic edge taken of you and/or your family before a deployment or during, and at your reunion, please check out their site for more information.  You will receive a substantial package as a gift in appreciation for all you have been through as a military member.

Now… onto this week’s photos!

I’m trying something a little different this week; a gallery-type slideshow instead of posting the photos one after the other. Let me know which way you would prefer to view the photos; gallery style or just post ‘em?

The first two photos seem to share a theme.

The first is Reiken plugging his ear while Quinn howls, and I do mean HOWLS, next to him. The second is little Miss Toby. She is the daughter of a friend of ours. The boys and I met up with a bunch of Creekside ladies at The Village Bean in Bothell. The Village Bean is a new kid-friendly coffeeshop with toys and activities for your children to master while you relax -FOR FREE! Anyway, Toby, her new sister Kasey and her gorgeous and fun mom Melissa showed up to the coffeeshop, along with every other mom with younger-than-school-age kids in what must have been a 15 mile radius of Country Village… It was quite the hullabaloo! In this image, I can just HEAR Toby asking for just ONE second of quiet and sanity. She is so stinkin’ cute.

The third photo is the newest member of the Bursch Clan;

Little Miss Lauren Elizabeth. She was born to Kirsten and Jason on 9/17/09 at 2:08AM weighing 8lbs, 5oz and measuring 19.5 inches long. This tiny elf angel was born via c-section as she was a breech baby. All are healthy and happy. Big sister Madison is in lahoooove.

The last photos are of varying scenes in my life last week.

Number 4 is a beautiful red plant that seemed to confirm that fall is on its way soon. The fifth is a beautiful photo taken at Ken and Chelsea’s wedding on Saturday. The sixth is taken from the congregation at my amazing church in Mountlake Terrace, Creekside. The dapper man featured is Pastor Don. He is an amazing teacher on Sunday mornings. The last photo is of my boys holding hands on the couch. Well, really it is of Reiken smashing Quinn’s hand trying to be sweet, but no one needs to know that, right?

As for week four…

Its all a surprise! Really, I can’t remember what I’ve shot so far this week. I know there will be a beach portrait session and a building dedication to Jesus. Other than that… we’ll find out soon enough. See you next week!

We are daughters, sisters, husbands and fathers…

We are roommates, best friends and soul mates. We are photographers with a passion for giving back. On October 11, 2009, we will unite our talents to contribute one day of session fees in support of breast cancer research. 100% of all session fees collected on this date will be donated to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation®. We are hopeful, that with your support we will find a cure in our lifetime. More information can be found at www.imagesforacure.com.

Here at CYE, we have joined up with dozens of other photographers throughout the country, and a few other countries too, to be ‘doers’ for cancer and are participating in Images for a Cure. On Sunday, October 11, 2009 we will be doing (did’ja catch that?) photo sessions and donating 100% of the session fees to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation®. But we can’t be doers for cancer alone. We need your help!

Were you already considering a session with CYE? Why not schedule it on Sunday, October 11, 2009 and participate in Images for a Cure with us. Beautiful photos for a beautiful cause, CYE Style. Help us make this a huge success, we would love to have you.

Please email us today to set up your session, and be a doer for cancer with us: info@cyephotography.com

Best,