America's Sweethearts & Senior Rep Programs | Freebies and Discounts

It is long past Christmas, but my desire to give has not gone with the holidays.  I had a lot of time to think, plan and coordinate my ideas for business and marketing during the move to Oklahoma, and I am excited to announce the creation of two new programs in the MMU Photography lineup: The America's Sweethearts Program (ASP) and the Senior Rep Program.




The Senior Rep Program is not an original undertaking.  Many, many senior photographers have similar programs to get the word of their company out at the local high schools.  Rules and commitments vary, but the main principles are the same: The student gets a free session and something to show off at their school, the photographer(s) get recognition and the potential to book more clients. It is a mutually beneficial arrangement, and one that I am thrilled to start up.  For more details or to apply to be a Senior Rep, please visit the Senior Rep tab, or click here.






The America's Sweethearts Program, unlike the Senior Rep Program, is a product of my love for couple's photography paired with my appreciation for the strength of military spouses who are going through, have gone through, or are faced with separation.  Growing up in a military family, I thought that I was prepared for life as a military spouse.  I didn't understand the toll the months apart take on husbands and wives alike, I only saw the chasm from the perspective of a child.  It is a different kind of pang of separation, a different kind of longing, and, when they return at last, a different sense of relief when it is your spouse who is serving.  And so, to honor those wonderful couples who stand strong through thick and thin, I came up with the idea for America's Sweethearts.


America's Sweethearts is an interview and a photo shoot all in one.  There will be one military couple featured every month on the blog, sharing their unique love story paired with images of the couple.  These sessions will be fully customized, and are available to all ranks of active duty military.  For rules and details on how to enter, please visit the America's Sweethearts tab, or click here.

And that's it for announcements this Monday!  I am working hard to get content out to everybody, but please be patient with me during the slow winter months.  Have a wonderful week!

~Megan

Red Thread Sessions | Giving Back

You may have noticed a couple of new icons at the bottom of my page.  One is the icon for OpLove, an organization providing free photography sessions for military families going through deployments that I have been a part of for several months now.  The second is for Red Thread Sessions, an up-and-coming non-profit introduced to me by the wonderful Carolyn Spranger.  Red Thread Sessions is a free session program, geared toward families who have or will adopt children.  They cover the biological mother's birth, a child coming home to his/her new family, or a family session with the new son or daughter (or both, in the case of twins!).

When I announced to my husband that I would be signing up for another non-profit, I did not quite get the, "Yeah, go for it!" reaction that I was looking for.  Instead, I got a quizzical stare and an "Okay?"  I knew what that "okay" really meant.  It meant "why?".

I can't really explain what drew me to Red Thread Sessions.  I am not typically a child photographer and I am not adopted and/or related to anyone who has or is currently looking to adopt.  But, the more I look at the photographs of children in the arms of their parents for the first time, or happily playing with their new siblings, the more I think of what drew me to OpLove.  What drew me to photography at all, really.  It is (as cheesy as it may sound!) the thrill of capturing for others the moments that take your breath away, of creating memories that will be framed, displayed in a beautiful album, or stored away for future generations to relive the milestones of those that came before them.  Welcoming a child into one's life, loving them, providing them with a stable home and a promising future, this is certainly worthy of being immortalized.

If you are in the Central Texas area, have adopted within the last 3 months or will soon be welcoming a new member of your family, and are interested in booking a session, I would love to work with you!  If you are not local to MMU Photography, there are several fantastic photographers who are volunteers for Red Thread Sessions all over the country.  You can find a directory of them here.  If you are a photographer who is interested in participating, you can find more information here.

~Megan

Winter Is Still Not Kind To Photographers

I feel like I have been hiding under a rock for weeks.  There is so much has been quietly brewing in MMU Photography that I have been hesitant to announce, some due to more stringent Facebook policies, some missing key elements that will make them run more smoothly.  A few are commitments that I am unwilling to make until I know for certain that I can follow through with them.  And, a few reasons for my inactivity are simply boring, mundane occurrences not worthy of being featured here.

So, instead of providing the dozens of reasons why I haven't been so active with my Facebook page or blog, I decided to shamelessly share a super cute picture of my son playing in one of our moving boxes in hopes that his cuteness will make my inactivity forgotten.  Here we go!

 

 Goodness, I love that kid!  Forgive me?

In all seriousness, January-February is a slow time for all business.  Photography is no exception.  But, believe me, I have not been sitting on my hands and waiting for bookings to come.  Here is a laundry list of the goings-on at MMU Photography that I *am* able to share with you.

*The launch of the America's Sweethearts Program (ASP)

*The launch of the 2013 Senior Rep Program

*Volunteer photographer for Red Thread Sessions

*New packaging and marketing products

*Fairy Tale Sessions (currently in the storyboard and casting stage)

Detailed blogs featuring each of the topics above are in the offing.  Until then, feel free to look over the ASP and Senior Rep tabs and, as always, don't hesitate to e-mail me (mmuphotography@gmail.com) about any questions you may have about any of MMU Photography's products and services.  Until next time!

~Megan

First Trip To Oklahoma City

I am not a fan of change. I'm sure not many are, when it comes right down to it. But in the event that change is inevitable, I attempt to embrace it as much as possible, especially with an impressionable little one looking to me for guidance and support. So, after a week of unpacking, cleaning, and generally settling in to our new home in Lawton, I was ready to explore a little bit of Oklahoma. We packed the car and headed to OKC for an overnight excursion. Our first stop was the Farmer's Market.

I was expecting fruit and vegetable stands, to be honest. So it was a bit of a shock when The "Farmer's Market" turned out to be more of an antiques shopping center. We continued to explore in the spirit of adventure, and I was pleasantly surprised by the selection of items. It is amazing how your view of antiques changes when you are a photographer. Suddenly every knickknack and thingamabob serves as a potential prop. From a single weathered item, an entire stylized session idea takes form.






After making a few purchases, we left and searched for a mall. I have something of a love affair with big, bustling malls, although I generally dislike crowds. Crossroads Mall was a disappointment, but Quail Springs was just big enough.

After shopping, we headed to our room at the Skirvin Hilton. The hotel was absolutely gorgeous, the staff was friendly, and the beds were oh-so-comfortable. After grabbing a take-out dinner from The Cheesecake Factory, we settled in for the night.







The next day was fairly uneventful. We wandered around the hotel and its surrounding so that I could get a few parting shots, then we grabbed breakfast at Cracker Barrel on our way out of town. I am a little disappointed that we didn't visit any landmarks or more "touristy" areas, but we still have several months. Believe me, OK will get its share of featured blogs. Have a great week!







~Megan

The "B" Family | Family Portrait

I had the pleasure of photographing this gorgeous family in downtown Austin. The weather was perfect for walking around, clear blue skies with temperatures in the 70s. It was a 2 PM shoot, and other than having to use some creative measures to battle the intensity of the sun (OCF and secret shaded areas are wonderful!), it went smoothly. But the technical aspects of photography are nothing without great clients like this family: clients who are willing to walk whole blocks to reach multiple destinations, or to sit on the not-so-pristine, chilly ground to get *the* shot. They did it all with smile on their faces. Honestly, though, that probably had so much more to do with the fact that they were able to be together for Christmas this year, or that, for at least a little while, they are a whole family, able to hold one another and laugh together. What a blessing.

The "L" Family | Military Homecoming

Evening reunions in December are imperfect in many ways for a photographer. The lighting is bad, the cold saps the energy from batteries (even spares), and flash units devour their batteries with the voracity of a competitive eating champion. For a mother with two young children, I imagined it would be a long, arduous wait. My client (and her sweet little ones) proved me wrong.

Whereas I had a wide awake runner at my husband's reunion, her children were primed for sleep, and they did, despite the pounding of music from the DJ booth. So the wait was a calm one, punctuated by the occasional announcement and stirring of the eldest. When the buses pulled up, they were wide awake and smiling. Despite the dark and the cold. Their dad was home just in time for Christmas. No wonder there were such smiles.

Wall Art and Candy Shops | Senior Portraits

Believe it or not, in the going-on-17 years that I have lived in Texas, I have never seen downtown Austin in the daylight. 6th Street is a completely different animal at night, and South Congress wasn't even a blip on my radar. So when I began my search for a location for my younger sister's vintage candy shop shoot, I had no idea that a place like Big Top Candy Shop even existed. Well, thanks to Google, I found it, and I decided to take my sister as well as her boyfriend downtown for their senior photo sessions. Man, oh man, had I been missing out.

There is something eye-catching and picture perfect every few feet on South Congress. I passed antique stores, costume and apparel shops, even restaurants that served as eye candy for this doe-eyed photographer. I was in hog heaven, snapping everything from posters to storefronts to streetlights, stopping my clients every twenty feet or so to pose them this way or that. Luckily, they were just as excited about the shoot as I was, despite the constant drizzle of rain, so it wasn't difficult to get them to oblige me.