Amy Tripple Photography Blog

Edited to say…

We’ve got our model!!!  Thank you SO much to everyone who volunteered!  There will be more, so keep an eye on the blog! : )

Thing One:

Wanted to throw out a little “casting call” to you guys!  I need a little one for a special project I’m working on.  Can’t share too many details on the blog : ), but here’s what you need to know if you’re interested:

- I’m looking for a 2-3 year old child… either a boy or a girl!

- We’ll meet at the Fullersburg Nature Center in Hinsdale this Wednesday (tomorrow!) at 12:45ish.

- I’ll need the parent to be willing to sign a model-release form specific to the project at hand.

- You’ll get a bunch of edited high-resolution pictures (20-40) on a CD, both color and black-and-white, within 2 weeks of Wednesday.

If you have other kids that you’d need to bring along, that’s totally fine… just know that I’ll be working with one child for the project.

If this sounds like something you’d like to do, shoot me off an e-mail and I’ll give you some more specifics.  When the position has been filled, I’ll post it here on the blog, so if you haven’t heard back from me… check here first! : )

Thing Two:

I’ve got another round of Sweet Shots Seminars coming up this weekend and there are a few last-minute spots open.  If you’re interested in really learning how to use your DSLR to shoot capture your children : ), click on the schedule link above to grab a spot.  There are spots available in the 2 p.m. Saturday class and the 2 p.m. Sunday class… the 9 a.m. Saturday class is sold out.  For those of you already signed up… get ready to have some FUN FUN FUN!!! : )  For more information, click the link below:

Sweet Shots Seminars

Thing Three:

Are you guys familiar with Winkflash?  It’s one of those everyday online photolabs like Snapfish, Shutterfly, Photoworks, etc…  Well, check this out:  they’re offering 40% off of all their gallery wraps till June 15th!!!  I’d be lying if I told you that they were as good as ours, but hey… if you wouldn’t order ours anyhow what have you got to lose?!?

I put together a little demo of how AMAZING these babies would look on your wall with some sneak-peeks from a recent session (killing 2 birds with 1 stone here) : )

That’s two 16 x 20s and two 16 x 16s.  You could have them all for $188.

Wait… why am I not ordering a set like this?  Jonathan, are you reading this?  Hee hee… : )

Seriously?  Do it.  It’s an unbelievable deal.

Thing Four:

Took my little man on a date last night.  Yup, you read that right.  We date our kids.  It’s too cool what you can see in them when you’ve got them alone.  Jonathan takes our four year old girl out now and then to Steven’s Family Restaurant, a local place that just so happens to be her favorite (so funny where they pick, isn’t it?!?).  And I take our boy to the best restaurant in the whole wide world (according to him) : )…

It may not be the fanciest place in the world, but if you need somewhere TOTALLY SPECIAL to take your little boy, this is it. They get little boys there. Just go… you’ll see what I mean.

Look at that face… couldn’t you eat him up?  He was about to order a cheeseburger.  And fruit.  How cute (and healthy) is that?  I, on the other hand, was getting fries.  He’s trying to be a good example for me… maybe I’ll make good choices like that someday too… : )

All the kids in the restaurant are totally mesmerized by the train that brings their meal right to their seat.  Heck, I was totally mesmerized by it.  I think I was the only mommy sprawled out on the counter getting actions shots of toy train zooming by.  My little guy doesn’t know to be embarrassed of me yet.  He thinks I’m cool.  I’m soaking that up right now, cause from what I hear it doesn’t last long…

They’ve got this super-cool glassed-in train table at the front with a gazillion buttons that the kids can press to make different things “go”.  They control the whole little make-believe town.  He could have stayed for hours, but I was getting pretty “choo-choo’ed” out by this point.

Our darling waitress offered to take a picture of us at the end!  I told her THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU, cause I’m never in ANY pictures!!! Then I handed her my new baby and she took a step back and didn’t look so sure.  I told her just to look through the little hole and press the button.  Really, I said… you can totally do this!!!

And she did!

She actually got kinda shutter-happy and took a bunch.  I think she liked the 8 frames per second feature… it made her feel pretty snazzy.  Couldn’t blame her. : )

OH!  For those of you who don’t know, “All Aboard” is on 75th street in Downers Grove.  It’s in the Michaels shopping center.  Just look it up… you’ll find it!  You can be a little boy’s “cool mommy” too!

More Things…

I could go on and on, but I’d better stop so I have things left to tell you another day.  How ’bout a few darling sneak peeks to close it out?

Sweet kiddos, huh? : )

OH!!!  One more thing (ignore me if you’ve got to sleep/work/change a diaper/watch GMA/wash your hair)…

I’m on Facebook now!!!  Want to become a fan?!?  I’ll blog more about it later, but feel free to head on over and check it out!  More on that crazy stuff soon…)

I’m an unusually early-to-bed kind of person, as my friends and poor college roommates would quickly tell you.  As in, the minute I see the nine appear on the digital clock in our kitchen, I get that super-strong “I’m not in the right place if I’m not in my bed” feeling.  But tonight I got caught up so far past the nines that it wasn’t even funny, reading other photographers’ blogs and enjoying the inspiration and quiet peace that only the middle of the night can offer.  And as a fairly hearty thunderstorm now rolls through, I’ve find myself laying in bed, thinking.  Thinking about my life, my work, our family, this journey we’ve been on.

I remember so clearly the moment that my mom and dad walked through our front door a little over three years ago, carrying a present that I hadn’t even seen coming.  My oh-so-big 15 month old girl was upstairs asleep in her crib, and my newborn baby boy was asleep in my arms.  My dad handed us a wrapped box as my mom told us that they wanted to give us “a little something special” to celebrate the arrival of our sweet new baby.  Even now, when I close my eyes, I can watch myself opening that box in an act of pure naivety, having no idea what its contents would mean over time for me and my family.  Out from the box came a little Nikon D40, which seemed absolutely enormous at the time compared to the outdated point-and-shoot I’d nearly worn out during my daughter’s first year.  Out from the box also came a bright and tireless passion, a new home, countless new friends, and (in all honesty) a precious new life for all of us.

Tonight my thoughts swirl around these past three years, as no one season has been the same as the last.  I’ve met and intimately worked with an absolutely astounding number of precious young families (over 1,000 of you now!) and have fallen in love time and time again with the babies and children that have graced my viewfinder.  I think about the comments from so many of you about my “amazing ability” to raise little ones, run a business, and still *attempt* to occasionally engage in fun and crafty projects simultaneously, and I wish in those moments more than anything that you could see my kitchen and bedroom.  I ride waves of exhilaration and exhaustion, trying to keep up with my crazy new ideas and my lightning-fast kids at the same time.  There is no supermom here… just a real woman growing by grace to become a little less selfish and more loving each day.  Some days I feel as though I’m moving slowly ahead, and some days I feel as though I’ve fallen painfully behind, but I continue to press forward toward the deeper and deeper pool of joy that a life full of love inevitably leads to.

I’ve been pondering the what-if’s tonight, wondering what my life would be like right now if I had opened up that box three years ago and pulled out a little birthstone necklace or a sweet new outfit from Baby Gap.  The twists and turns of life can be so powerful and subtle at the same time, and it would serve me well to remember that as my eyes begin to get heavy tonight.  Admittedly, this life I’ve found myself in is often over-saturated and sometimes pure craziness, but it’s precious to me.

It’s a wild ride… but I’m holdin’ on. : )

Yesterday I got to do something super-special… : )

My mom, dad, baby and I went down to the Cubs game at the fabulous Wrigley Field!!!  It wasn’t so much that I got to go to a Cubs game (although I LOVE going to games!), or that they won (because, of course, they didn’t) or that I got to see my sweet nine month old dressed up in an oversized Cubs hat (which was BEYOND adorable).  What was super-special was that I got about five completely uninterrupted hours ALONE with my mom and dad.  And, as all of you parents know, “alone” means away from all of your children with the ability to talk.  : )  My poor parents… I do believe I chatted their ears right off between the car ride there, the game, and the car ride back.  It was my idea of paradise!

Of course I brought my camera.  Didn’t think you’d want to miss seeing the baby in a Cubs hat. : )

Or clapping for the losers…

That’s pure Cubby joy, baby!

I turned my camera towards the game a bit, too…  gotta love Fukadome’s swing!  But more to the point… let’s all observe that ball, frozen in mid-air.  LOVE MY CAMERA!  If it can capture a ball off of Fukadome’s bat, it has a decent chance of capturing your toddler.  Ha ha ha! : )

It was a beautiful day.  The scoreboard looked perfect…

Well, it looked almost perfect.  Don’t worry… I fixed it. : )

More Sweet Beginnings sessions… there have been some beautiful babies lately!

And sweet tummies. : )

I loved this family… I met them at their home, and we had a really great time chasing their two boys around.

This little brother and sister had me to their home in Glen Ellyn.  They were adorable, their home was beautiful, and they took some really sweet pictures…

And last but not least… this sweet boy will be saying goodbye any day now to his daddy, who’s about to do head overseas with the military.  In all honesty, I don’t know how I could bear it if I were him or his wife.  This is one strong family…  Our prayers are with you guys!!!

I love to travel!  Booking the flight, packing my suitcase, eating yummy airport food, splurging on Starbucks, breathing a sigh of relief when the airplane lands, hugging the ones you’ve missed… I get so darn excited every time!  I’ve had two super-cool opportunities within the past month to do some of this fun traveling, and I can’t wait to share some pictures of what I was up to with you!

Back in late April, I took a little trip down to the fantastic city of Ft. Worth, Texas to teach the “Sweet Shots” DSLR class to a group of wonderful parents down there.  My two beautiful cousins and dear aunt and uncle live there, so it was especially cool to get them all to myself!  While I was down there, we had a bit of extra time to take pictures of cousin’s absolutely DARLING babies… I could go on and on about how precious and perfect they are, but the pictures really do speak for themselves…

This past weekend was another extra-special photography trip, this time with a special little “assistant” at my side.  My four-year-old little girl and I planned a girl trip to Colorado to visit my best friend and shoot some sessions out in the Denver area.  My daughter and I had been needing some time together, and a trip like this really scratched the itch for both of us.  I’m not gonna lie… I spoiled her absolutely rotten and we both LOVED every minute of it!  We both enjoyed the finer things in life for a few days… Chocolate Therapy Ben and Jerry’s Ice cream, shopping at the mall, coffee and chocolate milk at Starbucks, late-night snuggles and giggles.  It was perfect for us both.  Our trip was super successful on a million levels… for her and I, as well as for the families we were able to capture while we were there…

My amazing Denver friend and her husband are coming up on their 10 year anniversary this summer, and it is an absolute joy to watch them handle life together through all of the ups and the downs.  Their marriage is beautiful, honest, and always full of love.  What an amazing pair… can you see the love there?

Me and my travelin’ baby… : )

And just to put it out there…

We are always up for a girl trip, so for those of you who follow the blog from afar, just know that we would be tickled pink to come your way for a day of sessions if you have a group of 6-8 families that would be interested in booking.  And if you’re in the Denver or Ft. Worth areas and would like to be notified when I schedule my next trip out your way, just let me know and I’ll put you on our e-mail list for future session dates.  Yay! : )