Okay, so 24 hr FB contests don't work in a place where people don't necessarily come every 24 hrs. LOL. Lots of you said you missed it. Noted. I'll do another one with more time next time! Happy Father's Day this weekend anyway! Give Dad a great day this Sunday. :)

I am loving my new Birdznest Facebook Page for sharing shots and information and happenings with all my FB friends. I've been up for just a few weeks and have my first 100 Birdznest FB fans. In celebration of my launch here in LA and of Father's Day, I'm doing a 24-hour contest where you can win my Father's Day Mini package OR $250 credit toward the big package AND STILL GET A WRAPPED PRESENT FOR DAD IN TIME FOR SUNDAY!

The packages are detailed in the next blog entry (scroll down to see or click here)

Here's all you have to do to enter:

Get FIVE (or more!) of your parental-unit Facebook friends to "LIKE" the Birdznest Photography Facebook Page. I will give you one drawing chance for every five of your friends who "like" the FB page. 20 friends = 4 chances. Please be cool and don't send people you don't think would be interested in the photography page. I don't like posting for people who aren't interested (and neither do they).  

Email me the names of your friends who joined the club (just names, I don't need emails or anything). Tell them they can do the same thing for a chance to win. Any Birdznest FB fan can join in the contest.  But you need to be done and send me the email by 5:00PM tomorrow when I will do the drawing! GOOD LUCK! SoCal residents only.

One Week Only!! Must order Noon PST on Thursday, June 17 to receive your REALLY COOL package by Friday or Saturday. This offer is good for SoCal clients only, sorry.

So if you are one of those people who already have a thoughtful, meaningful Father's Day gift all wrapped and ready to go, I sincerely applaud you. And I am in awe of you, quite frankly. For the rest of us mere mortal moms, we're probably scrambling with end-of-school-year madness or for those with very little birds in the nest -- your major accomplishment today might just be getting a shower. Either way, I'll make it so easy for you.

So, in the interest of simplicity and AWESOMENESS, I am offering two packages to address both sentimentality and a love of electronic gadgets. The first one is a mini package (and I have never, ever offered a mini-package.) But I know that Father's Day budgets are not as big as some other holidays and it'd be nice to get Dad something this groovy. The other one is a full session with a majorly cool digital gift give-away.

Both package will be beautifully wrapped and ready to give and delivered to your home in time for Father's Day!

DAD'S DAY MINI $250
Includes one 30-minute mini session in Laurel Canyon at my home studio or one of the many beautiful spots around the canyon. (Add $50 if I come to come to you)
- Digital photo keychain, loaded with 5-10 edited images from your session
- online digital proofing album
- One 8x10 and one 5x7 desk print for Dad's home or office
- One 8-wallet set, for more bragging

- Add an iPhone slideshow for $50

DAD'S DAY PACKAGE W/DIGITAL FRAME & SLIDESHOW -  $450
Includes a full family photo session 1-3 hrs for up to 5 family members at your home or a location of your choice.
 
- 7" Digital photo frame that also plays video and music!!
Oh Dad is going to LOVE this. There's a clock feature, a mosaic feature, video & sound and it takes all kinds of cards from your camera or can be loaded from the computer. After your session, this frame will be loaded with a custom slideshow set to music as well as a still slideshow with up to 20 images from your session. The frame can be used to enjoy all your own personal photos and videos too and it is really beautiful and easy to use. This goody alone & slideshow package are a $300+ value and I'm throwin' them in with my regular session fee for all the fantabulous Dads in SoCal.

- Personal proofing session 2 weeks after your session & online gallery
- One 8x10 and one 5x7 desk print for Dad's home or office
- One 8-wallet set, for more bragging
 
- Add an iPhone slideshow or Digital Keychain w/pix for $50

To see a few more of my favorite Daddy images visit my Facebook Page here. For my full portfolio, visit www.birdznest.com

 

Last Saturday I was outside in my Laurel Canyon compound I like to call "Shangrila Skwarczek" shooting some shots of my Goddaughter Reece. She was visiting from WI and wants to try to do a little modeling so I'm putting together a comp card for her (blog entry of some shots soon!).

As we wrapped up a shot, my friend showed up with this little guy! This is James and his Mom. They are friends of my friend and she brought them over for a swim because they were visiting from Seattle. I've never had so many visitors since I moved from Chicago to LA and I LOVE IT! So I had my camera out anyway and I couldn't resist him.

I have so many great spots to shoot here, I've never had a studio before but now I can shoot right here in addition to shooting on location! It's not great for infants outside (I have some nice light inside tho!) but perfect for bigger kids and those closely supervised on all the stairs outside. I'm wrapping up the little finishing touches on the office and then I'll post the grounds and work studio.

Thanks for the visit James & Timi, it was fun to play with the light spots around here in such an enjoyable way!

It's time. The new moon in Taurus is here at the moment I post this. It's a time for new beginnings and this is mine as Birdznest Photography in LA, officially!

Last August my family and I moved from suburban Chicago to Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles, CA. My husband is an entertainment creative and, while we love Chicago and our family and friends there, we knew we needed to be where the work happens. We were considering New York or Los Angeles and, well, LA won because THERE IS NO WINTER HERE.

We were ready to make a leap and excited for the adventure and change from the Midwestern life we knew so far. I couldn't think of a better place to conduct my mid-life crisis.

The move has been incredible for all of us. It was stressful and messy and hard. But more than that it has been fun and exhilarating and transformative. We have met so many fantastic new people, reunited with old friends and have enjoyed so many new adventures. We've grown closer as a family -- holding hands tightly as we made this big jump into the unknown.

I have spent the winter (should I put that in quotes? LOL) here settling in and working like crazy on completely rebranding and rebuilding Birdznest Photography from the ground up. Thinking about who I want to be now. Perfecting the parts that were working and ditching the stuff that didn't. Coming up with new ideas and projects. I started Birdznest when my son Declan was only about a year old. In nine days he turns NINE! I can't believe it. The journey as both a mother and a photographer have been incredible. I'm getting all ooey and gooey and weepy here at the keyboard just thinking about the magnitude of it all and my gargantuan load of gratitude for it. It takes my breath away.

Thank you to all of you who have been a part of it. Thank you Dave. Thank you Declan. Thank you Lily. Thank you Facebook friends & family (my co-workers). Thank you to my Chicago clients - I'm humbled and blessed to have gotten to work with you. I hope to come back and continue to do so for as long as I possibly can. I can't believe how cool it has been to watch my "Birdznest Babies" grow and get to be a little part of capturing these different times in their lives and their family. I remember every single session. And every person I've photographed. Every. One. I never imagined I could love my work this much.

I can't wait to meet the new California Birdznest Babies (of all ages) to come! Here are a few pix of MY babies and my family from last Sunday, Mother's Day. It was dreamy. We went on a hike in Topanga Canyon. We drove up the PCH, for the first time, through Malibu and then on to the state park in Topanga for a quick little hike. We followed it with an early dinner at a fantastic little seafood place called Froggy's. My kids made a Mother's Day art piece. Lily made me a ceramic heart to hang in my office and the family got me two more digital frames so I could enjoy all the images from our life throughout the house. Lucky, lucky me!! :)

(you can click on the small pix on the right to see them larger)