My New Job(s)!!

Introducing:: Tiffany Hines - 

Photographer, Travel Agent, & Sign Salesperson

So most of my friends know that I've recently quit a great job at a local church to pursue more of the passions God has placed on my heart.   

I had another BHAP (big hairy audacious prayer) that I could:: do something that I loved, be creative, help people, make more money than I did before in less hours, be able to pursue volunteer opportunities, be able to pick Nate up every day so he didn't have to goto an afterschool program, and be able to invest in people! 

At first, this was really scary! I didn't know what I'd be doing or where I'd make my money - but HE IS FAITHFUL!! 

So - what am I doing now?

Well - a LOT of things!!  I'm juggling all sorts of hats these days and I LOVE it! I'm going to fill you in!

Tiffany Dawn Photography - Photographer

First, I'm working on growing my photography skills and clientele - as well as my portfolio/web presence.  This one is going to be a slow process as I have felt like its something I will enjoy doing (hopefully as a job & ministry to families) for years to come!   I've talked to a few people that have really encouraged me to pursue all that God has for me in this area and I'm excited to see what he wants to do w that!  If you know anyone in the DFW area that would like to do either Fall Pictures w their families or Christmas Card pictures, I'm booking now!!

Send Me Out Travel - Travel Agent

Second, I'm now getting to work in one of the coolest industries - TRAVEL!  So far I've booked trips to Mexico, Iraq, China and can't wait to book many many more! I'm going to be blogging about why you would use a travel agent in the future - just so you know more abut what I do and why, because I had many questions before I got started of why anyone in my generation would want/need a travel agent!  Obviously, I saw the "why" and joined up w my good friend David Gladney as an agent in his company.  And now from honeymoons to weekend getaways;  hotel stays to flights to car rentals;  to cruises and all-inclusive resorts - I can help you with your next trip!

Amplify Designs - Banners/Signs Sales

Third, I am working with another good friend, Kenten Waldrum, doing sales for his sign company.  He specializes in Church Banners & Signs and does great work!  I used this company all the time when I was at Shiloh and now get to help other churches get banners and things for their congregation.  So if you know any churches or ministries that are looking to do some banners, let me know - or have them go online to see some of our stock banners.  We customize all our banners (sizing, adding logos, changing text or background, etc) at no extra charge to the customer and I've been surprised at how fast our turnaround time is!

So as you can see, I'm staying busy - and if you know me, you know I LOVE that!!  I'm also picking up Nate from school every day at 3:15 from Kindergarten which is something I was LONGING to do but did not see any way that would EVER be possible as a Single Working Mom!  BUT my God is bigger than my circumstances! God made a way for me to do this and to have that sweet time w Nate after school as we play on the playground or go get a treat & I get to hear about his day, help with his homework (yes Kinder has homework!?), and play w my little man!  God is SO good!  I am so thankful!

After a month of this, I am LOVING this change.  I feel like I'm exactly where the Lord wants me and its so fun and freeing! AND on top of that - last month I made $45 more than I would have at my old job!  Its just $45, but still- I felt like it was God's assurance that His hand is in this and HE is my provider! 

1 Chronicles 29:11-12 says:    for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, LORD, is the kingdom;    you are exalted as head over all. ¹² Wealth and honor come from you;    you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power    to exalt and give strength to all. 

IF you would keep me in mind as you hear about people planning trips, needing pictures, or displays for their ministries - I'd appreciate referrals!

CONTEST

I need your help!!  There's a facebook contest for a free Photography website valued at $3500!  I submitted a picture and need you to LIKE it on Facebook!

This is what you do:

1. Click this link
2. I think you have to LIKE the hosting page (Exquiture)
3. Like my actual photo (is a little girl w a hat and has a watermark that says Tiffany Dawn Photography)
4. Share with your friends so I have a better chance of winning!! :) PLEASE!

The one w the MOST like's by SEpt 30 wins the free blog.  It would be FABULOUS if I could get that since I'm pursuing photography more now!


Check out a sample of what my site could look like here: http://juliekraaiphotography.com/
Fabulous right??

I NEED YOUR HELP!!!!!

Thanks,
Tiff

Picture Day

Ok so maybe I'm getting a bit of the blog 'bug'... but i just wanted to post about a significant event in the life of my little man!



See this face!?

Notice something new?  A LOOSE TOOTH!!!

And just one day later - Wednesday- the tooth fell out (at school after nap time).

This is his first toothless pic!! He's super excited.

And guess what? The very next day was Thursday...  PICTURE DAY - OF COURSE!

Here's what he looked like this morning:

He picked out the bow tie and everything.  We even Gelled his hair bc its too long! : )

Here's a pic of him and this cute little girl LOLA (the one nate smiles about!)  She's the only other girl in the class to have lost teeth- so of course they share an instant bond.  I got them to take this picture while waiting for the REAL pics today.... 

AWWW aren't they cute!?  Funny story though- when I tell her to put her arms on his shoulder she says "Uh... this is kinda weird!"  Oh sweet girl!  Ya, I guess it kinda is!! :)

And now for some nostalgia... I think the bowtie might be from nate's 1 yr old pics.  Or if its not, it looks the same anyway.... So it seemed fitting to post a couple of them.  You can see how cute he was (and still is) and how much he's changed!! Back then I think he only had like 8 teeth... now we're starting to lose teeth! CRAZY what changes in just 4 yrs!

He's so tiny!  I kinda think the bowtie makes him look like a waiter.  Too bad the vest didnt' fit anymore but Nate's torso is getting LONG!!

Now for some quick comparison shots:

 Fall 2006

Spring 2011

Fall 2006

Spring 2011

he did this piano pose on his own BTW... I didn't coerce him at all.  But it just triggered the memory of the 1 yr old pic!  Sweet boy!

Oh my!  My baby isn't a baby anymore!!!

What am I gonna do w him!!

Children's Faces

Ok so after editing a few more photos from the Garden party, I realized I really enjoy taking pics of kiddos faces, expressions, etc.  So I've posted a few on my FB page but I figure I'll post some here for those of you that aren't "friends" with me on FB.  Let me just say - My friends have BEAUTIFUL children!! It makes it easy to capture great shots when your kiddos are so photogenic!

First we have a couple more of Sparrow & Eli

Next we have Miss Sarah who is just a doll & super expressive & playful.  

She's definitely used to the camera!  

And then there's her brother- cutie patootie Wilson:

And then there's  sweet red headed Felice - rockin the pink hat!

And of course- I gotta throw in one of my own kiddo from the party.  

 He's pretty handsome if I do say so myself! :)


Ok I'm sure there are more to come.  I'm not even to the 1/2way point on the photos!! But its been so fun to go through and process them!! I really enjoyed shooting this Garden Party!

Garden Party

So last weekend I got to attend my very first "garden Party" - aka a psuedo tea party for a beautiful 3 yr old!

I was excited to be asked to photograph the event with the stipulation that the more photos the better! (my fav!!)

I did my best to document everything from beginning to end and seriously enjoyed trying to be creative and capture the feel of the party.  I am just now getting to edit my photos - so I wanted to post a few of my favs on here.  (per Christy & Amy's prodding to use this space for pictures too! Thanks girls! Ps I love your pics of this same party!)

I'm really just getting started w the editing and dont have a ton of spare time to get through all the HUNDREDS of photos I took - remember - she said "the more the better!!" and I totally complied!!

Here are some of the prep photos from the party.

And of course, we have to have one of the bday girl.  This might be one of my new fav pics of ALL TIME!  I only wish she'd been smiling at the time of this shot.  But I still think the photo is great!

And then just for fun- here's her adorable brother:

What do you think of my first round of photos?

Photos, Cards, & Shutterfly!!

I love Shutterfly! 

So I have gotten a couple of codes to try out new greeting cards online at Shutterfly and LOVED them.  The first one I ever did was for Father’s day.  I had to upload pics to my Shutterfly account that captured my last yr with my dad.

 I uploaded a lot of pictures HERE using the super easy uploader because I didn’t know which ones would look the best together when I picked my card.  I always try to have MORe than I need, because it stinks to get part way through your design and have to go hunting for a picture for one specific place.  I have actually started using shutterfly to store a lot of my photos online.  They make it easy to share with friends and when I go to make cards or prints, my pictures are already loaded!  

I also have created several “Share Sites” which is a website (can be password protected which is great for kiddos!) that you can create for free and store lots of pictures on it.  Then your friends and family can easily go and view/download/order any of their favorite photos! I LOVE share sites!  Here’s one that I’ve recently added pictures to.  I created it when our Lifegroup was doing events ALL THE TIME and everyone wanted to see the MANY pictures I took.  We also had a calendar and some contact info for the members.  It was pretty cool.  I don’t think people really used it a whole lot other than to see the pictures, but I liked the concept.

Anyway, I was super pleased with my dad’s cards.  I think I like the one from Nate the best.  To me, it looks like he’s telling the world “I Love my Grandpa”!   Here’s a picture.... what do you think? 

So, I’m not very good at making Christmas cards, but I take LOTS of pictures throughout the year so I want to start sending some out for the holidays!  This year, I am thinking I will try this card called Joy Sage Story.

I like the modern look of the front and then how the inside will let me put 6 photos and a little blurb about each one of them and feel like it will be a great (easy/quick) representation of the year 2010! I never do newsletters but I always like reading them.  I feel like this is a good compromise!  Its like a cliff notes of the year!  I am already thinking about my six most memorable 2010 moments that will make it to this year’s card.

If you like the inside layout of that card, there are a couple other designs that are similar - like Most Wonderful Story and Joyous Holiday Story.  They also do flat cards and of course all sizes of prints.

Anyway, just thought I'd share some of my fav's!  

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If you have a blog and want 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly, Click here to go to Shutterfly for information on how you can get 50 free cards this holiday season, and make sure to select Clever 1000 as the referral source.

Photo Blog

I've decided to start posting some of my work on a tumblr site.  I"d LOVE comments from you guys as I get started on what you like, what could be better, etc!!

Check it out by clicking the link below:

Tiffs photog blog - thats: obutiger.tumblr.com

Let me know what you think!!  I'm just getting started!

On Becoming a Photographer

I just got (another) camera!!

This one is the BEST yet!

I am now the proud owner of a DSLR camera!!! (after wanting one since a college class in 03!)  Its a Canon Rebel XT - so an older one - prob from '05ish... but hey- it looks like its in decent condition, and it works!! :) AND it was free!!!!!!!!

How did I get it free you ask?? Well, I got a little bit of money for my bday and decided I was going to put it towards a used DSLR.  So I posted on FB asking ppl what models they liked, etc and this guy from High School who I was in band with (he was a Sr when I was a freshman and I was friends with his sister) saw my facebook post asking for advice on what used DSLR to look for, etc.  So he messages me and says- you can just have mine!

He lives in AZ and even paid to ship the camera.  It was a CANON REBEL XT camera body with battery in it & strap... no lens, no battery charger/cords/memory card/case/manual/etc...

In college I took a photography class and had to buy and SLR camera.  I got the Canon Rebel film version bc digital was just getting more popular and it was super expensive.  I also had a Camera bag already for this camera in college!  The bag will work PERFECTLY for all my new stuff- cool huh!?

AND luckily my old FILM Rebel kit zoom lens fit on it - so all i needed to start shooting was a memory card!!  I knew I would need a battery charger soon too!  So I checked out the battery and started researching what charger I'd need to order, etc.  Even thought about getting an extra battery at some point... chargers were about $70, batteries $35 ish.  

HOWEVER an extra bonus- the camera a friend gave me that stopped working - the Canon G9 - it had a chargeable battery (with the charger) in it... well the battery is the SAME exact one that this new camera uses meaning - I have 2 batteries and a charger already!! :) Praise the LORD! :)

Oh AND did I mention I already owned a CF card reader from my very first Digital camera (that i haven't used in years!!) and i knew where it was?!  Cool huh!? :)

I quickly bought a new lens to play with also- its the 50mm 1.8 that most of my friends use to get the awesome portaits with a "blurry" bg!  I found it locally at Competitive Camera in dallas for 99.95+ tax!

AND i realized I didn't have a cord to hook the camera to the TV - so I found one of those online.  I also found a Memory card converter that will convert a regular SD card (I have like 4 of these already) to CF format in your camera.  I felt like I would rather invest a little in a converter and be able to use the small, easy to find SD cards in my camera instead of the older, more rare CF cards.  I take LOTS of pics and now that I'll be shooting in RAW, I'll need more space!!

So this is what I've spent for my camera so far:

Memory Card: $26

50mm f/1.8 lens: $108.00

A/V video cable: $10

CF to SD card converter: $16

Grand total: $160.00

Can you believe it?!! I've spent $160 and I now have everything that follows for my camera:

Canon Rebel XT 8.1 mp complete with Camera bag, Kit Lens, 50mm Lens, 2 batteries, a charger, a video cord, a 4gb CF memory card, a card reader, SD to CF converter, numerous SD cards.

I'm so excited!!! God is SOOO good to me!!  Can't wait to start bettering my photography skills!!

I think I'm gonna start praying for a MAC Laptop with Adobe CS5!!  Bring on the BHAP! :) (big hairy audacious prayers) and lets see what God wants to do!