Lucy Ann - Puyallup Newborn Photographer - {Melissa Ide Photography}

Lucy Ann-9 Days New-March 2011

I had an amazing time taking pictures of this beautiful, little girl.  



Puyallup Birth Photographer - {Melissa Ide Photography}

Sophia-June 2010

Good Samaritan Birth Center

Weighing in 7 Lbs. 7 Oz.

Proud daddy, first baby girl

Part One of ...

our road trip to Port Townsend, Washington.  Last Friday we took a drive toward Port Townsend, our goal, visit the beach at low tide.  This was going to be our daughter's first road trip while our boys were spending quality time with their grandma.  

Here are some images from the trip....

Before we left on our trip I decided to add one more friend for the road... Pookie.  Pookie is my giant teddy bear, he's a photo prop from Costco, and we kinda like him.  I thought it would be fun to bring Pookie along and pose him in different places that we stopped.  I think he will be making more trips with us in the future so keep watching to see where he turns up next. 

And you should have seen all of the looks that we received, they were awesome.  Many good times had on what turned out to be a beautiful Washington day.

Road Trip To...

the Finnriver Cidery in Chimacum, Washington, Friday early morning drive.  My husband gave me such a hard time on the drive over;  it looked as if we were going to leave the sunshine to go spend the day in the clouds.  I had the last laugh as the clouds burned off and we enjoyed a splendid day in the sun.  My post will be backwards, we started the day on the beach and those images will come soon.  First, I thought I'd share some of the pictures that I took as we toured the farm.

How did I pick this place?  It came up on an event calendar linked to our trip to the beach, so we decided to check it out.  Now, neither of us drink anymore so we wondered what we would do on the farm.  Apparently, we would take a guided tour of the fields with the farm dog, Pippin.  Pippin would wander ahead of us and lay down near the path.  When we would get close Pippin would get up and walk down to the next rest stop and wait.  I thought it was adorable.  Unfortunately, Pippin wandered off before I could get a picture, I guess more people stopped by for a tasting.      

The farm is beginning to grow things like Hops.

Finnriver is trying to rebuild the area around their creek and at each of these fish was an information board related to the land and their efforts to revitalize the area organically.

Some of the U-Pick blueberries that were not quite ready.

Beautiful bloom, very tiny tree.  Future orchard on the farm.

The main man crowing away.  He stood in front of us and flapped and crowed.  It was awesome.

Then he gave us the stare before he led the hens to the back of their pen.

We enjoyed our trip, Sophia saw her very first chickens and we enjoyed the quiet. 

Baby steps...

just for the business right now, my daughter is very close to her own soon.  I wanted to thank all of my family, friends, co-workers, and friends of friends for pushing my Facebook page over the 100 "Like" mark.  These truly are baby steps for my business and I appreciate every small move forward.

I am pleased to announce that I have a wedding booked for next summer, I know it's down the road but it is something to look forward to.  I am very excited to share in the wedding festivities and shoot such a wonderful event.  I can't wait to book more shoots around it.   

Today I took business cards to The Birthing Inn, in Tacoma, WA... they are the only freestanding birthing center in Tacoma.  I am hoping to move into the realm of labor and delivery photography, very excited about this as well.  Witnessing a birth is an amazing thing.  Please let friends and family know that I would love to book a labor/delivery shoot for a substantial discount, Contact Me for exact amount.  I would love for this shoot to be in July or early August, so email me soon.  Keep in mind that I'm in the South Hill, Puyallup area, so a close hospital would be ideal.  The recipient would receive a shoot beginning when she goes into active labor, all of the labor itself, and an hour post delivery.  My shoot would include pics of mother, family, birth itself, weighing, first bath, foot prints, and introduction to the world.  Tasteful images, within the realm of what mom feels comfortable with. 

I have started the process of finding a professional photo lab for prints.  In the past I shot only B&W film, processed and printed myself so this is a new thing for me.  Trust somebody else with my work and hope they make it look as fabulous as I do, scary.  This will also lead to a more standardized table of booking fees/packages that will be available for clients. 

Okay, off to have some dinner with the family.  Good night. 
Melissa

Shoot what you see...

so I took these around our yard before the rain flattened everything. 

Oh the weather....

in Washington makes us shoot indoors sometimes.  Today was one of those days... dry but ick.  Ugly, gray skies.  I dragged in the backdrop stand, cleaned off my Grammie's old table, and brought in a few flowers before the rain ruins them tomorrow.