Hi I am Courtney Townsend, a sophomore at Grand View University majoring in Mass Communications with an emphasis in Photography.  Recently I have been interning with Barber Photography as a photo assistant.  Before coming to Barber Photography I did not really have any expectations of what it would be like to work as a photo assistant.

Of course I figured there would be lots of photography involved and spending time with clients.  However, these past few weeks have shown me that there is more to just taking pictures when owning your own studio.  I have learned that there is a lot of financial planning involved that I had never considered before.  Deciding prices for photo packages was an eye opener for me because I had never thought about everything that goes in to creating a package.  Things such as ribbon, boxes, shipping, and the time to create the order are just a few details I never thought about including in your price package.

Also I had never stopped to think about what all takes place behind the scenes.  I have been helping out with the Senior Spokesmodel campaign.  A new program Barber Photography is creating to photograph Juniors so they can show their Senior photos to their classmates before school gets out. I have learned that there is a lot involved in a new marketing campaign.   It has been a lot of fun brainstorming with Kevin and Kindra and coming up with ideas on how to market the Senior Spokesmodel campaign.  I never really knew how much planning goes into marketing to get prospective buyers into a photography studio.

So far it has been a great experience learning all these new aspects about a photography studio.  I am excited for the months to come which include Grins and Giggles sessions, planning sessions with clients, and seeing more of the photography aspects of a studio as well.

Kevin and I will be welcoming a “photographer-in-training” to our studio in September.  Jackie, Kevin’s mom, has told us that she thinks we’ll probably document every moment of our baby’s life.  I think she might be right!

A lot of you probably remember us talking about Charlotte.  She is almost 2 years old and is in our Grins and Giggles Club and we’ve really enjoyed getting to know her over that time.  Charlotte’s mom, Sarah, is a very talented graphic designer.  She is a professor at Drake University and she also makes beautiful cards.  She uses letterpress to print all her cards which makes an indentation on the page where the ink is.  It has a very elegant look to it.  We love Sarah’s design style.

This weekend, Sarah had a trunk show of her cards at Ephemera Design Studio in Des Moines’ East Village.  Sarah prints really beautiful birth announcements, wedding invites and some great everyday cards.  I ended up buying a pack of cards with a strawberry plant on the front.  I thought they were great for any occasion I could write to someone.

I love this birth announcement for little boys with the plane on it.  So cute!

I love this polka dot card.

If you are looking for unique announcements or invites, check out Sarah’s Etsy site.  She can also design custom cards for anything you’d like.

Last week, Courtney, our photographic assistant, and I headed to the Botanical Center so she could learn more about our cameras and posing.  Kevin had bought me a Shootsac for Christmas and I had been wanting to get some photos with it for a while.  Shootsac is a type of camera bag that is fashionable but durable and contours to your body.  I have loved using mine over the past couple of months.  Kevin definitely has had a lot of good ideas of me for Christmas the past couple of years and I think I’ll really have to ponder what I get him this year.  I had wanted a Shootsac for over a year and had hardly mentioned it in that time and he just came up with the idea on his own.  I loved that he picked up on that it was something I really wanted.

The Shootsacs have different covers you can choose so your Shootsac can fit your personality.  I love the embellished cover I chose and I feel like it describes my style well.  I’m always drawn to these type of patterns and tend to wear clothing with fun patterns.

Kevin and were really happy to see Courtney’s potential through these photos.  I had a fun day with Courtney and we’re are looking forward to what other photos she’ll create in the future.

Kevin and I decorated our Christmas tree over the weekend.  It is interesting how Christmas trees become a history book for your family and all the fun memories you’ve had over the years.

Kevin proposed to me at Christmas time.  He asked me to go Christmas tree shopping with him and after we put the tree up, he proposed.  One of our friends at the Christmas tree farm had cut off the bottom of our tree and wrote on it.  It is one of my favorite ornaments every year because of the sweet memories of that day.

We love this ornament because it’s very pretty but also because it celebrates the birth of Jesus and the wonderful gift His life on earth has brought to so many people.

This is not one of our most pretty ornaments.  Kevin and I were both born in the same year and our mothers both just happened to buy the same ornament to remember it.

This ornament signified Kevin and mine’s first Christmas together as a married couple.

I think this brand of ornaments is the cutest ones on the market.  I love them.

We call this the Jingle Bell.  It spins like a Disco Ball.  It’s a lot of fun.

As we decorated the tree, we broke two ornaments by mistake.  This one was only broken a little on the back but Kevin wanted to document Frosty breaking entirely.  He took this with only one photo.  I’m glad the snowman didn’t have any sentimental value.

We hope as you decorate your Christmas tree with your family, you have fun reminiscing also.  I’m looking forward to looking at our tree in 5 or 10 years and seeing how many other memories hang from our tree.