chantal stone photography: the blog

My NEW BLOG Is Now LIVE!!

chantal — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:57:21 +0000

Hey Everyone!

My new BLOG is now LIVE and open for business. So please hop on over to say hello!

The new address is: www.chantalstone.com

There are a lot of new features I’m excited about, including a photo gallery and a FAQ page. This blog will remain for archival purposes, but all new posts will be on chantalstone.com. Please take a moment to Bookmark my new blog, and I’ll see you there!

Thanks for your patience…

~Chantal

Coming soon…

chantal — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:45:29 +0000

There’s a reason for the lack of updates, I promise!

I’m in the process of building a new blog… I know, I know, it will be my 4th new blog in 3 years, but as I evolve as a person and photographer, and as my business changes and grows, so do my needs. And unfortunately this new WordPress update just isn’t working for me. I’ve actually been considering making a switch for a while now, and this new update was the nail in the coffin.

So please bear with me during this transition. I’m really excited about my new blog home and I think it will serve me well as my photo-business and I continue to evolve and grow! I will post a link to the New Blog in just a few days, as soon as I iron out a few odds and ends….

Thanks for your patience!!

~Chantal

Baby Tribbie: 18 weeks (Mother’s Day edition!)

chantal — Sun, 11 May 2008 15:35:37 +0000

Happy Mother’s Day to all of the fabulous Mom’s out there…and especially to all of the Moms-to-be, including one of my favorite Moms-to-be, Jennifer Tribbie!!

As a mother of three, today is such a special day, even though, really, EVERY day is Mother’s Day, and it should be. Being a Mother is the hardest, most challenging, most stressful job that is also equally the BEST, most rewarding, most satisfying job in the world…I couldn’t imagine my life without Sharif, Chanel, and Cherie in it…they totally make me who I am today!

I’m a little late with posting this, but as of LAST week, Jennifer was 18 weeks along. Her baby is about 8 inches long now, and weighs about 7 ounces. And at this point, Baby Tribbie’s tiny fingerprints are forming! So cute!

Yesterday I also had the privilege of spending a few hours with both Jennifer and Tim for a relaxed photo session, stay tuned for some of those pictures coming soon!

See Jennifer’s baby grow:
Baby Tribbie – 10 weeks
Baby Tribbie – 14 weeks

Happy Mother’s Mom!

Email Issues..

chantal — Sat, 10 May 2008 19:56:45 +0000

If anyone has tried to email me during the last couple of days, I did not receive it! My email was down for a few days, but it appears to now be up and running. I’m not exactly sure how long it was down, I think maybe since Tuesday or Wednesday. I have 3 or 4 email addresses all going to the same place so since I was so busy this week I really didn’t notice the decrease of emails in my collective Inbox until yesterday!

So again, if you tried to reach me via chantal@chantalstonephotography.com, info@ chantalstonephotography.com, or if you made a New Client Inquiry from my website, please email me again…I promise I’m not ignoring you

If you think your email is still not reaching me, please try chantalstonephotography@gmail.com.

Thanks, and I apologize for any inconvenience!

SoFoBoMo: A Day At The Beach

chantal — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:03:07 +0000

One of the things we did while in Georgia last month visiting my husband’s family, was go to Tybee Island. It was just me and the kids and their little cousin for the afternoon. We only had a little while because the clouds were darkening, and after about 90 minutes or so, it began to rain, but the kids had a great time. Shamon was back in Savannah with his cousin, but there was no way I could be that close to the ocean and not see it.

Below is Cherie with her cousin, Aaliyah. The water was freezing but that didn’t stop anyone (besides me) from getting in it. And it was a treat for the kids to come back to cold Ohio and tell their friends about their day at the beach.

**Note: I’ve been such a bad blogger lately! I really wanted to try to post every day for the month of May, but I had a few days that just got the better of me. Let’s see if I can get a good 30-day post stretch going starting now! Believe me it’s not been for lack of material…if anything I’m almost overwhelmed with all that I want to share! So with a little discipline and a more regular sleep pattern, hopefully, I can be better about the posts. I’ve had some incredible photo sessions over the last couple weeks, and two more scheduled for this weekend that I’m super excited for! Plus I will be posting my finished SOFOBOMO book very soon! Stay tuned!

Handmade Plantable Wedding Invitations!

chantal — Mon, 05 May 2008 04:20:53 +0000

Have I mentioned before that I LOVE my clients?!? I think that what helps to make great Wedding photography is to have a great relationship with your clients, and I am so happy to say that I LOVE them! It’s such a huge honor to part of their day, to be trusted with their memories. I take my job very seriously, and by investing in the relationship, it makes documenting their Wedding that much more important to me personally. Good or bad, the personal investment I have in my clients is what I love about my job, and they seem to like it too!

So how excited was I to receive an invitation in the mail to one of the Weddings I am photographing next month?!? I was ecstatic! Natalie & Michael are getting married soon and they sent me an invitation!! I have been looking forward to this wedding since our fantabulous engagement session last year, so to receive an invitation makes me feel like so much more than just a vendor, it makes me feel like a friend and I am so honored to spend the day with them!

But not only was the fact that sent me an invitation so great, the actual invitation is the most amazing thing! They purchased their invitations from Botanical Paperworks, a company that makes stationary that is “plantable paper”. The papers are made with post-consumer waste and has real seeds in the paper, so that once you’re finished, you can PLANT THE PAPER and grow real flowers! Isn’t that cool?!?

I know there are plenty of people who are looking for GREEN alternatives when planning their Weddings, so I thought this was a fantastic idea and I wanted to pass it along!

Also: Notice the stamp on the envelope? Another great idea for engagement photos. Make your own stamps at Stamps.com!

Thanks Natalie

Erin & Rick: Engagement

chantal — Sun, 04 May 2008 04:18:02 +0000

(Whew! I’m getting this post in just in time…I really want to post every day this month!)

I love to shoot engagement sessions. They are so much fun and serve two very important purposes: 1) They provide the opportunity for me and my clients to get to know one another, and for them to learn to relax in front of my camera and become accustomed to my shooting style. This way, they’re totally natural and relaxed on their Wedding day, which is most important; and 2) the couple gets a bunch of awesome, relaxed photos of themselves that they will enjoy for a lifetime! It’s win-win!

But this engagement session with Erin & Rick served a 3rd purpose: it allowed my husband (my assistant for the day) and I to hang out with our good friend Rick, and to finally meet and get to know his beautiful fiancee, Erin! Rick is a member of our church and we’ve known him for a few years, and we’re so excited to welcome Erin into our extended church family…they are a truly wonderful and blessed couple!

Our photo session was a couple of weeks ago, and it was a typical cool and rainy April afternoon in Central Ohio. We shot a little bit indoors, but then thankfully it stopped raining long enough to shoot outside for just a little while. Indoors or out, rain or shine, it was impossible to take bad photos of this couple! The love they have for each other is so evident! And it just illuminates each and every photo. Take a look at a few of my favs:

Erin and Rick were not shy about kissing and being affectionate, but Rick’s son, who came along for the shoot, wasn’t very happy about it. I love this little sequence:

The Loving family:

A natural model (who LOVED the camera!):

To Erin & Rick:

Shamon and I had so much fun you both! Thank you so much for allowing us to spend some quality time with you all, I can’t wait for your Wedding in just a few weeks!!

~Chantal xoxo

14 Years!

chantal — Fri, 02 May 2008 15:14:19 +0000

Today is my 14th Wedding anniversary! 14 years ago I married the man of my dreams, my Prince Charming. I can’t believe how quickly the time has passed! I guess it’s true that time flies when you’re having fun. I can’t imagine what my life would have been without Shamon in it. He has made all of my dreams come true, and as quick as I can dream up new ones, he’s right there to make them happen!

I’m happy today, knowing that the man I have spent my entire adult life with is also be the man who will be pushing me in a wheel chair when I’m an old lady (or vice versa if he keeps playing basketball on that bad knee!!). But I’m sad that I can’t be with him today. At least I have a lifetime of memories to fill my heart, and three beautiful children who represent the best of him and I together.

Happy Anniversary Shamon, I LOVE YOU!! xoxoxooxoxoxoox

Below is a photo of Shamon playing his saxophone. He began playing saxophone when he was just a kid, and played all through high school. Once he graduated, he put his sax down, but his love and passion for music only grew stronger. I always knew he was meant to be a musician, and I was so happy that he decided to pick up his old sax again and relearn his first love. But he didn’t play like someone who hadn’t touched the instrument in nearly 17 years…he’s SO GOOD! The melodies that came from that horn after only hours of playing for the first time in nearly two decades were astonishing. And after a year of practicing while in Iraq, I expect a full serenade when he comes home again, days before our 15th anniversary

SoFoBoMo: The Editing Process

chantal — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:01:40 +0000

Now that my 30-day shooting period has ended, I’m in the process of editing all of my images, and deciding which ones to put together in the book. There are two directions I’m considering: letting the book have a family-album feel, or more of a documentary feel. I suppose once I choose the 35+ images for the final book, they will dictate the outcome. Just the process of sifting through the several hundred pictures I took during the month of April is a journey unto itself.

The official SoFoBoMo website is now up and running, and once I finish my book, it will be posted there for viewing. See what other participants have completed so far!: SoFoBoMo.org

Below is from our trip to Georgia. We stopped several times along the way, and here we are having a roadside picnic…

The Long Year Begins

chantal — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 11:53:52 +0000

Today my husband departs for his year long tour; first a period of training followed by nearly a year serving with the Ohio National Guard in Iraq. We’ve been preparing for this deployment (his 2nd in 3 yrs) for several months now, and now that it’s begun, we can look forward to it ending.

For the last 3 weeks, my husband was on vacation, spending time at home with me and our three kids. And since I’ve been so focused on being with him, with the exception of a few incredible photo shoots, I haven’t really been working. Now that he’s gone, it’s time to dive in head first, and keep myself busy with work & kids, to help make the time go faster. And I have about 85 million images to edit and process to help pass the time!

So for the next month, I will try to post to this blog every day… I definitely have enough material! For the next month you can expect to see:

some fabulous couples striking a pose for their Engagement photo shoots
an incredible Wedding
a fun family photo session
a spectacular Senior session
photos of my kids (from dance recitals & track meets)

and of course…

images from my SOFOBOMO project, including the final book

Now it’s time for coffee before I get busy!