Lisa Carpenter Photography

A Beautiful Little Girl Full Of Personality ~

A beautiful little girl, a gorgeous location and some 'play time' made for some great images!  We walked down paths, up hills and along the water for a good long while and had so much fun.  I wanted to share a few of my favorites.  This first one would be stunning on a big canvas;)

Thanks for visiting;)

~lisa

Southern Kids Fest Images

I am finally getting caught up after several sessions in a row and the Southern Kids Fest weekend.  I wanted to make sure that I got the images to Upstate Parent Magazine in time for a thank you ad they were running, but I also wanted to share a few here as well.  I know I have said this before, but it was a super fun weekend!

And the winner of the Costco Baby Crawl!!!

I was amazed at how long it took to set up this little 10'x10' area, but only took 25 minutes to take down:)

Ronald McDonald was a hit and this little boy was having a super time!

With over 280 images it is hard to just pull a handful, but posting them all would be too much in a blog post :)  I will have them up in a gallery within a few days for those of you asking to see more.
Have a super night!
~lisa

Southern Kids Fest

I can't believe it is Wednesday already!  It feels like I just took down my booth at the Kids Fest on Sunday.  The event was a blast and a big success.  So many kids and families showed up...both days there was a line at the door to get in as soon as it opened ;)  Thank you to all of you that stopped by and browsed through my booth.  For those of you that registered to win a free mini-session, I will be announcing the winner on Friday!! 

In addition to having a booth, I took pictures for Upstate Parent magazine and will be sharing those real soon.  I could not have made it through the weekend without the help of Sheila, a VERY generous client who is now a friend.  Sheila, you are awesome and I cannot tell you how much it meant to me to have you at my booth meeting everyone that stopped by when I had to go out to a bridal session or take the pictures of the event.  I owe you BIG TIME!  I also wanted to say thanks to Lori with Entertainment Publications for your creative ideas on my booth, what a difference it made to have your input;)

Have a super day and I will be back with recent sessions, images from the weekend and of course the winner of the mini-session. 

~lisa

p.s.  Have you ever had those days where you wondered "WHERE did all the socks go?!"...I never seem to be able to keep two of the same kind;)

Southern Kids Fest 2008

The Southern Kids Fest is going on Saturday, April 12th from 10 am - 6 pm & Sunday, April 13th from 12 noon - 5 pm at Carolina First Center.  I will have a booth there and I am looking forward to meeting many new families!  It's sure to be full of activities and excitement.  Stop on by and say "hello" ;)

Here is their brochure about the Kids Fest.  Come out and have some fun!

~lisa

Preparing For The Big Event!

The son of one of my clients is preparing for his Bar Mitzvah and I was asked to do his photo session for his headshots and the fun creative shots that will be diplayed at the big event.  We met at one of my favorite locations and other than a little too much wind, it was a perfect day.  I would like to share a few from that session that I love, but then again, I really love all of them :)  Their son was THE perfect subject as he really knew what he wanted for the creative shots and even shared a few ideas of his own, but also did great on the more traditional shots. 

Thank you for stopping by!

~lisa

Miscellaneous FUN stuff!

I just had to share some pictures I took of my studio samples for the jewelry line I am offering.  These pictures truly do not do these gorgeous pieces justice, but they do pretty well.  I will be making a catalog real soon, but in the meantime, here a few different items.  Two sterling necklace choices, a GORGEOUS sterling bracelet, and an impressive business card holder (perfect for dads!). 

When I said miscellaneous fun stuff...I truly meant it.  We now go to some super fun shots from a recent basketball game of one of my boys.  Love the expressions!

Have a GREAT day!

~lisa

Textures Can Really Make An Image Incredible!

I truly believe that my creative work happens in both the camera AND in Photoshop.  Taking an image to that 'next level' is part of what I LOVE to do!  That is where textures come into play.  Textures do have their place and time with images and I don't believe they should be used on every photo and definitely should not be overdone!  BUT, they can make an image so incredible and can give an ethereal effect that a select few just scream out "I want texture!".  Here are a few I would like to share to show just what can be done.

I will share more as I work with them.  Thanks for stopping by!

~lisa

One BEAUTIFUL Family!

I was so excited when I was asked to come photograph a family reunion for a client of mine!  We broke off into a few mini-sessions and then got everyone together for the 'grande' photos.  I had many favorites, it was hard to pick just a few to share.  Everyone was so much fun and ready for anything and time simply flew by! 

"To us, family means putting your arms around each other and being there. "
          ~Barbara Bush

~lisa

Victory & Defeat

"The ultimate aim of karate lies not in victory or defeat, but in the perfection of the character of its participants." ~ Gichin Funakoshi

Our first grappling tournament at Upstate Karate and what an amazing experience it was for both the kids AND the parents.  Upstate Karate is a SUPERB karate school located in Simpsonville, SC.  I was both impressed and surprised by the effort given by these kids and just how TOUGH the girls were!  Wow.  Learning to accept both victory and defeat gracefully is something that everyone should learn..but it is still tough to see the tears of one of your own when they are struggling with a loss.  Bravo to all the kids!

















As a photographer I fight between going for the shots I WANT vs. being respectful by not using flash during a tournament. Using flash would have made these POP, but I chose to be respectful and just deal with the not-so-perfect shots and just go for capturing the moments.  Thanks for letting me share...I have so many more to share but I should stop. haha.

~lisa

Beauty in the Simple Things

Isn't it funny what a little bit of spring fever will do?  I remember being in college in Illinois and we were all dreadfully tired of winter.  Then comes a few days of sun and slight warmth and everyone had renewed energy and campus came to life.  Well, we had a few sunny days with temperatures in the 60's and the kids and I developed our own spring fever.  We got home from school, got some grape juice, apples and Goldfish and sat out on the deck.  My youngest decided that he wanted to play photographer.  So he set off to take pictures of everything.  SOMEHOW they got the crazy idea to put clothespins in my hair and on my earrings.  Here is what my 7 year old took photos of...ME covered in clothespins.

Not too shabby for a 7 year old with a big SLR camera!  A little sun flare but I thought they came out great and so I wanted to share.  I soon asked to have the clothespins removed from my hair and it was quite a painful experience...so we started a crazy game of hide and go seek.  The next photo was my 8 year old saying "you can't catch me!" and the photo of that reminds me of "Here's Johnny!" from the Shining.  Too funny.

The point of this?  Remember to find the beauty in the simple things.  An afternoon sitting on the deck with my kids having clothespins put in my hair and a great game of hide-n-seek.  We laughed and burned some energy and found a funny but great way to connect.

Have a GREAT day!!

~lisa