The Best of 2013 | Violet Photography & Design Year in Review Part 2

A Thank You To You

In Part 1, I mentioned how I take photos to document your memories. However, when thinking about this post tonight, a realization came to me. Something I had never considered before, but now humbles me greatly to know. Just as I document your memories, you give me memories. There are so many sessions I do that I walk away with a huge grin on my face. When I go through your photos to make a gallery for you, I find myself smiling and laughing at moments during the shoot. And when I look back in a year, or even 2 there are always moments from each session that stick out strongly in my mind. Little ones who attach themselves to me right away during the shoot, and talk about me even after the shoot so that I get cute little messages about how X said this or A said that about you. Couples who mesh so well with my personality that they become lifelong clients and friends, we email one another on occasion and even send one another little notes or receive little phone calls. In many ways, many of my clients do more for me than I could ever truly describe. For that, I am tremendously thankful. Thank you for booking with me, for building friendships with me, sharing your children, and keeping this business flourishing.

The Best of 2013

 

Without further adieu, the very Best of 2013. I spent several days going through all of my posts from the year and the photographs from the year to find which were your favorites and which were most popular. I hope you enjoy my collection. Let me know if you think I missed something that should have made this list!

The Top 5 Photos on Facebook (based on likes)

First Place with 134 likes, is my 4th of July Inspired Shoot with Andrea.

One of my absolute favorites of the past year as well, considering the 4th is my hands-down

favorite holiday (followed closely by Christmas.)

Second Place with 94 likes is sweet Miss Abigail just 6 days young. Such a precious babe. Blog post on Abigail to come soon!

Third Place comes from Jessica & Adam’s Enchanted Barn Wedding,

definitely one of my favorite weddings of the entire year. If you missed their blog,

you need to check it out. It was such a beautiful celebration of love.

Fourth Place is Imani during her modeling shoot here in Eau Claire at Banbury Place.

Fifth Place is my photograph of the crowd at the Northern Wisconsin

State Fair during the Oak Ridge Boys’ Performance.

Top 5 Facebook Photos (based on comments)

First place with 45 comments was one of my games we played this past winter

with my 365 project where I asked you guys to guess what particular items were.

It never took long for you to figure things out. This is a meat tenderizer.

Second place was the same game with 30 guesses/comments.

This particular one is a swiffer duster done with a free lensing technique.

Third & Fourth Place are a tie. Imani makes a second appearance with 13 comments for

this High Key Black & White high fashion image her mother requested that I edit for her. It ties at

13 comments with a photo of me from my 365 project. I blush while I write this and

almost chose a different image in replacement but

wanted to make sure I was remaining honest. So here it is. :/ It took

me forever to share a self portrait, so I appreciated

all of the kind comments.

Fifth Place was also a surprise to me, but a photo of my Aunt Sandy & I who passed away this past fall

very suddenly. She was my mom’s fraternal twin. She is missed very much.

That is it for Facebook, leading to your favorite blog posts of the year. Some of the photos above that have blog posts, have been linked to so you can go check them out if you’d like. I’ve chosen the 5 top blog posts, the ones that have been looked at the most in 2013.

First Place: Jessica & Adam’s Enchanted Barn Wedding
Second Place: Favorite Free Fonts & How to Download Fonts
Third Place: Caitlin & Love Baby J Shoot
Fourth Place: Budget Wedding: Incorporating Fruits & Vegetables
Fifth Place: Budget Wedding Planning: The Dress

That’s not all the great stuff that happened this past year! I was also chosen by Love Baby J to photograph 2 of her Holiday Collection Dresses. I had complete artistic reign and was able to do whatever I liked. I started with Teslyn’s shoot, and we planned a gorgeous stylized session at her grandfather’s tree farm in Osseo. The shoot itself was months worth of planning, all taking place on a very frigid day the end of November. Teslyn beat the cold and did a fantastic job for me, I am so proud of her.

The second shoot was with Savannah at The Livery AKA The Cowtown Saloon in Eau Claire, WI. The day of the shoot, it was so cold here in Wisconsin that we were very thankful for the change of plans to shoot inside. As it was, the shoot almost got called off because Savannah’s mom had car trouble the morning of. We’re very thankful we were able to pull the shoot off because the resulting photos are something I am incredibly proud of. Watch for a blog post soon!

One of my photos was also given the honor of being published in a Child Model Magazine:

NYX Cosmetics featured my Fourth of July Inspired & Stylized Shoot for their fans to check out the makeup I created for Andrea. SUPER exciting, NYX is amazing!

I had the July Cover of Queen of the Castle Magazine, a local publication for women & celebrating the women of the Chippewa Valley. An honor I have had 3 years in a row.

 

Last, but most certainly not least, I hired my very first employee this year. Kelsey Jonas will be joining me on my business adventure this year, as my second shooter at several 2014 weddings. Kelsey & I got together for a little photo shoot and coffee to chat about our mutual goals, and I have a little photo journey & question/answer adventure to take you guys on, coming soon. Kelsey, I am so lucky and excited to have you. Thank you for coming along on this journey with me, I hope to be an exemplary employer and have you along for a long time!

In 2013, So many wonderful things happened for Violet Photography & Design. It was such a wonderful, blessed year. So much so that I know that 2014 can only be better. I am so sure that it is going to be a fantastic year. I hope you enjoyed this post of the highlights of my year. I’m like the person who leaves their house panicking they left something on right now, afraid I forgot some monumental happening. For now, I am going to say I haven’t. I hope you enjoyed this post and that you are looking forward to 2014 as much as I am!

IF YOU ENJOYED THIS POST, CHECK OUT:

Year in Review Part 1

New Second Photographer