Amy Foltz Photography

Jonah's first year {Clinton, Indiana baby photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Tue, 29 May 2012 12:34:00 +0000

Since Jonah is my last baby, I fully expected to be really, really sad when he turned one. I LOVE babies, and my own just happen to be the most awesome babies ever, so I thought I'd be sad to know that we're done and on to toddlerhood (yes, I made that word up) with our last. I thought I'd be sad about how the year flew by and all "where did the time go?" and all that. But you know what? I'm not sad. I guess since we knew he'd be the last, we made a very concentrated effort to really enjoy him being a baby. And we did, and so honestly, it doesn't feel like it flew by. We feel ready for him to be a toddler...ready for the next stage of life. By the time be buy a house (hopefully next year) we'll be done with baby gates, cribs, maybe even diapers (not counting on that one though). It's a good feeling.

Anyway....Jonah is an awesome little guy! I'm so glad he's ours. God knew exactly the little person we needed to complete our family. I'm so excited to see the kind of kid he grows into and, eventually, the kind of man he is.

If you want to see the first half of his first year, click here: six months of Jonah. Here's the last six months of little moments and total cuteness:

Erin - sweet 16 {Clinton, Indiana photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Fri, 25 May 2012 02:24:00 +0000

This is my niece Erin...I can't believe she's 16 already! We've been planning this photoshoot for quite a while but had to reschedule a few times due to weather, so I was glad we finally got it done in time for me to order her book for her party. I designed a super cute book for her friends to sign at her party and I can't wait for her to see it!

All these photos were done in Clinton. I tend to shoot more in Terre Haute, but decided to break out of my comfort zone and find some new spots.

You can see more of her photos on my facebook page. Make sure to click "like" while you're there and leave some comments - you know how much teenage girls like comments!

happy birthday to Jonah {Terre Haute, Indiana baby photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:41:00 +0000

My baby boy is ONE! We took him out last week for his official one-year photo shoot. I always underestimate how hard it will be to take photos of my own kids. Other people's kids are SO much easier - probably because I'm not also trying to watch three others. Even with my husband there to help, it's HARD!

Even though I didn't get all the shots I wanted, I think these photos totally show his personality right now. He's happy and oh so curious. He's not at all interested in sitting still now that he's learned to walk, and nothing holds his interest for more than 3 seconds - unless it's something he's not supposed to have! He's a sweet boy who already gives great hugs and it just melts my heart when he says mama. Actually, it's more like "mamamamamamamamama." Such a sweetie!

I had to include a few from his party too. He made a delightful mess with that cake!

Miranda and Bennett {Terre Haute, Indiana wedding photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:10:00 +0000

Miranda and Bennett's wedding was so beautiful! It was the kind of wedding where you could just feel the love and it was so perfect! Miranda was such a beautiful bride!

They chose to do a first look at St. Mary's. It was a beautiful moment and I'm so glad they had those few minutes alone before the day got away from us.

This was the funnest bridal party I've ever photographed.

You can see LOTS more photos from this wedding on my facebook page. To contact me about photographing your wedding, click here.

sneak peek for Miranda and Bennett {Terre Haute, Indiana wedding photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Mon, 14 May 2012 21:26:00 +0000

This was an AMAZING wedding! No time to write more now, I want to get back to work editing so I can share more! Watch for more later this week here, or on my facebook page.

our "honeymoon"

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Tue, 08 May 2012 16:22:00 +0000

When Daniel and I got married (almost 10 years ago) we didn't get to take a honeymoon. Even if we had been able to afford a trip, neither one of us had vacation time to use anyway. So we thought we'd take a trip for our first anniversary, but I got pregnant 6 months later and all our time and money went into working on our house. So, 10 years later, we had still never been on a trip alone. We decided the 15th anniversary of when we started dating would be a good time to celebrate, so we took a little 3-day trip to Chicago and Indiana Dunes.

If you read this post then you know how important I think it is to take tons of photos of everything. I didn't want to lug around my big camera, so I took my little point and shoot (a Nikon p300 if anyone is interested) and while the image quality is obviously not as good as what I would get from my DSLR, I'm still pretty happy with them and so glad we took so many photos!

This is kind of picture overload, but there were SO many that I liked, plus I recently had a client ask why there were no photos of my husband on the blog so I thought I'd share a few.

first look {Terre Haute IN wedding photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Tue, 08 May 2012 11:04:00 +0000

I LOVE it when couples choose to do a first look before their weddings! Check out these photos from Kailee and Kyle's first look and then I'll give you the reasons why it's a GREAT idea!

Ok, reason #1: It gives the bride and groom a chance to just be together for a few minutes. Weddings are hectic and crazy and I've seen weddings where the couple didn't get a moment alone all day. Since the day is all about them, I think that's a little sad!

#2: All brides want that special moment when the groom sees them for the first time in the wedding gown. With a first look, you get that special moment all to yourself without hundreds of eyes on you.

#3: It really helps to calm the nerves. Some couples get super nervous before the ceremony, and seeing each other before makes it a lot easier!

#4: It make the day go a LOT smoother! You can get almost ALL of the photos done before the ceremony (all except maybe a few family shots) so you can go straight from the ceremony to the reception without waiting for the photos. This also gives you more time for the photos so you can relax and not feel so rushed! Who wants to be rushed on her wedding day?

If you love the idea, talk to me about how we can make your first look special! Kailee and Kyle chose to do theirs at the bar they hung out at together during college. It was the perfect place because it was special to them.

Of course, some couples don't like the idea and that's perfectly fine! It's YOUR day, so do what makes you happy! We'll adjust the schedule and make it work for you!

If you want more information about my wedding photography, click here, or click here to contact me! You can see more photos from this wedding on my facebook page.

sneak peek for Kailee and Kyle {Terre Haute IN wedding photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Tue, 01 May 2012 10:38:00 +0000

Here's a little sneak peek for Kailee and Kyle. It was an amazing wedding and I'll share more next week when I'm finished editing!

sneak peek for Danielle and Jay {Terre Haute engagement and wedding photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Tue, 01 May 2012 10:26:00 +0000

I met up with Danielle and Jay (and sweet little Tinsleigh) at Fowler Park on Sunday for their engagement/family session. They are such a cute couple and I'm so excited for their wedding in September! And Tinsleigh....well, she almost has me wishing I could have another baby! She is ADORABLE and has the best little laugh! She'll be such a cute little flower girl!

my little bookworm {Clinton IN photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 17:05:00 +0000

My daughter Abbie is in kindergarten and is becoming such a good little reader! She spends so much time reading and writing that I couldn't resist doing a little nerdy photoshoot with her.

Hop on Pop was the first real book she read on her own and she was SO proud of herself, so I had to get a shot with that one!

Keith, Kaleb, and Kylie {Terre Haute child photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:47:00 +0000

This was my second session with these awesome kids. They are sweet, polite and SO much fun!

Brady {Terre Haute child photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 16:43:00 +0000

Brady is such a cute little guy and SO smart! I brought these wood blocks for him to play with and he knew all the letters, and he's only TWO! I'm super impressed! And I just love his sweet little smile!

Get your camera out. Just do it. {Clinton IN photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 13:35:00 +0000

I've been spending some time lately looking through our scrapbooks and photobooks (see this post) and, surprisingly, my absolute favorite of them all is our family album from 2008. It's surprising because 2008 was the worst year of my life. I'm talking bankruptcy and foreclosure bad. I don't usually talk about that because it's so personal, but I want you to understand how bad the year was. We thought we'd live in that house forever. We (and our families) put SO much work into it. And we screwed up. So it was a really bad year. Oh, and in the middle of all that we found out I was pregnant with baby #3 (Jack). As excited as we were and as much as we love him, it still added a LOT of stress to what was already a bad year. Yes, I know many, many people have way bigger problems than money, and I know we are SO blessed to have our happy, healthy kids and a great marriage. But it was still hard to go through. Really hard. And it's still hard and we're still dealing with consequences of that even though we're in better financial shape now.

But you know what? When I look back at our photos from that year, I don't see any of that. I see love. I see joy. I see hope. Not because I staged the photos - most of them are snapshots. Not because I only chose the happy photos for the book - they're ALL in there. I took the photos and made the scrapbook because I needed something to distract me that year. I didn't think about how much I'd appreciate it later. I just needed something to do. I'm SO glad I did. Looking at them now helps me remember what's really important....it's not where we live (and I really needed that little reminder last week), it's not how much money we have or don't have, it's not about the places we go. It's all about love and finding joy in the little moments. It's about giving our kids happy memories. It's about teaching them about God (by our words AND our actions). It's about sticking together no matter what.

If I had decided that the year was so bad I didn't want to remember it, if I had put the camera away to wait to "happier times", then I wouldn't have these photos. I wouldn't have the reminder to find joy in each other and in God and not in our circumstances. Without those photos, I might remember 2008 as "the year I lost everything" instead of "the year I learned so much."

The point of this post is NOT to tell you that you need to schedule a family photo shoot ASAP or you'll regret it for the rest of your life. I'd LOVE to hear from you if you'd like to (click here to contact me) but that's not the point of this post. The point is this: TAKE PICTURES!!!! If you have a camera, get it out and just do it! If you don't have one, get one! Learn to use it. Drive your kids crazy with the thing. Bribe them if you have to. Just do it! Even if you're having a bad day, or week, or year. Just do it.

You don't have to have a big expensive camera to take great shots of your kids. Yes, I use a professional camera for sessions and sometimes around the house too, but this year I bought a little point and shoot (a Nikon p300) and I love it! I take it everywhere and it saves me from lugging the big one around all the time and worrying about losing or breaking my work camera. So get a camera and learn to use it well. There are TONS of websites out there if you're interested in learning more.

There is one thing I regret about our photos from that year: there are very few photos of me. Since I'm always the one taking the pictures, I'm rarely in them. I'm trying to get better about handing off the camera sometimes!

If you're convinced that you need more photos but need a little jump start, think about scheduling a storyteller photo session. You can read all about them here. Or if you haven't had a session in the past few years, you might want a lifestyle session, or maybe a combination of the two. But even if you never schedule a session, please remember to get your camera out! Even if the photos are not perfect, you'll still love them!

sneak peek for Melissa and Jay {Terre Haute IN wedding and engagement photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 11:46:00 +0000

I had a great time with Melissa and Jay yesterday in Terre Haute. We started at Deming Park, then over to Dobbs Park and then downtown around Indiana Theater and St. Ben's. They are such a fun couple and I'm so excited for their wedding coming up in July!

Spring mini sessions {Terre Haute child photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:36:00 +0000

Spring mini sessions are this Saturday (April 14) at Deming Park in Terre Haute. The session fee for this is $165 for 45-minute session with 15-20 edited images on CD and a super cute little album! I'll supply lots of bubbles, a wagon, trike, balls, sidewalk chalk, and maybe some balloons if it's not too windy. You bring your kids, their favorite toys or books, bright and colorful clothes and be ready for some FUN!

Click here to contact me for more details or to book your session!

Alyssa - 2012 senior {Terre Haute IN senior photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 18:06:00 +0000

I had such a great time shooting Alyssa's senior photos last week! She was SO much fun, and brought along her sister and a friend, which is always more fun. Isn't her prom dress the coolest?!?! I loved it!

We started the session at Deming Park in Terre Haute and then went downtown and shot some around Indiana Theater. I had told her we were done, then we walked by this alley and we just had to stop. The light was absolutely perfect. This was shot with no flash, no reflector...just really good light.

I love this series. It's just so fun!

Since her sister Katie was with her, we did a few of them together. Aren't they cute? Sisters are so awesome. I don't know what I'd do without mine.

By the way, I also shot Katie's senior photos a couple of years ago. You can see them here. To see more of this session, check out my facebook page. Click "like" while you're there! If you're wanting to schedule your senior photos, click here to contact me. It's not too late for 2012 seniors! You'll have your images a week after your session and the lab I refer you to will have your prints to you in a just a couple of days. So you can have prints in hand 10 days after your session!

Hello, Spring! {Terre Haute child lifestyle photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:18:00 +0000

I am SO happy that spring is finally here! It was a fairly mild winter here in Indiana, but I was just so tired of the brown and grey and just yuck everywhere. So happy to see some COLOR now! I took my kids out last week for some photos and got some that I just love. I'll share more later, but here are my favorites of Jack. He is at such a great age right now (3) and he's just SO much fun and SO sweet (and kind of grumpy sometimes)! His personality is captured perfectly in these photos!

Don't forget about my spring mini sessions coming up on April 14th! I still have openings, so click here to see details, then click here to contact me to schedule your session! I still have a couple of Saturdays open in April and May for full sessions as well, so if you're interested in one, contact me soon to set it up!

photo storage/display ideas {Terre Haute IN lifestyle photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 03:30:00 +0000

I get lots of questions about how to display and store photos so I thought I'd share what I do. First of all, we live in a smallish rental house with plaster walls. So not only are we limited on wall space, we're also limited on where we can hang things (because it's SO hard to get nails in these walls we've pretty much stuck with hanging things where there were already nails from previous renters). So, I do have photos on our walls, but not as many as I would like. Here are a few photos of my living room walls:

Nothing too original, but that's what I have right now. In the dining room, we have photos on shelves and the walls, and I also made a border with photos. The "border" is actually covering up a sloppy paint job that the last renters did and I didn't know about until I took down the ugly border that was up. I couldn't find a new border I liked, so I made my own. It's just a bunch of 4x6s and 5x7s glued up randomly around the top of the wall. I had to try a few different glues to get them to stick to our rough walls, and in the end, tacky craft glue (then kind in the bronze-ish colored bottle) worked best. All the photos from the border are from our covered bridge summer.

And of course, the kids like their art to be displayed too. Our fridge door is full of random pictures and school papers, but their favorites usually go on a display we made with two curtain rods and some drapery clips.

I have a lot more ideas I've found online but don't have the space for right now. Here's a link to my pinterest board if you need some more creative ideas.

So, obviously I take a TON of photos and can't possibly fit all my favorites on the wall but don't want them to just sit on my computer forever either. I used to do traditional scrapbooks...you know, with actual paper and glue and page protectors and all that. When we downsized to a smaller house, I had no space to keep all those supplies so I switched to digital and I LOVE it! Each kid gets their own scrapbook for each year (although I think I might start printing them every two years now). I design them all in photoshop (mostly using freebies I find at craftcrave) and print them at Blurb. It's SO much cheaper than regular scrapbooking, and even cheaper than printing each photo and buying albums. I love that they're all the same size but I can customize the covers however I want. Here are a couple of pages from Jack's first year scrapbook.

The plan is for the kids to take their scrapbooks with them when they get married, so I also make us a family album each year too. The family albums are not "scrapbooks" - there's not patterned paper or cute embelishments, just the pictures and sometimes words, depending on my mood when I design them. Sometimes the covers are a photo, sometimes I pick a pattern from my scrapbooking stuff. The layouts are pretty simple. Blurb has a ton of page layouts to use, or it's super easy to make your own (and you don't have to be a pro to use them...it's super easy!). So, this is how I fit roughly 2,500 pictures per year in about 4 or so inches of shelf space. Last year I made 4 family books - 3 for just regular everyday photos plus the kids' photoshoots, and another for our trip to Tennessee.

The books are just like the books my clients get for sessions, they're just bigger (8x10 instead of 7x7). They can print up to 420 pages, but I recommend staying under 300 or so. I have a couple that are at the upper page limit and the binding doesn't seem as sturdy on those.

Another really cool thing about Blurb is that they now offer iBooks versions of the photobooks. I like to have the actual books, and the kids like to look through them, but my husband prefers to look at them on his iPad. Right now, this is only available for iphone, ipad and ipod, but I've heard that Blurb is working to make it available for Android in the future too.

One more thing I do with my photos: make sure my files are backed up! I once had a hard drive crash when my daughter was a week old. I hadn't backed up her photos yet, so other than the few that I had already printed, I lost all the photos from her first week. I cried and cried, and even thinking about it now makes me super sad. So now I burn 2 DVDs of all photos plus upload them to www. unitprints.com once a month. I keep the second copy of the DVD at my dad's house in case we have a fire or flood.

more of the Marren family {Terre Haute lifestyle family photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 18:19:00 +0000

Here are a few more of my favorites from Olivia's newborn/family session! You can see the full session on my facebook page!

Little Miss Ellie {Paris, IN newborn photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:26:00 +0000

I photographed tiny little Miss Ellie yesterday, on her due date! She arrived a bit earlier than expected 4 weeks ago and her mommy and daddy are so obviously in love with this little sweetheart!

I love doing more relaxed newborn sessions - no stressing about whether or not the baby will sleep, not trying to get just the right pose - just lots of cuddles and laughter. These are the moments you'll want to remember, so that's what I try to capture.

Hayden and Zach, congratulations on your little miracle! She's such a sweetheart!

win a free spring mini session! {Terre Haute IN photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 17:09:00 +0000

Spring mini sessions are coming up on April 14th! The session fee for this is $165 for 45-minute session with 15-20 edited images on CD and a super cute little album! I'll supply lots of bubbles, a wagon, trike, balls, sidewalk chalk, and maybe some balloons if it's not too windy. You bring your kids, their favorite toys or books, bright and colorful clothes and be ready for some FUN! If there's enough interest, I'll also open up May 18 for mini sessions.

Click here to contact me for more details or to book your session!

And here's your chance to win a FREE mini session!

Olivia's sneak peek {Terre Haute, IN newborn photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 18:36:00 +0000

I was so excited to spend some time with the Marren family this week. Not only are Tim and Lianna two of my best friends, but I also got to cuddle with (and photograph) their newest little princess, Olivia Marie. Isn't she just the cutest little sweetheart? She looks SO much like her big sister (you can see Adrianna's newborn session here and here). Click here to see more from this session on my facebook page. "Like" the page while you're there and you'll be the first to see new photos and learn about special deals.

sneak peek for the Good family {Paris, IL family photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 02:33:00 +0000

I met the Good family last year at Bayah's newborn session and I was SO excited to see them again last week for her 6-month session. She is SUCH a cute and sweet little girl! They are such a sweet family and I'm already excited to have another session with them when Bayah turns one!

spring mini sessions {Terre Haute IN child photographer}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:38:00 +0000

Are you as ready for spring as I am??? While this winter has been pretty mild here in Indiana, and I'm certainly not complaining about that, but I'm just so ready for some COLOR!

I'm planning spring mini sessions on April 14 at either Deming or Fowler Park in Terre Haute. I might even split the day up and do one park in the morning and one in the afternoon. The session fee for this is $165 for 45-minute session with 15-20 edited images on CD and a super cute little album! I'll supply lots of bubbles, a wagon, trike, balls, sidewalk chalk, and maybe some balloons if it's not too windy. You bring your kids, their favorite toys or books, bright and colorful clothes and be ready for some FUN!

Click here to contact me for more details or to book your session!

sneak peek for Hillary {Terre Haute IN senior photos}

noreply@blogger.com (Amy Foltz) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:00:00 +0000

When Hillary's mom called me in January to schedule her senior session, I though "wow, it's going to be COLD!" Then we had some really nice weather and I thought we'd be ok but it ended up being about 25 degrees and windy for her session on Saturday. She was a trooper though and you can't even tell how cold she was! Here are a couple from her session, and you can see more on my facebook page. Click "like" while you're there to see new photos and news about special deals in your newsfeed!