what better day than today to finally post photos from my 40th fiesta (two years ago!) than on cinco de mayo!  it was so wonderful to be surrounded by so many friends and family on my 40th.  special thanks to anna paschal for these amazing photos!  thank you to leigh pearce for helping with the event and carla white for making me so glam!

we finally firmed up all of our RV cross country travel plans today.  i can’t believe that we will be RVing it for over a month this summer in bessie, our winnebago.  my husband and my daughter are leaving this weekend for some father/daughter bonding as they make the first trek across the country together.  ryder and i are meeting up with them in oregon for a month long RV adventure back to nc.  i have a few spots open for portrait sessions along the way.  if you live along my route and want to meet up for a shoot then please email me at sara@whiteboxphoto.com.

my other exciting news is that i am starting a travel blog to document our adventures!  i hope to have it up and running next week sometime, so stay tuned for the whitebox roadshow travel blog info!

i would like to formally introduce my 8 year old daughter’s new business:  e’s eggs.

we started our chicken adventure two years ago.  it has been a wonderful learning experience for the kids.  there have been some tough lessons about life, like the times when a hawk, our dog and a fox nabbed one of our chickens.  we have learned that free ranging is dangerous business!  i think we now have it figured out how to keep the chickens safe, but still give them plenty of free range time.  we are currently growing our flock with a new batch of baby chicks this spring!

eliza has also learned a lot about the benefit of free ranging and why paying twice the price for organic chicken feed is important.  this was a hard lesson because it is really difficult to pull that extra money out of her piggy bank to pay for organic feed.  we discussed organic farming practices and how they are better for the earth.  eliza is very much a nature lover and naturalist, so this made sense to her.  we also talked about the health benefits for the chickens and the people who eat the eggs.  she used this information to make the choice to go for organic even though it costs more.

she has also learned a lot about running a business!  eliza brainstormed business names and then we did a poll among family and on facebook.  my good friend, katie saunders who is a graphic designer, worked with us to create a logo, business cards and a label for her egg cartons.  eliza arranged to pay katie in eggs for her work.  : )  eliza did her own “styling” for her photoshoot and lucky for her she has a mom who was able to snap some pretty cute photos for her business promotional material.

eliza has her own bank account set up for her business.  she is saving up to buy a horse with this money.  right now i am splitting the operation costs (feed, new chicks, hay, etc) with her, but as we build her flock she will pay for all of her operating expenses.  we did “comps” with the prices of eggs in the supermarket, the farmer’s market and with her competitors (there are two other kids that sell eggs at eliza’s school) to come up with our price of $3.50 per dozen.  right now our flock is small so she only sells about 2 dozen a week, but in the fall she should be up to around 10 dozen a week.  that is a pretty good living for an 8 year old!

eliza saw this story on cbs news about a girl who raises about 15k per year with her chickens to help her family.  she was really inspired!  check it out.

oh, and did i mention how much she loves her chickens?  she has wonderful and creative names for all of them and really enjoys taking care of them.  so, if you want some happy chicken eggs buy e’s eggs!

i can’t even begin to describe how happy i am to have this re-branding project up and running!  for years whitebox has had 3 websites and 1 blog to keep updated. guess what?  the websites rarely got updated and all of the email addresses and different web addresses were a total headache.  when i saw the design algow modern blogsite template for into the darkroom i felt like it was created just for whitebox!  it had a clean, fresh, modern feeling and it was totally customizable.  into the darkroom and design aglow make it so easy to update your site!

way back in march i began the process of streamlining all of our sites into one fabulous blogsite.  with my very busy shooting schedule i decided it was best to call in some professional help.  katie saunders, an amazing graphic designer with infinite patience, came to the rescue.  katie helped me freshen up the whitebox look with a new logo (love it!) and new graphic design elements, while staying true to the original whitebox brand.  now whitebox has 1 site that is our website + blog + shopping cart + all sorts of other cool stuff, like a tour of the whitebox farm, a map of my future travels (i am driving across the country next summer, so check out the map to see if i will be headed your way!), a great info section and a FAQ section.  i also love that the new blog allows for slideshows or traditional blog posts.  and, it is super easy for people to tweet about, facebook or pin my posts!

katie also helped me with new packaging and promotional products.  we are switching from DVD’s to these oh so cute new custom hard drives.  check out a sample of my new marketing set below.

welp, here it goes…..drum roll please…..

CELEBRATE OUR NEW LOOK WITH US!

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this is what clients will see when they open their package.  i have a 5×5 tri-fold card with a digital files release, tips about archiving digital files and where to get images printed.  inside the little bag is the custom thumb drive with my logo.  (5×5 tri-fold from millers.com)

the front of my moo card tag.

the inside of my digital files info card.

i love this page where i can write a hand written note to my clients.

the back of my moo card tag.

i can use the moo cards on the bags and on the outside of print boxes.  they are so cute and have tons of uses.

this divine twine is perfect for my packaging!  i thought i wanted ribbon until maureen, my studio manager, found this.  love it!

my new thumb drives.  how cute are they?!

the thumb drives are retractable and have a little carrying strap too.

thanks for all of your love, support and business over the past 8 years!  i am so grateful that i get to do what i love and that i get to meet so many wonderful folks along the way.

peace + love + pictures!

i have to give myself a little pat on the back for making my kid’s birthday photo book in the same year that they celebrated their birthday!  eliza turned 8 in may and ryder turned 3 in may.  the last birthday book i made was when eliza turned 1.  : (

it is really challenging for any parent to keep up with their kids photo albums, but i think it is even more challenging for a professional photographer.  the sheer number of photos i have of my kids is astronomical.  plus, i admit it, i am a bit (understatement) of a perfectionist.  for years i have photographed my kids as if their life was an editorial spread for a magazine.  i have tons of images from their milestones that i never printed because i wanted to go back and photoshop them and “make them perfect”.  guess what?  life is not perfect.  in fact, the life of a self employed mom of two is pretty darn crazy at times.  one of my resolutions for the new year was to “let it go”.  i wanted to stop trying to make the perfect life and just live the life that i love.  this year there might be a few more dust bunnies rolling around the floor, a lot more weeds in the garden and whole lot of photos taken with instagram instead of my mark II, but i am ok with that.  i am happy.

here are a few instagram collages and a few snapshots that i took during the camping birthday extravaganza of 2012.  birthdays seem to last for weeks around our house.  part one of the camping birthday party extravaganza was also our first trip in our winnebago.  we went to carolina beach to celebrate the big 08 and 03 for the kids.

part two of the camping birthday extravaganza was at our lake house, which is called “hobcaw”.  welcome to “camp hobcaw”!

i know it might seem like i did not “let it go” when it came to planning this birthday party, but eliza and i had a great time painting all of the signs and thinking of fun campy things to do.  my overachieving side is a plus when it comes to having good parties.  ; )  i must also credit pinterest for making the camping party such a hit!

way back in january i TRIED to do a little photoshoot with the kids for their valentines day cards.  i think they thought it was pretty fun and funny, but i was not amused…..

this photo sets the mood for the shoot.

i managed to get a couple cute shots, but this “session” demonstrates exactly why i get other photographers to photograph my kids!

eliza was totally in to the shoot and being a “model”.  ryder, on the other hand, was totally in to being 2!

hello, my name is ryder and i am very good at being 2.

this one is cute, but i actually prefer the shot below with ryder demonstrating his growling skills.

the good thing about having a photographer in your family is that they take lots of photos at family gatherings.  the bad thing is that the family photos get put on the bottom of the to do list!  this summer we had a mini family reunion of my dad’s side of the family at the lake.  i wish my dad was still here.  he would have loved driving the boats and talking the kids into jumping off the boathouse roof.

One month ago today I was headed to the hospital to have Mason… he didn’t come for another 36 hours but it was worth the wait!  I can’t believe he will be one month old tomorrow.  The saying “The days are long but the years are short” really is true.  He has already changed so much- you can never take too many pictures!

I did a little impromptu shoot with him yesterday.. trying to get some sleepy pics.  As soon as I took his jammies off he woke up..of course.

Mason Elliott • April 18th • 9 lbs 10 oz

Week 1

Aunt Alison

Week 2

Thanks to all of our clients for being so patient while I’m on maternity leave!  I’ll be back to doing some computer work as soon as I can figure out this new mom thing!

right before i left for india we took a little trip to beech mountain with some friends.

ryder was styling in his puma suit before we hit the slopes.

so was sienna.  she rocked her puma suit too!

lets get this snow par-tay started!

the city sledding hill is awesome!

thanks manuela and dave for hosting a great weekend!