a look back at 2011. houston photographer

Admittedly I have trouble cutting back! This was meant to be a short post with 11 of my favorite pictures from 2011 but I was unable to do that. Looking back at this year brought a big smile to my face. There were so many fun times & good memories made; all thanks to my awesome clients. I just had to share lots of pictures! I am feeling more & more lucky to have a job I LOVE. It was just this past school year that I was teaching AND doing photography. I loved teaching but really wanted to do photography full time so that I could devote more time to it. I never thought I’d actually be able to give up teaching to be a full-time photographer but took a leap of faith & gave it a shot. I am so glad I did. This year has been beyond busy with lots of sessions but I have truly enjoyed every second of it, chaotic & all. Thank you thank you for your loyalty, referrals, kind words…I LOVE MY CLIENTS SO MUCH! Seriously.

Lots of exciting stuff has happened this year. Here’s just some of it…I know there is more! I need to think!
Sometime during the 123 sessions in 2011, Kelly Garvey Photography….
-Bought a new camera body, along with 4 new lenses & LOTS of other fun photography equipment (closer to the beginning of 2011)
-Got a new blog design (beginning of the year) by Penny Lane Designs
-Signed up for a merchant account so that I can now accept credit cards & debit cards without going through Paypal
-Purchased a brand new photocart gallery that I am just about to click GO on! It will be so much nicer, so I can’t wait to be using it (designed by Heather at LoveBugs Design).
-Developed a new more straight-forward, user friendly pricing structure with help from lots of mentoring sessions, thought & research to find what clients would like most (thanks Amii Wroblewski for the mentoring on this!)
-Have new information packets designed by Emily Lyszaz!
-Have new marketing materials designed by Sara Seeton!
-Bought a new computer, monitor, calibration kit, etc.
-Became a CM Pro
-Took tons of awesome classes on Clickinmoms (I loooove learning & I loooove CM!)
-Put all forms on machforms for clients to fill out online instead of on paper
-Have a line up of products I LOVE for this year (can’t wait to show off the new image boxes!)
-Am pregnant & having another boy in March!
-Have been participating in the CM Pro Daily Blog
-Have been featured on many websites: CM, Inspire Me Baby, Click It Up A Notch, to name a few….now I hear that Mpix might use some of my images, too – yea!
-Bought brand new boxes, bags, bows, stickers, address labels, & packaging to start out the year fresh (from Rice Studio)
-Have met tons of awesome photographer friends in the area & all over….I LOVE my friends in the business so much

I *tried* to pick one picture per session for this post. As you can see I failed & even picked more than one on some! If I missed your session it was either
a. a complete accident or
b. because your session is archived on an external hard drive that I can’t get to right now possibly because you are on the baby’s first year plan or something.
Right now I only have access to March 2011 & beyond bc the other months are in an offsite backup drive!

I sincerely loved ALL of my sessions this year & working with all of my awesome clients. I feel like I have met a whole slew of new friends through photography…some of the people I keep in touch with the most are friendships I have made through photography. Can this job get any better?!  I appreciate all of you more than you know!!!

Happy 2012 everybody! I hope it is THE BEST!Thanks again for making 2011 a great year for Kelly Garvey Photography.