This is a bit late, but I thought I’d post about it anyway. As you might remember, we were in a trade show a couple months ago for babies and kids up to around age 5. The Baby Bonanza. It was a bit different this year — in April rather than March, a bigger venue, two days long, and more events.

This is how our booth looked like this year. I think it came together really well. Since people loved it so much last year, we once again had a lollipop game where we gave out gift certificates. What’s not to like about free candy? We also had a rest area where people could sit their kids down and have them play with coloring sheets and crayons (washable, of course). And, of course, the photography on the walls, in books, on easels, and on tables to show off our work.

The highlights are the diaper derby races, so I have a few images from those.

There was a stage where vendors could demonstrate what they do — like how to exercise with your baby:

Here’s a winner of one of the races.

Another highlight of the event is the fashion show.

The fashion show is for the parents, too!

Here’s another vendor — this time singing with kids.

And the winner of the final Diaper Derby!
All in all, we had a lot of fun. We hope to do it again next year.

Friday March 26th is National Epilepsy Awareness Day, also known as Purple Day. Lavender is the color for Epilepsy Awareness! In honor of Purple Day, on March 26th and 27th we will be offering a limited number of special 1/2 hour sessions for $50 (regularly $75). Also, place your order from this session within 2 weeks and you will receive 10% off your order. The entire $50 session fee will be given to The Epilepsy Foundation of Central Ohio (EFCO).

To schedule a portrait session with Squier Photography on either Friday March 26th or Saturday March 27th, please call 614-798-0189. The number of sessions we can do per day is limited, so please call soon for the best choice of times. Sessions may include up to 5 people. The session fee of $50, plus $3.38 sales tax ($53.38 total) must be pre-paid in order to save your time slot. We accept cash, check (made payable to Squier Photography) and all major credit cards.
Why do we care about epilepsy?
Our family began our journey with epilepsy in December 2007 when our oldest son was diagnosed with epilepsy. Robbie is part of the 30% or so of people with epilepsy who do not gain good control of seizures through medication. Robbie’s seizures are non-convulsive and are not what most people think of as seizures. They often cause him to have memory loss and confusion which can cause problems in school. He shows very few outward signs that he is having a seizure. Robbie is an amazing kid who keeps a great attitude in spite of the struggles that seizures have brought into his life!
The EFCO provides families in the central Ohio region with many resources including support groups (for teens, parents, and adults with epilepsy), a summer camp for kids and teens with Epilepsy, an annual conference for both medical professionals and people living with epilepsy, and advocacy and training in the community, schools and workplace.
A few tidbits about Epilepsy:

• Epilepsy is a neurological condition caused by sudden brief changes in the brain’s electrical balance. This disturbance affects the brain’s normal functions and produces changes in a person’s movement, behavior or consciousness
• There are at least 30 types of seizures
• Approximately 1-2% of the population has epilepsy. This is about the same number of people who have cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease combined

This post was originally found on our Senior blog site: Columbus Senior Portraits.

We often get asked about what Canvas Gallery Wraps are. It’s one of the most asked questions we get, so I thought I’d do a blog post just to answer it. Eventually, it’ll go into our page of FAQs. This is what a Canvas Gallery Wrap looks like:

What’s nice about these is that they don’t need to be framed, though you certainly can frame them, if you want. By not having a frame, you can move them to different rooms (or houses) and they won’t need to be re-framed to match the new room. They’re a little more modern-looking than traditional portraits. That one above is twenty by forty inches. Sounds huge, right?

This is how it looks over a couch in a modest-sized living room (12×15 feet).

It doesn’t look as big as it sounds, does it?

Of course, if the Gallery Wrap isn’t the only portrait on the wall, it can work well. This next image shows a 30 x 40 canvas in the middle with a 28×28 canvas on the left. On the right are a couple framed 11×14 prints for some perspective.

So, there you go. When we say that bigger is better for canvases, it’s because we often get people coming back telling us they wish they’d gone with a bigger one.

The third annual Baby Bonanza is coming up this Saturday, the 14th. It’s a big show for “everything from pregnancy to preschool” at the Aladdin Shrine Center (directions) over by Easton. We’ve been a part of it for the past two years and we’re excited about this third show.

This year, we’ll be giving out bookmarks, lollipops, gift certificates, and having prizes drawn every hour. We’ll also have a bunch of new samples for everyone to see.

Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for grandparents, and children 12 and under are free. If you go to the Baby Bonanza web site, you can get a dollar off coupon.

I couldn’t finish this without some pictures, so here you go:

Several weeks ago, Lynn was interviewed for the Angie’s List Magazine and the story appeared this month. For those who don’t know what Angie’s List is, it’s a place where you can rate and review all kinds of service professionals. It’s mostly used for finding a contractor, plumber, electrician — that sort of thing. Most folks wouldn’t think of using it for finding a photographer, but there are a lot of categories that don’t get as much use.

We’ve been rated on Angie’s List for 5 years or so and we’ve probably had ten referrals for every review that’s up there. Of course, we love getting reviews and we’re happy to say we have the most of any other photographer who’s on the list. We’re not supposed to say what our rating is, but if it wasn’t very good, we wouldn’t mention it, right?

So, anyway, Lynn was interviewed a couple months ago and it’s a pretty good article. The only thing is that the prices she quoted are from our old, 2008 price list. Because they’ve increased since then, we’ve decided to offer our 2008 session prices to all Angie’s List members for the rest of February. That’s about 2 1/2 weeks from today. You’ll need to book your session before then to get the special price.

Here are a couple images that were published with the story. This is our family portrait that we rushed outside to do because they needed one for the article.And this is the headshot of Lynn.Here’s another one, but they didn’t run it. I think it shows what we’re really like.
I almost forgot — because we love all of our clients, we’re extending this offer (the 2008 session prices) to our blog readers, too, but you must mention this blog post when you schedule the appointment. See, it pays to read to the very end.