Just a fun little bit of news to share this morning. I entered a couple of my favorite images into the photography contest at the Erie County Fair this year. My portrait entry received “best of” and was in consideration for the tri-color ribbon - yay! My pictorial entry received an honorable mention. It made trekking down to the fair 8.5 months pregnant with 4 kids and a husband in tow totally worth it.

Early November sessions are currently booking and October is extremely limited with just one weekend session left - please book now!

Here are a couple of iphone pictures from last night at the fair. . . .

“Best Of” - Portrait

Honorable Mention - Pictorial

Its Fan Friday again! Up for grabs this week is a complimentary 12×12 4 Image Collage with the purchase of your session fee ($160 value). All you have to do is leave a comment below and say why you would love a session with SH Portraits, would love a collage, or have loved working with SH Portraits in the past. Anything really! I’ll use a random number generator to determine the winner. And. . .because I totally forgot to post a Fan Friday last weekend - I will leave this one open to comments through 11:59pm TOMORROW and announce the winner on Sunday. So be sure to share the contest with your friends and family too!

I have some fun exciting news and things in the works that I will be able to share in the next few weeks too. I am just bursting to tell everyone but have to wait - so be sure to keep an eye out.

For now - here is an example of what the collage would look like and it is mounted on my standard styrene to protect it. Just frame and hang!

Its Fan Friday! Today i will be giving away a gift certificate woth $50 that you can use or give to a friend! Just comment on this blog post saying why you would like a session with SH Portraits. Yup - it really is THAT easy! Tomorrow I will use a random number generator to choose the winner.

Of course I have to include a picture with the blog post so I am posting one of my kiddos, from two years ago (well almost). Hard to believe he was this tiny - I love his wrinkly little feet here.

I have been asked frequently if I shoot weddings or events and the answer is yes. Just on a limited basis. While I do enjoy this type of work, my heart lies with the little ones, ones getting ready to enter the world and families. However if you love my style and want to talk about hiring me for your wedding, private party or any gala events (charity or otherwise) just send me an email and we can meet to go over my pricing and style! Here is a quick slideshow and there are more photos on my website!

I will be on Long Island for a very limited engagement June 4th-7th please let me know asap if you would like a session! Details below!

Wow Mother’s Day is NEXT weekend - as a busy mom and business owner I nearly forgot myself (ok thats not the truth and if you read this honey a trip to the spa sounds AMAZING!). Of course SH Portraits has Mother’s Day specials and gifts but the great thing is that they last all month long! Each session booked this month will receive a complimentary 5×7 of Mom with their kiddo or children (of course Mom that means you have to get all dolled up for the session too!), photo necklaces are also 20% off this month only! Also - Dads & Moms (you can buy a gift for your bff!) I have gift certificates as always in any denomination. Gift certificates can be custom designed and emailed to you for printing so that you have it right away no need to pick it up or wait for it in the mail. I can’t wait to celebrate being a Mom next weekend and I’ll be thinking of all of my families and Moms too. ~ Samara

Here are a few images that I was able to capture of President Obama at the DNC fundraiser in Washington DC last week. Again an amazing experience!

I had the amazing opportunity last week to join my friend and collegue Ruthi David to photograph an event for the DNC with President Obama as the keynote speaker. It was great night and I know many friends and readers have been waiting to see the images from the event. So in this first post are a few random room shots with Senators, centerpieces, COS Rhem Emmanuel and jazz singer Diana Krall. President Obama will receive is own post next!

I had the wonderful opportunity to be an assistant photograph to my friend Ruthi David of R. David Original Photography  (View Ruthi’s Portrait Site Here) last night at a fundraising event for the DNC.  Our President, Barack Obama was the keynote speaker for the event and it was A-MAZING.   My mother phoned me earlier today to tell me that she saw this picture in the NY Times this morning.  So there I am in the background, looking serious because I was working at the time, getting some meet & greet images of The President with guests of the event.  Soon after this, he turned towards me and I was able to shake his hand. Truly remarkable moment. I’ll never forget it!  (NY Times photo is by Jewel Samad/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images) I will show some images from the event in about a week when everything is done being edited, there are a lot of images to go through!\

Here is a picture of Ruthi and myself too - taken by some random tourist whom Ruthi quickly showed how to use her camera!

I had the ultimate pleasure of hanging out with some cool kids yesterday (mine included!) and photographing little Taylors third birthday. It was a ton of fun, as you can see from all of the smiles. Thanks to all of my friends for a great afternoon outside! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAYLOR!