:issue: day{dreaming}

Today I spent most of the day day{dreaming}... a lot of my inspiration came from Shannon Fricke's blog...

:issue: gorilla style

Today I had a shoot with a lovely model to update her portfolio! She did great. I pretty much did this shoot "gorilla style ". Just drove around and found different locations that fir the outfits we put together well. This is one of my fav. shots from today.

:issue: Enchanted Enfant

I am so excited to be working with a new client, Enchanted Enfant. Their line is soooo beautiful, dainty, classic, exquisite. I've completed 2 shoots for this line within the last month and I am in LOVE with the images we are capturing.

{sneak peek}

:issue: sun stalker

I've been stalking the sun for quite some time. Here's a photo of my son I took a few years ago

:issue: 31 is the new 21

So, yesterday was my birthday! I celebrated early with my husband/family/friends by going out to eat & to party :)

Yesterday, we did Friday's & Freddy! I have to say that I have always loved Nightmare on Elm Street and this new re-make did not disappoint... however, I was a little taken aback by the confirmation of Freddy's crimes :-/ I could have done without that!

 31 is the new 21! a shot of me on my 31st b-day

Below, check out shots from my Gossip Girl/Hula Star shoot last week! 

Right now I'm getting for part 2 of my shoot for Enchanted Enfant, I'll upload samples soon!

:issue: posted

pretty cool. I've received 4 different messages regarding 4 different shoots I completed in the past from friends letting me know that they saw my work published/posted somewhere.

1) kerry rhodes (psa posted on news blog)

2) picture of mya & myself posted on fan blog

3) images from my beetlejuice london shoot posted on ideeli

4) images I shot for no worries cosmetics published in Urbanite Magazine

:issue: no wonder

During my shoots, I typically encourage the children I'm working with to jump, hop, skip, tear stuff up, etc. I think it's extremely important to capture genuine emotion! Often times parents leave the shoot saying "wow! you work really well with kids, I don't know how you do it!!!" It's no wonder it comes natural to me, I have 1 daughter, 1 son, 3 nieces, 3 nephews, 1 God daughter, LITERALLY 50+ younger cousins who are required to call me "aunt", OH & approximately 40 cabbage patch kids that I raised since I was 10! 20 years of working with kids... no wonder!

:issue: on the next one..

new website + new domain

www.JaTawnyMChatmon.com

:issue: how to...

something i came across online while surfing for inspiration

:issue: Mya, Kerry Rhodes {Until There's a Cure}

2 new celebrity PSA's shot by me have been released on http://www.UTAC.org 

Mya & Kerry Rhodes 

:issue: i'm obsessed

with the sun

:issue: Lil Mo {until there's a cure}

My Lil Mo PSA that I shot for last month is online! Below is the PSA:

Check out http://www.utac.org 

:issue: real love

i love these 2 with all my heart. please keep my father {+mother} in your prayers. i am confident that he will be ok, it's just so hard to watch him go through the treatments/pain/discomfort. we continue to pray & know that God is healing him, it's just tough to stay strong.

:issue: unscripted

{ This is why I love photographing kids }

*captured the various faces of "L Bean" during shoot for beetlejuice london

:issue: Mya, Kerry Rhodes {Until There's a Cure}

On Saturday I had the pleasure of photographing Mya for Until There's a Cure Foundation. I was excited to meet her as I first heard of her when I was around 17 or 18 and knew all the words to ALL of her songs! My favorites are "love is like Whoa" , "If You Died I wouldn't Cry", "Best of Me", "Ghetto Superstar", "Case of the Ex" & "Movin On". Her songs are still played via my ipod. She's currently working on new music and has others (that I'll be downloading via iTunes) on her myspace page: http://myspace.com/therealmya

She was EXTREMELY down to earth and so sweet.

~ Fun Times ~

Please check out Until There's a Cure ( http://utac.org/ )

:issue: a beautiful mind

My Boopity is such a smart child.  My mom claims he said a word to her when he was 4 months *she was the only one in the room*.

When his teacher called us to give his progress report, she said she'd never met a child who's "wheels were always turning". It's true, you can literally 'see' him thinking about everything before he speaks. If something doesn't make sense to him, he will ask questions until it does. I love him so!

Yesterday was another "question fest". It drives me CRAZY but how can I complain when all he wants is to gain more knowledge and understand!

:issue: in 2012

i will be traveling all over on assignment

with my family & an awesome french or english nanny that schools my children while traveling.

my husband will also win the WSOP!

You future is what you make it, if you push hard enough for it!

:issue: post secret

elbie has been a lover of postsecret.com since it was first online, today I googled post secret images and found so many lovely secrets. I've been making little booklets with words torn/cut from magazines and books and placing them over images since I was little. Turns out there are 1,000's of people that do the same.

This particular secret doesn't apply to me as even at 30, I believe I can reach ever goal I have.

:issue: kodak moment

So, helloooooo :-)

A few years back (maybe 6) my mother used to drive to our townhouse that we were living in at the time at 7am and knock lightly on the door. I'd come down the steps wiping my eyes and say "hi mommy" & she'd smile and say "are you going yard sale"ing" with aunt Earline, Daddy & I today?" and as reluctant as I was to be getting up that early, I'd say yes and tag along for the ride. I found some pretty cool stuff! In particular I found a few neat vintage camera that I used for decoration in my office until recently.

Fast forward to this week... I had the bright idea that I wanted to start working with different camera formats.. Although I'm not bored of my digital, I find it quite boring to ONLY shoot with it. So I pulled out the little Kodak Duaflex that had been sitting as decoration for years. I guess I forgot that I needed film for it! I surfed around on Ebay and ordered some film and can't wait for it to arrive.

In the meantime, I decided it would be cool to shoot with my DSLR through the viewfinder of the Kodak Duaflex. So, today I did! I used a round tube to connect my DSLR+lens to the Duaflex and photographed my little bittle having fun in the yard! The images are so fun and vintage. The funny thing is that I thought I was starting something new, but when I came in after shooting I googled "Kodak Duaflex" because I'd like to purchase a less filthy one and actually shoot with it and realized there's a whole "thing" going on with shooting through the viewfinder of vintage cameras, lol. Silly me!