Education: A Fresh Start

I love to teach.  But it wasn't until this year that I decided it was time to partner up with Crystal Marsh at Portraits by Crystal and take the plunge.  As a result, mark your calendars and join us for...

This workshop will cover posing and lighting, in both natural and studio light.  We will be hands on and for this reason, space is limited.  We will begin the morning with a class overview before we jump into maternity photography.  Throughout the morning, you will have an opportunity to have all your questions answered.  A lovely local lunch will be included before the afternoon session begins.  

The afternoon will be dedicated to newborns.  We will spend some time discussing newborn safety and precautions.  We will talk about posing and session workflow and, once more, the use of natural light and studio light.

Cost: $400 per person

Contact me at info@ auroradphotography.com for more information

Who are we, you ask?  Great question!

Crystal Marsh: "Hi, My name is Crystal. I have been a photographer for over 13 years in varying capacities, but my passion is documenting the most important time in a couples life, adding a new member to their family! One of my favorite parts is how each baby is different and I get to capture that!"

Aurora DeLuca: "Hi there! I was, indeed, named after the Disney Princess. I specialize in newborn, maternity and fine art children's portraits. I enjoy a minimalist style in order to best present my subject. I have been refining my portrait photography for six years, and am an active member of the Professional Photographers of North Carolina and the Professional Photographers of America (PPA). In 2015, I received a bronze medal for excellence in print competition, and have several images included in PPA's prestigious General and Loan collections."

Beautiful | Raleigh, NC Newborn Photography

Every time I start to write about maternity photography, I find that the photos speak more than I ever could.  They speak a story of love.  Of anticipation.  Of excitement.  Of superhuman strength.  Maybe even a tinge of apprehension of the unknown.

Pregnancy is beautiful.  Through their photos, these women manage to tell their story on their own.  And so, with that, I present you with my most recent maternity session. 

A Print Giveaway | North Carolina Photographer

Recently, I had the personal experience of realizing in the importance of prints.  I backup my client images twice over, once on a separate drive and again on an online backup system.  But my personal images I haven't been quite as careful with, in particular my iPhone photos.  Even while I had been putting together informal photo albums for each of my children, both my computer and my external drive managed to explode (not literally) at the same time.  Fortunately, in the few minutes of tears and panic and wondering why on earth I didn't back those images up with all your images, my dearest sweetest most wonderfully amazing resident IT guy (aka, husband) managed to recover the drive. Meanwhile, I'm totally getting those albums printed ASAP.

So, since prints have been on my mind lately, I'm going to host a giveaway for you guys, celebrating the print.  This giveaway will include:

• One free session ($150 value)
• $250 in print credit (not to be used for digital purchases, although, as always, low resolution images of all prints ordered will be included).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

There are a few rules, of course.  

• You must live in or be willing to travel to the Raleigh area.  
• This is for a children's session only, sorry grown ups!  Unfortunately, it's not for newborns either, but don't worry, newborns are going to have a special promotion soon!
• This session must be completed by August 1, 2015
• 1-2 weeks after the session, you will view the images at a post-session consultation.  During that time, any purchases you make beyond the $250 will be given 10% discount from the full price.  Any digital or print purchases beyond the $250 credit made after that session will be purchased at full price.

What's in A Print? | Raleigh, NC Photographer

My parents are selling their house.; the very house that I came home to when I was just days old.  While the result is that they will soon be living much closer to me, it has been quite an emotional experience for me.  In the meantime, I’ve been going through a lot of stuff and memories.  As I sort through the stuff my parents send me and go through long forgotten boxes on the phone with my mother, I can't help but think about the role of photographs in my life. 

Every time I went home from wherever I was, one of my first activities on getting home was to thumb through the photo albums.  It didn’t matter if I was coming back from college across the country; graduate school across the world; my first ‘real’ job in the big city, my first big move with my then-fiance (now husband) or even now that I’ve settled down ,and have children of my own (maybe especially now).  I re-live the days of childhood birthday parties, school pictures with missing front teeth, friends, our mountain cabin that burned down.  Suddenly those memories, and those images flood back as though I could just be there again if I wished hard enough.  Now I look at them with my son, who asks all sorts of questions about “life when I was a baby” or “life when he was a baby,” and their value has risen all the more.

I do the same with photographs of my own children.  I sort through the baby photos I’ve printed out of my son, stare the new sample art pieces I’ve received which are my daughter’s newborn photos.  Remember the days when my tiny little babies were still tiny little babies and marvel at how big they have actually become.  I mean, when did that happen?

But here’s the thing.  I rarely look at the photos on the computer.  I don’t click through an online album at my fingertips.  I don’t sort through lightroom images.  I don’t plug in those CDs of professional photos I’ve been given over the years.  I look at the prints.  There’s something vicerally real about looking at a print copy.  A physical reaction that doesn’t occur as I sit and go through photos on my computer.  Don’t get me wrong, I love working through photos, sorting through the files and preparing the final versions.  But what I really love is receiving print orders and seeing my work ‘in real life’.  The light in your eyes as you take in that final product?  That's what keeps me doing what I do.

I’ve done a lot of soul searching in the years since I made the decision to take up photography as a profession rather than a hobby.  What started out as a resolve to offer only CDs and only digital images has turned into a desire to reacquaint people with the joys of the prints.  And I see it in my clients as well.  Shockingly beautiful archival prints that can be passed down through history to your children and to your children’s children are much more desirable products, in the end.  Like so many photographers before me, I’ve talked to many clients, mentors, and friends; poured over catalogues, and gone to trade show after trade show.  As I consider the growing philosophy behind my photography, I realize more and more the importance of the simple tangibility of the print.