Images by Bethany Giveaway: Win a Family Portrait Session & 8x10 Print

UPDATE: This contest is now closed! Head over to One Crazy Kid to try again--Brandee's also giving away a family photo session with Bethany. 

I met Bethany Schiedel at the Vancouver Mom Top 30 Bloggers event when she did my headshot. She has the ability to quickly capture the moment--or many moments, as you'll see with our photos--almost invisibly, without being obtrusive.

I was excited to work with her on a giveaway this fall. Bethany provided us with a complimentary photo session so I could show & tell you about how she does family portraits. You'll have the chance to win a free session too (value $350) as well as a free 8"x10" print! All the details & your chance to enter are at the end of this post, after our photos.

When we went to her studio for our family portraits, I was slightly nervous & frazzled from trying to get us all out the door to arrive there on time looking presentable. The weather had unfortunately ruined our plans to shoot outdoors with our bikes, but I'm very pleased with the photos that came of the indoor studio session.

Bethany made all three of us feel at ease as soon as we came in. With a little gentle direction & some furniture shuffling, we did a lot of different poses, though few of them felt stiff in the way that posed photos often do. Being a natural light photographer, the illumination for Bethany's work comes via the tall glass windows in the heritage building where her studio is. It's a great space & I particularly like the classic urban feel of the backdrop in the shot of the three of us.

A few weeks after our photo shoot, we returned to Bethany's studio on evening to view the photos. Bethany had tea & gourmet doughnuts waiting for us, with samples of the products she offers. After seeing highlights in a slideshow set to music, then numerous rounds of deliberation, we picked out the photos to show you here, as well as some to order for gifts & for ourselves. Many of the photos surprised me because I hadn't even realized she'd been shooting at that moment. There were a series of Sprout when he was a bit upset near the end of the session that were really cute & a great one of us playing where he's upside down, which you'll see below.

I commend you if you've read this far & not yet skipped to the photos. I won't make you wait any more. Here are six of the dozens that we loved, starting with my absolute favourite:

Details: Family portrait session will be done on location (Greater Vancouver area only) and will be 1 – 2 hours long ($350 value). Session must be booked for January – April, 2013.  Includes an in studio viewing session, a month long online viewing gallery, and an 8 x 10 print of your choice ($30 value).

A NOTE ABOUT USING RAFFLECOPTER: don't forget to click on 'leave a blog comment' AND actually go down & leave a comment or your entry won't be valid! I know it's an extra step for you, but it's much less complicated for me to administer giveaways including Twitter, FB & the blog when using Rafflecopter. It also gives you the opportunity to enter multiple times & increase your chances. :)


a Rafflecopter giveaway