Grand Opening Party | Photography Studio | Downtown Mesa

6 years ago I started on this journey of owning my own business and starting a photography studio. It was a little scary and a little exciting. I think that people thought it was just a fad.. maybe a hobby, but when my family and friends saw that I was serious and saw my business start to succeed they were truly proud of me. It hasn't been easy. The journey to where I am now has had a lot of highs and lows, a lot of giggles and a lot of tears. But life is good. Business is good. And I still LOVE what I do.

There has been a lot of change in the last 6 years. Change in my outlook, my approach, my style, my photography, my business, my family, and locations.

2 years ago we made a huge jump to move out of my house and open up a studio. I wanted people to know that I was serious and that I was for real. A studio showed that I was in it for the long haul. We moved to a decent size space of 700 square feet and it was wonderful. It was like a Chicago loft. Totally different than anything that was in Arizona. I was in love with the space and really enjoyed going to work and getting out of my pajamas!

This last summer change happened again. It wasn't planned. In fact I was about to sign another 3 year lease for the location that I was in, but it wasn't meant to be. In all reality we needed more space. My business continues to grow and to go any further we needed to make a huge leap of faith and get more exposure and space. So, this summer we took the plunge and moved once again. This time it is a much bigger location with store front space and a space for a shooting studio. After over 8 weeks of renovations we are so close to officially opening our doors. The building is done, the paint is up, the floors are shiny, and the furniture has all been purchased. The only thing left are the final touches... hanging all the images that I have photographed over the last years.

I'm excited to finally have this project complete and open to everyone. It's been a rough few months, but next week we open the doors for real.

I want to personally invite you to our New Studio Grand Opening Party.

If you have ever wanted to see what we do and more of our work now is a great opportunity to come. We will be giving out a lot of specials as well for portraits so you won't want to miss it!

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Join us for appetizers, desserts, drinks, door prizes (including a free portrait session!) and more as we celebrate the grand opening of the new Kimberly Jarman Photography studio. The party will be going from 6:00-9:00 so make sure to stop by and check out our new space!

We will have lots to eat and a really fun photo booth for everyone to take apart in.

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

6:00 - 9:00 pm

The NEW Kimberly Jarman Photography Studio

126 West Main Street
Mesa, Arizona 85201

Free parking is available on Main Street as well as to the North of our building off of Pepper Street.

Please click here to RSVP.

I'm still alive....

Hmmm, I just noticed it's been since June 2nd that I posted. I can't believe it's July next week, so i'm shocked and stunned. We've been a little crazy over here.. there is lot's a brewing and lot's a shooting going on as well.

To post still is a family session from Pinetop, a lovely session of my beautiful daughter, excitement over being published in Phoenix Bride and Groom, a bridal session, a wedding, and multiple other items. So I promise that there is lots to share, I just haven't had a chance to sit down and post it all.

That all said to tell you that they are coming... don't give up on my loyal and faithful blog stalkers. There will be much to come soon!!!

2nd Annual Pictures in the Pines - Pinetop/Lakeside Family Portraits

I'm so excited to announce our 2nd Annual Pictures in the Pines.

June 1-6 I will be taking portraits exclusively in the Pinetop/Showlow area.

If you haven't had family pictures taken in awhile or were wanting to get some taken, now is the time to do it. Get out of the heat of the Valley and take a day trip, weekend trip, or heck even the whole week, to go up to Pinetop and enjoy the cool weather.

We have a couple of amazing locations to take pictures in and they are unlike anything that you will get in the valley. Green, trees, beautiful fields. I promise you will love it.

The price is $500 and with that you will receive a credit worth $300 to purchase prints.

BUT

I am going to do something i've never ever ever done before.......

The First 4 families that book a session (Monday - Friday) will receive the entire session fee as a credit for prints. That means that when you pay $500 for your session, all $500 goes towards prints. (this is not available for the Saturday session.)

I'm not sure if I will ever do this again, so you should all take advantage of it now!!!

Call us to schedule your time. We only have a few sessions available and are going to book fast.

480.203.1090.

Can't wait to see you all up there... i'm so excited for the cool weather!

Opportunity to pass on

I just got an email from a friend who is in need of some engaged couples to be talent in a video he is producing. I wanted to pass on the information to anyone who might be interested. I believe the shoot is this saturday (tomorrow), so it's fast notice.

If you are interested please contact Dan directly. His information is below.

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I wanted to ask you if you know any engaged couples (maybe one of your customers) who
would be interested in being talent in a video I'm producing this Sat. at CCV in northwest Phx.

It will be a great time with John Trent and Michael Smalley as they interview couples about
how they met, got engaged and some of the areas they'd like strengthen their relationships.
Then, these marriage experts will take the couple through some exercises and give them some
relational tools to help them.

PLUS...we'll feed them a hot lunch AND pay them $75 per couple.

Dan Smith
Cell: 480.206.9494
dan.smith@mac.com

You can also view more information here.

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Brides Choice Award - Weddingwire.com

It's really fun and exciting when I have fun news to share with you all 2 days in a row!!!

I'm honored to have received a 2009 Brides Choice award from WeddingWire.com, an affiliate of MarthaStewart.com. Wedding Wire is a resource for brides to find a great photographer. It has client and vendor reviews so that you can see what people are saying about vendors in your area.



Press Release

WeddingWire, the nation’s leading wedding technology company, just announced that Kimberly Jarman Photography has won the 2009 Bride’s Choice Awards™!

In its inaugural year, the Bride’s Choice Awards recognizes and honors vendors from the WeddingWire Network that demonstrate excellent quality of service, responsiveness, professionalism, value of cost and flexibility. This year’s recipients represent the top three percent of WeddingWire’s vendor community, which includes over 100,000 wedding vendors from across the US. That means Kimberly Jarman Photography is one of the very best Photographers.

Unlike other awards in which winners are selected by the company, the Bride’s Choice Awards are determined exclusively by recent newlyweds through surveys and reviews.

“We are excited to launch this annual award program to honor high-performing vendors based solely on the experiences of our WeddingWire community,” according to Timothy Chi, WeddingWire’s Chief Executive Officer. “This year’s recipients have set the bar high, exhibiting excellent service and expertise in the wedding industry.”

Kimberly Jarman Photography would like to thank our past clients for speaking on our behalf and helping us win the 2009 Bride’s Choice Award!

Modern Photographers

I am very excited to announce that I am now a member of , Modern Photographers, a resource for brides to find experienced professional photographers

Modern Photographers is a very elite group of photographers who value the art of photography, business, and lifestyle photography. In order to become a member you must be voted in by a group of your professional peers. They have very high standards and I am honored to be a part of this organization.

To learn a little more about what Modern Photographers is, read below. I took this off of the website to show you what is expected in order to be a member.

Why Modern Photographers?

Have you ever noticed that photography is one of the rare industries that requires no licensing or certification? Just about anyone can pick up a camera and claim to be a photographer with absolutely no experience. Unfortunately, many couples and families have been harmed by the actions of some wreckless “photographers”.

Modern Photographers was created to give those looking for artistic professionals a place to connect with qualified working visual artists. Our members have been voted on by true professionals in the industry. We require our members to:

*Maintain a proper business license (pay taxes)
*Have backup equipment in case of equipment failure during an important shoot
*Maintain a good reputation in their local community, as well as within the photography industry
*Have solid technical skills (exposure, lighting, composition, post production)
*Have a creative eye that lends itself to a modern style

If you are looking for a photographer recommended by other photographers, look no further than Modern Photographers.

PUG Christmas Party

Phoenix PUG Christmas Party!

I noticed that there are a lot of photographers who haven't opened the Evite that Melissa sent out about the Christmas Party this Thursday.
I want to make sure that all the PUG members know about the info, so below is a little info. If you want to come email me and I can give you all the details.

Thursday, December 18, 6:30PM

The PUG Party is NOT at my studio, but at another photographers clubhouse. If you need directions please email me.

Hi PUGers! I'm so excited about our upcoming PUG Christmas Party! This is a night for us to come together just to hang out and enjoy each other's company. No agenda is involved but there is dinner! Beverages and eating utensils will all be provided. But we need you all to bring one of your favorite holiday dishes! Use the following guide to know what to bring:

Last names starting with A-I: Main Dish
Last names starting with J-Q: Side Dish
Last names starting with R-Z: Dessert

Please also feel free to bring your spouses/significant others and kids--everyone is welcome. This is a great opportunity to meet one another's families!

I hope you can make it!

Helping the community....An Auction.

I really believe that it is important to support and help our community and I really try to do as much as I can to help out.

Dan and Kristin Albers, from Domestic Bliss, contacted me awhile back to let me know about a family that was in a horrible plane crash in August. They have a ton of medical expenses and need the community's help in order to recover from this accident.

On October 18th, Domestic Bliss of Mesa Arizona, will be hosting a Nie Recovery Carnival Style Fundraiser as part of their Fall Blissfest. Part of the festivities will include a silent auction.

They asked if I would help out and donate something for an auction and of course I said that I would help out.

I am donating a portrait session and a $150 credit for prints. If you would like to bid on this all you have to do is go to the Nielsen Auction Blog and bid on the session. This item is worth $450 so be as generous as you can to help this family! I will not be taking any of the money... all money will be paid directly to the Nielsen Fund.

I will also have a few more auctions that I will be doing to help other families this fall. Please stay tuned for more information about them.

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A little more about the Nielsen Family

On Saturday, August 16, 2008, Stephanie Nielson was in a plane crash with her husband, Christian Nielson, and his flight instructor, Doug Kinneard, near St. Johns, Arizona. Doug Kinneard passed away soon after arriving at the Maricopa County Hospital.

Christian & Stephanie remain in critical condition at Maricopa Burn Center. Christian has sustained burns on over 30% of his body. His wife Stephanie’s body was burned over 80%.

To read more about the Nielsens please go to their blog.

Published in Destination I Do - Check #1 off the list

I've been meaning to blog about this for awhile now, but keep getting side tracked!

I'm so excited to let you all know that I get to check off another thing off of my 101 things to do in 1001 days list. Actually I have a lot of things to check off, including having a baby, but I will have to blog about all those later:):)

Melissa Jill and I had the wonderful opportunity to photograph Andy and Jonna in Hawaii last October and we were asked to publish the pictures in the wonderful and amazing magazine, Destination I Do. I was so excited to get the published work and see it up close! You should go buy one of the magazines in the store so you can see the article and pictures!! Fun Times!!!!

Below is a small version of the layout!

Photography Workshop Registration Forms

Thank you all for your patience in us getting the workshop registration forms up. We finally have them finished and they are ready to download.

Just print out the form that corresponds to the workshop that you would like to register for and then fill it out and fax it to 480.275.3256. Once we receive your form we will let you know and you will be registered for the workshop.

Remember that there are only 20 spots available in each class so make sure to get your form filled out ASAP. Also, there is an early bird registration incentive if you get your form to us by October 12th.


Beginners Workshop Registration Form


Intermediate Workshop Registration Form

Facebook Junkie!!!!!

I Have to admit...i'm addicted to facebook; Ever since I realized I can use it on my phone i have checked and updated almost every day. Even during labor I was updating my status...crazy I know!

I love knowing what everyone is doing and love letting everyone knowing what is going on in my life as well. I love posting photos up and lately i've been tagging my clients in the photos so that they appear on their site as well! It's just a blast.

I already have added a bunch of my seniors from this last year as friends and some of my clients... if you want to add me as your friend then click above and let's be facebook junkies together!

I also have a Kimberly Jarman Photography page...I will be sending special things to the members of my group throughout the year, so be sure to join!!!

Become a member of Kimberly Jarman Photography on Facebook.

I wanna be your friend!!!!!

Brand New Albums

Running a business is hard.... and especially when you are constantly trying to find the very best products for your clients!!!!

I have been with the same album company for almost 5 years now, but have been having some problems with them, so this last spring I set out to find a new album company who could give me a product that was gorgeous and was extreme quality! Albums are a family heirloom and should be treated that way, so I am so excited to announce that I have finally found a company that I trust and I am so excited to start offering their albums to my clients.

Meredith and Ernie were the first clients who got to try this album and when I got it into the studio I was so impressed and stunned with how their album turned out! I had to share it with you! Below are some pictures from the final product!






I love how the cover turned out. This is an upgraded leather and metal cameo that is on the front. It makes the album stunning!


The pages are thick and great quality.

Perfect Leather Binding!






The pages are split in the middle so that they will last much longer.









We can also do duplicate albums! They are wonderful!

Proof Books

All of my packages for weddings include a proof book and I'm always looking for really neat ways to do them. Our newest proof books are totally unique because the image is actually on the cover... it's a true book! I love these!

A lot of people don't know what a proof book is.. basically a proof book is all of your pictures in a book so that you don't have to look at everything online all the time. The numbers coordinate with everything online so it makes it easy to order pictures. This book is yours to keep so that when it is all said and done you have all of your images from the wedding.

I wanted to show you all samples of what they look like and how neat they are.

Canvas Prints

Wrapped Canvas Prints are the new thing and I'm so glad my clients are jumping on board!!!

Most of the time when people order pictures they stick to the standard 5x7 or 8x10 prints, but sometimes you need to think outside of the box and go dramatic! Have you seen the homes on HGTV or Extreme Makeover? They are phenomenal... they are grand, big, and much of what makes the interior is the art; it is very dramatic and big. Most people don't realize that you can do that to your own house by taking your favorite picture and getting a large print or in this case Canvas.

Wrapped Canvas prints are wonderful because you don't have to frame them! They come ready to hang and truly are a piece of art. Framing is so expensive nowadays and wrapped Canvas prints make it much more affordable to get a true piece of art for your house at a reasonable price.

Lately I've had a few clients order canvas prints and I LOVE the way they have turned out.

Here are a few pictures of what the end product looks like.

Note that the image is actually wrapped around the frame.





The Canvas comes ready to hang!

My Three Sons Designs

A couple posts back I mentioned Jen Byard with My Three Sons Designs.

Jen has an awesome company that makes blankets, onsies, burp cloths, and just about anything cute for babies! I was able to take some pictures for her for her website and already posted the pictures of the little girl, well I just finished the pictures of the little boys so now I have more to share.

These little guys are so cute and were so happy! You can tell that Jen's products make them super excited.

These are great for baby shower gifts so make sure that you check everything out on the website. Jen is also doing a blog giveaway right now too. Check it out here, you could win some cool stuff!


I also want to thank Blissful Living Studio for allowing me to use the studio to shoot these in. If you want to do something really fun this summer check out some of the classes that the studio is offering.

This is one of my favorites!!!! Aren't those Onsies super cute?

Look at how much he loves that blanket. They are so soft...I seriously want Jen to make a big one for me!!:)












Matching space onsie and blurp cloth!







Precious!!!



The burp cloths can be used for so much more:)

LOVE This! These towels are so wonderful!



So Cute!











Look at those Baby Blues!


And of course she makes great bibs!!!

It's update and Contest time!!!

Things are going to be slowing down around the studio for the next few months as we are anticipating the arrival of the next addition to the Jarman Family, Baby Kailee! Please have patience with us as we navigate this new season of life and business. Melanie will continue to be in the studio on a regular, though limited, basis to return phone calls, emails, etc. Things will be back in full swing starting in October as we are completely booked with weddings and sessions for that month! If you are needing to place an order or schedule a session, please contact us in the next week in order for us to best serve you!

Also, because I haven't done a contest in a long time I thought it would be fun to do a baby contest!!!

Contest time:

Kailee's due date is July 26th, in just a couple of weeks!!! So I want everyone to chime in and tell me when you think she will actually be born (the date and time). The person that gets closest to her date and time of birth will get a $10 ITunes Gift certificate!!!

All you have to do is comment on when you think she will be born and then stay tuned for the update when she finally comes! Once things slow down a little bit we will look at all the comments and the winner will get a $10 ITunes Gift Card!

I might not be updating as regularly because of everything that will be going on, but I hope to let you all know once Kailee is born and at least post a couple of pictures!!! I'm in for a wild ride... wish me luck!!!

Photography Workshop Recap!!!

Last Saturday Jennifer and I held our first Photography Workshop for Beginners. We had a really great time getting to meet all of the attendees and we felt like it went really well! Based on what everyone who attended said, we feel it was a success and look forward to doing more in the future. Everyone said they learned something new and felt it was a tremendous help to understanding your cameras and the fundamentals better through the hands-on instruction.

Above are a few pictures, but unfortunately the flash was inadvertently turned off on the point-and-shoot, so these pictures are pretty grainy and dark. (Thanks Katie, for helping to capture part of the day.)

Future Workshops::

We will definitely hold another workshop or two in the fall; likely the beginners workshop again as well as a more intermediate version that will include models and a live shoot. As of now we do not have a date selected, but if you are interested in being on the mailing list for our future workshops, please send me an email and we'll make sure to keep you updated! All of you who attended saturday will be automatically added.

Thank you to everyone who attended last Saturday and helped make our first workshop a success! We can't wait to see your work and how you evolve from here!