Amy Sandoval Photography Blog

Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Norfolk Portrait Photographer, Wedding Photographer: Newborn, Maternity, child, family and wedding coverage.

My name is Amy Sandoval and I am a portrait, boudoir and wedding photographer serving the Hampton Roads, Virginia area.

This blog is my photography journal. I share sneak peeks from sessions with clients and also like to post personal tidbits and photography tips here from time to time. I invite you to subscribe to the blog via email by entering your email address in the box on the top right of the page and clicking on "subscribe by email."

For full details and session pricing info, visit the portfolio site at www.amysandovalphotography.com. You can also connect with me on Facebook or the Curves Boudoir Facebook fan page .

And check out the Curves Boudoir website at http://www.curvesboudoir.com.

Please note: The images on this blog are property of Amy Sandoval Photography and may not be used without permission.

Session rewind – Fall mini session with Olivia – Child Portrait Photographer in Virginia Beach

Tuesday, January 31, 2012 Posted in Child, Personal Notes

Another catch up blog post! I did a mini session with Olivia last November to get ready for our Christmas cards. Olivia is 9 – part of me would like to permanently hold her here at this age because it’s such a good age. She’s curious, funny, sweet and still likes her parents. At the same time, she’s inching into that pre-teen place and there’s a sass that comes with that. But mostly I know that I’m seeing a glimpse of who she’ll be when she grows up, and I feel lucky to be part of her world.

Part of me wishes the color in this area would stay like this year-round – warm oranges and yellows and beautiful fall backdrops. But alas, spring will come and I will want everything to stay green and fresh all the time. Technical notes on these, for those who wonder…they were shot on my 50mm 1.2 lens and I tested myself and the lens by shooting the majority of them at around 1.2 or 1.4. You’ll see that they have a dreamy feel as a result – the focus drops off very quickly behind her, and in some closer shots of her face it drops off on part of her face. I wish I had more faith in the focal points on my Canon 5D Mark II, but I don’t often trust the focal points outside that trusty middle one, so much of this was done in focus/recompose style.

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Family Session Snapshot

Thursday, January 26, 2012 Posted in Baby, Child, Family

Here’s a little snapshot of a family session I photographed back in November. These boys have the most gorgeous eyes – just as their parents do. I love the energy boys have – it’s so contagious and fun. See a stick? Pick it up and build something with it! See a tree? Climb it! This session was an adventure for the boys and I loved capturing it.

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Stuff I need to blog…

Monday, January 23, 2012 Posted in Baby, Child

Here’s just one example of stuff I need to blog. I get so busy towards the end of the busy season (basically all of fall), that I don’t always blog everything I shoot. Here’s one quick example of a session you haven’t seen yet. I’ll post more from it later this week.

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Let’s go back in time…Christmas 2011!

Sunday, January 22, 2012 Posted in Decorating

Just a brief Christmas post. I love having photos of my Christmas decore because it makes decorating the next year so much easier. This year’s was much like last year’s, so I literally took out my Christmas 2010 album and used those photos to guide me. I got in the habit of putting together a small album of Christmas season photos a few years ago as a keepsake not just for us but to give Olivia when she’s older and starts having her own family Christmas. I suppose all those albums will be in the box of all the Christmas ornaments we’re collecting for her!

Here’s a peek at the den for the last couple of years – I decorate the mantle with my vintage cameras and Christmas ornaments in red/silver along with a few other vintage-inspired pieces. I love highlighting my favorite pieces from collections and things I already own when decorating for the holidays:

And here’s my new addition for 2011 – a little white Christmas tree with big retro-inspired pink glass Christmas ornaments.

And here’s our mantle this year – nearly identical thanks to the photos I kept from last year! And a quick shot of Olivia from her school piano recital in December.

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Back to Basics: 2012 Rejuvenation

Friday, January 20, 2012 Posted in Personal Notes, Photography Tips

Raise your hand if you’re still wishing people “Happy New Year” and marveling every time you write “2012″ down. And now it’s nearly February 2012.

They say time flies when you’re having fun. I think it’s just flying, period, these days. Where did 2011 even go? I know I’m not the only one feeling this way. We’re all talking about it, emailing one another with apologies for not keeping in touch better and rushing from one required function to the next. I’ve spent most of the last few years so overwhelmed with my daily schedule that the feeling that I’m behind/running late/missing something is now normal! As I wind down a busy January, I’m working to schedule in a bit of a break for myself soon – there are so many things I’d like to do with the time. I am slowly working on a new website and putting together a new portrait line that I think will appeal to a lot of women. I’m also working on rejuvenating myself creatively. Stepping outside the constant marketing/promotion/session box that you need to live inside in order to make it as a pro photog.

I’m following the lead of many of the current photographers I admire and going back to my own roots by picking up film photography again. Once upon a time, I sold my Canon film SLR and lenses in order to pay for my first dSLR! I love shooting digital and will continue to shoot digital for client work, but I’m looking forward to rediscovering the slower waltz of film shooting compared to the freaky break-dance style of shooting that’s so tempting when working with digital. There’s something so valuable and right about checking your settings in triplicate, lining up a subject JUST RIGHT the first time and then clicking the button only to see…..nothing. Now that I’m shooting film again, I still find myself checking the back of the camera for the preview in the display – and the mystery of not knowing what you’ve captured makes getting the photos back in the mail almost as exciting Christmas morning.

I’ll be posting more snippets from the past month in the next week to get back in the habit of updating more often. For now I leave you Instagrams of my new baby – which uses the same lenses as my digital cameras – yay!: