Sneak Peak

A very special someone had a birthday party today. Mr. Hunter, my friend's son, celebrated his 1st birthday and he was just too adorable. He went the whole 9 yards - opened some presents, ate (and wore) some cake and took a little swim afterwards! I think he thoroughly enjoyed the birthday cake part of this party the most - see below for a sneak peak!

The New Fleming

....is beautiful! I went to see the new William Fleming High School here in Roanoke this week and it looks really good - plus it's HUGE! They've upgraded the classrooms from dry erase boards and Elmo projectors (do you remember those?!) to SMARTBoards. I want one of those! Ok, so I probably wouldn't have as much use for it...but still, very cool. But they do still have the trust ol' lockers...I wonder if anything will be invented to upgrade lockers...I mean lockers have been around for what...ever? Kidding. Anyway...on to the good stuff...



I love the lettering here in silver with tons of shiny windows behind!



I really like how it was designed with lots of windows and light - I think it adds for a more positive atmosphere.



Nice architecture.



Nice size gym with a WHOLE lot more seating then the old one.



How many trophies does WFHS have? A LOT! They were moving the trophies into the 4 or 5 built in cases.

2010 Seniors!

Senior pictures should be fun and capture who you are...not someone painfully sitting in a studio with a corny backdrop behind them. It's your life and it's your time - so why not make the most out of it. Let's go to your favorite places, bring some of your friends and several of your favorite outfits. Your senior pictures will be personalized to fit YOU - from the photographs themselves to special touches added during the editing process. Everything I do is creative and unique to fit my clients. Email me at tara@taralilly.com for package information.

Fun Times in Floyd

Ever since my mom, sister and I took a detour through Floyd a few weeks ago on our way home, I've wanted to go back. The ride down there is soo gorgeous and the little downtown of Floyd is soo cute with some fun shops. Friday night was the night I headed back down there, we got a late start so the light went fast but I got a couple of good shots. And the best part and to our surprise was that in downtown Floyd Friday night there was a little bluegrass festival...def. made the trip that much more interesting!

Look Ma - I'm on Google!

It's the little things that excite me...like showing up on Google in the top and side bar!

I thought I'd do a little bit of advertising and see what happens. And what better place to do advertising then online. I know I personally look at the "sponsored ads" at the top and to the side of the Google results and even check them out, so I'm giving it a try. I've placed my ad under keywords such as "wedding photography roanoke" and "wedding invitations" as well as several more. I first placed my ad under the keyword "roanoke" and had 700+ impressions in an hour! Even though my ad was possibly viewed several hundred times, it won't do much good if someone is looking for a hotel in Roanoke and gives two licks about photography and graphic design, so I changed it. Thank goodness I'm not paying by impressions and just clicks...gees, I would've already met my budget for the whole month! lol

A big part of businesses (or in my case moving in the direction of hopefully starting my own business) is Marketing. Make that HUGE part, so I'm spending a little extra money in making sure my Marketing rocks. If you ever Google for photography or graphic design in Roanoke...look for my ad!

taralilly.com

is FINALLY mine! Last week was a looong and tough week. If felt like forever to get through but today has def. started off on a different foot. After weeks and weeks of back and forth as well as jumping through a couple of hoops, I can now call taralilly.com mine (do a little dance with me)! I built my temporary website (from COMPLETE scratch) and uploaded it this morning - check it out here: taralilly.com

Along with my new website I have a new email address: tara@taralilly.com

I'm still keeping tlillydesigns@gmail.com but will be using tara@taralilly.com as my primary contact to clients.

Since it's looking like the early part of next year before I can upload my website - I plan on updating my temporary website from time to time with new pictures, as well as coordinating some of my designs in there as well to keep things fresh. So check back often!

Here's to a new week....which is already looking better then last!

My New Favorite City

I've always wanted to live in North Carolina, don't really have a particular reason of why - but I just love North Carolina. So when I took a girls weekend to Charlotte for some wedding shopping, I knew it was going to be fun times. I've been to Charlotte before, back in high school when we went to Carowinds. And at that particular time, Charlotte was ok, nothing to great - but then again, I was in high school so I wasn't really paying much attention to the city itself. But this time....I'm in love. I was dying to go downtown and take some pictures but we had VERY limited time...so limited I only had 20 minutes - which meant I only got about a block and half then had to book it. Here's a couple of shots I got within those quick 20 minutes. It so happened that the block we took was the one w/ the really old cemetery and park in the middle of downtown....

Amanda was my model for the day. I think this is a true city picture with the cityscape in the background. Plus I really love the typography of the ave. logo!

This was taken of a really old gate that opened the cemetery. I have a thing for rod iron fences.

A gravestone by itself. I love how the sun just hit on the gravestone while the trees shaded the ground around it.

This went on for about a block...very beautiful.

I love how the sunlight is hitting the stone of the wall. 

That water looked really good on a hot and humid day. 

As always, click on images for a better looksee.

Around the corner...

...exciting things are coming. It's too soon to share, but I have def. been a busy girl! Over the next few months I'll have a lot of new exciting things to share with you - including some pretty sweet new products. 

As for now, I've been quite the photographer lady. I've photographed 2 events in the past 4 days! Even though one was for my employer...I still think it counts :o) We had an event at a local skating rink with about 80 kids with their parents. As soon as I walked through the door I was hit by that familiar smell that skating rinks have. And then came the rush of memories. Actually, alot of my memories are associated with smells - I know it sounds weird, but certain smells will bring back memories and feelings. And I have to admit, I like it that way. Like the gym at my old high school has a certain smell (and no it's not a sweaty gym sock smell!) and it reminds me of cheerleading. My parents house, peachy peach air fresheners, sun-ripped raspberry lotion, icehouse beer, diesel engines, cough syrup....all and many more are memory filled. So why we're going down memory lane, let's visit the skating rink....

As always, click on images for a better look.

Sneak Peak

I had the opportunity to photograph a beautiful and fun wedding last night. One of the best parts about the wedding was the decorations. The bride (with some help) made all the decorations and they were so original. She wanted the wedding to be a reflection of her and her new husband and something different from the traditional wedding style. Her cake was gorgeous - I'd love to know who did it bc they did an extraordinary job decorating it and it fit in with their theme to a T. I thought I'd share a sneak peak of her decorations with you. I love things out of the box - maybe that's why I love how she did the decorations so much....

I love these  - especially the torn paper at the top and the little leaf detail. Click on the image for a better look.

Believe it or not - they made these two. The bride said they burned the design into the wood and it took an hour just to do one! Click on the image for a better look.

The raffia definitely adds a nice touch to the small volitive candles. Click on image for a better look.

Ahhh...the beautiful cake. No corners cut on this one. You really should click on this image and see it larger.

Their programs were held together with little twigs. I'm sure that took a while and a few broken twigs to complete. But what a good idea. Click on image for a better look.

This was the centerpiece on the tables. I can't help but to wonder how heavy they were. Everything they used (or that I touched anyways) was made of real wood. Very creative and fun. The groom and groomsmen also wore brown tuxes instead of black, I loved that idea. Again, matched the theme of the wedding perfectly.