Today is the day we start our new photo blog series. The second half of our book is an inspirational guide entitled Life Is a Photo Op because we feel that the world around us offers us endless inspiration on a daily basis if you just know how to look for it. Not only is it a chance to highlight photographers around the world, both professionals and hobbyists, but this is a chance to inspire all of you to start a photo project that maybe you will someday share with us. We are thrilled to kick off this series with a clever and almost hauntingly beautiful look at life with children.

Thanks to everyone who has already submitted their projects! We would like to extend an invitation to those that have or are currently working on a personal photo project to email us at info@beyond-snapshots.com. It can be anything that sparks your creativity. We just ask that you submit work that you were not paid to produce. Please send us a brief description of your project with up to 10 images. We would love to see what you are working on, and possibly share it with everyone here!

Ketti Phillips | kettiphotography.com

Where are you from?
Southern California.

Where do you currently live?
Seattle, WA

How long have you been shooting?
About 4 years

Are you self-taught or schooled in photography?
Mainly self-taught. I had to take a photography course while I was studying graphic design in art school and it made me fall in love with shooting. The darkroom was not my favorite though – I did not have the patience for that.

Do you photograph for a living or is this a hobby?
That is a bit of a gray area… I have a business and photograph families for money, but it’s not something I market or really work at to gain clients. I have about 1 shoot a month, and about a quarter of those end up being freebies. So I don’t earn a living through photography, but it’s also more than just a hobby.

What is in your camera bag?
Canon 5D, 35L, 24-70L, 85 1.8 and 50 1.4. I also have a Pentax 645 that I like to play with.

Do you shoot digital or film or both?
Mainly digital but I am trying to get more film into the mix.

What do you find both positive and negative about shooting in both formats?
The instant gratification of digital and being able to correct myself on the fly. I love how film forces me to slow down and really think about a shot before I push the shutter.

Why do you love Film or Digital?
They are both great mediums! There is a tactile quality to film that is so beautiful. Digital can try to replicate it, but the real thing is always better.

How did this project come about?
I was looking for something to shoot that would push myself to explore an area I felt I needed to work on. In this case it happened to be detail shots and storytelling through objects and scenes. Since I work at home, I am never without my kids and don’t get out much. It is easy to fall back on them as subjects, so this time I kept them as the subject but removed their physical presence from the equation. It’s called “Kids Were Here” and the rules of the project were one photograph a day for 30 days, about my kids, but with no actual children in the photograph.

What is it about this project that speaks personally about you?
It is all about my children and tells me so much about them and what stages and quirks they were going through during this time period.

What would you want this project to say to the viewer?
To give the viewer a sense of my children, their personality, behavior, the chaos that exists in our home…

Are you currently shooting or planning to shoot another personal project?
I would love to but haven’t found the inspiration yet!

How do you keep challenging yourself photographically?
I give myself little rules to follow. Right now I’m focusing on composition so I tell myself nothing can have a center comp, I need to explore new angles.

We are only a couple months away to the release date of March 20th of the Beyond Snapshots book. Not only is it exciting that we are seeing this project come to fruition, but what gets us head over heels is the sheer fact that this book is just that, A BOOK! It’s made of paper, that smell that only you can get from opening a brand new book. So very full with not only the written information and inspiration you need to pick up a camera and shoot, but also beautiful examples of pictures that you can learn how to take!

But where will you buy the book? We all know Amazon is a great place to get books, but did you know you that all of our other favorite vendors are pre-selling the book as well?

• Barnes and Noble
• Indie Bound
• Bigger Books
• Book Depository

We also hold a special place in our hearts for the local bookstore and we encourage you to support them by visiting one that is in your neighborhood. Ask them to order it for you. That’s right, they do that!

There is a stop motion video called the “The Joy of Books”,  by Toronto book store owners Sean Ohlenkamp and Lisa Ohlenkamp, that has inspired this post and made us want to proclaim our love for books and now hopefully proclaims yours. Just remember the simple pleasure of sinking into the corner of a book store and getting lost in a book. Where will you get your copy of beyond snapshots and where will it take you?

Exactly two years ago we announced the journey to bring our dream of an idea to bookstores with this blog . It always seems that in the first week of January we have something noteworthy to report.  This year isn’t any different and we have exciting changes for us, including new faces and plans that we hope will excite you as well!

We are growing! Last year we added Meredith to the Beyond Snapshots team and just this week, we have added the awesome Isabel to help with the blog and some of the administrative tasks to help the blog grow and bring you some more interesting articles to read.

my love of photography was first born in the bottom of a cardboard box. one filled with curled and crumpled memories of the lives of my mother and father. as an only child living between two homes i found family in those photos. i found a history for myself, beyond the two spaces i floated between. i started out in the tiniest town in the world, warwick ri, and now reside in Medford MA with my husband and two kids, Jack (6) and Leo (3). i’m the daughter of a photo journalist from the days when journalists had to shoot their own images. i grew up on film and the darkroom was my first love. i can still remember the first time i developed one of my photos. from camera to paper. this white square, floating under my rubber tipped tongs. swaying gently back and forth in the small waves of the developer. and from the fog an image emerges. i was hooked.

after having my first son at the age of 19 and marrying my long time hunny, i felt lost in the motherhood identity and knew there was something missing, something just for me. i was always taking photos but my point and shoot just wasn’t giving me the satisfaction i missed from the days of shooting film. capturing a moment, but so much more than that. a feeling, a connection. it’s more than wanting fancier equipment, it’s the calling you have to be a storyteller of sorts. so, two and some odd years ago i invested in my first dslr. for the first 6 months i spent a lot of time on the computer and a lot of time shooting. transferring what i knew about film to digital was harder than i had anticipated. it was at that time that i stumbled upon rachel’s site and the beyond snapshots blog. i was starving for knowledge and any blog that offered sincere help and genuine caring to the importance of teaching this craft was devoured. of course it’s rachel’s sense of humor and the genuine emotion she captures in every photo, of kids or lemons (really, one of my favorite shots of hers is a lemon on a tree in a diptych with a window…), that keeps you coming back for more, and it was the same for me.

i photograph my life and when i’m lucky i get to photograph other families lives too. i write, i play with the kids, i love the husband, i spend way too much time on facebook and instagram (@ifurie), i’m a music and concert junky, i have a not so perfectly kept home and a few laundry piles lying around. but at the end of the day, these photos i take of our life, of my kids, of them with their cousins and grandparents and each other, they are the greatest love letter i’ll ever write.

i’m so excited to be a part of this team, that is committed to continuing to inspire and teach the artist in all of us and build a supportive community for anyone who shares this love of photography.

you can find me at my blog http://www.ifurie.com/
on instagram: @ifurie
and on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/furiephotography/

Now that the Beyond Snapshots book is written (with nearly 2 years of constant work, you can be sure this is a VERY complete opus) and our blog family has expanded a bit, we decided to take a step back and really reflect on what we wanted to give our readers on a more consistent level. We even wrote a mission statement of sorts!

It is not JUST that you don’t have to be a pro to take great photographs, but that if you take great photographs, you don’t have to BE a pro. There is more to professional photography than the ability to expose properly and compose with interest. There is so much more. We at Beyond Snapshots are not here to make new pro photographers. We are here to encourage natural talent to see a moment and record life beautifully with still images. We want to share those results as inspiration for others who see photography as their art form, whether it is their livelihood or not. We embrace this photography renaissance and all the opportunities it provides those who previously could not afford to pursue their passion. To sum it all up, we exist to champion the desire in anyone with a camera to go Beyond Snapshots.

mobile PHOTO monday’s are coming back! Our weekly feature where we highlight 3 images that our readers have taken with their mobile devices, will be revamped and more accessible to everyone. We are excited about the changes to the submission process to make it easier for you to participate. The goal is to not only to educate you on popular mobile applications, but to encourage everyone to record their life regardless of what kind of camera you have. Check back soon for more info!

The revival of thinking thursday will be featured once a month, where we will be selecting some images from the thinking thursday flickr group to give individualized help as well as posting tips for getting better pictures with fewer shots taken and less time spent on the computer.

We are also excited to reveal a new blog series, “Life is a Photo Opportunity”. Every two weeks we will be featuring a photographer and their personal photographs. These artists will not necessarily all be professionals, as we want to celebrate the general enthusiasts and everyone who loves taking pictures. In fact for the pros who are featured, the one requirement is not about subject matter, but that your session/shot was non-paid work. Travel, food, kids, pets, LIFE photos… There will be more details on how you can submit your work in the next few weeks, but here is a glance (in no particular order) of some who we already have lined up:

rosina waszaj :: www.rosinasphoto.com

mary collier :: www.mkcphoto.com

abbie mcfarland :: www.abbiemcfarland.com

sara tegman :: www.sarategman.com

molly flanagan :: www.mollyflanagan.com

rebecca conway :: www.rebeccaconway.com

shannon harrison :: www.jackandrubystudios.com/blog/

ketti phillips :: www.kettiphotography.com

amy lucy :: www.amylucy.com

amy boring :: www.aboringphoto.com

The book is almost here! An advanced copy of “Beyond Snapshots” is literally on it’s way to us and we are so close to the March 20th release date. The PR madness for the book has begun, and we are looking forward to an article being published by the New York Times this week!

Happy Monday everyone! Here are last week’s mobile PHOTO monday images. Enjoy and thank you to all who participated!

 Cherish B., Professional from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, www.cherishbryckphotography.com

Mobile Set-Up:

• iPhone
• Instagram Application with Brannan filter

This is a photo of my 4.5 year old doing just what 4 year olds like to do, sit upside down on the couch.  I remember doing that all the time when I was a kid.  Somehow I don’t think it is as acceptable to do this when you are an adult (at least not when anyone is looking!)

 Eje G., Hobbyist from Pittsburg, Kansas, USA, http://www.flickr.com/photos/macahanc6r/ 

Mobile Set-Up:

• myTouch 4G Slide
• Default camera app – macro mode, in post used default phone app (gallery) and edited to add “high contrast”

Was playing around and testing out the new myTouch 4G Slide phone, wanted to test the macro mode, of course working with electronics as a full time profession I had numerous electronic boars sitting on my desk in my office so took the one that looked the most interesting and played around with it. I shot with the myTouch from different angles and distances.  I really liked how this particular shot came out so this became my choice to publish to my flickr stream. The myTouch 4G Slide is a brand new phone was released in stores the 27th of July and you could preorder it on the 19th (which I did and got my phone the 23rd). Why did I pick this phone, because it claims to be one of the best camera phones out there and it have some very impressive specs on the camera. My old phone was a 2.5 year old Blackberry and was in need of upgrading/replacing. I decided I wanted a phone that had a good camera and a better app selection then the Blackberry and handle push e-mail. Another MUST HAVE requirement for me was a phone that supported UMA(Unlicensed Mobile Access) or Tmobile hotspot@home  the iPhone for example was really never an option. I live in a fairly rural area and NOBODY has decent coverage at my house, but with the cell over WiFi function I have excellent service at home. Since I received the phone I been putting it to the test and the picture I named “Digital Landscape” was one out of numerous pictures that I taken with the camera phone. Further I decided to start a “myTouch 4G Slide” group on flickr in hopes to get other people using this camera phone to join the group and post to it. http://www.flickr.com/groups/mytouch4gslide/ 

Gabbie S., Professional from Croydon Park, New South Wales, Australia, www.gabrielasmithphotography.blogspot.com

Walking home from work on a cold wintery morning, I saw this frangipani tree with no leaves and thought that is was just as beautiful (hauntingly so) in winter as it is in the summer with all it’s frangrance and lovely flowers).  I photoshopped to black and white and sharpened to get the dirty noise on the upper branches and then a little vigniette-ing.

Stacia E., Hobbyist from Geneva, Illinois, USA, driedonmilk.blogspot.com 

Mobile Set-Up:

• iPhone 3GS
• No Processing

I was taking my 3-year-old daughter to the movies for the first time. We were standing at the candy counter getting popcorn. I’m not sure which she was more excited about, that she got her own popcorn or that we were going to see a movie. It’s blurry but you have to be quick with kids! Actually no, it’s blurry because I was carrying a car seat (holding her 5 week old brother), a diaper bag, popcorn for two, drinks for two… and I just had to capture the excitement on her face. I love how the picture as a whole just screams lights, camera, action!

We are getting a great response to our weekly event, mobile PHOTO monday! Thank you to everyone who is participating! It’s great to see how creative everyone is being with their mobile applications. We love to see where everyone is from, and to see your lives through your eyes.

This week we have a couple submissions. As a reminder, we will be contacting you to ask permission to post your images as well as get further information.  Please keep an eye out, so you don’t miss this opportunity!

Marianne U., Hobbyist from Melbourne, Australia, http://madmonday.madcrew.com.au

Mobile Set-Up:  

• iPhone 3G
• Photoshop Express Application

This was taken at around 6am after an early morning feed at home and in bed, little Eli went back to sleep, hubby was still fast asleep but I was wide awake! Perfect time to try and get a snapshot of the baby and I using the trusty iPhone. There’s a big window behind me and the morning sun was just poking through the blinds and I didn’t think the iPhone would be able to take a decent shot but to my surprise it did.  I only needed to adjust the brightness using the Photoshop Express app.  I sometimes wish i had the dslr or the point & shoot when I took the photo as it is one of my favourite photo of us and would have liked to have a good quality print of it but then again the graininess that the iPhone 3G camera provided is probably what makes me love this shot even more.

Elysa H., Hobbyist from Illinois, USA

The morning I took the photo, I woke up earlier than usual and decided to take a walk on the scenic drive near where I live because it was so beautiful out! While I was walking it just felt like the perfect summer day. People were out enjoying the weather, birds were singing, and wild flowers seemed to pop up everywhere over night! When I saw these beautiful bright yellow flowers I quickly grabbed my phone and took a picture to capture that summer feeling. I love my SLR camera, but it isn’t always practical to carry it around with me, which is why I love the camera on my phone. It’s always on me and perfect for capturing those unexpected moments when you just have to photograph something!

You have probably seen us post on our Facebook wall announcing “Mobile Photo Monday”. Some of you know exactly what it is, and others not so much.  We have to confess, it’s sort of a hidden agenda that we should probably tell you about.

We are so lucky to live in a age where photography is literally at our fingertips.  Today pretty much every single mobile device has the capability to take a picture, plus there are tons of applications that are either free or cost little to be creative when editing your mobile images and new accessories, including lenses, to really make this sub-medium of digital photography truly an art form.

There is much admiration for the popularity of using your mobile cameras. Just like using your DSLR, there is instant gratification, yet it somehow gives you the “film” mindfulness that we believe in. We are free from paying attention to our settings, and are able to concentrate more on capturing the moment. The result is often times perfect imperfection.

Another objective we have with “Mobile Photo Mondays”, is to start critically thinking about the pictures you take. Maybe the word “critical” is a bit harsh, and we should probably call it “thinking creatively”. We encourage you to stop before taking your picture and think about what makes the image you are about to create interesting, and most importantly that YOU connect (on some level) to it.

“Mobile Photo Mondays” will be a weekly occurrence here at Beyond Snapshots. We encourage you to post your favorite image that you have taken from your mobile device on our Facebook wall every Monday.  Of course we will tweet and send out reminders, and for those of you who do not have Facebook or Twitter, you can post your mobile images on our Flickr group and label them “Mobile Photo Monday”.

Every week we would like to post some of those images that you share with us, here on the blog. We think it would be interesting to see what you all do with the available applications, devices and accessories that you work with to create the image you are sharing.

Starting today we would like to share one of the “Mobile Photo Monday” submissions from our “liker” Amanda C. from Charleston, SC. You’ll find all the information about her and about the image below.

I was on travel in PaxRiver, MD and when we travel, we eat!    We had gone to dinner this night after it had stormed and when we came out of the CD Cafe, the sun was beaming over the Solomons Island Bridge.  So of course, I had to quickly grab my phone or my “Camera in my pocket!” and take the shot!  I used MagicHour for Android to take the picture and then edited it with the default filters that the app comes with.  When I saw this edit, it caught my eye because of the sun flare and vivid colors!  This image was taken in Solomons, MD in front of The CD Cafe!

Mobile Info:

• HTC EVO 4G Android 2.3
• MagicHour Application with “Lite Blue” filter

We hope you will enjoy this new weekly feature of ours and we look forward to seeing your images.  Please be on the lookout for an email via Facebook, Twitter or Flickr to get more info about your image if we do decide to post your image on our blog.  It’s amazing how many people don’t respond back to us!

Happy Monday Wednesday!

Our February class just ended, and we can’t believe how amazing all of our students were. We are so proud of the progress they made, that we had to share some of their best work. Thank you to everyone who participated. You all did a wonderful job! These are just a few of the many images that were submitted for assignments and we will be featuring more work from everyone who has taken the class in the near future (more on that soon!)

Images:
Joel Reid / Shannon Shaw
Ros McMillan
Bron Curnow

There is that saying, “when one door closes, another one opens” and this holds true to our online class for beginners. As our February class has ended, we are already heading into our third week of our April class and are already booking for our upcoming June class. We are particularly thrilled about the June class, because we are adding a little variety into the mix.

Starting with our June class, we will now be offering a “lite” version in addition to the “full” version.  What is the difference, you ask? The lite version gives you full access to class materials, assignments, and discussion boards, and instead of having us individually critique your work, we will work with you in a discussion setting so EVERYONE in the class can learn from EVERYONE.

This class is not only great for the budget concious individual, but it is also perfect for moms and especially mom bloggers. We have a few mommy bloggers in our class right now and another (Jill from Baby Rabies) in June! Jill will be giving away a spot in our June class, so check out her blog for more information (and a discount code for her readers)!

Our goal is to make this class accessable for everyone. We think that you will have fun taking it on your own or with a group of your friends. This last class had a group of friends who decided to all take it together and really got so much out of the class as they did assignments together on some weekends. We also have friends taking it this time who are in different states, but can still connect and focus on learning together online. Feel free to look at the class registration page for more info or contact us for payment arrangements and group discounts!

It’s been a while since we have written a “we love” post, but we have really fallen for something that has caught our “Pinterest“.

Many photographers, such as ourselves, have gravitated towards this new site. It has allowed us a way to visually bookmark things that we find on the internet and catalog images that inspire us in some way. We have used it to create boards of the gear we use, items we want to buy, even decorating inspiration. There are collections of recipes and DIY crafting projects.  Both Peta and Rachel have boards on Pinterest, and are completely addicted! When you follow a new person, you get to see all the things they find fascinating online and each new thing that catches your eye takes you to more boards that will continue to take you deeper and deeper down an Alice in Wonderland hole of amazing stuff.

When you are ready to join Pinterest, please give yourself quite a bit of time. While it is super easy to set up and with all your Facebook and Twitter who are on Pinterest contacts automatically loaded, you will be sucked in immediately. For hours!

Rachel recently had the opportunity to meet Ben, one of the creators of Pinterest at the Alt Design Summit last month. What a fascinating guy! We thought it would be great to ask Ben a few questions and share the love with all of you.

How did Pinterest start?
I started Pinterest with my college friend Paul. We were looking at paper catalogs and thought, wouldn’t it be cool if there was a catalog full of stuff that our friends had picked out. Paul and I are lucky enough to have friends with amazing taste in all sorts of things — mid century furniture, indian cooking, rap music, graphic design. We thought it would be exciting to build a place where our friends could share all of that. Both of us truly believe that most people have great taste in something. Our mission at Pinterest is to empower people to share their taste with the world.

How long has it been in development?
We started making Pinterest in December 2009. By March 2010, we had a prototype to share with close friends and family. Since then, every new member of Pinterest has been given a few invites to send to close friends.

As a collaboration project, how is it to work with others on bringing something so specific to the market?
It’s great! The best thing about building a company is gathering a group of people who can achieve a lot more together than they can individually. Every member of our team focuses on a different part of the product, but together, we all want to make Pinterest a product lots of people use and love. We get incredibly excited to hear from Pinterest users. It sounds boring, but we enjoy doing customer support because it’s an opportunity to find out how we can make Pinterest just a little bit better.

What tech goodies can you let us in on so we have something to look forward to? (ie: iphone and android apps, “pin my stuff” blog and website widgets, notifications of being pinned, and the big question…opening of the beta invite only version.)
So many! I can’t tell you about everything, but we have an iPhone and Android application in the works. We hired a great developer named Sahil Lavingia who is leading the charge on it. After testing it for a couple weeks, I can say that I’m as excited about the Pinterest app as I am about Pinterest.com. I think the two products work really well together, so we can’t wait to release it. We’re also working on an API so users can do a lot more with their pins — everything from embedding pinboards onto their website to having Pin It! buttons that can be added to stores or blogs.

As the site grows, are there any plans in place to deal with those who pin their own work or otherwise sully the experience?
We’re pretty strict about enforcing our terms of service, which prohibit nudity or hateful material. Right now, anyone can “report” a pin that they find objectionable. Reporting a pin immediately removes it from the public parts of the site and sends it to our team for review. If the pin violates our Terms of Service, I let the user know and then delete that pin immediately. More importantly though, we rely on our community to make Pinterest a positive place. I’m amazed by how thoughtful and passionate Pinterest users are. We get LOTS of help from our users, and I’m genuinely thankful for that.

We love that one can display the price on a pin that is for sale…has anything come up in your pinterest feed that enticed you to get your hands on it in real life?
Lots actually! Pinterest is my go-to place to find gifts for anyone I find a little bit hard to shop for. The most important thing I bought from Pinterest, though, was my engagement ring! A couple months before my engagement I was feeling totally overwhelmed looking at Blue Nile and Tiffany’s. One night, I saw a really cool design posted by a woman who was actually a jewelry maker herself. A few comments back and forth, I was sold.

We both have local friends that are otherwise not very involved in social media, yet have sunk their teeth into Pinterest. What are your thoughts on Pinterest being so appealing to those who don’t normally “do” social media?
First, Pinterest is really visual. Lots of people find images more engaging and fun than text. I also think Pinterest taps into a really common human desire to share your taste. Lots of people take pride in how they decorate their house, what gifts they choose for friends, or what kind of art they appreciate. Pinterest makes it easy to share these interest with friends.

How would you like to see photographers using the site as it goes forward?
I like the idea of photographers sharing all the different aspects of their craft. It’s interesting to see their favorite photographs, but it’s just as interesting to see their favorite photography books, or the gear they carry, or even their favorite spots for taking photographs. Most of all, just be creative! Sometimes the boards I enjoy are totally unexpected — like http://pinterest.com/formfireglass/wood-you/ or http://pinterest.com/janew/household-weapons/or http://pinterest.com/madelscape/pinning-barcelona/

Thank you Ben and team for this great site! The best part, we have a special invitation to immediately join Pinterest just for our readers by clicking here!

Happy pinning!

The Beyond Snapshots team is busy preparing another online class for beginners to start in late February.  We have created a waiting list and will be contacting everyone soon. If you have not already requested a place on that list, please send us an email to info@beyond-snapshots.com to grab a spot. Space is limited and this class fills up fast.  If you think you might be interested, make sure you sign up now!

There have been many requests for an advance photography online class, including individualized mentoring sessions. Plans for events like these are definitely in the works, and we hope to announce something in the near future.

Also, in an effort to help others with mindful shooting, Rachel will select up to 5 photos once a month from the new “Thinking Thursday” flickr group (flickr is free to sign up for if you have not already!) and give constructive critiques on those images chosen on her facebook fan page.  For more information on “Thinking Thursday”, please visit Rachel’s latest blog post.

So what do you have to do?

1. Go to Rachel’s Facebook Page and become a fan.*
2. Go to the “Thinking Thursday” flickr group and add an image. (Only one image is allowed per month)

*If you are not on Facebook, not to worry!  To partipate, please go to the “Thinking Thursday” flickr group and add the image you want critiqued.

In addition to the individual photo help, Rachel will be posting tips for getting better pictures with fewer shots taken and less time spent on the computer!

Needless to say, there are a lot of exciting things happening!

Happy belated New Year to everyone! 2010 had been an amazing year for us, and we appreciate you going along for the ride. Not only did the new book take all of our time (still not done, but we handed that manuscript in proudly on December 1st), but family and life in general made it a bit crazier than expected. We thank all of you for hanging in there and being patient, while we try to juggle everything.

We don’t make New Year’s Resolutions, but we do intend to make some improvements with Beyond Snapshots for 2011. There are a lot of exciting things happening, including more Beyond Snapshots classes, advanced mentoring sessions and other events. Also our goal is to be more diligent about posting educational and interesting articles on the blog and continuing to build on the community that is already established. With all that planned, we decided we desperately needed some more help and we got it.

With a leading percentage of our readers being in the states, we felt it was essential to find someone who lived there.  We also wanted someone who was as addicted to comfortable with their computer as we are.  Meet the newest member to the Beyond Snapshots team, Meredith.

Not only is she based out of the west coast of the US, but she totally knows her way around the social media thing.  She is organized, motivated and super nice.  In fact, we are pretty sure that Meredith means “the bees knees” in Welsh.  We enjoyed having her in our Beyond Snapshots class and are thrilled that she would even consider taking this on.   She will begin by helping us out with the Beyond Snapshots community building, posting here on the blog, Facebook and Twitter.  No more, months of silence from us!

Meredith in her own words:

“I was born and raised here in Seattle.  I have two beautiful kids, Liam (6) and Ava (23 months), with my Swedish expat husband.  For the life of me I can’t remember when I found Beyond Snapshots, but I do remember there being an instant connection to Rachel as she is a mother of children close in age to mine, and I fell in love with the style of photography that both Rachel and Peta produced.

I purchased my first “adult” camera almost 3 years ago, when we went on our annual trip to Sweden and I really haven’t put it down since. I kept taking pictures and more pictures, making a lot of mistakes (which I still do) and just finding myself consumed with capturing life with my camera. It wasn’t until recently that I sort of went through some life changing events that made me realize that my corporate 9-5+ job wasn’t making me happy, and I really needed to make a change. What makes me happy is taking care of my family, taking pictures, watching movies, playing “Words with Friends” (I am so bad!), eating awesome food, drinking great wine, but most importantly building relationships. I never thought that at age 36 I would be an intern, not to mention one for a couple talented women. So I am beyond thrilled that Rachel and Peta are taking me under their wing and giving me the opportunity to help and build relationships with you. I am a big social media geek, so I welcome to find me on Twitter (@seattlemum), Facebook and Flickr. The more friends the merrier!”