An Intimate Announcement // October 20 & 21

That's right friends I have a special announcement to make today! Over the last 4 weeks I have had many ladies contact me about a Boudoir or as I like to call them Intimate Weekend. Up until last week I had thought against having another one simply because in the past they have had lots of interest and some bookings but people ended up backing out. :o( But lets be honest I love photographing intimate sessions, I love the confidence that blossoms in these ladies! 

So what the Heck! I will be hosting a 2 day only Intimate Special Weekend, 

These one of a kind images will be tailored to your style and partners likes. They can be given as great Christmas Gifts, Wedding/Anniversary Gifts, or A Special Valentines Gift. 

Here are a few snap shots at past intimate sessions with Hildebrandt Photography:

Emily: 

Erica was AMAZING!!!!! I was referred to her by a friend who has had a great experience with her as well. I wanted to do a boudoir session for my anniversary and was a little nervous leading up to my appointment. She made me feel so comfortable and I absolutely love my photos. She gave me so much confidence and I felt great during my session!!! I can't wait to do a family session with her!!!"

Savannah:

"LOVE working with Erica, Ive done 4 shoots with her and all were very professional and very comfortable!"

Some more favorites:

"Erica is amazing! She is extremely down to earth and makes you feel comfortable during any shoot. She is very talented and it really shows through her photos...Love her! : )"

"The 2nd shoot was a boudoir, and any photographer that can make me look half my size and so gorgeous is the best in my book! "

So call me today to set your Intimate Session!

Rebranding with KDCreative

Branding

One of the most important & hardest parts of any small business. As soon as you nail down one part of your brand (e.i. Your logo, or Branding Colors) then you step back and have to realize wow I am feeling really great about that first piece but now there are another xx amount of items to brand! 

Start the terrified screaming here!

So for two years now I have been tweaking and making over my Brand, then I realized I couldn't do it all. Yes I can be the Owner, CEO, CFO, Accountant, & Artist behind Hildebrandt Photography but I could not take all my creative branding ideas and put them together in a simple and AwesomeSauce way. It's the truth and that's cool, one of my all time favorite photographers preaches about out sourcing when you can and for sure branding is something I can out source right now. 

We all know I don't need another task to my over flowing todo list. Ok so I have decided I have to get branding help but now what? Searching for a kick butt design artist! 

Looking high and low I come across a great design artist out of MD. KD Creative. On our first consult call she told me how she finally took the leap of fulling working for herself! Go Katie! She is so sweet and very easy to work with, I was a little scared that any design artist I worked with wouldn't get the real me in my branding. Kate nailed it! She had me start with a Pinterest Board for my branding inspiration 

I took about 3 hours searching my hard drives, and the crazy world of Pinterest to pull out colors, patterns, fonts, and over all feels of Hildebrandt Photography. Now he was the question I struggled with the most in this process, where do I draw the straight line between my personal style and my business brand? The answer is really another question, why does it have to be a straight line? By taking my existing brand (which I loved so far), then adding a little of me to come up with my creative inspiration for Hildebrandt Photography.

After just a few short days Katie emailed me this great (& narrowed down) Inspiration Board

Yellow with a pinch of Deep Teal all rolled up in a ball of rustic. With a Mustache on top. That's right if you know me personally you know nothing is complete with out a mustache! 

Now we are cooking with some branding magic now it's time to work up the outline to a brand. Which looks a little like this

Branded colors, Logo, patterns,and fonts. Taking all that Kate turned it into a first draft of my beautiful new website...

Now this is not what my Website will look like when it is released later this fall but it is a start to some all new magic coming your way! Katie from KD Creative has been super helpful in this whole process and I am super excited to see the new blog layout in the coming weeks.!.!.!.!!!

Thanks Katie!

Shannon's Bridal Portraits // The Manor House // Mechanicsville WeddingPhotographer

As I sit down to write today's blog post we are just 1 week away (or just photographed by the time this is posted.) from Shannon and Ben's beautiful wedding at The Manor House. What a beautiful venue for a wedding!

I have known Shannon for 3 years now, love her children and all but adopted her son. Ben & Shannon have the cutest love story of all time in my book, but that is a story to tell on their first wedding blog post. With Shannon's second wedding quickly approaching it was time to walk and view the venue while capturing her bridal beauty. 

I really couldn't say much more because these images speak for them selves more than I could ever say...

I am so excited to final photograph with beautiful wedding on August 24, 2013 along with 2 of my new photog friends Ben & Sophia (from Ben & Sophia Photography Fredericksburg, Va)

The Twins Are Almost Here! // Hanover Maternity Photographer

Ashleigh and Ryan are expecting 2 bouncing boys any day now! I am so super excited to watch and share in my clients expecting joy. I remember when Ashleigh would call and tell me of the possible pregnancy that they had been trying for, then the photo text of a double pink line!!! I will say I get these messages a few times a year and each time I react the same way I did when I got my very own double pink lines... Jumping up and down, screaming in joy, and even crying tears of joy! That's right I am such a messy sap when babies are in the picture!

Then the photo text of TWO babies came my way, I was so not ready for that one! The jumping, screaming, and almost crying came right back again! And in the last 28 weeks since that message I have been getting regular babies updates, along with attending and documenting the gender reveal of BOYS! 

Now as Ashleigh and the sweet guys have safely made it to 34 weeks we could have the joy of meeting them at any moment, and I couldn't be more excited!!!! (I have quickly become an Aunty Erica to Ashliegh's little girls and soon Mason & Cash as well!) about 3 weeks ago we took the whole family out to the park and documented this beautiful time as Ashleigh's pregnancy comes to an end.

So when Ashleigh and I were talking about this session she really wanted a sunflower field to have the session in. Great idea! I had recently come across a field in Fredericksburg that I planned to take her and the family too. On Friday I called to confirm my reservation at the farm and was broken the sad news, the farmer had plowed down all the sunflowers earlier that day to replant a new batch. The new batch would not be ready until October! Ekk this is not good, but being a natural light photographer it can happen from time to time and you must be ready with a back up plan which I had it just wasn't sunflowers. 

At 4:38pm I quickly loaded Julian up in the car and rolled out to a local wild flower field that might be just as beautiful, but this late in the season it was no luck. The flowers had become over grown with weeds and grass :(  from there Julian and I road every back road we could find for 4 hours looking for a patch of sunflowers I could use. In our 4 hour trip I did find 3 patches of Sunflowers, the first was way to short, baby sunflowers which just would not work. The second were large and alive, but the owner did not want a profession session photographed on their property, understandable. Then the third was way past its life span, dropping and dull yellow just would not work for the beauty of life thatAshleigh  was caring. So we fell to my emergency game plan! 

Not to worry though I am planning to photograph Ashleigh and Ryan's first first full family photos in those Sunflowers come this October!