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Alright – I was thinking that some of you might have forgotten the awesome prizes that we are offering for the SBP Bag Contest.  So here is an excerpt from an earlier blog entry.  What are you waiting for?!  Don’t you like free stuff?  ;)

If you have been to any of our recent events you know that this year we have SBP tote bags.  So, here is our contest…  take our bag with you on vacation this year and send us a picture of you and/or your family holding the bag.  E-mail me a picture with a description and I will post it within 24 hours on my Blog (I will only include your first name and no one else in the family).  I would love a fun story to go along, but not necessary.  Pictures must be posted online for an entry to be included.  Prizes will be given for these three categories:

1 – Farthest from our studio

2 – Taken to the most cities (picture entry needed for each location)

3 – Fan Favorite (voted on by viewers week after deadline)

So, you might be asking, what are the prizes?  I think you will be very excited.  I know I would be.  If you win, you can pick one of the following:

a – 16 x 20 Wall Portrait

b – 75 Christmas Cards

c – up to $175 in framing

*Each prize is for a future session and doesn’t include the session fee.

If you don’t have a bag, let me know when you want to come get one.  And you don’t have to be a current client to enter.  You can become a new client.  We would love for you to participate!  Contest will end on August 14, 2010.

I hope this is a reminder to you to send me a picture for the SBP Bag Contest.  Only about a month left.  Don’t wait!  Send your pictures in soon.

Well, I am very emotional and stressed out these days…  more on that later…  So, it isn’t a surprise that I almost cried and gasped when I read my e-mail today.  I was so excited and touched!  And I think you will be too.  A great, great client sent their latest entry to the SBP Bag Contest.  What a sweet husband, daddy and client.  I just love it.  Thank you Alex.  Your story and pictures mean the world to me.  Oh, and if you didn’t see on facebook, my sister “entered” as well and actually went to Australia – well, she lives there!  (see Alex’s note below)  I will post her pictures soon.  Enjoy this latest story…  It is the best, best, best and I can’t wait for the free peanuts!!!!  ;)

Quite a journey for the Susan Brewer bag.  My wife told me Susan Brewer was having a photo contest, and being that we are big fans of Susan, we thought what a great opportunity.  Now, we are not the most creative or artistic people, but one we think we have a chance to win is the “furthest from Greenville” category.  So, while preparing for travel my wife reminded me about 20 times to not forget “the bag”, and off I went.

“Go West, young bag, go West”.  The bag went West, going to Shanghai, China (via Chicago).  Shanghai, China is 7,632 miles from our beautiful Greenville.

In Shanghai, the bag visited the World Expo.  Here it is standing in front of the Chinese pavilion.  The bag also happened to be there the same day Hillary Clinton was visiting the Expo.  It “rubbed seams” with famous politicians…

Of course, me being Brazilian, the bag also had to pose in front of the Brazilian pavilion.  Good food and preparing mentally for the World Cup of soccer.
The bag also appears with the iconic Shanghai city skyline.  The tower on the left is the Oriental Pearl Tower, a very tall and famous observatory and antenna.  The building on the right with the open square at the top (looks like a bottle opener), is the third tallest building in the world – the Shanghai World Financial Center, standing at 1,614 feet.

The bag then continued on its long journey and headed to India – still going West.  But on the way stopped at the Hong Kong International airport for a lay-over.  Needed to rest a little.  Hong Kong is 8,351 miles from Greenville.  At some point (but no photo to prove it) the bag was in an airplane at the exact opposite end of the earth from Greenville – somewhere between China and India.

Eventually, tired, the bag made it to Mumbai, India where it took pictures all over the city.  Mumbai, India is 8,384 miles from Greenville.  Here is the bag in front of the Gateway of India.  The Gateway of India was built to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary of England to Bombay in December 1911.  I was constantly trying to get the guys with the giant balloons out of the picture, but they were insistent in trying to sell me something…

Here is a picture in front of the the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, the most famous and luxurious hotel in Mumbai.  Unfortunately, this hotel was part of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai in late November 2008 and is under very tight security these days.  But regardless, it is a beautiful building – both inside and out. Ultimately, the bag kept going West, and by the time it was all done the Susan Brewer bag had gone around the world (via New York) back to Greenville.  This completed a long journey where the bag was able to witness two of the fastest and most exciting economies of the world and log a lot of frequent flyer miles.  But the bag surely was glad to be back in our beautiful Greenville.

So in conclusion, we figure that unless someone went with the bag to Australia or New Zealand, we have got this one “in the bag”!

PS: I think the bag is “gold status” on Continental Airlines now.  It might get free peanuts next time…

Donna brought her twins to me for their one year birthday pictures.  We had so much fun with both boys and then we brought out the cake and balloons.  I love photographing twins because it really shows how different each child is even from birth.  One boy loved the cupcake and ate the entire time while the other took a lot of coaxing and really didn’t like getting dirty.  It was so much fun!!!  Happy Birthday boys!

Nolan is a brand new Baby Program client.  I was fortunate to start his BProgram at the maternity session.  His mom is so beautiful and nice, so we had a great first session.  So these are actually from his second session.  How fun!!  And look how cute he is!!  Another fun part of this session is that both of his sets of grandparents came to watch the session and his aunt. We had a full house.  I wish I had turned around and taken a picture of the viewers.  Nolan should feel so loved.  Shouldn’t we all.

Alright, so I was going through my Blog and realized that I didn’t post the pictures of the maternity session (I actually didn’t post several sessions that I will upload very soon), so those are included as well.  Enjoy!!

I was so excited to get an e-mail from Renee.  Her nephew was a Baby Program client and I met her at his first session.  Her husband was overseas in the Middle East for a while and now he is back.  And now…  they are moving to Canada!!  I was so excited that they drove in from Charleston for me to photograph their family and that they did this while in the middle of moving.  They are brave!!  Thanks family!  I had a great afternoon.