{Support Star Shooter and be “Totally Rad” l Silverdale Lifestyle Photographer}

Finally!  I’m finally getting caught up on everything now that I’m home and able to work again!  Don’t get me wrong, I love vacations, especially “working” vacations, but this last one, I brought my kids with me.  Nathan had to work in Hawaii for a week….I know, I know, tough job right?…..so I was left bringing the kids along to my shoots in Idaho.  My parents live there and I thought in between sessions (I had a wedding and another session) that we would visit and have fun, and then at night, like I usually do, I would work.  Well it didn’t quite work out that way.  My youngest son, has never been a well adjuster to things outside of his “norm”.  He likes things the way they’ve always been……bedtime at 8 in his own bed, a book, a prayer, mommy or daddy sitting in the room until he falls asleep, his favorite pillow and blanket, etc.  So when things get out of whack….like when you’re on vacation, everything is a free for all.  Long story short, I didn’t get time to work on ANYTHING, and was barely able to download the jobs I did do there.  Now I’m home, everything is back to normal and my “to do” lists for each day this week are daunting……..daunting but doable!  It’s good to get back to editing and back into my “routine”

So first thing is to get this contest going.  It was supposed to happen a week ago and I’m so excited about it!  If you’ve hung around here for, hmmmm…..let’s see……more that one milisecond, then you will know that I’m so stoked about the Star Shooter program run by Johnna Brynn.  I’ve blogged about it, Facebooked about it, Twittered about it, posted stuff on every Photography forum I’m on about it, sent out mercy e-mails to anyone and everyone I could think of that could make a difference, and even interviewed Johnna right here!  WHEW!  Now I’m doing a contest to get people to enter the Star Shooter Photo Contest that ends on August 1, 2009.

To recap, the photo contest is open to anyone all around the world and can be of any photo you choose.  It is $25 to enter.  The grand prize is a shiny new Canon 5D mkII or $2,000 whichever you prefer.  The $25 entrance fee is to help raise funds for the Star Shooter workshops and will buy cameras, computer equipment, and software for the workshop participants.  It’s a great contest with a great prize, but more importantly raises money for an even greater good, helping these kids heal through photo therapy and teaching them skills that will take them far into the future!

So here’s the lowdown  I’m going to be running a contest to help raise funds for Star Shooter.  Everyone who enters into this photo contest or sponsors a child or donates to Star Shooter will be in a drawing to win the Boutwell’s Totally Rad Actions- BOTH 1 AND 2!  I love these actions and I use them exclusively in all the images I edit.  There’s so many different things you can do with them and the great thing about these actions is that they are completely customizable, meaning no one’s images will ever be the same.  They aren’t the type of actions you just run and, bam! you’re done, you tweak them to how you want them to really leave “your” mark on your images.  There’s tons of different “recipes” out there to give you inspiration, but believe me!- when you start using these YOU WILL LOVE THEM!  Click on the logo below to see some samples of before and after shots…..if you like what you see, you can click on the logo at the top of this post and download a sample pack of their actions for FREE!  That’s how I started and was hooked

I use “Pro Retouch” on ALL of my images that need skin smoothing, I use “A Better Web Sharpen” on all my images that get uploaded to the web, “POS lens” is used quite frequently in some of my ring shots, and I ALWAYS use “Select-o-Sharp” on almost all of my images, especially the eyes.  These actions help me to make my images look the best they can while freeing up my time to edit…..because REALLY!-  I’m a photographer FIRST!  I’ll be posting more about TRA in a future Feature Friday post, but here’s the specifics about this contest and they must be followed exactly!

***THIS CONTEST WILL RUN FROM JULY 6- JULY 15, 2009***

1.  You must enter the Star Shooter Photo Contest by clicking HERE If you’d like to just donate or sponsor a child click HERE

2.  You must leave a comment below in the comments section with your full name and e-mail address included.  If  you don’t have your full name and e-mail address you won’t be eligible to win because I have to confirm with Johnna that yes you did enter the contest, donate, or sponsor a child.

3.  All entrants will be put in a drawing and one person will be randomly selected on July 15 through Random.org

The winner will recieve Totally Rad Actions both 1 and 2 which is a $279 value and SOO worth it!  You have a week and a half to enter this contest so get going and let’s help raise some moolah for Star Shooter!