Hello and welcome to my photoblog. I am delighted to have you here! This blog serves as a way of sharing my most recent photo sessions with clients and their family and friends, and is also the first place to hear recent announcements about the studio as well as special blog-reader only discounts.
I am a primarily natural light portrait photographer based out of Madison, Wisconsin. My focus is on babies, children and families, although I also love to shoot a limited number of weddings per year. My portrait sessions take place either on location or in my natural light studio located in downtown Madison (or even a combination of the two).
In addition to my blog, please also check out my main website (it is the "my website" link on the menu above). If you have any questions or would like to book a session, please click on the "contact me" link in the menu above to send me an e-mail. Thanks again for stopping by, and please enjoy your visit!
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My approach toward photography is deceptively simple, whether the session takes place in my studio or on-location: catch real moments of your children really being themselves. Silly giggles, sweet kisses from mommy, tickles from a big sister, laughing while watching doggie run through the park... These are the moments that make up real life. These are the moments from childhood that pass by all too fast. And these moments, to me, are where the real beauty of childhood resides. The same philosophy governs my approach to wedding photography.
My style is largely photojournalistic and non-obtrusive, while at the same time I am always working to create beautiful and lasting memories of life as it unfolds. The most common words used to describe my photographs are the ones I have chosen as the tagline for my studio: Modern. Fun. Real. Life. People often comment that my photographs have a sense of warmth and emotion to them -- which I consider the highest compliment possible.
I’ve never been a very “technie” person. But I’m trying. Sort of. I joined a group of photographers for a creativity workshop, and I went to the first session today (I joined late, so I felt like the bad kid in class who hadn’t done the assignment when I turned up to the meeting today empty-handed. I promise I’ll do the next one!). In between some really interesting discussions that actually related to the art of photography, we also discussed some things that had more to do with the business end of things. One thing I discovered today was twitterfeed.com. Evidently it simultaneously publishes your blog posts to twitter and Facebook. I have a twitter account, but I have long neglected it. I’m trying to improve, and this is the first step. So… if you want to start following me, my twitter name is caseybowerphoto. It would be fun to see lots of new followers after this post… then I’ll know it really works!
Along with my attempt to embrace technology that is still rather foreign to me, I’m also intrigued by the medium of film. I follow quite a few photography blogs, and I have seen an amazing resurgence of interest in film over the last year. I am eager to purchase a medium format film camera for myself. I was a film photographer back in the day — it’s hard to believe that my move to digital really only happened 4 years ago! I have never had a medium format camera though, so I’m somewhat overwhelmed by the process. While I lived in Philadelphia, I got to know a wonderful photographer named Rachel McGinn, who shot weddings so beautifully and entirely on film. She gave me some pointers, and 3 years later I think I’m finally ready to take the plunge.
So that’s me today. Embracing the old and the new, and aiming for a balance somewhere in the middle. Oh, and also crying over comic strips. I don’t usually read them, but my husband showed this one to me last night. And I CRIED. Over a comic strip. I think all the moms of boys especially (little ones and not-so-little ones) will understand. This is the tear-inducing comic strip.
Hello, long neglected blog. I have missed updating you. I’m still settling into life with a newborn (amazing how after only two years since my first I had already forgotten exactly how tiring it can be). But happily, he’s getting a bit more used to a nap schedule so I hope to do a lot more updating on the blog soon. As you might recall, I’m still on a semi-maternity leave, and I’m only photographing my Baby Sprouts clients until April. Thankfully I have a few of those with milestones over the next few months, so I will have some fun photos to share with you. I also still have some sessions from the fall to post here, but I was uploading this session from this weekend and was just struck by this image and had to post it today.
You might recognize her cute little face from earlier sessions. I had photographed her as a newborn and a 7 month old (or thereabouts), and now she has grown up into a little lady. She has the most beautiful room little girl’s room I have ever seen, with one wall entirely covered by these windows. Her mom had asked if I could try to get a photo of her with the “Ella” sign that hangs in her room over the changing table, since she had a similar one from her childhood. Well, Miss Ella was not at all interested in sitting on her changing table — who can blame her with all the excitement going on in the rest of world? So we improvised, and I actually love how it looks with the windows. And the tutu. If I had a little girl, I swear that she would be in a tutu all day long! There are lots more from this super fun session to come later, but here’s a little teaser for now.
Wishing you a very joyous holiday season and a wonderful new year. So that I can devote time to my family, the studio will be closed through January 4. I will answer your e-mails and phone calls when I return. Merry Christmas!
ps. the image above was on the front of our Christmas card this year. I’m so glad that my little man is so in love with his new brother. It made the session incredibly easy!
What a year. I opened the studio, went to a fantastic photo workshop, did a bit of traveling, and added a new member to my family! In addition to all of this, I also had the great pleasure of photographing so many beautiful families, babies, children, and pets, as well as a number of absolutely lovely weddings. I had a wonderful time going through all the photos from the year to pick out some of my favorites for my year-end slideshow. It made me tear up a bit, but I have always been a total softie.
Thank you to all my clients for your support and loyalty. I look forward to lots more fantastic moments in 2010. Happy Holidays to all!
December 15, 2009 - 10:05 pmHeather G. - Carrie: This is so fantastic! What a great recap of an amazing year of your photos. :) Hope you/fammily are doing well...seems strange not to pop in your office every once in a while to chat. Can't wait to see more pics of the newest addition! :)
December 21, 2009 - 2:25 pmLaura - I loved it. I got teary-eyed too and I don't even know them. Great job!
I have been absent from the blog for quite a while, but I have a reasonably good excuse. We welcomed the newest member of our family, a beautiful little baby boy, last Thursday. I am so happy that he didn’t arrive today in the middle of all the snow!
On a business related note, I’ll be posting my year end retrospective in the next week or so, along with some of my photo sessions from this fall that I didn’t get a chance to blog. If you’re a client, please bear with me as we make this adjustment to expand to a family of four. And for now, e-mail is definitely the best way to get in touch with me.
I have a lot of photos to share, but for now here’s one from the hospital… I love how he smiled right when I got the camera out. Hopefully he’ll be a little bit more of a camera hog than his big brother.
So very much to be thankful for this year. I am thankful for my health, and that of my family. I am thankful for the love of my husband and my little boy, as well as all my other family members and friends. I am thankful that we will very soon have another member of our little family. I am thankful that I am able to meet so many wonderful families and children through my job, and that I have a job which allows me to spend my days doing something that I truly love.
November 27, 2009 - 8:50 amClaire - Happy Thanksgiving, Carrie! I hope you enjoyed a huge meal, and are now ready to meet the newest member of the Bower family. Can't wait for the big news!
December 4, 2009 - 12:40 pmMeghan - Beautiful photos!
December 7, 2009 - 9:16 pmKC - It is nice to see you in front of the camera for a change! Beautiful pictures, and another huge congrats on your beautiful family of 4!
I tell just about every new parent who comes to me for newborn photos the same thing: they are unpredictable. It makes sense if you think about it. Here are these tiny new little people, who have just spent the last 9 months of their very new lives in the security of their mom’s warm, dark, generally consistent belly. Suddenly they are part of a whole new world and surrounded by lights, sounds, people, experiences that they have never seen before. Not to mention their tummies are incredibly small, so they are hungry all the time. And what comes in must come out… all this combines to make it just about impossible to describe a “typical” newborn session. Often, if given a bit of food and a warm room, they will fall asleep. Little Miss M had other plans. She must have been quite excited about her photo debut, because despite a couple of snack breaks, lots of time being held, a warm room and a somewhat overcast day for her photos, she flat out refused to sleep. That is, of course, until her mom had gotten her all dressed and ready to go. I love the eye contact and her sweet expressions in all the awake shots, and I’m also really glad that her parents decided to stay for just a bit longer than they had planned, so we could get a couple of those sweet and sleepy shots at the very end. Welcome to the world, Miss M! We’re so delighted to have you here.
November 11, 2009 - 9:29 pmHeather - These are so sweet! I love how they turned out. You have the patience of a saint! The parents must be soooo happy with these! {high five!!}
:o)
This is another one of my Baby Sprout clients. I photographed her newborn session, and then I was lucky enough to see her three more times in her first year. She’s a one year old and not a baby anymore, and this was the last session of the four. It’s always a little bittersweet for me when I shoot that last session. I’m a total sentimental softie, what can I say? I’ve thoroughly enjoyed each of K’s four sessions, and I was really happy that we were able to get a little bit of outdoors time in this session — especially since that meant we were able to include their fourth family member in the photos as well. I knew what am important member of the family she was right from the get-go, since K’s room is full of Snoopy. Yay for beagles, yay for fall, yay for cute smiles and yay for turning one year old. I hope to see you again for your two year session, Miss K!
I have some others from this series where she is looking at the camera, but I actually love how she’s gazing up at her mom in this one.
The furry member of the family.
Beautiful fall family portrait (so happy we even got a smile. I think that was due to grandma and grandpa dancing around behind me).
For the studio portion of the session (since it was only about 50 degrees that day), they brought along a rocking chair had been passed down a couple of generations, and K really loved it!
As of a couple of weeks ago, I am completely booked for 2009. With my second child due in December, I am taking on a reduced schedule in early 2010 (I will be photographing current Baby Sprout and past clients only) but will be back to my normal schedule starting in April 2010. If you are interested in a session for 2010, please e-mail me to be placed on the priority e-mail list. I’ll be sending out an e-mail in March, and those on the list will have first priority in booking sessions in the spring.
Thank you all for your continued loyalty and interest! 2010 is going to be a great year for the studio. I have all kinds of exciting plans in the works, and I can’t wait to share them with all of you!
This maternity session took place on one of the most gorgeous fall evenings we’ve had this year. Right around sunset is such a wonderful time for a photo session, and it’s not a time of day that I actually get to shoot very often unless it’s a maternity, engagement or wedding session (the so-called “witching hour” isn’t so great for kiddos). So when I suggested a 5:30 start time for this maternity session, I was really happy when they agreed! We started the session at the studio, then headed outside to capture that golden end of day light. I honestly think that all mothers-to-be glow when they are this far along in the pregnancy, and this was just accentuated by the light that time of day. Lovely.
This next series was totally just me playing with the light. They were taken about 20 seconds apart… with radically different exposures and angles.
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