Hey to all my lovely readers out there! We’re going to be doing a super fun giveaway this month and I’m excited to share this one.

Okay, I’m a huge advocate of healthy, natural choices in our food and the items we use daily.  I know a lot of my friends and family are watching what they bring into their households as well. It may be buying as organically as we can, cleaning with natural products, recycling, choosing locally grown foods, growing our own vegetables and fruit or even just simply packing our children’s lunch each day. I can’t do all of it all the time, but we do try hard in each of those categories. And it makes me feel happy to know that I’m feeding and surrounding my family with GOOD things.

Well, along those lines I want to mention one of the good things we’ve used this year that has been a huge hit. That’s the boys’ Goodbyn lunch boxes that they’ve been using since this fall. They love them, their friends love them and hey, it makes packing their lunch more fun for me. The boys had so much fun decorating their Goodbyn’s with all the stickers that come with it and it was fun to see their creativity.

Because we had so much fun with our Goodbyn’s I wanted to give one away here on my blog!

Here’s how the giveaway will work. For each comment you leave from today until the end of March, you’ll be entered one time.  Please only leave one comment per post to make it fair for everyone, but feel free to comment on each post that I do. That means if I make 3 posts in one day you can comment on each one and be entered 3 times.

And you can earn bonus entries too! If you mention the contest on your blog with a link back to my blog, you’ll be entered 5 times for that one post! Just mention in your comment that you blogged.

During the first week of April I’ll randomly pick one winner and announce the name here. The winner will be able to choose what color Goodbyn they would like and it will be shipped to them. Due to shipping, I do ask that you live in Canada or the United States. And even if you don’t have children, these make great gifts for the kids in your life.

So go ahead, add the blog to your reader and start commenting! Good luck!

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I’m so excited to be heading out to San Luis Obispo, CA in just a few weeks to teach a workshop with Joy Vertz and a guest appearance from a dear friend of mine, Amanda Elkins.

Joy is going to be teaching you how to take your business to a whole new level of success and profitability. Which we all know is a huge issue in this economy. I’ve known Joy for years through the photography community and had the opportunity to meet with her last year when she helped me develop an incredible plan of action to take my business to the next level.  If you want to learn how to market more efficiently, increase your bottom line and stay on top in this competitive market, Joy is your lady.

While Joy covers the business side of running a photography business, I’ll be teaching you how to capture your subjects in a natural and creative manner. All the while using the gorgeous available light that I so adore working with. You’ll learn how to develop connections with the children you photograph so that your portraits show their true spirit. I’ll also talk about and demonstrate how I choose the locations that have become a signature look in my portfolio. I’ll be talking about creativity and composition, utilizing available light, gentle posing, the importance of client clothing and styling and much more. Not to mention we’ll be heading out into that stunning California countryside for some fun shoots.

I’ll also be teaching a class covering the basics of off camera flash and how to use this exciting style of photography in your work. My dear friend, the amazingly talented Amanda Elkins will be working with me at this class posing and prepping our beautiful teen models. Amanda has worked as a model herself and has a knack for posing and photographing teen models that an inspiration to many photographers. So come prepared to learn a lot about off camera flash and how to work with your teen clients.

We do still have a few openings for this February 5-7 workshop and if you’re interested, check out the information on my website.  Contact me for details on a discount.

And since a post isn’t a post without an image of course I have to include one of my favorite subjects, my children.

Which brings me to my big news….we’re having another baby! We’ll be welcoming another sweet Profancik into the world this summer (due date is August 1).  So if it seems like I’ve been neglecting the blog a bit it’s because the morning sickness wiped me off the map for a couple of months. But thankfully I’m feeling good again and ready to get back into the swing of things until this little one arrives.

Our posse of 3-about to be 4.

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Who me? No! Hehe…anyone who knows me knows that I adore my magazines. And how can you not love them? When that shiny new issue arrives in the mail, it’s like Christmas! I save each issue for just the right moment.  I make a cup of hot apple cider (if it’s cold out) or a cold iced tea (in the summertime) and I curl up in my bed or my hammock and pour over every article and every photograph. I fold the corners of the pages I want to remember, gathering inspiration for my home, ideas for photographs I want to create or a plant I want to grow next summer. I nod when I read an article about raising children and feel connected to all the other mom’s out there who are experiencing the same things I am. I drool over the gorgeous clothes that I want to buy and quickly turn the page before I get myself in trouble. And then I save them for another round or two or three of heaven. My favorite issues hang around for a few years and the others get weeded through once every year or so. Then the kids (or my sister) grab some of the issues destined for donation and they draw funny bearded faces on the women or they cut them up and make ridiculous collages just like I did when I was little.

Sigh…can you tell I have quite a love for magazines? If you do too, head over to Amazon where they are on sale during the month of November. I grabbed a few subscriptions for just 5.00 for a year!

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This sale will be for a limited time only so don’t miss your chance to snag one of our products free of charge or at a discounted price.You will be able to use the 25% and lower codes on a workshop seat or a mentorship so check out the dates at www.leahprofancik.com/workshops to see if one works for your schedule.
You may purchase a mentorship program at anytime, and then call or email to schedule your dates. I do still have a few openings for 2009 (June, late August, September, October dates are available) and then I will begin booking 2010.

PLEASE NOTE: The higher discounts do tend to go very quickly-within minutes. If you add an item to your cart, but do not complete the payment, the discount can still be used by another buyer. No discount is final until your order is submitted and the payment process is complete.***

No additional discounts will be issued once the codes are used up.

We’re giving away 4 sets of actions, plus discounts of all sizes. But you’ll have to move quickly before the discount codes are used up. Here’s the breakdown on the limited number of discounts we’re releasing and the corresponding codes. But don’t wait, there are a set number of orders per discount. Once they’re gone at a certain price, that discount can’t be used anymore. If one code doesn’t work, please try the next one.
Vist http://www.leahprofancik.com/cart/ to purchase.

The free codes may be used on ONE set only.
We’ll be giving away 4 sets of actions. Code is 2009junefree

The percentage off codes may be used on any size purchase.
4 orders may be placed at 50% off. Code is 2009june50
20 orders may be placed at 30% off. Code is 2009june30
40 orders may be placed at 25% off. Code is 2009june25
50 orders may be placed at 20% off. Code is 2009june20
55 orders may be placed at 15% off. Code is 2009june15

Don’t wait, these prices are first come first serve!!!

All of the images below were edited with my new action set, Summer Skies.

 New Albums

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I’ll be on the Phaunt Forum this afternoon for a radio interview at 2:00! The interview will cover my photography style, where I started in photography, how I grew my bussines and how I currently run my business,  balancing family and work, workshops, and editing. Whew, that’s a lot! I’m super excited about this interview!

This is an online radio interview that you can get to by going to Phaunt Forum and, if you haven’t already, joining the board. The VIPhaunt Speaker section near the bottom of the page is where you can access my interview! Have fun listening!

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I can’t believe the fun I had with this shoot. I’m in Australia staying with Ainslie while Ali Hohn is here teaching and I am so thrilled with what I’m able to shoot now.

This mom was beyond gorgeous and she is due in 3 weeks! And she was such a trooper, willing to try all the poses we asked her to do-which included climbing up a sand dune.

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We’re back! I had a wonderful time doing some photography mentoring in Australia and New Zealand, but now we’re home and getting back into the swing of things. By the way, if you’ve called me in the last 2.5 weeks and I haven’t returned your call yet, please try again. I seem to have lost some messages while we were out of the country.

Australia was gorgeous, the weather was perfect, our super sweet host Ainslie Bernoth, was amazing and we had an incredible time. Damian really loved Brisbane and keeps trying to convince me that it would be a good idea to move there-haha! I have quite a few sneak peeks to get up, but wanted to quickly share some photos from our shoots in Australia and New Zealand. Oh and any of the photographers who attended the shoots in or post processing tutorials can email me for a code to use on my photoshop products. If you already purchased without a code you can email Damian or I and we’ll take care of it.

Ok…enough for now…I’m sure there will be more in a bit.

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This past week has been wild! October is always crazy for us, but this one has been more insane then usual. Damian burned his leg last week while trying to burn a brush pile. Don’t worry, he’ll be fine, but he’s had to take it easy.  Which he never does like he should…grrr…why are men so stubborn (you know I love you, D!). And there’s our teaching trip to Australia and New Zealand in just over a week. I can’t believe we leave so soon! Whew! I’m excited to meet all of the photographers we’ll be working with and to see everything out there. Ok…now I’m starting to think I need to wrap this post up and get back to work.

Here are a few photos of my cool little man, Garrett.

 Trying not to laugh as I made some pretty lame jokes.

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My new set of digital papers, Winter Wonderland, was inspired by the set we’re building for the studio. Created with the jewels toned blues of winter mixed with warmer browns and a touch of green, these papers are perfect for your winter designs.

And don’t forget our Fall Sale starts tonight!

We’re giving away 4 sets of actions, plus discounts of all sizes. But you’ll have to move quickly before the discount codes are used up. Here’s the breakdown on the limited number of discounts we’re releasing and the corresponding codes:

We’ll be giving away 4 sets of actions. Code is 567fde5994
4 orders may be placed at 50% off. Code is 7f1a4aa4e3 (any size purchase).
15 orders may be placed at 30% off. Code is 35e135297e (any size purchase).
30 orders may be placed at 25% off. Code is 555e7263c4 (any size purchase).
50 orders may be placed at 20% off. Code is 16695e478d (any size purchase).
60 orders may be placed at 15% off. Code is 2df8a90ee5 (any size purchase).

Once the codes are used up, that discount is gone.

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Not much to say today aside from I hope you all are enjoying the amazing weather we’ve been having lately. The weather this summer really has been beautiful and I’m so sad to see it go. On that note, I know fall is just around the corner when Starbuks breaks out their Pumpkin Spice Latte (my fave!) and the Colts season begins. But lets not talk about the Colts…I’m still sad about last night.

Ok…so on to the photos.

Oh! And don’t forget this Friday is the monthly open house here at the studio and downtown Greenfield. I hope to see lots of my blog readers here visiting our studio and the wonderful artists at the Creative Arts Center. And it’s the official grand opening of Wedding Central and I hear they can put on quite a party!

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