New Logo!

It's been a long process of revision after revision but I have finally designed and finalized my brand. I got some really good advice when I first started this business to hold off on a logo until I was sure it represented my brand - It is always harder to retrace digital steps and once you attach a logo to your name, it's hard to change it without jeopardizing the trust of your clients. So, I now officially share with you my Fresh Ginger Snaps Photography logo:

Previous versions of the text included my most favorite punctuation: {  } but I have since abandoned it as it seems to be very over-used among other photographers and is unimportant to my identity.

So who's that black dog? That's our very own Zola happily carrying a stick. I designed it using Adobe Photoshop to digitally extract a hand-drawn version of Zola as a young puppy. Of course, the collar embellishments were something I dreamed up to add character. 

There you have it. I am so pleased with the outcome and I hope you like it, too!

Spokane Humane Society Parade of Paws 2011 Giveaway winner

I had a great time being a vendor at Spokane Humane Society's Parade of Paws this year. We met so many wonderful dog lovers and their beautiful dogs regardless of the morning rain. Of course we were set up next to the Kettle Corn stand so we had to overcome the deliciously sweet smell of caramel corn all day but were rewarded with two free bags at the end of the day for overcoming such a feat. We happily accepted! I was also invited to be a photographer for SHS's fundraiser calendar so keep a look out for that which will be released by early fall. What an honor!

This year we held a giveaway for a free Fresh Ginger Snaps Photography dog photo session. With well over 900 Parade of Paws participants this year you can imagine that we had a LOT of entries!  Thank you so much to everyone who entered - we have a winner!

The lucky winners of the dog photo session giveaway are:

Gunther & Sam owned by Lindsay and Chad G.

Congratulations! I will be in touch with you shortly to schedule your session.

extreme photo makeover

I've been revisiting some of my earliest sessions from when I first kicked this business off the ground. My editing taste and skills have been evolving so much over the years that it only makes sense to give those sessions their due makeover. Here's a sample of the new and improved edits:

Deployment Reunion

What a happy evening it was for three young boys and their mother being reunited with their father after a 4 month deployment.

They hugged him so hard he could probably barely breathe. What a joyous moment.

Can't you just feel their love for one another? I was tearing up behind the scenes.

It was such an honor and a privilege to be a part of this intimate family moment.

Neyland & Zola

I can't help but post photos of my own dogs from time to time. Neyland and Zola are my little loves and are so much fun to photograph. Whenever we leave, Zola always watches under the gate and Neyland stares us down with these glowing eyes. <3

Sweet Fancy Moses

Need I say more? Meet Moses and his wonderful owner, Amanda.

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge | Pets

This week over at I Heart Faces the photo challenge is Pets.

Although I market myself as a Dog and Family Photography, I started this business as a dog photographer and that still remains my true passion so it was a tough task for me to pick just one of my many dog photos.

I chose this photo because of its raw representation of dog-ness. It was a freezing day and he's happily playing in the snow, fixated on his owner ready to throw his favorite flying squirrel. For me this is as dog as it gets. I love it and I hope you do too!

Head over to I Heart Faces to check out more pets....

Alisha & Matt

What strange weather we had yesterday! Alisha and Matt braved the rain, sleet, snow, blue skies, more snow and then a drastic drop in temperature. What troopers! Here's a sneak at our time together. Enjoy!

Pond Dogs

Anyone that has a dog who loves water knows what I mean when I say there is nothing better than watching happy dogs bound into a pond. One of our labs is crazy about chasing other dogs into the water but the idea of chasing something else like a toy eludes him. We have a snowmelt retention pond behind our house and are surrounded by neighbors with water dogs. My first love is dog photography, especially action shots so this was one of my favorite sessions so far and the first of many to come, I'm sure. The Black Lab is our boy, Neyland and the brindle is his friend, Casey. Woof!

Deployment reunion session

Am I the only one who cries my eyes out when I see the holiday surprise deployment reunions aired on local news stations? Those hit me right in the chest. My husband is in the military so empathetic reunion emotions come easily to me.

A friend of mine on base has the most adorable 11 month old girl who hadn't seen her daddy for the past 6 months and I had the chance to document their reunion at the airport. I thought for sure I'd be a sap but my camera was a great veil to hide behind and it helped that I was so focused on what I was doing.

Check it out:

I'm Back!

Hey everyone - wow it's been a while huh? So many things happening in the lives of my little family have kept me at bay from blogging but I've still been here in the background booking sessions in the quiet moments. A little recap of where I've been: At the beginning of February we rescued the most darling lab mix puppy from Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Services.
 Her name is Zola after one of our favorite bars in downtown Spokane. Potty training her has been a full time job

Our sweet little kitten, Falcon, was diagnosed with a 5cm tumor which we were told would be fatal. After days of sadness as we awaited the final pathology diagnosis, we were stunned to learn that it was benign.

 

We're finally returning to normalcy which means that I have time to book sessions, train the puppy and make family travel plans.

It's been a wild 2011 for the Holbrooks so far but I'm back and I'm ready. 

Namaste everyone!

Mental stimulation: Victory Is Mine!

This post is unrelated to my photo biz but it includes a photo so it kind of counts, right? I thought I'd share that every now and I again {read: rarely} I take a break from editing photos to clear my brain from curves, levels and contrast. I find that nothing gets the blood pumping back to my brain faster {than a run} than a quick game of WordFeud on my Droid. This game holds my interest because you can play a word and come back to it at your leisure. Most of the time I get such bad letters {see above: YRZFHRR} that it takes me a day to figure out my next move anyway. Every now and again though, the vowel gods smile upon me and give me a generous E, A, I, O or maybe even a U to jazz up my consonants collection and make my opponents cry. {see above: WELSH}. I'm five plays into the game, at 215 points and my opponent {is sitting in a corner crying} just forfeited. I'm not a sore loser, I just like to win. :-) If you're up for a game of WordFeud, send me a game request at the above user name. {This post is all in good fun. Be warned though, I really do only take short breaks from editing so a requirement of playing with me is     P    A    T    I    E    N    C    E}

Okay enough horsing around - back to work! Or if you're at work, maybe that means back to Facebook or Best Of Craiglist.

People’s Choice Photo Challenge | Best Face Photo in January

This week over at I Heart Faces their challenge is to display the best face photo from January. This is a photo of my Virginia Tech ZTA sorority sister from their engagement session and I think it really captures their happiness and love for each other. Isn't she just gorgeous? Everything about her sparkly eyes and his soft kiss seems so genuine.

To see more January faces head over to

Apple Orchard and Farm

Long ago while living in Boston and shortly after my husband and I first met, we took a trip to Russell Orchard in Essex Massachusetts. Not only did it have apples but it had wonderful animals, too. These photos have been tucked away for quite some time until rediscovered recently and then edited. The warmth and colors make me long for crisp Autumn. These were taken prior to Wells's military career and it's amazing to see how much he has changed in such a short amount of time. He's a darn good photographer, too even though he insists he has no idea what he's doing (he gets credit for the photos of me!). Click any image to enlarge. Enjoy.

Innocent Wonder - I Heart Faces Contest

click images to view larger

This week over at I Heart Faces their photo contest theme is Innocent Wonder. This photo expresses innocent wonder beautifully, I think! Those eyes are no joke - lightly brightened but barely enhanced if you can believe it. What a darling she was to photograph.




for more innocent wonder, head over to...