photography // ooh pretty shiny ...

San Diego skyline from ooh pretty shiny

{keep reading for info on a photography giveaway!}

I'm not just being cheeky with the title of this post -- that's the actual name of Laura Evans' lovely photography biz!

The lovely Laura was kind enough to answer some of my obnoxious questions in preparation for holiday shopping goodness, even though she has a new baby boy to reckon with!  "Right now everything works around my son," Laura says.  "It's definitely my son who inspires me; he's seven months old and my little blessing."

Which pretty much answered one of my first questions for Laura: what inspires her amazing images?  She went on to say that "it's the things we see every day that inspire me ... it could be the light, or a flower, or an emotion or something out of the corner of my eye, screaming at me to photograph it.  And I really do have a 'pretty shiny' complex!"

book storefront from ooh pretty shiny

Laura's workspace sounds a lot like mine right now, too: "My workspace right now is my couch.  I only have a laptop and 'focusing issues' so I put the TV on and work in front of it. It drives my husband nuts but until I get a desktop {dear Santa ...} and as much as I try to have 'office hours' it doesn't happen."  Here, here, Laura!

I don't know about y'all, but I also love to know about the work that goes into a final product, especially with images as stunning as Laura's.  "Obviously the picture-taking comes first. Then I upload everything into Lightroom, where I do my first edit. This process is the same for both personal and client-based work. In Lightroom I get rid of everything that I 'hate' and then will make a couple of minor alterations before exporting. I then open in Photoshop for my final edit when I will get rid of a few more and put the 'Laura touch' on my work. This is the fun part which often involves a whole lot of play time and late hours!"

from Laura's other shop, levansphotography

The best part about it all for Laura?  The feeling she gets when a customer contacts her about her images: "Different people are always looking for different things.  I love when someone comes to me with a custom request or to let me know that a certain image brought back a memory for them--makes me giggle a little and do a little dance!"

In celebration of the holiday season, Laura has graciously agreed to host a giveaway for an 8x8" or 8x10" photo print of the winner's choice!  How's that for merry?

♥ 

The rules for entering the giveaway are pretty standard:

1. Follow this blog. {join via Google Friend Connect}

2. Visit ooh pretty shiny and just TRY to narrow down your favorite image {go on, I dare ya to try!}

3. Leave a comment on this post about which image you'd select if you win the giveaway.

4. Please do one, some, or all of the following ::
(a) add ooh pretty shiny to your favorites on Etsy;
(b) "like" Laura Evans Photography on Facebook;
(c) follow Laura on Twitter @levansphoto.
(d) follow Laura on her blog.

Be sure to leave your contact information in your comment on this post so we know how to contact the winner!

Entries must be in by 11:59 p.m. PST on Thursday, November 24 {should be easy to remember -- it's Thanksgiving!}

Thanks so much, Laura! 

♥

You can also see ooh pretty shiny on papernstitch this month!