Ginny Corbett Photography

Wow….I just finished photographing Cristin and Shea’s magnificent wedding at Yankee Hall today!  It was one of those fun, laid back weddings with tons of amazing people and priceless memories (like the bride and the bridesmaids rockin’ a choreographed dance to “Beat It”)  I just wanted to share a few of my favorites.  I will post a more extensive post later on, but I was dying to share a few.  Enjoy!

Ginny Corbett Photography is located in Greenville, NC.  For more information, please visit: www.ginnycorbettphotography.com

First of all…….WOW! This contest has been a HUGE success!  As you recall, I shared with you my goal to reach 1,000 facebook fans by December 2009.  I got this inspiration through a webinar hosted by Dane Sanders and Scott Bourne.

At the beginning of the contest (a couple of days ago) I had 377 fans….now I have 431!  That’s 54 new fans/friends.  Spectacular!

I have nearly ran out of a whole stack of pink post-it notes from adding your names to the drawing.  Thank you SO much for being involved.  It not only makes me feel as though you appreciate my work, but it also makes me feel extremely supported.  Again..thank you!

So…for those of you who have just stumbled upon my blog…and have no clue what I’m talking about, here’s your chance to participate in the “Free Photo Shoot Contest”.

Details:

The contest will end on September 30th.  I will announce the winner on October 1st.

How do I get my name in the pot?

First of all, you have to be a fan of Ginny Corbett Photography on Facebook.  To do that, simply click here, and click the “Become a fan” button.

Then, copy and paste this into your status update:

Want a free photo shoot? Become a fan of Ginny Corbett Photography.  For more details, please visit: http://ginnycorbettphotography.com/blog/?p=1004.

What if I am already a fan?

Your name is only added by copying and pasting the link above in your status update.  If we are friends, I will see that you added the status update to your facebook page, and I will write your name on a pink sticky.

How many times can I be added?

Your name can be added multiple times.  All I ask is that you do not constantly update your link with the catch phrase, because you will drive your friends crazy.

Good Luck!  Thanks for being involved.

Here’s a picture of the drawing pot.  It’s absolutely overflowing by now.  I’m definitely going to have to enlarge my contest container.

From the moment I sat down with Richard and Angela, I knew that they were an extraordinary couple who deeply loved each other.  You could see the sparkle in Richards eye every time Angela giggled at his funny jokes. None of that changed between the 6 months between our initial meeting and their wedding day.  Richards eyes still light up at the appearance of his beautiful bride.

Unfortunately, it rained heavily on their wedding day.  The good news was that we had a small, 30 minute window to have the ceremony before the next batch of showers came through.  In the midst of overcast skies, Angela and Richards love was captured beautifully.

At the reception, I had a moment to ask Angela how she was doing.  She looked around, took a deep breath, and with sincerity said, “No matter what, I married the man of my dreams.  It doesn’t matter if it didn’t go as planned.  At the end of the day, I’m still Mrs. Robinson.”

Richard and Angela’s wedding touched my heart deeply.  I was honored to capture their beautiful day.

The flower girl was amazing.  She was so funny…she could host a one-hour stand-up comedy session!

How cute is Richards grandmother?

This shot was taken in the pouring rain.  It’s unbelievable that my camera held up!

I love the customized jelly jars.  What a great idea for a personal touch!

We didn’t have enough time after the ceremony to get pictures of the bridal party, and we didn’t really want pictures in the tent.  So, the girls and I decided to run out in the rain and snap a few fun shots.  You wouldn’t believe how dark it was outside at this time.  Thank goodness for fast lenses and high ISOs

I absolutely love this shot of Richard being a star!  Hilarious!

Ginny Corbett is a wedding photographer located in Greenville, NC.  For more information, please visit: www.ginnycorbettphotography.com

If you are new to my blog, or haven’t had a chance to tune-in in a while, I have started a weekly “Getting Personal” blog, where I update you on what’s happening in my life.  To kick-start the posts, I asked you guys (friends, family, clients, fellow photographers, strangers) to post any questions that you would like for me to address during these posts.  I have had MANY thought-provoking questions…funny questions…spiritual questions…simple questions…business questions….etc.

Today, I’m going to continue with the tradition and answer a few that were posted under last week’s personal post.

Question from Sarah Baldwin:

1. My main question to you, is this: how important is your creativity to you? Is it right up there with food and shelter? If suddenly you were stripped of all ability to create anything artistic ever again, could you even go on living?

This was a tough one….could I LIVE without creativity.  My immediate answer was “No, there’s no way on this earth that I could live without being creative,” but then I started really thinking about it…could I live without the ability to create something artistic?  So, after much contemplation (and googling) …my answer is still “no”.  I realize that I am wired as a creative person…whether it’s music, photography, or art, I’m simply created by God to create artistic things.  It’s who I am…and I LOVE it!

2. What’s holding you back from achieving the next level or accomplishing your next artistic mission?

Wow….it’s funny that you ask.

If you read my last blog post, you would see that I am running a contest to win a free photo shoot.  The idea was inspired by Scott Bourne and Dane Sanders.  It was a webinar on building your photography business.  The big issue that addressed my current circumstance the most was the same question you asked, “what’s holding you back from becoming what you dream, ” and one of the biggest answers is “insecurity”.  I’m not the only one who has them, I’m sure every new business owner gets faced daily with the same discouraging thoughts like “you’re not good enough”, or “there’s so many other great photographers out there”, “no one will nationally recognize a little Greenville photographer”.

Luckily, I serve a big God, I have big dreams, and I’m like the little engine that could.  I have no doubt in my mind that I will reach my goals, but I definitely struggle with the “fear” questions that circulate through my brain daily.

Question from Rachael Smith

1. If you could have dinner with anyone dead or alive, who would it be and why?

Wow…a billion names went through my head, but I’m going to keep it simple: I would have dinner with my memamma.  She just passed away this time last year, and I would love for her to make me laugh again.  I loved watching her, my mom, and my aunts laugh so hard they cried.  She is a remarkable woman.

2. Since someone asked what your weaknesses are, what do you think your strengths are?

Strengths: (these are always hard, because I’m always scared that people think I’m being prideful…but since you asked:

Personality:  I was raised by insanely supportive parents.  Mom was/is my best friend and she always found ways to challenge me to be a better person (loving, compassionate, friendly).

Determination: I am never satisfied with my current work.  I’m always striving to get better.  I spend a lot of time experimenting with new Photoshop techniques and I try to attend as many online webinars as possible.  I have a big dream, and I know that I have to put in a LOT of extra hours to achieve those dreams.

3. What are some of the future goals for your photography business? (I don’t think anyone asked that yet, haha)

My passion is to do high-end weddings on the east coast.  I love to travel, so I love doing destination weddings.

I would love to travel the U.S. teaching photography workshops

I would love to have some of my work published in local and national magazines

I would love to travel the world, photographing mission organizations to raise awareness of the work that is taking place in other countries

I’ve even had the thought of writing a book in the very very very (far way) future

***I told you…BIG dreams!

By the way, Rachael and her brother own and operate Univertee Apparel.  Their shirt designs are amazing.  If you are on facebook and you go to ECU (or go to their games), you’ve probably seen advertisements for Nov. 5th’s Blackout game.  Check out their blackout shirts…wouldn’t it be insane to see all of ECU in black!

www.universiteeapparel.com

Alright, that’s enough about me.  Before I go, here’s a pic Shane took of me this week.  I was trying to get an awesome shot of me rockin’ my Panthers jersey, but I looked goofy in all the pictures.  But, here’s one of my favorites.

Today, I watched a very inspiring webinar with Dane Sanders and Scott Bourne.  The entire lesson was on “Building Your Tribe”.  Scott Bourne has built a huge Twitter empire (over 30,000 followers), which has in turn launched his business to sky-rocketing success.

He talked alot about using social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to help build your business.  He mentioned that you only need 1,000 people to “build a tribe”.

So….here’s my goal; I would LOVE to have 1,000 facebook fans before 2010.  I currently have 377 business fans.  So, that means that I need 623 more people to click “Become a fan” before December 31st.  To do that, I am going to run a little contest.

Rules:

The contest will run from September 23-Sept. 30.  On Oct. 1st, I will announce the winner!

1.  If you aren’t already a business fan, simply follow this link and click “become a fan” at the top of the page.

2.  Then copy and paste this onto your status update:  Win a free Photoshoot: Become a fan of Ginny Corbett Photography.  For more details, click here: http://ginnycorbettphotography.com/blog/?p=1004.

Note: Every time you post this status update, your name will be dropped in my drawing hat, but you can only post it on your status once a day until Sept 30th.

I wanted to share with you a few of my favorites from Allison’s maternity shoot.  I always have a wonderful time photographing the Damerons.

Ginny Corbett photography is a wedding photographer located in Greenville, NC.  For more information, please visit: www.ginnycorbettphotography.com

I just walked in from photographing Tami and Jon’s BEAUTIFUL wedding.  I’m currently working on importing the pictures, but as I was looking through a few of them, I couldn’t help but to share them with you.  It was such an honor to be a part of the happiest day of their lives.  Congratulations Tami and Jon (have fun in St. Lucia!)

Ginny Corbett is a wedding photographer located in eastern North Carolina.  For more information, please visit: www.ginnycorbettphotography.com

I don’t have very long to write, but I did want to share a few pictures from The Cutrells’ photo shoot.  As you can see, this family was super-fun!  Shayla (the star) was a ham!  She kept us all in stitches!

Ginny Corbett Photography is located in Greenville, NC.  For more information, please visit: www.ginnycorbettphotography.com

Shane and I have been friends with the Browns for quite a while now.  We were in bible study together for over 2 years, and have spent quite a few hours jammin’ out in our band…Guitar Hero that is.  If you know the Browns, you would know that every time you are around them, you will have a good time…scratch that…GREAT time!

I was so excited when Jan (momma Brown) contacted me about taking pictures of the whole crew.  I knew that this shoot was going to be a good one!

On the way to the park, we raced a HUGE thunderstorm cloud…it was the kind of cloud you would see in twister.  We definitely couldn’t cancel the shoot due to the fact Chris (the youngest brother) was being deployed soon.  I knew that we had maybe 30-45 minutes tops to photograph a whopping family of 10 (with 3 out of the 10 being children under the age of 5).  My work was definitely cut out for me.

Amazingly, we captured more moments in 30 minutes that most 90 minute shoots.  Everyone was perfect!  I mean PERFECT!  They looked at the camera, smiled, laughed, played…simply perfect!

I was very pleased with our outcome…check it out.

Ok…so 3 weeks ago, I decided to write about myself once a week.  This was new ground to me, so I needed help with the process.  So, I asked you (any blog reader) to submit questions that you would like for me to answer on my blog.  It could be personal, business, photo related…anything.  The past 2 “personal” posts received a good amount of comments.  (That’s always a good thing for bloggers.  You see, you never know who actually reads your blog, and when you don’t receive any response, you start to feel like your mom is your only fan).

Well, today, I’m going to continue answering a few questions I’ve received from you guys.  Please, please, please leave me a question if you have one.  I’m starting to run out, and I will be forced to beg….just kidding

1.  Question from Daniel Phelps

We are all passionate about something… it’s clear photography is one of yours. what’s your motivation for continuing to capture such awesome moments in/of life via photography?

Wow…good one.  First of all, I’m a passionate person.  I’m passionate about God, worship, photography, family, and coffee.  I’m the type of person that has to give 110% at everything I do.  If I’m not passionate about what I spend a majority of my time on, I’m very unhappy.

So…to answer your question “what’s your motivation on continuing to capture such awesome moments in/of life”.

Life is amazing!  I believe that we should sieze the day, have fun, be in love, laugh alot, and enjoy every moment.  Every person has those elements inside them, whether they know it or not.  My job is to capture those moments…to preserve them for a lifetime.  That’s what compels me to capture the moments of life.  If they aren’t captured…they will be forgotten.

2.  Question(s) from Sara Thorsby

A few questions:
1. Why haven’t we hung out in so long???

• hahaha- I have no excuse…let’s hang out soon.

2. If you could photograph any location in the world, where would it be?

• Hmmm…I would love to take pictures on the sandy beaches of Bora Bora, but even more than that, I would love to do photography in Italy.

3. If you could photograph any event in history (or in the future), what would it be?

• Wow….that’s a tough one!  So many different eras ran through my mind.  I would have to say that I would’ve loved to have photographed America during the American Revolution.  It’s a pretty amazing story.

4. What’s one thing on your bucket list?

• I would love to go backpacking around Europe.

3.  Question from Heather Roebuck

What would you say is your is biggest weakness?

• Hands down…prioritizing.  I have the hardest time deciding what is the most important task for me to compete at this very moment.  I need about 4 clones of myself to complete all the tasks that run through my mind in a day.

Ok…that’s enough for now.

Before I leave, I have to share with you a few pictures…

These were taken in Honduras by my friend, Lauren.  The day before our trip to Honduras, Lauren Zaffos, Shari Henson, and I decided to swing by Micheal’s to pass time while we were waiting for the other photographers to arrive in Houston.  In the meantime, we purchased these ridiculous (yet cute) hats to help the kids laugh at us while we were taking their pictures.  I can’t believe I’m even posting these pictures of myself, but I’ve realized that I have a severe shortage of pictures with ‘yours truly’ featured.  I’m definitely going to have to step in front of the camera every once and a while.

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Starting from left to right: Shari Henson, Ginny Corbett, Lauren Zaffos, Amy DeYoung, and Lauren Clark (center)

Our van rides in Honduras were a laugh-fest.  I believe this was our first day and I was telling the MOST embarrassing massage story of my life.  I definitely won’t share it on my blog, but I will share two of my very embarrassing “laugh-til-you-cry” photos.

Yep, those are definitely tears.