Jodie Otte, Baltimore Maryland Child and Baby Photographer

We’re back up after the bandwidth issue we had on this site. Anyway, I wanted to thank all my attendees for a fantastic workshop on Saturday as well as I am so grateful to Dean and Tracey for helping!

I also want to thank each and every one of you for the thank you cards and the sweet messages that you have sent - I promise, I will respond to each and every one - including after-questions

I did want to share this with everyone - this is from Amarilis Fraticelli from Puerto Rico who attended the workshop back in April.

I am just writing to thank you for everything you taught us. You have no idea how much I learned during that day. I had no experience with studio lightning and everything you said was new to me. But you made it seem so simple and it was very well explained by you and in your book. Your staff was also very good to us. I was anxious to go home an start shooting. Here are some recent photos. Thanks again and God bless you, Amarilis

Check out her beautiful work and her website http://www.growingupphotography.com

Thank you so much for sharing!

A quick update - there are FOUR Studio Lighting Naturally Books available for immediate shipment and about 3 seats left for the Workshop/Seminar.

Wow…. I’m quite shocked, everything fell into place for another seminar/workshop date in September. This will be a two-day event! For details, go HERE.

We have 10 seats left 6 seats left 4 seats left

I’m in a sharing mood this morning! This family was sooo much fun, and it was refreshing to work mostly outdoors on the studio property. This is also why I suggest some sunset shoots - the lighting is so beautiful at sunset! We even had a visit that evening by two people on horseback coming down the NCR trail.

SOMEONE is a serious baseball fan! I had to capture this - he is soooooooo adorable!

Yes, I have fallen behind on this blog! We are transitioning to summer schedule, so I’m hoping things start falling into place with the new schedule.

Here are a few from recent sessions….

Talk about HAPPY!!!

He deserved his own picture….

By the way, just wanted to say, there is a slight, VERY slight chance we may open up a one-day or two-day seminar this fall… it will be a very small seminar held during the week. If you are interested in being on a waiting list for this possibility, please email theblackhorsestudio@verizon.net

Three nevermind, make that ONE Studio Lighting Naturally book left in stock.

We will have another shipment no later than June 27, 2008.

I wanted to give a little update on the books. If you have purchased your book and have not received it, expect it any day now. They have been shipped out.

Because of some confusion on how we stock the books, I’m going to start updating both on the Studio Lighting Naturally website and on the blog of how many we have in stock at any given time, so if you are wanting the book immediately, you will know how many we have in stock. We currently, as of today, have eight books left in stock ready to be shipped out immediately. If you are looking to purchase one and get it immediately - please click here for the website.

This is a call out to local moms who are ready to have their baby or have already delivered very recently. We are looking for one newborn baby to come in to the studio on Saturday, June 28th, for a free “mini session” which will include some prints (please email for details). This mini-session will take place during a workshop that I am teaching for photographers. We are looking for the baby to be less than a week old by June 28th if possible, but it’s okay for the baby to be up to 4 weeks old by June 28th.

Please email theblackhorsestudio@verizon.net if this works for you! Thanks!

If you are a current customer and would like to do this for the free prints, you are not excluded - just send me an email!

Sorry, I need a place to post pictures of my big Percheron cross that I am selling - I needed a place to refer potential buyers to for pics. For background purposes, this is the big boy I purchased for my husband, who unfortunately doesn’t have the time to commit… since he is way too big for me (16.2 hh), regretfully, he must find a new home.

I have to say, he has such a great personality - it was hard getting these images - he wanted to follow me around like a dog… He’s so pretty, isn’t he? I really wish I could keep him, but I can’t.

and as you can see, he puts up with me quite a bit - I put his noseband on wrong… *sigh* so much for being in a hurry in this horrible HEAT….

Beautiful triplet girls!

If you are attending the June 28th workshop, please check your email. If you have not received information - check your spam folder, and then contact me if you did not receive to make sure we have the correct email on file.

Thank you!

So I have been requested to show more pictures of the horse show (below)… so I will tell the story a little better.

My daughter, Erynn, is a perfectionist and competitive. This can be a problem sometimes, and I figured I would teach her a lesson. Maybe that sounds bad, does it? At any rate, she has been riding horses for two years now. She JUST turned 9 years old end of May. She has never been in a horse show before (except for a “fun show” but that really doesn’t count ;)). Because she has no experience in this, and she was the youngest in her events (some of her events even had adults in them - not beginner classes), I clearly expected that she would lose - not even place in anything. I figured that now would be the time to teach her how to lose gracefully - which is a good lesson for someone like her.

Here’s Erynn putting the final touches on her horse, Stormy… it was a lot of work getting her sparkling white!

Here’s the braid closeup - this is a macrame (or lattice) braid. It’s super easy to do.

Erynn’s boot just for fun… (I’m an English fan, but alas, my daughter loves Western riding… )

Warm up…with a very nervous smile (yet with a twinge of confidence under there…)

Some quiet time with Stormy Girl Surprise…

We can’t ask Stormy to be a sweeter horse for Erynn…

Are you ready for this Erynn?

Here she goes…

A nice easy lope…

So much for teaching her how to lose gracefully - do you see what is in her hand? I have created a monster… she showed me up! She placed 2nd, 3rd, and 5th in her events! She can’t wait for the next show!

see above…

The new addition to our zoo…

Let me give a little background - my son wanted two guinea pigs, so I picked out two girls at the pet store and said specifically “I don’t want them to multiply.” Let me assure you, they ARE girls - named Sushi and Wasabi… however, I was never told they were already “multiplied”. Wasabi just gave birth to three little pups… and we have a sneaking suspicion in about four weeks, Sushi is going to give birth as well… yikes!

So my kids would like me to introduce Sashimi, Koala, and Halo…

These are crazy busy times right now! I’m going to post a few babies - first two are twins I have lots to share, just haven’t found a moment in the schedule… will do… we even have triplets almost ready to share!

Is it wrong, that my mind is wandering to vacation??? I’m buried under a mountain of work right now! Can’t I take a quick daydreaming break?

Every year we go to Cape Hatteras…These were a few I shared from last year…

and some from the year before…

aaahhh… yes…. but not ’til August… *sigh*

After being absolutely beyond busy, one major event is over - the May Workshop. My voice is starting to come back and I’m regrouping for the new work week. I hope everyone had a safe trip home, thank you so much, it was great meeting everyone! Again, Tracey and Allyson THANK YOU, and thanks to our little baby model and family - you’ll be seeing the images here pretty soon.

Speaking of images, this blog needs to be updated! I should begin posting again tomorrow, on a regular basis. I have a goal of one post per day, but I’m not making any promises, busy spring/summer season is upon us!

If you are waiting on an email or phone call, you will receive it tomorrow, Monday, the 19th of May.

I apologize, I have had a very very full schedule the past two weeks and haven’t had a lot of chances to post. I will, however, do a very early peek of a precious little Maryland newborn baby…

Yes, the next two workshops, we will have baby models. We also have a return attendee coming back as a helper - Allyson Thank you Allyson for helping at the workshop as well as to book our baby model for May. We will be rearranging our schedule a little to accomodate a newborn “mini session” during the workshop.

April attendees - we will videotape this segment. If you wish to view this, please send me an email for the link when it is up. Thanks

Please PLEASE check your email. If you did not receive a verification message today, verifying that you are on the list for the May workshop, please email me at otte4@verizon.net immediately - so that you will not miss any of the info being sent.

Thanks so much!

Personal: Things have been incredibly busy this week - this is one of those weeks where every sessions slot is booked and then some of course on top of everything, I’m trying to meet with potential buyers for Scout below… I felt like such a big loser yesterday. Scout is an amazing horse. I see sooo much potential in him, and I really like him a lot. Trouble is, as soon as I get up, my legs start to shake. It was kind of a test to see if it is really his height that bothers me. Indeed, it is. We were looking at a just turning 3-year-old spotted saddle horse yesterday who hasn’t been ridden since Fall, and I felt absolutely fine on him. Of course, he is probably about 15.1 hh. So we had someone come to see Scout, and she had her daughter ride him. My friend, Tracey, and I stood there awed by her grace while riding. It must be so nice not having fears like I do. She looked great on Scout, and she made it all look so easy. So after they left, Tracey and I took my mares out. We did our little “trail ride” of our own. Willow spooked quite a bit, while my daughter’s horse, Stormy, acted barn sour, and even reared… Tracey handled her beautifully though. Although I felt like such a loser while my big beautiful Scout was being ridden so well by an 18-year-old, and I can’t accomplish that myself, it felt like we accomplished something just taking the mares out alone… so I guess we can hopefully progress from here - I need to let go of these fears! I’m what you would call a “re-rider” who developed fears as an adult. So I don’t know why I rambled on about all that -maybe it is the coffee! lolol!

Workshop Attendees: I’m sending out more info to all of you on Friday. If you do not receive something from me on Friday, email me right away to make sure I have your email address correct. I’m putting the last count in to the caterer.

Book Buyers: All the books have gone out. I do have two books here from this batch, so if anyone is interested in buying these two books that can be delivered to you within a week instead of waiting for another batch, just drop me an email.

Booking Sessions? Anyone looking to book a session for spring/summer, please send me an email at theblackhorsestudio@verizon.net This time of year books up very quickly, especially weekend timeslots. Don’t forget, we do open up evening time during the week on Tuesday, Wednesdays, and Fridays - before sunset - this provides amazing beautiful lighting outdoors.

Recent beautiful baby girl….

(loved the way she was looking up at dad here…)

If you are currently waiting on your Studio Lighting Naturally book, it has shipped! If you are wanting to purchase, you may do so at the above link… we will have another shipment ready to go out within the next three weeks.

See this face?

A little closer…. precious baby boy!

I just wish I had simply HALF of his energy!!!!

I spent the day preparing photos for clients, sorting through one of my hard drives, and answering emails.  While sorting through my hard drive, I came across a few pictures I took during spring break that I had forgotten about.  One afternoon, I found my son and daughter huddled around my daughter’s old dollhouse (that she NEVER used for people… it was always for animals…. my daughter hates dolls… hates them so much, that I actually saw her bring one out of the house that she wanted to put into our bonfire in the backyard to watch it melt…. the evil laugh after that is what kinda scared me a little….!!!??!!!!)

So what was with the dollhouse?  Hmmm….  well… I do have to admit, my children have always gotten along amazingly well and play very nicely together… they have an amazing ability to compromise!

I can’t help it, I enjoy the spring storms we get.  Now ask me if I still like them three months from now, and I will probably be sick of them… lolol… but as of now, they are nice… comforting in a way, knowing that summer is coming.

Check out our little visitor in the front yard after the rain yesterday…

Yesterday, I arrived at the news station in the morning, and wow… I had no idea I would get as nervous as I did. That was definitely an adventure. I am not meant to be in front of a camera, that’s for sure…. I will post the clip when I get it - they are mailing it out to me. My kids were thrilled - said it was cool to see mommy on TV… lol.

So spring has sprung… the big question is - can I keep up with my gardening this year? I have such high hopes to make my garden flourish beautifully but it never happens. This year my goal is to just keep a couple potted flowers alive on the front porch and to get some English ivy growing in an area on the side of our driveway - that stuff is really hard to kill, so I think I can do this!

I’m a little rusty on the macros… I need some practice - it has been a while.

So my husband is completely jealous that I have gotten to meet football players and their families for the past few months, and he has been so cute about it…. It has been an honor for me to work with these families and I am always thrilled with the results of the shoots….

and what is that announcement? I’m going to be on TV tomorrow morning…. I am absolutely out-of-my-mind nervous!!! I am that personality type that doesn’t like crowds, would prefer to be the quiet one in the corner, and this is sooooo out of my comfort level. I am very excited to do be doing this, but it’s a scarey excited. I will post the time details tonight, but I will also see if I can get the clip to post here… that is, if I don’t embarrass myself too much!

I love repeat customers - I love seeing how much the children change! Just a quick one…look at this little beauty…

Stay tuned…. we have quite an announcement to make tomorrow…. let’s just say… I’m scared!