Fresh Face Kids Choice!

Congrats to the following children picked for kids choice! Winners will receive a complimentary mini session and 5x7 print. (expires august 2014)

Fresh Face 2014 Winners

Thank you everyone who participated in this years fresh face contest! I am excited to announce our 2014 winners. Winners receive 2 complimentary sessions and 1 $150 print credit.

Drumroll please......................

As always my kids choose their favorite fresh faces to receive a little something something!

Look for our 2014 Fresh Face kids choice tomorrow.....

Tampa Florida Sessions

2012 Brings....

I notice everytime I come back to blogging it is about catching up or change. Yep here I go again. I know many of you do not get the newsletter and have missed out on my announcement and other news. So where do I want to start?? hmmmm...How about where the heck have I been???

Back in September I headed to Florida for vacation and a wedding. It was fabulous but I was not feeling fabulous. Feeling a little lazy for not being able to run after my kids or do the simple things I wanted to do made me upset. I decided I needed a change and thats when I started to eat better and exercise. Yes on vacation I started this...nice timing right?! The runs were slow and very hot. However the view was motivating enough to keep me going. Every morning I ran to the waterside and along a private drive with beautiful homes. The last night we were there we staged our own family photo which is my before picture I can use. Once I returned home I joined the Y, entered a few 5k's and changed my eating habits. The last 5 months were hard but worth it. I have lost a total of 30lbs so far. Feeling fabulous at 30 and I can now chase my kids without feeling winded.
Obviously along with this I was working but not as much. During this time I also launched Love Junkies with my friend Sarah Gaylor. Yes changes were being made but I knew more changes needed to be done. So what was next....well here we are.
I started MJP almost 6 years ago with children and family. It was everything to me and still is very near to my heart. However, 2012 bring many exciting changes in my life. Turning 30, the positive response to Love Junkies and the last year I will be offering children and family sessions. It took me many months to make this official. I had to be certain before I announced it. Now I am. Along with this I have changed the pricing structure for this last year. Children and family sessions will now be on a digital plan. I would like to think these new prices will give those a chance to experience MJP who might have not been able to before. I am limited to sessions each month now. I have several set dates per month planned out thru August.

Along with these changes brings more family time and a chance for me to return to school to finish my business degree. Something I really want to finish!

So now you know what I have been up to!

BUT there is still 8 months left in this year and my favorite event is happening next month. Our 5th annual FRESH FACE CONTEST!!! Stay tuned tomorrow as I post dates!

The G Family

I really get excited when another photographer asks me to photograph their family. Especially Sarah's family! You recognize her, right? We have been working alot together this past year and have really created a great friendship. Not to mention working relationship too.
 Sarah, Josh and their cutie pie Caelyn are very easy to work with. They came prepared and dressed beautifully! The day was a little warm but it did not phase us with the slight breeze hitting our faces. Thank you for a great session and I hope to see many of these images hanging in your home soon. :)

Sarah and family Please click to play slideshow

It's Coming!

The relaunch of Melissa Jones Photography is almost here. As you can see the blog has been updated with the new logo and colors. Your input was the determining factor on what colors would be used. The top 5 words you described MJP as was fresh, vibrant, fun, playful and beautiful. From there I narrowed it down to what each picture really described. So THANK YOU! Want to see more? Check back in the next 24 hours for the new website launch. For now here is the new welcome page on FACEBOOK.

Coming out of hiding!

I am back!!!!!! Sorry for the long break here but I have been working hard on the new websites, logos and marketing materials. Not to mention sessions in the studio! The next few weeks are full of just prepping for the 2011 wedding season and getting ready to launch the revamp of MJP. Above is a recap for the last month. Enjoy!

Whitney and Sean

I am such a lucky girl to have met Whitney and Sean. They really were such a fun couple to work with. Gorgeous dress, makeup, hair, location, flowers and yes I could go on and on!

Enjoy these images!

Fresh Face Winners 2010

Thank you everyone who participated in the 2010 Fresh Face Contest. We have two beautiful girls who won this year. Josie who will represent the 0-2 year category and Madison who will represent the 3-10 year category. I am also teaming up with Julie Martin of ZoZoBugBaby who will be designing an outfit for each girl for their cover shoot.

Fresh Face Preview

Well I ended this weekend with the first day of fresh face contestants. Great first day turnout and very impressed with these fresh faces so far.
I  have to admit I was crazy worried about the rain because I did not want to go into the studio! Yes, yes I love the studio but I want to be outside for this contest! It was a little chilly and rained off/on. That did not stop us! All of the children did so well and there are so many great images! I am very thankful for Julie and Liz for volunteering their day to assist me. Liz worked on signing families in and Julie took a few photos of me in action (Julie, notice I only put the super close pics up.hahaha). Julie also made an amazing cheescake for us to enjoy after!

Here are a few fun pictures to hold you over until this weeks last 2 days!

Full of Smiles

A few weeks ago I had the most enjoyable session with little Talia and her parents. From the moment she walked in she was full of smiles. I even received several hugs! Love the following picture of her...

Crazy for ZoZoBugBaby!

I just have so many great things to say about Julie Martin's ZoZoBugBaby line. I had a wonderful time hosting the trunk show last week and was so sad to ship off to the next hostess. Good news though! Julie will be designing one of a kind outfits for my studio!! Here are several girls who came over and played dress up. Along with the trunk we received The Emma dress (yes named after my Emma) from our winning fabric choices. It is sooo beautiful!