new website to debut...

during the next 2 days my website will be switched over to the new one with a new hosting company.
http://www.heatherbowes.com will become http://www.heathermckaybowes.com


emails will change as well but if you use the old it will be redirected to the new.

If for some reason you send me an email and I don't respond please resend or give me a shout 443.254.5729
sometimes there may be a little kink in the process.

Best,
Heather

exciting news...

I have been busy! This month has been filled with choosing and sampling a new product line for clients, working with a very talented designer to create a brand new website, and finding the very best printers in the country to create the portraits I expect families to enjoy for a lifetime and pass down to generations to come. It has been fun and although I have been photographing some beautiful newborns and my surroundings I am eager to start the new year with new faces and return clients as their children grow.

My website will be lean and clean, filled with the most important stuff...photographs of the darling children I get to meet daily. All the other tidbits and news, images I want to share but don't fit in my website portfolio, and the ramblings which go along with my work as I continue with the most amazing career in the world will be put into my BLOG. The new blog address will be on my new website and accessed from the contact page.

Keep checking back, I suspect it will be live in a week (maybe less). With that I will announce the first date of the very popular Madeleine SItting's. I will be offering a very limited number of these throughout the year and will refer to them as Simplicity Sittings. We will have them available at two locations most likely on random Sunday mornings and Fridays.

Childhood sessions are open for booking. If you would like to book a location session for your children or family in 2008 please plan ahead and contact me as soon as possible. They are already filling.

Stay tuned, stay warm...
it will be fun.

*Heather

tantrums..

fancy shoes...

and saggy tights.

happy festivus

hopefully the humor in this is appreciated!
Couldn't help sharing...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-wm9N0KiAs&NR=1

precious...

Just had a chance to look through some negs from a recent session. Shooting more film for clients these days and loving it. It would be unfair to keep all the loveliness of traditional black and white film all to myself wouldn't it?!

These newborns were such a treat to meet and photograph. I always feel so honored to be a part of capturing such a fleeting moment in a family's life. It doesn't get any sweeter then this.

serenity...

just a break from the busy holiday season

to ponder...

By Henri Cartier-Bresson.

"it seems dangerous to me to be a portrait artist
who does commissions for clients because everyone
wants to be flattered, so they pose in such a way there is
NOTHING LEFT OF TRUTH."


I love looking through my photography books filled with prints by some of the greats. The masters, classic and timeless images. It is something I find myself doing when the digital age takes me far from what I truly love about photography. I am someone who loves the printed photograph. Negatives, film, the smell of fixer lingering in a darkroom. The anticipation of unrolling a newly developed roll of negatives to see what I have captured. It is all a little bit of magic to me.

Thought it would be fun to share some of the thoughts of a few of the late photographers whom I turn to for inspiration. This one from HCB reminds me of a challenge I often find. I tend to use small cameras, lenses and use only the natural light given to me and the moment. It is a way to be more connected and less intimidating to my subjects, it helps me keep my work real.

This is taken from WIKIPEDIA...a little insight on the photographer
"Cartier-Bresson exclusively used Leica 35 mm rangefinder cameras equipped with normal 50 mm lenses or occasionally a wide-angle for landscapes.[citation needed] He often wrapped black tape around the camera's chrome body to make it less conspicuous. With fast black and white films and sharp lenses, he was able to photograph almost by stealth to capture the events. No longer bound by a huge 4×5 press camera or an awkward two and a quarter inch twin-lens reflex camera, miniature-format cameras gave Cartier-Bresson what he called "the velvet hand [and] the hawk's eye."[citation needed] He never photographed with flash, a practice he saw as "[i]mpolite...like coming to a concert with a pistol in your hand."[citation needed] He believed in composing his photographs in his camera and not in the darkroom, showcasing this belief by having nearly all his photographs printed only at full-frame and completely free of any cropping or other darkroom manipulation -- indeed, he emphasized that the entire negative had been used by extending the area reproduced on the print to include a thick black border around the frame.
Cartier-Bresson worked exclusively in black and white, other than a few unsuccessful attempts in color. He never developed or made his own prints.[citation needed] He said: "I've never been interested in the process of photography, never, never. Right from the beginning. For me, photography with a small camera like the Leica is an instant drawing."[citation needed]
Cartier-Bresson is regarded as one of the art world's most unassuming personalities. He disliked publicity and exhibited a ferocious shyness since his days in hiding from the Nazis during World War II. Although he took many famous portraits, his own face was little known to the world at large (which presumably had the advantage of allowing him to work on the street in peace). He dismissed others' applications of the term "art" to his photographs, which he thought were merely his gut reactions to moments in time that he had happened upon.

found...

late night organizing in my office always seems to bring up old forgotten images and negatives, scanned a few.

cutie patooties...

itty bitty...

hello December...

can't believe another year is closing on us. There are a few things I would like to write but will try and come back tonight after everyone is tucked in and fast asleep.
Until then just wanted to mention that I have a Nikon D70 to sell. Great camera to enter the digital SLR world with if you desire, I on the other hand, am moving back to the dark side. FILM that is. This camera has been my "back up" camera as I shot most of the year with my Fuji Pro. I now will be using my Fuji as my back up and my film cameras as my main. ahhh...very excited for what is in store for the new year.

So, if you or anyone you know might like to pick up one for yourself or someone you love let me know. There are 2 batteries with it, (at least one works!) a charger, will throw in a memory card and have the manual. This comes with the kit lens which I hardly ever used. It is a bit of a zoom, will get back on specifics. No original box, this is about 3 yrs old.



Until later... get outside and play!

Warmest regards,
Heather

little ballerina...

last Madeliene sittings are ready to view...

I will be contacting each of you today to let you know your galleries are available to view. Take a look and lets talk as soon as possible to get holiday prints created in time!
Thanks, the Sundays at Madeliene's really have been so much fun. Keep tuned for what 2008 may bring!

....

busy as a bee...

I know I am slightly behind in my expectations for getting sessions proofed and all print orders underway. The last of the Madeliene sittings will be proofed tonight in the wee hours of the night. Just 2 to share as I work...isn't she a baby doll?!
Any one have a favorite stuffing/dressing recipe they want to share so I can stop stressing about the Thanksgiving dinner which needs to appear on my dining table next Thursday. Where has all the time gone?!

Okay, back to work!

Best,
Heather

displaying...

Always helps to get an idea of a finished piece. These girls are just darling, such fun to photograph. Now as we all know the hard part comes when trying to choose what to enlarge and how to display. So that your prints don't remain in your closet instead on your walls for you to enjoy I am always excited to help. Here is a sample I worked up for a client just to give an idea.

already artists...

leica...

Anyone else out there completly intruiged with craftmenship...

Some people are drawn to fine automobiles, motorbikes, watches, diamonds...

for me it is the LEICA. "a tool. Handcrafted, created for the photographic artist. Not a quick photographic fling, but the camera of a lifetime."

"Classics are works that are immune to the passing whims of the present"

this is what keeps me from fully embracing the digital age. I feel as though it is a race to keep up with the newest and best, cameras always chaging, software always upgrading. I am a lover of timeless classics and I love to keep my equipment as simple and unabtrusive as possible as I work to capture the true essence of my subjects.

Check out this site if you are as intruiged as I am.

www.leica-camera.us

I will keep you posted with what I think, I am renting the MP with a 50mm noctilux-m f/1 for 7 days.
time to stock up on some film!

thank you...

The year is fully booked. A beautiful year filled with such wonderful children and families. The next month and a half is packed full of fun, great weather and new and "old" clients still to photograph. In December I will begin bookings for 2008, in the meantime please email me with your interest for a 2008 portrait session.
I couldn't imagine doing anything else with my life...thank you!









edit to add...I didn't take the time to sharpen and "fancy up" these images for web...seeing the difference here but running out the door with my camera and knowing the actual prints are gorgeous. Its amazing what you can do to enhance a web image, my focus is on the print itself. Gotta run!