Recently, I have been trying to harmonize my branding identity across the various forms of social media that I use. As a part of this venture, I revitalized my business card design. They were delivered today, and I had to share the results! The back of the cards have the same sparkly sand picture that you see on both my facebook and twitter accounts.
I hope you enjoy the fresh new look just as much as I do.
I met up with the Bassett-Smith family the day after Christmas to take pictures of them while their family that was in town. Also, their son, my good friend, Trevor, was home from the Peace Corps for the holidays. There were a lot of special moments to capture, to say the least! The shoot took place at their home, which was perfect low-stress option for the little kids.
It was a treat to spend time with this happy family, and I’m glad that they chose me to capture their special moments this Christmas. Below you’ll see a couple pictures from the shoot, and if you would like to see them all check out my flickr set : Bassett-Smith Family Shoot.
My friend Courtney asked me to draw up a tattoo sketch for her a little while ago, and she wanted it to say “Faith Hope Love”. I showed her a few typefaces, and she liked this one the best. I customized the font, and drew up this layout for her. She loved it!
Below are some pictures of the design. I’ll be sure to update this when she actually gets inked!
After Courtney got her tattoo! It looks great! 
A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to take pictures of the Torres family. They were quite the happy bunch, despite the freezing temperatures that day. We used Willamette Mission Park as the setting for the shoot, as it was holding onto its fall color and feel better than some of the other local parks. The Torres’ are avid sports fans (especially football), and wanted to bring that into the shoot. They each wore a jersey from one of their favorite teams, and we had a lot of fun using “football poses”.
They timed their shoot perfectly, and got their pictures back right in time for their Christmas cards. I had a lot of fun with this happy family! If you’re interested in your own family shoot, be sure to contact me by phone 503.580.0296 or email holly@hollyamlin.com. Enjoy! 
Every Fall I go to E.Z. Orchards to check out their HarvestFest. This time, I went with my mom. We grabbed some hot cider, then headed out into the corn maze (hoping not to get lost). It was a beautiful day, much warmer than we expected for this time of year. We had a lot of fun walking around the maze and the pumpkin field. We made sure to stop and look at the animals in the petting zoo, and got a kick out of the pigs. They would fight over food, and make all these smacking noises while they were eating (all gums, haha). We headed over to the market to buy some apple cider to take home, and admired all the fall products on display before we left.
Below you can see some of the pictures that I took while we were there. If you get a chance, check out E.Z Orchards, it was a lot of fun! 
Just wrapped up editing pictures from an engagement session I did last week. Kristin and David were such a great couple to work with! We met up at Illahe Vineyards in Dallas, Oregon, on a wonderful sunny day. Below you’ll see a sample of the final images. If you want to see the rest, check out my facebook album: Engagement Pictures: Kristin & David.
If you’re interested in a portrait session of your own, be sure to let me know! Contact me either by phone 503.580.0296 or email holly@hollyamlin.com.
My Fiance, Greg, and I have decided to work on a photo project together. We want to decorate our place a little more, and decided to hone in on our living room walls. We’re getting married soon, and have been given a few wedding gifts so far that really add some nice decor to our space. We wanted to add something with a personal touch to make our space feel a little more like ours.
We bought several picture frames at thrift stores, of various sizes, and we’re going to arrange them on one of our walls. We decided to tell a story with the pictures we use. Displaying our favorite things from one of our favorite towns would be the most sentimental to both of us. Newport, Oregon has a lot of significance to us as a couple (our first date in 2007, and the place Greg proposed a little over a year ago to name a couple things).
Below is a sampling of the pictures that we took. There are larger versions on my flickr if you’re interested. I hope that you enjoy seeing a little glimpse of what is special to us!
This Friday marks the first day of the Fall season! The leaves are beginning to turn colors and the kids are back in school. This is one of my favorite times of the year, because it means sweaters, hot chocolate, and fall festivals. Another thing that I look forward to is the chance to do family portrait shoots. The gorgeous fall weather is perfect for it.
An advantage of getting your portraits done this time of year, is that when it comes time for Christmas you’ll be set. I always send out a family picture with my cards, because its nice to show relatives how you’re doing! Some of my family live on the other side of the country, and I don’t get to see them very often. Sending a picture is like I’m there with them for the holidays, even if its only a picture.
If you’d like to schedule a time to do your own family portraits, now’s the time!
Family portrait of Chelsea and Dan, with their dogs Tilly and Ruff
This week’s post is about branding that I developed for Dinner at the Rafns’. This farm-to-table supper-club is located in Salem, Oregon, and is hosted by Nate and Rochelle Rafn. They pride themselves on making a delicious three course meal with local foods (sometimes right from their backyard garden). When they use ingredients from a local farm, they will invite the farmer to the dinner to begin conversation about their product. I think this is a really cool feature of their dinners, because you can talk about where your food came from!
They host their supper-club once a month, and you’re just in time to reserve a spot at the next one! It’s September 18th at 6PM, and reservations are made through their website: Dinner at the Rafns’. You can find more details on the website as well. 95% of the profits go towards funding Living Culture TV, “a television series that showcases cuisine and agriculture in the Willamette Valley and Pacific Northwest,” that is produced by Nate Rafn.
For their branding, they wanted to incorporate familiar elements from Living Culture TV, a sense of conversation, and a local focus on Oregon. To emphasize that it was a dining experience, these elements were highlighted on the three plates you see below. The Rafns’ branding turned out classy and fresh! I’m really happy to have worked on this project with them, and I think it turned out great!
Sabrina and Reide are friends of mine, and wanted to have sibling pictures done while they were both still in junior high. We took advantage of a sunflower field that was in full bloom for our first location. Our second location was a bit closer to home, literally, it was their backyard! There they have quite the animal family, and wanted to include them in the photo shoot. You’ll see the horses in some of the photos below, as well as some of my personal favorites from the shoot. I really enjoyed working with these two (as well as their mom, who had the patience to pose the horses for us!), and I hope that you enjoy their pictures as much as I do!
If you’d like to see more from the shoot, check out the whole set on my flickr.
