Win a seat to the Savvy Studio workshop!!

We are giving away a seat to the October workshop at the Savvy Studio in Atlanta!! 

The grand prize winner will win a seat to the workshop on October 11-13th!! 
The 4 runners up will receive a Savvy digital goodie bag from our favorite vendors worth over $300! 

A winner will be randomly chosen from these 5 categories...Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and the blog! Each of the five winners names will be placed in a drawing for the workshop seat!!! One lucky winner will be joining us! The other four lucky girls still get a great prize! 

The Facebook contest and Instagram contest are already closed...but you have three more chances to win! 
Here's how~ 

(1) leave a comment on this blog post letting us know how much you'd love to win!

(2) Tweet about the Savvy Studio workshop...tweet this "trying to win a spot at the Savvy Studio Workshop! Tag us... @thesavvyphoto and leave this link...The Savvy Studio Workshop Giveaway

(3) Pin the picture above to Pinterest! and make sure it links back to this site. 

The contest ends Tuesday (September 17th) at 9pm eastern time! The five runners up will be announced on Wednesday, September 18th..and we will draw the winner and announce it on Thursday, the 19th! 

Here's the link to learn more about this great workshop featuring guest speaker Jen Wright and a day of fabulously styled shoots by The Savvy Photographer herself, Marsha Mifsud. **If you sign up before September 16th at midnight, you will also get a Savvy Digital Goodie Bag worth over $300...so hurry!!! 

The Savvy Studio Grand Opening Party

The Savvy Studio...I've dreamed of opening this for so long and I'm thrilled to announce it's finally here!

We had our grand opening party last week...thank you to all of my dear friends and Savvy readers who joined us!

 

 

Tomorrow I will share some more about the space and the before pictures! I must admit I loved decorating the space...and I did it on a budget...very small budget...and I love how it turned out!

I'm also excited to launch my new site, The Savvy Studios. I've created the blog for the studio and my portrait business, Marsha Mifsud Photography. You can also see more pictures of the studio here...The Studio. I will bring in an associate photographer to photograph family and child portraits while I specialize in photographing women. I'd love it if you follow me on Facebook (how's that for a shameless plug)...I thank you for supporting me along the way these past three and a half years on the Savvy blog! 

**The above images are from the talented Lisa Polucci. She is an amazing wedding and portrait photographer in the Atlanta area. I decided last minute to hire someone to photograph the event and I was so glad she waas available that night! She was great to work with and has a wonderful eye...thank you Lisa!! 

A week of introductions~

We are beyond giddy about the upcoming Savvy workshop! The swag bags have arrived (they are fabulous...trust me) and the houses have been booked. The attendees seem like great gals and I have seen their work~ they are all amazing photographers! We have a group of five girls coming together that are photographers from around the country meeting up for a girls getaway and a great workshop...such a great idea! We also have business partners attending and one great gal whose packaging was featured on the Savvy blog and became the all time favorite and most read blog post on the Savvy blog. We have more friends traveling together...and girls coming alone...but they all have the same reason for coming. They are ready to learn, rejuvenate their business, relax and have some great girl time!

This week we will introduce you to the speakers...and announce the newest addition to the speaker panel!

Guess who we are starting with...me...yep...the person behind the Savvy.

I won't interview myself but I will give you a brief "about me" post and what you can expect to learn from me at the workshop.

(Marsha Mifsud and family)

As most of you know, I was a photographer for 11 years before starting the Savvy blog. I specialized in black and white art images. For years my signature look was hand-tinted beach images printed on fiber paper. They were my thing and I loved doing it! I started photography before having children and was self taught. I practiced on my poor dog, my nieces and nephews, friends kids, etc. until I had mastered my art. I loved photographing children and babies (I photographed many families but can't say it was favorite...we all know how hard family portraits can be) but it was a great part time business for me while raising my babies. Soon after starting my business, I had my two boys within 18 months of each other. We lived in Chesapeake, VA and I did most of my shoots at the beach. I had a great clientele and loved my job. After 6 years there, we moved to Coronado, CA...paradise! We lived one block from the beach and I loved shooting my beach sessions so close to home. I worked hard building up a new clientele there and it took time. But I was different than the other photographers there. I was still a black and white film photographer. When someone ask for color, I would cringe. It was usually the grandparents who wanted color pictures of their grandchildren.  Clients would ask me if I was digital and I proudly told them I used film and always would...and then things changed. 
We were pleasantly surprised by the impending arrival of our third child. It was a girl! And I bought a digital camera...yep, I couldn't resist. But my images were not the same as through film..I had to work like crazy to get them to look good. Film was so easy (expensive but easy)...but times had changed and I had to keep up with them. I photographed families at the beach...in color...and began to love it. 

And then the Navy decided we needed to move again...to DC. I was not happy. It wasn't the beach and I had no motivation to start over my business there. I was tired of building it up again and having to walk away from it in two years. That's when I started the Savvy blog...and little did I know it would become what it is today.

We didn't stay in DC long...just a year...and then off to Japan and now we are back in the states and happy as can be! We think we have finally settled here in Atlanta and it feels so good to call it home!
I'm not sure if I'll go back to photographing clients... I feel I've moved in a different direction with the blog and for now, that's my focus. 

I have learned so much these past three years about the importance of social networking and marketing your business and I feel I have so much to share with photographers on how to make the most of blogging so it will benefit your business.

I look forward to teaching the attendees how to have a successful "social networking" side to their business. I also will teach how to find your voice in the blogging world. With so many blogs out there, I think it's important to make your blog the place where clients go to "meet" you. I think blogs are way more powerful in showing a personality of a person. Websites have become stale and blogs have become the fresh way to showcase your work and you!

I look forward to meeting all the attendees and I especially look forward to spoiling everyone with fabulous "swag" and all the special touches we have planned! The location is fabulous and the houses are dreamy locations for the photo shoots we have planned! 
We do have limited spots available if you haven't purchased yet! Click here for more info... The Savvy Workshop and click here to purchase your seat...the Savvy Store. 

Hope to meet you soon!
Marsha Mifsud (aka~ The Savvy Photographer)

(my family)

***

We are thrilled to welcome to the speaker panel, the wonderfully sweet and talented photographer, Stephanie Fisher! 

Stephanie is a photographer in Birmingham, AL and specializes in newborns and babies. We will watch her photograph newborns and learn her lighting and posing. She will also discuss the safety concerns while photographing newborns and babies. 

Stay tuned this week to meet Stephanie on the blog!

Go{4}Pro interview

Have you wondered how The Savvy Photographer came about? Who is behind it all? In case you don't know about me, here is a fun interview with me on the Go{4}Pro blog...hope you enjoy.

{Thanks girls...it was fun being on the other side of an interview for a change.}

{announcing} our Amazing Images contest

We are on vacation...

{and interviewing the photographer for next week!}...

just in case we don't get back to you as soon as we would like to.

We will still post everyday...hopefully...

our life {with a paneled backdrop}

I was very inspired by the photo wall from

Stephanie {Nie Nie} Neilson's kitchen...

i love the wall and wanted one just like it.

So this was a little project i did while

"cleaning" the basement today.

When we moved recently,

I collected all the many images I have printed

over the last 11 years {since welcoming our first child into the world} and put them in a box...

knowing what i wanted to do with them.

Today was the perfect rainy day to hang out in the

basement and work on the project. {ok...it did not take the day...just the hour that my 3 year old napped}

The box still has many more pictures...

and the wall has much more room.

I will add more...over time...but for now~ i just love it~

even with dreaded paneled wall in the background.

This little gallery {that may be tacky to some}

is just a reminder how lucky I really am...

because 12 years ago I never thought this wall would exist...

thank you for existing!

be inspired to capture

As photographers, we are blessed with the ability to capture

and preserve our children lives.

We capture...and capture...and sometimes forget to preserve.

Isn't that the case with most of us...our walls are being reglected...and why? Because we can't make a decision due to all the choices we have?

For me it's more about choosing the perfect picture.

I envy the clients that make decisions so quickly~ how can they decide so fast when it takes me so long.

The choices are endless...we must choose {and preserve}.

Marketing materials and deciding on which to order...

more decisions...which images should be included...wish we could hire someone to make our decisions.

Monday inspiration

Images courtesy of decorpad.com

Decor Pad has become a new favorite for decorating ideas. Just type in what you want to see {for example ~bedrooms or kitchens}and click photos...

and there are tons of great rooms to be inspired by...makes you want to redecorate, uh?

Beach inspired...

To find these fabulous frames, check out MyBeachhousestyle

Need more beach inspired decorating...

check out Beach Inspired Designs...

{just happens to be another project I love working on}

Want to see what's gracing my walls?

To see more, check about the about page...

Enjoy the peek... now don't you think it's only fair that you share too! Send us your peek at what's gracing your walls.