This image was an extra one we shot and it turned out so nice, I figured I’d share

Madeline, I had a great time on our shoot! I am so excited to meet the new little one AND spread the work about the new workout video!

Joe’s Daddy and Mommy were having a family BBQ and invited me along to take photos of their fun day!  Joe climbed into a cute little tree in the backyard. He climbed pretty high for a 4 year old (about 4 feet)! He was perched in the tree for this photo.

Lilly got in the tree too!  Actually she was gently placed there by her mom How cute are her sparkly shoes?!

Her little smile kills me…

So does her personality! HA! Love her!

Quick family photo…

Love the next two photos of the adorable cousins playing in the yard!

See that smile again!

…and the curls…

Finally, what would a BBQ be without the BBQ!?

You may have found yourself here because you just purchased the deal with Plum District for Parker*s Pictures OR you are thinking about purchasing and are trying to find out more information. Either way, WELCOME! Happy to have you here! If I can answer any questions for you, please feel free to contact me by either commenting below, send me an e-mail at erica@parkerspictures or give me a call at 619.540.7046.

Here is what you get with your deal purchase:

On Location Photoshoot – I specialize in kids and families, so this would be a great time to schedule that family portrait you have been putting off! Or maybe one of your little ones has a birthday coming up and they need special photos just for them! Think about events you might want photos for like: Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Graduation, Grandparent’s Day or even the HOLIDAYS!

Password Protected Online Proofing Gallery – After your photos are edited I will send you login information for you to view all of your finished photos in a gallery online. Feel free to share this information with friends and family so they can see your photos too!

Two High-Resolution Images – From your Online Gallery you will choose which two (2) images you would like as high-resolution images. You can take these  files to virtually any place you already get your photos printed and print as many times as you like. I will send you these final files on a CD. If you would like to purchase more images, just let me know when you are placing your order! As a special deal to my new Plum District customers, each extra image is only $15 (normally $25) or ALL images from your Online Gallery for $99 (normally $400).

All Low-Resolution Images – You will also receive ALL of  the images from your Online Gallery as low resolution, watermarked files. These files are not large enough to print, but can be easily shared via e-mail and social networking (like Facebook) so you can show off your new photos! They will look like the below 2 examples:

I am so excited to speak with and meet all of my new clients!

THANKS!

Erica

I used to think Yelp was the best thing since sliced bread (yum!). Now? Not so much. Why you ask? Well, I have awesome clients who bother to take the time to go to Yelp and post a review about my business. So what did Yelp decide to do? Filter all 6 of my reviews! These are not just any old reviews either. They are all 5-star reviews for Parker’s Pictures from my 5-star clients!  As a business owner this is very frustrating. Even more so as a photographer because I am not a restaurant or store that has tons of people walking in and out of the door all day long. I know my clients well and I’ve cultivated relationships with them!

After contacting Yelp, I received the following explanation:

“As our review filter is automated, we can’t manually restore a review that has been filtered. The filter continually reevaluates its decisions based on the information at hand. As a result, it’s fairly common to see reviews come and go as the filter picks up new information.”

OK, I get that. It means the filter they use has a mind of it’s own and it does the best job it can to filter out fake reviews. But doesn’t it seem strange that EVERY SINGLE one of my very genuine reviews are being filtered? I’ll clarify here that “filtered” does not mean “blocked”. Filtered means the reviews they filter out are not factored into the overall rating of a business (the star rating at the top of the page). It also means the filtered reviews ARE still accessible, but hidden. I think it is such a process for someone to get to these filtered/hidden reviews, it will deter most people from reading them, even if they can find them.

I want to teach everyone how to get to filtered reviews as I believe it is a skill you need in order to use Yelp to it’s fullest extent. I learned this trick awhile back and I now use it all the time when looking up businesses on Yelp that have filtered reviews.

Let me show you what you would have to do in order to see the filtered reviews on Parker’s Pictures Yelp page. Once you get there, you will see something like this:

As you see, the page looks pretty sad without reviews or a star rating  :(

The link to find the filtered reviews is not at the top of the page, but ALL the way at the bottom. The strange thing is that the link is so far down the page, it looks like it’s placed down there under invisible reviews:

See it down there in the bottom left of the above image? So lonely and sad! Here is what it looks like close up:

In order to see the filtered reviews, first you have to click the grey words that say “Read 6 filtered reviews”. Once you click that link a little window will pop up that looks like this:

This is called a “captcha” and it is helps websites make sure that you are human and not a robot. (I know what you’re thinking…”Robot?” Just think of it meaning “spam”.) It’s an obstacle you have to pass in order to get to the filtered reviews. You have to type the words/letters you see in dark black into the area where it says to type. Sometimes they are really hard to read. If so, you can get a new one by clicking the red icon of the two arrows shaped like a circle.

Only after you type in the letters correctly will you have access to the filtered reviews. Here is what it looks like for Parker’s Pictures (I hope you read them!):

click on the image to see it larger

Who knows, maybe as the Yelp filter gets smarter it will give me my reviews back just like they said. But for now, I just want to make sure everyone knows how to see filtered reviews on Yelp. Good Luck!

Not sure exactly where I went wrong as I had followed the recipe exactly. But the caramel seemed to just soak into the top and bottom layers rather then staying all yummy and gooey in the middle. The brownie I cut below was one of the only ones that even remotely looked like the photo on the recipe. Oh well! They all got eaten anyway

I never met a kid like this who LOVES broccoli! (Of course he had to show Aunt Erica what it looks like when he’s chewing it…ew.)

Two of my favorite people…my brother and my nephew. Betcha’ don’t even see the resemblance ; )

I had so many fun photos of Parker from Thanksgiving that I decided to make my brother a framed photo for a Hanukkah gift. It went straight to his office! So glad you liked it bro! Kinda cool to see my photos at someone’s desk! Love you guys!

He’s an ANIMAL! (See his collar?) BeBop is a Corgi puppy! A friend of mine recently got him, and she is doing a great job with his training.

Although he does like to chew on things…

And chew…  :)

But how can you resist that sweet face?!

Look how low to the ground he is! So tiny!

BeBop was a great doggie for his shoot! If  your canine best friend is ready for their close up…give Parker’s Pictures a call!

These cutie lovebirds hail from Chicago, but are currently living in San Diego.

Their “San Diego” themed wedding is going to be in Chicago, so for their “Save The Date”  they wanted to have some San Diego beach pictures! It was terribly sunny the evening we had their shoot. First we thought it was going to be pouring rain, and suddenly there was not a cloud in the sky. So first, we headed for some shade.

Their future’s so bright, they had to wear shades! One of my favorites!

I love their natural reactions here. They almost got soaked by a wave!

I knew it was going to be a chilly day at the beach, so I told Amanda and Hans to bring a favorite blanket if they had one. They brought along a Chicago Bears blanket and figured everyone back home would love it! Super cute!

This was one of the last photos I took of the day. The sun was JUST about to set and these poor kids were soaking wet. (More on that below.) I had them turn towards me and I shot right into the sun. Not something I traditionally do, but in this case, it turned out so sweet!

Typically I would have ended my post with the photo above, but just had to share a little more. As we were shooting the tide was coming in FAST. Amanda and Hans were doing a great job of warning me before I was going to get wet. Unfortunately I did not do a great job at warning them. Oops! I blame my camera! I couldn’t see that the water was coming until it was too late! Sorry you guys! But, it did end up in some fun photos!

Amanda and Hans, I had fun with you both that afternoon despite the blinding bright sun, chilly breeze a wedding smack in the middle of the beach! I hope you did too! Have an amazing wedding in 2012!

This is the shot she is going to use for the DVD cover and her website. For more information on the Fitness Roots DVD release click here. Madeline, I had a great time at our shoot and I wish you success on your DVD launch!

Their story is not mine to tell, but all you need to know is that they are so terribly in love ♥.

You could just see the sparks between them! From the second I met Heidi, I knew she was perfect for my friend. If there had been a catalog of women, I would have picked Heidi for Kolbe in a second!

(And isn’t it cute that both of their names end in the “ie” sound?!)

PS – These photos look way awesome when you look at them full size by clicking on them.

Kolbe, you are a lucky man ; ) Look at her eyes!

Heidi is a designer and her requests for their engagement shoot was to have an “old building” look and some beach shots. I think we pulled it off pretty well by heading to La Jolla for the shoot. Some of the textures on the buildings were great and Heidi was happy, which is what I care about!

How sweet are they?

They just laughed and laughed…so in love…

I think this one is my favorite!

I had to throw this one in there, JUST to tell you the story about how freaked out I was when the happy couple suggestion climbing OVER the wall to get the best shot. I was terrified they were going to fall. Kolbe, being the eternal joke-ster, thought it was hilarious that I kept telling them to “PLEASE BE CAREFUL!”, and “clung” to Heidi as if he was going to fall. At the time I wanted to kill him for scaring me, but now…the picture is kind of funny. Thanks Kolbs!

Do you feel it? Do you feel the love?

I absolutely love these two photos! They both already have great natural smiles, but the smiles here are super genuine. What you don’t see is that literally 10 second before I took the photos, icy-cold ocean water came up MUCH higher then expected and we all got wet. Yikes! Sorry about your pants guys! But you have to admit, it was worth getting the awesome shots, right? : )

These next two shots are very similar, but I couldn’t decide which one to post. Don’t buy into the myth that you need a clear day for a photo shoot. Clouds are awesome!Love you guys! Congrats on your marriage! I know it will be amazing. Thanks for trusting me to take your special engagement/announcement photos!