Merry Christmas to all!

From our house to yours, Danielle and I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season. Live, laugh, love, be safe and of course, take lots of pictures!

Cheyenne's Christmas outfit

cox_46, originally uploaded by vadabostian.

Cheyenne's First Christmas

cox_47, originally uploaded by vadabostian.

Here is little Cheyenne again. It must be nice to have your own personal photographer, but I guess that is one of the perks of being a friend of mine since childhood....your kids get photographed almost as much as mine.

This is Cheyenne's first Christmas, so I took advantage of it a shot a few shots of her in both her Christmas outfit and her "birthday suit,' seen here. More to come....

Coming in January...

After Christmas Special!

Half off session and prints

**OR**

$100 session and high res cd!

Email vada@bostiva.com for more information!

Last minute Christmas Pictures!

I have availability for sittings next Wednesday the 19th for last miute Christmas Pictures.

Last minute session fees are $180, include the session and a high res cd, copyright release form, and overnight shipping.

Please email vada@bostiva.com for more info or to schedule a session!

The Little Black Book by Bostiva

Starting in January: The Little Black Book by Bostiva!

Schedule a sitting in my private studio to create fine art style portraits that will wow your significant other! The Little Black Book includes a session and a 7x7 hardbound photobook: large enough to get his attention, subtle enough to slip in a suitcase or hide from the kids. Nude, semi-nude, and boudoir, or just slip into something sexy and make yourself feel beautiful. It's as much a present for you as it is for him!

Please allow two weeks for processing time. You will receive a link to an online gallery for proof selection approximately three days after our session. Additional prints are available at the regular pricing schedule.


Know someone who's expecting? Get them the best gift of all, a membership to the First Year Club by Bostiva. The First Year Club includes four sessions; third trimester, 1 month, 6 months, and 1 year portraits. You will receive two free 5x7s of your choice at each session time. In addition, all additional prints are available for a 25% discount. At the end of your year, you will have the opportunity to purchase all of your proofs in a hardbound book at a deeply discounted rate!

You've seen this guy before...

Parker brought mom and dad to my studio this time around for some family pictures. Of course, I had to get a few of him by himself as well. I did lots with black and white this time around, I am really into it right now. I'm also using my big mill windows for more and more shots. I think all of my favorites from this shoot have the windows.

Here is Parker-man...he's so cute!




Parker and dad, being boys together...


And the whole family together.

Drew and family at the Studio!

Recently, I got together with Drew and his family for a shoot at the studio. We had a great time! Mom is putting together a collage of different "parts" of Drew, which I think is an awesome idea, and one I am totally going to steal as a product to offer to clients. Here are a couple of my favorite "parts" of little man...





They brought along a little dachsund too. Poor guy only lasted for a few shots before we decided he was too freaked out for words, but he was cute!

Isaac at his Birthday Party

Isaac at his Birthday Party, originally uploaded by vadabostian.

We had a blast at Isaac's 7th Birthday party! It was at Lake Daniel Park near downtown Greensboro. I have known Issac for 2 years now. We met in that very same park when he and my daughter made friends. Now they go to the same school, ride the same bus, were in kindergarten together, and we are even thinking of arranging their marriage! Not really, but he is almost like a part of the family!

JPG Magazine

My friend Lindsay got herself published in JPG magazine. SO now I have to try too :)

Go vote: http://www.jpgmag.com/photos/326901

Cathleen at the Mill

I am still catching up... we did Cathleen's pictures at the mill and they came out wonderful! She was nervous at first but we had a blast and enjoyed ourselves tremendously.











You can see I had a hard time picking out my favorites!

My inspiration

I would like to take a moment to memorialize the man that first put a camera into my hands. My grandfather passed away last night. He was truly a great and wonderful man; a man that I have looked up to my entire life. He was a photographer, artist, writer, and father to four children. He knew loss and love and everything in between.

I am glad that he went peacefully and with dignity, on his own terms and in his own time.

He will be missed.

A bit behind...

Oh, I am WAY behind in my posting!

Last month I met up with Bethanne and her boys. This was a special shoot because it is for the NC Heart Gallery. For those that don't know, the Heart Gallery works with photographers and foster kids to find forever families. Bethanne is awesome because she has adopted not one, not two, but three gorgeous boys. We can all learn from her wonderful example. I used to promise myself that when I was established enough I would adopt a child. Well, Bethanne was a wonderful encouragement for me!

Postponed Session...

Because of rain! I don't think any of us minded one bit not being able to go out to the Arboretum today to do Jenny and Mark's engagement portraits. Because it's raining!

Hurray for rain!

A friend of mine...

It's always a little weird to come across someone elses pictures of someone that has also modeled for me. Does that make sense? Anyway, I was peeking in on my friend Anne McMicken's website tonight and ran across one of my models in her portfolio. To be completely honest, her shots blew mine out of the water, but I also get nervous about shooting nudes. There is so much beauty in the nude form, but I am just not as comfortable working with nude models as I could be. Yes, I know, art school grad not comfortable with nudity, go figure.

Check out the portfolio, it's really good :http://www.annemcmicken.com/6851/index.htm but warning, these are nude fine art photographs. But they are beautiful :)

Family and other issues

I am playing catch up here at Bostiva due to some family issues and other personal matters. For those who know me personally, my best friend's grandmother passed away over the weekend. She was a wonderfu, strong woman whom I have know for 10 years and who welcomed me into her house and family as if I was her own granddaughter. She spent many years as primary caregiver to her husband of over 50 years until he passed on three years ago. She will be missed.

My grandmother was also recently diagnosed with stage 4 Colon cancer. She is doing well and responding favorably to the chemotherapy. My grandfather, the man I credit with turning me on the path to photography, is in the hospital as well, and is entering his last days. Please everyone, if you haven't already, take time to talk to your family and loved ones now about what you would want to happen to you if you were no longer able to make those decisions for yourself.

Thank you everyone for your prayers and well wishes, to both my family and to Sandy's. Bostiva is possibly about to undergo some changes, and I will keep you informed as they happen.

Jackson and Family!

Saturday was beautiful picture taking weather, and the Chrapowitzky family and I took advantage of that! I had my daughter with me, which was a good thing because she has a way with the little ones. Jackson was a little shy at first, but he warmed up after Danielle and I played with him for a little while.

It was such a wonderful morning. I loved being able to be outdoors walking around, and the family enjoyed being able to play out in the fresh air and sunshine!

Pin Up, Pt 3

The latest in the pin up series, a more traditional shoot with a beautiful model in lingerie. Rebecca came into the studio, and was absolutely fabulous to work with. We had originally planned to do a shoot with her and her fiance, but he wasn't able to make it due to furniture market. Well, everybody's got to make a living, right?

Anyway, we had a great time. Becky and I were very comfortable working together, which is so great when you are doing work of this nature. It's just no fun if everyone is all self concious and can't have a good time. Luckily that wasn't the case: we had a blast! And the pictures are wonderful, thanks to my great model!

Thinking about things

Someone asked me the other day why people will want to come and have their portraits taken by me instead of at a chain studio somewhere (think JC Penney or Portrait Innovations). My first response was surprise, because I'm thinking "isn't it obvious, seeing my work?" But once over the initial prideful response, I realized that he had a very valid question. Why should someone pay a trained professional a good bit more than what they could probably spend in a chain?

Well, time for one thing. I spend much more time with my clients than is typical in a chain. Back when I was working at the Picture People, we had 20 minutes and nine frames of film. Granted, I got very good at getting excellent shots within those constraints, but it's not at all conducive to actually building a relationship with anyone. Getting to know a client takes time and patience, and I believe it's vital to a successful portrait session. I typically spend at least an hour working with everyone that walks in front of my camera. As a result, I am able to overcome shyness and nervousness to get shots that show each person's personality as well as the dynamic between family groups.

Another great reason to come to me instead of a chain is value. Yes, I will not argue that you are going to spend more money with me. But you aren't locked in to certain packages or poses. I do have a package deal that I do, but trading things out is still allowed, and you can mix and match your poses as much as you want. Or you can just buy things a la carte, or take advantage of my custom package which gives you a print credit to use however you see fit. The quality of both the images and the final product is much higher than you are going to get somewhere else.

A third reason is that all the money you spend with me is going straight back into the local economy. I shop at local stores. I buy food from local farmers. My photo lab is a locally owned and operated business. My child goes to a local school, and I support her PTA there. I try to buy as exclusively as possible from locally owned and operated businesses, because I want my dollars to stay local. I believe that it is important to all of us to have a strong community economy that is as self sufficient as possible, and I back that up with my dollars.

I'll stop there. If my words and the strength of my portfolio haven't convinced you yet, nothing will. But if you don't like my work, then I urge you to check out some other local folks before you head to the mall.

More Baby Cheyenne

Cheyenne had her first "studio" session last weekend. The beginning of a lifetime of being subjected to Aunt Vada's camera and bright flashing lights. She slept through almost the entire event. That's ok, I like sleeping baby pictures.



And big brother TJ got to be in a couple of the shots as well.



Mama Liza, although tired, is absolutely radiant...



Daddy Chris's only appearance is here, and wouldn't you know it, as soon as we get the child naked she wakes up!



Stay tuned for many more shots of Cheyenne and her family, she will be one of my regulars!

Taylor's First Birthday Pics!

Taylor has been subjected to my camera many times at this point in her life! She was actually the winner of my grand opening drawing for a free custom session ($350 value). This particular day, the usually happy Miss Taylor got up a few hours earlier than normal and was not her typical cheery self by the time she made it into the studio. Thankfully, the sight of mom, dad, and Vada jumping around and acting like idiots to get her to smile did the trick. She is a beautiful little girl; just look at those eyes!


And here is the entire family, they are such cool people!


She's gotten so big since I've been photographing her!


And here is what she REALLY thought about the day's events!


Poor Taylor! But I know she got a wonderful nap as soon as she got home!

Jonna's Senior Portraits

I met Jonna at the beginning of this summer, when she was a volunteer Counselor in Training at the Center for Visual Artists. Jonna is one of the coolest teenagers I've met in my adult life. She is well mannered, intelligent, and just plain fun to be around. She is a hard worker and absolutely wonderful with kids. Jonna wants to go to college to be a child psychologist, and I believe she is going to be an excellent one. I know that my daughter thinks the sun rises and sets on Jonna.

We did Jonna's senior portraits in Bog Garden by the falls, and in Bicentennial Garden. It was a beautiful evening, not too hot, and the light was to die for. The setting brought out Jonna's natural beauty and great personality, and as a result we got some stunning portraits.

Pin Up 2: Lena, Bad Girl of GSO

My second pin up shoot was last week with Lena. This is the second time I've gotten Lena in the studio, but before it was her gorgeous little girl that was in front of the camera. Little Miss Alexis gets it from her mama, let me tell you. Lena is beautiful, sexy, and a complete blast to work with.















We went through many wardrobe changes and all sorts of poses. I ended up shooting about 125 images, with an unbelievable 72 portfolio worthy final pictures. We kept getting shots with these little hands in the bottom corner, because Lexi wanted mommy, but she was very patient with these crazy grown ups, and ended up having a few of her own shots slipped in!













These two pin up sittings have been the kind that you know every time you hit the button that you are getting something wonderful. I have been so lucky to have Jen and Lena volunteer to work with me. They are truly two very beautiful and very awesome women.

A new project

I have been working on a new project lately working with adults (I know, shocking!). My "art" photography always pulls me in the direction of exploring themes of womanhood, motherhood, and childhood. My BFA thesis at Guilford College explored the many facets of childhood emotions and expression through the posing and costuming of my daughter, and was a pretty direct reaction to some earlier criticism that child photography isn't really art. I played with re-examing fairy tales for a few months, but have had to put that on the back burner for now, because I hit a creative wall. But those LA Ink commercials on TLC stirred something up in my brain, and now I am working on a series exploring different stereotypes of beauty and sex appeal.

So far I have done the 1920s jazzbaby flapper icon and the biker babe/naughty cowgirl. My next couple of shoots I think I am going to go for 1950s pin-up, and I would like to play with the "woman in authority" theme as well (teacher, police officer, etc)

Working with regular people instead of paid models is always great. I am on a local mothers' forum, http://www.triadmommies.com/, and have gotten all my volunteers so far from there. We have a lot of fun, I get to have adult conversation-a rarity-and local mom gets to be reminded that she is beautiful and sexy. I'm posting some of the flapper pictures. Look for more to come soon!

More Pictures in BiCentennial Garden

Last weekend I met up with musician Angela Gaynor to do some pictures for her new cd. If you haven't heard of her, check her out at http://www.angelagaynor.com/ or www.myspace.com/angelagaynor. I promise, she is worth the listen.

Revisiting Last Halloween...

All of you who know me know that Halloween in my favorite holiday. I love all the costumes, all the candy, and all the wonderful energy flowing all over the place. So when we started talking about Halloween on a Mommies Forum I am on (www.triadmommies.com/forum) I happily got to drag out my pictures of my darling little vampire from last year!





I can't wait to see all the lovely little ghosties and ghoulies this year! Hopefully I'll get to share some of them with you.

Cheyenne Cox is here!

Welcome to the world, Cheyenne Isabelle! Cheyenne is the newest addition to my very good friend Liza's family. She is the cutest little thing. Stay tuned for more images of her, as soon as I can get her into the studio!

Welcome Benjamin!

A few weeks ago I did maternity pictures for Lydia, and we knew she was about to pop! Sure enough, now we have little Benjamin in the world! Congratulations to the whole family! And enjoy the "ancient" images of Lydia while expecting!