Every year we’re overwhelmed with the clients we encounter, and every year we think WOW that was an amazing year, how could we ever top that?! YET somehow every year, it happens, we meet new wonderful clients, catch up with old ones. This business, our life continues to grow in richness and joy. I don’t want to sit here and pretend it’s all easy all the time, in fact it’s often hard, owning a business will test your character. Choosing what’s right, not what’s easy, choosing to invest in something you never know if you’ll see a return in. But it’s one of the most rewarding experiences we’ve ever had. SO to celebrate the start of what we KNOW will be another incredible year, I’m listing a few of my favorite things (Betsy here). AND We’re going to be giving away a few as well. THANK YOU everyone who made this an incredible year, and THANK YOU everyone who will be a part of 2016 being an incredible year. HAPPY NEW YEAR! See you in 2016 your California Photographers Justin + Betsy Erickson.

1. Starbucks Coffee YUM (I’m not going to lie here, I bought an espresso machine a year ago and have had little need to make frequent runs to Starbucks, however in the realm of coffee they are still my favorite, and coffee in general just makes me happy! PLUS we use only Starbucks beans at home, in honor of my #1 I will be giving away 1- $10 Starbucks card.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway
2. Music, specifically Coldplay’s NEW ALBUM “Head Full Of Dreams” (If you haven’t heard it yet, your missing out, “Adventure of a Lifetime” is the perfect jam to get me through my long editing days while keeping me optimistic about the future. I’ll be giving away a $10 iTunes or Amazon card, your choice. To use on YOUR favorite music.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

3. Photography (as if you didn’t know that would be on the list! We love photographing all the special chapters in your story, and this final giveaway will be for your choice of a family session or an engagement session valued at $350.)a Rafflecopter giveaway

A few of my favorite photos from 2015! 

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Maternity Story taken last year

Hospital Story taken last year

Newborn Story taken Last year

1/2 Birthday Session taken this year Enjoy!

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Sara & Stuart Sutherland

This is the Hot Chocolate they made my Daughter Patience, a little heart, she was pretty thrilled about it!!

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[contact-form][contact-field label=’Nominee {NAME}’ type=’name’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Nominee {Email}’ type=’email’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Nominee {Story}’ type=’textarea’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Nominee {Phone Number}’ type=’text’ required=’1’/][contact-field label=’Relationship To Nominee ‘ type=’select’ required=’1′ options=’Self,Husband,Child,Friend’/][contact-field label=’Your Contact {Email}’ type=’text’/][/contact-form]

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This was taken in our backyard believe it or not, and I loved it so much I had some Canvas Gallery Wraps printed. If your interested in purchasing one please email me and I can give you a custom quote!

A couple more from around our property.

I had a fantastic maternity session scheduled for the very weekend the snow decided to make it’s appearance, and LUCKILY my amazing client was just as excited as I was to take pictures in it. So we got the most gorgeous backdrop possible for her maternity story, and it truly was a magical experience!

I’m so glad we did capture her maternity session when we did, because as it turns out 10 days later she had her precious little man! Today, 10 days after his birth I got to capture his story. Enjoy! And hope everyone has a very HAPPY NEW YEAR! Looking forward to seeing you all in 2014!

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The first option a Full Family Story Session! We’ll work together to plan the perfect photo shoot to capture your Family Story! So many options here in this beautiful town we live in. This fabulous package also comes with 20 Enhanced Images, 25 BEAUTIFUL Boutique Christmas Cards, and your beautiful story session!

The next option is an INCREDIBLE deal! Perfect if you just want updated family pictures, and don’t need the full Story Session! A Mini Session includes a 20-30 minute session, and you choose what you want to add on. There’s no minimum purchase and images are an incredible deal. Add on 10 Enhanced Images for only $75, or 25 Boutique Christmas cards for only $50! Call to book your Mini Now!

I’ve loved capturing your Family Stories! Here are a few little previews from some of the stories I recently had the honor of photographing! Thank you so much for supporting Essence Photography! For driving from Sacramento,CA, Redding, CA and surrounding area’s so I can tell your story!

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I had the honor of working with my friend Anna, who runs the most incredible Home Organizing and Cleaning Blog called “Ask Anna”. If you haven’t checked it out you really should, you’ll be inspired to organize your home and life! Thank you so much Anna for having such an incredible resource, and for being such an incredible person.

I met Anna last year, our two precious girls go to school together, and we started car pooling. Little did I know then what an incredible inspiration Anna would be in my life, and what an incredible ENCOURAGER should would be. I knew her blog inspired me, but Anna as a person really does bring life everywhere she goes. She’s full of love, encouragement, and she just shines in her Identity. She’s a woman that will call out the best in you, without you even knowing that’s what she’s doing!

Whenever I get to spend time with Anna I feel uplifted, completely full to the brim with Joy, and like I could take on the world. {When you go on her blog you get a glimpse of that, I know I always feel like I can take on my house, which is usually pretty daunting}

Anna contacted me a month or so ago about doing this photo shoot for her daughter. She’d has some special things planned for a while, and I was excited as her vision began to unfold. I also happen to know that her daughter is AMAZING much like her mom, and that she would tell a beautiful story! Below are some of my favorites from our shoot. Thank you Anna for the opportunity to capture her story, and THANK YOU for being YOU, your changing the world, and I’m grateful to be your friend. If you want to check out her Blog she blogged a few of her favorites from this shoot and you can see them HERE

P.S. I was so inspired by the idea to capture her daughter in her wedding dress that I am going to run a “Wedding Dress Mini” Special in SPRING 2014. So get ready to dust off those wedding dresses ladies!

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So lets begin with a glimpse into our life. Justin and I bought a house on 8 acres in March of this year. And with it we began our secret dream of being farmers… okay not really full time, up at dawn farmers, but we did want free-range chickens, and to enjoy some of the “simpler things” life has to offer.

We started with just 4 humble hens, gifted to us from a friend on facebook.

Below, our 5 yr. old daughter Esther holding our very first egg! {YAY FOR FREE RANGE EGGS} We were well on our way!

BUT THEN we got chicken addicted you could say, and before you knew it we were way past the 4 hens, we had collected over 50+ chickens! { We know it’s a bit extreme }

At first it wasn’t a big deal, they didn’t eat that much, and they weren’t all laying so we just let them roam our property and enjoyed their company and the few eggs they gifted us each day. NOW though, they’re picking up on their laying! It’s exciting to never worry about running out of eggs again.. really… if we could just have milk and butter we’d be set! BUT we’re finding ourselves a bit OVERWHELMED lately with our egg supply! So that got me thinking… how can I use all these eggs… I have 4 hungry kids… I need to figure this out. SO there I began my pinterest adventure! {Don’t worry Justin was working hard editing weddings while I was pinteresting.. so we were using our time well, that’s what I call team work!} ANYWAY I found this cool idea of making breakfast sandwhich eggs in a muffin tin, and since I’m a fan of easy I tried it! It worked awesome, so next thought! LETS TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL! Let’s FRITTATA in a muffin tin!! For those of you who haven’t tried Frittata, I’m sorry.. they’re delicious.. and you should try them! It’s basically a yummy baked egg dish, better then quiche because it has potatoes instead of crust! SO GOOD!

So here is step 1, you can either fresh grate potatoes to make your hashbrowns or do what I did and defrost some tater tots and call it good!

Grease the muffin tin well with butter or bacon grease whatever you have on hand 😉 LOL and smash the tater/hasbrowns into the bottom. I baked them for 10 minutes at 375 before adding anything else.. I really like my taters crispy and cooked.

After they’ve cooked they’ll look like this! Mmmmmm

THEN Mix 12 eggs salt & pepper, 1/4 cup milk, shredded cheese, and 1 cup spinach. {I use my kitchen aid mixer to really make sure this is mixed well!}

use a 1/4 cup measurer and pour the mixture into each muffin tin. P.S. I WAY over poured on accident more then once and had some overflow, so if you do it too, that’s ok 😉 It just means your awesome and your frittata will turn out that much better!

When your done top with a thin sliced tomato and put in the oven for 12-15 minutes at 375! They’ll puff up and get a little golden brown! Basically when they look edible take them out and eat them!

Here they are RIGHT out of the oven! They will deflate a little as they cool don’t worry too much about that they’re still yuuummmy! To make sure they don’t get stuck in the pan I like to use a butter knife to go around the edge while they’re still warm and scoop them out gently with a spoon. Below is a picture of the finished product! These are so good I highly DOUBT you’ll be able to eat just 1, but if you have a smaller family then us, you can deff. freeze these beautiful creations to enjoy another time!

Thanks for checking out the blog today! Hope you enjoyed your glimpse into the “Erickson” life! If you have any awesome Egg using recipes feel free to send them my way! And if your in the area and need free range eggs you know who to call!

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Thank you for allowing Essence Photography to capture YOUR story!

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SO we’re introducing “the Story Club” a new fantastic way to get amazing images to tell the Story of your life! Whatever chapter your in, we want to help tell your story. We know sometime’s budgeting for pictures can be a bit overwhelming. I myself often forget to budget for things like this, before you know it the fall is here and we want christmas pictures. SO we designed the Story Club as a simple easy way to get amazing pictures done, either once a year, or throughout the year, without worrying about paying a large amount all at once! Since this is a NEW option for Essence Photography to offer, we’d really love to hear from you! So PLEASE feel free to email us with ways we can improve, or feedback if you love the idea!

TO CELEBRATE launching “the Story Club” We’re giving away a FREE Story Club Membership to 1 lucky WINNER! VALUED at $420!! The $35 a month package will be the prize of this blog giveaway!

FOR A CHANCE TO WIN THIS FABULOUS PRIZE that includes 2- Outdoor Mini Sessions, 25 Enhanced Digital Images, 4-8×10 Prints, 16 wallets, AND 15% off additional PRINT orders ENTER yourself using the rafflecopter widget BELOW! GOOD LUCK!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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So first UP the LOVE STORY ENGAGEMENT SESSION……

AND THE WINNER IS………..

MACY VITALE
Congratulations Macy!

NEXT UP! The Bruciante Gift Certificate!! This is such an amazing price, I’m so bummed I couldn’t enter myself!

AND the WINNER OF THIS FABULOUS PRIZE IS…..

PEARL SANCHEZ

Congratulations PEARL!

THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who entered! And if you didn’t win one this time around don’t be too sad, we’re going to be announcing some NEW contests this week! AND There’s STILL TIME to take advantage of the incredible deals from Essence Photography & Gover Ranch!

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Incase you need a break down these are the differences between the 2 sessions, both get you incredible images to tell your Story!

Mini Sessions = 20-30 Minute Sessions at a location of my choice.

Family Story Session = 1-1&1/2 hour session, at more then one location, that we pick together based on the style and vision for your story session! {You can use this towards any other similar session, senior portrait or couples sessions are acceptable in place of the Family Story}

{New clients signing up for the Story Club will have to wait 3 months to use their service or pay a deposit to insure services are covered, returning clients will have the waiting period and deposit waived}

The next big deal! A SUPER STEAL of a DEAL! The dates and times for these fabulous mini session’s will be limited so call to book yours now!

I’m so excited for this upcoming christmas portrait season! I look forward to it every year! An opportunity to catch up with the many families who I love so dearly and capture your ever changing family story!

Story Club Fine Print:
No refunds or exchanges
Clients who sign up for The Story Club are obligated to all 12 month payments
A Contract agreeing to these terms will be signed before redeeming their club membership for any benefits.

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Hope you’re enjoying the new website. There were many countless hours put into this beautiful new design, as well as the function.Chris Molitor did a great job with the overall “Design” while Kyler Burke from GRAPHICpilot.com worked super hard making sure this site didn’t “just” look beautiful but functioned well. Hopefully it’s loading quickly and easy for you to find your way around! 

To celebrate the Launch of “CaptureTheStory.com” we’re going to be doing a BUNCH of Giveaways! That’s right more then one! You’ll just have to keep coming back if you want to find out what they all are! Make it easy and sign up for our Email List, that way you’ll be notified every time I’m blogging a new giveaway, or telling someone’s story! 

{Our First 2 Give Aways}

Are you Ready???

This is a FABULOUS $350 Gift Certificate! Oh There are so many ways to ENJOY THIS BABY! *haha no pun intended* 

Family Portraits for your Christmas Card? A Love Story Engagement Session? Senior Portraits? Towards a Love Story Wedding Package? OH THE Possibilities are ENDLESS!  TO Enter to Win This Fabulous Prize I need you to SPREAD THE LOVE! Here’s How To Enter Below

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And Here’s Another Giveaway! This BEAUTIFUL Brand New Pearl Necklace & Earring Set from Harry Ritchie’s Jewelers! Win this for the lovely lady in your life? Win this for yourself?! It’s gorgeous and it will look gorgeous on you. Every lady deserves something fancy like this! 

 


a Rafflecopter giveaway

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My fabulous friend Michelle blesses me so much by having me capture her kids birthday photo’s every year. It’s a beautiful tradition and that I hope we get to do forever! It’s an added honor since Michelle herself is a photographer/cake maker/creative extraordinaire!

Enjoy the photo’s of her fabulous little man! The cake, and his adorable outfit were all made by her, and she can make custom orders so you can have a beautiful photo shoot for your little birthday boy or girl. Plus she makes some of the most delicious cupcakes in the whole world! Click Here To Contact Her On Facebook

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Emily’s heading to Burkina Faso in September for two months to live and work at an orphanage! Help support her trip AND win amazing prizes while you do it!!

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS:
There’s no event you have to attend, ALL ticket purchases can be made online or through the mail! All you have to do is check out the awesome raffle prizes below! Once you’ve picked the items you’d like to bid on, email Emily (emilybranca12@gmail.com) with the raffle item number AND quantity of tickets you’d like to buy. (For example: Item number 5, 4 tickets).
Each ticket is $10
Once a payment is received, your name will be added to the item(s) you picked!! All winners will be drawn July 31st. Winners will be contacted via email or Facebook.

TO PAY:
Visit www.sothankful4.blogspot.com and use the PayPal button in the upper right corner.
or
Send a check to:
Emily Branca
735 Coffeeberry Lane
Redding, CA 96003
Be sure to include the raffle item numbers in the memo line of your check!

Pretty simple, RIGHT? Okay, now for the fun stuff!

Emily’s Africa Raffle Items:
1. Eyebrow wax by Shannon Pirie at the Waxing Lounge
2. Eyebrow wax by Shannon Pirie at the Waxing Lounge
3. Tricia Kibler painting: Typerwritel (see image)
4. Tricia Kibler painting: Owl (see image)
5. Mini session photo shoot with Georgia Rafferty: New Beginnings Photography
6. Mini session photo shoot with Betsy Erickson: Essence Photography
7. Onramp sessions (4 personal training sessions) at Northstate CrossFit
8. One evening of babysitting: Pattie Bay
9. One evening of babysitting: Alyssa O’Connor
10. One evening of babysitting: Caitlin Peters
11. One haircut and style by Amy Endecott: Fox Hair Studio
12. One haircut and style by Grace Slagle: Gracie & Co.
13. One free tasting and bottle of wine: Moseley Family Cellars
14. Refinished and upholstered chair (see image)
15. One vinyl transfer: Anna Moseley
16. $50 gift certificate to View 202
17. $40 gift certificate to the Social: A Yogurt Society
18. $40 gift certificate to the Social: A Yogurt Society
19. A one-hour massage by Monette Pierce at Beauty for Ashes: Massage and Wellness
20. One free house cleaning (4 hours worth) by Danielle Wulfestieg Caseltine
21. One Jamberry nail wrap of choice and application kit
22. One Jamberry nail wrap of choice and heater (by Susan Vitt)

The incredible prizes donated from Tricia Kibler!

The fabulous refinished & upholstered chair!

Thank you for taking the time to support dreams!

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