New Adventures...

You haven't heard from me for a really, really, REALLY long time! Life has been crazy for lack of a better word. I have been trying to find a way to balance all of my responsibilities without losing my passion. Above photography is my family. It always has been. I have two special needs children which I homeschool so my time is very much consumed by mom-ing, teaching, going to therapies for my kids, dishes, laundry, dating my husband, etc....I have struggled for years to try to find a way to keep photography a part of my life. I truly believe that God has given me this gift and that he doesn't want me to let it idly sit. I have been trying to find a way to do it all without losing my sanity and/or my relationships with my family. With all that being said, I have decided to strictly focus on fine art and stock photography. It's something that I can do while I'm taking kids to appointments and teaching my kids at home and teaching kids at my co-op class and feeding my family and...you get the picture.

So here's to a new beginning hopefully full of stress-free photo shoots and more freedom with my family!

I recently signed on with Shutterstock. Please take a look at my portfolio here and tell me what you think! https://www.shutterstock.com/g/Heidi+Zapolski?rid=208096745&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ctrbreferral-link

A few portfolio images from this past fall...

I lead a busy stay-at-home mom life. Being a photographer is just one of the many hats that I wear.

I haven't been great at keeping the blog updated with photos as much as I have been on my Facebook page. I am in a season of life where I am trying to balance it all without tipping over. So far, (mostly) so good!

Here are a few of the promised images from Fall 2014 sessions:

Now onto spring...

If you would like more info about my photography or would like to schedule a session, please contact me via the contact information on the Contact tab at the top of the page.

I Heart Faces Photo Challenge / Framed

I took this photo several years back when I was in college for an assignment. I can't remember if the assignment was for framed objects or for reflections. Either way this was what I thought of immediately when I saw I Heart Faces Photo Challenge - Framed.

I shot this in downtown Cincinnati with some classmates standing around talking. I used film, ACTUAL FILM, not a digital camera for this shot. Hope you like it!

FYI- There are a lot of really good images on this particular photo challenge so be sure to head over to I Heart Faces and check all of the other submissions out!

I Heart Faces April Photo Challenge - Happiness

This is my photo submission for the I Heart Faces April Photo Challenge: Happiness. I took this photo of my niece and nephew a while back when I was doing an assignment for a class in college. For my assignment I followed around my then 2 year old nephew to complete a photo documentary series titled, "A Day In The Life of a Two Year Old." This was one of my favorites from that series and seemed to fit the photo challenge theme of "Happiness" perfectly. What's more fun than spending an afternoon at the park swinging with your family?! Hope you enjoy it!

I Heart Face Photo Challenge / Beautiful Black & White

Here's my submission to I Heart Faces March Photo Challenge, Beautiful Black & White.

It's a photo of my gorgeous daughter heading out of our house on a spring day. Hope you like it!

It's all in the details

So it's been awhile since the last time I've written anything here. Being a stay-at-home mom I've had a hard time finding the time to take the photos that interest me most. Apart from taking photos of my kids because frankly, they're adorable, I miss taking more fine art style photos. I've been so super busy building my other blog, Mommy Made From Scratch, taking photos of my food creations that I haven't had much time for fine art.

Since I haven't shown a whole lot of my fine art photos on here in the few months since I first began this blog, I thought I'd showcase some of my older work hopefully building up to some of my more recent photos.

Today I'd like to feature some of my more detail-oriented photos. This is one of my favorite ways to take photos. Seeing things through the human eye sometimes makes you look past all the beautiful and extraordinary details surrounding us. I'd like to encourage you today to take a closer look at the wonders surrounding each of us in our daily lives and notice all of these wondrous details. They're worth sticking your nose (or camera lens) deeply into their personal space or taking a second look back at what you may have missed in the past. You never know what beautiful things you may have missed.

And the winner is...

The winner for the My Memories digital scrapbooking software was randomly drawn and the winner is number 13, Karrieann at TwoCentsReview@...! Karrieann won by following hzphotography via Google Friend Connect.

I tried contacting the winner but keep receiving a message saying that the email address does not exist. I also tried contacting you on facebook but can't find your info because facebook recently made it more difficult for me to see who "likes" my page. So if this is you, please contact me within 48 hours to claim your prize. Otherwise I will redraw the winner.

Thanks for all the entries! Congrats to the winner!