Learn to listen to your body while gently releasing the week’s stresses from your mind. With a strong focus on proper breathing and  alignment, this class will increase the natural flow of prana, or life force, through your body with a series of yin (passive) and yang (active) poses threaded together in a gentle flow. Each class will end with a short meditation that will leave you feeling rejuvenated and restored.

WHERE: ABS Fitnss Studio, Lower Mezzanine, Ormewood Square, 749 Moreland Ave. SE, Atlanta, GA 30316, 404.627.3977

WHEN: Sundays 10:30 am to noon

COST: $8

DEETS: There is no class minimum size, please bring a mat and an empty stomach.

Sign up here to reserve your space!

While in Italy I had the pleasure of doing a fashion photo shoot for two beautiful Italian ladies.

Not much more to say, the pictures speak for themselves!

I am proud to announce that after my successful shoot in Italy, I am officially an international photographer.  I arrived in northern Italy and a day and a few shots of espresso later was off to the Aromatica office in Forlì to proceed with their product photo shoot.  With Megan’s hands-on art direction from BAM Image Solutions we moved swiftly and effortlessly through the vast array of products.

After a day’s break we returned to finish the product shots and then do some more artistic, creative shots for their marketing campaigns.  Some samples are below, I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed the shoot!

We’re very excited to announce that we’ll be leaving for Rimini, Italy on Wednesday for our first international photo shoot!  It’s a product shoot for Aromatica, an Italian specialty coffee and coffeemaker company.  We’ll be partnering with BAM Image Solutions for the 2- to 3-day shoot.  It’s a fantastic opportunity and we’re very excited to see the beautiful images we create.  Keep tuned in to see the results of our labor!

Welcome to the final post of our series on Do It Yourself Wedding Ideas!  Part 4 will focus on innovative ways to find budget decorations:

15. Go to your local library and look through their magazine racks for ideas. Don’t just stick to wedding magazines, either!  Home and do-it-yourself magazines are great for bursts of inspiration.  Just bring a notebook and write down anything that inspires you.  You’ll get all the information without having to shell out the big bucks for a stack of magazines!

16. Remember the most important of your 3 Rs – Reuse! The next time you reach the bottom of your jelly jar, don’t toss it in the recycling bin.  Soak it in warm soapy water for a few hours and the label should come off easily.  Wash out the jar, keep the lid, and you’ll have a collection of jars that you can use for candies, centerpieces, you name it!  You can then create your own hand-written or printed labels or add a square of fabric over the lid with ribbon to make them all look more uniform and match your wedding colors.

17. Do a search on craigslist in your city for “leftover” wedding decorations and accessories. You may be able to strike a large number of items off your list and get a great deal while you’re at it.  (And remember, this is something you can do with your “gently used” wedding decor once the big day has passed.)

18. On that note, spend some time at local thrift stores to pick up linens and other miscellaneous items, as long as you’re not the matchy-matchy type. You can also make a point to roam the clearance aisles of your favorite discount stores to find good bargains.  Set aside a closet in your home for the goodies you find … just make sure you have a specific color palette and design aesthetic in mind because you don’t want your wedding to end up looking like a bargain basement!

19. Multitask your decorations by making them the gifts for your guests. Buy 20 $2 pashminas from the vendor outside your office building and tie them to the backs of chairs for the guests to put on as the night gets chilly.  They will play double-duty as a splash of color for your chairs as well as a welcome take-home that will bring back memories of your wedding every time your guests put them on.

20. Use potted plants for your centerpieces. You can search ahead of time for decorative pots at a good price, and then make a quick trip to your favorite plant store a few days before the wedding.  This also makes a lasting take-home for your guests.

Do these ideas pique your interest?  Then check out Part 1 of our series that focused on guest communications, Part 2 of our series that focused on locations and invitations, and Part 3 of our series that focused on ways to save on ways to save money on your larger purchases.  If you could use a little more help don’t hesitate to check out our Wedding Package or contact us directly.

Welcome back again to our 4-part series on Do It Yourself Wedding Ideas!  Part 3 will focus on ways to save on ways to save money on your larger purchases like photography, wedding dresses, and printed materials:

10. When looking for a wedding photographer, try to negotiate for the digital image files instead of prints or a book. You can create your own book for as little as $30 online, and save the huge fee to have someone make it for you.  If you have to go with an up-and-comer, make sure you get a good array of samples from them to make sure they know what they’re doing.

11. On that note, if you’d like to order prints yourself there are many high-end print sites like bayphoto.com that will color-correct prints for you at a small additional fee. They also have options to mount or print on canvas, which can be a beautiful alternative to traditionally framed prints.

12. Before you head to the big wedding dress store, check out the wedding dresses on department store sites such as Nordstrom. You may find a beautiful dress that starts at $200 instead of $2,000.  Plus, you can order a few and try them all on in the comfort of your own home without a salesman pressuring you to purchase today.  If in doubt, order a size up and get it altered down to your size.

13. For specialty printed materials (save-the-date, invitation inserts, programs, return address stamps, etc.), you can save a lot of dough if you plan ahead and use online printers like Vistaprint. Check out the business section to see a wider array of options at a lower price point.  If you have Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop, you can even download pre-formatted templates to make your own design.  Just make sure you do it early or you end up shelling out a lot of cash for expedited shipping.

14. Search for coupons!!! Any time you’re about to order anything for your wedding online, do a quick Google search for “coupon code” along with that company name.  You never know, you might hit the jackpot and save a good amount on your order.  Also, check with your credit cards to see if they have special deals with certain merchants.  When you’re trying to stay within a specific budget every 20% off can make a big difference!

Do these ideas pique your interest?  Then check out Part 1 of our series that focused on guest communications and Part 2 of our series that focused on locations and invitations.  If you could use a little more help don’t hesitate to check out our Wedding Package or contact us directly.

We’re perched on the brink of a new year and I thought it would be a good time to review 2009 and project for 2010.  This year has proven to be quite memorable.  I left the corporate world, traveled 13,000 miles around the country, and returned to Atlanta at the end of July poised to start my own company.  Thus, PranaPix was born!

I’ve learned a lot over the last 5 months and am very pleased at my success right out of the gate!  I’ve been honored to shoot multiple parties, a wedding, corporate shots, family photos, and stock images for my clients.  And the response has been fantastic!  The Chomp And Stomp Festival photo booth in November was a lot of fun and, thanks to your participation, PranaPix was able to donate money to this year’s charity, Slow Food Atlanta’s Georgia Small Farms Disaster Relief Fund.

This leads to the change at hand … I’m incredibly excited about what 2010 will bring.  On a personal note, 2010 will bring about many exciting life changes as I’ll be moving to a new house quite soon and will be getting married in the summer.  As for PranaPix, the plan is to provide even more services on a much larger scale!  The website is only in its infancy now and will expand to include a larger stock photography portfolio and further exploration of my artistic expression.  I will be refining our services and packages offered and fine-tuning what exactly can serve my customers best.

But most of all, my concept of capturing prana, or life force, in all things will be taken to a much higher level and every day I’ll challenge myself to broaden the scope as much as possible.

I give a hearty thanks to everyone who has touched PranaPix in its first 5 months of existence.  May 2010 greet you with much warmth and success!

Peace,
Liz Nones

Welcome back to our 4-part series on Do It Yourself Wedding Ideas!  Part 2 of our do it yourself wedding planning series will focus on budget-conscious locations and invitations:

5. Think outside of the box for your event location. Is there a yoga studio you go to regularly and you feel a special connection to the space?  Is there a community garden where you always take your Sunday morning stroll?  When you research the location for your wedding remember those places that mean something to you and your fiance.  You never know, you might be able to secure the space for very little cost and give your money to a good cause.

6. Want to keep your wedding low-key?  Think about having a Sunday morning wedding. You can keep costs low by serving brunch and having a limited bar (mimosas anyone?) but still make it look like you didn’t cut any corners.  Plus, there may be more availability at your favorite location and you might be able to get a lower price if you ask for a Sunday morning and not a Saturday night.

7. Send electronic save-the-dates. Who says you can’t have an evite page or a Facebook event invitation for your save-the-date?  Chances are, anyone who can’t get online will be fine with a simple phone call.  Even better, your guests-to-be can download the information straight into their iCal or Outlook calendars.  Plus, a magnet can fall between the fridge and your countertop and be lost forever, but your electronic save-the-date will be around until you decide to delete it! (Just make sure that you set the invitations so guests can’t invite more people.)

8. Before you pay big bucks for invitations, make a round to all your local stores to see wedding invitation sets that you can print yourself at home. Check all the big names – Target, WalMart, Party City, Michael’s – you might be surprised at what you can get out of the box these days.  It’s best to see them in person to make sure they feel good in your hand, not just look nice on screen.  Plus, you might get some good ideas to make your own invitations from scratch.

9. If you don’t see anything in the stores that suits your fancy, check out etsy.com for handmade invitations. They’ll be one-of-a-kind, and, even better, you’ll be supporting local artisans (well, local to someone at least).

Do these ideas pique your interest?  Then check out Part 1 of our series that focused on guest communications.  If you could use a little more help don’t hesitate to check out our Wedding Package or contact us directly.

I’ve been blessed with some wonderful opportunities this holiday season!  Below are images from sessions I had as a result of my holiday promotions.  The first two pictures are from a photo shoot with a newly expanded family for their holiday cards.  I had the challenge of shooting with 2 couples, a baby, and 2 dogs.  Fortunately it was a beautifully balmy autumn afternoon and I ended up with some fantastic shots for them to share.  The next two pictures are from a company holiday party I shot at the beautiful St. Regis Hotel in Atlanta.  Happy holidays to everyone and enjoy!

Had your eye on the beautiful images in one of our galleries?  Have you put off buying prints from an event PranaPix shot earlier this year?  Then you’re in luck!

As our holiday gift to you, all purchases from our SmugMug galleries will be 25% off through 1/15/10.  Simply enter the coupon code “Holiday2009″ at checkout*.

Happy Holidays and best wishes for a wonderful New Year!

* Up to $20 value.  No minimum purchase.  Limit 1 coupon per customer.